VICE President Leni Robredo on Friday maintained she does not have any plan to oust President Rodrigo Duterte and replace him as chief executive.
At a dinner with the media Thursday night hosted by the Office of the Vice President, Robredo said she can now speak her mind against policies of the Duterte administration after her resignation from the Cabinet.
On Sunday, Robredo resigned as chairwoman of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council, after receiving a text message from the Palace that told her she should no longer attend Cabinet meetings.
During Friday’s turnover of a mural entitled “Ignite” of four visual artists at the Quezon City Reception House, Robredo wished the President to succeed, but said “it is also important for the administration to heed the dissenting voices.”
She said despite her opposition to some of the President’s policies—such as the restoration of the death penalty and his bloody war on illegal drugs—she would support those of his programs that would benefit the people.
“All that I hope to achieve is to unify all voices so that there is only one voice that the President will listen to, so we can be heard,” she said.
At the Senate, during a hearing on a proposal to amend the 1987 Constitution to establish a federal system of government, former senator Aquilino Pimentel Jr. said under his proposed setup, the president and the vice president should come from the same party.
“Over the years—and I’m not referring to VP Leni [Robredo] and President Digong [Duterte] today—the president and vice president come from different parties, and upon election, controversies begin to arise,” Pimentel said.
At this point, Senate President Pro Tempore Franklin Drilon quipped: “Any one is not allowed to attend Cabinet meetings.”
“Correct!” Pimentel blurted out.
“And that would arise usually also from the fact that the vice president, if he also comes from another party upon election will be saying a lot of novenas, asking when this crazy person will die so I can become president,” he added.
Under his proposal, Pimentel said, congressmen would still be elected by district, but senators would represent distinct regions or states. He recommended that each of 12 states would have six senators. This would mean a total of 72 senators, he said.
Pimentel said the number of senators today—24—was based on the population during the time of President Manuel L. Quezon, when there were only about 18 million to 20-million Filipinos. Today, there are 104 million.
Pimentel said that while he believed a Constitutional Convention was the best way to amend the Constitution, he was fine with President Rodrigo Duterte’s preference for a Constituent Assembly made up of both chambers of Congress.
Pimentel added that it was important that Drilon has indicated that his committee on constitutional amendments and revisions would be conducting public hearings in various locations. He added that more areas be covered so that people would have the opportunity to air their own views.
Interviewed after the hearing, Drilon said his committee will have more hearings in Manila in January, and at least three hearings outside Metro Manila—Baguio, Cebu and Cagayan de Oro.
