Former Presisdent oseph "Erap" Estrada. President Rodrigo Roa Duterte, former President Gloria Macapagal Aroyo |
THERE were attempts to change the Constitution under every administration after Corazon Aquino's.
For
some critics and pundits, the recent Pulse Asia survey revealing that
six out of 10 Filipinos do not want charter change has cast some doubt on the
feasibility of constitutional revision.
March
Pulse poll nos. on Charter Change suggests President’s no pied piper when it
comes to the topic, as his repeated advocacy has moved the awareness needle
only slightly while support has diminished although his popularity remains
high.
The
Committee raises a point worth noting --- majority of Pinoys, per Pulse Asia,
think the Constitutition should be amended. But clearly too, a majority also
does not support amendments at this point in time.
President
Rodrigo Duterte’s Consultative Committee, however, has since responded,
questioning how the survey was framed and expressing confidence in a change in
public perception once the proposed revisions have been presented.
The
Duterte administration’s push for federalism is not the first charter change
initiative endorsed by the head of state.
Aborted cha-cha from past administrations
1. ‘People’s
Initiative’ under Ramos
The
’90s saw the rise of the People’s Initiative for Reform, Modernization and
Action (PIRMA), an initiative to lift the one-term rule for presidents. Had it
succeeded, the incumbent president during the time of the initiative Fidel
Ramos would have been allowed to run for a second term.
Ramos
was later criticized by former senators Juan Ponce Enrile and
Aquilino Pimentel, Jr. for his continued support of the initiative.
How did
that turn out? PIRMA’s cause was eventually brought down in the landmark
Supreme Court ruling in Santiago v. the Commission on Elections (COMELEC).
The
ruling went in favor of the initiative’s principal detractor, the late Miriam
Defensor-Santiago. The high court held that Republic Act 6735 or the
“Initiative and Referendum Act” was insufficient basis for the COMELEC to hold
a plebiscite based on people’s initiative on the Constitution.
2. Concord under
Estrada
Ramos’
successor Joseph Estrada also tried his hand at reshaping the
Constitution. Marketed as a solution to the country’s economic woes,
Estrada’s Constitutional Correction for Development, or Concord contemplated
the removal of constitutional restrictions on foreign ownership of land
and key industries.
According
to Estrada, Concord would have aligned the Philippines’ economic competency
with the emergence of liberalized trade and globalization at the time.
Around
the turn of the millennium, Estrada announced that he would permanently abandon
Concord by May 2001 should it have failed to gain public acceptance by then.
Neither
Estrada’s presidency nor Concord would live to see the deadline, as he
was removed from power barely a month into the new year.
3. First attempt
under Arroyo
The
administration of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo also saw the discussion on charter
change come to life anew, with the former chief executive herself
promising amendments to the Constitution by the end of her term.
Former
House of Representatives speaker Jose de Venecia, Jr. in 2005 claimed that
there was an 85 percent chance a new constitution would be in place
and that the Philippines would have transitioned to a parliamentary system by
the end of Arroyo’s term.
De
Venecia had earlier discussed five possible courses of action for
Arroyo, should she continue with her vision of constitutional reform.
4.
Second attempt under Arroyo
By
2006, another people’s initiative had sprung up.
The
Sigaw ng Bayan and Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines pushed
for a people’s initiative for the Philippines to shift to a unicameral
parliamentary system.
The new
initiative set its sights on the seemingly insurmountable task of getting the
go-signal for a plebiscite by meeting the constitutional requirement of
signatures of 12 percent of registered voters nation-wide, representing three
percent of voters in each congressional district.
The
initiative eventually came to a screeching halt, despite the initiative
supposedly having collected enough signatures. In what would be another landmark
case, the Supreme Court found that the initiative’s backers failed to attach a
draft of the proposed changes when they collected citizens’ signatures. This
blunder invalidated the signatures.
The
tribunal also seemingly closed the door on the people’s initiative method of
reforming the Constitution. People’s initiative, as the court’s interpretation goes,
can only amend part of the current charter and cannot revise or radically
change it.
The
shift to a unicameral government, according to the court, was a form of
“revision,” and therefore could not be allowed.
Why is cha-cha still unrealized?
Former
University of the Philippines president and political scientist Jose Abueva,
who sat as chairperson of the Consultative Constitutional Commission during the
Arroyo administration wrote a column on The Bohol Times discussing
why her initiative failed.
Abueva
points to multiple factors as having contributed to the initiative’s defeat:
Arroyo’s
general unpopularity with the masses,
The
plurality of political agendas obscuring the course,
The
lack of agreement on how charter change was to be achieved, and
Ignorance
and apathy of some involved in the process. (Dan Manglinong, InterAksyon)
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