Ex-justice: No legal basis for PI Cha-cha

A Former Supreme Court justice on Sunday questioned the legality of the latest bid to amend the Constitution through a people’s initiative, noting that the law that enables it, the Initiative and Referendum Act or Republic Act No. 6735, was deemed insufficient for constitutional amendments.

“That law cannot be the basis for a people’s initiative,” said retired SC associate justice Adolfo Azcuna, because it lacks what a petition to amend the Constitution would look like and what it should say.

The Supreme Court, in the 1997 decision on Santiago v. Comelec, ruled that the law allowing a people’s initiative only applies to legislation and not to constitutional amendments, Azcuna told ABS-CBN.

He added that the Court said the Commission on Elections “should be permanently enjoined from entertaining or taking cognizance of any petition” on people’s initiative for constitutional amendment until a “sufficient” law is passed for it.

The 1997 ruling decided the fate of a petition by the People’s Initiative for Reform Modernization and Action (PIRMA), which has revived the campaign in 2024.

The current signature campaign seeks to amend the 1987 Constitution to specify that Congress will vote jointly on constitutional amendments and revisions.

Azcuna, a member of the constitutional commission that drafted the Charter, said that section was meant for a unicameral system and that delegates failed to edit it for a bicameral system, which is what the Philippines now has.

He added that the current campaign could be a chance for the Supreme Court to review Santiago v. Comelec, noting that 10 justices in the 2006 Lambino v. Comelec, another people’s initiative case, disagreed that the law was insufficient.

Azcuna said the Court did not go into Santiago v. Comelec in 2006 because it was clear that the Lambino petition was for constitutional revision, which cannot be done through people’s initiative.

But Comelec Chairman George Garcia said that the poll body has a constitutional duty to accept and process petitions filed before it.

He added that the Comelec has taken the position that it can accept petitions for people’s initiative because of the decision in Lambino v. Comelec.

But he added that signatures gathered could be invalidated if it was shown that they were given in exchange for money.

Meanwhile, ACT Teachers party-list Rep. France Castro led the Makabayan bloc in filing House Resolution 1541 to probe the ongoing Charter change signature campaign.

“We have received a report of deception of people signing a fake people’s initiative for Charter change. From Tarlac, Quezon City, Caloocan City, and Cavite, there are reports. Others have been promised assistance, while some have signed during Christmas gift-giving. There is also a report that persons with disabilities have also been duped to sign in favor of Cha-cha,” she said.

“Even if those Cha-cha advocates would deny it, we cannot just blame the people if they would think public funds are being used,” she said, noting that the efforts seem well-coordinated and are following a timeline.

Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman earlier said mayors from his district of Albay were given mobilization funds to gather the signatures of their constituents in support of allowing Congress to vote on changes to the Constitution jointly.

Castro said “neoliberal policies” and not constitutional restrictions were the cause of the country’s economic woes.

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