However, the court diluted that ruling in a subsequent case involving military
generals, by invoking military disciplinary rather than executive privilege.
Two marine officers were poised to testify against President Arroyo, but the court
upheld the gag order, citing, however, the president’s commander-in-chief powers
“to control the actions and speech of members of the armed forces,” which are “not
hampered by the same limitations” as under executive privilege.^29
Finally, executive privilege was again invoked in 2007 , after President Arroyo’s
own cabinet secretary for economic planning testified that he informed her of a
bribe attempt relating to a telecommunications project financed by the People’s
Republic of China. Summoned by the Senate, he invoked executive privilege
when asked about issues that would directly implicate the president, namely
whether the president showed undue interest in the project and actually gave her
approval even after she had been apprised of the bribe attempt.^30
The president successfully invoked executive privilege lest the disclosure “impair
our diplomatic as well as economic relations with [China, since the cabinet official
cannot answer] without disclosing the very thing the privilege is designed to
protect,” thus impinging upon the “authority of the President to enter into execu-
tive agreements without the concurrence of the Legislature [which] has tradition-
ally been recognized in Philippine jurisprudence.”
31
Power grab via constitutional revision
The post-Marcos constitution deliberately installed safeguards against a repeat
of the unending extensions of Marcos’s presidential terms from 1965 to 1986.
The solution was simple: a single six-year term without re-election. But the post-
Marcos drafters, to emulate the revolutionary nature of the anti-Marcos uprising,
also created a new mode to revise the Constitution, namely “people’s initiative,”
a direct initiative by citizens rather than by government. Just as in many Latin
American countries, the battle against ambitious presidents-for-life was fought over
the lifting of term limits through constitutional revision.
In 1992 , Cory Aquino turned over the presidency to Fidel Ramos, the former
general. In 1998 , as his six-year term was about to end, there was suddenly a people’s
initiative to revise the Constitution and lift term limits. The initiative was made by
a shadowy group organized specifically to collect the requisite signatures to start the
process. The Supreme Court went out of its way to strike down the initiative, laid
out every possible technicality, and blocked it altogether.
32
(^29) Gudaniv.Senga, G.R. No 170165 (August 15 , 2006 ).
(^30) Neriv.SenateG.R. No 180643 (March 25 , 2008 ). (^31) Ibid.
(^32) Defensor-Santiagov.Commission on Elections, G.R. No 127325 (March 19 , 1997 ); and
People’s Initiative for Reform, Modernization and Actionv.Commission on Elections, G.R.
No 129754 (September 23 , 1997 ).