CAGAYAN de Oro City Rep. Rufus Rodriguez wants the House of Representatives to indefinitely shelve its Charter change initiative to allow lawmakers to focus on measures to fight the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.
Rodriguez, who is the chairman of the House committee on constitutional amendments, on Thursday said: “I am inclined to recommend to the Speaker that we shelve Cha-cha indefinitely so we can focus on measures to fight this pandemic, help our affected people and prepare the nation for post-lockdown and post-coronavirus disease, or the new-normal life.”
Rodriguez said his committee is suspending consideration of all pending proposals seeking to amend the Constitution.
He expressed confidence that Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano will approve his recommendation “since he has repeatedly declared that he wants us to work on Covid-19-related measures without any divisive issue distracting us.”
The senior lawmaker made the statement in the wake of reports that local officials and other Cha-cha supporters identified with the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) have continued their signature-gathering campaign to push for Cha-cha even while the country is battling COVID-19.
“This is not the time for the DILG and its allies to relaunch their signature drive and renew their push for Cha-cha. They should postpone it until this health crisis is over,” Rodriguez said.
DILG Secretary Eduardo Año, who is a member of the inter-agency task force fighting the pandemic, on Wednesday said he has ordered a stop to the signature campaign.
Rodriguez said the revived campaign is a waste of time, effort and money “because we will not act on Cha-cha while our people are suffering and are in danger of getting infected by the coronavirus.”
“Cha-cha can wait. We will first have to attend to measures that will save lives and the livelihood of our people,” he said.
The constitutional amendments panel has yet to vote on proposals to amend the Constitution after taking into consideration the proposals of the DILG-led inter-agency task force on constitutional amendments.
In a closed-door meeting late last year, the panel adopted a resolution seeking to amend the Constitution to lift its economic restrictions and fix the terms of legislators and local officials to five years subject to three re-elections. The resolution was approved in an executive session even after President Duterte made it clear that Cha-cha is not a priority in his remaining three years.
Lawmakers later on withdrew the committee report on the measure so it can belatedly consider the recommendations of the DILG task force, which is composed of 11 representatives from various government agencies. The task force is chaired by Año while Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra is its vice chairman.
