MANILA TIMES EDITORIAL: REMNANTS OF MARTIAL LAW STILL AROUND US
MANILA, SEPTEMBER 21, 2011 (TIMES) Written by : EFREN L. DANAO - MARTIAL law, proclaimed 39 years ago today, has been gone since the EDSA People Power 1 in 1986. I say that martial law is now very remote from our memory. I don't expect much activities to remind the people that never again should they let martial law reign in the land. Why, the date of the issuance of Proclamation 1081 that proclaimed martial law is even far from the mind of Sen. Bongbong Marcos! When he was asked for a statement on the anniversary of Proclamation 1081, he said: "I didn't even realize that this is the day until you reminded me!"
Martial law may now seem like a blip in our memory, yet there are still vestiges of it in our democratic government. Among these vestiges of martial law is the decree banning rallies without any permit. The opposition in the Batasan railed against this decree for being undemocratic, for abridging the people's constitutional right to seek redress and to peaceably assemble. Martial law is gone, but this decree is still being enforced, and by people who had harsh words against it before.
Another Marcos-era issuance, Presidential Decree 1597, contributes to the continuing erosion of Congress' power of the purse. This PD gives the President the authority to grant government employees allowances, honoraria and other fringe benefits. Malacañang believes this authorizes the executive to increase the salaries of those in government even without legislation.
Martial law decree a refuge
In March 2007, President Arroyo issued Administrative Order 144 granting government employees a 10-per cent hike in pay and a P1,000 increase in the monthly allowances for soldiers and policemen. It is noteworthy that before she issued the EO, the 2007 national budget pending before a bicameral committee had also recommended the same increase in pay and allowances. There was a howl from legislators, but the budget secretary then, Rolando Andaya Jr. defended the legality of AO 144, saying it was authorized under PD 1597.
Arroyo was not the first president after Marcos to invoke PD 1597. President Fidel V. Ramos invoked it to increase the monthly allowance of those in government by P500, and by President Joseph Estrada in 1999 to increase the subsistence allowance for uniformed personnel.
The most controversial martial law decree that is still in force today is Presidential Decree 1177, ironically called the Budget Reform Law of 1977. PD 1177 grants Malacañang the power to cut and realign items in the executive budget. With this power, the annual budget ceases to look like the one passed by Congress after so much hard work.
Malacañang can refuse to release funds for projects it does not like, even if these are favored by congressmen or senators. This decree also provides for the automatic appropriation of debt servicing. With its automatic appropriation, the payment of debts often goes higher than the amount pegged in the budget.
Many right-minded lawmakers have chafed at the continuing enforcement of PD 1177 that erodes Congress's power of the purse.
The late Sen. Raul Roco, former Senators Nene Pimentel, Wigberto Tanada, Alberto Romulo and Teofisto Guingona, and incumbent Sen. Edgardo J. Angara went to the Supreme Court questioning the enforcement of this PD that had emasculated the legislature's power to appropriate. The Supreme Court ruled that the executive government could continue to implement the PD until Congress repeals it.
PD 1177 here to stay! Well, it seems no administration wants to part with this power to realign given it by PD 1177.
While this law is not repealed, any president can transfer funds from one executive department to another, reduce the budget for some programs to augment others, or even stop releases for some budgetary items. Every administration finds sanctuary in the law in ignoring some amendments made by Congress to the budget.
Sure, many lawmakers have filed bills repealing or amending PD 1177, but none has succeeded. The closest was the attempt by Rep. Edcel Lagman of Albay in the Eight Congress which got more than a 100 signatures. It was opposed by then Speaker Ramon V. Mitra and that was that.
Sen. Pia Cayetano said the repeal of the 34-year-old martial law-era decree should be given priority by lawmakers. She said the removal of automatic appropriations for debt servicing under Presidential Decree (PD) 1177 would allow Congress to exercise check and balance over the debts incurred and paid for by the government, particularly immoral and behest loans.
"Congress will also be empowered to realign much needed funds to social services to help the country meet its commitments to reduce poverty and improve education and health programs under the millennium development goals," she said.
In the previous Congress, Senate President Pro-tempore Jinggoy Estrada filed Senate Bill No. 1558 seeking to end the automatic appropriation for debt service provided for in PD 1177. He echoed fears that unless this is curbed, the time might come when debt servicing would comprise the bulk of the annual budget, and Congress could do nothing.
"This bill will once and for all cleanse our statute books of the remaining vestiges of martial rule and restore to Congress its enviable, absolute and exclusive power of the purse," Jinggoy said.
His well-intentioned bill suffered the dire fate of similar bills filed before it. I'm sure that even if Congress would one day wake up to reassert its power of the purse by repealing PD 1177, the administration will veto it.
As I said earlier, vestiges of martial law will always remain around us.
efrendanao2003@yahoo.com
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