President Duterte has no ambition to cling to power and will not support any bill or Charter amendment to extend his six-year term, according to a Palace official.
Instead, the President is committed to build on the administration gains in the campaign in addressing corruption and poverty as he marked his second year in office, said his assistant Christopher Go.
“We don’t have ambitions of clinging to power, neither will we push for laws that would result to such,” Go said in a statement. “The President will always want a clean and graft-free government and he has proven this many times by firing officials he appointed,” he added.
Former Chief Justice Reynato S. Puno, head of a committee tasked to review the amendments to the Constitution, has proposed that Duterte lead a 10-member transition commission as the nation prepares a shift to a federal government by 2022. Under the proposal, the commission will formulate and adopt a transition plan for the shift to the new federal system of government based on the new Constitution.
It will also organize and establish the federal government and the governments of the federated regions. The transition period will take place from 2019 to 2022.
The President has repeatedly refused to prolong his stay in power, saying he was old and exhausted. He has even offered to cut short his six-year term to allow the assumption of a new leader under a federal government.
Go highlighted the President’s achievements since he assumed office in 2016, including pouring funds for better social services.
“We have seen numerous infra and economic development projects, laws signed and implemented, and social welfare, health, and education programs put into place in the last two years,” he said. “This is a testament of what President Duterte clearly wants for the country and for the Filipinos,” he added. (Genalyn D. Kabiling)
