Padilla won’t seek President’s help to boost push for Charter change

Sen. Robin Padilla leads on Thursday, March 9, 2023 the resumption of the Committee on Constitutional Amendments and Revision of Codes’ discussion on the proposal to amend economic provisions of the 1987 Constitution. Screengrab/Senate PRIB

MANILA, Philippines — The bid to reform the 1987 Constitution can fail in the Senate, but Senator Robin Padilla said he would stand his ground and not seek President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s help to boost the push for Charter change (Cha-cha).

Padilla, the leading proponent of the Cha-cha bid in the Senate, was asked on Monday if he is willing to meet Marcos after the latter tagged constitutional reform as not among his administration’s priorities.

He said it would be easy to say yes to the question if he wasn’t bound by his role as chairman of the Senate panel on constitutional amendments and revision of codes.

“Tandaan natin, maisusulat iyan sa kasaysayan na itong committee chairman ng Senate na si Sen. Robinhood Padilla, humingi ng tulong sa Presidente ng Pilipinas kahit hindi naman niya mandato. Alangan. Mas magandang maisulat sa kasaysayan iyong hindi ako lumapit sa kanino man, inilapit ko sa taumbayan,” Padilla told reporters.

(Remember, this will be written in history–the Senate committee chairman Sen. Robinhood Padilla asked for help from the President of the Philippines even if it wasn’t in his mandate. It would be better if history talks about me not bringing this bid closer to anyone else but the Filipino people.)

The neophyte legislator went on: “Tinanggihan man ng Senado. Natalo man ako pero alam ng tao na pinanindigan ko iyong posisyon ko. Mas gusto ko iyon. Hindi importante iyong nanalo ako pero nag-bow ako. No way.”

(The Senate may reject it. I can lose, but I’d rather the people know I stood firm on my position. I want that more. It’s not important that I win but I end up bowing. No way.)

Padilla stressed that he cannot seek the President’s help since it sends the message that the Senate is under the executive branch.

Although Padilla acknowledged that the move to amend or revise the 1987 Constitution is seemingly lacking support in the upper chamber, he remained hopeful that more of his colleagues would be convinced once they read through his committee report and debate on the proposal at the plenary level.

READ: Robin Padilla vows to press on with his Cha-cha despite lacking Senate support

Padilla previously said that while he recognizes the stand of Marcos on constitutional reform, deciding whether or not to push through with changing the 36-year-old Charter is not within the President’s power.

This was later echoed by Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel III, who said that tweaking the Constitution was not in the hands of the executive branch.

“It’s in the hands of legislators as representatives of the people…We will not consider the stand of the President or the executive branch,” Pimentel said partly in Filipino.

Despite Marcos’ disinterest in boarding the Cha-cha train, the House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved in its third and final reading the Resolution of Both Houses (RBH) No. 6, which calls for a “hybrid” constitutional convention to reform the Charter.

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