With just over a year left in the six-year term of President Duterte to pursue his Charter change bid, an ally in the House of Representatives said the renewed initiative for amendments to the 1987 Constitution will not likely succeed under a COVID-19 situation that continues to grip the country.

Anakalusugan Rep. Mike Defensor said that it is still “not the right time” for Charter reform that is being strongly pushed by staunch Duterte allies Senators Ronaldo de la Rosa and Francis Tolentino.

The two senators filed a resolution proposing to convene the two Houses of Congress into a Constituent Assembly to consider certain amendments to Charter provisions.

It will be recalled that addressing the allegedly restrictive economic provisions of the 1987 Constitution is among the campaign promises of Duterte when he campaigned for the presidency in 2016.

But while Defensor tried to douse cold water to the Senate Charter change activity, it appeared that the House is supportive of constitutional change.

After being elected as the new chairman of the House Committee on Constitutional Reforms last December, Ako Bicol party-list Rep. Alfredo Garbin said the House panel will be among the busiest among House committees this year.

Garbin gave up a more influential and powerful position as a senior member of the House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal to accept his new post.

“Restrictive economic provisions are what we are eyeing (to take up) due to the fact that the same no longer conform to the needs of time,” said Garbin in a text message last year.

“In order to realize the benefits of full inclusive growth, the said restrictive economic provisions must be lifted that hampers the flow of foreign capital investment,” he added.

Tolentino and De la Rosa are batting for changes n the provisions of the Constitution on “democratic representation” and on the economy.

Defensor stressed that that he is open to a review of the 34-year-old Constitution drafted by a commission and approved by the people in a plebiscite during the first Aquino administration.

“I am for it, but the question is timing, and today, while we are still battling the COVID-19 pandemic and not achieving much success, is not the right time,” he said.

He said people would accuse members of Congress of being “insensitive to their suffering and even arrogant if we tackle Cha-cha now.”

“Cha-cha is not the solution to the pandemic and economic hardship our people have to grapple with every day,” he added.

The former chairman of the House Committee on Public Accounts warned his congressional colleagues tackling Cha-cha now could adversely affect the country’s COVID-19 response.

“Cha-cha is a highly divisive issue. It will sap the nation’s attention, resources, logistics, and manpower, which will all be diverted to this untimely effort,” he said.

He said the public might also accuse lawmakers of aiming to extend the stay in power of elective officials by working on Cha-cha toward the end of the term of the Duterte administration and their own term of office.

He said every Cha-cha initiative in the past failed because it was undertaken toward the end of every sitting administration.

“People always suspected that members of Congress were out to scrap the term limits and prolong their stay in office,” he added.