SONAL value

To the discerning sympathizer and those on whose breast hope springs eternal and who have not given up on the Philippines not just yet, the most significant value of the SONA is that it endorsed charter change. Every good mark President Arroyo gave the country she governed during the last four years – an economy growing by 6 per cent last year, the increase in tax collections, four million jobs generated, shelter for the poor, more rice production, the near completion of the peace talks in Mindanao – pales against the buoyant promise of the shift of the system of governance from the presidential to the parliamentary system. That she would further endorse a constituent assembly (CONASS) to draft a new constitution drew a long thunderous applause from the crowd (you guessed it as coming from government agencies) that attended the delivery of the message of change at the Batasang Pambansa.

Mrs. Arroyo said in the shortest SONA ever delivered by a Philippine president that under the parliamentary system, legislation could be quickened and laws made more responsive to the people, similar to that of the Philippines’ progressive neighbors in the region. "Over the years," she said, "our political system has degenerated to the extent that it is difficult for anyone to make any headway yet keep his hands clean. To be sure, the system is still capable of achieving great reforms. But, by and large, our political system has betrayed its promise to each new generation of Filipinos, not a few of whom are voting with their feet, going abroad and leaving the system behind.

"Perhaps we politicians have done our best; but maybe our best is not enough, given the present system. Perhaps we have strained the present political system to its final limit.

"The system clearly needs fundamental change, and the sooner the better. It’s time to start the great debate on charter change."

That she would go all the way by calling for a Constituent Assembly to do the job of drafting a new Constitution, drew another long round of applause from people attending the SONA presentation at the Batasang Pambansa Monday.

Let’s put in the other things the SONA touched on ever so briefly. Infrastructure housing construction, shelter and security for the urban poor and indigenous peoples. Sixty-nine million beneficiaries of health care insurance, including 30 million indigents, whose re-enrollment started early this year and is still ongoing. The drug menace has been cut in half, and the rash of kidnapping became a thing of the past.

She put emphasis on "our recent titanic struggle to enact the three laws that comprised the biggest fiscal package in our history" – the biggest revenue increase that will break the vicious cycle of financing development by borrowing and having to borrow again just to service those loans. That, she said, is " the one reform that will snap the chain that has bound our future to a profligate past and the debt-burdened present."

"The Filipino’ strong sense of family has given Congress a strong resolve not to pass on today’s debt, and bankrupt our children and grandchildren tomorrow. That struggle has done the House and the Senate Great honor." Congratulations, she said.

She spoke about the Philippines’ winning a seat in the UN Security Council, "where we presided over the landmark resolution calling for democracy in Iraq." The Philippines chaired the historic conference on interfaith cooperation for peace at the UN, which she said, was "the fruit of a bold and creative initiative" by Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr.

The Philippines heads the APEC Anti-Terrorism task Force, and "our victories in the war on terror" have been acknowledged by President Bush before the U.S. National Defense University.

Even as the Jemaah Islamiya and the Abu Sayyaf can only "pick up the pieces of its broken backbone in Mindanao, the Philippines has worked with the Organization of the Islamic Conference to forge peace with our Muslim brothers. Eighty per cent of our peace talks with them have been completed. Permanent peace in Mindanao is within reach."

Not surprisingly, the next day, the focus of criticisms from those disillusioned with President Arroyo’s system of governance was precisely her call for charter change – it’s as though the shift in systems would be the answer to the nation’s ills. Some would say that the change would only prolong her rule. Still others did not like the idea of the Senate’s going to be abolished in favor of one Assembly, where senators and congressmen would be lumped into one (unicameral) legislative body.

The day after the delivery of the SONA, newspaper reports said that the peace talks between the government panel and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front had been postpned by the Malaysian government, mediator in the talks. And Rep. Jerry Salapuddin disputed the President’s claim of peace in Mindanao being near at hand. How could a peace agreement with the MILF be reached when the GRP-MNLF agreement’s provisions have not yet been fully implemented?

Her job is not finished, said the President. There is still much work to be done. And there is need to be united. "Now is not the time for divisiveness, and while there’s no avoiding partisan politics, there can be a determined effort by all sides to limit the collateral damage on a country poised for take-off." She challenged her listeners to "call on the Lord . . . ask him for the grace to make us worthy of his healing our land."

"We may disagree among ourselves but let us never lose sight of that greater battle for one people, one country, one Philippines. Not the country of this or that President but the Philippines of our shared and passionate affections."

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The President wore an improvised gown of her late mother, Eva Macapagal, with a dark blue Swiss lace shawl. She looked not as radiant as in the past SONA, and she wore a sad mien as she spoke; one feared that she might break down anytime. I’m glad she did not; she would not, she being a strong, tough woman. But there were bags under her eyes – sure signs of sleepless nights. Who would be able to sleep under duress? She spoke in a modulated tone, like that when she appeared on television to tell the nation that she indeed, had called up a Comelec official, and asked for forgiveness for her "lapse in judgment."

Indeed, the President has undergone a make-over. She has stopped speaking in a shrill, from-the-pulpit sermon cadence. I suspect California-based Lupita Aquino Kashiwara, who seems to be consulted by the powerful in times of crisis and who was here after the "Hello Garci" tapes created so much commotion, had something to do with the President’s new image.

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The Bulong Pulungan sa Westin Philippine Plaza had an interesting panel of speakers who belong to different civic groups but whose one purpose in their political aspirations is that GMA remain in office. For who will replace her? They asked. The vigilant women were Loida Nicolas Lewis, Angie Barrera, Evelyn Kilayko, Bessy Buencamino, Baby Caparas and Peggy Vera. My next column will be on these women.

My boss, Saeed A. Daof, director general of the Center for the Promotion of Peace and Development in Mindanao, stood up towards the end of the session, and received an ovation when he said, "The speech was good. The delivery was better. She was presidential. As Head of State, it was her prerogative to set the tone, and make a clear policy direction where she wants to lead the nation, and people – which is a shift from a presidential system to a parliamentary system of government. This I believe is the mother of all reforms, that when she succeeds to achieve during her incumbency, will be remembered by the present and future generations. "

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