Ex-CJ: People's initiative can change only minor provisions

Only minor amendments to the 1987 Constitution that are “clear and certain” are allowed through the people’s initiative, according to retired Supreme Court chief justice Artemio Panganiban.

- DAPHNE GALVEZ

“Major revisions are not allowed, only minor amendments that are clear and certain are allowed in a people’s initiative,” Panganiban said in an interview yesterday over dzBB.

He said revisions that would affect several provisions of the Charter, such as changing the government’s system from presidential to parliamentary and from centralized to federal, cannot go through a people’s initiative.