Thursday, November 23, 2006 Concon still best option
THE Supreme Court may have recently declared Republic Act 6735 or the Initiative Referendum Act as sufficient, but it could still not be used to change the system of government from presidential to parliamentary.
This is because the Constitution states that the people’s initiative may only be used to amend the Constitution and not to revise it, said former Cebu governor Pablo Garcia.
Shifting from presidential to parliamentary form of government is a revision of the Constitution because more than one provision will be changed, he said.
Garcia, a lawyer and constitutionalist, believes that the best option left now to change the Charter is the constitutional convention (Concon).
He explained that there is no need to rush the changing of the Constitution because the amendments could not be fully implemented immediately and has to wait for the end of President Arroyo’s term.
“Now is the perfect time to call for a convention because there is enough time and, by 2010, hapsay na kay ni-end na ang term sa elected pagka 2004. Why should it be rushed when that is the most important political document of the country,” Garcia said.
He said the Concon election can coincide with the barangay elections in October 2007. The barangay elections could also be postponed to 2008.
“Between 2008 and 2010, we will have a new constitution that will be well crafted,” he said.
Garcia also echoed the opinion of the SC that the method used in conducting the people’s initiative was a deception.
He is “happy” that the people’s initiative did not prosper because it is a “big slap” on the face of the Filipinos.
Garcia has always been against the people’s initiative. He even represented the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) Cebu to argue before the SC.
He said Sigaw ng Bayan did not only deceive the people but also their fellow petitioner, the Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines (Ulap).
The ULAP was not aware that the terms of the local officials is still three years because in the petition they filed, Article 10 of the constitution is not included in the amendments.
The SC ruled with finality that the signature campaign of the Sigaw ng Bayan could not be used for people’s initiative because of the questionable procedure used.
Associate Justice Antonio Carpio called the manner used to gather signatures for the people’s initiative a “gigantic fraud” and “grand deception.”
But 10 out of 15 Supreme Court justices also ruled that Republic Act 6735 or the Initiative Referendum Act is sufficient to amend the Constitution through a people’s initiative.
The decision means a reversal of its 1997 ruling in the Santiago vs. Comelec case that RA 6735 was “incomplete, inadequate or wanting in essential terms and conditions insofar as initiative on amendments of the Constitution is concerned.” (MBG)
