The cha-cha vis-à-vis the Four-Way Test

The Rotarians' excellent template for correct decision-making can subject the proposed cha-cha to the famous Four-Way Test, and by it can be exposed as a very bad, untruthful, damaging, divisive, and useless exercise that produces more harm than good to the country, to the government and to the people. The only conscientious response to it is rejection, and exposure of its callous, treacherous, and devious proponents.

First and foremost, is it the truth? Is this really a peoples' initiative or the hideous schemes and machinations of untruthful politicians with hidden agenda and devilish motives? I strongly submit that the people are not the true architects of this Trojan horse, The people are merely being used by a number of trapos to lend a semblance of mass support to this surreptitious concoction by the greedy, partisan, and highly-prejudiced proponents both in the Lower House and the Senate (mostly from the House) and abetted, even instigated by the speaker himself who has shown his true colors before the Filipino people. This proposal cannot and will not pass the first Rotarian test of truth.

Second, is the cha-cha beneficial to the Filipinos? Will the people derive any advantage by its passage? Will the peoples' lives become better, happier, and more prosperous? What would be the fruits of this initiative? The answer is none. There will be no benefit to the Filipinos. On the contrary, the people will stand to lose substantially and tremendously. Only the foreign investors, most probably the Chinese, will stand to benefit from any charter change. The people will most probably lose what they currently own and possess. For this reason alone, this proposed tinkering of our fundamental law should be rejected.

Third, is this cha-cha fair to all concerned? The answer is a big “no”. It is, on the contrary, unfair to the Filipino people when their national patrimony, their lands, their natural resources, both terrestrial and marine, fluvial, and aerial can be and will be acquired by 100% foreign owners who could exploit, use, and even abuse them, and alienate what we used to have beyond our control. The cha-cha can only bring misery and further exacerbation of our peoples' poverty, marginalization and powerlessness. The people will stand to lose our ancestral domains, our properties and possessions. The cha-cha is indeed far from being beneficial to the Filipinos.

Fourth, will the proposed cha-cha promote goodwill and unity among the Filipino people? No, definitely not. It will divide the people, instead. The cha-cha is a divisive tactic instigated perhaps by the Chinese in order to foment trouble among ourselves and distract us from the West Philippine Sea. The cha-cha is not a unifying intervention. In fact, it is a fragmenting tactic. The people are bound to bicker, fight, and quarrel on the issue of tinkering with the fundamental law. The current Constitution was ratified by an overwhelming majority of the Filipinos, much more than those who voted to ratify the Constitution of 1935. The ratification of the 1973 Charter was rigged under the regime of a martial law dictator. And so, why change this overwhelmingly ratified fundamental law?

Therefore, the only logical, conscientious and righteous response to cha-cha is to reject it in its totality. There is no other option. There is no ifs and no buts. The people should reject this Trojan horse and expose the traitors who are betraying the public trust.