Editor’s note: This story was updated on May 19, 11:15 a.m. to indicate that the Philippine Daily Inquirer broke the story.

 

The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) has reportedly shifted online to gather signatures to back amendments to the 1987 constitution, including a shift to a federal form of government.

Project CORE, short for constitutional reform, aims to gather two million signatures by July 2020, according to a report from the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

After signing up on constitutionalreform.gov.ph, users can access a link that displays the following message: “Ang paglagda kalakip ng aking pangalan ay tanda ng aking taos-pusong pagsuporta sa isinusulong ng ating gobyerno patungkol sa Constitutional Reform o pag-amyenda ng ating Saligang Batas. Payak at walang halong pag-aalinlangan na ako ay tutulong sa abot nang aking makakaya para sa adbokasiyang ito tungo sa ikauunlad ng ating sambayanan. I am for CORE!”

The website requires users to submit the following: name, region, civil society organization affiliated with, email address, e-signature and a photo of the user doing the “CORE pose.”

Opposition senators on Sunday spoke out against the charter-change bid amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

READ: Senators hit DILG signature drive for Charter change

CORE Movement national chairperson and former Masbate governor Vicente Homer Revil said in a statement in a Rappler story that “it is a fitting time to rethink the country’s constitution,” as the country battles the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Making our regions stronger by giving them development funding and authority under our Constitution, as proposed by advocates of constitutional reforms, will disperse the economy and make it more resilient in case of a repeat of a national crisis like COVID-19,” Revil said. John Ezekiel J. Hirro