Even during her continuation of the term of ousted President Joseph Estrada (January 2001-May 2004), Arroyo had been facing calls for her removal from office for what cause-oriented groups described as her government’s “anti-national and anti-people” policies. These calls intensified in mid-2005 following the surfacing of the so-called “Hello Garci” tapes – in which a woman with a voice similar to Arroyo’s is heard instructing an election official, widely believed to be Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano of the Commission on Elections (Comelec), of rigging the polls.

The controversy generated by the “Hello Garci” tapes led to big rallies calling for Arroyo’s resignation or removal from office, and two impeachment complaints against her being filed at the House – one in 2005 and another earlier this year. Both complaints were dismissed on technical grounds.

Constituent Assembly

The proposed amendments to the Constitution are to be put forward in Congress through a constituent assembly. The administration-dominated House approved at dawn on Dec. 7, through viva voce or voice voting, House Resolution No. 1450 by Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Villafuerte, convening Congress into a constituent assembly to amend or revise the Constitution.

Congress as a joint assembly is set to convene on Dec. 12 to begin the process of constitutional amendments or revisions – amid indignation from the progressive party-list congressmen and the traditional opposition at the House, the Senate with the exception of Sens. Ramon Revilla, Jr. and Miriam Defensor-Santiago, the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), the National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP), the El Shaddai, and even the Makati Business Club.

Colmenares decried the manner in which the majority at the House pushed for Congress to convene as a constituent assembly.

He said that convening Congress into a constituent assembly without the Senate is a usurpation of authority. HR 1450 had no Senate counterpart, but was passed anyway.

“You change street names and you need two Houses of Congress,” the CODAL spokesperson said. “You change the Constitution and you do it with only one House going through the motions? It doesn’t seem logical.”

Article XVII of the Constitution provides that:

Any amendment to, or revision of, this Constitution may be proposed by:

(1) The Congress, upon a vote of three-fourths of all its Members; or

(2) A constitutional convention.

“They say the Constitution doesn’t specify that both Houses are to vote separately in the Constituent assembly,” Colmenares added. “But what is the rule? The rule is that we have a bicameral Congress. That is enshrined in the Constitution. Meaning to say, everything has to be done by both Houses voting separately. The exception is if the Constitution says jointly. If the Constitution does not say they have to vote jointly, the assumption is that they are to vote separately.”

He also said that the representatives who pushed for Congress to convene into a constituent assembly without the Senate are criminally liable.

“That’s usurpation of authority under the Revised Penal Code,” Colmenares said. “If a public official misrepresents himself and claims, ‘I have this authority and function,’ when in fact he does not, that’s usurpation of authority. That makes him criminally liable.” (Bulatlat.com)

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