MANILA, Philippines — President Benigno S. Aquino III has all the chances of seeing the 1987 Constitution amended during his six-year term with the people believing he is not personally interested in any changes after stating he won’t run for office again, according to Senator Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.
“It is an opportunity. He should take it,’’ said Marcos amid moves in the House of Representatives to call for a constituent assembly to amend the 24-year-old Charter crafted during the time of the late President Corazon C. Aquino, the President’s mother.
Marcos said that while Aquino administration officials have stated that Charter change was not a priority, it appears the Executive branch is “amenable if there is a Cha-cha and they will allow the process to occur,’’ Marcos said.
Marcos made this comments after Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile said there appears to be a need to amend the Constitution during last Wednesday’s Senate public order committee hearing on rise of high-profile crimes in the country and the bombing of a bus in Makati.
Enrile said the weaknesses in the structure of the Philippine National Police (PNP) should not fall on the PNP leadership but on the Constitution.
The PNP is headless in that decisions made on police matters are done by the National Police Commission (Napolcom) whose decisions are collegial although its chairman is the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) secretary, he said.
After the hearing on the national crime situation conducted by the Senate public order committee chaired by Sen. Gregorio Honasan, Marcos said DILG Secretary Jesse Robredo and PNP Director-General Raul Bacalzo wanted structural changes in their organizations.
“If we are going to do those structural changes, then it is necessary to amend the Constitution,’’ Marcos said.
“We have many things to do. We are hampered our, hands are tied because the Constitution has its own provisions and mandate,’’ he said.
Marcos said he favors a Constitutional convention (Con-con) over a Constituent assembly as the mode for amending the Charter.
“I think the people want those they had voted (to be members of the Con-con) because they suspect Congress, meaning both Houses, we are doing it for our own personal interests,’’ he said.
While the majority of the senators favor the Con-con mode, Sen. Edgardo Angara wanted the Con-ass mode because it is not expensive.
The Constitution mandates that the tenure of the Philippine president is a one-time, six-year term only, President Aquino has stated he is not seeking another term.
The 1986 Constitution was crafted after the 1986 EDSA revolution.
Marcos is the only son of the late President Marcos who was toppled after that EDSA people power phenomenon.
Young Aquino is also the only son of the late Sen. Benigno Aquino whose assassination in 1983 was laid at the doorsteps of Malacañang.
Extension of term was loosely used during the extended nine-year term of former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo where supporters of the charter change proposal were greeted with derision because people suspected that Mrs. Arroyo wanted to extend her term.
Since Mrs. Arroyo is no longer in Malacañang and if the Constitution is finally amended, there would be no suspicion that President Aquino wants to extend his term, Marcos said.
After having used up the unexpended last three years of the Estrada presidency, Mrs. Arroyo ran and won in that controversial 2004 presidential election. Having left Malacañang after a nine-year stay, Mrs. Arroyo is now the congresswoman of Pampanga’s second district.
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