Concom: Making political history in Cebu!

Today, a historical event unfolds right here in Cebu City at the Waterfront Hotel as it is the official launching of the Consultative Commission (concom) which was created through Executive Order No. 453 by Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in order to conduct a review of the present 1987 Constitution and come up with a draft constitution that would embody the necessary changes in our present political system as enunciated by the President during her State of the Nation Address (SONA) last July 25, 2005.

While the concom is not a Constitutional Convention (concon) nor is it even similar in structure to the group of 49 individuals that then Pres. Cory Aquino tasked to create a new constitution... the present concom, as it's chairman Dr. Jose V. Abueva mentioned to me, is actually a study group tasked to help the president come up with a draft constitution that would usher in real political reforms in this country. Indeed, the status quo is no longer acceptable... and if we do not push for political reforms, the clamor to have Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo removed from office may just succeed.

As mandated by the Presidential E.O. (which by the way is now being questioned in the Supreme Court) the concom is supposed to submit to the president their completed work before Dec.15, 2005, which eventually will be presented to the House of Representatives so they can move to hold a plebiscite on this planned shift from a Presidential form of government into a Parliamentary form of government... from the present unitary form of government, into a Federal system of government.

But let me point out clearly to our readers that not all the commissioners of the concom favor a shift to a parliamentary or a Federal form of government. In fact, during yesterday's presscon, we sort of got a preview of the debates within the concom as to what system its members prefer. For instance, the group of commissioners led by Rey Magno Teves of Kusog Mindanao or Angelo "Gil" Abarico of the Mindanao Business Reporter or Mayor Mel Sarmiento of Calbayog City and of course our dear friend and fellow columnist in the Philippine Star Carmen "Chit" Pedrosa are batting for a shift to a Parliamentary/Federal system.

La Union Governor Victor Ortega (who told us that his father Gov. Joaquin Ortega, the first governor of La Union, came from Cebu) told us that he favored a Parliamentary/Federal system, which should be put in place within a ten-year transition period. If he has his way, Pres. Arroyo can finish her term and so will the 24 Senators. But there are those who believe that Pres. Arroyo should bow to the dictates of the new constitution, whatever would be ratified by the Filipino people.

On the other side of the equation, there's Biliran Mayor Gerry Espina Sr. who made a pitch for the retention of the Presidential system of government, making note that a Parliamentary system could produce what he calls a Parliamentary dictatorship by the majority party. He specifically pointed to the LDP of Japan, the Congress I party of India, political parties that have ruled their nations for so many years... they might as well be dictators of their own lands.

Well, today is a good opportunity for us who want real changes in our system of government to participate in this regional consultation through the workshops that would be created today. Whatever is the output of these workshops will certainly form part of the report of the concom to the president. At least, our voices can be heard with the concom.

One positive note was that, Chairman Pepe Abueva, Secretary General Lito Monico Lorenzana; Camiguin Governor Pedro Romualdo made pains to speak in Cebuano during the opening portion of the presscon. We've always believed that the present system of government has always been detrimental to all the spoken languages in the Philippines, except for Tagalog. From the way I size up the commissioners... I have a good feeling that the new draft constitution would now ensure the protection of all the spoken languages in this country... including Tagalog, which is slowly disappearing in favor of "Tag-lish".

As to the historical significance on why Cebu was chosen as the official launching pad for the concom... I guess we can blame this on the Cebuano "mafia" in the GMA Cabinet. But former Cebu governor Pabling Garcia spoke eloquently on this... that Cebu was at the beginning of the Philippines when Lapu-Lapu killed the first tourist... our only official victory against a foreign invader. Since then, Filipinos always celebrated all our defeats. With Cebu in the lead, we just might come up with a good constitution.

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