The Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) has temporarily shelved its Constitutional Reform (CORE) campaign because of the pandemic.

“So technically CORE is on the back burner now,” said DILG Undersecretary Jonathan Malaya said on Monday, Aug. 24, during an interview over CNN Philippines.
 
Malaya pointed out the DILG is currently focused on its response to the 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
 
“But of course we have not abandoned it. It is part of the duties and responsibilities or mandates of the DILG,” he assured.
 
“As soon as the COVID is over we will relaunch this campaign because we feel that the opportunity for changes in the Constitution is within the term of the President,” the DILG spokesman added.
 
Prior to the decision to suspend its CORE campaign, Malaya noted that DILG’s proposal for constitutional amendments was already presented and being heard at the House of Representatives committee on constitutional amendments.
 
“But in our discussions with Speaker Alan Cayetano and chairman Rufus Rodriguez it was also decided that we should first focus on COVID response,” Malaya recounted.
 
CORE had also sought to secure by the end of July two million signatures in support of constitutional amendments.
 
“We are far yet from the two million signatures that we intend to gather precisely because we are not able to fully mobilize our resources because we are focused on COVID response,” the undersecretary said.
 
On the other hand, Malaya said it is ill-timed for the group Mayor Rodrigo Roa Duterte-National Executive Coordinating Committee (MRRD-NECC) to call for a revolutionary government.
 
The undersecretary said the call has become a “distraction” from the government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
 
“Let’s leave it to the lawyers for them to determine whether this is just freedom of expression or inciting to sedition,” he added.