Charter change not Duterte’s priority, says Palace

July 20, 2020

Amending the Constitution is not a priority of President Rodrigo Duterte, Malacañang said on Monday.

Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said in the weekly talks of Duterte,  he never mentioned that Charter change is one of his priorities.

"Charter change is not a priority," Roque said in a virtual press briefing, stressing that the national government, through the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases, is more focused in addressing the problems brought by coronavirus disease pandemic.

"The truth is, the President, the entire national government through the IATF is focused on the problem of COVID-19," he said.

Roque made the statement after the Department of Interior and Local Government said that the League of Municipalities of the Philippines, composed of over 1,000 municipal mayors, passed a resolution seeking changes in the Consitution.

Administration ally Mayor Luis "Chavit" Singson of Narvacan, Ilocos Sur, national president of LMP,  said mayors wanted to institutionalize the so-called Mandanas ruling of the Supreme Court in the Constitution and the lifting of restrictions on foreign investment in industries currently limited to Filipinos.

Under the Mandanas ruling, the Supreme Court declared that the local government units are entitled to internal revenue allotments based on the collections of all national taxes and not just fron national internal revenue taxes.

Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Zarate has accused the Duterte administration of being behind the Charter change. Celerina Monte/DMS