Con-com: Consultations or education?

In a press conference the other day, Lito Monico Lorenzana the Secretary General of the Consultative Commission (Con-Com) which was created through Executive Order no. 453 to draft the amendments of the new Philippine Constitution through the consultations of the people vowed that the draft constitution would reflect the sentiments of the people. Hmmm, I do not doubt that… if they truly come and consult with the Filipino people.

But there are problems in such consultations and basically it is that, most of our people are largely uneducated and therefore, if we leave this decision entirely to the Filipino people… they would certainly get a mixed result. For instance, most of us in the Visayas believe that we should shift into a Federal system of government, while the sentiments of the people in Metro Manila is totally different… they don't even care for charter changes, they only want to remove Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (GMA)! Perhaps a bigger chunk of the population can't even decide what's best for our country?

It is for this reason I believe that these times what we need are statesmen who would lead this nation to the path of good governance and a responsible government. For sure, we shouldn't keep the present set up or the present Constitution as it is no longer working for the greater good of the Filipino people. But then we have to contend with the reality that there will be people who will use their power and influence to block any changes in the present charter.

To name a few… we have 24 senators who certainly would lose their political power. We've said so many times before that they have become nothing more than 24 mini-dictators. Then there's Tita Cory Aquino whom I suspect would fight tooth and nail to stop the process of charter changes, as it would throw away the 1987 Constitution, which is named after her.

So what we expect from the Con-Com is not just mere consultations with the people but a short lesson on political science… specifically about the present system of government vis-à-vis the new system that they would be proposing. It would be easy enough to come up with a pro or con graft as to what would be a better system for us.

More importantly, it must be clearly pointed out that in the past hundred years the Presidential system has only brought the Philippines from second only to Japan to second to the last! Surely that should bring the right message to our people why we need to change the charter in the first place.

* * *

We got a lot of positive comments about our article the other day on how the defense of the Pacific by the Japanese Imperial Navy dubbed the Z-Plan fell into the hands of the guerrillas of the Cebu Area Command under Lt. Col. James M. Cushing. According to the US Archives, this was the biggest intelligence haul bagged by the US from the Japanese Navy, which they put to good use… which resulted in the Battle of the Philippine Sea, dubbed "The Great Mariana's Turkey Shoot" where 400 Japanese planes were shot down by carrier borne American fighters. That was one day where many American pilots became Aces overnight.

With pride, let me reiterate that Admiral Shigeru Fukudomei, the Chief of Staff of Japanese Combine Fleet Admiral Miniechi Koga would make history as the highest-ranking flag officer ever to be captured during the entire Pacific War, a feat no other American unit be it Army, Navy or Marine can claim and this recognition is given to Col. Cushing and the Cebu guerrillas under his command. Today this feat has not been recognized here!

What gives me some personal satisfaction is that American authors who are doing stories about the exploits of Col. Cushing read the articles we wrote about him in the past year. For instance, I got a thank you note from Mr. Steven Trent Smith, the author of the book "The Rescue" as he read my article through the Internet. It was also because of our articles that Mr. Benjamin Guterman of the US Archives and Records Administration (NARA) asked me for the photos of Col. Cushing and Salvador Abcede, which the US Archives did not yet possess. I asked my uncle, Col. Manuel Segura who readily produced these photos from his personal collection.

Another person who emailed me asking for information about Col. Cushing is Prof. V. Ray Cardozier, Professor Emeritus of the University of Texas in Austin who was writing a piece about Col. Cushing. He told me that he saw a one-hour documentary based on the book "The Rescue" on the Public Broadcasting TV channel. So now, isn't it about time that we Cebuanos give some kind of recognition to the valiant efforts of Cebu Area Command?

* * *

For email responses to this article, write to [email protected]. Bobit Avila's columns can also be accessed through www.thefreeman.com