While the majority of the Filipino voters are scratching their heads pondering whom they should vote for in the 2016 Presidential Elections, there's a very small minority amongst us, notably, retired Supreme Court Justice Reynato Puno who has come out in the open to ask Congress to pass a law allowing for the nomination of delegates to a Constitutional Convention (Con-con) together with the May 9, 2016 elections.
Actually, last month, a movement called "Bagong Sistema, Bagong Pag-asa was formed calling upon our legislators to allow charter change through a Con-con and prescribing the manner of election and selection of delegates. This is what former SC Chief Justice Reynato Puno revealed in his keynote address at the Club Filipino, in San Juan City entitled, "Securing the Country's Future: A Summit for Change." Amongst his audience in that forum were former Senate Pres. Aquilino Pimentel, Jr., former Budget Secretary Salvador Enriquez, Jr. and former Vice Pres. Teofisto Guingona, Jr.
If you ask me, this is what we've been calling for in the last ten years, to embark on charter changes for the betterment of the Filipino nation simply because the present presidential-unitary form of government, which is highly centralized, is not the best system for our country because of our present realities that we have a diverse culture, language, and geography.
As Puno pointed out, "We have a government where power is titled too much in favor of the Executive. Consequently, almost all our presidents have been the subject of impeachment, but nobody has been successfully impeached. One president has been convicted of a major crime. Another president is in jail for a non-bailable offense. Our democracy collapsed under one president. Second, there seems to be a deadlock between the Legislative and Executive Branches of the government. Not frequently, Congress will wield its power to investigate in aid of legislation. It will summon the President's men suspected of violating laws of the land to embarrass the administration."
I met former Chief Justice Puno here in Cebu a couple of years ago and our minds seem to connect on the ills of our country, starting with the 1987 Constitution, which was created right after the EDSA Revolution. But in the end, despite the Martial Law "hangover" that permeated the thoughts of the pro-Cory Aquino constitutionalists that hammered the 1987 Constitution, they inadvertently created a Constitution that made the Executive Branch more powerful that it used to be.
Puno went on to say, "We are a basket case. No wonder countries are now throwing their trash in our backyard. We stink! Something must be rotten in our democracy." That snide remark was clearly in disgust when the news broke out that Canada was exporting its garbage to the Philippines… something that we don't need because we literally have mountains of garbage around our metro cities.
Former Chief Justice Puno went on saying "We have a judiciary where too much is expected, yet too little is given. The impeachment of a Chief Justice shows how unequal is the Supreme Court to its political counterparts, an inequality that mocks its role as guardian of our Constitution and as bastion of the rights of the people." Clearly this statement was in reference to the "Conviction" of former SC Chief Justice Renato Corona for his "misdeclaration" of his Statement of Assets and Liability (SALN). We share his sentiment on what happened to CJ Corona… more so that three of the senators who convicted him are now languishing in jail for corruption charges.
Then Puno went on to criticize the creation of the Commission on Audit, the Civil Service Commission, the Human Rights Commission, and the Ombudsman saying, "We are the only country that has put these offices on the constitutional pedestal. No country has constitutionalized so many offices in our Constitution."
This statement is something new to me. I always thought that these offices should be Constitutional offices. But take a good look at the COA… they are supposed to be the guardians of the taxpayer's money, yet despite their stringent measures to ensure that the people's money do not get stolen, we are tagged as one of the most corrupt countries in the world!
So now the ball is in the court of Congress whether they would agree with the idea of former Chief Justice Puno to call for charter changes by electing the delegates of the Con-Con together with the presidential elections in 2016. In my book, this is quite timely because in doing so, we can have a Con-Con together with a new administration who cannot be chided for trying to change the constitution to benefit them. I end this discussion with the same line I have been saying for the past many years… that the Philippines is a 69-year-old bus which ran well for a time. But today it is old and decrepit and the passenger's only question is, "who is our next driver?" What we need is a new bus…not a new driver! Change the system now!
* * *
For email responses to this article, write to vsbobita@mozcom.com or vsbobita@gmail.com. His columns can be accessed through www.philstar.com.