Voting 16-4, the Senate has railroaded Wednesday night the ratification of the JPEPA. The wicked scheme of Malacanang, Miriam Santiago and Mar Roxas was swift and was over in a matter of less than three hours. At 8:30pm, I received a text message from a Senate staff: “Nagbibilangan na dito. Gusto nila ipasa JPEPA tonight”. And at around 10:58pm, another text message came: “JPEPA has been approved on third reading. Pimentel, Aguino, Escudero and Madrigal voted no”.

The events that transpired at the Senate on Wednesday night, however, is not really surprising anymore. From the start, JPEPA has been shrouded in secrecy – it was negotiated by Malacanang away from public eye.  It was signed by GMA on the sidelines of a major international event in Finland. Civil society groups had to petition the Supreme Court just to force Malacanang to make public important documents about the JPEPA (which unfortunately the SC turned down, setting the precedent for more undemocratic and non-transparent negotiations on economic treaties in the future – at our expense, of course) That it was ratified by the Senate while the rest of the country is asleep is only a fitting conclusion to an agreement that has been kept away from public scrutiny.

This is not the first time that Congress, with apparent pressure from Malacanang and powerful lobby groups, has rushed the approval of an unpopular measure or initiative in the dead of the night. From impeachment complaints against GMA, to EPIRA and VAT, and now the JPEPA, legislators and Malacanang have the propensity to cloak their wicked plans against the Filipino people in the darkness of the night.

The press releases from Malacanang and JPEPA’s main proponents today are loaded with the expected sound bites. GMA was quoted as saying that the JPEPA will protect the country from the onslaught of the global economic recession – I guess GMA must hire new speech and PR writers to come up with more interesting and fresh sound bites, this is exactly what she has been saying to justify the VAT. Miriam, for her part, is denying that they railroaded the JPEPA. Inisahan na tayo, ginagawa pa tayong tanga.

But the fight is not yet over. One option is to file a petition before the Supreme Court to question the constitutionality of the JPEPA. Legal luminaries like former SC justice Feliciano, Prof. Dean Magallona and Prof. Harry Roque, among others have pointed out the constitutional defects of the treaty such as its provisions on foreign ownership and investment. We can pursue this option to stop JPEPA’s implementation. But like all government institutions, we can only expect a favorable ruling from the Supreme Court if we have a strong mass movement that will exert political pressure to defend the country’s patrimony and sovereignty.