Camanava for parliamentary, unicameral, federal state

The people of Caloocan, Malabon, Navotas and Valenzuela (Camanava), north of Metro Manila, yesterday voted for a shift to a parliamentary, unicameral and federal system of government.

Presidential Consultative Commission on Constitutional Reforms chairman Jose Abueva said some 650 representatives of local government units, civil society and the business sector overwhelmingly voted for the change in the assembly during the last leg of the con-com’s Metro Manila run held at the Bulwagang Katipunan of Caloocan City Hall.

The consultations are on the homestretch since the commission started the public hearings in September last year. Abueva said they are well within schedule and will submit their recommendations to President Arroyo on Dec. 15.

"There was a preponderance of votes for change as to debunk any accusation of pre-meditated agenda," commission vice chairman and STAR columnist Carmen Pedrosa said on charges that the commission was "only going through the motions of a done deal".

Caloocan City Mayor Enrico Echiverri, who set the tone on the urgency of changing the present institution in his keynote address, said the shift from the presidential form is necessary at this time of crisis.

Pedrosa said that despite its flaws, the parliamentary system, from experience of matured governments like the United Kingdom, is by far, the most efficient, the most transparent and the least expensive among the other forms.

Echiverri also proposed that apart from adopting a parliamentary form of government, present and former presidents, including Mrs. Arroyo, Corazon Aquino, Fidel Ramos and Joseph Estrada, the current Senate president and House speaker be banned from running for the post of prime minister. He cited a need for new faces at the helm of government.

"There is a need to abandon the present bicameral Congress in favor of a more efficient and more effective unicameral body to eliminate the gridlock in the passage of laws," Echiverri said, citing his two-term experience in the House of Representatives.

The mayor also pushed for a federal state for Camanava.

"With Metro Manila, or more specifically Camanava as a single federal state, its various cities and municipalities would soon attain the political and administrative autonomy that we have long wanted to achieve. With more autonomy and economic independence under a federal system, I can now see a Federal Republic State of Camanava at the threshold of an economic boom," the mayor said.

If the other local chief executives would not agree to this, he said he would be happy with the establishment of the Federal State of Caloocan.

On patrimony of the nation and economic reforms, Echiverri, in tune with the delegates of other Camanava government units, said he was amenable to 100 percent foreign ownership.

"But after a successful operation of five years, they (foreign investors) must initiate a public offering of their shares of at least 40 percent for a more equitable partnership (with local business," said Echiverri.

Commissioner Nelia Gonzales said the delegates were open to 100 percent ownership of agricultural land, "but only for a period of 25 years plus another 25 more."

On foreign ownership of educational institutions, the delegates favored a 60-40 arrangement.

Pedrosa said only the stakeholders, the oligarchs in particular, are the ones most opposed to economic liberalization.

She said that the essence of a parliamentary federal form of government is to be able to diffuse power by taking out officials that do not perform. She also said the essence of a liberalized economic policy is to diffuse capital in the country and open opportunities for income through more employment generated by more foreign investments. – With Pete Laude