MANILA, Philippines — The camp of Vice President Leni Robredo slammed new moves to amend the Constitution, calling it a “waste of people’s time and money.”
“It's amazing that even as we continue to struggle with Covid-19, lost jobs, and a shrinking economy, we have ‘leaders’ who still find ways to waste our people's time and money,” Robredo’s spokesperson, Barry Gutierrez said Thursday.
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Gutierrez quipped that perhaps the government should first ensure that it can provide vaccines for all Filipinos before wasting time on charter change.
Speaker Lord Allan Velasco (Marinduque) is leading the charge for charter change discussions in the House, with him giving a directive for the chamber’s constitutional amendments panel to tackle “restrictive” economic provisions in the Constitution.
House constitutional amendments committee chair Rep. Alfredo Garbin (AKO BICOL party-list) said they would solely focus on the Constitution’s economic provisions, which the leftist Makabayan bloc doubts as they pointed out that it is “open season” for any amendments to the charter, including term extensions and the lifting of term limits.
At the Senate, pro-administration Senators Bato dela Rosa and Francis Tolentino filed a resolution calling on Congress to convene into a constituent assembly to introduce amendments to the charter on “democratic representation.”
Some senators, however, are not keen on rebooting charter change discussions, with Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon saying that it has “zero chance of success” as the administration is already in its home stretch.
Malacañang, meanwhile, denied that President Rodrigo Duterte is seeking to extend his stay in the Palace beyond 2022, when he is supposed to step down.
But Senate President Tito Sotto said Duterte wants to use charter change to crack down on communist rebels by abolishing or amending the party-list system.
Duterte and his allies have routinely claimed, albeit without proof, that leftist party-lists and groups are legal fronts of communist rebels. The dangerous charge has been repeatedly denied by those accused. — Xave Gregorio