One Step Forward, One Step Back

It'

s an irresistible coinage: "cha cha," short for charter change, has become the Philippines' preferred catchphrase for President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's push for a constitutional amendment that would shift the nation from an American-style bicameral legislature to a single-house parliamentary system. But political wrangling over the proposal is looking more like a rugby scrum than a pas de deux.

The latest dustup came last Thursday, when the House of Representatives, controlled by Arroyo allies, outraged the opposition-led Senate by voting to convene a constituent assembly that would allow the House to push through the measure without the Senate's consent. The same day, the President appointed Reynato Puno as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, just hours after his predecessor retired—leading to speculation that his vote could swing the Court's view on charter change in Arroyo's favor.

Supporters say the amendment would clear the legislative deadlock between the Philippines' House and Senate. But Arroyo's critics see the move as a naked power grab, noting that by invalidating current term limits, it could conceivably enable Arroyo to stay in power as Prime Minister after her term as President ends in 2010. One opposition senator, Panfilo Lacson, called last week's political maneuvering "nothing short of constitutional rape." The amendment also antagonized powerful business leaders and the country's formidable Catholic Bishops Conference, whose president, Angel Lagdameo, called the House's gambit "illegal and immoral."

With only a third of the public in favor of rewriting the constitution and mass protests against the plan scheduled for this week in Manila, House Speaker Jose de Venecia backed down on Saturday, inviting the Senate to join proposals for a publicly elected constitutional convention to discuss charter change. While Arroyo and her allies appear to have enough political muscle to force a vote, they may find compromise preferable to dancing alone.