The Church and progressive groups in the Philippines are up in arms against a plan to change the country’s 1987 constitution through a people’s initiative.
The people’s initiative pro-vision in the Catholic-majority nation’s constitution states that amendments can be directly proposed by people “through at least 12% of the total number of registered voters.” Every legislative district must have “at least 3% of the registered voters” as signa-tories. “I do not favour the charter change… whether it is a people’s initiative or by the constituent assembly. A charter change is not the answer to inflation, unemployment, housing crisis, and corruption in the country,” said lawyer Aaron Pedrosa, leader of the Sanlakas, a multi-sectoral organization, on Jan. 18.
The Philippines got the current constitution a year after Ferdinand E. Marcos, the father of current president Ferdinand Marcos Jr, was deposed as president.