House panel may vote on Chacha resolution next week

MANILA, Philippines - The House committee on constitutional amendments may vote next week whether it wants the economic provisions in the 1987 Constitution amended, committee chair Victor Ortega said Monday. In a telephone interview with GMANews.TV, Ortega said the panel will take up Tuesday next week House Speaker Prospero Nograles' House Resolution No. 737, which seeks to relax the Charter's economic provisions, and may vote on it depending on how the meeting will go. "Nobody can say, depende sa takbo ng meeting [It depends on how the meeting will go]. The committee will decide," Ortega said. Several other Charter change legislations proposing different modes of amending the Constitution are pending before the panel. Ortega, however, said the committee should decide on the Nograles resolution's fate before taking on the others. "We cannot take all of them at the same time, and ang nakasalang ngayon ay yung proposal ni Speaker Nograles [Up for discussion right now is the proposal of Speaker Nograles]," said Ortega. But an opposition lawmaker said the committee should not vote on the Nograles resolution without first conducting a public hearing. In a press conference, Bayan Muna Rep. Teodoro Casiño said changing the Charter's economic provisions is not as non-controversial as Nograles says it is so public hearings should be conducted before committee members vote on the resolution. "Di kami papayag sa minorya na dadaanin sa simpleng numero ito [We in the minority will not let this be a numbers' game]," Casiño said. Casiño also said Nograles' consistent push for Charter change may have been one of the reasons for Nograles' -17 net satisfaction rating in the latest Social Weather Stations survey. On Sunday, Nograles said the House will tackle priority legislation such as the 2009 national budget, the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform (CARP) extension, and the Reproductive Health bill, and "maybe" Charter change if it is reported out by the committee. - GMANews.TV