MERGED: Charter Change

[mosimos]

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Peoples initiative is not unsconstitutional. It is provided in the Constitution. Kaya lang there is no law providing for it. The Supreme Court said so.

That makes the present initiative kuno as illegal and baseless. Besides this is not people's initiative. This is GMA initiative.

[tolstoi]

are the provisions in the CONSTITUTION 'NOT' in itself considered a LAW?...why dont we abolish the constitution if it's that lame

[SPRINGFIELD_XD_40]

MOSIMOS .....

I thought you will present CONCRETE EVIDENCES of PGMA's actions commiting the said crime . You said you will provide it in the proper forum and the proper time human every topic nimo puro ra man ka SPECULATIONS .

[mosimos]

are the provisions in the CONSTITUTION 'NOT' in itself considered a LAW?...why dont we abolish the constitution if it's that lameÂ*

Wow, I like to lecture you. Constitution is a general law. Its an expression of policies which the government will pursue. Well, some of its provisions are automatic meaning it doesnt need any enabling to implement it.

But there are some aspects that needs an enabling law before it could be enforced like the anti dynasty provision of he Constitution. Until now there is no anti political dynasty law passed by Congress.

Unfortunately for GMA, people's initiative is one of those that needs an enabling law.

Sorry lang gyud kaayo ani bay tolstoi.

There is no law.

[mannyamador]

Sigaw ng bayan? O sigaw ng politiko?
BY René B. Azurin
Tuesday, April 04, 2006

The train, we are told, has left the station and we should get out of the way if we don’t want to
get run down. If we are to believe the pronouncements of some politikos, the shift to a
parliamentary form of government is now inevitable. Ito daw ay “sigaw ng bayan.� One can, of
course, wonder, sino ba talaga ang sumisigaw? Truthfully, none of the people I know has yet
heard a single tindera, jeepney driver, taxi driver, factory worker, office worker, farmer, housewife,
or student shout, “Amiendahan natin ang Articles VI and VII ng ating Saligang Batas! At ipasa na
rin natin itong Article XVIII!� Yet, the proponents of the Peoples’ Initiative would have us believe
that some five million people all over the country have in fact made this cry.

Though it truly boggles the mind, that fact will, in any case, be formally verified by the Comelec.
That verification process -- assuming that the Supreme Court first reverses itself and lifts the
permanent injunction against the Comelec entertaining such a Peoples’ Initiative in the
absence of an enabling law -- must ascertain three things: 1) that the signatory of a specific
petition is a registered voter; 2) that it is this registered voter’s signature on the petition; and 3)
that this particular registered voter is petitioning for exactly the same things as the other petitioners.
The first item requires no discussion. On the second item, I submit that determining if the
signature on a particular voter’s registration card is the same as the signature on another piece of
paper can only be assured in one of two ways: 1) if a certified handwriting expert certifies, after
proper analysis, that this is so; or 2) if the voter is made to appear before the Comelec verifier and
he/she swears that, indeed, that is his/her signature.

Regarding the third item, this may actually be the most crucial because Article VI of our Constitution
(‘Legislative Department’) consists of 32 sections, Article VII (‘Executive Department’) consists of 23
sections, and Article XVIII (‘Transitory Provisions’) consists of nine sections (in the House of
Representatives-approved draft). Each of these sections concerns a different subject matter,
ranging from the qualifications of candidates to the distribution of powers to the functions of various
positions to prescribed procedures for different situations to the postponement of the 2007 elections
to 2010. It is clearly imperative that -- for this process of verification to be at all credible -- each
petitioner be asked what amendments exactly did he/she want in each and every one of these
sections. Answers of course must be duly recorded in writing so that there will be no confusion about
what anybody means. Constitution-changing is, after all, a serious matter.

One thing, though, is clear. The changes being proposed by some 170 or so members of the House
of Representatives mean more power for the politikos. The main attraction of a parliamentary
system for our politikos is that executive power and legislative power are fused into a single
body-Parliament -- which basically allows the same set of people -- the Prime Minister and his ruling
gang -- to decide on, appropriate the funds for, and implement their desired programs and projects.
This means that the controls provided by the ‘check and balance’ built into the presidential
system where executive power and legislative power are wielded by different sets of people in
two separate and independent branches of government will be eliminated. That means that the
parliamentary system will be easier to abuse, and graft and corruption will be that much more
possible. The entire national budget (except of course for certain fixed expenditures like debt
servicing and salaries) becomes the pork barrel.

So, who benefits from the shift to a parliamentary system? The fusion of executive and
legislative power in the parliamentary form puts more power in the hands of politikos. They can do
virtually anything to promote their special and vested interests. Thus, if we are now disturbed
by the way many politikos are wielding somewhat restricted powers, what do we imagine will happen
after we’ve given them unrestricted powers? A shift to the parliamentary form is the completely
wrong reaction to the country’s present political and economic realities.

Yet, if we are to believe the proponents of the so-called sigaw ng bayan, then the Filipino people
want to give their politikos more power. In effect, we are being asked to conclude that the
experience that the Filipino people have had with their politikos thus far has been wonderful.
Ay, naku . . . sigaw nino, kamo?

Dr. René Azurin teaches Strategic Management at
the UP Graduate School of Business. He was
cochairman of the Committee on Form of Government
of the Consultative Commission.

[mosimos]

For sure thats sigaw ng pulitiko like GMA, De Venecia, Nograles, Pichay, Defensor, Governors and Mayors.

Gusto magpabilin sa poder bisan way eleksyonay.

Gi yatak yatakan nila ug maayo ato balaod. Ga usik usik pa gyud sa kwarta para mapadayon ila selfish interest!

[mosimos]

Most Filipinos don't want shift to parliamentary gov't--poll

First posted 03:01pm (Mla time) April 05, 2006
By Joel Francis Guinto
INQ7.net



ABOUT two out of three Filipinos do not favor a Malacañang-backed shift to a federal-parliamentary form of government, according to a Pulse Asia survey released Wednesday.
The study, conducted from February 18 to March 4, showed that 54 percent of Filipinos were not in favor of changing the current presidential form of government to a parliamentary system. Only 33 percent are in favor and 13 percent are undecided, the same survey said.

The survey also showed that 55 percent of Filipinos were not in favor of shifting to the federal form of government from the current unitary system. Only 32 percent favored the change while 13 percent were undecided.

While majority oppose a shift to the parliamentary form of government, those who favor it increased from 26 percent in October 2005 to 33 percent in March, the survey said.

The nationwide survey covered 1,200 respondents 18 years old and above. It has a margin of error of +/-3 percent and a confidence level of 95 percent.

A Pulse Asia study released previously showed that Filipinos were divided on whether the Constitution should be amended.

When asked whether it would be right to amend the Constitution now, 43 percent said "yes" while 48 percent said "no."

The survey results were released as efforts to muster signatures to amend the Constitution through a people's initiative shifted to high gear.

In July last year, amid a political storm triggered by vote-rigging allegations, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo pushed for a shift to the federal-parliamentary form of government from the current presidential system.

[bcasabee]

tsk tsk nganong wala man ko maapil sa survey.........ganahan baya ko federal..........pero kung dili makaayo ang federal kay matud pa sa economist........5 ra ka region ang mabuhi.........aw.....dali ra man ko ika istorya ba...........hehehehe....

[FK]

http://news.inq7.net/nation/index.ph...story_id=71931

ghost signatures?

[mosimos]

DEAD and "ghost" signatories have cropped up in at least two provinces where the verification of signatures for the petition for Charter change is ongoing, a Commission on Elections (Comelec) official said yesterday.

The ranking official, who asked not to be named because he had no authority to speak to the media but who was privy to the verification being conducted in the provinces, cited the case of a dead councilor of a town in Rizal province whose purported signature was on the petition.

After inspecting the signature, the election registrar found that it was the councilor's wife who had signed "in behalf of her dead husband."

In another province, which the official did not name, 12 percent of the signatories were not on the list of registered voters.

According to the official, the groups pushing for a people's initiative to amend the 1987 Constitution were "really spending money for it."

"What they do is lie, lie and lie to the people [about the real intention of the initiative]," he said.

He also wondered why, in some instances, it was officials and personnel of the Department of Interior and Local Government who were going to the Comelec regional offices to request the verification.

"If the initiative is a people's move, why are there DILG people?" he said. SAKTO! :mrgreen:

aYAY, dead councilor unya gi signan sa asawa. Pastilan i check nato ni ug ayo bi pati mga langgam ug kahoy ani ni sign sab.

GMA in her desperate attempt to cling to power has been violating the law over and over and over again. Cheat gani sya election kini pang pirma?