Koko says plebiscite for Cha-cha by 2018 ‘too optimistic’

A plebiscite for Charter change (Cha-cha) by May 2018 is “too optimistic,” Senate President Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III said Tuesday.

Pimentel said this when sought for comment on the House of Representatives’ plan to postpone the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections from October this year to May 2018.

Lawmakers earlier said they were eyeing the said date so that the elections will be synchronized with the plebiscite for Charter change. Cha-cha is seen as preparation for the proposed shift to federalism.

“There will be a Cha-cha plebiscite in May 2018? Are they dreaming?...[That’s] too optimistic that there will already be a plebiscite for the new constitution on the federal republic of the PHL in May 2018,” Pimentel said in a text message.

“May 2019 is more realistic a target for the new Constitution plebiscite,” he added.

Pimentel, president of the ruling PDP-Laban, has been advocating for federalism, but admitted that he has yet to get the support of his colleagues in the Senate.

The Senate President earlier said that PDP-Laban wants to adopt a ”uniquely Filipino” federalism model with two constitutionally established orders of government -- federal and regional.

The regional governments, with their own regional unicameral assemblies, will be headed by a regional governor directly elected by the people in the region. The governor will have powers of supervision over provincial, city, and municipal executives, said Pimentel.

In the division of powers, matters that concern the entire nation belong to the federal government while basic services to the people would be handled by the regional governments.

For instance, Pimentel said the federal government would handle national defense, national security, foreign policy, currency, banking and monetary policy, national taxation, customs and international trade.

Shared powers, he said, would include maintenance of law and order, administration of justice, education curriculum and standards, energy, sustainable use and management of natural resources, labor relations, disaster risk reduction and management, relief and rehabilitation, human rights, and strategic transportation, among others.

Pimentel and Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez earlier agreed for Congress to convene in Constituent Assembly by January or February 2018 to amend the Constitution and pave the way for federalism. — RSJ/KVD, GMA News