One step at a time, please

As expected, President GMA is being used as a bogeyman against charter change. Do you want a repeat of Marcos? If we change our regrettable system of government, President GMA could be prime minister forever, they warn. Never mind if we continue with the system that has proven disastrous to our well-being. Of course the critics do not say that if we do not change the charter we could have another actor or broadcaster for president. Indeed, an ignorant broadcaster linked to vested interests is just a breath away. We could argue forever on the pros and cons of charter change while life passes us by and we would have accomplished nothing except blah-blah.

The attacks come at the same time as a series of destabilization moves against her and her leadership is faced with the crucial decision to support charter change as she had promised in her last state of the nation message. That tells us a lot. Certainly it is perfect timing. Most reasonable people who understand the reforms sought by charter change do not need to be told these are not about her or any other politician or individual. It is about nation building.

According to a writer in another newspaper, President GMA is laying the groundwork to run for prime minister in the event of a shift to a parliamentary federal government therefore we should not have charter change. That is what these critics also said of FVR in 1998 and made fun of those who warned that if we did not do so, we would get Erap, the actor, as president, the economic program during the Ramos tenure would be unraveled and we could be in for very hard times. All that has come to pass but the critics remain impervious and unrepentant. They are at it again. What drives them?

So don’t be surprised if we do not shift and go into yet another cycle of decline. Money and popularity drive our presidential elections. This is not to say that we cannot have a good president elected but he or she will not last very long. All that she or he had done will be quickly unraveled by whoever comes after.

Bogeyman or not, our task is to judge President GMA and charter change separately. President GMA should be judged for her performance as president, not on the possibility that she can be prime minister in a shift to parliamentary government. Charter change that would shift the country to parliamentary federal government is a response to the problems spawned by the present system. More importantly and this I have repeated for the nth time - the shift from the presidential system to parliamentary federal is much less about being able to elect a good president than it is about being able to remove a bad prime minister by a simple no-confidence motion. That is an essential difference and to me the most important in the context of Philippine politics. It would keep military dictators at bay which was really what Marcos was.

Whether it is KAMPI in coalition with the Liberal Party or Lakas in coalition with LDP and other opposition parties is a matter of conjecture. We do not know. That is the political challenge we will have to face when the time comes. One step at a time, please. It reminds me of the joke about Filipinos being the only people in the world who talk about the next meal while eating the present one. Besides, I am not so sure that it should be so bad for the country if political parties were to compete rather than a contest of personalities with nothing but name recall. In a parliamentary system, there is direct accountability in a confined political structure - the election of MPs in their electoral districts and the leader of the party that wins the most number of seats ends up Prime Minister in Parliament. In both instances, there is real knowledge based on familiarity with elected officials. In time such a system will open political opportunities for less moneyed and less popular but good candidates to get to the top. This is impossible in our presidential system.

What appears to be true is that although some Malacanang advisers may have pushed for KAMPI (even with its power of the purse) early on, it turned out to be a dud. It failed to get support from both Congress and public opinion. The way it goes such attempts can only weaken with time. I am not inclined to take charter change critics seriously about their bogeyman. It is a non sequitor. The threat of a bogeyman, as it has been proven time and again is what has stopped political reform and should therefore be trashed.

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A KEY PLAYER IN THE POLITICAL SCENE, Speaker JDV remains unfazed by the swirl of intrigues and maneuvers as the moment of truth for charter change nears. Quite rightly, he just wants to be known for doing things. Although often criticized as ‘trapo’ JDV pounded on political parties’ leaders during a recent summit to enact major political reforms before the 2007 elections. Strengthening political-parties was high in the agenda of that conference.

He remains a close ally of President GMA even if he is the alleged target of KAMPI-Liberal Party maneuvers. I was recently asked by a foreign journalist who has covered the Philippines for a long time why the President has not used the political skills of JDV the way FVR did. I had no answer except that as far as I know they are allies and co-chair the Lakas-CMD.

I am inundated with speeches and memos just to keep track of his activities. Come May 26-27 he will present the Lakas CMD proposals for the agenda of the 2006 assembly of the Asian Political Parties Conference which will be held in Seoul. He once said that if he devoted time and effort to regional causes, Filipinos will soon see the wisdom of his politics in his own homeland. His proposals to the Asian Political Parties Conference can very well apply to political parties in the Philippines. If he is helping to strengthen relations between political parties in the region, that would encourage local politicos to do the same among themselves and tackle more serious issues Among the Lakas-CMD proposals are on Asian Security and Political Stability, Synergy between Regional Groupings and Movements toward an Asian Community, Anti-Poverty Measures and National Development and Party building and modernization. With this level of political involvement I am not surprised that he should be so unappealing to the ignorant masa.

He’s Mr. Unity Man, sometimes to an irksome degree. Recently he challenged Bayan Muna’s Satur Ocampo to talk to exiled Communist Party leader Jose Ma. Sison, and persuade him to end their rebellion against the government. For the record, I do not believe Sison is serious about peace talks. He has organized an infrastructure which includes violence through which he hopes to gain power. Why should he give up a lifetime endeavor? Still, it is good that Speaker JDV makes such gestures to the Left. It is his way of leading rebellious groups into the mainstream and told the press the political summit was partly a success because Rep. Satur Ocampo accepted the challenge.

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