Flavier told reporters that the Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats (Lakas-CMD) gathering should not be taken as a "loyalty checking" conference although the meeting will be held at the turf of President Arroyo – titular head of the party.

Although the meeting has no set agenda as yet, Flavier said he suspects the meeting will be "dominated by discussions on contentious issues that are causing divisiveness among party stalwarts," including the recent pronouncement of former President Fidel V. Ramos, chairman emeritus of the party, for Mrs. Arroyo to resign before July.

The Lakas-CMD meeting on Saturday is only the second after party officers called for a similar gathering in July last year at the height of calls from various sectors for Arroyo to resign.

According to Flavier, he expects the meeting to flow freely from one topic to another, but the discussions, he said, will be dominated by policy issues that have spawned division among party members.

Flavier, an officer of Lakas-CMD, said a possible issue that will be tackled is Charter change, particularly the "no election" provision proposed by the Consultative Commission. He told reporters that the meeting would also be an opportunity to sense the "dominant feeling regarding calls for Arroyo’s resignation."

Asked whether party members are already tilting to favor Ramos’s call for Arroyo to cut her term, Flavier said "the President still has a strong following." He explained that this is not remarkable considering that Mrs. Arroyo is still President and thus "still has the power."

Flavier refused to comment whether the meeting will be a show of force between Arroyo and Ramos but said he believes that Ramos’s calls for the President’s resignation should be taken with a grain of salt.

"When a politician says that (waning confidence of Ramos) it means nothing," he said.

President Arroyo intends to finish her 6-year term of office

By GENALYN D. KABILING

President Arroyo intends to complete her sixyear term of office unless a new Constitution demands her resignation to facilitate a shift in government from presidential to parliamentary system.

This was Malacañang’s rejoinder in rejecting the suggestion of former President Fidel Ramos for Mrs. Arroyo to voluntarily step down by 2007 and join the race for parliament.

Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said the President will follow the rule of law and democratic process, particularly the looming plebiscite on an amended Charter even if its results include slashing her tenure.

"If Congress decides that she needs to cut her term, and that is approved and ratified by the people, the President will abide by this decision," Bunye said in a news briefing.

Bunye said President Arroyo thanks Ramos for his continued support but she would not relinquish power as recommended by her ally since her constitutional mandate could not just be ignored.

"President Arroyo sincerely appreciates the fact that former President Ramos supports her in the full range of nation-building efforts," Bunye said. "But the President was elected to serve the country until 2010 and no one can take the mandate from her except the sovereign people through constitutionally sanctioned means," he added.

Bunye said talks about cutting short the President’s term are still "premature," adding that the moves to change the Constitution have just started.

He acknowledged the "strong beliefs" of Ramos but surmised the eminent leader also stands for the rule of law and democratic process.

As this developed, the "Magnificicent Seven," or the seven members of the Consultative Constitutional Commission (Con-Com) who voted against the final commission report submitted to President Arroyo, yesterday warned that insisting on the "no elections" (No-el) in 2007 proposal by the Con-Com majority could jeopardize the entire commission’s recommendations on Charter change (Cha-Cha).

Led by Dr. Jose D. Villanueva, the seven said that by focusing only on the postponement of the 2007 elections as proposed in the transitory provision of the draft constitution, "many recommendations on national economy and patrimony, local autonomy, education, family, and health would go to waste."

This, Villanueva said, is "because in the plebiscite the people would simply vote ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to the entire proposed Constitution, and since the people are against the ‘no-el’ provision, they are likely to vote ‘no’ to the whole proposed Constitution."

Dr. Villanueva agreed with the observations of some members of Congress and other political analysts that the no elections proposal is highly divisive and could derail the government’s initiatives to sustain the country’s political stability.

He said that most Filipinos prefer the holding of the 2007 elections before the proposed transition to parliamentary system is made.

Administration  solons gang up  on Ramos

By BEN R. ROSARIO

Administration allies in the House of Representatives yesterday came out full force in defense of President Arroyo, ganging up on President Fidel V. Ramos with a battery of press statements assailing the former President’s demand for her resignation by the first half of 2007.

Majority Leader Prospero Nograles and Reps. Edcel Lagman (Independent, Albay), Prospero Pichay (Lakas, Surigao del Sur), Benasing Macarambon (NPC, Lanao del Sur), and Eduardo Veloso (NPC, Leyte) issued separate press statements chiding Ramos and advising President Arroyo to ignore him.

All five solons who stood in defense of the President during the impeachment controversy last year also aired uniform statements of appreciation at Ramos’ declaration of support for Arroyo.

However, the five House leaders frowned upon the former Chief Executive’s call for the incumbent’s resignation, with Lagman declaring the act as an "overbearing imposition."

In a press conference the other day, Ramos gave Arroyo until June 30, 2007 to resign and decide about her plans in the parliamentary election that was expected to be conducted next year.

Nograles said the FVR proposal would certainly be unpopular among the President’s allies in the House of Representatives.

He stressed that Arroyo was legally elected "by the people and so she should stay in power till 2010."

The senior administration lawmaker said the viable alternative to the FVR proposal would be for the government to implement at the soonest possible time parliamentary elections in 2007 while allowing her to finish her term until full transition in 2010.

In a separate statement, Pichay, a key ally of the President, said Ramos, who is chairman emeritus of Lakas-CMD, had no right to judge the President as to her performance versus graft and corruption, "when the systematic looting of the country’s power sector happened" during Ramos’s term of office.

He reminded Ramos that even his election in 1992 was not free of charges of fraud. He said Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago, who was the closest presidential rival of the former President, even took her protest of electoral fraud all the way to the Supreme Court.

Lagman said the Ramos proposal had no "legal basis and is premature."

He said the Ramos deadlines lack legal anchorage because the electoral mandate given to the President to serve until 2010 must be respected.

Lagman added that the Ramos initiative is also precipitate because there is even no certainty that constitutional change from presidential to parliamentary would be effected considering the resistance of the Senate.

Macarambon and Veloso noted that despite the conditions set by Ramos for Arroyo to earn his support, there remains a clear indication of "the strength of the administration and the solidarity of the ruling coalition with its common drive for further reforms."