Duterte is pressuring the incoming congress to accelerate charter change in order to appease US imperialism by showing it he is still its asset. At the same time, Duterte wants “cha-cha” to secure his agenda for power perpetuation. The Filipino people must brace themselves for a major political battle against Duterte’s aim to further mangle the Philippine constitution which will result in even worse hardship against the people.

The US imperialists, especially the American Chamber of Commerce and Industry, has long been pushing for amending the 1987 constitution, including removal of restrictions on the entry and ownership by foreign investments in key sectors of the economy, emasculate the bill of rights by setting limits on it, remove the prohibition on the entry of nuclear weapons as well as the presence of foreign troops and facilities, remove provisions which specify the responsibility of the state to provide public services, and other amendments in line with neoliberal policies and further fortify the country as a US military stronghold.

At the same time, Duterte wants to amend the 1987 constitution to serve his power perpetuation scheme. He is feigning ambivalence in the change in the form of government but all his supermajority “die-hards” in congress know very well Duterte’s real aims of securing the perpetuation in power of the Dutertes either through pseudo-federalism, removal of provisions limiting terms or reelection or giving the sitting president extra years or powers during the transition to the new government.

https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2019/07/09/1933257/duterte-cha-cha-do-it-now