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Friday, October 27, 2006
Pro-people's initiative justices wanted petition back to Comelec
MANILA -- President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo vowed Thursday to "keep the fire burning" in her advocacy for Charter change despite the rejection by the Supreme Court (SC) by an 8-7 vote of the petition for a people's initiative.
"The great idea of Charter reform lives on and we must keep the fire burning. This is about creating a modern, working Philippines; to leave behind the degenerated system that is holding the nation back and keeping it too poor and too divided," Arroyo said.
But the President said she respects and promises to uphold the rule of democracy and the rule of law. She asked the public, "especially the strong and committed supporters of the people's initiative," to support and accept the SC decision handed down last Wednesday.
She is now leaving it to concerned institutions like Congress in sustaining and realizing the dream of the people for change.
The President said the government will maintain a hands-off policy in appealing the SC ruling, as she will leave it up to the people's initiative proponents-Sigaw ng Bayan and the Union of League of Authorities of Philippines (Ulap)-on the filing of a motion for reconsideration.
Lawyer Raul Lambino, spokesman of Sigaw ng Bayan, said the people's initiative is a continuing fight and they are not giving up easily.
Aside from advocating Charter change, Arroyo said she will continue to focus on the economy and simply attend to political matters "during the campaign period."
She said during preparations for the 2004 elections, she only started naming their senatorial lineup in December or close to the last day of the filing of certificate of candidacy.
After the SC decision, some administration allies had started to shift their focus on the 2007 elections.
According to the ruling, Senior Associate Justice Reynato Puno, who led seven justices who dissented in the majority decision junking the petition for people's initiative to amend the Charter, said the petition should be sent back to the Commission on Elections (Comelec).
In his 73-page dissenting opinion, Puno said the Comelec must decide on the sufficiency in form and substance of the petition filed by Lambino and by Bohol Governor Erico Aumentado, leader of the Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines.
The other dissenting justices were Justices Leonardo Quisumbing, Renato Corona, Dante Tinga, Minita Chico-Nazario, Cancio Garcia and Presbiterio Velasco Jr.
Puno said the Filipino people, including the SC justices, ought to be concerned with this first principle, the inherent right of the sovereign people to decide whether to amend the Constitution.
The Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), however, told the government and proponents of people's initiative to respect the decision of the SC.
"The Supreme Court has spoken: No to people's initiative. As declared earlier by Malacañang and the leadership of Congress, that decision eagerly awaited must be respected. Let it be so," said Jaro Archbishop Angel Lagdameo, president of the CBCP.
Lagdameo said if indeed there is really a need to change the Charter, it must be performed in a more democratic way and that is through Constitutional Convention (Concon).
He reiterated that they are against the people's initiative and the constituent assembly (Con-Ass) because of the way it is done and "also because it appears to be self-serving."
"We have reasons likewise to doubt the process whereby some from the House of Representatives plan to convert itself into a constituent assembly. Please pardon the term but Charter change by Congress converted into a constituent assembly will have all the appearance of "self-service" and "lutong makao," he added.
Lagdameo congratulated the SC "for standing free and independent," even with the external and expensive pressures from the pro-Charter change.
At the House of Representatives, Majority Leader Prospero Nograles said he and other Malacañang allies have vowed to consolidate forces to execute swiftly Plan B-the convening of Congress into a Con-Ass. (JMR/ECV/MSN/DBP/Sunnex)
(October 27, 2006 issue)
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