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Thursday, March 28, 2024

Senators won’t ‘consciously wait’ for Charter panel

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SENATE President Aquilino Pimentel III said Tuesday senators would not “consciously wait” for the result of a review of the 1987 Constitution by a 19-member experts panel headed by former chief justice Reynato Puno. 

The group, which includes Pimentel’s father and namesake, has six months to finish its review, which will be submitted to President Rodrigo Duterte and later to Congress where efforts are going on to revise the Charter through a constituent assembly.

Pimentel said the committee’s proposal would be treated “just like any other reference material.”

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At the same time, the older Pimentel, in his time also head of the Senate, said to prevent political dynasties and warlordism, the proposed federal charter must “specifically” prohibit it.

“Warlords will only sprout if we allow them. Since we are adopting a federal system, let’s put the precise wording in the federal revision that warlords are prohibited,” Pimentel told a forum in a mixture of Filipino and English.

The former senator said banning political dynasty and warlordism was not clearly expressed in the 1987 Constitution, written by a 48-member body appointed by then President Corazon Aquino.

In related developments:

• The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed for lack of jurisdiction a petition seeking to end the impasse between the House of Representatives and the Senate over their conflicting positions on the manner of voting by Congress for the purposes of amending the 1987 Constitution to shift the present presidential to federal system of government.

During its en banc session, the 15-man bench unanimously voted to dismiss the petition filed by Arturo de Castro, dean of the College of Criminology and associate law dean and bar review director of the University of Manila, seeking for declaratory relief on the manner of voting of Congress for the purpose of amending the constitution.

The SC ruled that it has no original jurisdiction over declaratory relief actions as such jurisdiction belongs to the Regional Trial Court.

 “Its jurisdiction is limited to appellate review of declaratory relief judgments rendered by the trial courts,” the SC stressed.

• In the House of Representatives, Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez on Tuesday renewed his push for Charter Changer, saying no region or state would be left behind under a federal system of government.

Alvarez said a formula could be adopted in creating the regions or states under a federal setup to ensure every region would have adequate potential and resources for development. 

This developed as Ilocos Sur Rep. Deogracias Savellano, chairperson of the House special committee on the North Luzon Growth Quadrangle, was dismayed over the failure of certain Cabinet secretaries to attend Tuesday’s Cha-Cha hearing conducted by the House committee on constitutional amendments.

The committee, chaired by Southern Leyte Rep. Roger Mercado, conducted a hearing on the resource generation and fiscal allocation under a federal form of government, which has been advocated by President Duterte.

Invited to the proceedings were secretaries Carlos Dominguez III of the Department of Finance, Benjamin Diokno of the Department of Budget and Management, and National Economic and Development Authority Director-General Ernesto Pernia.  

The three Palace officials sent their respective representatives.

Savellano said the absence of the three Cabinet secretaries was an indication they were taking for granted the federalism push of the Duterte administration.

“The way I see it, the discussions here are not serious since we do not have the secretaries. If they send a representative, it is someone who does not know what to answer,” Savellano said. 

“We should take this seriously so as not to waste time. We all have a lot to do. You should appear personally. If you will send representatives, make sure they can answer our questions,” he added.

“We should be prepared [with the discussions]; what are the pros and cons of our undertaking? We have to move forward and not just talk. This does not seem serious,” Savellano said. The SC said the petition effectively sought an advisory opinion from the Court on the manner of voting of Congress in amending the Constitution.

In his petition, De Castro said the Court’s intervention was necessary to avoid an impending constitutional crisis, which might lead to another People Power revolution and the establishment of a revolutionary government.

Specifically, De Castro was seeking the Court’s declaration on whether the votes of the Senate and the House of Representatives should be counted separately or jointly to determine the ¾ majority.

De Castro was also asking the Court to rule on whether the revision of the Constitution was a political question outside of the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court.

 The petition stemmed from the Senate’s refusal to heed the call of the House of Representatives for a Joint Constituent Assembly to propose revision of the Constitution to shift from unitary to federal system of government.

 As a result, the House of Representatives decided to go ahead with the proceedings to propose revisions to the Constitution even without the participation of the Senate, and to draft a revised Constitution to be submitted to the people in a plebiscite.

 He also cited the conflicting opinions expressed by legal luminaries in the interpretation of Section 1 (1), Article XVII of the 1987 Constitution on Amendments or Revisions.

 De Castro noted that the SC, as the final arbiter of constitutional questions, should 

resolve the constitutional issue of whether the House of Representatives alone might propose amendments to the Constitution.

 Concerns were raised that poorer regions might be left out after the Department of Finance provided data to the House Committee on Constitutional Amendments showing that aside from the National Capital Region, Region VI-A and Region II, the rest of the country’s regions were largely dependent on their IRA (Internal Revenue Allotment) share.

For instance, Alvarez said, the relatively poor Caraga region and the prosperous Davao region could be grouped together as a state. 

Likewise, he said the poor areas of Region VIII might be grouped with the more economically strong Region 7.

Alvarez said a Special Equalization Fund might be established by the federal government, similar to the system in Malaysia, to assist “poor” or less developed component states and enable them to catch up with economically advanced ones until they are able to stand on their own.

Under the federal setup envisioned by the administration, Alvarez said the IRA would likely be scrapped but replaced by a revenue-sharing arrangement where the lion’s share would go to the component states.

However, Alvarez said it was up to the framers of the new federal constitution to determine the final revenue-sharing ratio between the states and the federal government. 

What is more important, Alvarez said, is that the federal system of government would help unleash the development potential of the regions.

Alvarez said that under the concept of federalism, there would be healthy competition among the regions or states and they were free to adopt economic policies to attract investors.

For instance, Alvarez noted that Bicol Region and Region VIII were currently producing cheap electricity from their geothermal resources but their people remain saddled with high electricity prices.

He said the power produced in these regions was sent first to satisfy the demand in the National Capital Region before the excess was returned for local use, subjecting the power rates to double charges of system loss.

Under a federal setup, Alvarez said these regions could offer lower power rates to entice more investors to relocate their business operations in these areas.

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