It's time to change the battered RP bus!

So finally after a long and arduous delay the Galoc oil field off the northwestern side of Palawan has struck “black gold” and is slated to produce some 22,000 barrels of crude oil per day or 7.3 million barrels per annum. Now that should ease our thirst for oil and save us a few dollars here and there. Call it timely that this piece of news comes at a time when the world’s financial markets are in turmoil and because those speculators include oil, the price of crude has dropped significantly to $89 per barrel.

This is good news and bad news at the same time because we should no longer be reliant on Arab oil (more so when the Malampaya oil also begins to flow) so we can channel our precious dollars to other worthy projects. However, while we are indeed elated with this big news, I couldn’t but help think or believe that this piece of good news was perfectly timed by the Arroyo administration just when the world’s financial markets are in turmoil. Maybe it’s a coincidence, but with the credibility of the Arroyo administration these days, one cannot help but think that this was a stage-managed report.

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Talking about this government’s credibility brings us to question once more the presidential pardon given to convicted murderer Claudio Teehankee Jr. who after serving all but 13 years in Muntinlupa prison for the cold-blooded killing of Maureen Hultman and Roland John Chapman and the wounding of Jussi Leino. Sure, we’ve been here before, indignant at the presidential pardon given to convicted former President Joseph “Erap” Estrada. We feel that this is another injustice inflicted on this justice-hungry nation.

But then, we submit that President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (GMA) did not abuse her presidential authority to pardon convicted criminals (a report says that there are thousands more who are more eligible than Teehankee), which is why I believe that it is very important to change the 1987 Constitution so we could put a cap on this executive power to pardon convicted criminals. There should be some kind of criteria that should be met before a pardon can be granted… only then should the President sign her name on it.

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Surely by now you must have noticed that the Philippines is very much like Thailand. They too have political troubles, but just like us, their private sector is really pushing hard to keep their economy afloat. Just imagine what would happen to us when we get to fix whatever is bugging our system of governance. Indeed, our political system was much better during the days prior to Sept. 21, 1972 when Marcos declared Martial Law.

A case in point is the two-party system that we used to have since the ratification of the 1935 Constitution. It gave this nation some kind of political stability until after Sept. 21, 1972 when President Ferdinand Marcos threw away the best constitution we had had and declared himself dictator. It was downhill for the Philippines until the EDSA Revolt in 1986 when we Filipinos were at our proudest moment in our history. Alas, from then on, we slid further down into the precipice of greed, corruption and immorality. Worse is the adoption of the multi-party system in the 1987 Cory Constitution, run by politically immature politicians – and look where it has brought this country. 

I have written this many times before and at the risk of being tagged as redundant… I will say it again that the Philippines is akin to a bus, brand new in 1946 when we got Independence from the United States, and it was run smoothly and efficiently, which is why we were second only to Japan. But 62 years later, the 62-year-old Philippine bus is old, decrepit, broken and could hardly move. Worse, when it was new, it only had a few passengers. Today we have passengers clinging to the roof! Yet the major question that the passengers want to ask is, “Who will be the next driver of our bus?”

What this country needs is not a new bus driver, but a new bus! This is why I’m supporting even a constituent assembly (con-ass) for as long as it leads this nation to the path of federalism. To achieve the goal Speaker Nograles needs 37 more votes because it is the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC) and the Liberal Party that are holding the bag for this show.

In short, there are only two people to talk to in order to achieve this goal: Sen. Mar Roxas of LP and Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro Jr. of NPC. I have asked Secretary Teodoro to support federalism and he told me that while he believes in it, he couldn’t support it while he is DND chief, as it is a political issue. As for Mar Roxas, he is still undecided. Once we have a champion for federalism, then we can move things quickly. Let us hope that either Sen. Roxas or DND Secretary Teodoro’s influence would create that critical mass or momentum that would allow us to make that paradigm shift to federalism. Only then will this country be run better by Filpinos.

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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.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.