Advocates of a people’s initiative (PI) have already gathered more than enough signatures to push for a direct amendment of the Constitution, Albay Rep. Joey Salceda said Wednesday.
He added that the signature campaign has drawn the required support of at least 3 percent of voters in each congressional district and a minimum of 12 percent nationwide.
But senators said they would petition the Supreme Court to get the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to stop accepting signatures for the people’s initiative from “unknown sources.”
The Senate has also suspended its own Charter change move to amend three specific economic provisions of the Constitution through a constituent assembly with both houses voting separately.
The proposal, embodied in Resolution of Both Houses No. 6, has been put on hold because of the continuing campaign to amend the Constitution through a people’s initiative, and because it appeared that certain lawmakers were behind the push to have both houses vote jointly, Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel III said.
Senators asked why congressmen were pushing two modes of Charger change—the people’s initiative and a constituent assembly—and said this was a sign of bad faith.
In Tuesday’s plenary session, Pimentel said there is no reason for the Comelec to accept the signatures because the Supreme Court itself has said the laws on a people’s initiative are insufficient.
He warned that the petition for people’s initiative might lead to a revision or overhaul of the Constitution.
He noted that this could be the ultimate goal of the signature campaign, which was contrary to the spirit and law on people’s initiative, which is limited to simple amendments of the law.
Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri said Pimentel’s arguments can be a big help in the petition they will file with the Supreme Court.
But Salceda brushed aside these concerns.
“The Constitution is very much alive. If they think that obtaining 12 percent [of signatures] is that difficult, there are districts, like in my district, [that got] 20 percent, there are other districts [that got] 30 percent. Because the issue now is what is good for the future of the Philippines,” he said in Filipino.
He said the petition to allow Congress to vote jointly on any proposed Charter amendment is now being finalized and would soon be filed by the organizers of the people’s initiative. Senators are opposed to joint voting, insisting that each chamber vote separately—and have signed a manifesto to that effect.
Reacting to the manifesto, Salceda said it is the people who should prevail, not 24 senators.
He said seven senators opposed to a people’s initiative or constitutional change should not be allowed to “trump the voice of the 12 percent of the population.”
He said if senators are branding the effort a “politician’s initiative,” then they have a very low regard for the people who support the Charter reform petition.
He pointed out that senators are free to campaign against the people’s initiative petition advocating joint voting by Congress on constitutional change.
But Salceda said Filipinos, and not senators, should have the option to choose what mode they want to use in proposing economic amendments to the 1987 Constitution, which has hampered the country’s growth.
“Ultimately, over and above the House of Representatives and the Senate, the people are supreme and sovereign. The people’s initiative is a valid mode of amending the Constitution. Neither the Senate nor the House can deny this,” Salceda said.
Meanwhile, Senator Sherwin Gatchalian said it is important for the President to use his voice to thwart a potential political crisis as senators and House members are on a collision course over the people’s initiative.
“It is important to avoid this potential political crisis. If the bickering between the two chambers [continues] then no laws will be approved by Congress,” he said.
He said the people’s initiative as it stands amounts to the abolition of the Senate.
On Wednesday, Senator JV Ejercito warned that the rift between the senators and the congressmen over the people’s initiative might lead to a constitutional crisis.
“I was hoping that both leaders of both [chambers] honor the agreement made in front of President Marcos to avert such a scenario,” he said.
Senator Juan Edgardo Angara said it was clear that the current people’s initiative is not a genuine people’s initiative.
Senator Ronald dela Rosa said there was “treachery” in the effort of the House leadership to push for people’s initiative as a mode for Charter change.
“We see bad faith in their wording to amend the Constitution, especially in Section 1, Article 3 on voting jointly,” said Dela Rosa in an interview over ANC’s “The Source.”
The intention of this, Dela Rosa said, is to neutralize the senators so they will have no voice in the constituent assembly.
“You castrate us by dis-empowering us,” he said.
He said the senators felt betrayed by the new push for a people’s initiative.
Before Congress went on a Christmas break, they agreed on Resolution on Both Houses of Congress No. 6 (RBH6) which seeks to amend three specific economic provisions of the Constitution. It also provides that senators and congressmen will vote separately in a constituent assembly.
But after the Christmas break, Dela Rosa said they were surprised with the signature campaign for the people’s initiative. He said those behind this campaign have been submitting signatures gathered to Comelec offices.
“We were fooled. This was done over the Christmas vacation,” Dela Rosa said.
He said relations between the two chambers were “not good” at this point due to the distrust created.
“But if everything will be settled, it can go back to normal,” he said.