‘Congress stalemate stunting RP growth’

Local officials echoed anew yesterday their collective stand to push for amendments in the 1987 Constitution in an effort to correct the deficiencies of the bicameral legislature, which they claimed stunted the growth and development of local government units.

Local chief executives led by Leyte Gov. Jericho Petilla stressed the need for amending the Constitution for a unicameral form of government to prevent a "paralysis" in Congress and prevent the usual stalemate among lawmakers which has stunted the country’s development.

"In our recent meeting of the League of Provinces, we discussed the need to change from bicameral to unicameral (since it) is already being felt by our constituencies because of the paralysis in Congress," Petilla told the weekly Kapihan sa Sulo news forum.

"The shift to unicameral will end the stalemate and it will benefit the local government units," he said.

Petilla said the local government units are still being owed P17.5 billion in arrears over Internal Revenue Allotments (IRA) which were withheld by Congress as "Unprogrammed Funds" in years 2000 and 2001.

He said the Unprogrammed Funds, which were taken from the IRA by the Senate, were declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in a landmark decision late last year.

Petilla said President Arroyo saw the plight of the LGUs over the funds and ordered the release of the funds under a securitization scheme agreed upon with the local government unit federations.

Despite growing opposition, Petilla declared they will strongly pursue the people’s initiative mode to amend the Charter to assert the people’s right to be involved in political decisions.

"We will not just stand by and watch the political developments pass by. We will go ahead with the people’s initiative and by next week a decision on how to go about it will be firmed up," Petilla said.

The Leyte governor said they will leave it up to the Supreme Court to decide on the legal aspect of their move.

Earlier, the League of Provinces, composed of 79 governors, ratified the resolution of the Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines (ULAP) calling for the conduct of the people’s initiative as a mode to push for constitutional changes.

The provincial chief executives also agreed to spearhead the gathering of six million signatures nationwide that will formalize the holding of a plebiscite.

Sasmuan, Pampanga Mayor Lina Bagasina also told the weekly forum that her fellow mayors favor the people’s initiative since it is considered the most peaceful and democratic way of amending the Constitution.

She stressed the collective call of the people under the people’s initiative can be considered "the voice of God."

Tarlac Rep. Jesli Lapus, for his part, admitted the perennial gridlock between the House of Representatives and the Senate has created a wide chasm that impairs effective legislation.

"This in effect, convinced me to support the unicameral system of legislation," Lapus said in Filipino.

Petilla, however, denied allegations that Malacañang is behind the governor’s decision to undertake the people’s initiative.