Former Chief Justice Reynato Puno. INQUIRER file photo
MANILA, Philippines—A coalition of over 70 organizations in Cebu has urged former Chief Justice Reynato Puno to join their bid to pursue a national legislation that would abolish the graft-ridden pork barrel.
Lawyer Ernesto Francisco, one of those who launched the Cebu Coalition Against Pork Barrel, said “the support of Chief Justice Puno for a people’s initiative will be most welcome coming from a former Chief Justice who may have a change of heart on the issue of pork barrel.”
Puno is one of the justices of the Supreme Court who voted for the legality of the pork barrel in the 1994 Philconsa v. Enriquez ruling and in 2001 in the case of Sarmiento v. Treasurer of the Philippines.
“I also call on the Filipino people to unite and not be swayed by those who might want to use people’s initiative as a platform or jumping board for launching their own candidate or a so-called ‘third force’ in the 2016 presidential elections,” Francisco said.
Early this month, Puno called for a People’s Congress to enact law that will abolish the pork barrel and check the abuses of Congress.
He said organizers of the Million People March Movement should exercise the reserve power of the people as stated under Republic Act 6735 or the Act Providing for a System of Initiative and Referendum because Congress lost its authority to guard the people’s money.
Under the law on people’s initiative, signatures of at least 10 percent of the total number of registered voters must be gathered nationwide. The law also provides that every legislative district must be represented by at least 3 percent of the registered voters.
The Comelec is mandated by law to verify the signatures and hold a referendum for registered voters to choose to abolish the funds or not. Brillantes said it might only take a month or two to verify the signatures, but the gathering of signatures might take time.
Francisco said they already have a proposed legislation that is continuously being improved by people joining their cause.
The proposed law seeks to prohibit any legislator from demanding an allocation from the General Appropriations Act (GAA) or to make any insertions in the proposed national budget.
The President and Cabinet departments would also be barred from disposing of public funds that were not provided in or consistent with the GAA.
In addition, the President and the executive departments would not be allowed to give any member of Congress any allocation in the GAA or to make any insertions.
But the group’s proposed legislation would not curtail the role of Congress to exercise its power of appropriation and oversight.