Imee Marcos seeks Senate review on efficacy of people's initiative law

Senator Imee Marcos on Thursday filed a resolution seeking a Senate review on the efficacy of Republic Act 6735, a 1989 law providing for a system of initiative and referendum.

The lawmaker made the move amid reported efforts to gather signatures from different congressional districts in a bid to push for a people's initiative to amend the 1987 Constitution.

"In order to ensure that there is a realistic avenue for the people to propose amendments to the Constitution or to propose national or local legislation, as well as, to approve or reject a local or national law or resolution, there is a need to examine the efficacy of RA No. 6735 in providing for a system of initiative and referendum," Marcos said in proposed Senate Resolution 903.

In raising the need for an inquiry, Marcos cited the Supreme Court decision on Santiago v. Commission on Elections in March 1997 and the ruling on the Lambino and Aumentado v. Comelec in October 2006.

Under the Santiago ruling, the SC held that RA 6735 is inadequate to cover the system of initiative on amendments to the Constitution and that it failed to provide sufficient standard for subordinate legislation.

The same decision also ruled that "Comelec should be permanently enjoined from entertaining or taking cognizance of any petition for initiative on amendments to the Constitution until a sufficient law shall have been validly enacted to provide for the implementation of the system."

In the 2006 resolution on the Lambino petition, the SC refused to revisit its earlier ruling on the Santiago case and junked all the motions for reconsideration filed by the petitioner.

However, Marcos noted that the resolution on the MRs stated that "10 members of the Court reiterate their position...that Republic Act 6735 is sufficient and adequate to amend the Constitution [through] a people's initiative."

She noted several bills filed in the previous Congresses seeking to cure the insufficiency of RA 6735, as well as the January 31 2020 resolution promulgated by the Comelec on the revised rules and regulations for the conduct of initiative on the Constitution.

According to Marcos, recent statements by Comelec officials suggest that the poll body is of the view that Lambino overturned the Santiago ruling and that RA 6735 is adequate to cover the system of initiative on amendments to the Constitution.

"It remains unclear from the two-page resolution of the Supreme Court in Lambino [case] whether the last paragraph thereof effectively modified the original decision of the Court, considering that such resolution dismissed all motions for reconsideration and did not grant any partial reconsideration as to explicitly modify any portion of the original decision," Marcos said.

"While there is no issue on the adequacy of the provisions of RA 6735 pertaining to initiatives or referenda on national statutes, their efficacy in implementing such initiatives or referenda is questionable as shown by the failure of various attempts to use the same to effect changes in national statutes," she added.

Further, Marcos noted that no available record on the number of times when RA 6735 has been successfully utilized to effect a people's initiative or referendum on local ordinances.

Gatchalian: Money in people's Initiative means personal agenda

For Senator Sherwin Gatchalian, using money to gather signatures for a people's initiative only reveals the personal agenda of certain individuals.

The lawmaker made the remark amid alleged payment of P100 pesos in exchange for a person’s signature for the people’s initiative campaign in a bid to revise the 1987 Constitution.

"That's not the essence of people's initiative. Ang nangyari ngayon PI, hindi na (that is not) People’s Initiative, Peso Initiative na, which is contrary to the essence of People's Initiative," Gatchalian said in an interview on ANC.

"[People's Initiative], meaning people putting forward their amendments and all of us voting to agree on that amendment and but if you put in money, that means that certain people are pushing for their agenda. And that's not good. That will tilt the very essence of amending our Constitution and People's Initiative," he added.

Gatchalian also issued a remark on the pro-charter change advertisement with the clincher "EDSA-pwera," saying this is "quite political."

For the senator, the focus of the advertisement should focus on the provisions that should be amended instead of making a political spin on it.

"If I'm the one going to do the ad, it's just to focus on what [are] the items that we need to revise or to amend in the Constitution rather than spin it politically," he said.

"For example, the economic provision. If the economic provisions are the ones being pinpointed as hindrance to our development, then let's focus on that," he added.

In the 19th Congress, Gatchalian was the first one to file a Resolution of Both Houses in the Senate which sought to convene both houses of the Legislative Department as a constitutional assembly to propose amendments to certain restrictive economic provisions of the 1987 Constitution.

However, Gatchalian said in March last year that charter change is not a priority in the Senate especially if there will be revisions on the Constitution's political provisions.

Apart from Gatchalian, there are several lawmakers who are open to amending the economic provisions of the charter but Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri repeatedly stated that amending the 1987 Constitution is not the chamber's priority.

In the House of Representatives, Speaker Martin Romualdez said 2024 is the right time to push for Charter change. Many of his allies in the Lower House said a People's Initiative is the course that it should take since the Senate would hinder a Constitutional Convention after it is approved by the House of Representatives.

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

• 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
   
• 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

Under Republic Act 6735, revisions via the public can happen if a petition for an initiative on the 1987 Constitution must have at least 12% of the total number of registered voters as signatories. For each district, no fewer than 3% of registered voters should sign the petition. The signatures would then be verified by the Commission on Elections.—RF, GMA Integrated News