|
Sunday, October 29, 2006
Gonzales: Motion for recon may change SC decision
MANILA – Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez Sr. said Saturday that a motion for reconsideration to be filed by Sigaw ng Bayan and Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines (Ulap) may change the Supreme Court's decision on the petition for people's initiative to amend the Constitution.
Supreme Court's decision on the people's initiative petition
How the Supreme Court Justices voted
"Of course, we are disappointed, but the Palace respects what they did. I want to be very clear that we respect it. We're not happy, but we respect the decision... That's all water under the bridge," he said.
The Supreme Court in a vote of 8-7 dismissed the petition of two pro-Charter change groups seeking to amend the Constitution through people's initiative.
Gonzales said the initiative petition is not yet dead as alleged since petitioners are still to file their motion for reconsideration and Justices may change their minds “up to the last minute of the voting”.
Raul Lambino of Sigaw ng Bayan in a radio interview said they will file a motion for reconsideration before November 9, end of the 15-day period of which they will file a motion.
Gonzales said the motion of reconsideration stands a chance if Chief Justice Artemio Panganiban, who voted in striking down the initiative petition for being illegal and unconstitutional, will have a change of heart.
Panganiban, along with Senior Associate Justice Reynato Puno, are the two remaining justices who dissented in the Santiago versus Comelec ruling in 1997 where the SC ruled that Republic Act 6735 (Initiative and Referendum Act) is insufficient to implement a system of initiative to amend the Constitution.
"He (Panganiban) went around 360 degree. We were hoping that he will at least abstain if he cannot accept the petition. It would seem to me that the thrust of Mr. Panganiban was just to show to the world that the Supreme Court is independent, even if he reversed himself from the 1997 ruling," he said.
Gonzalez at the same time assailed what he called was an "unusual haste" in the notification of the parties in the suit after the SC hand-carried the decision to the parties on the same day of promulgation, instead of delivering them through registered mail.
He said this was done apparently to make sure that the reckoning date for the filing of motion for reconsideration immediately started so that Panganiban could still participate in the deliberations before he retires on December 7.
Gonzalez noted that the serving of the decisions in the SC is usually being done
through mail, which usually takes three to four days before the litigants receive them.
"To me, the SC is very much in a hurry about this case because the service of the decision was sent personally. That is very unusual. They are in a hurry maybe that the time will run out on the MR (motion for reconsideration) before Panganiban retires," Gonzalez said.
"Panganiban wants to make sure that he is still there when SC deliberates on the motion for reconsideration," he added.
Gonzales said if the Supreme Court approves the motion for reconsideration to be filed by the Ulap and the Sigaw ng Bayan Movement, he will propose moving the 2007 elections in May to November to hold a plebiscite and elections at the same time.
Approving the motion for reconsideration gives way to the conduct of a plebiscite on the proposed amendments of the Constitution under people's initiative.
During the Kapihan sa Sulo News Forum in Quezon City, Gonzales said, "What I can foresee, if there is really a plebiscite, the elections may be affected so (for me the elections may be moved to) November," he added.
Last Wednesday, the SC threw out the consolidated petitions for people's initiative to amend the 1987 Constitution, branding as "deceptive and misleading" the signature gathering of Sigaw ng Bayan and Ulap.
The SC said the petitioners failed to inform initiative signers of the nature and effect of the proposals, and failure to do so is "deceptive and misleading, which renders the initiative void."
"The unbending requirement is that the people must first see the full text of the proposed amendments before they sign to signify their assent and that the people must sign on an initiative petition that contains the full text of the proposed amendments," the SC ruled.
"An initiative that gathers signatures from the people without first showing to the people the full text of the proposed amendments is most likely a deception, and can operate as a gigantic fraud on the people," the court added.
Concurring in the decision penned by Associate Justice Antonio Carpio aside from Panganiban were Associate Justices Angelina Sandoval-Gutierrez , Consuelo Ynares-Santiago, Ma. Alicia Austria-Martinez, Conchita Carpio-Morales, Romeo Callejo Sr., and Adolfo Azcuna .
Dissenting justices include Senior Associate Justice Reynato Puno,Justices Leonardo Quisumbing , Renato Corona, Dante Tinga, Minita Chico-Nazario, Cancio Garcia and Presbiterio Velasco Jr.
Meanwhile, Caloocan City Bishop Deogracia Iñiguez called for vigilance as he noted that groups with "suspicious motives" will not stop unless they've achieved their goal of changing the Constitution.
"There are people who are really working to change the Constitution for their own interests. These people have an agenda. These people are using the people's initiative, the Constituent Assembly among others until they achieved their motive. That's why I think as citizens, we should be very vigilant," Iñiguez told reporters after the Bishops'-Peoples Forum of the Kilusang Makabansang Ekonomiya (KME).
"We are appealing to them since the very beginning we've appealed to them. All of these efforts (forums) are actually to wake them up. But from what has been happening it seems they are still intent on their own agenda," said Iniguez.
In the Senate, Senator Ralph Recto urged Malacañang "not to jumpstart the dead Charter-Change train" because "two insurmountable obstacles" face it.
Recto identified these as the "refusal of the Senate to join the Lower House in forming a Constituent Assembly Con-Ass)" and "the biggest roadblock of all: the plebiscite where any administration-engineered Charter changes will be defeated."
"The people are not in the mood to Charter change and the Senate is cold to the idea of a Con-Ass," Recto said.
Recto said the administration has been courting people "but it is a case of unrequited love because the Charter change music it is playing has fallen on deaf ears". "Simply put, the people have not fallen in love with Charter change," he added.
Recto urged Malacañang to "cut losses and move on."
"If it forces the issue, the backlash will be felt by its candidates in the May elections. The electorate punishes those who don't know when to give up. So, the administration better conserve the goodwill it has now than wager it all in battle it can't win," Recto said.
Noting that the administration's record in winning cases in the SC is "unblemished by any victory," Recto said it is "courting another debacle should it insist in convening the Constituent Assembly minus the Senate."
He was referring to moves in the House of Representatives to have proposed amendments in an "all-congressman and Senate-less" Con-Ass pass by a vote of three-fourths of the combined membership of the two chambers.
Recto said the bicameral character of the legislature is not suspended when Congress debates and votes on proposed amendments to the Constitution. (Sunnex)
(October 29, 2006 issue)
Write letter to the editor. Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board. Click here. |
|
|
|
[return to top]
[home]
|
|
