Deputy Speaker and Cagayan de Oro City Rep. Rufus Rodriguez urged his colleagues to leave the issue of Charter Change (Cha-Cha) to the incoming 19th Congress on January 18, 2022.
Following a day after the House of Representatives referred Resolution of Both Houses (RBH) No. 7 to its committee on constitutional amendments, from which Rodriguez formerly chaired, the Deputy Speaker made his appeal, addressing his statement to Congress.
“Obviously, we have no more time to tackle the resolution and other Cha-Cha proposals before we adjourn for the election campaign in two weeks, on February 5. So let’s allow the next Congress to decide on Cha-Cha,” Rodriguez stated, detailing that the 19th Congress should have it resolved during the early part of its three-year term.
“If we decide to pursue it, then we give it a priority, along with COVID-19 pandemic response measures. If not, then we set it aside and focus on legislation. This way, we will not be wasting time and taxpayers’ money,” Rodriguez added.
Rodriguez also stressed the vital role that the successor of President Duterte would have to play in handling the Cha-Cha early on his/her six-year term once elected.
“The President has no direct participation in the process of amending the Constitution,” Rodriguez stated. “But let’s face it, he has a say on it through his allies. Let’s accept the reality that Cha-Cha will not take off without the direct or indirect agreement.”
He even stressed how every constitutional amendment initiative since the Ramos presidency failed due to it being pursued at the latest possible time, which eventually gave rise to the suspicion that the outgoing administration and its allies were out to lengthen their stay in office.
Consequently, Rodriguez advised that it be done the first year of the next Congress and the first year of the six-year term of the next President to avoid such suspicion so that Cha-Cha would finally succeed.
RBH No. 7, authored by Pampanga Rep. Aurelio “Dong” Gonzales Jr., is the newest Cha-Cha measure in the House. Amongst these Charter Changes is Gonzales’ proposal of fixing the President’s term of office to five years with one reelection, instead of the present six years without reelection.
Rodriguez filed the first Cha-Cha resolution, RBH No. 1, in which he proposed that the current presidential form of government be shifted to a federal system.