“12 Dangerous Provisions of GMA’s Federal Charter”

30 December 2018
A Press Statement
By LAIKO WARRIORS
Contact: Alex Lacson
0928 550 0712

Last December 11, the House of Representatives under the leadership of Speaker Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo approved Resolution of Both Houses No. 15 (RBH 15), which contains a draft Federal Constitution and seeks to shift to a federal form of government.

This draft Federal Constitution, also called as the GMA Federal Charter, contains at least twelve (12) dangerous, anti-Filipino, anti-youth, anti-NGO, and anti-democracy provisions, said the group called Laiko Warriors.

Laiko Warriors is a newly-formed group composed of Catholic businessmen, lawyers, doctors, media practitioners, professionals, lay leaders from various lay and non-lay groups, among others.

Last December 19, or six days before Christmas, they gathered and met, with Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo in attendance. They formed the group specifically to respond to the attacks being made by President Rodrigo Duterte on the God and faith of Christians, the Catholic Church, its bishops and priests. The group also plans to voice their concerns and stand on national issues that may have important and grave effects on the country and the lives of Filipino people.

After studying the GMA Federal Constitution, the group was able to identify at least twelve (12) dangerous, anti-Filipino, anti-youth, anti-NGO, and anti-democracy provisions. These are:

First. The anti-political dynasty provision, as contained in the 1987 Constitution, was removed in the proposed GMA Federal Constitution.

“This removal is anti-people and anti-democracy”, said Bishop Pabillo. “This would make political dynasties stronger, bigger and more powerful than they already are. They would control even more the election officials, the police, the judiciary, the executive offices in their territories. Meritocracy will go away. Justice will become even more elusive. And these political dynasties can run and control power forever.”

“The removal of anti-political dynasty provisions clearly shows that GMA is not a leader of the people, but only of the politicians, especially the political dynasties”, added Atty Alex Lacson, president of the Pilipino Movement for Transformational Leadership (PMTL), a coalition of various faith-based organizations from the catholic, evangelical and protestant communities. “The removal makes the draft GMA Federal Constitution so much worse than the present 1987 Constitution”, added Lacson.

The second dangerous portion is the removal of the term limits for senators, district representatives, party-list representatives. Under the present Constitution, senators are limited to two consecutive terms, while House representatives have a 3-term limit. This removal is also anti-people and anti-democracy. The longer they stay in power, the more they and their families become powerful. When they become more powerful, they become abusive and less accountable to the people.

“The removal of the term limits clearly shows that the main agenda of GMA and her colleagues in the House is to perpetuate themselves in power”, said Dr Marita Wasan, president of Sangguniang Laiko ng Pilipinas. “Marami sa kanila have become the cause of our many problems in the country. And would we still want them to be in power forever? Lalo lang lalala ang problema ng ating bansa.”

The third dangerous provision in the proposed GMA Federal Constitution is the increase in the number of House members from 250 to 300 district representatives. The number of party-list representatives will also increase from 50 to 60, since party-list representatives still constitute 20% of the total number of representatives.

“Kailangan pa ba natin ng mas maraming pulitiko, ng mas maraming Congresista? Pinaghati-hatian na ng mga pulitiko ang ating bansa”, said Victor Gutierrez, founder of the Families for Truth & Justice. “Ang mga pulitiko ang makikinabang dito, hindi ang taong bayan. Para sa kanila ito, hindi para sa mamamayan”.

The fourth dangerous provision is the removal of the State’s policy to encourage non-governmental, community-based, or sectoral organizations that promote the welfare of the nation. This provision is contained in the present 1987 Constitution.

“The removal of this provision is anti-NGOs, anti-people’s organizations, anti-sectoral or community-based organizations, and anti civil society organizations,” said Atty Edgar Talavera, an officer of the Familia Community, Inc. “They want to silence the voice of the organized sectors of our people.This is clearly anti-people and anti-democracy”, added Talavera.

The fifth dangerous provision is found in Section 26(1), Article VIII of the draft GMA Federal Constitution. This provision gives Congress the power to increase appropriations or budget allocations for the legislative branch and the judicial department more than those recommended by the President.

“This is a very self-serving provision”, said Joffe Almoro, national president of the Brotherhood of Christian Businessmen and Professionals (BCBP). “The members of Congress can abuse this by rewarding themselves with fat budgetary allocations every time they make the national budget”.

The sixth dangerous provision in the proposed GMA Federal Constitution is the increase in the age qualification for presidential and vice presidential candidates from at least 40 to 45 years old on the day of elections.

“This is an anti-youth provision, since 58% of voters in 2016 were ages 40 years old and below”, said Ricky Xavier, founder of the People’s Choice Movement (PCM). “GMA and her colleagues are afraid of the youth. They know that the youth have the numbers to elect a president and vice-president coming from their age ranks. GMA and her trapo colleagues want to prevent the youth from becoming leaders of our country.”

The seventh dangerous portion is found in Section 12 (first paragraph), Article XII of the proposed GMA Federal Constitution. It provides that “a federal state may be created upon a petition addressed to Congress by contiguous, compact, and adjacent provinces, highly urbanized and component cities, and cities and municipalities in metropolitan areas through a resolution of their respective bodies. . .”

“This provision is anti-poor”, said Boni Macaranas, founder of Kilos Laiko and a retired professor of U.P. Diliman. Poor provinces and municipalities could be excluded in the negotiation by those political units seeking to create a federal state. Those seeking to create a federal state may only include those provinces, cities and municipalities that would not be a burden or problem to the group. Thus, a scenario is possible where some poor provinces or municipalities are left out by their neighbour provinces which have become federal states.

The eighth dangerous part is found in Section 12 (second paragraph), Article XII of the proposed GMA Federal Constitution. It provides that “in exceptional cases, a province may be established as a federal state based on area, population, necessity, geographical distance, environmental, economic, and fiscal viability and other special attributes.”

“This provision is highly vulnerable to abuse by politicians”, said Fabs Pagaduan, former president of the Lay Society of St Arnold Janssen. “If you do not define the clear grounds or bases for exceptional cases, palakasan ng mga governors ang mangyayari diyan. The conversion of provinces, cities and municipalities to federal states could become highly transactional among the members of Congress and the applicants.”

The ninth dangerous part is contained in Section 13, Article XII of the GMA Federal Constitution. It gives Congress the power to pass the organic laws or federal state charters that will define the basic structure of government for the federal states.

“This is an invitation to chaos and big-time corruption,” said Joseph Francia, an ex-Jesuit priest and former dean of Ateneo’s Economics Department. “Under the GMA Federal Charter, the power to create federal states is granted solely to the Congress. It will be Congress who will decide how many federal states will be created, when they will be created, under what criteria or attributes they will be created. This would make Congress extremely powerful in the creation of federal states. The creation of federal states could become highly transactional. Political horsetrading could become the norm. And the organic laws creating different federal states could differ, depending on the whims of the members of Congress. Thus, different organic laws could govern federal states.”

The tenth dangerous part is the removal of the provision saying that the ownership and management of mass media “shall be limited to citizens of the Philippines or to corporations, cooperatives or associations, wholly-owned and managed by such citizens”.

“This is anti-Filipino”, said Zosimo Porte, founder of the Katoliko Ako Movement. “The proposed provision would open to foreigners the ownership, management and operation of mass media in the Philippines. Time may come that some or all the TV stations, the radio companies, as well as newspapers in the Philippines could be owned by foreign companies that could also be owned wholly or substantially by a foreign country. This would allow a country like China, through its investment company called China Investment Corporation (CIC), to own some or all of our mass media in the country”.

The eleventh dangerous portion is the removal of the present constitutional provision that limits the ownership, management and operations of any company engaged in advertising industry only to Filipino citizens or corporations or associations with at least 70% of the capital owned by Filipinos.

“This is anti-Filipino”, said Ricky Rivera, a member of the Kabayanihan Movement. “This would open to foreigners the ownership, management and operation of companies engaged in the advertising industry in the Philippines. Time may come that some or most of the advertisements we see on TV, radio, as well as newspapers in the Philippines could be promoting the national interests of a foreign country, instead of our country’s national interests. This could happen when the advertising companies are owned by foreign companies that could also be owned wholly or substantially by a foreign country.”

The twelfth dangerous portion is the removal of the constitutional requirement for the Ombudsman to have at least 10 years experience serving as a judge or engaged in the practice of law in the Philippines. Under the GMA Federal Constitution, the new provision states that “the Ombudsman must have at least been a judge or engaged in the practice of law in the Philippines”.

“This is big blow on our war against corruption and corrupt officials in government”, said Atty Alex Lacson. “Under the proposed provision, a lawyer with even only 1 or 2 year experience in law practice can be appointed Ombudsman. It would make the appointment of the Ombudsman very vulnerable to political considerations. An incumbent president, during his term in office, could appoint as Ombudsman any lawyer or judge, just for his or her unquestionable loyalty to the president”, added Lacson.

“Remember that the Ombudsman plays a very crucial role in the war against corruption. It is the lead player in the investigation and prosecution of corrupt government officials. If the Ombudsman is not independent and brave, very few corrupt government officials would be investigated and prosecuted. This could destroy the entire government, since the plunderers and corrupt officials will have a fiesta in stealing or plundering public funds.”

“Under the GMA Federal Constitution, Congress would become the most powerful branch of government” , claimed Atty Lacson. “It will destroy the fundamental principle of democracy of three co-equal branches of government, as Congress will no longer be a co-equal branch. It will be so much more powerful than the executive and judiciary.”

“These are very dark times for our country”, said Bishop Pabillo. “We cannot afford to be silent. Dark politics based on greed, lust for power, lies and violence is destroying our country.”

Dr. Wasan claimed that many volunteers have come forward to set up provincial chapters for Laiko Wariors. They will resist GMA’s shift to federalism and her planned return to Malacanang.