Yesterday, the headlines of the Philippine Star declared, "President Aquino to do the right thing on Cha-Cha--Palace." There we go again, those Palace Rasputins notably Edwin Lacierda is obviously confused because as he said during a press briefing Pres. PNoy will do the right thing when it comes to Charter change and term extension after consultations with the people."
Apparently this was in reaction to the article of constitutional expert Fr. Joaquin Bernas who wrote and told the President that six years is long enough and that he must give way to other good people. Lacierda then pointed out "The President has, again, not made any moves. He's just in the consultation stage so let's just wait for the decision of the President. And if there's one thing that I'd like to impart to the Filipino people, you know, the President has kept faith with the Filipino people for the past four years. We ask you to trust that the President will do the right thing."
An ordinary Filipino trying to decipher Lacierda's thoughts on this particular issue would end up saying, "Hmmm, if PNoy would now do the right thing in Cha-Cha…therefore one can surmise that PNoy wasn't doing the right thing in his previous pronouncements!" A few days ago, Lacierda got into trouble because of a statement that PNoy made in Tagalog…and he ended up misquoting the President and he admitted that he was not fluent in Tagalog.
Again this should give you an idea that people in the Malacañang communications team should allow those Tagalog speakers to interpret what the President said or meant… and if Lacierda doesn't speak the Tagalog language fluently, he should step aside and let someone interpret what the President pointed out. For you Cebuanos out there… just think that if a person like Mr. Lacierda who probably comes from Manila cannot even be fluent in the Tagalog language…how much more for us Cebuanos?
So back to this "Good" that PNoy promises to do with Cha-Cha. First of all, I'm foursquare against this Congress arrogating upon itself to amend the 1987 Constitution simply because the Filipino people have lost their faith in their respective congressmen and women. Until and unless every single congressman or senator named in the Janet Napoles Lim files are indicted and incarcerated… the reputation of this Congress is tainted or in tatters. So why should we allow them to mess with our Constitution?
In my book, the Philippine Constitution should only be amended through a constitutional convention via duly elected delegates who should not come from the political class. Then there's the question of that consultation that Mr. Lacierda is talking about. What consultation can the Aquino Regime do in the last two years of his reign? If you ask me, this is a delaying tactic designed to ensure that PNoy finishes his term.
But can he really finish his term when Congress has approved three of the four-impeachment complaints against him? Hmmm, I would like to believe that this time around, Congress is trying to show to the Filipino people that they would not railroad the impeachment proceedings like they did for the impeachment of former Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona whom they impeached in just an hour's discussion.
With that impeachment like a sword of Damocles over the head of Pres. PNoy, even though I still believe that this Congress would never impeach him… I doubt if PNoy can do anything good for the rest of his term. Meanwhile a new crisis is in the offing. If by chance this Congress decides to impeach PNoy, his successor Vice Pres. Jejomar Binay cannot take over the post as our new President for the simple reason that he too is being charged with corruption in that Makati Office and Parking building.
Yes, two good friends of mine who are in the construction business intimated to me that the figures that the Makati officials presented during the Senate Blue Ribbon committee proves that the building is really overpriced. Indeed for an 11-story building to cost P2.3 billion, it's a no brainer. But the Binays mistakenly thought that no one would dare cross them. They are the powers-that-be in Makati.
Well, aside from Atty. Rene Bondal who came to Cebu to explain the reasons why he has filed a corruption case against the Vice President, the Inquirer headline last Wednesday screamed, "Binay made money from Makati building." That statement apparently came from Binay's former Vice Mayor Ernesto Mercado who implied that he made money from Phase 1 and Phase 2 of the car park project. Then he went on to say that if he the vice mayor made money from that project…how much more for the mayor? Indeed, tales of corruption of the Binays have become legendary. We heard that for getting building permits approved for condos, the developers have to shell out units for the Binays. All these things will surface with the Truth Commission.