Not a bad 1st week for Pres. Noynoy Aquino!

The news that Pres. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III turned over the 1,400 sq/mtr Arlegui mansion to its original owners was truly unexpected and a very welcome surprise, especially that Pres. Noynoy did this on his very first day of work as President! We’ve been writing about the Arlegui case years ago and thought that Tita Cory should have known or should have been told about how this mansion was forcibly taken by the Marcos Dictatorship in the dark of the night and its rightful owners removed only with their night clothes on their backs.

After six years under the administration of Cory Aquino, her successor, Pres. Fidel V. Ramos (FVR) didn’t lift a finger to return this mansion. Then came President Joseph “Erap” Estrada and Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (GMA) who never thought of undoing this grave injustice done to the Laperal family right within the vicinity of Malacañang. The report from the lawyer of the Laperal family was that the mansion was turned over without any furniture. But I would like to believe that the furniture wasn’t stolen.

But the most important thing here is the suffering of the Laperal family has finally ended when Pres. Noynoy turned this property back to its rightful owners. Justice has been served. Justice has been done! Of course, the owners still have to collect the P75 million due to them from the damage done. Kudos to Pres. Aquino, I’m truly impressed!

Another surprising, albeit an unexpected move coming from Pres. Noynoy, was his plan to create a commission to study possible changes in the Constitution. When former President, now Congresswoman Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, together with her son Rep. Diosdado “Dato” Arroyo filed a resolution asking Congress to call a constitutional convention (con-con) I really expected a Presidential snub from Pres. Noynoy. After all, during the election campaign, this was something that we wanted to hear from then presidentiable Noynoy, but didn’t get any clear signals from him… that he was ready to change the very Constitution that is named after his mother.

As the election campaign period kicked off, Cebuano business groups held a Presidential Forum last January 22nd dubbed “Choices and Voices for 2010” and one of the questions (this was also asked in Presidential forums that were televised nationwide) asked was about Charter change. I remember then that presidential candidate Noynoy merely said that he would consult the Filipino people if they want Charter changes. If many of us in Cebu chose to support former Defense Sec. Gilbert “Gibo” Teodoro Jr. it was because Charter changes was a priority for him, if he won the presidential race.

Since I became a columnist in 1987, I have always written that the Cory Constitution was hastily done and Sir Max Soliven would even write that it was very kilometric, but had a lot of holes in it. Many pundits believe that the Cory Constitution should have been an interim constitution, which would then be changed by calling for a constitutional convention.

But then, Charter changes (Cha-cha) started to earn a bad reputation because unscrupulous politicians were pushing for it. Many wanted it done quickly via a People’s Initiative or via a Constituent Assembly (con-ass). Hence when then Pres. Fidel Ramos tried to push for Cha-cha at the end of his term, he was accused to trying to perpetuate himself in power.

During the 2004 elections, a lot of Cebuanos supported Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo because she was the only candidate promoting Charter changes. In fact on April 19, 2004, I interviewed the President on my talk show, Straight from the Sky, which we did at the Waterfront Hotel where she publicly mentioned for the first time that she wanted Cha-cha early in her new administration. Alas for GMA, after she won in 2004, she gave Cha-cha a low priority. The need for Cha-cha was only rekindled two years ago, but then, people once more suspected her motives.

During the election campaign, I also asked Nacionalista standard-bearer Sen. Manny Villar whether we wanted Charter changes, but he said, “We don’t need to change the Charter, we just need a good President.” But I pressed on with another question on what’s wrong with our system of government today? Sen. Villar said, “The problem with our present system is that, we are a Presidential system, but our current multi-party system is for a parliamentary system.” That conversation with Sen. Villar told me that he knew what was wrong with our present form of government.

While we do not yet know how far will this new Cha-cha resolution go, at least the new Aquino administration has not rejected it outright. This tells you that Pres. Noynoy also knows that there are many things wrong with the present Constitution. Well, it wasn’t a bad week for the Aquino presidency! 

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