‘Talk of term limits can’t be avoided in con-con’

THE INCOMING administration of President-elect Rodrigo Duterte “cannot avoid” talk of extending presidential term limits in its bid to switch to a federal form of government through constitutional amendments, Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. said Tuesday.

“The moment you convene a constitutional convention, [the delegates] are free to act,” he told a press briefing at the House of Representatives.

“You cannot put any conditions to [the delegates] that they could only do this or do that. When it’s a constitutional convention (con-con), they can look at anything including that one,” said Belmonte.

One of Duterte’s promises during the campaign was to switch to a federal system of government  in order to deliver more power and resources to local governments.

Belmonte said achieving this would be a “big challenge” to the incoming set of Congress leaders.