MANILA, Philippines (Xinhua) - The Philippine government said Sunday that the assurance of House Charter change advocates to limit debates on "urgent" economic reforms in the Constitution would not be enough to draw government support for constitutional amendments at this time. Ramon Carandang, secretary of the Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office (PCDSPO), made the statement in response to the proposal of some Charter change proponents in the House to focus on economic reforms in the 1987 Charter, in a bid to make the debates less divisive.
Asked whether the proposal is enough to make the administration receptive to Charter change efforts, Carandang said: "No, not at this time. We have still not seen a compelling reason to initiate or support any effort to revise the Charter."
Government officials said earlier that the Benigno Aquino III administration will not prioritize constitutional amendments as it would rather, for the meantime, address the more pressing problem of poverty without having to amend the Charter.
They have also noted that constitutional amendments through a Constitutional convention or a constituent assembly would only pave the way to "wholesale, broad revisions."
Manila Bulletin
