FORMER Senate President Franklin Drilon yesterday warned that Malacañang's recent "victory" before the Supreme Court in the case of acting Higher Education chair Romulo Neri may embolden President Arroyo to revive her plan to amend the 1987 Constitution through the so-called People's Initiative.

"The Supreme Court decision on the Neri case might give Malacañang the impression that the High Court is now sympathetic to its side. This could encourage President Arroyo to go back to the Supreme Court and seek a reversal of its earlier ruling declaring the so-called People's Initiative for Charter Change as unconstitutional," Drilon, a former justice secretary, said.

"We respect the decision of the Supreme Court but we respectfully disagree with its position that Neri can invoke executive privilege to conceal the role of the President in the NBN deal," Drilon said.

"Executive privilege should never be invoked to conceal any wrongdoing in government," he added. "We are concerned that this case will now tilt the balance in favor of a sitting President who has repeatedly exhibited her propensity to disregard the law."

On Oct. 25, 2006, the Supreme Court threw out the consolidated petitions for a People's Initiative to amend the 1987 Constitution with a vote of 8-7.

In its ruling, the Tribunal branded as "deceptive and misleading" the moves of the Malacañang-backed Sigaw ng Bayan and Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines to shift from the bicameral presidential form of government to unicameral parliamentary system.

The 52-page en banc decision penned by Associate Justice Antonio Carpio denied due course to what he called a "constitutionally infirmed" petition for initiative jointly filed by Sigaw ng Bayan led by lawyer Raul Lambino and the Ulap headed by Bohol Gov. Erico Aumentado.