Let us first define the terms Con-Ass and Cha-Cha, before I give my argument as to why we should say yes to it so that other people will understand what is being talked about. Con-ass and Cha-Cha are both short terms which respectively refer to Constitutional Assembly and Charter Change.

Charter Change is a term used to refer to the act of amending and revising the Constitution. Charter Change by way of Constitutional Assembly is an issue which that has caused so much misunderstanding between the masses and the Arroyo Administration.

The 1987 Philippine Constitution has outlined three ways of amending or revising our Constitution. The three are namely: 1.) By way of a Constitutional Assembly (Con-Ass) (Congress, upon a vote of three-fourths of all its Members) 2.) By a Constitutional convention (Con-Con) 3.) People's Initiative

For all its fuss and the negativity towards Charter Change through Constitutional Assembly circling around the world of blogging, you may wonder why I am for it. So before you lash on me, here are my reasons. Firstly, there are no other means of implementing amendments and revision in our constitution except through Charter Change. I am for Charter Change because I believe that certain changes need to take place especially if it is for our well being and the change does in fact cater the needs of our time. In fact if we look at the US Constitution, it had 27 amendments since it was promulgated in 1787 of which the last amendment was done on May 1992. Some useful amendments to our constitution should be limiting the number of law makers since they are too many and quite expensive to maintain. Another one is adding a provision that would stop the proliferation of political dynasties. Well, enough of my suggestion as I will be making post devoted on that topic.

Among the three methods of implementing Charter Change, Constitutional Assembly is the most efficient method. This is the reason why I am also for Con-Ass. Constitutional Convention not only costs a lot of money but so much time will be wasted. A people's initiative is yet to be implemented and there has never been a law passed on how this should be exercised. Besides, it would also become very impractical should it be implemented. This leaves us with the Constitutional Assembly. Though it may sound ironic, we do still have intelligent lawmakers who can still produce very sensible amendments.

Well, those are my thoughts on the matter and the reasons why I am in favor of Con-Ass and Cha-Cha. The public, sadly, has been deceitfully misinformed about the real functions of Constitutional Assemble and Charter Change. This is because such as been paralleled to the extension of Mrs. Arroyo's term of office. The public should no that that such exercises are not only meant for term extensions of any president. Charter Change is definitely good as long as the change will better the lives of the people and Constitutional Assembly is the most practical way of doing it.

Yet this does not mean I am for Cha-Cha now. What would be practical is to have Charter Change after the scheduled May 2010 elections to avoid political unrest because of the misunderstanding. I am against Congress' plans of trying to have Cha-Cha now. Let us support Cha-Cha through a Constitutional Assembly after the May 2010 elections.