PRIVILEGE SPEECH: Missing the Point, Stopping the Cha-Cha Train

Written by Councilor Angela Librado-Trinidad/Davao City

Tuesday, 12 December 2006 12 37 18

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/12 December) -- I stand before this body to participate in the widespread call against the charter amendments, the House Resolution No.1450 which proposes a constituent assembly, and Speaker De Venecia’s call for constitutional convention. It is appalling that as residents in Luzon and Visayas reel from the impact of the series of natural tragedies which struck our country, as ordinary people are gunned down or knifed in broad daylight almost every other day, as the common Filipino struggles against the daily grinding poverty, we witness how the administration lawmakers at the Lower House make a fool of themselves and attempt to put our morals, our values, our sense of dignity to ruins. Alas, and to our misfortune, our very own Congressman Prospero Nograles, as the House majority leader, is among those who have practically commandeered the Lower House and transform it into a simple majority in numbers machine. Never mind that they cannot answer logically how they can delete crucial provision in the House Rules without reviewing other similar sections. Never mind that they can injudiciously interpret a Senate-less Congress as sufficient for the constituent assembly, contrary to the Section 1, Paragraph 1, Article XVII of the 1987 Constitution. Never mind that they cannot explain convincingly how the change in House Rules can take place without the simple concurrence or endorsement of the committee on rules. Never mind that Pres. Arroyo’s allies all looked not-so-representatives, especially when they wanted to extend their terms beyond June 30, 2007. For them, the charter change train is in a hustle. For them, to consider logic, reason and rule of law in changing the Constitution would be a waste of time. And when everything backfired, when the Church hierarchy spoke against them, when the threat of powerful street protests right before the eyes of the ASEAN leaders, and when the Senate stood back, our elected leaders at the Lower House are at it again,this time foisting the constitutional convention as a likely means for changing the Charter. Yet, Speaker de Venecia and his allies have not withdrawn House Resolution No.1450. The Sigaw ng Bayan, after failing to convince the High Court of their people’s initiative, has in fact, silently, passed a motion for reconsideration. And in fact, after Monday’s three-hour caucus, Nograles, ever opportunistic, initiated a “face-saving move” by saying that today’s Con-ass had been “put off” or temporarily shelved to allow the House members to deliberate on the Con-con, the election of which will be held during the May 2007 elections. This worries me. This ails me, because we are again being hoodwinked to believe that we need Cha-Cha more than ever and any of the three modes of Cha-cha can be explored by the present administration. How can we expect a genuine people’s initiative to flourish in a system steeped in electoral fraud and patronage politics led by no less than the widely believed fraudulent President? How can we expect a credible Constitutional Convention to be assembled in a society influenced by the elite, big business and foreign domination? Politicians are likely to control this convention. How can we trust a Constituent assembly by a Congress that is dominated by landlords and self-serving businessmen? More importantly, and as raised by guests during the Senate inquiry yesterday, for as long as we have the same Comelec which bred fellows like Garcilliano, how can we expect a clean plebiscite or referendum? In effect, why explore Charter Change when it does not simply mean a shift from bicameral presidential form of government to unitary, parliamentary form of government? When an administration suffers from credibility and widely believed to have instigated the killings of its enemies, its motives to shift the form of government and rewrite the Charter remain dubious, if not obvious: it wants to stay extend its term in power. The concept of “responsible exercise of the freedom of expression” is being proposed under the proposed Cha-cha and this means a greater latitude on the part of the state in power to stifle those which it sees as being irresponsible in exercising its freedoms. Then too, some Cha-cha proposals also warrant the prime minister to declare Martial Law, without term limits and without the need to report to Congress 48 hours after the declaration. The Supreme Court is not any more empowered to review the Martia law edict. The Charter change proposals contain amendments to redefine national patrimony, that is to do away with Filipino ownership over public utilities and allow total foreign control over water, electric, telecommunications, transportation, education, mass media and advertising. This means that Pres. Arroyo, being the chief proponent of the GATT-WTO globalization back in 1995 when she was still a senator, is interested in seeing in her lifetime the full liberalization, privatization and deregulation of our economy through the Cha-cha. Given that political self-interest and foreign domination weigh heavily in Cha-Cha, any reckless effort to ram its way into our consciousness should be opposed and defeated. This is not to say that we should stick with the 1987 Constitution eternally and block any effort for reform. Any reform through Cha-cha to be initiated by the present administration is anything but reform, but sheer self-preservation. To empower our women and give them equal opportunities, to truly protect all victims of violence, to ensure the economic upliftment of our workers, to pursue the interest of the common farmers, fisherfolk and national minorities, these are reforms that must be addressed in any charter amendment. But it would be to our detriment and that of the future generations to expect Pres. Arroyo and her allies in Congress to lead this route and anticipate any real change in our lives. (MindaViews is the opinion section of MindaNews. Lawyer Angela Librado-Trinidad is a councilor of the first district in Davao City. Councilor Trinidad delivered this privilege speech at the City Council morning of December 12).

Last Updated ( Wednesday, 21 February 2007 19 47 36 ) MindaNews Files