MANILA: It’s a free country where people can propose anything, but Malacañang assured the public yesterday that President Aquino is committed to serve just one fixed term of six years and will step down from office in 2016.
“The President is only counting the remaining months, days in office before he finally steps down. He hasn’t even thought of extending his term of office,” Press Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr said yesterday. He said Aquino is not giving serious thought to proposals of term extension.
“The President is not giving particular attention to those things nor is he encouraging anyone to make the move. It’s all part of free expression in a free society,” Coloma said.
Asked why the President’s allies had raised the idea at all, Coloma said it was a way to gauge public sentiment and get feedback, adding that Aquino himself had declared in a previous event that he wanted to know if he still enjoyed public support.
Coloma said Aquino has been thankful for the people’s support for reforms instituted in government.
“That was my impression of him. The President is thankful that the people continue to support him and his righteous path policy,” he said.
However, the option to stick to just one fixed term of six years remains and has not changed, Coloma said.
Thus, calls for a term extension is nothing but a sentiment – no more, no less, he stressed.
Coloma’s statement was issued after an online petition was made calling for Aquino to have six more years in office, implying amendments in the Constitution to remove the provision that limits the tenure of a sitting president to just one term.
Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda on Wednesday gave hints that while Aquino is opposed to charter change and does not want to extend his stay in power, he would be willing to listen to his “bosses” – the Filipino people.
“The President is sensitive to the voice of his boss, so let us just wait for it,” Lacierda said.
The Philippine star
