Bacolod City – Fifteen mayors of Negros Occidental have joined the League of Cities of the Philippines in supporting moves to amend the country’s 1987 Constitution.
Victorias City Mayor Javier Miguel Benitez said that he personally asked members of the Negros ACE if they are in favor of the Charter Change.
There are 31 component cities and municipalities in Negros Occidental, not including highly urbanized Bacolod City.
Benitez said 15 mayors said they are in favor of the Charter Change.
Pulupandan Mayor Miguel Peña, president of the League of Municipalities of the Philippines – Negros Occidental, said that while he supports Charter Change with economic and political amendments, but not foreigners owning land, Benitez said.
Bacolod City Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez, national chairperson of the League of Cities of the Philippines disclosed earlier that the LCP “fully backs charter change initiatives.”
A resolution issued by the LCP National Executive Board said that LCP advocates for progressive, sustainable, and smart cities, stressing also that the country needs to introduce amendments to the Constitution to achieve a genuinely progressive and self-sufficient society.
It is the firm determination of the LCP that the global environment, the regional alignments, and the national socio-economic and political realities in the Philippines, since 1987, or 38 years ago, have all been radically altered, disrupted and totally revolutionized by the dizzying pace of rapid technological advances and by massive geopolitical and environmental upheavals in the last five years, which shall continue unceasingly for the next decades in our journey as a nation, it stressed.
It further said that LCP supports the initiative to propose amendments to the 1987 Constitution of the Philippines, as these will bring the necessary growth and development needed by the nation’s economy.
Mayor Salvador Escalante revealed on Tuesday that a private organization has started the “people’s initiative” signature campaign in Cadiz City, Negros Occidental, which he allowed.
Escalante admitted that he and Second District Rep. Alfredo Marañon III are in favor of amending the economic provisions of the Constitution.
Board Member Richard Julius Sablan, the newly-elected president of the Liga ng mga Barangay in Negros Occidental, said he has received reports of some groups going around asking people to sign a petition for Charter change.
Sablan however denied that the Liga ng mga Barangay is involved.
While he favors amendments to the Constitution’s economic provisions, Negros Occidental Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson said that he would not get involved in the “people’s initiative signature drive.” (Gilbert Bayoran via The Visayan Daily Star (TVDS), photo courtesy of TVDS)
