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Bu-lat-lat (boo-lat-lat) verb: to
search, probe, investigate, inquire; to unearth facts
Vol. VI, No. 31 Sept.
10 - 16, 2006 Quezon City, Philippines |
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Self-serving
Interests at Stake in Cha-Cha
The advocates of
constitutional change, most especially former President Fidel Ramos, House
speaker Jose De Venecia and President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, cannot
claim to be sincere adherents of constitutional principles when their
track record in governance says otherwise.
By the
Policy Study, Publications and Advocacy (PSPA) Program
Center for People
Empowerment in Governance (CenPEG)
Posted by Bulatlat
The advocates of constitutional amendment are in their last-ditch efforts
to rush the approval of their project following the junking of their
petition by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) last week. Considering
the brains behind this exercise, their political motives and the means
they have used to clinch their objective, all the more is there reason to
oppose it and to shy way from complacency.
Movers of constitutional change (Cha-Cha), led by the embattled President
Gloria M. Arroyo, former President Fidel V. Ramos and House Speaker Jose
de Venecia, are now using the two-pronged tack to fast-track their
project. Their frontliners, Sigaw ng Bayan and the Union of Local
Authorities of the Philippines (ULAP), have appealed to the Supreme Court
(SC) to annul the Comelec resolution dismissing their earlier petition to
take cognizance of the "people's initiative" for charter change. While
awaiting the SC decision, Arroyo allies in the House are determined to
convert Congress into a constituent assembly (Con-Ass) with or without the
participation of the Senate. So far, they have succeeded in having the
House committee on constitutional amendments to swiftly approve without
discussion the Jaraula resolution seeking to convene Congress into a
constituent assembly.
House allies of Arroyo stand to gain in a constitutional amendment that
would pave the way for a parliamentary form of government. If Cha-Cha
succeeds, they – as do local officials at their level - will retain their
seats in the interim Parliament that would be constituted in January 2007
until the end of Arroyo's term in 2010. It will also concentrate more
powers in the current executive given the continuing control of resources
and leverage by the office of the president in the transition period.
On the other hand, Arroyo will be saved from a possible third impeachment
under the interim Parliament. Furthermore, there is no certainty that the
party-list system will be retained. Leaving out the party list system from
parliament will contribute to the further concentration of powers of the
ruling party. This will also effectively deprive the progressive and
patriotic elements from the party list system of a legislative arena where
for the past five years they championed new politics and became
adversarial to the narrow and self-serving interests of the political
elite. But closing people's representation in the legislature will also
debunk the Cha-Cha drumbeaters' claim to being the "people's voice" as a
sham.
The current efforts to amend the 1987 Constitution are an offshoot of a
trade-off between Arroyo on the one hand and Ramos and De Venecia, on the
other, that was sealed on the brink of the incumbent President's imminent
ouster late last year. Pressures mounted calling for Arroyo's resignation
over electoral fraud in the 2004 elections until Ramos came to her
"rescue" in exchange for giving her full support to Cha-Cha. This
confluence of interests led to the barefaced murder by the ruling
coalition party in the House of the impeachment charges against Arroyo
last year and again in August this year.
Thus since the very beginning the move to amend the constitution has been
fraught with secret deals, questionable intent and cutting corners that
cannot even stand the ethical and legal requisites of a legitimate
constitutional change. For instance, the "people's initiative" for
constitutional change that was purportedly signed by 10 million
individuals has been exposed to contain forged signatures including names
of deceased persons. The presidential office has also been asked to
explain the reported use of government funds to finance the "people's
initiative" thus belying claims by Sigaw ng Bayan and ULAP that it is an
independent grassroots initiative. ULAP is not a people's organization but
a consortium of local government executives who were promised electoral
funds in the guise of development aid.
That the constitutional amendment, as claimed by its advocates, is
designed for effective governance and economic development is obviously
just a spin that has long been dismissed as a pure hogwash by people's
protests and the electorate in countless opinion surveys. Most Filipinos
have seen through the political stench at the back of Cha-Cha since it was
first launched by Ramos and company in the mid1990s: for the ruling
politicians to extend their term and remain in power and to do away with
all protectionist provisions thus favoring the full foreign domination of
the country's economy. Constitutional amendment is being passed on like a
silver bullet that will solve everything when in the first place its
proponents and other like-minded traditional politicians are the ones
responsible for the mess our country is in now.
The advocates of constitutional change, most especially Ramos, De Venecia
and Arroyo, cannot claim to be sincere adherents of constitutional
principles when their track record in governance says otherwise. De
Venecia, a close Marcos crony, was charged during the Aquino presidency in
connection with the Marcos ill-gotten wealth. It has been under his House
leadership when controversial bills were enacted through alleged pay-offs
and other dirty deals. Ramos and Arroyo mangled the constitution several
times when they pushed for or signed various trade and globalization
policies, the oil deregulation law, Visiting Forces Agreement, the mining
act and other measures that proved to be inimical to the national
interest.
This time around, Arroyo, Ramos and De Venecia further unmask themselves
as political thugs by circumventing the constitutional process in their
desperate bid to stay in power.CenPEG/Posted by Bulatlat
*The Center for People Empowerment in Governance (CenPEG) is a public
policy center established shortly before the May 2004 elections to help
promote people empowerment in governance specially the democratic
representation of the marginalized poor.
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