Senate hearings on Charter change resolution set next week

THE Senate committee on constitutional amendments and revisions of laws is expected to hold hearings by next week on the resolution calling for Charter change (Cha-cha) that will enable the country to shift from a centralized to a federal form of government.

Committee chair Sen. Richard Gordon said he is studying when to schedule the hearings but said it will be soon.

Resolution author Senate minority leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. said the Gordon panel, which is part the Joint Oversight Committee on Poll Automation busy conducting hearings on the automation of elections in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), will be ready to hold hearings on the Cha-cha resolution as soon as it wraps up work on the ARMM polls.

Pimentel said he expects to get 20 senators in all to sign his joint resolution before the week ends. He said that despite their reservations on the timing and mode of amendment, Senators Benigno Aquino III and Francis Escudero are for it, provided the changes take effect after President Arroyo's term ends in 2010. "For purposes of debate, I'm supporting it," Escudero had said.

Pimentel said Senators Loren Legarda and Lito Lapid have also manifested support. He said he also plans to get the signature of Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano whose sister Pia has already signed the resolution.

Pimentel said Speaker Prospero Nograles and former Speaker Pangasinan Rep. Jose de Venecia have agreed to push for a counterpart joint resolution in the Lower House.

A joint resolution approved by both houses of Congress has the effect of a law.

Pimentel's 63-page resolution calls for the breaking up of the country into at least 11 federal states and one federal administrative region. These will be called the federal states of Northern Luzon, Central Luzon, Bicol and Southern Tagalog in Luzon; the federal states of Minparom (Mindoro-Palawan-Romblon-Marinduque), Eastern Visayas, Central Visayas and Western Visayas in the Visayas; and the federal states Northern Mindanao, Southern Mindanao and Bangsa-moro in Mindanao.

Metro Manila will be converted into a federal administrative region along the lines of Washington D.C. in the United States, New Delhi in India, or Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia. - Dennis Gadil