The renewed Charter change (Cha-cha) initiative in Congress will not fly amid the Covid-19 pandemic, Anakalusugan Rep. Mike Defensor said today.

He made the statement in reaction to the proposal of Senators Ronald dela Rosa and Francis Tolentino for the House of Representatives and the Senate to convene as a constituent assembly to consider certain Cha-cha proposals.

The two senators want changes in the provisions of the Constitution on “democratic representation” and on the economy.

Defensor said 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.

Defensor warned his colleagues in Congress that 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.