The 'rider'

Senate president Juan Ponce Enrile might have suffered an Alzheimer’s episode when he invoked a law that they themselves repealed in Congress. I refer to, in particular, to his statement over the weekend that senators like him could not even seek a local elective position like running for a gubernatorial post, without resigning from their positions as lawmakers. “That’s the rule,” Enrile was quoted as saying by Senate reporters. That is, if he was not misquoted. 

He may be a brilliant lawyer but Enrile’s memory might have played a trick on him to forget that this “rule” he referred to had been effectively removed no less than by them from our country’s election laws since eight years ago.

This is contained in a “rider” provision in RA 9006 or the Fair Election Act of 2001. This is the law passed by the 12th Congress that lifted the political ad ban. It amended the previous provision in the Omnibus Election Code of 1985 or Batas Pambansa (BP) 881 that provided for automatic resignation from office of an incumbent elective official if he or she runs for another post.

This “rider” in RA 9006 deleted the specific provision from BP 881 that states: “Any elective official, whether national or local, running for any office other than the one which he is holding in a permanent capacity, except for President and Vice President, shall be considered ipso facto resigned from his office upon filing of his certificate of candidacy.”

The rationale behind this “rule” is to prevent incumbent officials from having undue advantage over their rival candidates if they remain in office and use government resources for their campaign.

While it had nothing to do with the subject matter of this law — lifting the ad ban — our shrewd lawmakers included this “rider” provision to repeal this “rule” to suit their vested interests.

This is the reason why we have seen the likes of Senator Panfilo “Ping” Lacson being able to go back to the Senate even after he ran but lost during the May 2004 presidential elections. Worse, it enabled less performing Senators like Lito Lapid to go back to the Senate after he miserably lost his mayoral bid in Makati City to re-electionist Mayor Jejomar Binay in the May 2007 mid-term elections. 

By the way, RA 9006 is also the same law that provided the “right of reply” as among the special privileges that our lawmakers granted to themselves. Our Honorable Senators and Congressmen inserted this provision obviously as a quid pro quo to approving into law media’s pushing for the lifting of political ad ban during the campaign period.

Not content with their access to government-owned media entities, the present 14th Congress even wants to expand this “Right of Reply” and imposing this requirement to private media. The proposed bill that the Senate unanimously approved earlier is pending at the House of Representatives.

The controversial bill was shelved after the administration-controlled House decided to focus on the priority concern of the Arroyo administration on Charter change. They tackled first House Resolution 1109 that sought to convene Congress into a Constituent Assembly (Con-Ass) that administration allies railroaded before they went to recess last month. Congressmen-authors pushing for the approval of the Right of Reply bill can still revive this when they resume their third and last sessions next month.

Speaking of RA 9006, it is the very law also that protects our politicians from being slapped with electioneering raps at this early in the game with their so-called “advocacy” advertisements in media. As previously ruled by the Commission on Elections (Comelec), there is no prohibition yet at this stage for Senators Manuel Villar, Loren Legarda, Mar Roxas II, and other presidential aspirants who we see mostly on their respective “advocacy” ads in radio, TV and print. The restriction is strictly applied only during the campaign period but not before they actually file their certificates of candidacy.

* * *

It was with great sadness when former Sen. Francisco “Kit” Tatad broke to me the bad news that our good friend, fellow journalist, Julius F. Fortuna died of massive heart attack yesterday. He was 61 years old. The Senator is a contemporary of Julius. Although they were together while they were starting in media, they took different paths. Tatad later became Information Minister during the martial law regime while Julius, on the other hand, was not so lucky when he was captured by the military as a militant anti-Marcos activist and languished in jail for eight years during martial law.

Despite being the longest-held prisoner of the Marcos martial law era, this has not broken the spirit of a journalist in Julius. Released in 1981, Julius soon plunged into journalism, joining The Observer Magazine, for which he covered the Department of Foreign Affairs, and soon was acknowledged as the dean of diplomatic reporters. Thus, I am so impressed with his grasp of world affairs as he tried to relate this to our situation in the Philippines.

At the time of his passing, he was writing a regular column for The Manila Times. Dante Ang, his publisher, was greatly saddened, too, when I sent a text message about the demise of Julius. “He (Julius) is a great loss to us,” Dante Ang lamented to me. Julius was also one of the founders and host of the weekly Kapihan sa Sulo which he helped put up about 10 years ago and he also acted as moderator at the Ciudad Fernandina Forum.

I had the privilege of knowing him and becoming a friend of his because we moved in the same coffee shop talk circles. It was like a weekly routine for us to see each other. After he alternated as host of Ka Neal Cruz at the Kapihan sa Manila Hotel every Monday, I would see him over lunch in our Samahang Plaridel where he is one of the founding members and vice president. Then, we would see each other in our Tuesday Club breakfast gathering at the EDSA Shangri-La in Ortigas. On Thursdays, we again share the latest political talks and even showbiz chismis over lunch at Myther’s. He was so gracious to let me ride with him whenever I had no car to bring me back to The STAR.

The remains of Julius lie in state at the Paz Memorial Chapels in Araneta Avenue, Quezon City. Details of interment and necrological rites for Julius will be announced later.