The mounting opposition to the move has forced the House led by Speaker Jose de Venecia to back down and resort to a call for a Constitutional Convention similar to what President Marcos did to perpetuate himself in power.

If the original plan succeeded, the May election would have been scrapped and the members of the House whose terms expire next year can continue to remain in office.

The CBCP called for a “massive prayer rally” on Dec. 15 to send a strong message to charter change proponents that amending the 1987 Constitution without Senate participation is illegal and immoral.

The four-million strong El Shaddai community will follow with its own rally the next day. Both will be held at the Luneta. On Dec. 7, supporters of President Joseph Estrada mounted a vigil at the Edsa Shrine in Mandaluyong. The United Opposition and anti-Cha-cha organizations also organized protest actions Dec. 11. Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay, UNO president, said labor, civil society, students and professionals will participate in the rally.

Binay said the rejection of Con-Ass could be the tipping point in uniting all forces opposed to President Arroyo.

The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) denounced the “indecent haste” of the House which is dominated by followers of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to change the Constitution and transform the system of government to a parliamentary form.

Jaro Archbishop Angel Lagdameo, president of the CBCP called on the people to hold prayer rallies to stop what he termed as the “fraudulently illegitimate and scandalously immoral” move by the House the change the Constitution.

Joining the call are El Shaddai, the opposition and leftist groups who called for massive rallies and demonstrations, including laying siege to the House of Representatives.

Archbishop Lagdameo said that with the People’s Initiative defeated by the high court, these fresh efforts of the pro-Arroyo congressmen to revise the 1987 Charter are “perceivably self serving on their part.”

Failing to get the Supreme Court to approve the People’s Initiative to change the charter, followers of Arroyo turned to the alternative of transforming Congress into a constituent assembly. Because the Senate does not approve of the House move, the latter merely changed the rules and went on to propose the creation of the constituent assembly.

“We continue to hold that the way to change the Charter is not by way of a Constituent Assembly (Con-ass) but by way of a Constitutional Convention,” Lagdameo said in a statement in reaction to the marathon hearing being conducted by the House.

With the congressmen in a hurry to amend the Constitution, Lagdameo called on the faithful to be vigilant and object strongly to the government-backed Con-ass as he pointed that the “haste is questionable and suspicious."

“We encourage our people in the parishes to be vigilant, to express their opposition to Con-ass and to offer prayers for our government," added the CBCP president.

At the same time, Lagdameo expressed grave doubts about the motives of the House majority in pushing the Con-ass, saying “why can’t they entrust the Cha-cha to others? Why are our administration congressmen desperately in a hurry? The haste is questionable and suspicious."

He reiterated that it is not the Constitution that needs to be amended.

It is the people in government who must be changed, as it is they who are committing graft and corruption.

“Graft and corruption cannot be committed by the Constitution, but by the improper application of it. It is the people (in government) who are guilty of graft and corruption who need to change. God help us! God help our country!," he declared.

‘Neither the Constitution of the Land nor any form of government will work miracles for the good of the people, It will be the people who run all the institutions of government through honest work that will. Any system of government, presidential or parliamentary or monarchy, will be good if the leaders in it are servant-leaders, men of credible integrity and transparent accountability," he concluded.

The opposition in the House meanwhile, small in number as its members are, vowed to exert each and every available means to block Speaker Jose de Venecia’s Cha-cha train.

House minority leader Francis Escudero said they will move to thwart every unconstitutional move of Malaca±ang and its allies who are determined to convene Congress into Con-ass this week.

‘We will exert any and all efforts within parliamentary rules to prevent them from doing what we believe to be an unconstitutional and illegal act," Escudero said.

“I guess they (administration allies) would have to do what they have to do which is to try to finish this at the soonest possible time regardless of the rules, regardless of the laws of the state, regardless what the Constitution provides," he said then added that while the majority members of the House succeeded in deleting Section 105 of the Rules of the House, they however overlooked the possibilities on other issues that the opposition may raise.

‘They won that vote in so far as amending the rules are concerned. But they forgot to amend other provisions of our rules which provide for the right thing to do. It will provide for the same thing essentially, we just proposed a rule to delay it for 15 days and actually provide notice," the minority leader said.

The majority did not blink an eye, as they have filed a new resolution, authored by Majority Leader Prospero Nograles.

But Speaker Jose de Venecia, in attempting to justify the indecent haste amid charges of illegality and unconstitutionality of the measure, said: “The Senate will not be bypassed. We will invite the senators to join us and exercise their sacrosanct duty in the discussion on the proposed Charter amendments."

He brushed aside speculations and criticism that the House would exclude senators from the proposed assembly.

‘We never had the intention to bypass our Senate counterparts on the matter of proposing amendments to the Charter as insisted by detractors of reforms," de Venecia and Nograles said.

But the opposition maintained that the intention of the House is to proceed with the Con-ass even without the Senate by their assertion of a provision in the Constitution that says a vote of three-fourths means a joint vote by senators and congressmen, it means that they would vote jointly.

At least 195 of all the members of Congress, under the De Venecia proposal, would approve the proposed amendments before these could be sent to the Commission on Elections which would set the date for plebiscite to ratify the amendments.

To date, the majority has failed to attain the so-called magic number that would favor the convening of Congress into a Con-ass.

For its part, Malaca±ang expressed full support to the railroading done by its congressional allies to bring about Cha-cha through the Con-ass but stressed that President Arroyo is not its mastermind.

Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said Mrs. Arroyo did not intervene and the moves made by their allies were purely their own.

“The President cannot intervene in this, since this is a part of the process in the House," Ermita was quoted as saying in a weekly press conference in Malacanang.