BY WENDELL VIGILIA

A LIBERAL Party congressman yesterday warned that the Con-Ass (Constituent Assembly) resolution in the House may go directly to the plenary if President Arroyo’s allies succeed in inserting it in another Charter Change resolution sponsored by Speaker Prospero Nograles during the period of amendments.

"During the period of amendments, you can add or take away from any proposed piece of legislation," Quezon Rep. Erin Tañada told reporters at the sidelines of the hearing of the committee on constitutional amendments on other various Charter Change proposals.

Tañada said the Con-Ass resolution of Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Villafuerte (Kampi) may be used as the mode in carrying out Nograles’ proposed amendment.

The Con-Ass resolution reportedly already has the signatures of 175 congressmen.

Nograles has said that it would be best to allow the plenary to decide what to do with the supposedly "conflicting" resolutions.

Plenary deliberations on Nograles’ HR 737 – which is just 15 signatures short of the constitutional requirement of a three-fourths House vote (179 signatories) to propose amendments – may begin anytime.

HR 737 seeks to allow foreign ownership of alienable public and private lands.

Tañada and some 20 of his party-mates are pushing for the convening of a Constitutional Convention (Con-Con), which requires two-thirds vote of Congress.

Villafuerte says that the Constitution provides that Congress may propose amendments by two-thirds vote of all members. This means, he said, that the House by itself can propose the amendments once it meets the constitutional requirement of three-fourths vote, or 197 signatories, of 261 members of Congress, which include the 23 senators.

During the hearing, committee on constitutional amendments chair Rep. Victor Ortega (Kampi, La Union) upheld Rep. Roilo Golez’ (Ind., Parañaque) interpretation that HR 737 may not "morph" into another "live" amendment which he said may include the extension of terms.

"I, for one, as chair of the committee, reject any and all amendment not pertaining to the subject matter (HR 737)," he said.

Golez said bringing the Con-Ass resolution straight to the plenary for deliberations will be an "insult and an affront to the committee" while Ortega said it will also be insult to him as the panel chair.

Ortega has said he will boycott deliberations if the Con-Ass resolution goes straight to the plenary.

Akbayan Rep. Risa Hontiveros, deputy minority leader, said the Con-Ass resolution is as good as dead.

"Puro porma, pero ni hindi man lang nakapag-first base," she said.

She wondered why the resolution has not yet been filed if it has indeed gathered 175 signatures. "Nobody knows if they were indeed able to gather that many signatures."

United Opposition (UNO) president Jejomar C. Binay said Malacañang should ask President Arroyo to tell her loyalists in Congress to drop Cha-Cha instead of asking the opposition not to hold protests.

"One public statement coming from Mrs. Arroyo herself will end all these Cha-Cha plans," Binay, also Makati mayor, said.

Deputy Palace spokesperson Lorelei Fajardo asked the opposition "to be more responsible" and drop their planned protests against Charter Change, saying the country does not need discord at a time of crisis.

Binay said the administration’s plan to amend the Constitution is the root of political discord.

"And at a time when Mrs. Arroyo can show leadership by telling her allies to stop Cha-Cha and focus on the economic crisis, she is surprisingly silent," he said. Binay said Arroyo’s silence on the issue is nothing short of an endorsement of Cha-Cha.

The Health Alliance for Democracy (HEAD) said the revival of Charter Change is the Arroyo administration’s version of Frankenstein’s monster.

"Like Dr. (Victor) Frankenstein, who sought immortality, Mrs. Arroyo is seeking to perpetuate not just her detested rule but also the exploitation of our natural resources and national patrimony," HEAD secretary-general Dr. Genevieve E. Rivera said.