Just a few reasons why we need a con-con

Finally the cat is out of the bag! I’m referring to the expected testimony of former Senior Superintendent Cezar Mancao who, in a 15-minute deposition before Judge Myra Fernandez of Branch 18 of the Manila Regional Court, confirmed the contents of his affidavit about the activities of “Operation Delta,” admitting to his role in the killing of publicist Salvador “Bubby” Dacer and his driver, Emmanuel Corbito, and pointing a finger to no less than former President Joseph “Erap” Estrada as the brains behind this killing and who allegedly gave orders to Sen. Panfilo “Ping” Lacson who was then chief of the Philippine National Police (PNP) in 2000.

With this report, what we’d really like to know is whether Judge Fernandez would now issue an arrest warrant against former President Erap and Sen. Lacson for their role in that twin murder case? If Judge Fernandez upholds that legal doctrine that “No man is above the law,” then we can expect that arrest warrants would be made. But whether this will really happen remains to be seen… so we wait with bated breath!

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Didn’t we tell you that Charter change (Cha-cha) is not yet dead and buried, for as long as it is Cha-cha via a constitutional convention (con-con). That’s why I’m very glad that the Committee on Constitutional Amendments in the House of Representatives voted 6-1 in favor for a con-con where delegates are simultaneously elected with those seeking office in the 2010 polls. This is the best way to change the Charter because like it or not, when the con-con starts working, President Gloria Arroyo would have already stepped down and we’ll have a new president.

What are truly dead and buried are the attempts to change the Constitution through a constituent assembly (con-ass), which have only put a black mark on what we Filipinos ought to be doing… changing the 1987 Constitution to solve the mistakes of the past and I tell you there are many. Why don’t we get a wish list on what to fix in our present Constitution and I’m sure it would be as kilometric as our current Charter.

A case in point is term limits, where elected officials who can no longer seek re-election (call them last-termers) run for a lower office or worse, make their wives, mothers, fathers or their children run in order to keep what is supposed to be a public office all within the hands of the same political family! A bigger issue is the single six-year term for the Office of the President. We know too well that six years are just too short for a good president and so agonizingly long for a bad president.

On this issue alone, we should work for the return of the four-year term for the president with one re-election for a deserving president. Plus, it’s about time that the con-con discusses what we should be doing with our ex-presidents. Should they be allowed to run for a lesser office or should they be barred from running for public office again? What about retired police and military officers who get to be appointed to many civilian positions? Should we consider a two-year prohibition for them to take on civilian jobs?

This is not to mention the many economic amendments that we need to adopt in a new Constitution. We also need to look into the various constitutional bodies like the Commission on Elections (Comelec) or the Office of the Ombudsman, which is so highly centralized. The lawyers in the Ombudsman in the Visayas are nothing but mere postmen, who cannot even file criminal cases against corrupt officials even with clear-cut evidence in their hands. Just to name a few, there are the lamppost and Girl Scout scams!

Then there is the huge issue of our shift from our present centralized form of government, which has brought this country from second only to Japan after World War II to second to the last in Asia. I’m referring to the issue of our shift to a federal form of government because that is what makes America a great nation today and a small nation like Malaysia overtake our country. Now whether it should be a parliamentary form or not, let me just say it here… that we already had a parliamentary form of government under the Marcos Regime and it failed miserably!

What about our return to the more stable two-party system? These are just a few examples of what con-con delegates ought to tackle if and when we have a con-con, and when we’re finished with a new Charter, I’m sure that this country would be able to move forward and progress faster than what we’re doing today. But Comelec Commissioner Elias Yusoph is against the simultaneous holding of elections for con-con delegates as it would confuse the voters. Commissioner Yusoph is exaggerating; how could there be confusion if the automatic ballot would clearly indicate the names of those running for the con-con?

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