Funny how a youthful party-list representative put the recent attempt by former President and now House Speaker Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and 21 of her allies to subvert the charter change proposals of a commission charged by President Duterte to come up with a draft of a proposed new Constitution.
“The least trusted official of the country [Gloria Macapagal Arroyo] is pushing for the least issue of concern to Filipinos [charter change]. Bagay (It figures),” Akbayan Youth’s Justine Balane said after the House calendared for discussion a resolution proposing a draft constitution to replace the 1987 Constitution and a change to a federal-presidential form of government.
Funny, and very true. Surveys after surveys have shown that Filipinos reject any charter change and consider it the least of concerns that government officials should attend to. Also, the latest survey on trust ratings of ranking government officials placed Arroyo at the bottom of the standings.
Arroyo and 21 of her allies in the newly organized House of Representatives has revived moves to amend the Constitution, and while the congressmen were busy trying to pass the national budget and finding ways to slow down the rapidly rising inflation and prices of basic commodities, the Arroyo camp, through the House committee on constitutional amendments, recommended for adoption of the draft “without amendments” without even a single public hearing being held.
So much like the way Arroyo took over the speakership, by staging a sinister coup against Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez in July. And just three months later, the Arroyo camp is now plotting to subvert the constitutional commission that Duterte tasked to draft a proposed new charter.
And just as the country prepares for the mid-term elections in May 2019 and candidates started filing their Certificates of Candidacy, Arroyo and her 21 close allies in the House put a damper on the excitement with the endorsement of the highly controversial and highly divisive charter change resolution.
Senators immediately dismissed the new cha-cha draft, saying that the resolution will be “dead on arrival” at the Senate. Sen. Francis Pangilinan, president of the Liberal Party, echoed what Sen. Panfilo Lacson has repeatedly said, that reviving cha-cha is like “beating a dead horse, trying to make it move forward.”
Instead of discussing charter change, the Congress should instead focus on the problems of soaring inflation, lack of jobs and rising criminality, Senate minority leader Franklin Drilon said.
The senators all agreed that there simply is no time to deliberate on the cha-cha proposals, much less bring it before the people for approval in a plebiscite.
But Leyte Rep. Vicente Veloso, chairman of the House committee on constitutional amendments, is insistent, saying that a plebiscite on the proposed shift to federal form of government could be held as early as February 2019, just three months before the mid-term elections in May 2019.
Veloso said the 292-member legislative body could still wrap up the plenary deliberations on the attempt to modify the 1987 Constitution in December.
Why are these congressmen insisting on pushing for a plebiscite on the proposed shift to federalism when President Duterte himself said cha-cha will have to take the backseat while the government attends to the obviously more compelling problems of rising inflation, astronomical prices of commodities, and slowdown in economy?
A cursory look at the highly suspicious provisions of the proposed charter change gives us the reason why. First, the draft states that incumbents in all branches of government will function during the transition to a federated set-up “until all their their successors are elected or appointed,” or until 2022 when the first national and local elections under the new constitution will be held. If approved, this effectively scraps elections in May 2019.
This explains why Arroyo, Veloso and company are insisting on a February 2019 plebiscite to preempt the mid-term elections. The proposal effectively extends the terms of all elective officials, without having to go through elections, for another three years.
Another critical provision under the Arroyo-Veloso draft is the lifting of term limits on members of the legislature, which is a key provision in the 1987 Constitution aimed at preventing the same people from occupying their positions for a lifetime. The 1987 Constitution allows only three consecutive three-year terms for House members and two six-year terms for senators.
Many of the current members of the House of Representatives, including Arroyo, are terming out next year.
The proposed draft also keeps silent on the important issues of political dynasties and turncoatism, which are again key provisions, albeit unimplemented, of the 1987 Constitution. Removing the anti-political dynasty and turncoat provisions would enable long-standing political clans, such as the Arroyos of Pampanga and the Velosos of Leyte, to continue ruling over their fiefdoms.
The most controversial provision in the original Arroyo-Veloso draft is the one that excludes the Vice President from assuming the presidency in case of the President’s removal, resignation, permanent incapacity or death during the transition. The draft proposes instead to designate the Senate President as the acting president until a President shall have been chosen and qualified.
The provision stirred public outrage because it obviously targets Vice President Leni Robredo, who would virtually be stripped of the Vice President’s reason for being, that is to succeed the President in the above cases. It’s a blatant attempt to bypass an opposition vice president to rightfully and lawfully succeed the President in case of death, disability, resignation or removal.
To stem the tide of public outcry, Majority Leader Rep. Rolando Andaya, one of Arroyo’s most trusted lieutenants, decided to send back the draft to Veloso’s committee to remove the vicious provision.
Why are they so afraid of Robredo? Duterte himself said a few weeks ago that he was ready to step down but would rather not if Robredo was the one going to replace him. He said he wanted the likes of former Sen. Bongbong Marcos, who incidentally has a pending protest against Robredo’s poll victory, and Sen. Chiz Escudero.
The reason seems so obvious. Duterte, Arroyo and their minions are worried that a takeover by the Liberals, or who Duterte and his minions call the “Yellows” or the “Dilawan,” would land them in jail, and in the case of Arroyo back to jail. They are afraid of the perpetuation of the vicious cycle of vindictive actions perpetrated by the new administration against the previous officials, which was ironically started by Arroyo herself when her administration jailed her predecessor, President Joseph Estrada.
Those in power don’t want to relinquish their power. That’s all there is to all these self-serving attempts to amend the Constitution. This latest cha-cha attempt is not any different, in fact it’s the worst yet. As I said before, it’s all about power.
(valabelgas@aol.com)
