vonjobi: wow, congratulations! kelan ang trip? i hope i'll be around when you come. had a good time with diosa last...
Keith Bacongco: Knowing Nograles and his Big Boss...garapalan na lang talaga.
Vinia Datinguinoo Mukherjee: Congratulations, PCIJ! Mabuhay kayo!
Lead Philippines: But without credible mass media there, what is left to protect the people..?
vonjobi: it's juned sOniDo.

Latest Message 5 months, 1 week ago

hopeless_race : Lets not just focus sa mga malversation of funds, sa mga overpricing..ating pagtuunan ng atensyon ang diskarte ng mga politiko na umuutang ng bilyon bilyon sa gobyerno."Small time" ang ibang pamamaraan ng pangungurakot kumpara sa pag-utang sa gobyerno ng bilyon na tunay ngang masasabing "pinaka big-time" at wala pang sabit.
hopeless_race : Mukhang tikom ang bibig ng lahat pagdating sa diskarte ng mga politiko sa pagutang ng mga bilyon bilyon sa gobyerno na tinatakbuhan. Itong pamamaraan na ito ang tunay na kumakain ng malaking porsyento ng ating national budget batay na din sa sinasabi ng world bank.
hopeless_race : Pakisilip naman po ang mga utang ni Villar sa BSP, ang mga utang nila RAMON JACINTO, RONNIE ZAMORA, JOE DE VENECIA at madami pang ibang mga pulitiko. Iilan lamang yan sa mga nababanggit sa balita na may mga malalaking utang sa gobyerno.
hopeless_race : Nagmimistulang "small time" lamang ang malversation of funds kumpara sa laki ng kinakamal ng mga umuutang sa gobyerno. At ito ay malinaw na natatakbuhan dahil hindi nga naman pwede makulong ang may-ari ng kumpanya sa pagkaka-utang lamang. Tunay na mga tuso at magagaling sa batas itong mga politiko natin. Masasabi ko na malamang lahat ng mga politiko ganito ang diskarte...wala pang kulong.
hopeless_race : PCIJ pkitingnan naman po ang mga gaya ni Villar na my malaking utang sa Gobyerno pero tinatakbuhan. Magtatayo ng kumpanya at uutang ng bilyon bilyon sa gobyerno ng walang balak bayaran. Tunay ngang walang nakukulong sa utang...ito ang prinsipyo ginagamit ng mga politiko ntin kaya nakakapagtaka kung san napupunta ang daang bilyong pera ng gobyerno.
hopeless_race : Sana itreat naman po ng media ang hacienda luisita at mendiola massacre na parang MAGUINADANAO MASSACRE. Ipublicized ang mga katotohanan at ipakita sa tao ang karumaldumal na pinaggagawa sa mga farmers dun. Untouchable po ba sila cory at danding at hindi magawang batikusin ng media about these two massacres?
hopeless_race : Kapag napaguusapan ang mendiola at hacienda luisita massacre ay parang walang nangyari at parang hindi big deal. Anu po ba ang pinagkaiba ng dalawang nabanggit na massacre sa maguindanao massacre?
hopeless_race : Its sad that we pinoys are blind to the fact of what had happened in mendiola and hacienda luisita. Ang tanong..bakit ang media ay hindi manlang matackle ang ganitong usapin? Takot ba sila kay cory at danding?
hopeless_race : Wilkins" brand, for P1.4 billion.-1999 Sugarland Multi-Food Corp. for P2.9 billion 2001- Purefoods Corp P7 billion P60 billion Coca-Cola ... See More 2002- Cosmos Bottling Corp. from RFM Corp. for P14.1 billion October 2008- GSIS' shares in Meralco worth PHP30 Billion. December 2008- country's biggest oil refiner, Petron Corporation. international company shopping spree: Australian boutique brewer J. Boag and Son for A$96 million in 2000. $97 million for Thai Amarit Brewery Ltd $35.5 mi
hopeless_race : Gud am..glad to be back.
jr_lad : rip mr. alecks pabico. you'll be greatly missed!
sevens21 : Dati input mo lng name at SSS ID makukuha mo agad STATIC INFO...
sevens21 : tawag ka sa HOTLINE nila walang ANSWER grrr we need pa namn ng static info SSS Gising!!!
sevens21 : Gawa naman po kayo ng article about SSS. Pangit ng site nila dali ma blocked ng account
guest_899 : we must check the background of each potential candidates to avoid having another big mistake like GMA
guest_899 : congratulations to PCIJ, more power and God Bless !
jazzymuver : how did Arroyo swallow that kind of things!! how come that she just spend the money our countrymen for her own sake!!
guest_3664 : i would be glad if u can include the investigation of the manner public officials announce infra projects as per COA regulation. It is frustrating to see their faces on the tarpaulin instead of the prescribed information like name of project, date of implementation,amount of contract, source/s of fund, among other things. This is very rampant here in Marikina. Thanks and more power on your noble endeavors. We need people like you to have make our country great again.
jhanz_08 : im making research on R.A 9136...with rgards to the privatization of NPC..could someone out there can let me understand more bout this matter?why was monopoly dismantled?email me..jhanycem@yahoo.com...thanks much
erika marie : P.S.:) my paper is due next week and i do hope someone could provide me these reports coming from reliable resources thank you ulit.
erika marie : P.S.
guest_4275 : i am currently doing a study regarding political killings in the philippines. could someone out there please send me human rights reports under Aquino and Ramos administration. you could send it at my email: erikamariet@yahoo.com your response would surely be very much appreciated. thank you everyone. god bless.
guest_4275 : i am currently doing a study for my paper regarding political killings in the philippines. i noted that there are no human rights reports during the Aquino and Ramos administration. could someone out there please send me reports regarding these matter? i do hope these reports came from reliable resources you could send it in my email; erikamariet@yahoo.comyour response would surely be appreciated. thanks everyone. god bless.
jayson bourne : gusto ko po maging member ng PCIJ, panu po ba? may application po ba? sana mapadalhan nyo ako ng info sa email ko... www.jboxpenshoppe@yahoo.com
jayson bourne : cory is OK, but kris & Noynoy sensationalize masyado...
guest_9891 : LABAN pa rin!
meow : boycotts worked during marcos years. how about doing it now against the businesses of the con-ass congressmen?
meow : aside from 168, what other establishments can we boycott that belong to the arroyos and their cronies?
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House drops Con-Ass plan

Posted by: Avigail Olarte | December 12, 2006 at 10:29 am
Filed under: Charter Change, Congress Watch, In the News

THE President’s allies in the House of Representatives are set to adopt today a resolution calling for a constitutional convention, superseding an earlier resolution convening a constituent assembly.

After a meeting with the members of the ruling coalition yesterday, House Speaker Jose de Venecia announced that they had also agreed to forego the three-day deadline imposed on the Senate. The House majority over the weekend gave the Senate 72 hours to agree to the constitutional convention option or else the Lower House will proceed with the constituent assembly scheduled to begin today.

“We’re not giving them any ultimatum…just to expedite their response to our appeal or call for a ConCon (constitutional convention). And their response should be really much faster as expected,” de Venecia told reporters yesterday.

House Majority Floor Leader Prospero Nograles yesterday filed a motion suspending the constituent assembly “until such time they may be set for a later date by the House, to enable the House members to deliberate on the option of a constitutional convention to act on Charter change in accordance with the majority consensus toward accommodating the sentiments of the various sectors of society.”

This is the second time that administration allies have backtracked on their earlier pronouncements, yielding to pressure from various groups protesting the “hastily adopted” resolution calling for a constituent assembly and the 72-hour deadline imposed on the Senate.

“To my mind, the strongest argument against charter change is the behavior of the present House of Representatives. That is the mirror of what could happen if we were to move to a parliamentary system now,” Fr. Joaquin Bernas, S.J. said during the Senate committee hearing held yesterday.

Bernas, a member of the 1973 constitutional convention, said the best way to address the present issue is to ask the people if they want a constitutional convention. He however maintained that there was no urgency in writing a new charter since “the atmosphere is not ripe for serious changes in the constitution.”

Former Supreme Court Justice Vicente Mendoza, one of the speakers invited to the Senate hearing, also said that “the times do not seem propitious for amending the constitution.”

“There is so much partisan strife, which is the enemy of calmness and sobriety needed for serious business as the amendment or revision of the constitution,” Mendoza said, adding that amending the charter can perhaps be postponed until after the May 2007 elections.

Mendoza said the May elections could also be held as a referendum “on whether change is desired by the people and how this should be effected.”

Former Commission on Elections chair Christian Monsod also suggested, as prescribed under Article XVII of the constitution, that Congress, by a majority vote of all its members, may submit to the electorate the question of calling a convention. In the May election, the question whether there should be a constitutional convention could be included in the ballot, he said.

“If (Congress) cannot decide (which mode of amending the constitution it should take), then ask the people,” Bernas offered.

In a paper Mendoza submitted to the Senate committee on constitutional amendments, he said that should charter change be pursued, a constitutional convention would be “more feasible” than a constituent assembly.

“A constituent assembly will deal directly with proposals, and it is not unlikely that one House can vote down such proposals and terminate the life of the assembly,” he said, “On the other hand, in calling a constitutional convention, Congress will only be dealing with the necessity for such a call about which there may be a consensus, leaving the resolution of sticky problems concerning the merits of proposed amendments and/or revisions to the convention of specially elected delegates.”

Constitutional Convention

By general definitions, a constitutional convention is a gathering of delegates for the purpose amending or revising an existing constitution. Under our Constitution, the amendments proposed by the constitutional convention will be ratified by a majority in a plebiscite.

In the Philippines, a “Marcos-maneuvered” constitutional convention was held in 1973 that paved the way for the shift to a parliamentary form of government; this also allowed Ferdinand Marcos to stay in power beyond 1973. At that time, Marcos decreed the creation of citizens’ assemblies which “anomalously ratified the constitution,” according to reports.

The Supreme Court then, while it ruled in Javellana v Executive Secretary that the ratification of the 1973 Constitution by the citizens’ assemblies was invalid, Mendoza said it nonetheless dismissed the suits filed to enjoin the enforcement of the new constitution. The Court declared that whether the new constitution had come into force as a result of popular acceptance was a political question. Thus, there was no longer any “judicial obstacle to the new constitution being considered in force and effect.”

In a similar case, Mabanag v Lopez Vito, Mendoza said the Court likewise ruled that a proposal to amend the constitution was a “highly political function” by Congress and “therefore not subject to judicial review.”

This is where Mendoza’s arguments come in. He said that in the event that a constitutional convention should happen, the “theory of co-equality” should be applied.

This theory posits that a constitutional convention, when called into being, “becomes a coordinate branch of government.”

Mendoza, quoting the concurring opinion of Justice Enrique Fernando in Tolentino v. Comelec, said that as a co-equal body, the constitutional convention is subject to judicial review just like Congress. Fernando “rejected the contention…that the 1971 constitutional convention was a body sovereign not subject to the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court.”

“The legislature and constitutional convention alike are coordinate, there being no superiority of one over the other,” the court said.

Mendoza stressed that implicit in the Court rulings is the adoption of the theory of co-equality. Under this principle, any action taken by the administration-backed constitutional convention can be subject to judicial review.

Read former Justice Vicente Mendoza’s paper.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 12th, 2006 and is filed under Charter Change, Congress Watch, In the News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

3 people have left comments

[...] A consensus seems to be emerging: there is no longer time, if the rules will be followed, to adequately debate and propose a convention. The Senate isn’t at fault on this: it’s position was clear months and months ago, it was the House that ignored them. The PCIJ blog gives a backgrounder on proposals and past convention history. [...]

Manuel L. Quezon III: The Daily Dose » Blog Archive » Sidestep but no retreat wrote on December 12, 2006 - 1:06 pm | Visit Link

Many erstwhile advocates have now shunned concon altogether not because it is as flawed as, or more expensive than, any of the other modes available. The message is clear and simple: “Yes, it may be time to amend certain provisions of the fundamental law but we can’t allow this bunch of asslickers to do it. Not with this government.”

tongue in, anew wrote on December 13, 2006 - 5:40 am | Visit Link

Unfortunately, Speaker de Venecia and his band of traditional politicians, do not realize that they are a major part of the problem not the solution to our country’s woes. Not only do the people not trust them, but the people abhor them. Apparently, De Venecia’s defeat in the 1998 presidential elections did not humble him enough nor have recent events made him aware that the national electorate does not want him to lead this country either as president or as prime minister. It is only in his district in Pangasinan where he manages to get elected.

Unfortunately for the political opposition and church leaders, the people’s patience with President Arroyo has not yet run out. House and Senate resolutions are not enough to stir the people and make them take to the streets again to exercise people power. President Arroyo and Speaker De Venecia are not yet detested enough for the people to want them exorcised from office. The people have more urgent, pressing and real concerns of daily survival to worry about.

Consider also that the Constitution is not something close and dear to the hearts of Filipinos. To many, it is simply a document or a subject in school. To them, it is not essential to existence. This is why Charter change does not have urgency. The Charter change debate has not yet reached the households, much less the dining table. The debate is confined to the newspapers, broadcast news and Internet blogs. Families do not yet realize how provisions of the Constitution can affect the quality of their lives.

It would not surprise me however if some daring elements of the military are again at work to find ways to remove President Arroyo from power. The aborted Con-ass House resolution must have raised some red flags of concern.

Things are still a long way from political upheaval or crisis proportions. By ordering the Con-ass train to stop, President Arroyo deftly avoided another debacle the likes of the Hello Garci episode. President Arroyo escaped from checkmate for now. Lucky her. Unfortunate for the rest of us.

Earl Victor Rosero wrote on December 13, 2006 - 4:44 pm | Visit Link