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Thursday, March 30, 2006
Gripes pour vs. DILG ‘meddling’
By Minerva B. Gerodias & Rene H. Martel
Sun.Star Staff Reporters
Some town and city mayors in Cebu have complained about how personnel of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) conducted a signature campaign in support of Charter amendments.
The mayors expressed their “displeasure” to Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia last Tuesday, saying the DILG did not give them the courtesy of coordinating with them before going to the barangays.
“This is worth looking into. They voiced out their displeasure and I echo the same displeasure,” the governor said.
Meanwhile, a Cebu City councilor said that DILG personnel could be held liable if they used public funds and time in preparing and distributing primers and signature forms in the barangays.
As responsible public servants, DILG employees should not be actively involved in the people’s initiative campaign to push for amendments to the 1987 Constitution, said Councilor Edgardo Labella.
Contrary to its claim of being non-partisan, the DILG has been distributing among Cebu City residents a primer that appears to favor a unicameral, parliamentary system of government.
Active role
DILG personnel reportedly also worked overtime to distribute the people’s initiative forms and “signature solicitor’s report” forms last Saturday, during the simultaneous barangay assemblies.
Former governor Pablo Garcia, a member of the Consultative Commission that drafted amendments to the Charter, had said a people’s initiative cannot be used to change the Constitution for now.
Although this is one of three methods provided for in the Constitution, the Supreme Court in 1997 declared that the people’s initiative law is incomplete.
Congress has yet to correct the law’s loopholes.
Despite that, two Cebuano representatives support the people’s initiative, calling it the most practical approach.
Rep. Simeon Kintanar (Cebu, 2nd district) is aware of the Supreme Court’s (SC) decision on the people’s initiative, but said that if the matter is raised to the SC again, the 1997 decision may be reversed.
Kintanar also believes there was nothing irregular in how the signatures were solicited.
‘One-sided’
When asked about the “questionable” participation of DILG employees, Kintanar quipped, “Mao nay sulti sa mga wa kauyon (That’s what those who disagree will say).”
Like Kintanar, Rep. Antonio Yapha (Cebu, 4th district) also sees nothing irregular in DILG’s initiating the signature campaign.
The people could hardly be expected to initiate it on their own, so the DILG had to make the first move.
“Ang importante, wala sila pugsa sa pagpapirma (What’s important is that no one was forced to sign),” he said.
But Councilor Labella, in an interview, said the DILG should seriously study the Constitution and realize that there are no approved guidelines yet for a people’s initiative.
DILG personnel were supposed to be the ones to brief residents in each barangay about Charter change, but were supplanted in some cases by members of non-government organizations (NGOs) lobbying last week for amendments.
Alvin Dizon of Akbayan said the DILG primers appeared “one-sided in favor of a parliamentary form of government” and failed to present the pros and cons of each system.
Entombed
A portion of the primer reads: “A presidential system can often lead to an ineffective executive, as the legislature can be dominated by the opposing party.”
In contrast, the primer added, “Parliamentary systems tend to be very effective for carrying out executive policy, as there is no separation of powers, so this means the government gains its position from the fact that it can command a majority in the legislature.”
Labella, who opposes a parliamentary system of government, said such a system offers “less if not nil” chances of providing checks and balances in government.
But he also pointed out the current campaign is “an exercise in futility.”
The SC ruled in the case of Miriam Defensor-Santiago vs. Comelec that until Congress provides for its implementation, “...the right of the people to directly propose amendments to the Constitution through the system of initiative would remain entombed in the cold niche of the Constitution.”
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (March 30, 2006 issue)
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