MANILA, Philippines - The Catholic Church, lawyers and labor groups yesterday expressed strong opposition to President Aquino’s pronouncement that he is open to constitutional amendments that will lift his term limit and clip judicial powers, saying it smacked of the seeds of dictatorship.
ACT Teachers’ party-list Rep. Antonio Tinio said Aquino was having delusions of massive support for his possible bid for a second term.
“Where is he getting the gall to ask for a second term? He now wants to clip the powers of the Supreme Court (SC) that called him out for doing so. Who knew that daang matuwid could turn out to be a shortcut to tyranny?” he said.
The leadership of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) said it cannot support the proposed constitutional amendment, which it said merely serves the purposes of one government official and one class of people and curtails the power of the judiciary.
“Constitutional amendments are justified only in the measure that they redound to the benefit of the nation and address long-festering problems arising out of ambiguities in the Constitution,” said CBCP president and Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas.
Villegas urged respect for the judiciary and to preserve its independence because judicial review, he said, is the only recourse of citizens against “the heavy hand of the State or transgressions of the Constitution by politicians.”
Lawyers and court unions also slammed Aquino. Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) president Vicente Joyas said the President’s logic was wrong and too simplistic, believing that the move was a result of the unanimous ruling of the SC junking Aquino’s controversial Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP).
“Just because the Supreme Court declares the DAP as unconstitutional you would do things like that. What comes into my mind is that people will have stronger doubt on his capability to govern the country and respect the rule of law,” Joyas said.
The IBP head reminded Aquino that the power of judicial review is to prevent abuses made by the executive branch and prevent a repeat of what happened during the martial law years under the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos.
Jojo Guerrero, president of both the Judiciary Employees Association and Supreme Court Employees Association, also reminded Aquino that he seems to be taking the path of dictatorship – the kind of government his parents had fought against till their last breath.
Bayan Muna Representatives Carlos Zarate and Neri Colmenares, on the other hand, vowed to oppose any measure in Congress to amend the Constitution and urged people to frustrate the dictatorial ambition of Aquino.
“Aquino is delusional and power hungry, thus unfit to rule. His dictatorial ambition must be crushed… There is definitely no clamor from the people to extend his term. The strong clamor of the people is to abolish the corrupt pork barrel system Aquino is perpetuating and to punish all those who plunder and abuse their power, including Aquino,” Zarate said. – Mayen Jaymalin, Edu Punay, Evelyn Macairan, Eva Visperas, Edith Regalado