People will decide on term of office of legislators: Palace

FILE: President Rodrigo Duterte faces the public and lawmakers of the 18th Congress as he delivers his 4th State of the Nation Address (SONA) on Monday (July 22, 2019). (PNA photo by Oliver Marquez)

MANILA – It will be up to the Filipino people to decide to either extend or limit the term of office for senators in a plebiscite should amendments to the 1987 Constitution be introduced, Malacañang said on Thursday.

This, after Cagayan de Oro City Rep. Rufus Rodriguez filed House Concurrent Resolution No. 1 which proposes amendments to the Senate composition, including the election of 27 senators with three representing each of the nine regions in the country.

Rodriguez’s resolution suggested that the term of office of senators will be four years, from the current six years, but limited to three consecutive terms.

It also proposed that the term of office of members of the House of Representatives will be four years, from the current three years, but limited to three consecutive terms.

Senate President Vicente Sotto III slammed the House for insisting on shorter terms of office for senators.

Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo shrugged off the disagreement between the two chambers of Congress.

“Kung hindi sila nagkakasundo, ano ang magagawa natin doon. Pero kung magkasundo man sila, iyong taumbayan pa rin ang magde-decide (If they disagree, what can we do about it. But if they agree, the people will still be the ones to decide) whether or not they will extend the term or limit the term of senators and members of Congress,” Panelo said in a Palace briefing.

“We will leave it to the judgment of the people in a plebiscite. When such proposed amendment is submitted to them for ratification,” he added.

Meanwhile, Panelo reminded Rodriguez that amendments to the Constitution can only be introduced when the Congress convenes either as a Constituent Assembly (Con-Ass) or Constitutional Convention (Con-Con).

“There is no such thing as concurrent lang, eh di resolution lang iyon (then that’s just a resolution). You do not amend the Constitution by concurrent resolution,” Panelo said.

“You amend it by way of a constituent assembly introducing amendments to the Constitution and ratified by the people or by a constitutional convention or by the initiative of the people. That’s the only way or three ways to amend it,” he added.

Panelo said Rodriguez’s House Concurrent Resolution is only as good as a “proposal” as there is no way to pass a law amending the provision of the Constitution.

However, Panelo said Palace will always support amending certain provisions in the Constitution as long as it would benefit Filipinos.

In his fourth State of the Nation Address on July 22, Duterte did not mention charter change despite pushing for a shift to a federal system of government since the start of his presidency.

Duterte later told reporters that he felt the SONA was not the proper venue to discuss charter change and that it is “better left in conferences that are not allowed to be open to the public”.

Panelo clarified that Duterte wanted lawmakers in both chambers of the Congress to discuss charter change among themselves first before presenting their proposal to the public.