Petition for PI also divides endorsers

The petition for people's initiative to amend the country's Constitution has not only divided the justices of the Supreme Court, who recently voted to dismiss the petition, but also its endorsers.

The Union of Local Authorities in the Philippines had endorsed the petition filed by the Sigaw ng Bayan, but The FREEMAN learned that the organization has been divided on the issue.

ULAP treasurer and the league of barangays president James Marti Lim yesterday said that it was questionable why the other union officials used their organization to support the people's initiative when they are not unanimous about it.

Under ULAP's charter, Lim said that when one of its members is not agreeable to the position of the other, it should not be taken as the official stand of the organization even if the majority is in favor.

Lim said ULAP should not have been one of the petitioners because he did not endorse the people's initiative. Lim, however, was happy that the Supreme Court has dismissed it.

While Lim was against the people's initiative, his colleagues in ULAP are gearing up to seek for reconsideration on the Supreme Court's ruling.

ULAP president Bohol Governor Erico Aumentado said their legal panel led by retired Supreme Court justice Bernardo Pardo is currently studying whether or not to file a motion for reconsideration. Aumentado scheduled a meeting yesterday noon with their legal panel to discuss the possible grounds to file the motion.

The governor said the highest court had exceeded its limitation on the peoples' initiative when it delved into the matter, which should have been left for the Commission on Elections to determine.

He said the issues like whether or not the petition has complied with the requirements of the implementing rules of the people's initiative was a matter that already falls under the jurisdiction of the Comelec.

'The Supreme Court is not the trier of facts," Aumentado told dyLA.

Aumentado said the more than six million Filipinos who signed the petition should not worry because the war is not yet over.

ULAP secretary general Carlo Fortuna, on the other hand, questioned Lim's alleged sudden change of heart. Fortuna said Lim was part of the move to endorse the petition of Sigaw ng Bayan, adding that Lim should have made known his position earlier and should have not waited the court's decision.

Aumentado and Fortuna believe that Lim was just taking advantage of the issue to be popular because of his ambition to run for senator. - Fred P. Languido/LPM