Reply to the President

Bayanko, unlike other movements, has not called for the resignation of President Aquino. We wanted to leave the door open to dialogue. This column emphasized this in previous articles in Philippine STAR.

 That is why we feel constrained to answer two recent statements the president made that his government was open to “sincere” talks.

We were pleasantly surprised when at the Philippine Military Academy graduation rites last March 15, he said, “If you are ready to talk sincerely, the State is open to reasonable and truthful dialogue.” In reply I again wrote in this column that “Bayanko welcomed this remark.”

He repeated this call recently in a luncheon he hosted for the men and women’s volleyball teams of Ateneo and La Salle at Malacanang.

He said, “Why don’t you look at what we are trying to do, and if we can improve, we are always ready to listen. And if we are wrong, please do point it out, we want to correct it.” He pointed specifically to the fight against corruption and poverty and said, “Let us stay together as a team.”

Now this is the language of humility. This is the language of reconciliation.

In a “sincere dialogue”, there will be much to talk about. As Alex Magno pointed out in his column, while the poverty rate improved under Ramos, Erap and GMA, it actually worsened under Cory and Noynoy.

The economy has done well, said Magno, thanks partly to the reforms undertaken by FVR and GMA like the Comprehensive Tax Reform and adoption of VAT.

Moreover, if the country’s credit rating has improved it is thanks to OFW remittances. On the other hand, the jobless rate is still one of the highest in Asean and foreign direct investments to the Philippines, a paltry $6 billion, represent less than two percent of the FDIs in the region. Vietnam receives ten times that amount.

There is also the issue of the Bangsamoro Basic Law which Bayanko, the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, the Association of Generals and Flag Officers of the armed forces, and many Filipinos oppose.

“The failure to reinforce the beleaguered SAF44 is criminal and goes against our sacred code as soldiers,” said Gen. Rodrigo Gutang, president of the Veteran Generals and Flag Officers Federation. “They were sacrificed to save the outrageous peace process that would railroad the Bangsamoro Basic Law.”

Bayanko’s position is a Bangsamoro federal state must be locked into a new Constitution where no federal state can unilaterally break out of the Republic without the consent by plebiscite of all Filipino voters. It must also be inclusive of all ethnic groups.

MILF’s Mohagher Iqbal said they would continue with the peace process even if they don’t get the BBL. In earlier messages to us, they said they would support a Bangsamoro federal state within a parliamentary federal system. The multi-billion financial package they expect to receive as a windfall from the peace process is the inducement they won’t go back to war.

The total mismanagement of the Mamasapano operation and the BBL led to the sharp drop in President Aquino’s popularity in the latest Pulse Asia survey, from 59 percent in November 2014 to 38 percent this month.

Our forefathers had in mind a parliamentary republic as the form of government. The 1899 Malolos Constitution, called “Constitucion politica,” was written in Spanish following the declaration of independence from Spain and was enacted and ratified by the Malolos Congress in Bulacan.

The 1935 Constitution was approved and adopted by the Commonwealth of the Philippines. It was largely modeled after the US Constitution to meet the approval of the US government. So it was imposed on us.

The 1973 Constitution was supposed to introduce a parliamentary form of government. It was promulgated after Ferdinand Marcos declared martial law. The president was meant to be elected as a symbolic and purely ceremonial head of state with the executive power being lodged in the prime minister, but this was amended by the Citizen Assemblies in 1976 to allow the president to become prime minister to exercise legislative powers until martial law was lifted.

The false parliamentary system was further amended in 1981 into a French-style semi-presidential system. The prime minister became a mere head of Cabinet with no real powers. His job was just to assist the president in the exercise of his powers and functions. The Marcos Constitution was really an authoritarian presidential system.

The 1987 Constitution was originally drafted as a parliamentary system, but it lost by one vote in the final debate. The result is a presidential form. Hence it has many contradictions.

Lee Kuan Yew, Prime Minister of Singapore, wrote, “In November 1992, I visited (Fidel Ramos). In private, Ramos said he agreed with me that British parliamentary-type constitutions worked better because the majority party in the legislature was also the government. Publicly, he had to differ.”

Mr. President, here is Bayanko’s constructive suggestion. As we have been saying all along, the problem of corruption and poverty is due to the rotten political system that needs to be changed. The system is dominated by rich oligarchs and family dynasties. It has left out the marginalized sectors of society who have no say in the national decision-making process despite being the majority.

Are you prepared to support constitutional change towards a parliamentary system that will give greater representation to the marginalized and a federal system that will give greater autonomy to the regions and provinces than just limiting it to the MILF?

Mr. President, the ball is in your court.

Bayanko’s partners are preparing an extensive program to disseminate information on a parliamentary federal system.

 The latest addition to the Executive Committee of our coalition is Ruben Torres.

A graduate of the University of the Philippines, he was a prominent student activist during and after martial law. He served as Secretary of Labor from 1990-92 under President Corazon C. Aquino and as Executive Secretary from 1995-98 under President Fidel V. Ramos.

He was instrumental in brokering a peace accord with the Muslim rebels in Mindanao.

Today he is the vice president of the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines.