Constitutional change has been in the agenda for more than a year – it has been talked about for years – but the Senate, especially the present one, was too busy fighting among themselves for plum committees, investigating scandals that are not resolved, generally being obstructive and preparing themselves either as presidential or vice presidential candidates, while they collect billions of funds. But if the senators have the temerity to behave this way, they know there will be no sanctions. A senator confided to this column, "We will not allow it". End of story. A dictatorial Senate under the presidency of Franklin Drilon simply blocked debate on constitutional reform by using all kinds of subterfuges when there was time and now want the public to accept that "only a miracle can make the Senate dance the cha-cha" because there is no time. Please do not fool the public by using the budget as the excuse. It adds insult to injury. Why is the budget being discussed only now? That is still another story on how it is using the budget to haggle with the executive on whether we should have full automation this election. It only confirms why we need a new system that is not a hostage to gridlock.
Very early on, Drilon told a colleague he is against constitutional reform because there is no public clamor for it. I did not know that public clamor (whatever that means) is the basis for doing a duty mandated by the Constitution. A more responsible Senate would have spent part of its funds to help the public know the stakes and to bring them in to the debate. Instead they spread the rumor through their minions in media that "JDV just wants to be prime minister" and "congressmen/women cannot be trusted". Emotive catch words like monkey around with the Constitution and they would not dance the cha-cha are played on a generally vulnerable public. Indeed the whole point of constitutional reform is based on a recognition that one-man, one-vote to elect a president through a largely ignorant electorate has failed us. Therefore to say that there should be a public clamor before they would debate constitutional reform begs the question.
If the Senate truly wanted a debate – that, by the way, is a duty mandated by the Constitution – so it can be put before the citizens in a plebiscite it would have done so months ago, when there was still time. What kind of public servants do we elect ? Yet under the present system we do not have the means to counteract the reckless and feckless attitude by the Senate.When Drilon and other colleagues had just won under the PPC, Mr. Drilon said to me, "We need constitutional change. It is time." But the next time I saw him again and asked what was being done about it, he said, "Masyadong mahirap. Maraming kalaban." So, who are these kalaban? Drilon owes it to the people to say what motivates him.
So now JDV and other congressmen/women have called the Senate’s bluff. Rather than let constitutional reform die, they have agreed to adopt the Senate resolution for a convention to formulate the proposed changes. If one resolution is adopted by both Houses, there is nothing to debate about. It should become law immediately. This is transmitted to COMELEC which then includes space for the election of delegates in May 2004 in the ballot forms. President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has also put her name to this to finish line to save the country.
For the record, I am listing the 21 members of the Se-nate of the 12th Congress – Franklin Drilon Jr., Edgardo Angara, Loren Legarda, Aquilino Pimentel, Jr., Sergio Osmena, Jr., John Osmeña, Tessie Aquino Oreta, Francisco Pangilinan, Manuel Villar, Panfilo Lacson, Luisa Ejercito, Gregorio Honasan, Rodolfo Biazon, Robert Barbers, Tito Sotto, Ramon Magsaysay, Jr., Noli de Castro, Joker Arroyo, Juan Flavier, Robert Jaworski and finally, Ralph Recto. Years from now, Filipinos will want to know the names of these senators and how they comported themselves at a crucial time in our history when we made a herculean effort to shift from presidential to parliamentary.
We cannot continue with this soul-destroying politics. Where is the love of country? It is not an excuse to say parliamentary government will give also give us problems. This is false reasoning and better understood if we use a metaphor. If your hand is burning on a flatiron, the thing to do is get the hand out of the flatiron. Never mind if this means that the burned hand will be painful. It just does not make sense to keep the hand on the flatiron. That is the same with our present system. It is destroying the country. There will be pain in coming to grips with a new system but it is better than keeping the old system.
Advice to Sonny. For whatever reason, Heherson "Sonny" Alvarez has been excluded from the administration’s senatorial slate. It is a shock especially if it is to make way for Miriam Defensor-Santiago. It reinforces the cause of politics of issues rather than personalities. As far as I know Defensor-Santiago has been consistently against the principles and tenets of the Lakas-CMD platform. Alvarez, on the other hand, has been a faithful adherent to that platform. He deserves better. There is life outside politics, the present politics. Instead Alvarez should look to a time when he can vie as a Member of Parliament.