Press Release
August 30, 2006

MINORITY SENATORS ASK COMELEC TO JUNK
SIGAW NG BAYANS PETITION ON CHA CHA

The seven-man minority bloc of the Senate has asked the Commission on Elections to dismiss the petition of the Sigaw ng Bayan coalition, led by lawyer Raul Lambino, and the Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines (ULAP), headed by Bohol Governor Erico Aumentado, for a peoples initiative to amend the Constitution on the ground that there is no adequate law governing such political exercise.

The minority senators reminded the Comelec that it is under restraint by the Supreme Court from entertaining any petition for amending the 1987 Constitutions through peoples initiative in the absence of the corresponding enabling law.

The petition was filed with the Comelec law division by Minority Leader Aquilino Nene Pimentel, Jr., and Senators Sergio Osmea III, Jamby Madrigal, Luisa Estrada, Jinggoy Estrada, Panfilo Lacson and Alfredo Lim. The petition was submitted on behalf of the minority senators by a group of lawyers led by Atty. Aquilino Koko Pimentel III.

In its petition, the minority bloc pointed out that in the Miriam Santiago vs. Comelec case on March 19, 1997, the high tribunal ruled that Republic Act 6735, the law on Peoples Initiative and Referendum, is unfortunately inadequate to cover this new system.

For this reason, the group said the Supreme Court permanently enjoined the Comelec from entertaining or taking cognizance of any petition for initiative on amendments to the Constitution until a sufficient law shall have been validly enacted to provide for the implementation of the system.

As far as the oppositors know, there has been no law enacted to provide for the implementation of the system of peoples initiative to amend the Constitution since 1997, the petitioners said.

Therefore, nothing factual has changed, hence, the ruling in Santiago vs. Comelec is still a good law and this Commission cannot entertain or take cognizance of any petition for initiative on amendments to the Constitution.

The minority senators also noted that the Supreme Court likewise voided the Comelec Resolution No. 2300 prescribing the rules and regulations on the conduct of peoples initiative on amendments to the Charter.

It would amount to a deliberate misreading and misapplication of the (SC) ruling in Santiago vs. Comelec if the Commission is to take cognizance of the herein petition for a peoples initiative to amend the 1987 Constitution, they said.

They also argued that if Comelec takes cognizance of the petition of Sigaw ng Bayan and Ulap, this would be a waste of precious government time, resources, energy and money and would clearly be an illegal act, not only without basis in law but in fact against the law as embodied in the ruling in Santiago vs. Comelec.

The minority senators said such deliberate misapplication of existing jurisprudence on the issue would not only be tantamount to utter disrespect for the Supreme Court in order to benefit a group of people with a hidden and sinister agenda, but is also a direct violation of Republic Act 3019, otherwise known as the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.

News Latest News Feed