Padilla backing pro-charter midterm bets
‘What is wrong with having a second term? I don’t understand the opposition to it because six years is too short for a good president, though too long for a bad one’
Daily Tribune‘What is wrong with having a second term? I don’t understand the opposition to it because six years is too short for a good president, though too long for a bad one’
Senator Robinhood "Robin" Padilla on Tuesday said he is willing to support the candidacy of anyone who would back his proposal to amend the economic and political provisions of the 1987 Constitution.
In a television interview, Padilla, who is pushing for a federal type of government, stressed the need to have a unicameral and parliamentary system of government to ensure progress.
"In the coming polls, I will campaign for candidates who may not be famous or don't have money but believe that we need to amend our Constitution," he said.
"You need to help me. All of this will hinge on 2025 when the people will decide whether the country will move forward or backward," he added.
The lawmaker, who chairs the Senate panel on Constitutional Amendments and Revision of Codes, urged Filipino voters to elect someone who may be "nameless, and penniless but believes that we need to amend the 1987 Constitution."
"So long as we have senators who believe only in the 1987 Constitution, we will remain dreamers," he said.
Padilla also said "it is time" to open the discussion on extending the term of presidents, as well as allowing them to run for a second term.
"What is wrong with having a second term? I don't understand the opposition to it because six years is too short for a good president, though too long for a bad one," he said.
Under the current charter, the president is limited to a single six-year term.
During the first regular session of the 19th Congress, Padilla failed to gain enough support among his colleagues to amend the economic provisions of the Constitution through the Constitutional Assembly.
