Senator Christopher “Bong” Go, has expressed his openness to amending the 1987 Constitution, noting that it had stayed unchanged for 35 years.
However, he stressed that the revisions must be made in the best interest of the Filipino people.
For advocating for charter change, Go said he believes that now is the best time to do so while the government transitions into a fresh term.
“If we need to amend the Constitution and to have a charter change, it will be best now and not during the end of a term,” he said.
“Now when the term of an elected official is still fresh. Let us start now and carefully look into it,” he said.
Earlier, President Rodrigo Duterte had urged the next administration to begin the process of possibly amending the Constitution.
Among which is President Duterte’s specific proposal to fix the party-list system, saying that the current setup is being abused by leftist organizations.
Go, on the other hand, reiterated that any suggested amendment must benefit the Filipino people and not the politicians.
He said that he will oppose reforms that are only aimed at benefiting a chosen few.
Go also said that Duterte himself had been advocating for the government to switch to a federal-parliamentary system in order to give regions greater autonomy and attain equitable economic development across the country.
He said Duterte had advocated for a federal government as a way to resolve the country’s economic and political imbalances.
Finally, the senator urged the i coming administration to thoroughly study and review proposals to amend the Constitution while taking into consideration the efforts started by the Duterte administration.
In 2016, President Duterte ordered the creation of a consultative committee to review the 1987 Constitution. This set in motion efforts of the administration to pursue a federal system of government