Cha-cha advocate bewails 'hasty' SC decision

Sigaw ng Bayan spokesman lawyer Raul Lambino on Saturday took another swipe at the Supreme Court, accusing the majority of the justices of depriving Charter change proponents of due process with its 'hasty' decision. "We are wondering why they violated our rights to be heard [on the allegations that the signature drive was tainted with fraud and deception]," Lambino said in an interview with Vice President Noli de Castro's radio program on dzMM. "They really violated our right to due process," he said. Lambino's cutting remark was the latest in a string of criticisms of the high tribunal's decision Wednesday that struck down the consolidated petitions for a people’s initiative to amend the Constitution on the ground that it lacked constitutional basis. The court also noted that the signature gathering of Sigaw and joint petitioner Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines (ULAP) was "deceptive and misleading." Lambino had earlier scored the Supreme Court for making that judgment because it was "not a trier of facts" and "should only decide on issues of laws and jurisdiction." In the radio interview Saturday, Lambino lashed out at the Supreme Court's sweeping conclusion that the petitioners and some local government officials had conspired to deceive the 6.3 million signatories. "The Supreme Court did not ask municipal mayors and governors who were there (at the high tribunal's oral arguments). They were not given the opportunity to be heard and to dispute the allegations [that they resorted to irregular method of gathering signatures]," Lambino said. Lambino said that the mayors and governors were then prepared to present counter-evidence and counter-argument and they felt bitter when they were not given a chance to do so. "They made a lot of sacrifices, and they are very angry," Lambino added. Lambino also shared Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez's observation that the high court notified the parties about the ruling in haste . He noted that the notice of judgment he received was a "Xerox copy instead of the pink copy." On Friday, Gonzalez said he received a copy of the decision on the same day it was promulgated to the litigants. He believes the Supreme Court made this move to make sure that the reckoning date for the filing of a motion for reconsideration immediately started. The DOJ chief said the high court usually serves decisions by mail, which usually takes three to four days before the litigants received it. "To me, the SC is very much in hurry about this case because the service of the decision was sent personally. That is very unusual," Gonzalez said. "They are in a hurry maybe that the time will run out of the MR (motion for reconsideration) before (Chief Justice Artemio) Panganiban retires. Panganiban wants to make sure that he is still there when SC deliberates on the motion for reconsideration," he added. The petitioners confirmed that they received the notice of judgment between 2:30 and 3 p.m. last Wednesday, hours after the high court promulgated its decision on the Charter change petition. - GMANews.TV