Sen. Francis "Kiko" Pangilinan on media queries re DILG collecting Charter change signatures amid pandemic

"We are hard-pressed to raise funds to address the huge damage caused by the pandemic on the economy. Addressing the impact of the pandemic both on the health of our citizens and the health of the economy should be our only focus at this point.

Charter change should be the least of our concerns today. The current effort is out of touch with current realities and is an insult to millions of our citizens who have lost their jobs, who are experiencing unprecedented hunger and who continue to be threatened by the spread of this incurable disease.

Instead of using govt money and personnel on collecting millions of signatures, the DILG should instead focus on mass testing and contact-tracing millions of our citizens both of which up until now remain to be undertaken in full two months after the law granting Malacañang special powers to use billions of pesos to address the pandemic was passed."