Trust deficit
Even President Marcos has acknowledged that the latest people’s initiative to amend the Constitution has become so politicized it is no longer looking like a viable route to lift economic restrictions in the Charter. It remains to be seen whether his statement will be heeded by those pushing the people’s initiative, which seeks joint voting by the Senate and the House of Representatives on Charter changes.
Because that’s over 300 House members against just 24 senators, it effectively marginalizes the Senate in any move to amend the basic law of the land. Some senators have alleged that the House wants not just economic reforms but a shift to a parliamentary system of government where there will be no Senate.
Last week, Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri had quoted President Marcos as saying he no longer wanted the people’s initiative. But on the same day, the People’s Initiative for Reform, Modernization and Action announced it would push ahead with its signature campaign for the PI. The Commission on Elections also announced it was suspending all proceedings related to the PI, but clarified it could not order a private group like PIRMA to stop its signature gathering.
At the Senate last Tuesday, the lead convenor of PIRMA admitted before a panel led by Sen. Imee Marcos that their group received advice and assistance from congressmen led by her cousin, Speaker Martin Romualdez. The Speaker has been accused by his opponents of wanting to sit as prime minister in a parliamentary system. Romualdez, who had previously denied any involvement in the PI, said he served as “facilitator” of democratic processes.
The people’s initiative is seen as a speedy path to amending certain provisions in the Constitution. Legal experts, among them retired Supreme Court Justices Antonio Carpio and Adolfo Azcuna, have stressed that the initiative can be used only for minor changes and not for political reforms that will require a full rewriting of the Charter.
Previous attempts at a people’s initiative were dogged by public trust issues and the results were invalidated by the Supreme Court. The trust deficit is widest in the latest PI campaign, amid accusations that House members are behind the initiative and public funds are being misused to deceive people into signing the PIRMA sheets for the PI.
Yesterday, the Comelec urged PI proponents to retrieve the signature sheets they have submitted, amid the indefinite suspension of all PI-related proceedings in the poll body. The Senate has not completely junked economic Charter change, but the effort isn’t helped by statements from some congressmen that PI would stop only if the Senate proceeds with Cha-cha. That struck some senators as blackmail. If the people’s initiative is truly meant to pave the way for economic reforms that will make the country more attractive to investments, it is now having the opposite effect.