Malacañang has said for the nth time President Rodrigo Duterte is not interested in extending his six-year term under the Constitution which expires in May 2022.
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque denied allegations Duterte was pushing for Charter change (Cha-cha) meant to extend the term of his office.
“There is no truth to the report. It’s merely rumors (sic). The President has made it clear, he does not want to stay even a minute beyond his term of office on June 30 of 2022,” Roque said in his regular Palace press briefing.
Talks on the proposed amending the 1987 Constitution resurfaced after Senators Ronald dela Rosa and Francis Tolentino, known allies of the Duterte administration, asked lawmakers to convene into a Constituent Assembly (Con-Ass) in a resolution filed December 7.
Reports also said that Ako Bicol Partylist Rep. Alfredo Garbin Jr., chair of the House committee on constitutional amendments, also announced that the lower chamber would resume the Cha-cha debates this month, focusing on “restrictive” economic provisions of the 1987 Constitution.
Garbin Jr. said the changes, if any, on the 1987 Constitution would only focus on the economic provisions.
Garbin added that extension or even lifting of the term limits on elected officials including members of Congress, that may result in the cancellation of the 2022 elections is not on the panel’s agenda.
“Speaker Lord Allan Velasco directed me to begin deliberations on the restrictive economic provisions in the 1987 Constitution as early as next week,” Garbin said in an interview.
“There will be no discussions on political issues, but only on the economic provisions.”
In Malacanang, Roque said the Palace respects lawmakers’ decision to renew calls of Cha-cha but stressed that the government’s top priority now was to secure and deliver COVID-19 vaccines to Filipinos.
Roque said that a postponement of 2022 national elections could only be possible through an amendment of the 1987 Constitution.
Garbin met on Wednesday with Velasco, Majority Leader Martin Romualdez, Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability chairman Michael Aglipay and Deputy Speaker Rufus Rodriguez, the former constitutional amendments panel chairman to discuss the Cha-cha hearings next week.
At least eight resolutions have been filed in the House seeking to amend the Constitution, including Resolution of Both Houses 2 authored by Velasco himself.
Garbin said his committee would treat RBH 2 – which would introduce amendments to the economic provisions under Articles II, XIV, and XVI of the Constitution – as the “mother measure” during the deliberations.
Under RBH 2, Velasco proposes to add the phrase “unless otherwise provided by law” on the constitutional restrictions that limits the participation of foreign investors in the governing body of entities based on their proportionate share in the capital.
RBH 2 calls on both the House and the Senate to convene into a Constituent Assembly (Con-Ass), one of the three allowed modes to change the Constitution, to amend these economic provisions.
Meanwhile, the Makabayan Bloc expressed belief that Charter change was not the solution to address the impact of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic to the country’s economy.
Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Isagani Zarate disputed Garbin’s statement that amending the economic provisions of the Constitution “ is one way of addressing the effects of the pandemic by opening up the entry of foreign direct investment, foreign capital dahil bagsak na bagsak ang ating ekonomiya and we are lagging behind pagdating sa mga FDIs [foreign direct investments] and inflows of foreign capital.”
He added the Cha-cha hearings supposedly aimed to amend only economic provisions might still end up introducing revisions in political provisions in the Constitution.
Gabriela party-list Rep. Arlene Brosas agreed. “What we need is an alternative path focused on genuine agrarian reform and national industrialization,” she said.
For her part, ACT Teachers party-list Rep. France Castro said there were already several measures that essentially aim to open up the country’s economy to foreigners.
In the Senate, Senate President Vicente Sotto III said he was aware of Senators Tolentino and dela Rosa’s Resolution of Both Houses of Congress filed last December 7, 2020.
Despite the impossibility of cha cha, Sotto however said there might be hope in “one or two points of amendments. “Off hand, if we talk about cha cha, it’s very tight, almost imposible,” he said.
He remembered Duterte saying the best way was “we remove the partylist system.”
He said the President has been very “hot” on the CPP-NPA issue and their sympathizers, majority of whom were partylist.
Sen. Panfilo Lacson said that without the certainty that both chambers of Congress would be voting separately, and there was none due to the vagueness of that particular provision in the 1987 Constitution — and only the Supreme Court could make such interpretation — it’s like taking one big step into a mousetrap, or even quicksand for that matter.
“Having said that, I think all of us 24 senators should discuss this matter very carefully before we even consider plenary debates on the said resolution if indeed there is one filed.”
Senate Minority Leader Franklin M. Drilon stressed Cha-cha in the final stretch of the Duterte administration would reach a dead end in the Senate as “is an exercise in futility.
“It will be a total waste of time. It won’t fly. Our history tells us that Cha-cha has a zero chance of success in any administration that is already in the home stretch,” Drilon said.
The minority leader vowed to oppose it along with his colleagues in the minority, Senators Risa Hontiveros, Francis Pangilinan and Leila de Lima.
Drilon said if the genuine objective was to open up the economy to attract more investments, the Congress could do it by way of amending and updating some economic laws.
Sen. Pangilinan said In fairness to the charter change proponents, the resolution was filed prior to the PSG vaccine controversy.
“As was our approach in the previous Congress, it would be best if the matter be tackled and discussed first in an all Senators Caucus wherein a consensus as to how to move forward hopefully can be reached,” he said.
He said among the issues that can be discussed in the caucus would be the timing of charter amendments considering that the country is facing the worst economic and health crisis in recent memory.
Meanwhile, Vice President Leni Robredo’s office said Thursday that the government should first secure a supply of COVID-19 vaccines before “wasting” resources on the push of President Rodrigo Duterte’s allies for charter change.
The government, with the help of local firms, has secured 2.6 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine from British drugs group AstraZeneca. Another order for at least 3.7 million doses is close to being finalized.
The country’s drug regulator has so far not yet approved a vaccine for local use.
In a related development, former Vice President Jejomar Binay opposed any move to change the Constitution amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
“What we need during this pandemic is coherent, caring and competent government, not Charter Change. Any discussion on amending the Constitution, even on the economic provisions, should be left to the next Congress,” said Binay.
He said the motives of sitting legislators tinkering with the Constitution a year before the scheduled election would always be suspect.
“Historically, these efforts are vigorously undertaken near the end of the terms of office of incumbents, which gives rise to suspicions that such amendments will benefit them,” said Binay.
He added “Millions are unemployed and starving. The economy is down. The people need a solution from the government, not Cha-Cha.”
In May last year, Binay’s daughter Senator Nancy Binay also expressed her opposition to the move of the Department of Interior and Local Government and Presidential Communications Operations Office to gather signatures to change the Constitution.
She said government agencies pushing for federalism should rather engage in an aggressive information campaign about the coronavirus disease instead of focusing their budgets on gathering signatures for charter change.
The lady senator added that the PCOO and the DILG should redirect their federalism roadshow budgets and instead prioritize public health interests in the light of a possible surge of the coronavirus infections under MECQ or GCQ. With Rio N. Araja and Joel E. Zurbano