Too late for Aquino’s Cha-cha–Belmonte

Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—It’s “way too late” to amend the political provisions of the Constitution to pave the way for an extension of President Benigno Aquino III’s term beyond 2016, Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. said Thursday.

“I don’t think so. It’s way too late as far as I’m concerned,” he told reporters asking about the chances of political Charter change succeeding in Congress.

Mr. Aquino has hinted several times of an interest in a second term, which will require a constitutional amendment.

But Belmonte, a strong advocate of changes to the Charter’s economic provisions, such as foreign ownership restrictions, said Congress would simply not have enough time to discuss such a politically charged issue in the face of more pressing priorities.

“This is not a simple amendment which you could tackle the way we have tackled the economic amendments. This is bound to be a contentious thing both among members of Congress, as well as with respect to the public,” Belmonte said.

“And therefore, in order to give it all the time necessary to be discussed, we really need time, and we don’t have time,” he said.

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