‘No Cha-cha talk between Duterte, Cabinet’

MANILA, Philippines — As critics hit efforts to amend the Constitution while the country is grappling with a pandemic, a Malacañang official said yesterday President Duterte has not discussed Charter change or Cha-cha with the Cabinet.

“We do not talk about Charter change in the IATF meetings,” Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles told ANC, referring to the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases. “That’s really within the realm of Congress. It’s not something that he has talked or spoken about to anyone of us.”

The League of Municipalities of the Philippines, composed of over a thousand mayors, is pushing for amendments to the Constitution, claiming it would spur development in the countryside.

The group is calling for the institutionalization of the Mandanas ruling of the Supreme Court, which states that “the just share” of local governments should be based on all national taxes, not just on national internal revenue taxes, and the lifting of restrictions on foreign investments.

The push for Cha-cha did not sit well with some sectors which claimed that it reflected the administration’s “misplaced priorities.” Critics claimed that the amendments to the Constitution may be used by politicians to perpetuate themselves in power.

While the shift to federalism is one of Duterte’s campaign promises, presidential spokesman Harry Roque has claimed that Cha-cha is not a priority of the President.

“The truth is the President, the whole government, through the IATF, is focused on the problem of COVID-19. Charter change is not a priority,” Roque said.