Sigaw, Ulap file motions via snail mail -- senator Juliet Labog-Javellana Inquirer
November 14, 2006
SENATOR Joker Arroyo said Tuesday he smelled something fishy in the manner pro-Charter change groups sent their motions for reconsideration asking the Supreme Court to reconsider its ruling last month junking their so-called people’s petition to amend the Philippine Constitution.
Arroyo, who represented the Senate in opposing the petition in the high tribunal, said the Office of the Solicitor General filed its motion directly with the court on the November 9, the deadline, but the main petitioners -- Sigaw ng Bayan and the Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines -- sent theirs also at the last minute but by snail mail from the provinces.
“Sigaw sent theirs by slow bus, filing it by registered mail in Pangasinan, and Ulap by slow boat, filing it...from Bohol,” Arroyo said.
Arroyo said that while both means were allowed, the generally accepted mode especially in public-interest cases was to file the motions directly with the court.
Arroyo said that ordinarily the petitioners would be in a hurry to have the ruling reversed as they are pressed for time because the mid-term congressional and local government elections are only six months away.
“But by their actions, Sigaw and Ulap indicate that they have an undisclosed and devious objective. They who should be in a hurry are deliberately slowing the process down. What is their unseen purpose?” Arroyo asked. “With the impending retirement of (Chief Justice Artemio) Panganiban, a vacancy will occur in the high court. Are Sigaw ang Ulap waiting for a change in the composition of the Supreme Court?”
Arroyo had said earlier that the losing petitioners might be banking on the appointment of a new associate justice to tilt the voting on the motion for reconsideration of the 8-7 ruling.
Panganiban is set to retire on December 7, with the five most senior associate justices and administration Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago as contenders.
Arroyo said the alternative plan in the House of Representatives to push for a constituent assembly without the participation of the Senate is also frozen.
“Why don't they defreeze both, let it come to a head so that this nagging matter can be settled once and for all,” Arroyo said.
