What GMA can leave as a great legacy to Pinoys?

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo apparently wants to write "finis" to calls for Charter Change (cha-cha) insisting that there will be no more talk about it. Let me say that I fully agree with her if she’s referring to the proposal being hatched by House Speaker Jose de Venecia who wants to convene the 12th Congress into a Constituent Assembly in order to install a parliamentary system of government. We should have no more chatter about charter changes until after the 2004 elections.

Indeed, at this point in time, we need real and more permanent changes in our government and rushing us back to a parliamentary system, which already miserably failed even during the time of the conjugal dictatorship, would only prolong the agony of our suffering people. Thus, once and for all, in order to end this cha-cha debate, I exhort the President to accept as part of her reform package the call for a Constitutional Convention (concon) and allow the election of concon delegates simultaneously with the Presidential elections. This way, it splits our people into those running for public office and those who seek to reform our system of governance.

What the President aims to do is exact reforms in the remaining 18 months of her rule, wherein due to her decision not to run in the 2004 Presidential elections, she would be able to muster a political will unheard of in Malacanang since 1946! We should all look at this situation as a golden opportunity to put in reforms to push this country in line with the new millennium.

Talking about reforms. Mind you, I credit the Arroyo administration at the time of then DOTC Secretary Bebot Alvarez for removing that offending ANCAR permit which plagued the Visayas and Mindanao. Now it is very easy for us to ship our motorcycles or cars to cross to Bohol, Negros or Leyte because there is no need for an ANCAR permit. But there’s still the problem with the arrastre services, which are very "extortionary". But I don’t doubt that if Pres. Arroyo is serious in this campaign, offensive (they often cost more than half the shipping cost!) arrastre services can be removed from our ports!

We have been apprised of her 8-Point Agenda, like the strengthening of our small and medium enterprises, to jump start our housing program, to reduce transport cost from Mindanao to Luzon, to decongest Metro Manila, to mark up the contribution of PCGG to the fiscal resources, to make Makati a specific urban tourist destination, to stimulate private investments in agriculture and finally to make the reclamation area on Roxas Blvd. or Nayong Pilipino a tourist complex.

Whether we’re in business or in the government, we tend to look at plans or programs in short term, medium term and long term. I personally look at the President’s 8-Point Agenda more like a short to medium term reform package. Therefore, she needs a long term plan which is still very much in line with her reform package and therefore, whether she likes it or not, she has to accept our need to change our Constitution through duly-elected delegates in a constitutional convention. When one talks about reforms, there is nothing greater than to change our very flawed basic law... the root of all our problems! What greater reform can you do in this country?

As for her short term plan, it is unfortunate that the President’s advisers have left out the more important facet in our political life... giving us truly free and honest elections and this can only come with a totally revamped Commission on Elections (COMELEC). In so many columns, we have pointed out that we are against term limits for elected officials except the President. Why should the voter who is the ultimate decision maker in this country be stopped by our Constitution from letting a deserving mayor, governor or councilor continue serving their constituents?

The whole trouble is: the 1987 Constitution was hammered by 49 men and women still smarting from the dark years of the Marcos dictatorship where those closely allied to him made their political positions co-terminus with the Marcoses. Those days are no longer with us and therefore, it is only right to allow the voter to make this decision! But it takes a constitutional convention to change this; hence we need to change the COMELEC first.

Hence, the greatest gift Pres. Arroyo can give to the Filipino people as a lasting legacy of her Presidency is a totally incorruptible COMELEC. This should be the biggest challenge of the last months of the Arroyo administration and if she can wrestle the evil that holds the COMELEC, she’ll be hailed as the greatest President we’ve ever had... even if her reign was short. The late President Ramon Magsaysay is considered the most loved President despite his very short reign, which ended in the slopes of Mt. Manunggal. Clearly, all that the President needs is one big success story that benefits the entire people in order to gain the Filipino people’s eternal gratitude.

The Blackbox

We’ve written a lot about that Dec. 13 fiasco by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), but apparently, also on that same day in the town of Tagana-an, Surigao del Norte, Mayor Victor Elipe was murdered allegedly by the NPA. But apparently, Elipe’s family believes that the perpetrators of this crime are merely tagging the NPA in order to deflect the investigators’ attention away from the real murderers.

Victor Elipe was known in Cebu City as a fearless broadcast commentator, back in the ’70s and ’80s. He obviously had political designs, even for his children, naming his two sons, President and Prince. He found his political niche in Tagana-an, Surigao and showed his political savvy and generosity. But he also made many enemies by his continued hard-hitting commentaries in DxKS and DxSN radios in Surigao City. Thus, his family is seeking justice and so we ask... who ordered Mayor Victor Elipe murdered? If the NPA story was merely a ruse... then I believe that the NBI should dig deeper into this case.

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For e-mail responses to this article, write to [email protected]. Bobit Avila’s columns can also be accessed through www.the freeman.com. He also hosts a weekly talk show entitled, "Straight from the Sky" shown every Monday only in Metro Cebu on Channel 15 on SkyCable at 8 a.m.