The Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines has maintained its position against Charter change especially amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
"We are against Charter change, based on previous statements. And we still are," CBCP Vice President and Caloocan Bishop Pablo David said in a virtual press briefing Thursday.
"We have made ourselves very clear in the 2018 CBCP pastoral statement on Charter change. It is still very relevant. The basic questions are still same. Why now?" he added.
"Especially in the context of pandemic? All the more reason to be suspicious. Why you would be bringing in the agenda of Cha-cha when our focus and priority should be the pandemic?" David said.
The CBCP in their January 2018 statement said they agree with the opinion that "the solution we seek is ultimately the transformation of our political culture, the eradication of a political mindset of personalities, pay-offs, and patronage, and not the amendment of the 1987 Constitution."
The statement was reiterated by the CBCP-National Secretariat for Social Action (NASSA).
"The present unstable governance is very susceptible to corruption of the mind. Therefore, the Charter change can be used as a ploy for ‘NO-EL’ (no election), term extension, or a revolutionary government – all of which are detrimental to people’s welfare," it said.
CBCP President Davao Archbishop Romulo Valles said they support the statement of NASSA.
"We support the statement of that commission. When I mentioned two previous documents from the CBCP, with prudent wordings, we said not yet, not this time," he said.