Tugon ito ng Palasyo sa gitna ng hirit ni Congressman Mikey Arroyo na ipagpaliban na muna ang eleksyon dahil sa nagpapatuloy pa ang banta sa COVID-19.
Ayon kay Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque, ipinauubaya na ng Pangulo sa taong bayan ang pagpapasya kung aamyendahan ang Konstitusyon para ipagpaliban ang eleksyon.
“The President is not interested in extending his term and he leaves it to the Filipino people, the sovereign people to decide if they want to amend the Constitution to postpone the elections,” pahayag ni Roque.
Wala sa opsyon ng Palasyo ng Malakanyang na ipagpaliban ang 2022 national elections.
“It can never be an option for Malacañang unless the Constitution is amended. At I understand the Comelec which is a Constitutional body tasked with the supervision of elections has already announced that they are considering kumbaga modified form of elections, less physical contact. Under the new normal, under the new situation, mukhang ang magbabago po ay ang paraan kung paano mangampanya pero patuloy po ang eleksyon,” pahayag ni Roque.
Bahala na rin aniya ang Commission on Election (Comelec) sa panukalang mail-in voting.
“Well, of course the decision lies with the Comelec. Hindi po natin pinapangunahan ang Comelec. Pero as I said, kinakaiilangan po yung paraan ng pagconduct ng election considering also what you have mentioned which have been used in other countries, baka po for the first time ma-kunsidera iyan ng ating Comelec,” pahayag ni Roque.