Congress Plans to Abolish Duterte’s Term Limit
More than 70% of members of the House of Representatives are in favor of extending President Rodrigo Duterte’s term prompting House Majority Leader Rodolfo Fariñas to call on immediate general assembly to discuss the matter.
This week, the lower house is voting to change the country’s constitution to abolish term limits — a move that would essentially make Mr. Duterte an emperor.
Ricordo Cordova, a law professor at Far Eastern University and member of the constitutional committee explains:
“With the removal of these term limits in the constitution, that also sets up the likelihood — the extremely strong likelihood — that going forward, President Duterte is likely to serve in all three roles [head of state, general secretary of the PDP-Laban, and head of the military] indefinitely into the future, which of course would be a significant reversal from recent practice since the beginning of the Philippines’ reform era.”
Fariñas plan is so abrupt that opposition lawmakers found themselves helpless.
If the plan is successful, only health problem could remove Mr. Duterte from power and since there will be no presidential election in the near future, former Senator Bongbong Marcos is likely to takeover once he win on his electoral protest.
Cordova is even bold in saying that Marcos could serve longer than Duterte because he is younger.
“What we are seeing here is Mr. Marcos could be in power for decades like his father if he win on his electoral protest (which is likely). It is an open fact that Mr. Duterte will retire after sometime so it is a given fact,” he said.
The move is realized by the Congress after China removed Xi’s term limit last week.
“We just want to align with China. As long as Xi Jin Ping is in power, President Duterte should also be in power. We want to take that for granted”, Fariñas told members of House of Representatives on Friday during a special caucus.
This week, the lower house is voting to change the country’s constitution to abolish term limits — a move that would essentially make Mr. Duterte an emperor.
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“With the removal of these term limits in the constitution, that also sets up the likelihood — the extremely strong likelihood — that going forward, President Duterte is likely to serve in all three roles [head of state, general secretary of the PDP-Laban, and head of the military] indefinitely into the future, which of course would be a significant reversal from recent practice since the beginning of the Philippines’ reform era.”
Fariñas plan is so abrupt that opposition lawmakers found themselves helpless.
If the plan is successful, only health problem could remove Mr. Duterte from power and since there will be no presidential election in the near future, former Senator Bongbong Marcos is likely to takeover once he win on his electoral protest.
Cordova is even bold in saying that Marcos could serve longer than Duterte because he is younger.
“What we are seeing here is Mr. Marcos could be in power for decades like his father if he win on his electoral protest (which is likely). It is an open fact that Mr. Duterte will retire after sometime so it is a given fact,” he said.
The move is realized by the Congress after China removed Xi’s term limit last week.
“We just want to align with China. As long as Xi Jin Ping is in power, President Duterte should also be in power. We want to take that for granted”, Fariñas told members of House of Representatives on Friday during a special caucus.
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