House consti amendments panel chair wants Cha-cha shelved ‘indefinitely'

House committee on constitutional amendments chairman Rufus Rodriguez said Thursday he will push that Charter change (Cha-cha) moves at the House of Representatives be shelved "indefinitely" so that they can focus on finding ways to address the COVID-19 situation.

Rodriguez made the remark following reports that the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) will push through with its signature drive to gather support for Cha-cha even as the country is faced with the COVID-19 threat.

“I am inclined to recommend to the Speaker that we shelve Cha-cha indefinitely so we can focus on measures to fight this pandemic, help our affected people, and prepare the nation for post-lockdown and post-coronavirus disease, or the new-normal life,” Rodriguez, Cagayan de Oro representative, said in a statement.

According to Rodriguez, he has no doubt that Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano will support his proposal “since he has repeatedly declared that he wants us to work on COVID-19-related measures without any divisive issue distracting us.”

His committee will also suspend consideration of Cha-cha proposals in the meantime.

It was earlier reported that the DILG has directed its regional offices to continue with the department's campaign to gather up to two million signatures over the next couple of months to support "constitutional reforms."

The said signatures will then be submitted to Congress.

Rodriguez called on the DILG to postpone its Cha-cha signature drive until the COVID-19 crisis is over as it is "not the time" for it.

He said that the campaign is a waste of time, effort, and money “because [the House] will not act on Cha-cha while our people are suffering and are in danger of getting infected by the coronavirus.”

“Cha-cha can wait. We will first have to attend to measures that will save lives and the livelihood of our people,” he added.

If the House will not act on Cha-cha at this time, then more so is the Senate whose members have repeatedly said that the move is not a priority in that chamber, Rodriguez said.

“So my message to Cha-cha advocates and their DILG patrons is: stop it, it won’t fly while there is a pandemic,” he added.—AOL, GMA News