PRESIDENT Benigno Aquino III prefers a single six-year term for a president contrary to the view of Vice President Jejomar Binay who wants a return to two four-year terms with reelection, a Palace official said Wednesday.
"We don’t share the opinion of Vice President Binay, especially (because) the President firmly believes on a single term," said Presidential Spokesperson Edwin Lacierda in a press briefing.
He said that in a single-term presidency, a chief executive can focus on all that needs to be done within the six-year term, which was crafted during the administration of Aquino's mother, the late President Corazon Aquino.
"His responsibility after the six years is to ensure that good governance prevails during the six years, so that the people will want to see an extension of those six years by way of his successor," Lacierda said.
Lacierda said a president does not have to wait for another four years to make good on his promises on the first four years.
"That’s why the President said, ‘we’re going to accomplish much in these six years,’ and he has done so. And I think everybody will concede that the President has done so much. There are things that need to be done further, but that has to be done and continued by the person who would follow the reforms under the ‘tuwid na daan'," he said.
Binay, who will be running for president in next year's elections under the United Nationalist Alliance, said that a six-year term for a good president is too short.
Presidents from Manuel Quezon to Ferdinand Marcos were elected under the 1935 Constitution which allowed two consecutive four-year terms.
The system ended in 1972 when Marcos declared martial law and became a one-man ruler until a civilian-military uprising ousted him in 1986. (SDR/Sunnex)