Daghang salamat

As soon as we arrived at our first stop – Cebu – I was warned not to speak Tagalog during the consultations. Cebuanos were very sensitive to the language problem and were unhappy when Tagalog as Pilipino was adopted as the national language. Since I was Tagala, I talked in English and the more colloquial Taglish to communicate on Charter change to the people who came to our consultations. Despite that, I was astonished by their level of political awareness. They engaged us with the same questions that would have been asked if it were in Manila. Curiously, we faced the same criticisms as well. Let me tackle just one of the more important issues which came up.

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Were we merely rubber stamp of President GMA? The Panay News in Iloilo, for example had a front page story saying "Cha-cha is Arroyo’s Survival Tool – Bayan". The leftist Bayan-Panay group distributed a paper which said among other things that the Filipino people will end up on the losing end if the 1987 Constitution is changed. It cited figures of Ibon Foundation (another leftist survey group) which said that 59.74 percent of the people rejected the proposal of the Arroyo administration and only 20.42 percent are amenable to it.The rest of the paper did more harm to them than to us by condemning ‘rotten politics and politicians and the same greedy ruling class.’ It is a familiar leftist refrain. ‘Their personal and vested interests will still prevail over the interest of the majority of the impoverished Filipinos’ it added. Yet, the same Bayan group crowded the dialogue on economic provisions and rejected economic reforms that would bring better lives to the poor. That being said, let me add what an Indian writer said about Communists in their midst "they seem to delight in being poor and keeping India poor. It is in their DNA to say no to everything good since they smell a conspiracy and imperial hand everywhere." These men need to be shipped out to Cuba or perhaps even North Korea. They have no business in messing things up in a country which is just about getting its acttogether. Thee consultations encountered this tired leftist harangue and I expect we will hear more of it in the days to come as we pursue charter change.

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The problem is when the left combines with the ruling class, the church and other do-gooders. The nature of its destructive propensity is hidden in pious acts (as in praying at mass) and slogans. Look and listen. They were in Manila and they were in Iloilo and Davao, now and at other times before. Each time we seek reforms be sure they will be there to set up roadblocks at every turn. Happily, the rest of those who participated in the discussions ignored them. I received a text saying their fronts will follow us everywhere we went. All this is to say there were rough spots but they were not insurmountable. Why do we put with such nonsensical faultfinding? The most useful questions came from ordinary men and women with no agenda but seek to clarify in their minds what the shift would mean. They asked what would replace the separation of powers as check and balance in the presidential system, when we shift to parliamentary? This was a learned question but it came from someone, perhaps unlearned, but with common sense. They listened intently when told that other parliamentary governments have devised instruments of check and balance other than the separation of powers. An independent constitutional court, serial referendums, a strong media presence in parliament (they are called lobby correspondents in the UK) among others besides the inbred check and balance between the political parties. They understood when told we will have to devise our own institutions of check and balance or as Concom Commissioner Pabling Garcia put it among Cebuanos we do not have to choose between asukal or (was it panocha or niyog), we can have bukayo. They laughed and clapped when told we can have parliamentary ‘filipino style.’ But first we have to face the problem of gridlock in the presidential system which has immobilized government. Sure, there was a time when the separation of powers worked but in time it deteriorated into habitual opposition and ultimately gridlock. It is not even bad government. It is no government. Having tackled the problem of gridlock we should then refine the institutions of governance to take the place of the separation of powers. This kind of thinking may have escaped our so-called learned politicians but here was a humble man willing to wrest with the problem before us. At the end of the workshop on form of government, the sense of the group went to a shift to parliamentary government, zero opposition and three abstentions.

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There were too many people to thank for the success of the consultations than could fit in this column. Moreover, I was in discussion and workshop panels to be able to write all those we met. This is just by way of letting you know how much we appreciated meeting all of you. I hope that in the days to come, we will continue what we started there and that you will pursue with your own consultations. We may have met only a few people, most of them local officials and sectoral representatives. Bring the topic to the barber shop. That puts the onus on those with whom we consulted. You are all consultative commissioners now. Make use of what you heard and saw and pass it on to those who were not present and those we will not be able to reach. Bring the issue to the barber shop. It is not enough to criticize or deprecate these attempts for a better constitution for a better nation. Each must share the responsibility to get the nation talking about charter change and what it can do for our country. Daghang salamat to: Gov. Gwen Garcia, Mayor Tomas Osmeña, George P. Arnaiz, Sam Costanilla, Vincent Piccio, Ramon Jalipa, Rogelio P. Radaza, Mabel Sunga-Acosta, Jesus Zozobrado, Rogelio Antalan, Virgilio Leyretana, Federick San Felix, Efren Elbanbuena, Fr. Pete Lamata, Luis Bonguyan, Gov. Sally Perez, Wennie G. Sancho, Annblyth Tia, James Ngloban, Tipin Juanero, Dominic Sanchez, Niel Papas, Mila Cabanit, Glenn Luzon of Cebu, Mayor Gerry Trenas, Fr. Robert Amalay, Lina Ortiz, Rafael Coscolluela, Janet Mesa, Ruby Plagata, Vivian Vargas, Helen Elisanan, Cesar Pablo, Maribel Montana of Iloilo, Mayor Rogelio P. Antalan, Pearly Bandayanon, Riz Castanaga, Marites Cabuenas, Patricia Guioguio, Teodita Iranon, of Davao, To the newspapers who covered the consultations: The New Visayas Tribune of Iloilo, Daily Informer (Nina Jane Souribio), The News Today of Iloilo, The Guardian of Western Visayas, (Francis Allan L. Angelo), Panay News (David Israel Sinay), and our very own Bobbit Avila (STAR columnist) and The Freeman (of The Philippine STAR Group of Companies) in Cebu.

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My e-mail is [email protected]