Ex-CJ Davide troubled by Duterte's ‘province of China’ joke

Charter change could be the instrument by which the Philippines would be turned into a colony of China, former government officials warned on Friday.

GMA News TV program "State of the Nation with Jessica Soho" reported that former Chief Justice Hilario Davide Jr. and former Solicitor General Jose Calida were troubled by the government's plan to amend the Constitution.

They warned that that these revisions to the Constitution could loosen terms of national territory to China's benefit.

Davide, speaking at a University of Santo Tomas forum, recalled that during Duterte's speech before Chinese officials last February, the president joked that the territorial dispute between our countries could be solved if the Philippines became a province of China.

"But knowing China, it  will not consider it a joke. Chinese leaders are not known to be jokers. Our becoming a province of China may not be too far," Davide warned.

The former Supreme Court chief justice added that Duterte's "joke" was starting to materialize given the further opening of Philippine markets to Chinese investors.

Davide also warned that "this lifting of the citizenship requirement would end up with the outright surrender of the Philippines to foreigners at no cost to them."

"It would open the Philippines becoming a colony of a foreign power or just a province of China, according to the President," he added.

‘Paradise for our politicians’

Meanwhile, Calida raised the possibility of government officials influencing the draft Constitution to be submitted to a possible Constituent Assembly (Con-Ass).

"That's a very big danger... given the administration's love for another country," he added.

"Kung ano pong 'yung gawin ng committee ni Chief Justice Puno, pwede po bang baguhin sa Office of the President? Yes. Kapag isinubmit po ito sa isang Con-Ass. Pwede bang ibasura ang Con-Ass entirely? Yes."

In a texted statement to GMA News, Malacañang countered that there should be no concerns over national territory.

"Contract of PRRD with the Filipino people is to promote their interests without surrendering even an inch of (Philippine) territory," said Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque.

In a separate statement, Roque said that the Constitutional Commission would receive input from the relevant to party "in control of the Congress that will make specific proposals to revise the Constitution."

"It should be highly persuasive to members of the President's party in Congress since it is the party chairman who created it," the spokesperson added.

The proposed shift to a federal form of government was introduced as a key strategy which would aid the government achieve its goals of instituting autonomy to individual states and eliminating political dynasties.

However, former Chief Justice Davide argued that "what is being promised in this Charter Change is not actually federalism alone but as a so-called new paradise for our politicians." — Margaret Claire Layug/DVM, GMA News