In a speech at the Pakasaritaan 2018 Conference in Baguio City on Saturday, VP Leni Robredo said she is not entirely against the idea of constitutional change. However, she needed ample time and enough resources to make sure that Filipinos know what we are about to get ourselves into.
Robredo meant that she needed two sides of the story, both PRO and ANTI, to measure the possible outcome when constitutional change is to take effect and should, otherwise not be solely ‘based on emotions’ regarding the country’s current situations.
“Hindi ako proponent ng ‘for’ or ‘against’, pero proponent ako na maging balanced ang discussions, proponent ako na maging balanced lahat (I am not a proponent of ‘for’ or ‘against’ but I am a proponent of having the discussions about it to be balanced),” she said.
Recognizing the plight of the Filipino majority, VP also added by saying: “Totoong may frustrations tayo, sino namang wala? Pero hindi tayo pwedeng magpapalit ng konstitusyon na iilan lang ang nag-uusap. Pagbobotohan ito ng taong bayan di ba in a plebiscite? So dapat naiintindihan ng mga tao ang pingabobotohan nila”.
VP Leni is also not in favor of having to ‘fast-track’ the creation of a Constituent Assembly in aide of the House of Representatives so that all Filipinos should know the reason why there is a need to change the current Constitution. This, after President Rodrigo Duterte created a committee last month that shall review the 1987 Constitution.
“Ang isang common sa kanila ay lahat sila advocates, para sa akin medyo mali yun. Kasi ang first question for them to ask themselves is, do they need a constitutional change, pero kung ang lahat ng members ay advocates ng constitutional change, na-set aside na ang question na yun… that takes away the kind of healthy discourse”. she said.
“May deadline daw, dapat matapos bago mag-SONA para maisama na sa SONA ng president. Para sa akin napakahalaga ba ng change of form of government para bigyan mo ng deadline?…Kung hindi pa man nagsisimula ang consultation tapos may deadline na, ang chances, magiging haphazard ito tulad ng nangyari sa 1973 Constitution,” Robredo added.
With being ultimately ‘neutral’ about amending the constitution, she believes that Federalism is not the only solution to resolve the issue of the marginalized filipino and worries that it may only bring ‘false hopes’ from among all of us.
Thus, she calls for a ‘free-flowing’ discourse dedicated especially to those who do not have enough knowledge about Federalism.
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