Lacson warns Pimentel, Alvarez vs floating no-el, term extension scenarios

Senator Panfilo Lacson said that the statements of Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III and Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez floating term extensions and no-election scenario in 2019 would not bolster their campaign for a shift to a federal form of government.

“The opposition need not invent the best antidote to Charter change,” Lacson said in a statement on Thursday.

“No less than the two leaders of both houses of Congress have started campaigning against it, albeit subliminally,” he said.

According to Lacson, “Floating a no-el and term extension scenario, as recent history would suggest, won’t help their advocacy to shift to a federal form of government, inevitably via an amendment of the Constitution.”

Pimentel said that Duterte’s term may be extended beyond 2022 once the country becomes a federal state. He, however, said the term extension could only happen if it would be necessary, and if the President would be amenable to it or if the new Constitution would be approved by the people.

Alvarez, meanwhile, said the no-el situation could be possible once Congress approves the switching of government system to federalism.

Earlier Thursday, Senator Francis Pangilinan posted on his social media accounts five possible scenarios once the country shifts to a federal government.

This included the purported 10-year transition period to a federal government, which would allegedly allow extension of the term of President Rodrigo Duterte, as well as lawmakers in both the upper and lower chambers.

Pangilinan also revealed that Congress would give Duterte the power to create a law similar to Amendment No. 6 of the late dictator Ferdinand E. Marcos.

Amendment No. 6, according to Pangilinan, vested lawmaking powers to Marcos alongside the Batasang Pambansa.