Edong seeks less powers for SC

Sen. Edgardo Angara, who is seeking reelection under the administration’s Team Unity, wants the Supreme Court to have less powers. Guesting on ABS-CBN News Channel in the first wave of election-related debates on Monday night, Angara said he would support the administration’s Charter change initiative, if it is resurrected and if he wins in May, to prevent the Supreme Court from "intervening in too many controversies."

He said he would also like the economic provisions of the Constitution rewritten to encourage investments.

As for the system of government, he said it was obvious that "we can’t change it until 2010 (when President Arroyo’s term expires)." With Angara in the TV show were House Minority Leader Francis Escudero, an opposition senatorial candidate, and Kilusang Bagong Lipunan’s Oliver Lozano.

Escudero said revising the Constitution "is not the answer to the many problems the nation is facing, including poverty, joblessness and the breakdown in peace and order."

"What we need is strict enforcement of and obedience to the Constitution and the laws by the President and her officials, and by all of us. What we need is transparency and good governance," he said.

He said the opposition cannot trust President Arroyo with rewriting the Constitution. "The people should not entrust that job to one who has a propensity to flout the Charter and the law," he added.

Angara was one of only two or three senators who supported Mrs. Arroyo’s failed Cha-cha initiative last year. – Jess Diaz