Puno body: No term extensions for Rody, Leni

President Rodrigo Roa Duterte with VP Leni Robredo during the 121st founding anniversary of the Phil Army held at Fort Bonifacio Grandstand, March 20,2018. PDI / JOAN BONDOC

The body tasked by President Duterte to draft a federal Constitution has put its foot down on a term extension for Mr. Duterte when the country adopts a new system of government.

Retired Chief Justice Reynato Puno, chair of the consultative committee, said Mr. Duterte should step down at the end of his six-year term in June 2022, when the country shifts from a unitary to a federal system while maintaining the presidential setup.

Puno said the transitory provisions in their proposed Charter called for holding elections in May 2022.

‘Sophisticated ploy’

“Let us therefore diminish the unfounded thought that this move to change the 1987 Constitution is a mere sophisticated ploy to prolong the term of the incumbent President,” Puno said at the first national public consultation on Charter change held at the Manila Hotel on Thursday.

“We specifically provided that the term of the President and Vice President that will end by June 30, 2022, shall not be extended and we set the first national, regional and local elections under the new Constitution to be held without postponement on the second Monday of May 2022,” he added.

This means that if Congress adopts the committee’s proposal, senators who will be elected in next year’s elections will see their six-year term cut in half because of the transition to federalism. —DONA Z. PAZZIBUGAN