DISTRUST. That’s the reason the people do not want a con-ass to amend the Constitution until after the 2010 elections. They do not trust the President, they do not trust Congress, they do not trust the Supreme Court even, because 13 of its 15 members would have been appointed by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo by the time the issue comes to a vote and the people are afraid they would be partisan and vote to favor the administration.

The people think Arroyo really wants the Constitution amended so she can stay in power after 2010 (and avoid facing charges); that the congressmen are doing her bidding in pushing for a Con-ass without the Senate; and that the Supreme Court may not be completely neutral when the issue is brought to it for resolution. The issue is whether the Senate and the House of Representatives will have to vote jointly or separately (the Constitution is not clear on this) when they vote on the amendments. The people fear that the Arroyo partisans are already confident that they will have the majority vote and so are in a hurry to take the issue to the Court.

Constitutional amendments – through a constitutional convention, not a Con-ass – are acceptable to the people, but only after the 2010 elections when Arroyo is no longer president. That’s how much they distrust her.

Indeed, at this late date, congressmen are still pushing for a con-ass before the polls. Rumors are that they would launch the Con-ass immediately after the President’s State of the Nation Address late this month.

Representatives Amado Bagatsing and Bienvenido Abante intimated this much at last Monday’s Kapihan sa Manila.

But have no fear, they said, any amendments would still have to be approved by the people in a plebiscite. We just want the Supreme Court to clarify the constitutional provision, whether the Senate and the House will have to vote jointly or separately, they said.

On the issue of the oil depot in Pandacan, Manila, Bagatsing said the depot should go. It is too dangerous to the residents. He pooh-poohed the claim by Manila councilors that Pandacan residents would lose jobs if the depot is transferred. “The workers have permanent jobs with the oil companies,” Bagatsing said, “and they would go wherever the depot transfers. Besides, more jobs will be created when the 18 hectares of the depot is converted into a shopping center.”

Not all the factories in the area have to leave, he said, only the depot. The others do not pose any danger to the residents.

Indeed, the value of the land would shoot up if ShoeMart or Ayala Land or Robinson’s or Eton Properties convert the depot into a giant shopping mall or high-rise condominiums. Imagine how nice it would be, with one side fronting the river. With the rise in land values, Manila’s real estate tax income would rise, too.

What’s more, with the depot relocated to an island in Manila Bay, the Pasig River will be spared from the pollution from barges chugging up the river to bring petroleum products to the depot.

A reclaimed island in Manila Bay would be the best place for the new depot. If you put it on dry land anywhere, it wouldn’t be long before shanties would be standing cheek-by-jowl to it, and you would have the same problem as in Pandacan. But if it is surrounded by the sea, no houses can come close to it. Besides, if there is an accidental fire, it would be confined by the water. It would not spread to nearby houses.

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There is another danger in the House besides the con-ass. It looks like the committee on public information headed by Abante is dead set on submitting the right of reply bill to the plenary for voting. Its counterpart was already railroaded through the Senate when nobody was looking. So when the House passes its version, the two versions will be reconciled by the bicameral conference committee and voted upon by the two houses. If the President does not veto it, it becomes a law, one of the stupidest laws ever passed by Congress.

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Two other guests at the Kapihan were Governor-elect Edgardo Tallado and his legal counsel, Adan B. Boton.

Jesus Typoco Jr. was proclaimed winner over his rival, Edgardo Tallado, for the governorship of Camarines Norte during the May 14, 2007 elections.

Tallado then filed a petition to correct manifest errors in the certificates of canvass, and in a decision on April 30, 2008, the Comelec First Division annulled Typoco’s proclamation and declared Tallado as the winner by 65 votes.

Typoco then went to the Supreme Court to ask for a temporary restraining order which was granted. The Comelec’s proclamation of Tallado was therefore restrained. The sad part is that while TROs in lower courts are limited to a maximum of 60 days, in the Supreme Court there is no time limit. The temporary restraining order is as good as permanent.

Isn’t this a denial of justice to Tallado? By sitting on the case, the Supreme Court is preventing Tallado from occupying the gubernatorial seat to which he has been declared winner by the Comelec. It is as if the tribunal has declared Typoco the winner instead.

This is not a complicated case. It is a matter of correcting errors in the canvass of votes which are not that many. Considering that another election will be held next year, you would think that the Supreme Court would resolve the case quickly so that its decision does not become academic. In a few more months, the term would be over and Tallado, when he is finally declared the winner, would be left holding an empty bag. And the people of Camarines Norte would have been cheated out of their rightful governor.