MANILA: Malacañang sees public support instead of backlash as President Aquino expressed his openness to Charter change and term extension through consultations with the people.
Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Herminio Coloma said their monitoring of public opinion online showed a favourable uptrend in the month following the delivery of his fifth State of the Nation Address.
“Comments reacting to his stated openness to Charter change formed a subset of these; among those who expressed their views, a predominant number expressed support for the President,” Coloma said yesterday in a statement.
According to Coloma, commentaries by the foreign media specifically the New York Times and Bloomberg as well as local critics assailing the President for “not following his parents’ legacy” had missed the point.
In his two most recent media interviews, Coloma said the President emphasized the importance of listening to the people’s sentiments and engaging them on how the reforms initiated by his administration could be strengthened and made permanent.
“He said his openness to Charter change focuses on the need to review the aspect of judicial reach,” Coloma said.
Aquino cited the recent Supreme Court decision on the Disbursement Acceleration Programme that declared parts of the mechanism unconstitutional and the decision allowing former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to appoint a new chief justice when the ban was already existing.
“Any fair commentary based on the foregoing will affirm the President’s over-arching commitment to good governance and the strengthening of democratic institutions. In turn, good governance promotes good economics, and this is validated by the lofty performance of the Philippine economy as the fastest-growing in the region,” Coloma said.
The New York Times described Aquino’s hints to amend the Constitution for judicial reach and term extension as political mischief and threats to democracy. It added Aquino must step down in 2016 in honour of his parents as the country’s democracy icons.
Bloomberg quoted several analysts as saying Aquino was inviting political crisis and showing desperation due to the lack of a winnable standard bearer for the Liberal Party. The report added he was risking his legacy of economic success and fighting corruption by pushing for Charter change.
Pushing for term extension may also “raise eyebrows among foreign allies and international investors, who are concerned with the potential political fallout of a constitutional change,” Bloomberg quoted Richard Javad Heydarian, a political science lecturer at the Ateneo de Manila University as saying.
The Philippine star
