Federal transition should not be self-serving – Palace

President Duterte is counting on his allies in Congress to follow his lead of not reaping any benefit from proposed amendments to the Constitution.

Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque said the President was leading by example when he refused to take any role in the transition government towards the shift to federalism.

“Gusto linawin ng Presidente siya mismo hindi siya interested makinabang sa Charter change (The President made clear that he is not interested to benefit from Charter change),” Roque said in a radio interview.

“He is leading by way of example na lahat po ng mga opisyales natin dapat eh huwag magkaroon ng pakinabang sa Charter change (He is leading by way of example so our officials are not benefit from Charter change),” he added.

Roque said the President was not interested in becoming a transition president, and instead pushed for an election of the leader who will oversee the country’s shift to federalism.

Duterte earlier offered to cut short his six-year term to give way to a transition leader, saying he was already tired to take any part in the process.

The consultative committee, who drafted the proposed federal Constitution, earlier proposed Duterte as head of the transition commission. But upon the President’s suggestion, the group revised the transition provision, this time calling for the election of transition president and transition vice president within six months from the ratification of the federal Charter.

“Ang gusto nga niyang mangyari po sa Charter Change ay magkaroon ng Transition Provision na talagang siya po ay bababa na sa puwesto at ihahalal ng taong bayan ang bagong transition leaders (What the President wants in Charter change is to have a transition provision that he will step down and the transition leaders will be elected),” Roque said.

Roque also said even though the President was in favor of Charter change towards federalism, he was opposed to the proposed cancellation of the May 2019 elections.

“The President said ‘I will not have any hand in no-el,’“he said.

“Siya po ay naniniwala sa demokrasya, siya ay naniniwala sa eleksiyon, malinaw na malinaw po ang kaniyang posisyon (He believes in democracy, he believes in the election. His position is very clear),” he said.

House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez recently proposed the scrapping of the 2019 midterm elections to allow lawmakers to focus on the proposed Charter change towards federalism.

When some lawmakers opposed such proposal, Alvarez suggested a people’s initiative to cancel the polls next year and hasten the shift to federal system of government.

The Palace earlier said the President would not get in the way of a people’s initiative that seeks to cancel the polls.