No.

Longtime pollster Pulse Asia wanted to find out what Filipinos think or feel about Charter change (Cha-Cha). It asked 1,200 respondents last March 6-10, 2024. The 1,200 were a cross-section of adult Filipinos.

Should the 1987 Constitution be amended now?

The answer was a big NO. No yesterday. No today. No tomorrow. And perhaps no for a long, long time to come. It seems that when it comes to amending the Constitution, in whole or in small parts, No is forever.

To the question, “Should the 1987 Constitution be amended or not amended at this time” (underlined at this time), 88 percent of respondents said NO, SHOULD NOT BE AMENDED NOW. In capital letters.  Only 8 percent said “YES, the Constitution SHOULD BE amended now.” Unaided, 4 percent of respondents said “don’t know.”

That 88 of every 100 adult Filipinos don’t want the present Charter amended is as definite, declarative and assertive as our people can be. No ifs, no buts.

The NO sentiment is overwhelming nationwide – in all regions – 81 percent in the National Capital Region (NCR), 89 percent in the rest of Luzon main island, 85 percent in the Visayas and a whopping 91 percent in Mindanao; and across all income classes – 82 percent No in high and middle income ABC, 87 percent among the D and a startling 93 percent among the poorest of families, the E income bracket.

To the question “No, the Constitution should not be amended now, nor any other time, the response was also overwhelmingly negative – 74 percent No nationwide to any amendments at “any other time;” 72 percent in NCR, 73 percent in Balance of Luzon, 69 percent in the Visayas and 82 percent in Mindanao; 58 percent among the ABC classes, 75 percent among the D and 80 among the E.

Filipinos think our Constitution should be immutable, impervious to the vagaries of time, political temper and technology.

It is as if Filipinos are mired in a constitutional quicksand and are just happy with it, munching their favorite Jollibee burger or Mang Inasal chicken, or lining up for the ayuda for the poor and near-poor.

Why the massive objection to constitutional amendments when those are supposed to open up the economy further and generate more investments which in turn would create more jobs, more economic opportunities and a better life for all?

Answer: People don’t understand the issues. In fact, people don’t know what is the Constitution. People hate the unknown, hate uncertainty.

And if I may add, people don’t like our politicians generally. They are suspicious of the political power holders who are moving hammer and tongs to fine-tune the 38-year-old basic law of the land.

Three of every four adult Filipinos do not know anything about the Constitution. Nationwide, a gargantuan 75 percent of respondents admitted having “little or no knowledge” of the 1987 Charter.

The ignorance, feigned or otherwise, is overwhelming across all regions – 75 percent in NCR, 75 percent in Balance of Luzon, 77 percent in the Visayas and 71 percent in Mindanao; and across all income classes – 67 percent among the ABC income class, 75 percent among the D and 77 percent among the E lowest income class.

Such large-scale ignorance about the Charter is ironic. The same basic law was ratified by three of every four Filipinos or 77 percent of the 21.7 million Filipinos who participated in the 1986 plebiscite.

Surely, the bulk of Filipinos who OK’d the Constitution in 1986 were represented in the Pulse Asia March 6-10 poll of adults. The nation suffers from constitutional amnesia, an erosion of memory of nearly four decades.

What to do then?

Well, for President Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos Jr. and his cousin, House Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez, the chief proponents of Charter change, they have a lot of explaining to do – to the people.

Explain: Why amend the Constitution? What are the specific amendments? Why are they good amendments? What benefits will Charter changes bring to the people? Will they solve inflation, or solve the rice shortage, the high prices of electricity, the high price of telco services, the slowness of the internet, the traffic gridlock and, overall, the corruption and incompetence in government?  Obviously, the answer to these question is – No.

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May I express my prayers and condolences for the untimely passing of a good friend, Elpi O. Cuna Jr., the epitome of the public relations professional and the philosopher broadcaster-commentator. Elpi passed away April 3, 2024 following a lingering illness. He was 86.

I met Elpi when he was PR executive of the Lopezes at Meralco where he was vice president and, later on, when he worked as PR consultant for the late San Miguel Corp. chair Eduardo “Danding” Cojuangco and, until this year, of SMC president Ramon S. Ang.

Elpi was active as a governor of the Manila Overseas Press Club (MOPC), Asia’s oldest and most prestigious press club, and as the spark plug in the Philippines of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC), the San Francisco-based global network of communications professionals.

Elpi was one professional who profoundly understood the work of newsmen like us while at the same time, managing with elan and grace, the image and public posture of among the biggest and most powerful and often most difficult to deal with (in terms of being publicity-shy and in whom business secrecy was a defining strategy) tycoons of this country.

With Elpi in Heaven, I am not sure if the Lord will need his services, what with two major wars, Ukraine-Russia and Israel-Hamas, and geopolitical tensions that put into stark relief man’s inhumanity to man, and nations’ inhumanity to other nations.

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Email: [email protected]