In a press conference in Davao City on January 6, former President Rodrigo Duterte said he sees no reason to change the 1987 Constitution because “we have a good Constitution. I find it in perfect condition. There is absolutely nothing wrong with it.”
Duterte was reacting to ongoing efforts to push for Charter Change (Cha Cha) via people’s initiative, one of the three modes that may be resorted to in amending or changing the Constitution. A campaign has been started across the country to gather signatures for the move. In Butuan City, for instance, over 53,000 signatures were submitted on January 17 to the local Commission on Elections office.
The former President echoed his current anti-Cha-Cha sentiment during the “prayer-rally” on the night of January 28 at San Pedro Square in Davao City, where he condemned the alleged signature-buying for the people’s initiative linked to House Speaker Martin Romualdez.
During the rally, Duterte warned President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. of more rallies and trouble if he would not stop the push for Cha-Cha, and called on the military to intervene if the rallies would not be able to stop such a move.
As early as December last year, House leaders led by Speaker Romualdez had announced their intent to pursue Cha-Cha that will focus on economic provisions. They said they will pursue charter amendments with or without the Senate’s participation.
Yet, while he is now openly opposing Cha-Cha, along with his daughter Vice President Sara Duterte and sons Rep. Paolo Duterte and Davao City Mayor Sebastian Duterte, the former President had sought to replace the 1987 Constitution with a new charter to realize his campaign agenda to shift to a federal form of government.
In pushing for a federal setup, Duterte said there’s a need to abolish the current unitary form of government.
Duterte issued Executive Order No. 10 on December 6, 2016 creating a 25-member Consultative Committee tasked to review the 1987 Constitution. The committee, whose members were only appointed in January 2018, submitted the final draft of a proposed federal charter on July 3, 2018 and submitted it to Duterte on July 9, or six days after.
“In drafting this proposed Constitution, we were guided by one directive you gave – do what is best for our people,” retired Chief Justice Reynato Puno, Consultative Committee chair, referring to Duterte, said during the handover.
In a televised speech on June 18, 2018, Duterte declared that “the time for federalism has come.”
“We have to move away from the style of unitary form of government,” he said.
On June 26, 2019, during the oath-taking of allies who won in the midterm elections that year, Duterte, who had given up hopes on federalism, still pushed for Cha-Cha.
“If you do not want federalism, fine, but change the Constitution that would really change this nation,” he said in the same speech during the event.
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