Roque: Proposed new charter must ensure Duterte can’t extend term

Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque (Photo by JOAN BONDOC / Philippine Daily Inquirer)

The transitory provisions in the proposed new Constitution must ensure that President Rodrigo Duterte could not extend his term beyond 2022.

Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque made this assertion on Tuesday as he reiterated that Duterte was not interested in extending his six-year term.

“Kung ano man ang mangyayari na transitory provision, consider him out of the question ‘no,” Roque said in a briefing in Malacañang Palace. “I don’t think majority would want constitutional succession, so they better provide for a transition that would mean that the President will step down in 2022.”

The Palace official said the transitory provisions in the proposed Constitution must also ensure the election of a new president.

“Unless na gusto nila na si Leni Robredo ang mag-take over as transitional leader, eh ‘di gumawa sila ng transitory provision that would, for all intents and purposes, make sure that we would have a new President in 2022,” he said.

On Monday, Duterte told the military and the police to shoot him if he would extend his term even for just a day.

“The latest pronouncements of the President is clear: He’s out of office by 2022,” Roque said. “Unless they want Leni Robredo to take over, we better have a new leader by 2022.”

Allies of the President in Congress had earlier floated the idea of either extending Duterte’s term or the term of lawmakers.

Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III has said that Duterte’s term might be extended beyond 2022 if the country would become a federal state, while House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez said a “no-election” scenario was possible in 2019.

Senate, House Cha-cha voting

Roque said both Houses on Congress should resolve the issue on voting jointly or separately if they would want to move forward with charter change.

“Well, I think that is something both houses of Congress must discuss,” he said. “From my brief experience in Congress, Congress is not just deliberative, it’s consensual, you need to build consensus and I have the same consensus building will have to be resorted to between the House and the Senate on the issue of how to move forward with constituent assembly.”

He said that Malacanang could not interfere with the decision on how Congress should vote in changing the Constitution.

“So, sa usaping ito po, pati ilang mga mahistrado ng Korte ng Suprema ay nagsasabi na baka baka pati Hudikatura hindi pupuwedeng maghimasok sa isyung ito,” he said.

“Talagang tanging Kongreso lang ang dapat magresolba ng isyung ito at iyan po ang paninindigan ng Palasyo,” he added. /atm