Drilon: Cha-cha to be railroaded, polls scrapped

Allies of the Duterte administration in Congress are moving to again postpone the scheduled barangay elections in May to October.

This is to piggyback on a plebiscite on the proposed Charter change (Cha-cha), which will include provisions for term extension and the scrapping of the 2019 midterm polls, Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon said yesterday.

The barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections were already postponed twice by Congress since President Duterte assumed office in 2016.

“What is alarming is that there is a plan to railroad Chacha and this is connected to their plan of term extension, and this will be done by cancelling the May 2019 midterm elections through Cha-cha,” Drilon told dzBB.

“The first casualty of this proposed shift to federalism is democracy. Our people are deprived of their rights to choose their leaders,” he said.

He explained the Commission on Elections (Comelec) has the budget to hold the barangay elections but has no funds to hold a plebiscite for a new constitution being drafted by the administration and its allies in Congress to shift the country to a federal form of government.

To be able to start implementing the new constitution, which will include the cancellation of the 2019 senatorial and local elections and extending the term of graduating lawmakers, it should be first approved in a plebiscite, he said.

He said if the May 2019 elections will push through, it means the 1987 Constitution remains in force, and the people will elect a new set of senators, congressmen and local executives.

Drilon said around 80 of the present membership of the House of Representatives are on their last term, hence the so-called “supermajority,” led by the PDP-Laban, is hatching plans to junk the elections and allow an extension of their term through amendments to the Constitution.

This could be the reason why Malacañang reported that members of a study group formed to draft amendments to the Constitution were given until July to finish their work so that Duterte can report the same in his State of the Nation Address scheduled on the last Monday of that month, he said.

Drilon urged Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III, president of PDP-Laban, “to lead the Senate to prevent a Cha-cha based on the ambition of the House of Representatives for a term extension.”

Pimentel, however, told reporters he has “never heard of that plan.”

Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III said he would be the first to know in the chamber if such a plot “will happen” but the chances of it succeeding are “dim.”

Sotto noted the filing of certificates of candidacy for the 2019 elections will be in October.

Sen. Sonny Angara, whose committee on local governments oversaw the postponement of the barangay elections, said many senators believed that would be the time they would allow the polls to be deferred.

Sen. Francis Escudero said he would oppose moves to railroad Cha-cha.

“We don’t rush the passage of laws, what more to amendments to the Constitution,” Escudero said.

Sen. Panfilo Lacson said he would oppose the postponement of the barangay polls “if the sole purpose is to accommodate a plebiscite for Charter change.”

Sen. Joel Villanueva warned those behind the plot to “learn from history,” apparently referring to previous failed attempts to extend terms of sitting officials through Cha-cha.

Sen. Paolo Benigno Aquino IV said the May polls should push through as this is the first time the SK elections will implement an anti-political dynasty provision.

Sen. Francis Pangilinan, chairman of the Senate committee on constitutional amendments, said the hearings on Cha-cha bills will continue and not be rushed.