The conduct of a plebiscite to approve the constitutional commission’s draft federal Constitution is more practical, Senator Aquilino Pimentel III said Sunday.
He told dzBB radio that the plebiscite could be done simultaneously with the coming midterm elections in May next year.
“Just to be practical, I’m thinking about the time line. We can do the plebiscite to approve the federal constitution with the scheduled electoral exercise in May 2019,” Pimentel said.
He made his statement even as Vice President Leni Robredo assailed the planned amendment of the 1987 Constitution as “untimely,” saying the country was plagued with more important and pressing concerns such as inflation and the killings of local officials.
“It is not timely to discuss the amendment of the Constitution, especially the proposal to change the term of [elected] leaders and the postponement of the next elections because there are too many issues besetting our people,” she said.
Pimentel said the plebiscite time line still depended on the speed of the process in the government branches which would receive and review the draft federal charter.
The 22-man Con-Com, created by President Rodrigo Duterte, had submitted to him the final draft of the proposed amendments to the 1987 Constitution with a shift to a federal form of government.
If the Office of the President will act swiftly on the proposed draft, it could be forwarded to Congress.
“By October or November, we will already have the prepared draft. It will be difficult to wait until October,” Pimentel said.
He said the final draft of the federal Charter was expected to be delivered to Duterte on July 9, two weeks before he delivers his third State of the Nation Address on July 23.
He believes the Con-Com’s approval of the final draft of the federal Charter is right on schedule
Senator Bam Aquino has urged the public to be vigilant about the government’s Charter change move, saying it could deprive the people of the right to choose their next leaders.
He expressed alarm because, he said, under the Charter change being pushed by the current administration, the right of the people to chose and make a decision would be lost.
He said the Filipino people would be at the losing end if the administration insisted on postponing the 2019 elections.
He assured the public that the opposition would keep a close watch on the government’s efforts to change the 1987 Constitution to ensure that the Filipino people’s interest would be protected.