'EDSA-Pwera' ad aired vs. 1987 Constitution

The pro-Charter change (Cha-cha) group People’s Initiative for Modernization and Reform Action (PIRMA) has started to air a TV ad questioning the 1987 Constitution and calling for changes to its provisions.

According to Jonathan Andal's report on "24 Oras," the group is the same organization that called for Cha-cha during the term of former President Fidel V. Ramos in the 1990s.

“Ang pinayaman ng konstitusyon, mamakyaw at negosyante. Ang magsasaka, EDSA-pwera. Panahon na para ayusin, i-tama ang hindi patas na 1987 Constitution,” a line in the advertisement said seemingly referencing the EDSA Revolution in 1986.

(Businessmen and middlemen benefit from the Constitution while the farmers are ignored. It is time to review and correct the 1987 Constitution.)

The video, which aired on Tuesday evening in some TV stations, was a paid advertisement of the Gana, Atienza, Avisado Law Offices.

“This move is just to invite public discussion. Gusto lang namin ma-involve yung mga tao, mainform yung mga tao. This is also an information campaign,” PIRMA legal counsel Atty. Jomari Basil said. 

(This move is just to invite public discussion. We want to make the public involved and inform them. This is an information campaign.)

The airing of the TV commercial came amid moves for Cha-cha in the Senate and in the House of Representatives. 

In March 2023, the House of Representatives approved on third and final reading Resolution of Both Houses (RBH) 6, which calls for a constitutional convention (con-con) to amend the 1987 Constitution.

RBH No. 6 states that a con-con with elected delegates would draft the new constitution - "the most transparent, exhaustive, democratic, and least divisive means of implementing constitutional reforms."

Under the 1987 Constitution, any amendment to or revision of the Constitution may be proposed by:

• the Congress, upon a vote of three-fourths of all its Members (constituent assembly)
• a constitutional convention during which Congress may, by a vote of two-thirds of all its members, call a constitutional convention, or by a majority vote of all its members, submit to the electorate the question of calling such a convention, and
• a people’s initiative upon a petition of at least 12% of the total number of registered voters, of which every legislative district must be represented by at least 3% of the registered voters therein

'EDSA-Pwera'

Albay 1st District Rep. Edcel Lagman questioned the use of the phrase “EDSA-Pwera” in the TV commercial, saying it might be one of the Marcos family’s way to discredit the EDSA People Power Revolution that made way for the 1987 Constitution. 

ACT Teachers Rep. France Castro, for her part, wants to investigate who funded the video advertisement.

“Walang public funds na nagamit dito. Lahat ito galing sa private sectors na nagpu-push ng change ng Constitution natin,” PIRMA legal counsel Atty. Quinmen Manger said.

(No public funds were used for the advertisement. All funds came from the private sector which pushes for the cha-cha.)

GMA Integrated News sought comments from the Marcos family and Malacañang.

 PIRMA said it is looking to push for people’s initiative for cha-cha.

Meanwhile, several lawmakers on Wednesday have decried the alleged use of government aid or ayuda in exchange for signatures to petitions for Charter change. —Sundy Locus/NB/RF, GMA Integrated News