The Philippine midterm elections scheduled for 2019 may be canceled, House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez said yesterday during an interview on the ANC show Headstart.
Alvarez chalked that possibility up to the looming possibility of Constitutional revisions that would shift the Philippines from a unitary to a federal form of government, something he said would almost certainly necessitate a time lag.
Midterm elections happen every three years for positions in the Senate, House of Representatives, and lower government units.
“I have to be frank, anything is possible. You know why? Let’s be practical. If you shift to a new system of government, you need a transition. You cannot implement it immediately after it is ratified, ” he told the show’s anchor, Karen Davila.
The shift to federalism was one of President Rodrigo Duterte’s main campaign promises when he ran in 2016. For him, this will encourage development in Philippine provinces that are often neglected in favor of development in Metro Manila.
According to Alvarez, the Senate and the House of Representatives are scheduled to form a constituent assembly at the end of this month to discuss the charter change. He said that ideally, they should finish the draft before the barangay (village) elections on May 8 so that people can vote for or against its ratification as well.
In an interview with the ANC show Early Edition this morning, Duterte supporter and Oriental Mindoro Representative Rey Umali said that canceling the 2019 elections is a “necessary evil” to complete the process of changing the Constitution.
“Many or most of the members of the Congress now would either be graduating or running for other public offices, and when that happens, we may not be able even to muster a quorum,” he said.
And it’s not just the 2019 elections that is in danger of cancelation. According to Duterte supporter and Senate President Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III, it may be necessary to cancel the presidential elections in 2022 to extend Duterte’s term. This will supposedly help in the government’s transition.
“We can extend the president’s term 1. if really necessary, and 2. if he is amenable to it, and 3. since that extension will be part of the new Constitution, the new Constitution is approved by the people themselves,” he said yesterday.
Many fear that the proposed charter change is just Duterte’s way to hold on to power, but according to Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque, Duterte is not looking to extend his six-year term and actually wants to shorten it.
“He wants to cut short his term rather than lengthen it,” Roque said.
Duterte has repeatedly promised to quit once the Philippines shifts to Federalism.
“If that is finished in three years, you can count on it, I give you my word. If the framework is already there, I will resign to give way to a new president. You’ll have nothing more to think of,” he said last October.
