‘Cha-cha to swamp opponents’

Malacañang expressed confidence yesterday that strong public support for Charter change would easily defeat Cha-cha opponents even as the Palace gave assurance that it fully supports public debate on proposed amendments to the 1987 Constitution.

Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye also welcomed the statement of Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales expressing support for moves to amend the Constitution.

Bunye said the ongoing people’s initiative was undertaken to allow the country to rid itself of the political gridlock "that many selfish politicians are using to paralyze our national initiative to develop as a nation, and as a member of the 21st century world.

"We are confident that this groundswell of public support for the proposed constitutional reforms will swamp the anti-reform sector of our political leadership," Bunye said.

He said just like the Catholic bishops, the Arroyo administration and Cha-cha proponents are also for "a healthy, transparent and lively discussion of the merits of seeking a change in the current political system."

The Sigaw ng Bayan Movement (SBM) spearheading the nationwide signature-gathering campaign for a people’s initiative said it will file a petition before the Commission on Elections (Comelec) later this month to set a date for a plebiscite on the proposed constitutional amendments.

SBM spokesman Raul Lambino said the nearly 8.5 million signatures they have gathered are expected to increase as more groups nationwide are expressing willingness to support Cha-cha.

The Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines (ULAP) and the League of Provinces said over the weekend that they would join SBM in filing the petition before the Comelec.

"We will sign as a co-petitioner this historic document," ULAP president and Bohol Gov. Erico Aumentado said. "This fully and forcefully represents millions of our people whose hope to quicken and deepen the pace of economic development lies in reforming the Constitution and changing our system of government."

Meanwhile, opposition congressmen sought a dialogue with ULAP members on the Cha-cha issue.

House Minority Leader Francis Escudero made the appeal in reaction to ULAP’s announcement that it supports the people’s initiative. ULAP is led by Aumentado and Gov. Ben Evardone of Eastern Samar.

"We want communication lines open between us and local officials on Cha-cha. We want them to hear not only the views of those pushing for the people’s initiative, but also our side," Escudero said.

He and 51 other opposition legislators in the House of Representatives signed a resolution opposing the plan of administration legislators to railroad Cha-cha through short cuts — such as bypassing the Senate or going against the 1997 Supreme Court decision requiring a "sufficient" enabling law for a people’s initiative on Charter change.

Escudero said ULAP members should realize that he and his opposition colleagues are not against Cha-cha, rather the use of unconstitutional means to amend the Charter.

The most constitutionally feasible Cha-cha mode is to convene the Senate and the House into a constituent assembly, but that would entail convincing senators to support such a move, Escudero said.

Overwhelming clamor

SBM has urged opposition leaders to heed the overwhelming clamor for Charter change by emulating one of their stalwarts, former Senate president Edgardo Angara, who backed the signature campaign for a people’s initiative.

Instead of resorting to ploys in a futile bid to thwart the people’s initiative, Lambino said, these "anti-people opposition leaders" should follow Angara, who has remained consistent in his position on constitutional reforms and acknowledged that the only legal option for those who want to remove Mrs. Arroyo from office is Cha-cha to limit the powers of the President under a new system of government.

SBM has denounced opposition attempts to stop the momentum of the initiative drive, after receiving reports that anti-Cha-cha politicians were allegedly pressuring local Comelec officers in their bailiwicks not to verify the signatures submitted to the body for authentication.

This developed as the Charter Change Advocacy Commission (AdCom) went on with its advocacy campaign by taking part in a dialogue in Pildera, Pasay City attended by several hundred residents of 10 barangays surrounding the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).

Lambino said the coalition will be sending its legal team to Capiz this week to act on reports that local Comelec officials were refusing to verify the signatures submitted by people’s initiative volunteers.

Lambino said SBM will also be checking reports of similar pressure being exerted by some politicians in South Cotabato.

Quoting from the 1997 SC decision on Santiago vs. Comelec, Lambino said the Comelec is allowed, through its election registrars, to verify the signatures on the basis of the registry list of voters, voters affidavits, and voter identification cards used in the preceding elections.

The SC, he added, allowed the Comelec three other acts of participation: to prescribe the form of the petition; to issue through its Election Records and Statistics Office a certificate on the total number of registered voters in each legislative district; and to assist, through its election registrars, in the establishment of the signature stations.

Lambino also dismissed the opposition’s threat to file cases of contempt against local election officers before the regional trial courts if they begin verifying signatures for the people’s initiative, noting that lower courts have no jurisdiction over the Comelec.

Roadblocks

The people’s initiative could soon run into several constitutional roadblocks.

The first would be the 1997 Supreme Court decision declaring the "people’s initiative for reform, modernization and action" (or PIRMA) during the Ramos administration as unconstitutional since no "sufficient" law existed to govern the system of initiative and referendum.

The court found Republic Act 6735, the law that Congress passed as an enabling law for a people’s initiative, to be deficient.

Solicitor General Eduardo Nachura has acknowledged that the SC’s ruling is an impediment to the ongoing people’s initiative and has announced that the government would ask the high court to revisit its 10-year-old ruling.

The second constitutional roadblock is the issue of whether a change in the form of government or in the structure of the legislature requires a simple amendment that can be done through an initiative, or a revision, which only a constituent assembly or an elected constitutional convention is allowed to undertake.

According to Fr. Joaquin Bernas, one of the framers of the Constitution, changing the form of government from presidential to parliamentary or converting the legislature from two chambers to a single chamber entails a revision, not an amendment.

The ongoing people’s initiative seeks to accomplish both: shift the country to the parliamentary system and create a unicameral legislature, effectively abolishing the Senate.

Thousands of workers from Central Luzon opposed to Charter change are due to arrive in Manila for the traditional Labor Day celebration.

Members of the Pambansang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) said 4,000 workers and fisherfolk from Central Luzon will participate in the expected Labor Day protests against Cha-cha and to demand better working conditions and a wage hike.

Meanwhile, lawyer Antonio Gallardo, chief of staff of the Office of Senate President Franklin Drilon said: "We are glad that the Comelec officials and employees in the Metro Manila region have the patriotism and the courage to adhere to the rule of law by obeying the Supreme Court’s ruling that no people’s initiative to amend the Constitution can be held without an enabling act from Congress."

Gallardo was reacting to the decision by Comelec Metro Manila Regional Director Ferdinand Rafanan to stop election officers in the region from verifying the collected signatures for lack of clear guidelines from the Comelec en banc.

According to Gallardo, Rafanan also said the lack of a clarifying resolution from the Supreme Court prompted moves to verify the signatures. — Paolo Romero, Jess Diaz, Cecille Suerte Felipe, Christina Mendez, Mayen Jaymalin, Cris Viguilla