Paolo Romero
July 7, 2022
For Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri, it is premature to talk about Charter change, particularly extending the terms of elective officials, especially since the Marcos administration has just been installed.
Measures to help pull the country out of the COVID-19 pandemic and revive the economy, not proposals to amend the Constitution, are the priority of the Senate, Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri said on Wednesday, July 6.
For Zubiri, the presumptive Senate president in the 19th Congress, it is premature to talk about Charter change or Cha-cha, particularly extending the terms of elective officials, especially since the Marcos administration has just been installed.
“I think (Charter change) is too controversial… I would say right now that’s not our priority,” Zubiri told reporters, as he noted that the chamber is still finalizing its reorganization.
“Definitely, in the first year of our 19th Congress, I think the discussions should be how to revive the livelihood of our countrymen. I think, in the first year, that should be on the minds and souls of every legislator,” he added.
The senator emphasized that the pandemic is not yet over, and so Congress must support President Marcos’ health initiatives.
Pampanga Rep. Aurelio Gonzales last week filed Resolution of Both Houses No. 1, which seeks to amend the Constitution to change the current six-year terms of the president and vice president to five years with possible reelection.
The resolution also proposed that the president and vice president be voted in tandem “to encourage strong party system.”
Gonzales said the “six-year term to implement long-term programs and policies appears to be insufficient.”
He added that the victory of Marcos and Vice President Sara Duterte serves as the “green light from our citizenry to proceed with the discussion on Charter change.”
Gonzales is also pushing to increase the current three-year terms of elected local officials and congressmen, excluding barangay leaders, to five years, with a limit of only two consecutive terms.
Congressmen and elected local officials currently have three-year terms and are eligible for a maximum of two consecutive reelections. The resolution did not propose changes in the terms of senators, who have six-year terms with one possible reelection.
The committee on constitutional amendments, which will tackle any Charter change proposal, is expected to be chaired by neophyte Sen. Robin Padilla, who has been advocating a shift to a federal form of government.
Zubiri said he had a “nice discussion” with Padilla last Monday, July 4, and the former action star committed that he was ready to study the Charter change issues and push for his advocacy.
“So I told him, yes, you can set committee hearings. Of course, we will attend and we will exchange ideas with you, but that’s as far as we’re talking about any talk about Charter change,” Zubiri said.
‘One tablet, one student’
To help students adapt to the online learning system amid the pandemic, Sen. Loren Legarda filed a bill that would establish a one-tablet-one-student program as she underscored the importance of providing quality education for all Filipino students.
Legarda proposed Senate Bill No. 1 or the “One Tablet, One Student Act of 2022” which targets elementary and secondary-level students in public schools as well as those enrolled in state universities and colleges.
The returning senator said a tablet could help students adapt to the online learning system being implemented by the Department of Education since early 2020 due to the current health crisis.
“By giving the students their much-needed device for learning, they would be able to participate effectively in their classes, thus we give them the opportunity to acquire more knowledge and become skilled after they graduate,” she said.
“It is one way of making quality education accessible to all, especially to those who cannot afford to buy their own gadgets,” she added.
Sustainability
As the country faces the confluence of global public health and socio-economic crises, Sen. Pia Cayetano has filed bills that would ensure the sustainability of vital government programs, raise the level of education of the youth to become globally competitive and future-proof the Philippines for domestic and external shocks.
Cayetano, who chaired the Senate’s very first committee on sustainable development goals in the 18th Congress, yesterday bared the list of her top ten measures for the 19th Congress, which officially commences on July 25.
“These bills are forward-looking and aim to prepare our nation better for the challenges ahead, while never losing sight of our sustainable development goals,” she said, as she noted how the country faces the confluence of global public health and socio-economic crises.
“The health measures were drawn from our hard-earned lessons in the last two years in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic, and the need to further strengthen our health care system to provide services for our people,” she added.
Her proposed measures include those for an education roadmap, center for disease control and prevention act, sustainability-based budgeting, sports excellence roadmap and increasing the minimum age of access to tobacco to 21 years old.
She also filed bills for water sustainability, Philippine Nursing Act amendments, sustainable cities and communities, safe pathways network and sustainable transportation.
SIM card registration
Senators are pushing anew the mandatory registration of all subscriber identity module (SIM) cards used in cellphones and electronic gadgets without requiring the registration of social media accounts, a provision which prompted former president Rodrigo Duterte to veto the bill in the 18th Congress.
Zubiri and fellow Senators Ronald dela Rosa and Grace Poe filed the mandatory SIM card registration bill to be tackled in the 19th Congress.
Zubiri and Dela Rosa said they filed the bill similar to the SIM card registration bill approved by the Senate and House of Representatives in the 18th Congress, but they deleted and excluded the provision that led to Duterte’s veto.
The senators were referring to the provision that requires individuals to use their real names and phone numbers when using social media platforms.
Duterte vetoed the SIM Card Registration Act ratified by the 18th Congress due to the inclusion of mandatory social media registration in the measure, saying the proposal would violate the provisions that mandate only one topic in each law.
The senators agreed that their purpose in mandating SIM card registration is to curb crimes and fraud committed using prepaid SIM cards such as text scams.
Poe earlier urged the Department of Information and Communications Technology and the National Telecommunications Commission to escalate their efforts to halt rampant text scams victimizing many unsuspecting mobile phone users in the country.
Former Senate president Vicente Sotto III maintained that the proposed prepaid SIM registration is very important in the prevention of possible bombing, trolls and scams that victimize innocent Filipinos. – With Cecille Suerte Felipe
Source: https://www.onenews.ph/articles/cha-cha-not-a-senate-priority-zubiri