Sigaw says SC ban on initiative does not apply - Malaya 09.05.2006

CHARTER change advocates yesterday asked the Supreme Court to nullify a resolution of the Commission on Elections denying their petition for a people’s initiative to revise the 1987 Constitution.

In a 64-page petition, Raul Lambino, spokesman of the Sigaw ng Bayan movement, and Bohol Gov. Erico Aumentado of the Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines (Ulap) also asked the SC to order a plebiscite on the proposed charter revisions before the end of the year.

At the House, a resolution calling for the convening of Congress into a constituent assembly is expected to be passed today by the committee on constitutional amendments in what critics of the proposed charter change said was the administration’s fallback position in case the Supreme Court throws out the Sigaw ng Bayan petition.

The Palace-backed charter change groups said the Comelec in its resolution last Thursday committed grave abuse of discretion when it rejected the petition on the ground that people’s initiative lacks an enabling law.

The petitioners said the Comelec cannot ignore the sovereign will of the people.
They said Comelec is bound by its constitutional duty to set a date for a plebiscite on the proposed shift to a parliamentary system.

Lambino said the 1997 Supreme Court ruling in Santiago vs Comelec, which permanently barred the Comelec from entertaining people’s initiative petitions, is not applicable to their case.

"We consider the Santiago ruling as a non-existent jurisprudence because the tribunal voted 6-6, where six justices were in the opinion that Republic Act 6735 (People’s Initiative and Referendum Act) has provided adequate mechanism for the implementation of people’s initiative to amend the constitution," the petition said.

It said the Comelec’s refusal to act is "contrary to the clear mandate of the fundamental law of the land that it has a ministerial duty to set the date of the plebiscite not earlier than 60 days nor later than ninety 90 days after the certification by the Comelec whether the petition for initiative filed before it is sufficient."

It said the Comelec, in its resolution, made a determination that the petition for initiative "appears to have met the required minimum percentage" of 3 percent of all registered voters in each congressional district and 12 percent of all registered voters nationwide.

Sigaw ng Bayan and Ulap said they had gathered over 10 million signatures nationwide for their petition. Of the total, 6.3 million have been verified by the Comelec.

The House committee on constitutional amendments is set to approve today Resolutions 1230 and 1285 convening Congress into a constituent assembly.

The panel chaired by Rep. Constantino Jaraula (Cagayan de Oro) will resume deliberations on the resolutions after the House’s charter change campaign was stalled a few months ago because of the Senate’s hardened stand against it.

But with the House leadership mustering 195 signatories (three-fourths of Congress’ members), Speaker Jose de Venecia’s drive to shift to a unicameral-parliamentary has found renewed vigor.

Majority leader Prospero Nograles said Rep. Prospero Pichay (Lakas, Surigao del Sur) who sponsored HR 1285 has gathered 204 signatories but the list has yet to be presented.

Rep. Luis Villafurete (Kampi, Camarines Sur) said at least 20 Liberal Party members have signed the resolution.

"No one can stop us now but the Supreme Court," Nograles said.

Jaraula said the signatures were mere "commitments."

"What we need are warm bodies in the plenary," he said.

Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Satur Ocampo said the minority bloc’s fight against constituent assembly could suffer the same fate as that of the recent impeachment complaint.

"Hindi kami solid. May realization kami na may mga miyembro ng minority na sumusuporta sa Cha-cha," he said in a press conference.

Rep. Risa Hontiveros (PL, Akbayan) dared the majority to present the names of minority congressmen who signed the resolution, since she and fellow Akbayan Representatives Etta Rosales and Mario Aguja were listed as co-authors of HR 1230.

"If we, who have expressed staunch opposition to charter change, were considered co-authors of HR 1230, how sure then is the majority of the veracity of the signatures?" she said.

Hontiveros said there’s a need "to verify if all those included in the majority’s list are actually supportive of the resolution."

CON-ASS DIALOGUE A ‘FAÇADE’

Senators downplayed an offer by Nograles for a dialogue on charter change.
Sen. Panfilo Lacson said the offer is only for show without any sincere intention of reaching a reasonable agreement.

"A dialogue is sought for the purpose of looking into a possible middle ground solution to disagreements and not to force or insult the party into submission, which is exactly what Nograles and his House allies have been doing," he said.

"Una sa lahat ang ino-offer niya sa amin ay burahin kami. So sinong luko-lukong senador ang makikipag-usap sa kanya?" Lacson said.

Lacson said nothing will come out of such a dialogue as Nograles lacks credibility.

Senate minority leader Aquilino Pimentel said: "We’ll see what they have in mind, if reasonable it’s OK. If not, we’ll let them go back home and just follow the Constitution then we’ll all be OK."

Senate majority leader Francis Pangilinan said the dialogue should be premised on the understanding that the House and Senate should vote separately on the proposed amendments.

"Kung ang pagpapalit lamang ng pangalan ng kalye sa pamamagitan ng batas e kailangan ng hiwalay na kilos ng Senado at Kamara, paano pa kaya yung Saligang Batas?" he said.

Early this year, a similar dialogue was spearheaded by Sen. Richard Gordon, chairman of the Senate committee on constitutional amendments, and Jaraula. It broke down when both chambers stood pat on their positions. – Evangeline de Vera, Dennis Gadil and Wendell Vigilia