Sotto: Senate firm on not rushing Cha-cha

The Senate will stand by its decision not to rush any Charter change (Cha-cha) moves even amid reports that Malacañang would continue to push for it and the shift to federalism, Senate President Vicente Sotto III said Thursday.

Sotto himself believes it’s better to discuss the overhaul of the fundamental law of the land after the May 2019 elections.

“To me, the timing is really difficult at this point. I’m not for, or I’m not against, but the timing really is the most difficult thing to hurdle as far as cha-cha is concerned because our time is limited because of the elections,” Sotto told reporters.

More time will be available to discuss the matter with the House of Representatives after the midterm elections next year, he added.

Sotto likewise thinks President Rodrigo Duterte would not pressure the Senate on Cha-cha. But in any case, the Senate has made a decision on how it would treat the matter and this is what he would tell the Chief Executive, he said.

The Senate as a whole had agreed that it would wait for the report of the committee on constitutional amendments and revision of codes on Cha-cha proposals, and then discuss its findings and recommendations in the plenary before deliberating on the matter with the House of Representatives.

As for the administration’s plan to hold public consultations on the draft federal Constitution of Malacañang’s consultative committee (Con-com), Sotto said this would help inform the people about the proposal, at the very least.

As to whether these consultations would convince the people to support it is another matter, he added.

The administration’s proposed shift to a federal government met resistance from the country’s economic managers, who said it could disrupt the country’s economic growth and ambitious infrastructure program. They also said the proposal had confusing fiscal provisions.   /kga