THE chairman of the House Committee on Constitutional Amendments on Thursday said the lower chamber will “shelve indefinitely” the proposal to amend the 1987 Constitution.
In a news statement, Cagayan de Oro City Rep. Rufus Rodriguez doused cold water on moves by advocates to push for Charter change (Cha-cha) amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
In the meantime, he said, his committee is suspending consideration of any Cha-cha proposal.
He said the revived campaign is a waste of time, effort and money “because we will not act on Cha-cha while our people are suffering and are in danger of getting infected by the coronavirus.”
“Cha-cha can wait. We will first have to attend to measures that will save lives and the livelihood of our people,” he said.
According to Rodriguez, if the House is not disposed to act on Cha-cha at this time, more so is the Senate, which is opposed to Cha-cha.
“So my message to Cha-cha advocates and their DILG patrons is: stop it. It won’t fly while there is a pandemic,” he added.
The lawmaker also expressed confidence that Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano would favor his recommendation “since he has repeatedly declared that he wants us to work on Covid-19-related measures without any divisive issue distracting us.”
“I am inclined to recommend to the Speaker that we shelve Cha-cha indefinitely so we can focus on measures to fight this pandemic, help our affected people and prepare the nation for post-lockdown and post-coronavirus disease, or the new normal life,” Rodriguez said.
Reports said that local officials and other Cha-cha supporters identified with the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) have resumed their signature-gathering campaign to push for Cha-cha even while the country is battling Covid-19.
“This is not the time for the DILG and its allies to relaunch their signature drive and renew their push for Cha-cha. They should postpone it until this health crisis is over,” Rodriguez said.
In February, the committee has reconsidered the resolution of both houses seeking to propose amendments to the 1987 Constitution to include the proposals of the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF), including the Mandanas ruling, which will increase the Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA).
Cha-cha seeks to amend Articles VI (Legislative Department), X (Local Government), XII (National Patrimony), XIV (Education, Science and Technology, Arts, Culture and Sports) and XVI (General Provisions) of the 1987 Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines.
It seeks to amend the provisions of the Constitution, particularly Section 2, Section 3, Section 4, Section 7, Section 10, Section 11, of Article XII or the National Patrimony and Economy by inserting unless otherwise provided by law. These amendments seek to relax the restrictive foreign ownership to attract more foreign investments.
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