Fate of Cha-Cha up to Congress: Palace

His statement came after the House committee on constitutional amendments voted on Wednesday in favor of the proposals to amend the 1987 Constitution. (File Photo: House of Representatives of the Philippines/Facebook)

MANILA — President Rodrigo Duterte will leave to Congress the fate of his administration’s proposed amendments to the 1987 Constitution, Malacañang said on Friday.

In an interview with CNN Philippines, Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said the executive branch would let the legislators exercise their independence with regard to proposals to revise the Constitution.

“Ay hindi natin alam ‘yan (We do not know that yet),” Panelo said when quizzed if the Palace thinks that the plan to craft a new charter is still doable under Duterte’s watch.

“Depende ‘yun sa mga miyembro ng Kongreso. Hindi naman nakikialam ang Presidente diyan (That depends on the members of Congress. The President does not interfere),” he added.

His statement came after the House committee on constitutional amendments voted on Wednesday in favor of the proposals to amend the 1987 Constitution.

Cagayan de Oro City Rep. Rufus Rodriguez, chair of the committee, noted that the approved amendments to the Constitution include Congress’ power to relax limits to foreign investments, tandem voting for President and Vice President, five-year term for lawmakers and local executives with a maximum of three consecutive terms, election of three senators per region, and division of the country into nine regions.

Sought to react to proposed amendments, Panelo said the Palace would let Congress act on its own.

Panelo also noted that the Filipino people have the final say on the fate of the proposed changes in the Constitution.

“Sa ngayon siguro, pabayaan muna natin ang mga nasa loob ng Kongreso dahil sila ang mag-aaral niyan kasi alam mo ‘yang mga panukalang Saligang Batas (Perhaps, we’ll let Congress to do its job and study it since under the 1987 Constitution), ultimately the people will decide on that,” he said.

Under Section 1 of Article 7 in the 1987 Constitution, any amendment to the Constitution may be proposed either through three-fourth of votes of Congress members, a constitutional convention, or a plebiscite.

The Local Government department on Tuesday said the President’s push to amend the Constitution has the support of at least 256 local chief executives and 22,469 citizens.