Solon suggests one more year for gov’t officials with 3-year term

A lawmaker on Monday suggested that the term of government officials with three-year terms be extended for one year.

In a press conference, ABS party-list Representative Eugene Michael de Vera said this is in order to synchronize their current term if the planned constituent assembly amending the 1987 Constitution will propose a four-year term for all government officials and to address the issues regarding the transition period.

De Vera also defended the statement of Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez of a possible "no election" scenario as the country transitions into the proposed federal form of government.

De Vera, along with Pampanga Representative Aurelio "Dong" Gonzales, proposed Resolution of Both Houses No. 8, calling on both houses of Congress to convene in a Constituent Assembly to discuss revisions in the 1987 Constitution, as part of the move to shift to a federal form of government.

Attached in the resolution was their draft of the "Proposed Constitution of the Federal Republic of the Philippines" filed on August 2, 2016.

De Vera said when they proposed the resolution, they were working on the present conditions of that time. These, however, changed after several deliberations of the four subcommittees tasked to further improve it.

"Probably because of those continuous meetings by the subcommittees, the Speaker probably have seen that there should be a transition government. And this transition government pump prime the implementation of the new federal system," he said.

What should be considered, De Vera said, is the length of time for the transition period.

He said one angle to determine this is the feedback from some local government officials who said that their three-year term for each tenure is "so short."

De Vera suggested that if the constituent assembly will propose a four-year term for all government officials, the current three-year term of incumbent officials should might as well be extended for one year to "synchronize" it.

"To my mind, we are really thinking here of, we have to synchronize it with the term of every elected official. Probably if it's for four years, we have three years, then probably one year would be enough. If we could holdover for one year would be enough," he said.

"For example, three years kami ngayon. Later on, we're going to propose four years for a term. Then probably, I would suggest that we extend for one year, 'yung current term namin, so that we would be synchronized na later on para four year, four years na," he added.

De Vera is hoping that if the constituent assembly adopts such proposal, it would apply to all government officials with three-year terms, including local government officials.

This does not, however, entail an extension of the "legislative powers" of President Rodrigo Duterte, he added.

"Not necessarily," he said when asked about the matter. "Because after the pronouncement of the President, he said he is willing to detach with his term."

"2022 will be the end of his term. What we are trying only here to establish is that the transition government would only last for one to two years, probably maximum of three years until enough that the President has finished his term," De Vera said.

The Duterte administration has been pushing for a shift to a federal form of government as a means to address issues particularly in strife-torn Mindanao. —KBK, GMA News