Partyless democracy?

Last Friday night, at the farewell dinner tendered by The Philippine STAR to climax World Press Freedom Day and to honor UNESCO Director-General Koichiro Matsuura, Senate President Franklin Drilon told me he had not attended the "All-Party Summit" launched by the President.

I asked Frank why he had snubbed the administration-sponsored extravaganza at the Manila Hotel, and he cheerfully replied that he didn’t go because he has no political party.

Drilon may have played it smart by avoiding the predictable "summit" and committing himself to some course of action which might be the product of steamrolling resolutions into "press releases." Summits and conferences are tricky enterprises. Resolutions manufactured by a few clever schemers can very easily be "passed" without most of the participants noticing. It’s right for Drilon to keep his options open.

He didn’t miss much by keeping away from that gabfest. Aside from the proposal to scrap the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC), a move which appears to be gaining ground if the Constitution is amended, the other proposals fielded such as a shift to a parliamentary system are highly political. Since the moving spirit behind that lacklustre and unsuccessful summit was, clearly, Speaker Joe de Venecia, the move to push through a Charter change (either by creating a Constitutional Commission or electing delegates to a Constitutional Convention in 2004) seems – despite JDV’s indignant and fervid denials – to be part of a less-than-hidden agenda. If we shift to a parliamentary system, from a Presidential system, for instance, a mere 200 or more "members of parliament" could elect the nation’s political ruler (a prime minister), instead of the people retaining the power to vote directly for their chief executive. (Smiling Joe, naturally, remains suspected of aiming for Prime Ministership, despite his insistence that such is not his goal.)

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If I may be allowed my two cents’ worth, I’d like to say that amending our admittedly flawed, somewhat vague and kilometric 1987 Constitution at this time should be the least of our worries. There are many more urgent issues to address, such as matters of life and death, like ignorance, poverty, violent crime, peace and order, betrayal of public trust, not to mention food production in a periods of drought and El Niño. We mustn’t waste any more time playing political fun and games.

Don’t get me wrong. Someday, I’ll concede, we’ll have to hunker down and fix that crappy Constitution – among our priorities should be to eliminate that silly "Party List" provision which enables people to become members of the House of Representatives by sneaking in through the back door on a percentage basis. Let the voters elect their Representatives directly. Let would-be Congressmen undergo the rigors and expenses of an honest-to-goodness political campaign, in which they present themselves to the electorate – face to face. They can tell the voters: "Here I am. This is me. I stand for these ideas and ideals. Vote for me!" That’s participatory democracy.

In 1986, when former President Corazon Aquino and then Executive Secretary Joker Arroyo invited this writer to be a member of the appointed Constitutional Commission created to draft the new Constitution, I had declined. I didn’t believe that a group of men and women, whatever their high ideals, their integrity, their sincerity, or their erudition and experience had the right to draft an Organic Law based on the fact that the President liked and trusted them, or that they had been nominated by those close to the appointing power.

I’ve always believed that a Constitution ought to be drawn up by delegates chosen by the people in a ballot. That’s why there was one vacancy in the body that drafted the 1987 Saligang Batas. It didn’t make any difference, really. In those days, anything – even if written on toilet paper – would have been overwhelmingly, if not unanimously, "ratified" by the populace as long as it carried the imprimatur of St. Cory. In the afterglow of the glorious EDSA People Power Revolution, the Filipino people stood triumphant on a tall mountain peak and from it they could see forever.

Now, seeing us mired in the pit of Despond, some are peddling the idea that if we only changed to a parliamentary system, or a Federal system, our troubles would be over. This is, sadly, a delusion. Systems don’t miraculously change a people for the better. It’s us, the people, who must change ourselves

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The way I see it, there were too many self-anointed political leaders at that summit, representing "political parties" whose very limited roster of members could easily fit into a Toyota "Grand Via" van. In fact, one political party represented at the meeting has only three members – and their party could be accommodated in one pedicab, with space to spare. (I won’t bother, for their sakes, to mention their names – but you’d recognize them, since some of them are quite "famous").

At the summit, President Macapagal-Arroyo pleaded for unity, saying "let us together end the episode of turbulence and threats." But this appeal fell on deaf ears, since the major opposition party, charging that the GMA government was harassing its members, boycotted the meeting. Indeed, GMA and her minions are still in full cry against opposition Senator (and former PNP Director-General) Panfilo "Ping" Lacson, intent on scalping him.

On the other hand, perhaps intoxicated by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey that gave him top credibility ratings next only to US President George W. Bush, our friend Senator Ed Angara is over-acting. He made a big deal about making a U-turn and going into hiding a few days ago. He was on his way to a television talk show on ANC, the news channel of ABS-CBN, he had announced, when he got word that a "warrant of arrest" had been issued on him. Therefore, Edong alleged – and it went all over the airwaves – he had aborted his trip and not proceeded to the TV station. It turns out that there never was such a "warrant". Indeed, Joker Arroyo elicited a big laugh when, as is his wont, he maliciously asked: "Why would anyone want to arrest Angara?"

Alas, Edong must resist over-dramatizing his plight. (At least Ping Lacson and Greg "Gringo" Honasan can say the real, honest-to-goodness warrants of arrest were once issued against them.)

Somebody yesterday rang me up to remind me of the late Amelito Mutuc. The former Executive Secretary was so eager to be among whose arrested when Ferdinand Marcos declared martial law in September 1972 that, finally, somebody did ask the late Apo Ferdinand why Mel Mutuc wasn’t in the arrest list. Macoy replied: "Never mind Mel, he is harmless."

Then there’s the late Senate President Gerry Roxas, head of the Liberal Party. When his partymate Ninoy Aquino was seized in the first hour of martial law, Gerry packed his bag and then asked the military if they wanted him, because he was ready to surrender. To which the military answered: "No, sir. We don’t want you." I know this because Gerry confided to Ninoy, who was my cellmate in Fort Bonifacio, that he had been "disappointed" by not having been included in the roster of detainees. "But what could I do?" Gerry had told Ninoy, then Senators Pepe Diokno and Monching Mitra, who were also incarcerated with us in the Fort Bonifacio MSU compound, "they refused to arrest me."

So, relax, Edong. You’re a good man, but you’re not of the "revolutionary" or firebrand variety – and even GMA’s most hardline minders know it.

Going back to that summit conference, I notice that the time was frittered away discussing political questions (even a "subsidy", would you believe, for political parties), while the critical problems plaguing our citizenry were ignored. Why didn’t the participants take up isues like (1) law and order and the worsening crime situation in the country; (2) the epidemic of kidnapping and "bombings"; (3) the Muslim and New People’s Army insurgencies; (4) persistent graft and corruption.

Too many wannabes, sad to say, are already thinking of the year 2004 – and too few are thinking of how to tackle the headaches and troubles of the present. Sus, the way the Commission on Elections "feud" is worsening, instead of being resolved, we may not even be able to hold elections in 2004.

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I had an interesting meeting with Dr. Dietmar Petersen, the Southeast Asian Correspondent of the influential Handelsblatt Wirtschafts-und Finanzzeitung which I had been quoting in this column.

As the newspaper’s title indicates, Handelsblatt is Germany’s leading business and financial daily. Petersen had flown up from Singapore, and we discussed the Terminal 3 scandal and the PIATCO problem, which, he said, was being followed with great interest and consternation in Germany. If you’re not acquainted with Handelsblatt, which has taken up the case, it’s tied in with the Wall Street Journal and Dow-Jones, and is the third biggest publisher in Germany.

Petersen told this writer that the Frankfurt Airport Authority or Fraport AG was increasingly worried about justifying the hundreds of millions of dollars (or euros) it had already poured into the PIATCO Terminal 3 project – particularly since it was facing a crucial stockholders and shareholders meeting in Dusseldorf on July 23. If Fraport AG can’t answer the angry queries already being raised by its shareholders (and the German Federal Government, which will ultimately have to pay all the "losses") its entire management could be thrown out.

Indeed, a government inquiry into that deal initially indicates that the airport terminal 3’s construction might have been overpriced by US$200 million. Wow! That’s two hundred million greenbacks gone into whose pockets? Just asking.

Congress, Senator Drilon informed me last Friday, has already sent a subpoena to Secretary Gloria L. Tan Climaco, the Presidential Adviser on Strategic Projects, who’s been investigating the PIATCO deal on instructions of President Macapagal-Arroyo. Drilon said that Secretary Climaco will be requested, candidly, to "tell all about what she’s discovered concerning this project."

If Climaco reveals what she knows, Alikabok assures me, there will be a big bang.

Petersen, who’s the Asian bureau chief of Handelsblatt, assured me, for his part, that the Germans – who’re irritated at what happened to them – intend to make a big issue of it, too.

Abangan.