The chairman of the House committee on constitutional amendments on Thursday said the leadership might put to the back burner proposals to amend the Constitution as Charter change advocates push for Cha-cha amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I am inclined to recommend to the Speaker that we shelve Cha-cha indefinitely so we can focus on measures to fight this pandemic, help our affected people, and prepare the nation for post-lockdown and post-coronavirus disease, or the new-normal life,” Cagayan de Oro City Rep. Rufus Rodriguez said.
He said he had no doubt Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano would favor his recommendation “since he has repeatedly declared that he wants us to work on COVID-19-related measures without any divisive issue distracting us.”
In the meantime, he said his committee was suspending consideration of any Cha-cha proposal.
Rodriguez made the statement following reports local officials and other Cha-cha supporters identified with the Department of Interior and Local Government had resumed their signature-gathering campaign to push for Cha-cha even while the country was battling the pandemic.
DILG Secretary Eduardo Año, a member of the inter-agency task force fighting the pandemic, has reportedly distanced himself from the revived constitutional amendment effort.
“This is not the time for the DILG and its allies to relaunch their signature drive and renew their push for Cha-cha. They should postpone it until this health crisis is over,” Rodriguez said.
He said the revived campaign was a waste of time, effort and money “because we will not act on Cha-cha while our people are suffering and are in danger of getting infected by the coronavirus.”
“Cha-cha can wait. We will first have to attend to measures that will save lives and the livelihood of our people,” he said.
He pointed out that if the House was not disposed to act on Cha-cha at this time, more so would the Senate be, which is opposed to Cha-cha.
“So my message to Cha-cha advocates and their DILG patrons is: stop it, it won’t fly while there is a pandemic,” he added.