The League of Cities of the Philippines will pursue the people's initiative option for amending the 1987 Constitution, Bacolod Mayor Evelio Leonardia said yesterday.

Leonardia who met Wednesday in Manila with governors, mayors and other local officials, belonging to the Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines, said the mayors have decided to pursue the people's initiative as a step towards Charter Change, rather than leave the matter to the Senate or the Lower House.

"I believe the first major step to be taken, if we really want to explore more possibilities for our country, and if we would like to make this country move forward faster, is to have a Charter Change," Leonardia said.

"If we take the people's initiative, we will know the real pulse of the people, and have a good chance of pursuing the ChaCha through this system."

The mayors are anticipating that Congress will be forced to form themselves into a Constituent Assembly, he added.

Leonardia said the mayors believe that the bicameral system is no longer responsive to the situation so they are pushing for a unicameral form of government, he said.

He said Singapore Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yu believes that if Korea, Singapore and Taiwan had followed the "complicated" kind of system we have adopted, they would not have progressed as much. He said even business tycoon Lucio Tan and many other businessmen in the past believe we have too much politics.

"I believe having elections every three years is counterproductive, divisive, expensive, and does not bring stability," Leonardia said.

He said he also believes the three-year term was an over reaction of the framers of the Constitution, because the country had been under the Marcos rule, he said. As a public official, Leonardia said he believes their term should be four years, at the very least, since there is a recall mechanism, anyway.

Leonardia said he will conduct consultations with the people in the barangays.

He said a referendum will come about when they could come up with signatures of 12 percent of the voters nationwide, and a minimum of three percent in each congressional district. He said the mayors believe that it will be easy to obtain the required number of voters.

"It might even exceed the minimum requirement because I feel that the people are bordering on desperation, and I still believe a change in the system will also change us," he said.*CGS

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