Cha-cha to clip Supreme Court powers, says Escudero

The administration’s Charter change (Cha-cha) initiative aims not only to abolish the Senate but also to clip the powers of the Supreme Court, the leader of the opposition in the House of Representatives said yesterday.

Minority Leader Francis Escudero said if Cha-cha succeeds, the Supreme Court and lower courts would no longer be able to intervene in government contracts even if these are tainted with fraud and in cases where there is an abuse of discretion on the part of executive agencies.

"Administration officials and Cha-cha proponents are of the view that judicial intervention, or ‘meddling’ as they describe it, is hurting the country’s capacity for faster economic growth," he said.

He said he does not agree with this proposition since a system that fights corruption and fraud, and promotes transparency and accountability should hasten and not deter the nation’s growth.

"Cha-cha will significantly emasculate the Supreme Court and the entire judiciary," Escudero stressed.

A scrutiny made by The STAR of the 61-page draft Constitution that the House committee on constitutional amendments approved last Tuesday in a meeting that lasted less than two hours showed that there is only one major amendment in Article VIII, entitled, "Judicial Department."

The second paragraph of Section 1 is deleted in the committee’s version of the revised Charter.

The paragraph reads: "Judicial power includes the duty of the courts of justice to settle actual controversies involving rights which are legally demandable and enforceable, and to determine whether or not there has been a grave abuse of discretion amounting to lack or excess of jurisdiction on the part of any branch or instrumentality of the Government."

The committee, chaired by Cagayan de Oro City Rep. Constantino Jaraula, is proposing that only the first paragraph of Section 1 be retained.

It states: "The judicial power shall be vested in one Supreme Court and in such lower courts as may be established by law."

Like the Jaraula committee’s draft, the version of the rewritten Constitution that a large group of congressmen led by Surigao del Sur’s Prospero Pichay Jr. is proposing drops the second paragraph of Section 1 on the expanded powers of the judiciary.

The most recent big controversial case in which the Supreme Court intervened involves the multi-billion-peso Terminal 3 of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport. Other cases are the P1-billion automation contract of the Commission on Elections, the Manila Hotel bidding and the reclamation contract between Thai firm Amari and Public Estates Authority.

The only other significant amendment in Article VIII is the proposed increase in the retirement age of justices and judges of lower courts from 70 to 75 years.

Justices and judges, however, would have the option to retire at 70 with full benefits.

The proposed amendment is carried in both the Jaraula and Pichay versions.

In its Jan. 31, 2006 meeting, the constitutional amendments committee voted to reject any form of term extension for all officials, including members of the judiciary.

It was upon a motion presented by Representatives Teodoro Locsin Jr. of Makati and Roilo Golez of Parañaque that the committee made the rejection.

Locsin had criticized the extension of the retirement age in the judiciary as a "bribe" to justices who would soon have to rule on cases involving Cha-cha.

Apparently to deflect that criticism, both the Jaraula and Pichay versions of the revised Charter provide that incumbent justices and judges would not benefit from the "term extension," which would apply to members of the judiciary appointed after the ratification by the people of Cha-cha.

Despite the overwhelming vote against term extension, Locsin, in a radio interview last week, said it was most likely that lawmakers would stay in office beyond the expiration of their terms on June 30, 2007 since the Jaraula-proposed Charter does not fix the date of the next elections.

Pichay’s Constitution, on the other hand, postpones the election of members of the House of Representatives by six months, from the second Monday of May 2007 to the second Monday of November.

House members who would be elected in November next year, plus the 12 senators elected in 2004 and whose terms of office will expire on June 30, 2010, would compose the interim parliament, which would begin functioning on Jan. 2, 2008.

Thus, Pichay’s draft would effectively extend by six months the tenure of the present members of the House and the 12 senators whose terms of office will expire on June 30. 2007.