Analysis
The People Are Ready for Bold Reforms
Macapagal-Arroyo’s own
political allies who have asked her to resign the presidency now pit
themselves against the clamor for a people’s transitional governing
council. Not that their call for resignation is a retrogressive move; it’s
simply that they loathe the day the aroused masses may suddenly take the
reins of government.
By Bobby Tuazon
Bulatlat
PEOPLE POWER VETS vs.
PEOPLE POWER: Former Presidents
Fidel Ramos and Corazon Aquino
Photos by Aubrey Makilan
and AP |
At this early, the
growing clamor to install a people’s transitional governing council upon
the resignation or ouster of embattled President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo
faces an orchestrated resistance from factions of the country’s ruling
elite. These factions, led by former President Corazon Cojuangco-Aquino,
Senate President Franklin Drilon, other political parties, and the
business elite – all traditional allies of Macapagal-Arroyo broke their
silence last week and asked the incumbent president to step down.
|
Another former
president and armed forces chief, Fidel V. Ramos, took a wavering position
by asking Macapagal-Arroyo to stay on as “caretaker president” for one
year. Within the year, a constituent assembly would be convened that would
amend the constitution and adopt a parliamentary form of government.
Elections will be held in May 2006.
Ramos’ proposal
differs from that of Cojuangco-Aquino, Drilon and company who want a
“constitutional succession” that would name Vice President Noli de Castro
as the new president.
All agree, however,
that these measures would ensure a smooth transition in the presidency and
avoid the acrimonious impeachment or people power that have unseated two
presidents – Joseph E. Estrada in 2001 and before him, Ferdinand E. Marcos
in 1986.
Before they made the
decision, these national figures and groups had supported Macapagal-Arroyo
who is accused of stealing the presidency in the May 2004 polls and of
connections to jueteng (illegal numbers game) lords before she
became president.
Their plea for the
president’s resignation coincided with the resignation of at least 10
members of the cabinet who also called for the turnover of power to De
Castro. A day earlier, they were stunned by Macapagal-Arroyo who, instead
of herself resigning, used them as sacrificial lambs by asking them to
quit their cabinet posts so that, she claimed, she could start a
much-needed reform program. In a news conference, the cabinet secretaries
chorused that the chief executive is already unable to govern and that she
should go in order to avert a political crisis.
Explanations
Coming from elements
who apparently benefited from the illegitimate presidency of Macapagal-Arroyo
- with Cojuangco-Aquino’s 6,000-ha hacienda itself protected by the
president’s labor, police and military forces in the ongoing workers’
strike that saw the massacre of seven strikers and the extra-judicial
execution of several others - one is tempted to search for explanations.
Leaders of mass
organizations identified with the oust-Gloria movement have a common
reaction to this sudden move by the former allies of Macapagal-Arroyo: To
pre-empt another people power revolt and the formation of a proposed
people’s governing transition council.
Indeed, if the
incumbent president finally takes the “supreme sacrifice” of stepping
down, then she would be succeeded by De Castro, a protégé of the Lopez
oligarchs, with either Drilon, House Speaker Jose de Venecia or Sen. Manny
Villar appointed as vice president. Everybody will be happy, the new
administration will govern, Congress will continue with its legislative
job, so too would be the judiciary. Close associates of Macapagal-Arroyo
will be happy too – she would have been saved from a possible impeachment
or from suffering the disgrace of being booted out of power by a people’s
uprising and joining Estrada in his detention in Tanay, Rizal.
|
PLAY IT: Congressmen
vote to play the three-hour Paguia tape, July 5
Photo by Dabet Castañeda
|
People wonder why
they, including the incumbent president, invoke the constitution when it
suits them but thrash it like garbage when it does not. Cojuangco-Aquino
became president through extra-constitutional means in 1986. Impeachment –
a constitutional proceeding – collapsed in the plunder case against
Estrada and this sparked the extra-constitutional uprising that
transferred power to Macapagal-Arroyo. Among many flawed policies,
Cojuangco-Aquino saw the emasculation of land reform whereas the
constitution pledged justice for the poor; Ramos violated the constitution
by signing the onerous Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) with the United
States allowing the return of U.S. forces and military facilities. And now
Macapagal-Arroyo stands accused of heinous crimes under the constitution
and at least four other legal codes.
As of press time,
however, Macapagal-Arroyo is holding her fort and is about to name a new
cabinet. She has dared her critics to go ahead and impeach her, assuming
that she still enjoys a clear majority in both the House – where the
impeachment will be initiated – and the Senate, where she will be tried.
But as events are unfolding, she might not be able to muster enough
support in Congress, either.
A
misreading
But members of the
ruling elite are again misreading the public pulse. Rather, they refuse to
believe that many Filipinos have had enough of being ruled by corrupt
presidents and of the entire apparatuses that also reek of corruption and
other malfeasance. Credible public opinion surveys suggest that not only
do most Filipinos see a bleak future under the present political and
economic dispensation, an increasing number of them (at least 12 percent
last year) are also open to changing the whole system of governance. These
figures would be higher today.
Apparently, the
traditional figures’ push for a “constitutional succession” is motivated
now by their own proprietary considerations to preserve the institutions
of governance – the presidency, Congress and judiciary. Their own economic
and political interests prospered under these institutions at the expense,
however, of the people’s welfare. They are no different from Ramos and
other charter change advocates who believe that the solution to the
country’s ills lies in shifting to a parliamentary system even if this
modality only seeks to preserve or rehabilitate the rule by the elite. Or
even its other intention is to resurrect an authoritarian state.
More than this, they
simply loathe the day when the masses begin to exercise their sovereign
and collective will to not only topple a president but to overhaul the
rotten political system. They aim to preempt the formation of a people’s
transition governing council for unity and reform – an idea that is fast
catching fire among many Filipinos representing the basic masses as well
as significant segments of the middle class and other sectors.
Now being articulated
by mass leaders, the progressive party-list bloc in Congress and
progressive elements among the academe, church, lawyers, students and even
the military institution, the people’s council will be comprised of
patriotic and pro-people figures known for their integrity and competence
in political leadership. They will also be comprised of democratic forces
and progressive elements in the opposition parties who are in the
forefront of the oust-Arroyo struggle.
In effect, the
council as envisioned will arise from the multitudes of people especially
organizations with broad mass constituencies of workers, farmers and urban
poor who are instrumental in the ouster of the incumbent discredited
president.
Urgent tasks
The council will be
tasked with drafting a new patriotic and progressive constitution and call
for genuine elections thereafter. Its short-term tasks are articulated by
the party-list Bayan Muna (people first) which has been one of the leading
lights in the ouster of Estrada and in the current campaign to force
Macapagal-Arroyo out of power.
The council’s urgent
tasks include: to investigate the involvement and culpability of Macapagal-Arroyo,
elections commissioner Virgilio Garcillano, military officials and others
involved in electoral fruit and deceit; prosecute cases of graft and
corruption involving the Macapagal-Arroyos and other government officials;
institute meaningful electoral and political reforms; render justice and
indemnify victims of human rights violations and ensure the respect and
protection of civil liberties; resume the peace process with the Moro and
Communist revolutionary groups by fulfilling all existing requirements;
solve the fiscal crisis by canceling or repudiating the country’s onerous
debts; protect the country from the ravages of free market globalization
and reversing the disastrous structural adjustment programs imposed by the
country’s creditors. Bulatlat
BACK TO
TOP ■
PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION ■
COMMENT
© 2004 Bulatlat
■
Alipato Publications
Permission is granted to reprint or redistribute this article, provided
its author/s and Bulatlat are properly credited and notified.