No time left for shift to federalism: Arroyo
MANILA: Former president Gloria Macapagal-arroyo, now the speaker of the House of Representatives, admitted there was no more time left for Congress to tackle the proposed Constitution that would enable the Duterte administration to shift to the controversial federal form of government.
Arroyo explained that the present Congress, composed of the House and the Senate, has a “life” that is to end in June 2019 and thus, has practically no time left for the members to tackle the proposed Constitution, also known as Charter change (Cha-cha).
The Philippines is to hold its midterm polls in May 2019 that would elect a new set of senators as well as regional, provincial and local oficials like congressmen, governors, mayors and members of the city or municipal councils.
But Arroyo expressed the hope in an interview with ABS-CBN News that “those who follow after us will pick up from where we left off in Congress.” Earlier, the House and the Senate have passed a joint resolution for their members to constitute themselves into a Constituent Assembly (Con-ass) to tackle the proposed Constitution, a copy of which was already submitted to President Rodrigo “Rody” Duterte by a Consultative Committee he had set up to draft the document.
But the proposal hit a major snag when then speaker Pantalaleon Alvarez, a staunch Duterte ally, was ousted in a House “coup,” called for the postponement of the coming May 2019 election to enable Congress to tackle Charter change and submit it to a nationwide plebiscite instead for ratiication.
Alvarez also said that members of the House and the Senate should vote in one seating to hasten the shift from the present presidential form of government to a federalism.
Some Duterte allies also pointed out that the Alvarez proposal was contrary to the president’s plan to complete the shift in time for the 2019 midterm polls so that a plebiscite for the proposed Constitution could be held to save on costs.
But administration and opposition senators irmly opposed the call of Alvarez as they expressed fear that the 420-member House where Duterte allies enjoy a “supermajority” would “drown” the Senate where there are only 23 members when the issue is to go up for voting.