It depends… what you are lobbying for

Here we go again. Those who understand lobbying as legitimate activity in Washington will see nothing wrong with the contract entered into by the Arroyo government with the Venable LLP group. Practically every country in the world does. The trouble is Filipinos in general (unfortunately that includes honorable senators!) do not understand lobbying and the Opposition is bent on using it yet again to bring down the Arroyo government. Naturally it will ascribe all kinds of motives on the government if it wants to bring it down.

Poor Sec. Norberto Gonzales! He did not know what he was getting himself into. How will he ever justify engaging a lobby group to advance the country’s interests (including charter change) in Washington when more than half of his countrymen do not understand what lobbying is about. How can he fight senators who accuse him of selling his country down the river by engaging a law firm to lobby in Washington. Whew!

His mistake was to include "charter change" in his grocery list for American support. Quite rightly, we do not need any outside help for charter change. In asking for help in Washington, Sec. Gonzales may have compromised our ‘independence.’ But I would not be so hard on him. He was working in the context of realpolitik between US and the Philippines. It would be hypocritical to deny this.

Why is it necessary to get American support for charter change? Because no significant political change anywhere in the world can happen without it, least of all, in a country that was once America’s only colony. Its colonial adventure to compete with European powers included its political and cultural institutions. It is well known among students of our Constitution that the US would not have granted us our independence unless we adopted the presidential system.

In theory charter change is the exclusive concern of Filipinos but in reality it is not. If Americans think that charter change will imperil their hegemony if the Philippines were to change its form of government, they will do everything in their power to stop it. More honest Filipinos will put it more brutally – nothing major happens in this country without America’s assent. It may help assuage the vanities of some of our politicians that this is not only true of the Philippines but of all countries around the world (including China) in varying degrees. That is the reality.

Reading some accounts of the Venable ‘scandal’ and not having read the contract itself it would seem that no direct request was made to fund charter change itself. On one hand, the PCIJ report says, the lobbying consultancy was to "secure grants and (US) congressional earmarks" for her initiative to "reshape the form of government… into a parliamentary federal system." And on the other, it says "The contract does not state why US support for constitutional change is needed at all. Nor does it say what specific charter amendments the President needs US support for. The contract also includes lobbying for loans and grants from the US government, especially assistance to upgrade the capabilities of the Philippine military and police." So what is the brouhaha all about?

Still if blame must be put on Sec. Gonzales, I would blame him for his naivete. Why did he have to be so secretive about the commissioned lobby? I can only hazard a guess. He was afraid what the opposition and the Senate might do if they came to know of it. That is exactly what happened. In the political climate anything could be used against President GMA for whom he works. Charter change is so contentious with powerful and moneyed stakeholders in the status quo (most of them peopling the Senate) vowing to shoot it down it would be folly to think that it will be an easy task. Worse, if it did not have American support. Reformers will have to deal with a two-pronged war, one against our overstaying oligarchs and another with our former colonizers.

There are those who know the score of lobbying about charter change but will never admit it. Even with the full knowledge that any charter change in this country will indeed need the support of Washington, they will pretend this is not so. Or as some of the senators put it, Gonzales is a fall guy. Mon dieu. The hypocrisy is suffocating. Gonzales is as much a victim of the political environment as his accusers are. Let’s face it: America influences events in our country and it will be foolish not to work within that framework. Does that mean the national security adviser was selling out?

I don’t think so. Anyone with an advocacy for major change in this country, charter change or anything as important, will have to maneuver through the shoals of a difficult post colonial relationship between the two countries. That is the background against which the pathetic Venable LLP contract should be considered. Not the pretensions of nationalists who will not hesitate to solicit American help themselves for their activities to subvert the Arroyo government. As some reports have carefully explained the contract merely included charter change in his list of wishes, nothing else was said. No quid pro quo, nothing.

Charter change proposals will not be made by Americans, they will be made by Filipinos. Moreover it will go through the rigorous democratic mill. A consultative commission will propose a draft of the amendments to Congress which will in turn debate the amendments. When the draft proposals are ready, the people will have to ratify these in a plebiscite. More likely if the Arroyo government has put itself squarely behind charter change then it has to lobby with Americans to make sure correct information goes to those who might be enlisted to frustrate it and that includes Filipinos against it. There are nincompoops in US Congress, too. President GMA has tried to be more independent (Angelo case in Iraq) at the same time that she works Washington to remain in their good graces.

It is not just Americans who lobby with their government but other governments as well. There is a lobby for immigrant rights and a lobby of 9-ll victims for a secure America. What could be nobler than these causes? Indeed you may ask why should 9-ll victims have to lobby? Because they want legislation on skyscraper safety. They need a lobbyist to put up a fight in the legislative battle against developers who will balk at the added costs.

It is not enough to want something of the American government, you have to know how to get at it through its tortuous legislative system. You can walk from office to office for endless days and still not get anything done simply because you do not the strings to pull. That’s when the expertise of lobbyists comes in. Charter change is now increasingly heard among Americans who want their system reformed and conducted with less money! Can you imagine how hard lobbyists will lobby against that!

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