Senatorial aspirant Harry Roque (File photo)
MANILA – UniTeam senatorial candidate Harry Roque said he would push for Charter Change (Cha-cha) three years after the pandemic to amend certain provisions in the Constitution that are prone to abuse.
Roque was reacting to President Rodrigo Duterte's statement on the need for constitutional amendments to stop rich politicians from abusing the charter.
"If the time comes, I'm talking about the young ones, and mayors, congressmen change the Constitution. The Constitution is not a perfect one," Duterte said on Cha-cha.
Roque said he would prefer a Senate with regional representation, which is cheaper during elections, and that senators could focus more on their constituents.
“Siguro panahon na para maging regional ang mga senador. Meron din silang constituents at hindi naman napakamahal [ang pagtakbo] dahil napakahirap naman para sa mga ordinaryong taong kagaya ko na tumakbo sa Senado (Maybe it's time for senators to be regional. They also have constituents and it's not very expensive [to run] because it's very difficult for ordinary people like me to run for the Senate),” Roque said in a news release on Wednesday.
“Napakarami sa kanila ngayon na halos isang bilyon na ang ginagastos (There are so many of them who already spent almost a billion pesos),” he said.
However, Roque, a former party-list representative, said he would only push for Cha-cha if elected and would instead focus first on legislation providing Filipinos jobs and livelihood.
“Ang tutukan po natin, hanapbuhay muna afterwards siguro three years down the road, kung kinakailangan talagang rebisahin ang Saligang Batas, bakit hindi? Ang sinasabi ko lang first things first, hanapbuhay muna (Our focus is, employment first afterwards maybe three years down the road, if it is really necessary to revise the Constitution, why not? I'm just saying first things first, livelihood first)," he said.
Roque stressed it is necessary to cope with the pandemic and the Ukraine-Russia tension than prioritize constitutional reform.
“Ngayon po ang importante makabangon tayo sa pandemya, makabangon tayo dahil dito sa digmaan dito sa Europa (What important now is for us to recover from the pandemic, from the war in Europe),” he said. (PR)
