With the campaign period for the presidential elections just a few weeks away, it is now ‘too late in the day” to amend any provision of the 1987 Constitution.
Senior members of the Lower House Committee on Constitutional Amendment aired this stand following the filing on Friday, Jan. 7 of proposed Resolution of Both Houses No. 7 by Pampanga 3rd District Rep. Aurelio “Dong” Gonzales Jr.
In filing RBH No. 7, Gonzales sought the lifting of term limits for the president, vice president and all other elective officials, except senators and barangay executives and councilmen.
Gonzales, chairman of the House Committee on Bases Conversion, sought to convene Congress into a constituent assembly to introduce the amendments to certain political provisions of the Charter.
“Too late in the day,” Ako Bicol Partylist Rep. Alfredo Garbin Jr. replied when asked to comment on the chances of Congress acting on RBH No. 7.
Garbin, chairman of the constitutional amendments panel, had played a major role in the adoption in the Lower House of a legislative measure seeking the revision of several economic provisions of the 34-year-old Charter.
However, the Lower House efforts proved fruitless as congressmen failed to convince their Senate counterparts to support the measure.
For his part, committee vice chairman and Kabayan Partylist Rep. Ron Salo entertained “serious reservations on the timing” of the filing of the new Charter revision proposal.
“Our people are now psychologically and mentally prepared to elect our country’s new leaders. Hence, the proposal is not consistent with our people’s expectations, which expectations is consistent with the provisions of the prevailing Constitution,” Salo explained.
The partylist lawmaker added: “To frustrate this valid expectation of the peple of electing their own leaders seems anathema to the ideals of our democratic institution.”
Agusan del Norte 1st District Rep. Lawrence Fortun, opposition representative in the panel, agreed with the members of the majority bloc.
"There is no time for that anymore in the 18th Congress. It’s already January. Sessions will adjourn on February 5 and will resume only on May 23 by which time the House’s attention will be devoted to the canvassing of votes for President and Vice President," said Fortun.
Deputy Speaker and Cagayan de Oro City Rep. Rufus Rodriguez has this short reply: “No time. No chance.”
RBH No. 7 seeks to extend the term of office of the president and the vice president to a total of ten years - five years upon elections and another five years for a succeeding re-election.
Aside from giving elective officials longer terms in office, RBH No. 7 also provides that in every presidential election, a vote for the president will also be counted as a vote for the vice president so long as both belong to the same political party.
“This is to encourage strong party system,” said Gonzales.
RBH No. 7 seeks to amend the following provisions of the 1987 Constitution: Section 7, Article VI on term limitations of members of the House of Representatives; Section 4, Article VII fixing the term of office of the president and the vice president and Section 8, Article X that sets the term of elective local officials, except barangay executives.
During the 17th Congress, Gonzales, together with then ABS Partylist Rep. Eugene De Vera, authored a similar resolution for constitutional revision that won strong support in the Lower House.
“Whereas, with the giganteum tasks given to the members of the House of Representatives, a need arises to increase their term of office from three years to five years but limiting them to only two consecutive five-year term in office,” he said.
He said the single six-year term of office granted a president is likewise insufficient for the chief executive to implement long term programs and policies.
The legislative proposal bars incumbent Lower House members on their third and final term to run for the same position in the next immediate election following the ratification of the proposed constitutional amendments.
The same imposition that is provided under the proposed transitory provision will apply to municipal or city officials.
The incumbent president, in this case, President Rodrigo Duterte, and his predecessors are ineligible to seek any elective position, including the presidency.