IT IS NOT everyday that one hears a respected academic use an invective to describe a contrary idea but the defeat of the people's initiative in the Supreme Court may have been too frustrating for long-time political science professor and Charter change advocate Jose Abueva.Abueva, a delegate to the 1986 Constitutional Commission and former University of the Philippines president, said it was "stupid" to require the more than six million signatories in the initiative petition to read the proposed changes to the 1987 Constitution. "Did the millions of people who approved the constitution in the 1987 plebiscite read the full text of the 1987 Constitution?" Abueva said at a media round table discussion with on "constitutional and governance reform" in Quezon City. "It's stupid," he exclaimed and paused before adding in a more sober tone, "to require everybody to have
read the proposed changes before signing." Abueva was clearly referring to the Supreme Court's decision on the people's initiative that said there was no way that the millions who have signed knew all the proposed changes in the Charter change petition. "Sovereignty resides in the people but there seems to be many requirements," he said. Abueva added that the decision of the eight justices that voted down the people's initiative petition showed that sovereignty does not actually reside in the people. "It is not true. It is a myth," Abueva said. Abueva, who was also an elected delegate to the 1971 Constitutional Convention, has been a staunch advocate for constitutional reforms particularly the shift to a unicameral parliamentary government and the march towards federalism in the country. He chaired the Consultative Commission formed by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in 2005. The commission came up with a draft constitution that called for unicameral parliament with both a president and a prime minister. Initiative advocates like Abueva believe all is not lost even with the Supreme Court's decision. In the same roundtable discussion, lawyer Raul Lambino, spokesperson of the people's initiative prime mover Sigaw ng Bayan, said the retirement of Chief Justice Artemio Panginiban could be a factor in the Supreme Court vote when it decides on the motion for reconsideration to be filed by his group and the Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines. The Supreme Court voted 8-7 against the initiative and Panganiban's was the swing vote. Panganiban is due for retirement on December 7. "Perhaps, the retirement of the Chief Justice will be a factor on the motion for reconsideration," Lambino said. He said that the initiative proponents have until November 9 to file their motion for reconsideration as the 15-day term for them to come up with one started on the day the decision was handed down. Lambino said he is hoping that a decision be made before Panganiban retires. He, however, added that the motion for reconsideration should go through the process of comments from both sides being heard, even calling for oral arguments. "We really don't know when it will be but it is not unprecedented that the court will change its decision after the filing of a (motion for consideration)," Lambino said. He seems not to mind the time it can take before the Supreme Court decides on the motion for reconsideration. His optimism springs from the Supreme Court decision declaring the Mining Act of 1995 unconstitutional, a decision reversed just recently. "It took years. It has been done in the past. It can happen again in the future," Lambino said. | 
