CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS PARAMOUNT – GORDON

With the Supreme Court declaring President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s Calibrated Preemptive Response (CPR) as unconstitutional, Senator Richard J. Gordon stated that “this shows that the Constitution, especially the Bill of Rights, is paramount to the exercise of the powers of the Executive in protecting her Administration.”

“The Constitution cannot be trifled with. The President must be more circumspect in the exercise of her Executive powers. She should not experiment with the people’s rights which are inherent in the Constitution,” said Gordon.

“The CPR has undeniably disrupted our democratic way of life in our country, and in effect, adversely affected tourism, business, and investments,” added Gordon.

Gordon who is the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Constitutional Amendments, Revision of Codes and Laws observed that the series of acts of the President, including Executive Order No. 464, Presidential Proclamation No. 1017, and the aggressive moves towards Charter Change, have all “weakened our constitution and our democracy to the detriment of our country.”

“We need to break this destructive pattern in order to move forward. We need to respect our Constitution and strengthen our democracy by first and foremost guaranteeing the constitutional rights of our people,” said Gordon.

ON PEOPLE RUNNING AMOK WITH PEOPLE’S INITIATIVE
CHA-CHA IS NOT A SILVER BULLET– GORDON

Senator Richard J. Gordon, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Constitutional Amendments, Revision of Codes and Laws, disclosed that charter change is not a silver bullet that can answer the nation’s problems.

Gordon said the proponents of charter change are selling this as a cure-all for our country’s problems. But, charter change is not a silver bullet that can resolve all our problems.

“The problem is not our system or form of Government. A shift from a presidential to a parliamentary form of Government may not change very much if the same culture of transactional politics is prevalent. It will be more of the same, if not worse,” declared Gordon.

He added that fundamental change can only be effected by a Government whose leaders are truly dedicated to uplifting the lives of the people.

“There are people running amok with cha-cha, blatantly and illegally, through a signature campaign for a people’s initiative, notwithstanding the ruling of the Supreme Court on the need for an enabling law first,” said Gordon.

Gordon believes that there are several issues that the proponents of charter change via people’s initiative are concealing from the people.

“Is the public aware that in a parliamentary system, the people will lose their right to directly vote for their leader? That is what will happen if we revise Articles VI and VII of the Constitution and shift to a parliamentary system, and I doubt if the people were enlightened on this point,” said Gordon.

Gordon revealed that in the current proposal to shift to a parliamentary form of Government, the people will be losing their right to directly vote for their leader, the Prime Minister, who will be primarily running the affairs of the Government.

“It will become a Government headed by a Member of Parliament chosen by his or her peers, much like how it is in the House of Representatives right now with Mr. Jose De Venecia as chief executive. He was not chosen by direct vote of the people, but he holds the reins of power, because that is how the parliamentary system works,” explained Gordon.

Gordon added that amending Articles VI and VII constitutes a revision of, and not a mere amendment to the Constitution, which is clearly outside the ambit of a people’s initiative. Thus, the very process of revising the Constitution – as put forward by the proponents of people’s initiative – is not just flawed but unconstitutional.

He further pointed out that any proposed constitutional amendment must still be submitted to the people for ratification in a plebiscite called for this purpose, which will be under COMELEC’s watch.

“But if COMELEC is distrusted by the people because of its perceived failure to prevent massive electoral fraud in the past, how can we have a reliable plebiscite? The integrity and credibility of the COMELEC and its ability to give us clean, honest, and fair elections must be addressed first before we can even begin talking about charter change. We must be able to provide our people with an electoral system that is worthy of public trust and confidence,” stated Gordon.