The ruling party in the Philippines has jettisoned plans to change the constitution ahead of elections in May, the Speaker of the lower house of Congress said Monday. Lawmakers allied to President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo voted last June to change the two-chamber Congress into a parliamentary assembly that could alter the constitution and remove term limits. That could have led to the cancellation of the May elections and allowed Arroyo to hold Congressional office again. However, lawmakers have realised there is not enough time left to bring about such changes. “There's no point in continuing with the proposal to change the constitution with only nine session days left in the legislative calendar,” Prospero Nograles, speaker of the 268-member House of Representatives and leader of the ruling coalition Lakas-Kampi-CMD, told reporters. “It might be difficult to muster a quorum for a special session,” he said. Nograles said about 75 percent of the lawmakers in the lower house are seeking re-election. About 50 million Filipino voters will choose a president, vice president and nearly 300 lawmakers in the two-chamber Congress, as well as more than 17,500 local positions, in the country's first automated elections in May.
