Filipinos don’t like Charter change at this time, notes Villar

Sen. Cynthia Villar (File photo from Bibo Nueva España/Senate PRIB)

MANILA, Philippines — Senator Cynthia Villar will not support any amendment in the Constitution if people do not support it.

“Alam mo naman ang mga Pilipino, ayaw nila sa Cha-cha (Charter change),” said Villar in an ambush interview.

(You know, Filipinos don’t like cha-cha.)

“Makikita natin, syempre ang Senado, hindi kami ano sa Cha-cha kasi hindi naman yan gusto ng general public,” she said.

(We’ll see, of course, in the Senate, we’re not [encouraging] Cha-cha because the general public doesn’t want that.)

“Basta ayaw ng tao, ayaw ko. Ang masusunod ay ang ating mga kababayan kung ano ang gusto nilang mangyari sa ating bayan,” the senator set her condition.

(I don’t like it as long as people don’t like it. What should be followed are our countrymen and what they want to happen to our country.)

House Speaker Martin Romualdez earlier expressed his renewed support for an economic Cha-cha.

But for Villar, it wouldn’t be possible to amend only the economic provisions in the Constitution.

She pointed out that all parts of the charter will be affected once it is opened for changes.

Apart from lawmakers in the lower house, Senator Robin Padilla likewise filed a resolution seeking to amend the charter’s political provisions.

Villar, however, expressed reservation over Padilla’s recommendations.

“He has a lot of ideas,” she observed.

“We have been senators for a long time – our family. You don’t do something that people don’t want. It’s in the policy, so we will see if the people will accept it,” she added, partly in Filipino.