Finally a Cha-cha forum in Cebu!

Last Friday afternoon, I attended a multisectoral forum on Charter change dubbed "Pag Tuki sa Cha-Cha" at the Cebu Normal University Convention Center. Though it wasn’t really a debate, we heard presentations on Cha-cha by Commissioner Dagoroan Macarambon of the Charter Change Advocacy Commission (CCAC). There was an analysis of the draft Cha-cha petition to the Comelec by Vicente "Ting" Paterno of the BBC Executive Committee. Then we heard a comparative analysis of the proposals on Charter change by Atty. Ibarra Gutierrez of the UP Law Center.

The reactors were Carlos Fortuna, Philippine National Councilors League (PCL) national president; Llewelyn Menchaves, chairwoman of the Sangguniang Kabataan (SK); Ted Locson of the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry Inc. (CCCII); and Tessie Fernandez of Lihok Filipina, representing civil society. Later we also heard Namfrel chairman Jose "Joecon" Concepion giving us his new ideas on how to thwart any attempts to cheat in the 2007 elections, and Prof. Felisa Etemadi of UP Cebu gave her synthesis.

This forum was held through the efforts of the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation Inc. (RAFI)-Eduardo Aboitiz Development Studies Center, the Kaabag Sugbo, Bishops-Businessmen’s Conference (BBC), C-Cimpel, the Cebu Normal University, the University of San Carlos-Political Science Department, the Coalition for Better Education, and the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry Inc. Since we do not have enough space to put in what the different speakers talked about, let me just go straight to what we learned from that exercise last Friday which was attended by 600 plus students.

After explaining the pros and the cons of Charter change, whether we should shift to a parliamentary system of government or not… or whether we should change our Charter through the so-called People’s Initiative or through a constitutional convention, in a nutshell, one can say that there are still a lot of things to do before we gain any political maturity.

Take the reaction of Ms. Llewelyn Menchaves, who said that the speakers merely talked about shifting to a parliamentary form of government from the present presidential form without even explaining to the youth the benefits or negatives of both. This reaction coming from an SK chairwoman only proves my point that the SK hasn’t taught our youth anything about our political system… that is why I’ve advocated for its abolition.

Indeed, there has been no effort to explain the present form of government and why it is not working and why a parliamentary form is a better one. Hence one of the questions was, "Will Charter changes solve problems like corruption and poverty or save the government money?" Of course, there are no simple answers to such questions… even if my good friend, Prof. Ricky Poca of the USC Political Science Department, attempted to give an explanation.

I like the reaction of Ms. Tessie Fernandez, who insisted that we ought to go to the basics first… asking the question, why are we having Charter changes when the Comelec still doesn’t know how to count? Simple basic lessons in life that we learned in grade school like "Do not take what is not yours!" or "Learn to respect each other." I fully concur with the observations of Tessie Fernandez. Right there in that room, the moderator, Atty. Largo, asked the audience in so many instances to be quiet while the speakers were talking. If the youth in the audience cannot keep still while someone is talking, how do we expect them to learn anything from that exercise?

There was a woman from Toledo City who questioned the legality of the People’s Initiative, to which Councilor Fortuna responded… but this ended up with another question… "Why is this so-called People’s Initiative not coming from the people, but from government people?" Hmmm, that question elicited the most oohhs and ahhs! Quite embarrassing, if you ask me.

Since there were too many speakers and too many people throwing questions on the floor, I decided not to ask any questions myself and just listened because as you know listening is the beginning of understanding.

What I got from that exercise was not simply the people are unafraid of changes being instituted by the government or by our political leaders. Rather our people are simply fed up that all through these years, they have been taken for a ride by various vested interests all claiming to do this in the name of the Filipino people… who in reality know no better! Yet decades later, the nation is still in straws, the government doesn’t even have funds to evacuate our overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in war-torn Lebanon. What I gathered in that forum is a message for our leaders: STOP TAKING THE PEOPLE FOR A RIDE! What we need is good governance!

My faithful readers know that for as long as I can remember, I have always batted for Charter changes for the simple reason that ever since the Cory administration rammed the 1987 Constitution down our throats without any consultations, it has always haunted us, and 20 years later, we are seeing all the defects of this Constitution plaguing our country. So the issue is how to change this Constitution. I still want a constitutional convention!

If you ask me, the so-called People’s Initiative is another mad rush to commit another permanent mistake, simply because it was never explained clearly that if we become a parliamentary system, the Filipino voter can no longer vote for their President or Prime Minister. This is something I’m sure the Filipino voter still wants to hold on to… the power to vote for our President.

In short, a parliamentary form of government is a hard sell, hence someone is resorting to some kind of trickery to get that People’s Initiative going. The other question is whether we should abolish the Senate and have a unicameral system. Again, perhaps the problem is not the Senate as a collegial body, but the bunch of ugly Senators whom our people elected into office. Should we remove the Senate because of bad Senators?

Once more, this brings up my suggestion that we should make things simple. Keep the presidency and elect the President to a four-year office with one re-election. Keep the Senate and have the Senators voted by region or state, and then finally… let’s give federalism a chance. Like what we’ve written, the United States is the richest, most powerful nation on earth and yet not a single nation has followed its system of government. I strongly suggest that we be the first nation to follow in the political footsteps of the USA.

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For e-mail responses to this article, write to [email protected]. Bobit Avila’s columns in The Freeman can also be accessed through The Philippine STAR website (www.philstar.com). He also hosts a weekly talkshow, "Straight from the Sky," shown every Monday, 8 p.m., only in Metro Cebu on Channel 15 of SkyCable.