Senator Grace Poe on Monday vowed to block any “Cha-cha express” especially if driven by people with “expiring terms” and “selfish interests.”
“The people are caught in a tug-of-war between two extremes. One demanding that we approve it without thinking. The other to reject it outright,” Poe said in a statement.
“I take the centrist view of giving the Con-com’s product the courtesy of a thorough study, subject it to intense debate, so that we can all make an informed choice,” she also said.
Con-com is the Consultative Committee created by President Rodrigo Duterte to review the 1987 Constitution and draw a draft new federal Charter.
But while Poe expressed openness to look into the Con-Com’s draft federal Constitution, she stressed that a “document as important as the basic law should be rigorously studied, and not railroaded.”
“I will block any Cha-cha express, especially one driven by people with expiring terms and fuelled by selfish interest,” she said.
“There is no palpable popular clamor for a new Constitution, and neither there is proof that a brand new one is the magical cure-all to the country’s manifold problems.”
“As it stands now, the man on the street is perplexed on how Cha-cha can be the answer to the problems he grapples with daily, like the rising prices of food, poor infrastructure, the lack of jobs, pollution and a health system that can barely take care of the sick,” Poe added.
The senator made the remarks when sought for comment on the latest Pulse Asia survey, showing that two in three Filipinos or 67 percent of respondents were against revising the 1987 Constitution. /kga
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