Economic manager suggests removing term limits under federal system

AN ECONOMIC MANAGER said the draft federal constitution submitted by the Consultative Committee (ConCom) to Review the 1987 Constitution may “not yet (be) ripe,” as he proposed such changes as removing term limits and streamlining the federated regions.

Budget Secretary Benjamin E. Diokno described the draft federal charter as “hindi pa hinog” and “unclear.”

He said now that Congress has the draft, it should consider removing term limits in the draft federal charter for some government posts to address longstanding political dynasties.

“To me, under the new constitution, tatanggalin ko yung (I would remove) term limit, except for the president and vice-president. Because the term limit, it creates a lot of dynasty,” Mr. Diokno told reporters on Thursday.

“Kasi pinoprogram mo na ‘yung asawa ‘yung tatakbo, ‘yung anak mo. So bata pa anak mo pinapatakbo mo na sa barangay,” Mr. Diokno said. (Because you are programming your wife to run, [or] your child. So your child is still young, you have him run in the barangay.)

He added: “If you are the only politically inclined with the family, wala naman masama if 50 years ka nasa politika (there’s nothing wrong if you’ve been in politics for 50 years)... so you don’t develop a whole clan.”

Mr. Diokno said the idea is possible in conjunction with an electoral system prone to corruption.