Manila's Arroyo endorses political reform petition

MANILA, Mar 30 (Reuters) Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo today strongly endorsed a public petition to change the constitution, abolishing the upper house of Congress dominated by her political enemies.

But analysts say attempts to replace the presidential system with a parliamentary setup this year are likely to be stymied by political and legal bickering and argue that such a shift, if ever achieved, could actually increase political instability.

A non-government group calling itself ''Sigaw ng Bayan'' (Call of the people) has said it has gathered around 5 million of the approximately 5.2 million signatures required to hold a national vote on charter change.

''The true power of the people is being felt in the signature campaign to change the government,'' Arroyo told a donors' meeting in a mountain resort south of Manila.

Arroyo, dogged by allegations she cheated in the 2004 election, said she wanted to put an end to ''petty politics'' but she faces opposition from the Senate and from groups who fear she is using charter change to postpone 2007 congressional elections.

Under Philippine laws, there were only three ways to change the constitution -- convene the current two houses of Congress into a constituent assembly, elect members to a constitutional convention and gather signatures through a people's initiative.

Twenty-one of 23 members of the Senate, including Arroyo's allies, have signed a resolution opposing charter change.

They pointed out the Supreme Court in 1998 threw out a similar people's signature campaign, ruling that the Philippines has no ''enabling law'' that allows such campaigns to revise certain constitutional provisions.

WHAT-IFS But Jose de Venecia, the head of the 236-member lower house of Congress, said he was confident a new unicameral parliament would be in place this year due to parallel efforts by lawmakers and people's groups to amend the 1987 constitution.

He said they were 11 signatures short of convening the two houses of Congress into a constituent assembly, referred to as ''con-ass'' in the media, to re-write the constitution.

But Erin Prelypchan of Pacific Strategies&Assessments said constitutional change in the short-term was wishful thinking.

''There are too many what-ifs. Even if it did happen it would be counterproductive because a parliamentary system without strong parties would be a nightmare. So much time would be spent forming and breaking coalitions.'' Elite dynasties dominate the current U.S.-designed system of checks and balances resulting in policy gridlock and the exclusion of tens of millions of impoverished Filipinos.

Arroyo has been pushing the reform since she survived an impeachment attempt last year and an alleged coup last month.

At the donor's meeting, the European Union called on the government to respect human rights in the wake of last month's political crisis, during which Arroyo declared a week of emergency rule to crack down on alleged plotters and pro-opposition media outlets.

Human rights advocates have complained that the government continued to break up protests, arrest activists and crack down on political dissent, including local journalists critical of the government.

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