Ten major violations of the Constitution

At the Philconsa monthly meeting on Tuesday night, former President Joseph Estrada identified the 10 most serious violations of the Constitution by President Gloria Arroyo.

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One, the constitutional guarantees of the freedoms of speech and of assembly of our people have been consistently set aside with the violent and cruel dispersal of protestors and demonstrators. This never happened when I was president. I did not order the military or the police to disperse the crowd gathered at EDSA.

These are supported by such illegal policies as the calibrated pre-emptive response and proclamation 1017 which unconstitutionally imposed emergency rule in February 2006;

Two, the freedom of the press is wantonly assaulted with such acts of harassment such as the raid of the offices of the Daily Tribune and the arrest and filing of charges against journalists and broadcasters covering the Manila Peninsula coup.

Of course, we can add to these the pathetic failure of this government to resolve the extrajudicial killings and forced disappearances of journalists and media workers, as well as militants and activists critical of the government.

According to the international Reporters Without Borders, the Philippines remains today as one of the most dangerous countries for media.

Three, the time-honored and respected principles of checks and balances and separation of powers enshrined in our Constitution were gravely infringed with the refusal of the executive department and its officials to testify in congress because of executive privilege based on the issuance of Executive Order 424.

This prohibited officials of the executive department from appearing in congressional investigations to shed light on such anomalies as the NBN-ZTE broadband deal and the fertilizer scam, among others.

But more importantly here, we should recall the active and brazen interference of the executive in all the impeachment complaints against the President. We saw congressmen and governors leaving Malacañang with gift bags containing allegedly P500,000, as exposed by Governor Panlilio of Pampanga and Governor Mendoza of Bulacan.

Four, the due process clause of the Constitution was severely impaired with the unlawful arrest or detention without evidence or arrest warrants, and on trumped up charges of those critical of the regime. Among these cases are the abduction of the so-called Erap Five, the threat of arrest of the Batasan Five including the late Ka Crispin Beltran, and similar other cases;

Five, the violation of civilian supremacy over the military was gravely compromised with the unbridled appointment of over 100 retired military and police officials to civilian positions, including six members of Cabinet rank, namely, Secretaries (Eduardo) Ermita, (Hermogenes) Ebdane, (Leandro) Mendoza, (Angelo) Reyes, (Hermogenes) Esperon, and (Avelino) Razon. This is a regime that is now beholden to the military for its existence, and not to the People.

Six, related to this is the violation of the civil service protection clause under our Constitution. The appointment of retired generals of the military and the police to civilian functions such as heads of bureaus, line agencies, ambassadorships and foreign service officers has displaced deserving career officials to civilian positions. More than 2,000 presidential appointees to career positions are not eligible for not having passed the required civil service examinations.

Seven, the violation of the constitutional provision of separation of Church and State with the administration influencing the decisions of the Catholic hierarchy with disturbing reports of bribery, grants of privileges and other enticements given to bishops and priests;

Eight, the violation of the principle of executive supervision is another glaring instance of constitutional violation. This administration has systematically engaged in selective release and withholding of the internal revenue allotments of local governments, while also forcing selective suspension of local officials belonging to the opposition.

Nine, the violation of the constitutional provision that prohibits the use of public funds, resources and facilities in partisan election activities, especially such as that of the fertilizer scam in the 2004 elections. We can add here also the use of public funds without appropriations authorized by Congress. Of course, I need not dwell on the Garci tapes where no closure was ever made because of executive stonewalling.

Ten, one of the worst and condemnable violations is the attempt to dismember the Republic of the Philippines with the memorandum of agreement on ancestral domain. This is not only a violation of the Constitution. It is in my understanding, that this is simply pure treason of the highest order. As far as I am concerned, the President as commander-in-chief must protect the territorial integrity of our country at all cost.

Finally, now, we have the railroading on Con-Ass, which is now under production in Congress and scripted in Malacañang. –Tony Lopez, Manila Times

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This random listing, said Erap, of violations of the Constitution during the past eight years of this administration does not include the many cases of corruption, scandals, scams and other abuses of this regime.

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