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RAILROADING CHARTER CHANGE:
COULD LEAD TO VIOLENT UPHEAVAL IN THE COUNTRY
The sudden rush by the Committee on Constitutional Amendments of the House
of Representatives to pass resolutions proposing charter change is an
ominous sign of Pres. Gloria Arroyo’S hand in pushing for constitutional
amendments before 2010. The Committee’s approval of the motion that the
committee will immediately and directly vote on August 26 to decide on the
mode for amending the Constitution is abhorrent considering that the
Committee has not even decided what specific amendments are really
necessary and should be undertaken. Deciding on the mode of amending the
Constitution without knowing how many and which provisions will be
amended, coming at the heels of the presidential announcement supporting
charter change, is nothing more than a signal that the president’s allies
in the Congress are ready to change the Constitution despite objections
and protest by the people. Voting on the mode to amend the Constitution is
nothing more than an admission that Congress has already decided to change
the Constitution.
Sudden Change of Pace and Positions
Many of the Bills in the House of Representatives, notably HB 3149 filed
by Abraham Mitra, HB 3473 by Rep. Carmelo Lazatin, House Concurrent
Resolution 17 and HB 4076 by Rep. Victor Ortega, propose the calling of a
Constitutional Convention and not a constituent assembly. Another bill
filed by Rep. Roque Ablan called for a “peoples initiative” although he
later withdrew it and shifted to constituent assembly. Strangely, despite
the large number of proponents for constitutional convention, sixty-two
members of the House surveyed by the Committee on Constitutional
Amendments suddenly favored a ‘constituent assembly’ as against only forty
nine in favor of constitutional convention. Fifty-seven percent (57%) of
House members surveyed want to change the Constitution before 2010 while
only 20% want it amended after 2010 despite the fact that all Bills
proposing a Constitutional Convention proposed that changes in the
Constitution will take place after 2010, which surely means that the
survey does not reflect the original position of many members of the
House. This latest swing in the opinion of House members, coming at the
heels of Pres. Arroyos suddenly resurrected open support for charter
change, only shows the President’s determination to ram her proposed
“chacha” before the 2010 elections. Congress should publish the names of
all the Representatives who voted in the survey so that their respective
constituencies will be informed of the shifting positions of their
supposed representatives.
Complicated issues set aside
The bills propose many amendments which the Committee should first reject
before any decision on the mode should be taken, because they are
reprehensible. The proposal of HR 550 proposing the extension of term of
Pres. Arroyo and all other elective officials to June 30, 2011 and the
expansion of the term of congressmen to 4 years are unacceptable and self
serving. The proposals of HR 14 crippling the Supreme Court by taking away
its judicial power to intervene in cases of grave abuse of discretion
under Section 1, Article VIII of the Constitution must be resisted
especially in these times of presidential abuse of power. The creation of
“states” such the State of Southern Tagalog with Tagaytay as capital, the
State of Western Visayas with Iloilo as capital while dividing the entire
Mindanao to Northern Mindanao with Cagayan de Oro as Capital and Southern
Mindanao with Davao City as capital are all complicated issues that the
Committee and Congress have to discuss with public participation in public
hearings. The Congress cannot vote on what mode to use unless the issue of
whether or not there is indeed a need to amend the constitution is
resolved.
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Constituent Assembly: A
powerful body that can extend terms
It is expected that Congress
will choose the self-serving mode of constituent assembly since it gives
the very members who want to change the Constitution the power to draft
the specific amendments. Assurances that the Constituent Assembly will not
be “authorized” to extend the term of Pres. Arroyo are not only misleading
but a barefaced lie. The Constituent Assembly, once constituted is a
different constitutional entity from Congress and is therefore not bound
by any congressional resolution. The Constituent Assembly, because it has
the power to amend the Constitution, can even abolish Congress and is,
therefore, not subservient to it. It is clear from Section 1, Article IX
that the constituent assembly is empowered to “amend and revise” the
Constitution. This means that it can amend or overhaul the Charter
(revise, as defined by the 1987 Constitutional Commission) and is,
therefore, logically empowered to extend the term of Pres. Arroyo or allow
her to run again in 2010.
The nuance provided by certain members of the House that the amendment,
using Section 140 of the Rules of the House, will strictly ensure that the
President’s extension will not be an issue is either merely deceiving the
people or politically naïve. Section 140, Rule XX of the House of
Representatives provide for proposals to amend or revise the Constitution,
to wit:
“Sec. 140 Form of Proposals and Procedure for Adoption. Proposals to amend
or revise the Constitution shall be by resolution which may be filed at
any time by any Member. The adoption of resolutions proposing amendments
to, or revision of, the Constitution shall follow the procedure for the
enactment of bills.”
Firstly, if this procedure is correct, there is no stopping any member of
Congress from proposing amendments to a Resolution being tackled in the
plenary in the same manner that proposed bills are also amended once they
are submitted to the plenary on second and even third reading. Pres.
Arroyo’ majority in the House of Representatives can therefore approve an
insertion extending the term of the president and there is nothing that
the minority can do about it.
Secondly, there will be a powerful bicameral committee that will decide
over the said resolution and insert provisions that will allow Pres.
Arroyo to run in the 2010 election. The overwhelming numbers of Pres.
Arroyo in the House will ensure that such an ‘insertion’ will be approved
in the same manner that bicameral committees in the past have inserted
alien provisions in bills approved by both Houses of Congress. It is
foolhardy, therefore, even for opposition members, to support moves to
amend the charter now. The minority will never have the numbers to resist
the juggernaut that Pres. Arroyo will unleash just to stay in power beyond
2010.
Members of the House are therefore warned from joining the bandwagon being
generated by Malacanang for charter change. Charter change that will
perpetuate Pres. Arroyo’s power and eliminate the protectionist economic
policies in the Constitution could result in a violent upheaval in the
country. The House Committee on Constitutional Amendments and Congress
should, instead of rushing the process, conduct consultations with the
people especially in the light of the known and admitted resistance of the
people to charter change. To ram charter change down the throats of the
people is to invite violent reactions that will only further exacerbate
the political and economic crisis plaguing the country today.
Date: August 15, 2008
Reference: Atty. Neri Javier Colmenares - 09178350459
Secretary – General
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