Danding’s NPC gunning for constituent assembly

The Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC), headed by businessman Eduardo Cojuangco Jr., is at the forefront of a campaign to amend the Constitution through a constituent assembly and shift the form of government to a unicameral parliamentary system, a party official said yesterday.

Administration and opposition congressmen have been calling for a caucus of the leaders of the House of Representatives and the Senate before Congress resumes regular session on Oct. 7 so that differences may be threshed out and the constituent assembly convened next month.

Tarlac Rep. Gilberto Teodoro, head of the NPC contingent in the House of Representatives, said the presidential form of government — with the executive and legislative branches always at loggerheads — is "the root cause of our mediocre economic development as it has failed to provide a stable environment for investments."

He said Charter change has long been adopted by the NPC as its platform of government.

"Our political structures are founded on a principle of mistrust of power, thus the built-in antagonisms between the different component institutions of government," Teodoro said.

He added that "there is, therefore, an incentive for these institutions and their members to obstruct and criticize the others so that their prestige in the public mind increases."

The Tarlac congressman noted that because of this system, politicians tend to criticize the government or take an obstructive stance "to make a big splash in public because (they) need to keep a high public profile to ensure reelection."

Teodoro said this antagonism among the different branches of government promotes instability and stagnation.

"The cause of this system and its contradictions is the desire of those who run the government to expand their power and to perpetuate themselves in it because their livelihood depends on it. Many will not be relevant in the private sector," he said.

Teodoro said it is "naïve" for people to even pretend that the country’s ills can be solved by a simple dialogue or simple legislation — only a whole scale restructuring of the present political system, geared towards providing incentives for investment and productivity, can give a much-needed boost to the economy.

He said while there appears to be a move to push for constitutional convention as a mode to amend the Constitution after the 2004 elections, the danger is that after the elections, senators may argue about postponing Charter change to give the new administration a chance.

"After three years, as the next elections (near), they will say, let’s wait for the elections. The cycle repeats (itself)," Teodoro said.

He also said the campaign for amending the Constitution is also a battle between the older and younger generation of lawmakers.

Teodoro said the younger generation of Filipinos and their children will bear the burden of living under the present inefficient system of government — which engenders political and economic instability — if the shift to a unicameral parliamentary form of government does not push through as soon as possible.

He said this is the reason why all of the young 100 multi-party lawmakers in the chamber are unanimous in supporting Charter change through a constituent assembly.

"Those who have to bear the bulk of the costs of this malady are us, the people below 40, who pay the bulk of the taxes in this country if we take the case of the working public," Teodoro said. "We also have to deal with the situation for a longer period of time than our elders because naturally we expect to be around longer than them and we have to undergo this morass because of (the senators’) mistakes."

He said Senate President Franklin Drilon and other senators who insist on a constitutional convention to amend the Constitution "do not have to think of their kids anymore, they can just wallow with their grandchildren."

A young congressman from Mindanao, who spoke on condition of anonymity, lamented that "this is the most selfish batch of senators the people have ever seen."

He added that Filipinos are better off with both chambers of Congress abolished and replaced with a single parliament.

"What we have now are senators who enjoy sitting on more than 100 national bills and 500 local bills for our respective constituencies, and now oppose a mode of reforming the system because they think they will lose their power and stature," the Mindanao congressman said. "Many are driven by ambition not statesmanship."

He said congressmen have a more accurate picture of the situation under the present system of government since each member of the House has a specific constituency.

Last March, the House passed Concurrent Resolution 16 calling for both chambers of Congress to be convened into a constituent assembly to amend the Constitution and shift the present form of government to a unicameral parliamentary system with a fixed transition to a federal system.

The Senate committee on constitutional amendments, chaired by Sen. Edgardo Angara, came out with a similar measure three months ago but called for Charter change through a constitutional convention.

A constitutional convention will entail spending around P8 billion of the taxpayers’ money, be politically divisive, delay reforms up to 2010, and expose the Constitution to wholesale revision since delegates will be free to propose any amendment.

Congressmen also said a constitutional convention will "create 420 new politicians who may delay their work to extend their source of income."

A constituent assembly, on the other hand, is the fastest, safest and most cost-effective way to amend the Constitution, according to congressmen.

Teodoro said Drilon’s claim of the "sanctity of the constitutional convention is an example of the duplicity of the Senate." He said even in a constituent assembly, the people have the power to approve amendments to the Constitution through a plebiscite.

"Who will win the elections for (the) constitutional convention, if not those allied with local political interests?" Teodoro said. "The key is not to focus on the people but the product or output that will be presented to the people for ratification."

He said the government has been urging the private sector and the people to be more productive and efficient in order to compete in the global market.

The government, however, is the most inefficient entity in the country since it cannot alleviate the burdens shouldered by the public and yet adds another expense people have to bear, Teodoro said.

The NPC has 64 congressmen, 22 governors and scores of mayors and local leaders in the vote-rich provinces of Pangasinan, Bicol and the Visayas.

In the House, it is currently allied with the ruling Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats, the Liberal Party, the Nacionalista Party, PDP-Laban, Reporma and Aksyon Demokratiko.

Meanwhile, the 1,500-strong League of Municipalities of the Philippines (LMP) threatened yesterday to campaign against reelectionist senators who refuse "to listen to our constituents" clamoring for a constituent assembly to amend the Charter.

Romblon Mayor Pacifico Mayor, LMP secretary general, said the senators will "face rebuff from their constituents in next year’s elections."

"There is no time for trial and error as there is no guarantee that elected (constitutional convention) delegates will sincerely work for the welfare of the people," Mayor said.