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Wednesday, November 22, 2006
Final: SC junks people’s initiative
MANILA -- Ten of 15 Supreme Court (SC) justices ruled Tuesday that Republic Act 6735 or the Initiative Referendum Act is sufficient to amend the Constitution through a people’s initiative.
But the High Court stood firm on its position that the signature campaign by the Sigaw ng Bayan could not be passed off as a people’s initiative because of the questionable procedures that the group had used.
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The Oct. 25 decision, penned by Associate Justice Antonio Carpio, called the manner used to gather signatures for the people’s initiative a “gigantic fraud” and “grand deception.”
The SC, by an 8-7 vote, denied with finality the motions for reconsideration filed by the Palace-backed Sigaw ng Bayan and the Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines (Ulap), and the Office of the Solicitor-General.
It said the groups failed to raise any new issue that would warrant the reversal of its Oct. 25 decision.
Malacañang said it respects the decision while senators heaped praises on the High Tribunal for maintaining its rejection of the people’s initiative petition.
“Acting on the motions for reconsideration of the decision of Oct. 25, 2006, the court resolved, by the same vote of 8-7, to deny with finality the said motions. The basic issues raised have been duly passed upon by this court and no substantial arguments were presented to warrant the reversal of the questioned decision,” the SC said in its four-page en banc resolution.
Reversal
The SC’s ruling reversed its 1997 findings in the Santiago vs. Comelec case that RA 6735 as “incomplete, inadequate or wanting in essential terms and conditions insofar as initiative on amendments of the Constitution is concerned.”
While the ponente of Associate Justice Antonio Carpio saw no need to revisit the Santiago ruling, 10 magistrates reiterated their opinion that RA 6735 is a sufficient enabling law allowing people’s initiative, among them Chief Justice Artemio Panganiban.
Panganiban, in his separate concurring opinion of the Oct. 25 decision, said “taken together and interpreted properly and liberally, the Constitution, particularly Section 2, Article 17, and RA 6735, provides more than sufficient authority to implement and realize our people’s power to amend the Constitution.”
Section 2, Article 17 of the Constitution limited the scope of a people’s initiative to mere amendments in the Charter.
The SC said the initiative mounted by the Lambino group called for a wholesale revision and not a mere amendment of the Constitution, thus, violating this provision.
No grave abuse
In its Oct. 25 ruling, the SC found no grave abuse of discretion on the part of the Comelec when it junked last Aug. 31 the petition filed by Sigaw and Ulap.
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) said it has been permanently enjoined by the SC from entertaining any petition for initiative because RA 6735 has been previously declared insufficient and inadequate to cover such initiative to amend the Charter.
By a unanimous vote, the court likewise denied “for utter lack of merit” the motion of Sulong Bayan Movement Foundation Inc. seeking the inhibition of Panganiban and Carpio from joining the deliberations on Charter change.
In Malacañang, Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said the administration respects the SC decision on people’s initiative.
“It will not stop us however from our advocacy that we need fundamental reforms in order to remove the remaining stumbling block towards our competitiveness,” added Bunye, who is also presidential spokesman.
“Of course, Charter change has a life of its own and, in the end, the people will have to make the decision. We still believe it is the most important reform we have to make,” Bunye said further.
Presidential political adviser Gabriel Claudio, for his part, said the House of Representatives can now proceed and focus on the Constituent Assembly (Con-Ass) as the mode to amend the 1987 Constitution.
Claudio, in a text message, said the SC decision was the only thing that the House allies were waiting for to proceed with Con-Ass.
He added that with Con-Ass soon in full swing, all talks for a senatorial elections or preparing for an administration ticket will be “hypothetical if not academic.”
Meanwhile, Senator Joker Arroyo urged the House of Representatives to follow the example of the SC and act with dispatch and finality on their moves to amend the Constitution.
Arroyo chided Charter change proponents in the House of Representatives for failing to make up their minds as to the “wording of the amendments they want and as to the mode” of Charter change.
Yoyo
“The House cannot yoyo this case indefinitely or dodge this all the time or be divided endlessly. That is not fair to the people,” he said, adding “it’s time for the House leadership to bite the bullet and act, like the Supreme Court, with finality.”
Senator Manuel “Mar” Roxas III, for his part, reiterated his call to Charter change proponents to abandon people’s initiative and pursue an agenda of reform.
“Every minute spent on trying to amend the Constitution through illegal and deceptive means is a minute lost for the long journey to economic freedom from extreme hunger and poverty,” he said.
Senate Majority Leader Francis Pangilinan welcomed the SC decision.
“Its decision to dismiss with finality a petition to change the Charter through people’s initiative is perhaps the final nail on the coffin that will bury this illegal petition,” Pangi-linan said. (ECV/JMR/CPB/Sunnex)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Pangasinan. (November 22, 2006 issue)
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