It wasn’t a firm presidential rejection of changing the Charter as President Aquino left the Palace door open to Congress to amend certain sections in the Constitution.
Congress leaders are now  looking at the  prospect of seeing Charter change (Cha-cha) take off under the Aquino administration, following a move by the President to have the matter assessed by his economic managers, in relation to possible gains to the country.
While Aquino was said to have stood his ground on Cha-cha not being a priority of his administration, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile said the Chief Executive did not reject outright their Cha-cha proposal.
Enrile relayed the outcome of the meeting that he, House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte, House Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales II had yesterday morning withAquino and Budget Secretary Florencio Abad in Malacañang to discuss their proposed amendments in some of the key economic provisions of the 1987 Constitution.
Aquino’s non rejection of Cha-cha being proposed by leaders of Congress was seen as a gradual transition from firm to otherwise, as he agreed to the Senate President’s proposal for him to  form a special cluster that would meticulously look into the economic provisions requiring an overhaul seen as providing Malacañang with special powers to tap other government funds and ensure formidable defense capability to repel aggression by foreign forces.
Aquino’s official spokesman Edwin Lacierda made the announcement on the President’s concurrence to the request of the Senate President and the Speaker, who wanted Aquino  to form a group, later referred to as Special Cluster on Charter change (Cha-cha), that would make a detailed study and provide the appropriate recommendation on economic provisions that the legislative leaders specifically want amended.
Lacierda, however, claimed that even as the meeting officially commenced, the President also made public his reservations on Cha-cha.
In a press briefing, Lacierda gave  Palace reporters the account of their discussion, supposedly a “closed door meeting.”
“The President, the Speaker and the Senate President are still meeting. And I received word from the President and let me quote the President so there would be no mistake: ‘I stated my opposition but we agreed to have the underlying basis studied by the economic and legal clusters with private sector participation upon the suggestions of both the Senate President and the Speaker.’
So that’s basically the substance of the meeting. The President has stated, maintained his opposition but he has agreed upon the suggestion of the Senate President and the Speaker to have the basis studied by the economic and legal clusters,” Lacierda said.
Lacierda said that the idea of creating a study group came from Senator Enrile, who had earlier described constitutional change as timely, citing several instances that saw the inability of the Philippine Navy and government coast guard to defend sovereign territories from poachers and foreign forces from neighboring Asian countries claiming Spratlys.
“Well, this is a suggestion made by the Senate President and the Speaker and he is open to having the economic cluster, the legal cluster — the legal team — and also the involvement of private sector participation. So is this the new task force that he’s saying? I’m not fully sure about it but certainly he is open to having these concerns or the underlying basis for Cha-cha studied by the clusters and with private sector participation,” Lacierda said, adding that the study group would play a “ministerial role” in the laying out on the points of reference, assertions and justifications of the leaders from both the Senate and the House of Representatives, with regard to their efforts seen pushing and determined for Cha-cha.
“Primarily to lay out what are the justifications that convinced the Senate President and the Speaker from advocating Cha-cha and that’s about it. That’s just a study... The group is supposed to study the underlying basis. That’s the exact words of the President. As to what they are, let’s leave it to the group to formulate whatever study that they will come up with; what will be the substance of the study” he added.
Asked whether the president intends to use the result of the special cluster’s study as among the basis in rendering a decision, Lacierda would not make any definite reply determining the importance of the study and the purpose for which the special cluster was created.
Aquino’s special cluster will be composed of a representative from the legal department of Malacañang, one from the economic cluster, Enrile, Belmonte and a representative from the private sector.
The study, Lacierda further noted, will be limited to economic provisions and would largely entail the expertise of the economic and legal clusters, as the Senate President last week assured the President that they would only delve on proposed amendments to some economic provisions of the Constitution while staying away from touching on term limits.
“Upon our request, he has  asked that our proposal be studied by the Neda (National Economic Development Authority) and the other stakeholders to determine the benefits to the country, which is fair,” Enrile told reporters, adding that there was no outright rejection coming from the President over their proposal.
“He did not (reject it). We had a fair, very cordial and friendly exchange of views. But as far as I understood him, he maintained his present position but he gave us a hearing and upon our request, agreed that it be submitted for study by the economic managers of the nation and that is proper in order to determine whether indeed there will be a benefit to the country if we do the exercise,” he explained.
Enrile does not have idea whether Aquino has given the Neda any specific time frame to come up with the results of their study.
“I think he also wants to finish it in the shortest possible time,” he said.
The Senate chief said he was quite satisfied with how their meeting had transpired although he himself could not tell whether they were able to convince Aquino to re-think his position against Cha-cha.
“I would not want to make an assumption (if Aquino was convinced because it will look like) I will render an opinion (on him). Most of the talking was done by the Speaker,” he said.
House Majority Leader Rep. Gonzales, who joined Belmonte and Enrile in a bid to away the position of the president on Charter change, said the  President  was more circumspect in amending the Constitution.
“The President reiterated his opposition to Cha-cha, nor being convinced at this point how it can contribute to economic progress, particularly in the light of the fact that we may be accused of changing the rules of the game,” said Gonzales.
“At any rate, the President agreed to the suggestion of Senate President Enrile and Speaker Belmonte to have the economic cluster of the Cabinet in consultation with the private sectors/stakeholders to study it and make the corresponding recommendations as soon as possible,” said Gonzales.
Belmonte said they (He and Enrile) did their part as House leaders in explaining to President Aquino the benefits of Cha-cha.
“We explained our proposal. We discussed it. He has his reservations but on our joint request he will refer it for study and comment by his economic and legal teams in consultation with the private sector,” said Belmonte.
When asked if this would trigger the death of Cha-cha in the present 15th Congress, Gonzales smiled, hinting that amending the Constitution would no longer be pushed through.
Earlier, Belmonte and Gonzales agreed they needed the support of President Aquino to successfully push Cha-cha.
Gonzales said he and the Speaker believe that Cha-cha can be undertaken by just adding the words “unless otherwise provided by law” to certain constitutional provisions.
According to the lawmakers only three provisions would be changed in the Constitution, that is: the restriction on direct foreign investment; the ownership of land; the ownership of public utilities and the exploration of natural resources. At present foreign national are limited on only 40 percent equity in business ventures.          By Angie M. Rosales, Fernan J. Angeles and Gerry Baldo