Press Release
January 21, 2006
ONLY PRIVATE INDIVIDUALS, NOT PUBLIC OFFICIALS CAN UNDERTAKE PEOPLES INITIATIVE ON CHA-CHA
Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Q. Pimentel, Jr. (PDP-Laban) today
said the administration will be starting on the wrong foot in
pursuing Charter Change if it will tap local government executives
for soliciting signatures in support of this objective through the
system of peoples initiative.
Pimentel pointed out that the governors and mayors are legally
barred from spearheading the peoples initiative since this method,
by its very name and constitutional intent, should be undertaken
directly by the people or voters in their private capacity.
The attempt of local government officials to push for
constitutional amendments under the guise of a peoples initiative
is a tainted process and therefore will not prosper.
They are the wrong persons to sponsor a peoples initiative since
this is a function that should be left to the people, he explained.
The minority leader said this is unlike the first two
constitutionally-prescribed modes of amendments Congress as
constituent assembly and a Constitutional Convention which can be
undertaken and funded by the government.
Pimentel said the peoples initiative to be launched next month
under the aegis of the Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines
(ULAP) would be an exercise in futility because it will be in excess
of their authority.
He argued that since a peoples initiative is envisioned to be a
purely private effort of registered voters, no public funds can be
used for this activity and no public officials can validly push for
it.
Pimentel expressed apprehension that Malacañang
will siphon off
funds to the ULAP-sponsored peoples initiative out of the reenacted
2005 national budget, which he said has been virtually converted
into a pork barrel to be released at the discretion of President
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
The Supreme Court, in a decision rendered in March, 1997, ruled that
no valid peoples initiative can be undertaken until Congress enacts
a law that will govern the system of peoples initiatives of
referendum embodied under the 1987 Constitution.
The high tribunal held that Republic Act 6735 was insufficient to
govern the holding of peoples initiative to amend the Constitution
since it applies only to initiatives to amend national and local
laws.
Eastern Samar Governor Ben Evardone ULAP spokesman, said ULAP is
readying a petition with the Supreme Court to overturn its 1997
ruling on the issue.
I would advise Gov. Evardone to focus his attention on addressing
the illegal logging problem in his province. He should realize that
it is not for electoral public officials like him to involve
themselves in the peoples initiative, Pimentel said. |