Palace: No secret deal between PNoy, allies on Cha-cha

Malacañang on Thursday denied there was a secret agreement between President Benigno Aquino III and his allies who are pushing for Charter amendment as alleged by opposition lawmakers. At a press briefing, presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda reiterated that President Aquino is firm on his stand that Charter change is not a priority of his administration. "Collusion? A secret favor? There’s no such thing. The President has already mentioned publicly that he is against or rather it is not a priority at this time to amend the Constitution whether in full or in part," Lacierda said. The House of Representatives and the Senate, during their legislative summit last week, agreed to amend the economic provisions of the 1987 Constitution. "We immediately inquired from the President what his position was and right off the bat, we got a text from the President and he said my [Aquino's] position still holds firm," Lacierda said. House Minority Leader Edcel Lagman earlier said that Aquino and his congressional allies are just "putting on a great show" to be able to proceed with Charter change while making the President "enjoy his personal popularity." "It is unbelievable that Malacañang is trying to detach itself from the Cha-cha train when the allies of the President are the ones pushing for this constitutional change," Lagman said at a press briefing Wednesday. "The President just wants to stick to his campaign promise that he is not in favor of Cha-cha but at the same time, give the go signal to his allies to proceed with Cha-cha. In other words, that’s a zarzuela, a moro-moro," he added. Aquino earlier thumbed down the move of the Senate and the House to proceed with Charter change. "We are in a democratic country, all of these ideas should be explored but if I’m asked my personal opinion I don’t think Chacha is a necessary move at this point in time," the President said Monday. "Yung reasoning na economic provisions pag-uusapan namin ng mga leaders, syempre kailangan kong pakinggan yung magkabilang panig. Hindi ako sang-ayon na yun ang solusyon para palaguin ang ating economiya," he added. Despite this, both leaders of the Senate and the House of Representatives expressed intentions to proceed with moves to amend the Constitution even without Palace support. — Amita Legaspi/RSJ, GMA News