Fancy three more years of a Ferdinand Marcos Jr. presidency after his six-year term ends in 2028?
Senator Imee Marcos painted that scenario on Thursday, claiming that efforts were underway in the House of Representatives to amend the Constitution to extend her brother’s term until 2031.
She said the plan is to scrap the 2028 elections, thereby derailing Vice President Sara Duterte’s presidential bid even if she escapes conviction by the Senate sitting as an impeachment court.
In TV and radio news interviews, Marcos claimed an unholy alliance had been formed among Malacañang, House members, and some senators.
The elder sister of the President said the current Senate minority bloc is aggressively pushing to reclaim the chamber’s leadership to amend the Constitution through a constituent assembly or Con-Ass.
Under a Con-Ass, the Senate and the House of Representatives will convene to propose constitutional amendments, either by voting jointly or separately, without the need for a Constitutional Convention (Con-Con).
A third mode of amending the Constitution is through a People’s Initiative, although proposed changes under that process are generally limited and do not cover the wholesale revision of the Charter.
“Because their problem is that the impeachment will likely lose in the Senate, and VP Sara could still win in 2028. That’s why the discussion is to move ahead with the Con-Ass,” Marcos told ANC.
Efforts to amend the Constitution had repeatedly originated in the House in previous Congresses but failed to gain traction in the Senate.
According to Senator Marcos, the supposed Charter change initiative is focused solely on extending the terms of the President and House members.
“The other alternative discussed is to raise the qualifying age for the presidency from 45 to 50 so that VP Sara would be disqualified. So this is a very high stakes game,” she added.
Before she was impeached a second time earlier this month, Duterte had announced she would run for president in 2028.
If convicted by the Senate impeachment court, however, she would be permanently disqualified from holding public office.
Given the current composition of the Senate, the speculation is she will likely be acquitted.
The majority bloc, led by Senate President Alan Cayetano, includes several Duterte allies, among them Senators Imee Marcos, Bong Go, Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, Robin Padilla and Rodante Marcoleta.
Last week’s leadership shake-up ousted Senator Tito Sotto from the Senate presidency and installed Cayetano in his place.
Cayetano’s hold on the post, however, appears tenuous amid reports of a brewing counter-coup due to the senators’ dissatisfaction following the 13 May shooting incident in the Senate building that drew international attention.
The lawmaker from Taguig won the Senate presidency by a slim 13-9-2 margin.
Earlier this week, Cayetano disclosed that efforts were ongoing to convince more senators to join the majority bloc.
Senator Erwin Tulfo confirmed Thursday that discussions about another leadership change were ongoing.
“It’s ongoing. It’s continuous. Look at the numbers, 13-11. It’s tempting,” he told reporters.
The minority bloc swelled to 11 after erstwhile independents, Senators JV Ejercito and Migz Zubiri, joined it.
Senator Marcos, however, brushed off the threat that they might lose the majority, asserting that they remain “very solid” behind Cayetano.
She doubled down on her allegation that the minority led by Sotto was exploiting last week’s tumultuous events in the chamber involving the botched attempt to arrest Dela Rosa to reclaim the leadership.
The congressmen, she alleged, were holding regular meetings in preparation for a Con-ass, the resources for which would be drawn from the 2027 national budget.
‘Not true!’
In response, Sotto vehemently denied Senator Marcos’ allegation that he and his allies had already reached an agreement with the House on Charter change via a Con-ass. He admitted, though, that he had been told of the revived plan to amend the 29-year-old Constitution.
“It’s the other way around. The talk of a constitutional change or amendment is of no moment. I was told of the idea, but it would be most difficult to do. It remains that — an idea,” Sotto told DAILY TRIBUNE.
The former Senate president also disputed Senator Marcos’ imputation that they were using last week’s chaotic incident surrounding Dela Rosa as a “cover” to depose Cayetano.
“The minority had nothing to do with the Bato issue. It’s theirs. Don’t buy those excuses. [That’s a] non-issue for senators, that constitutional change,” he told this paper.
According to Senator Marcos, Sotto and his staunch ally, Senator Ping Lacson, are also aggressively trying to convince their fellow senators to sign the partial Blue Ribbon Committee report to prematurely terminate its flood control probe, as the evidence supposedly pointed to President Marcos, Ilocos Rep. Sandro Marcos, and former House Speaker Martin Romualdez.
“The senators in the majority are being threatened that charges will be filed against them. We know that just one day after the Senate [coup], Senator Jinggoy was suddenly charged with plunder. The same thing happened to Senator Chiz — a case the Comelec had already dismissed was suddenly revived,” Senator Marcos said in Filipino.
The recent Senate leadership revamp led to Lacson losing the Blue Ribbon Committee chairmanship to Senator Pia Cayetano.
Prior to the coup, however, Lacson had suspended the flood control probe pending the majority approval of the BRC’s partial report.
The report recommended that Escudero, Estrada, Senator Joel Villanueva and Romualdez be subjected to further investigation following allegations that they received millions in kickbacks from flood control projects.
The report was signed by only six senators. This fell short of the eight signatures needed to advance it to the plenary for consideration.
The members of the current majority criticized the report as biased for singling out only senators, while excluding lawmakers from the House who were also tagged in the flood control corruption
Critics, on the contrary, speculated that the leadership change in the Senate was a deliberate attempt to stop the BRC report from reaching the floor to protect their allies from criminal charges.
