This story
was taken from Bulatlat, the Philippines's alternative weekly
newsmagazine (www.bulatlat.com, www.bulatlat.net, www.bulatlat.org).
Vol. V, No. 22, July 10-16, 2005
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 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. 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 © 2004 Bulatlat
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