INQUIRER.net Eleksyon 2007

‘No time for Charter change'--DILG chief

INQUIRER.net

Abigail Kwok

MANILA, Philippines -- Following the clamor against Charter Change from various sectors, an administration official stressed Friday that there would be no time to amend to Constitution and the 2010 elections would push through.

Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno said that amending the Constitution prior to the May 2010 elections was “virtually impossible” and the no election scenario was “frivolous.”

Apart from the lack of time available to amend the 1987 Constitution, Puno said amending the Constitution would make the country lose its credibility before the international community “if it flip-flops on its assurance on the holding of elections next year.”

In fact, Puno said his decision to pursue the vice president nomination from the Lakas-Kabalikat ng Malayang Pilipino Christian-Muslim Democrats was proof that there would be elections in 2010.

“The House of Representatives’ approval of a measure to convene a Constituent Assembly (Con-Ass) is merely being pursued to seek a clarification on how such a method should be legally and properly carried out, considering that the Constitution is ambiguous when it comes to implementing this mode of amending the Charter,” Puno clarified.

Puno said that pro-administration members of the House of the Representatives, which include 45 members of the erstwhile Kampi party, have informed President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo that the purpose behind the constituent assembly was only to “make it clear that they were not going against her recent declaration assuring the public that the elections will be held in 2010.”

“Mark my words and trust me, there will be elections in 2010 in accordance with the Constitution and our existing laws,” Puno said.

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