(Eagle News) — President Rodrigo Duterte has dismissed the proposal to postpone the elections in 2019 to pave the way for Charter Change, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said on Thursday, July 19.
“Talagang hindi po siya payag sa no-el (election) para lamang sa Charter change. We would like to inform the people, ‘yan po ang posisyon ng Presidente. ‘I will not have any hand in no-el,'” Roque said.
Roque noted, however, that if there was a people’s initiative for the postponement, “ano pa magagawa mo kung nanggaling na ‘yan sa taumbayan.”
Earlier, Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez proposed for the 2019 elections to be postponed to facilitate Charter Change.
He said if Senate was not amenable to the postponement, a people’s initiative was an option.
But Senate President Tito Sotto said for this to take place, an “enabling law” was needed.
He said although a law on the people’s initiative was passed in 1989, this was struck down by the Supreme Court due to “inadequacies.”
