More local officials join people’s initiative bandwagon

More local officials have joined a number of local government organizations in a signature drive supporting people’s initiative as a mode of amending the Constitution.

Surigao del Norte Gov. Robert Lyndon Barbers, president of the Philippine International Sisterhood and Twinning Association, said he will support the initiative if it is the only option available to resolve the issue on Charter change.

"This kind of mechanism is much preferred because it comes directly from our constituents," he said.

The Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines (ULAP), which has some 1.7 million members, aims to obtain the signatures of at least 12 percent of all registered voters nationwide as required by law to initiate moves for the people’s initiative.

As of Tuesday, the League of Cities and League of Municipalities, respectively headed by Mayors Jerry Trenas of Iloilo City and Ramon Guico Jr. of Binalonan, Pangasinan have expressed support behind the signature drive for people’s initiative.

Philippine Councilors League president Carlo Fortuna of Mandaue City, Vice Governors League chairman James Calisin of Albay, Vice Mayors League president Jessie Cruz of Mandaluyong City, and Board Members League chairman Alan Zulueta of Davao del Norte have also signified their support.

Officials of the League of Provinces, headed by ULAP president and Bohol Governor Erico Aumentado, would meet this week with other local government officials to formalize their position.

The latest batch of local officials to express their support for the signature drive are Govs. Tomas Joson III of Nueva Ecija, executive vice president of the League of Provinces; Enrique Garcia of Bataan; and Rosette Lerias of Southern Leyte as well as Antique provincial board member Vincent Piccio, president of the Board Members League of the Philippines.

Joson said the people, where the sovereignty of a nation resides, should carefully examine the intent of the constitutional amendments because these are all meant to improve the quality of their lives.

"The fate and destiny of this country lies in the people, not in the politicians," he said, decrying the opposition’s use of scare tactics to defeat the purpose of the people’s initiative.

Garcia said the people’s initiative is the most democratic process by which to amend a Constitution that has so many basic flaws and loopholes.

"Our people have already experienced empowerment during EDSA 1 and 2. This empowerment must continue in the form of a people’s initiative in order to prevent destabilization and extra-constitutional efforts to succeed," he said.

Other member-leagues of ULAP that have expressed their support for a people’s initiative are the League of Local Planning and Development Coordinators, National League of Government Nurses, Philippine League of Local Budget Officers and the Philippine League of Secretaries to the Sanggunian.

President Arroyo earlier said she wants to amend the Constitution and change the country’s form of government from a presidential to a parliamentary system with a unicameral legislature, which she said would make the government more efficient and eventually speed up economic recovery efforts.

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr., however, said the Constitution itself limits the scope of the people’s initiative to simple or minor amendments such as modifying the terms of elective officials.

It would be impossible to conduct an overall review of the Constitution through a people’s initiative, he said.

Pimentel stressed that amending the Constitution should be done either through a constitutional convention or by Congress acting as a constituent assembly.

Citing a record of the proceedings of the 1986 Constitutional Commission, Pimentel noted that its members "felt that this system of initiative (people’s initiative) should be limited to amendments to the Constitution and should not extend to the revision of the entire Constitution."