Pampanga 3rd district Rep. Aurelio “Dong” Gonzales Jr. wants to amend the President's and Vice President’s term of office from six years down to five years with one re-election by seeking charter change (Cha-cha) or constitutional reform.
Gonzales, on Thursday, June 30, filed a resolution urging the House towards his proposed changes for the presidential and vice presidential terms. He filed a similar resolution in the 18th Congress though it did not come to fruition.
“This clear majority mandate of our new President and Vice President would be the green light from our citizenry to proceed to the discussion on Charter change,” he said in a statement on Friday, July 1.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Vice President Sara Duterte-Carpio garnered 31,629,783 (58.77 percent of total votes cast) and 32,208,417 votes (61.53 percent of the total) respectively.
His proposal also includes five year terms with one re-election for lawmakers of the House of Representatives and for local officials instead of the three years with two re-elections currently afforded to them.
Gonzales, in his proposed reforms, also wants tandem voting for presidential and vice presidential candidates belonging to the same political party.
He has been a long-time proponent of the proposed cha-cha reforms, as he says that the current six year terms of office are insufficient for the implementation of long-term policies.
“It has been 35 years, 12 Congresses, seven presidencies, and 12 local elections since the Charter was ratified...We are now on the road to recovery, having more than P12 trillion in national debt due to the Covid-19 pandemic and most recently the high prices of fuel due to the Russia-Ukraine war. A long-term solution is wanting; hence, longer term policy on good and competent leadership should be put in place,” Gonzales concluded.
Read more here: https://mb.com.ph/2022/03/18/heres-why-palace-bets-shouldnt-be-afraid-to-bare-stand-on-gonzaless-proposed-political-cha-cha/