Congress should stop wasting its time on Charter change and instead focus on the problems of inflation, lack of jobs and rising criminality, Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon said Tuesday.
“In this time of high prices… we need self-serving political maneuverings like we need a hole in the head,” Drilon said.
“We can do more to slow down the increasing prices of commodities, including endorsing a joint resolution of Congress to suspend excise taxes on petroleum products,” Drilon said.
Drilon said prices of basic commodities will continue to increase as there are no signs that the rise in prices of crude oil in the world market would taper off.
In an interview earlier, Drilon said the House draft federal charter would be “dead on arrival” at the Senate.
“There is simply no time for us to look at it and that‘s why I said it’s dead on arrival,” said Drilon, adding that there is a lot of opposition to amending the Constitution.
“The comfort level of the public for Congress to act as a constituent assembly is very low,” he added.
Drilon also reiterated his strong opposition to proposals to lift term limits of lawmakers under the House draft charter, saying this was “self-serving and smacks of conflict of interests.”
“I am opposed to that, as I have opposed it from the very start,” he said.
The minority leader also rejected the draft’s provision removing the vice president from the line of succession and instead placing the Senate president in charge in case the President is unable to lead the transition government.
“I don’t find the proposal logical. If they want stability, then the more we should follow the well-defined succession to the Office of the President; otherwise, there will be instability because as I’ve said, the Senate President can be replaced anytime,” Drilon said.
Rep. Rozzano Rufino Biazon of Muntinlupa City, meanwhile, defended the removal of term limits, saying experienced lawmakers who have served more than three terms could bring their valuable experience to deliberations in the House.
He noted that in the United States, which is the model for the Philippines, there are no term limits for lawmakers.
“We can see legislators who are really specialized in the field of legislation,” Biazon said.
He said that with term limits, the wealth of experience and knowledge that those who have long service in legislature cannot be tapped for the good of the country.
Two opposition congressmen—Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman and Magdalo Party-list Rep. Gary Alejano—also supported the removal of term limits, saying the voters should decide who gets into office.
Meanwhile, the chairman of the House committee on constitutional amendments, Leyte Rep. Vicente Veloso, said the draft charter was not designed to get Speaker Gloria Macapagal Arroyo back in power.
“This is not an Arroyo draft,” Veloso said in a press conference.
