IBP ready to challenge Cha-Cha plans

The Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP), a national organization of lawyers, in a public forum. INQUIRER.net/FILE PHOTO

LUCENA CITY, Philippines – The president of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines said on Thursday his organization would challenge the legality of amending the Constitution that would allow President Benigno Aquino III to seek another term of office after 2016.

“The IBP will study the legality of the move. Once we see any violations of the Charter, we are ready to file a petition before the Supreme Court,” IBP president Vicente Joyas said here in an interview.

President Benigno Aquino III declared on Wednesday he has become amenable to amending the Constitution and extending his term after 2016 so he could check what he perceived to be the abuses by the Supreme Court.

The President was apparently still hurting from the Supreme Court’s ruling that declared as unconstitutional the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP), a Malacañang stimulus fund derived from funds that were originally allotted for projects deemed to be slow-moving by the executive department.

Joyas chided Aquino for disrespecting the legacy of his late mother, former President Corazon Aquino, who fought the excesses of the Marcos regime and who resisted calls of her supporters and allies to seek a second term.

“Her battle cry then was Sobra na! Tama na! Palitan na! (Too much!  Enough! Time for Change!),” Joyas recalled, pointing out the irony that Cory’s son would now like to perpetuate himself in power.

Joyas opined that the plan to amend the 1987 Constitution to remove the provision setting a single six-year term for the president of the country would only perpetuate the ruling Liberal Party in power.

Joyas said the ruling party could have seen that their chances in the 2016 elections have considerably deemed due to the slide in popularity of their presumptive presidential bet, Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas II.

“There is no chance for their party to win the 2016 presidential election,” Joyas said.

The IBP head predicted that Aquino’s declaration of openness to Charter change would only spur his further descent in popularity and trust surveys.

Joyas believed the plan to amend the 1987 Constitution would involve restoring and preserving the controversial congressional pork barrel system called the Priority Development Assistance Fund and DAP, both of which were declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.

Joyas said the move would also protect key presidential allies from probable plunder and graft and corruption cases after 2016, arising from their involvement in the PDAF and DAP controversies.

Joyas however doubted if there would still be time to complete a constitutional amendment, particularly to allow the incumbent President a second term, in time for the 2016 elections.

He explained any constitutional amendments would still have to be submitted to the people in a plebiscite.

He cited Article XVII, Section 4 of the 1987 constitution, which stated that any amendment or revision of the charter through Congress, upon a vote of three-fourths of all its members or constitutional convention “shall be valid when ratified by a majority of the votes cast in a plebiscite which shall be held not earlier than sixty days nor later than ninety days after the approval of such amendment or revision.”

He added that the Supreme Court could in fact issue a restraining order to stop moves to amend the Constitution, as surely, groups such as the IBP would file petitions questioning the legality of Charter change.

Moreover, several major legal issues, like the controversial peace agreement between the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the DAP (for which the Aquino administration has filed a motion for reconsideration) loom in the horizon, according to Joyas.

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