Friday, December 15, 2006 Aportadera: Makalintal Concon is an aberration By Billy Aportadera Rights and duties
THE Administration Initiatives to amend/revise the Philippine Constitution have all fallen in the wayside. The first to go was the People's Initiative of the Sigaw ng Bayan. The Supreme Court, despite being packed with Administration appointees, exercised its constitutional duty in striking down the initiative in a close vote decided by the outgoing Chief Justice Arturo V. Panganiban. The last nail to the coffin was struck with the denial of the motion for reconsideration.
Arrogantly asserting its majority in numbers, Administration congressmen railroaded their resolution to constitute themselves into a constitutional assembly even without the concurrence and the participation of the Senate.
The overwhelming opposition of the people to this form of congressional initiative as reflected in all poll surveys would not deter the determination of the administration congressmen.
However, speaking with one opposing voice, the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, Charismatic Mike Velarde's El Shaddai, and Bro. Eddie Villanueva's Jesus is Lord, awakened the administration congressmen to their senses.
A midnight visit by high-ranking officials of the vaunted Iglesia Ni Kristo doused off the grasping efforts of the administration to amend/revise the Philippine Constitution to suit their ultimate purpose of perpetuating themselves in power through "constitutional" means.
Backtracking from their adamant posture, the House of Representatives through their Speaker Jose De Venecia, abandoned the initiative. Instead, they agreed to a constitutional convention composed of elective delegates to amend/revise the Philippine Constitution. The election of the delegates was proposed to be done simultaneous with the 2007 national election of senators, congressmen, and local officials.
Not giving up on the Administration initiatives, Romulo Makalintal, lawyer for the administration, proposed that the delegates to the Constitutional Convention be "appointed" by the President instead of "elected" by the sovereign Filipino people. This latest initiative is an aberration to democracy.
The people are now experiencing political instability due to the flaws in the 1987 Philippine Constitution drafted by the 48 well-meaning delegates appointed by then President Corazon C. Aquino. They were composed of the cream of the crop of Philippine legal, social and economic circles. But they were not elected by the people. They attempted to draft a constitution reflective of the sovereign sentiments and aspirations of the Filipino people. Their constitution was good only for a period and is no longer responsive at the present time. This is a lesson of history; the fundamental law of the land must be drafted not by appointed delegates of a president but elected delegates of the sovereign Filipino people.
As the political dust whipped up by the administration is still to settle, the vigilance of the people in opposition to the initiatives of the Administration should be sustained. The call of former President Corazon C. Aquino should be heeded.
Abelardo "Billy" Aportadera Jr., former commissioner of the Commission on Human Rights and former assistant Ombudsman, is a practicing lawyer. He is a member of Philconsa. E-mail address: apo_lawoffice@pldtdsl.net; Web address: http://billyaportadera.blogspot.com
