Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's proposal for reform of the political system ran into opposition yesterday, delaying for perhaps months a solution to the crisis over an impeachment case against her.
A day after Arroyo called for a "great debate" on overhauling the dysfunctional political system, doubts were surfacing about whether the move was genuine or a diversionary tactic amid her worst political crisis.
Arroyo's allies and opponents alike were quick to pour cold water on the long-debated change to a parliamentary system from the US-style presidential system that many say has failed the country but benefits many politicians handsomely.
"The proponents of charter change should forget it altogether because the numbers are just not there to support it," said Senator Joker Arroyo, an ally of the president and no relation.
He noted that three-quarters of senators need to approve changes to the Constitution, but that 12 of the 23 were likely to oppose the idea. Charter change also needs the support of three-quarters of lower house lawmakers, who are sharply divided on how the new constitution should be drafted.
Stephen Wilford, Southeast Asia analyst for Control Risks Group, said Arroyo's call could be a ploy to divert congressional time and resources from her impeachment.
"I think cynics in the opposition will view this as a ploy to absorb Congress's time when it should be spent in building a case against her government," Wilford said.
Opposition law-makers filed an impeachment complaint against her on Monday over allegations of electoral fraud and corruption that could lead to a trial in the Senate. It was immediately sent to a justice committee after the opposition failed to get the one-third of votes needed to send it straight to a Senate trial. The failure to muster enough support for a quick impeachment trial has bought Arroyo valuable time.
The committee, which is stacked with Arroyo allies, has 60 working days to weigh the merits of the complaint before a vote by the lower house on whether to send it for a trial in the upper house, where defections have robbed Arroyo of her majority.
Arroyo said yesterday that she welcomed the filing of an impeachment complaint, but she dismissed the case for her removal from office as "weak."
"We welcome the filing of the impeachment charges against the president," her spokesman Ignacio Bunye said in a statement.
"It seems however that the proponents themselves feel they have a weak case. This is evident in their premature move of threatening to resort to extra-constitutional means should they fail," he said.
Arroyo's state of the nation speech to Congress on Monday disappointed those hoping for an inspiring plan of action to end a two-month-old political crisis and redouble efforts to tackle corruption, poverty and political division.
Proponents of constitutional change say it would help strengthen notoriously weak party loyalties and nurture better politicians.
Sceptics say it would do little to tackle root causes of the country's problems such as entrenched graft and the domination of politics and the economy by a few elite families.
"The nation is in a sorry state, and the presidential impeachment and charter change could lead to long-awaited drastic reforms," the Philippine Star said in an editorial.
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