Senators oppose ‘no election’ plan by Speaker

SENATORS ON Wednesday rejected the proposal of House Speaker Pantaleon D. Alvarez for people’s initiative to amend the Constitution, calling the idea “self-serving,” a “lengthy process,” and even a “waste of resources.”

Senator Aquilino Martin L. Pimentel III, Mr. Alvarez’s ally in the ruling Partido Demokratiko Pilipino- Lakas ng Bayan ( PDPLaban), appealed to the House Speaker to reconsider the idea, noting the “time- consuming” prospect of the proposal. However, he said Mr. Alvarez was the proper person to lead such efforts.

“He has to carefully think about it. That is too cumbersome a procedure, hence timeconsuming, plus the question if a law is in place which sufficiently implements people’s initiative. But he is the proper person to lead such an initiative because the procedure involves all the legislative districts of the country,” he said in a mobile phone message to reporters.

For his part, Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph G. Recto said the idea would not be a “real people’s initiative.”

“He can. But then it’s not a real people’s initiative but a Speaker’s initiative or political elite initiative….,The people will want to have elections scheduled,” he said in a text message to reporters.

Senate Minority Leader Franklin M. Drilon said the people’s initiative should not be used to change the terms of office among government officials.

“The people’s initiative is for minor amendments to the Constitution. Changing the term of office, for me, requires major amendments that cannot be done through people’s initiative…,Let’s bring the matter to the Supreme Court. We will question it,” he told reporters.

For his part, Senator Panfilo M. Lacson said resorting to people’s initiative does not remove the Senate’s participation in charter change. He said the provisions of the Constitution provide Congress to implement this alternative mode of Charter change.

“It goes without saying, majority of the senators, even those running for reelection will fight tooth and nail any attempt to cancel the 2019 midterm elections simply because it is wrong and self-serving,” he said in a text message to reporters.

Mr. Alvarez floated the idea on Monday, in response to the senators’ refusal to postpone the 2019 midterm elections. He said deferring the polls would allow Congress as a constituent assembly to focus on charter change.

The House leader then reiterated his statement on Wednesday, saying in an interview with DZMM that he wanted to have the people’s initiative to be conducted before the October deadline on the certificates of candidacies for the midterm polls next year.