House defers ‘Cha-cha’ to 2021

The House of Representatives has deferred any discussion on proposals to amend the 1987 Constitution until the country recovers from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano said on Friday.

He said Charter change, or Cha-cha, would be one of the House’s efforts to fix the distribution of internal revenue allotments (IRA) to local governments, but only if and when the country has already solved its problems with COVID-19.

“So if we can solve COVID-19 by next month and we’re up on our feet next January, February then we can talk about ‘Cha-cha,’” he said in an interview over CNN Philippines.

Cayetano was responding to questions on why Congress is pushing Cha-cha when the country is in the middle of a pandemic.

Administration lawmakers said they were keen to tackle the latest proposal to amend the Constitution, which is being pushed by the Department of the Interior and Local Government and the League of Municipalities of the Philippines (LMP).

The LMP proposed to “institutionalize” a recent Supreme Court ruling on the reckoning of local governments’ share in the revenues of the national government as well as the lifting of restrictions on foreign companies to do business in the Philippines.

“It’s right for people to question the timing. But as I have said, there also lies the hypocrisy, because I agree that we cannot hold a plebiscite during the COVID-19 pandemic, which also necessarily has to have a campaign, and you’ll gonna have open rallies with a lot of people,” he said.

Political dynasties

According to Cayetano, Congress can tackle an “economic federalism” so the government does not have to overhaul the Constitution.

This, he said, would entail a review of the Local Government Code in order to take a second look at the distribution of the IRA among local governments.

He also defended criticisms of his defense of political dynasties, blaming the term limits set by the 1987 Constitution for the proliferation of political dynasties.

This was after photos circulated online showing four members of the Cayetano family who are currently holding various elective positions, including him, his sister Pia who is a senator, his wife Lani who is Taguig representative and his brother Lino who is Taguig City mayor.

He countered that the Aquino clan also maintained a dynasty at some period.

“As I keep saying, no one is innocent. That’s why we have to change the system. So what I am saying is sooner or later, and I hope it’s in my lifetime, it doesn’t have to be now, it can be when I’m retired, the term limits should be removed but then, the terms should only be three years,” he said.