Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez said on Monday the proposed shift to a federal government remained the top priority agenda of the House of Representatives, reiterating his push for the lifting of term limits for elected public officials as a way to stop political dynasties.
In his opening speech during the opening of the Third Regular Session, Alvarez said Charter change toward federalism would be beneficial to the country as “to fully realize its potential for growth and development.”
“The primary reason why many critics claim there is no need for Charter change is because the problems of the Philippines should be blamed at bad people running the government. They posit that people are the center of the problem and charters are inconsequential. Hence, no need to change the Constitution. This position is untenable,” Alvarez said.
In related developments:
* Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said Australian nun Patricia Fox, ordered by Immigration authorities to leave the country, could stay in the country unless the deportation order issued against her by the Bureau of Immigration became final and executory.
Guevarra stressed the deportation order against Fox last week was not immediately executory after she filed a motion for reconsideration before the BI on Monday.
“The deportation order cannot be enforced until it becomes final. With the filing of the appeal, the deportation will not be executed,” Guevarra said.
He added: “If the BI denies Sister Fox’s MR [motion for reconsideration], the deportation order can still be subject to appeal to the DoJ or the Office of the President.”
• Ousted Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno said saying yes to Charter change risked putting the country under dictatorial rule.
Sereno joined hundreds of protesters along Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City in rallying the Filipino people against the shift to federalism, a key campaign promise of President Rodrigo Duterte.
• Debt watcher Moody’s Investor Services said Monday uncertainty over federalism posed some downside risks to the Philippines.
Issues like revenue and expenditure sharing are “still up in the air,” said Moody’s vice president and senior credit officer Christian de Guzman.
“I think we have to acknowledge that some local government units are not as prepared to handle the responsibilities that come with these larger spending commitments,” De Guzman told ANC.
In the House, Alvarez said, “experts from the fields of economics, political science, developmental studies, both here and abroad, have a consensus about what is necessary to cure an ailing nation.” “And they have pinpointed the fundamental issue that must be addressed. If, for businesses, it’s about location, location, and location; if, for banks, it’s about capital, capital, capital; when it comes to the development of nations, it boils down to institutions, institutions, and institutions. And what is the mother of all institutions here in the Philippines? It’s the 1987 Constitution.”
Alvarez presided over the session amid reports that he would be removed from his post, with former President and Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo reportedly taking over as the new Speaker.
A total of 271 lawmakers were present during the first day of the Third Regular Session of the 17th Congress.
Alvarez said the discussion on changing the Charter also involved the issue on the proliferation of political dynasties in the country.
“I have also made it clear, based on my personal studies and consultation with peers, that political-dynasties proliferated because of the unintended effects of imposing term limits,” Alvarez said.
“Let us push for the self- executory anti-political dynasty provision—to discourage other members of the political clam from running in politics even if they do not want to—but I propose that term limits be removed,” he added.
After Alvarez’s speech, the House adopted several resolutions, including the one that calls for the convening of the House and the Senate into a joint session for the State of the Nation Address of the President in the afternoon of July 23.
Alvarez earlier called for the postponement of the May 2019 midterm elections to give way to the government’s push for federalism.
He said postponing the May 2019 midterm polls was the best option to give lawmakers enough time to subject the various drafts of a federal charter to study and extensive debates.
He also urged lawmakers to decide on the postponement of the midterm elections ahead of the scheduled filing of certificates of candidacy in October 2018.
Guevara also hinted out that the issue might also reach the courts should Fox opt to file a petition after all administrative remedies before the executive branch are exhausted.
“Any adverse ruling of the DoJ or OP may further be reviewed by the courts,” the Justice secretary admitted.
Guevarra made the statement after the BI Board of Commissioners ordered the deportation of the missionary nun and also her inclusion in the bureau’s blacklist to prevent her from returning to the country.
The BI has found that Fox violated “the limitations and conditions of Commonwealth Act 613, Section 9 (g) missionary visa and undesirable under Article 2711, Section 69 and order her deportation to Australia, subject to her submission of all appropriate clearance and the inclusion of her name in the BI’s blacklist, thus barring her re-entry into the country.”
The bureau cited as the basis for its order several photographs showing that she engaged in several partisan political activities sometime in 2013, 2016, 2017 and 2018—including those where she reportedly demanded for the release of political prisoners, joined the rallies for land distribution in Hacienda Luisita, and a labor rally in Davao City.
The BI also considered Duterte’s earlier statements that branded Fox as an undesirable alien by joining political rallies.
“In fact, the President even publicly admitted that it was upon his instructions to investigate Fox for disorderly conduct for participating in rallies.”
“The power to deport aliens is lodged in the President of the Republic of the Philippines. The Commissioner of Immigration exercises this power, however, as the qualified political agent of the President. As the administrative alter-ego of the President in deportation cases, the actions of the Commissioner of Immigration relative to the arrest and detention of undesirable aliens are, unless reprobated or disapproved by the President, presumptively the acts of the President,” the 10-page ruling stated.
Last April 16, on the strength of a mission order issued by BI Commissioner Jaime Morente, Fox was invited to the BI main office in Intramuros, Manila after the bureau’s Intelligence Division received information that the Australian nun had allegedly been attending protest rallies, fact-finding missions, jail visits, and supporting and involving herself in assemblies against the government.
She was allowed to leave the BI the following day after she surrendered her passport.
The BI also issued an order forfeiting Fox’s missionary visa and downgrading it to a tourist visa and directing her to leave the country in 30 days.
However, Fox’s camp filed a petition for review before the DoJ last May 25, questioning the BI’s April 23 and May 17 orders, which denied her motion for reconsideration and supplemental motion for reconsideration, respectively.
Last June 18, the DoJ granted her petition for review and declared the BI’s April 23 and May 17 ruling null and void for having been issued without legal basis and reinstating her missionary visa but without prejudice to the result of a separate cancellation or deportation proceedings.