CHARTER CHANGE. Senator Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go arrives at the Carmen National High School in Barangay Carmen on board a motorcycle to distribute assistance to fire victims in the villages of Carmen and Lapasan on Saturday (Nov. 16, 2019). Go said he will not favor any change in the Constitution if it will not benefit Filipinos. (Photo by Jigger J. Jerusalem)
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY -- Sen. Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go has emphasized that he will only favor Charter change (Cha-cha) if it will redound to the benefit of Filipinos.
“If those who benefit from the changes in the Constitution are us politicians, then I am not in favor. The Filipino people should be the ones who will benefit from it,” Go told reporters during his visit to fire survivors at the Carmen National High School in Barangay Carmen, this city, on Saturday.
Go arrived at said school on board a motorcycle shortly after noontime to help distribute financial assistance to fire victims of Carmen and Barangay Lapasan.
He said the discussion on constitutional amendments has not yet been scheduled in the Senate, although the city’s 2nd District Rep. Rufus Rodriguez has earlier said the lower house is expected to transmit the changes approved by the plenary at Congress to the Senate by April next year.
Among the provisions of the 1987 Constitution that will be amended are the shift from unitary and centralized system of government to federal, the lifting of the economic provisions limiting the foreign ownership of corporations, and the extension of terms of elected officials from three to five years.
“It is up to the Senate how they will look at it,” Rodriguez said during the public consultation on constitutional changes held at the University of Science and Technology of Southern Philippines gymnasium last Friday.
He is optimistic that the proposed amendments to the country’s 1987 Constitution will be passed in Congress and ratified before the term of President Rodrigo Duterte ends in 2022.
“If the President would see there is a strong support in Congress, then he will be encouraged again to go back to his original advocacy and to make a strong push, as having a federal form of government was what he advocated for when ran for the presidency,” Rodriguez said. (PNA)
