ONE THING was clear, and made even clearer, in the Charter change forum last Monday in Pozorrubio: Sigaw ng Bayan coalition of lawyer Raul Lambino is only after an immediate shift to the parliamentary system from the present presidential system thru the so-called people’s initiative, preferring to leave other possible changes in the Constitution to the discretion of the interim Parliament, should one eventually be formed.

We wonder however if changing the system of government can be done thru a simple amendment to the Constitution that can be achieved thru people’s initiative as Lambino’s group seems to project to the 400 or so who attended that Cha-cha info campaign in Raul’s hometown. Others interpret that Charter provision on effecting changes to the fundamental law of the land differently.

It may have helped public enlightenment better if the “other side” or even the “neutral side” was present to make that forum truly an informative one!

We hope other organizers like the PPCRV which held its own Cha-cha forum at the People’s Astrodome in Dagupan City will present both sides in the coming fora.

***
One other thing that we forgot to ask Lambino later was his statement about his group’s decision to leave the other proposed charter changes – electoral, economic, and judiciary reforms – to the incoming interim Parliament, which may consist of the present members of the House of Representatives and the Senate, as well as members of the Cabinet, if the system of government is changed from presidential to parliamentary.

The Sigaw ng Bayan, he pointed out, was only asking for a single amendment – change in the system of government. Earlier in his more-than-hour talk, Raul said that he had chided Senator Richard Gordon for being ignorant. He said that Gordon (“being a lawyer, he should know,” quipped Raul) was doing a “fraudulent act,” and guilty of
“constitutional estafa” for saying that the present Congress can just make Charter amendments thru legislations.

Lambino said this cannot be since the authority to write the Constitution is in the hands of the people, citing the preamble and article 2, section 1 of the 1986 Constitution about sovereignty residing in the people and that they alone therefore can make changes to the Charter. Lambino said people’s initiative is precisely the mode to effect changes in the supreme law. The final say rests with the people thru a plebiscite.

Now, if Gordon was ignorant to the highest order for claiming that the present Congress can just introduce amendments to the Constitution thru the usual legislative process, isn’t the good commissioner contradicting himself? Why did he say it was up to the incoming interim Parliament whether to touch on the other Constitutional changes? If that interim legislative body could, to his mind, legislate amendments to the Charter, why can’t the present Congress? We can only wonder.