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Saturday, April 08, 2006
Carvajal: Brazen is the word
By Orlando P. Carvajal
Presidential Spokesman Bunye declares Malacañang unfazed by unfavorable surveys, firm in its belief that the majority are tired of politics and would like President Arroyo to move on with her programs.
Be that as it may, it still does not give them the license to brazenly exploit the people’s poverty and ignorance in pushing for Charter change through a people’s initiative, which is clearly now a presidential initiative designed to give Arroyo a graceful exit.
Things work slowly in a democracy and for a purpose---to get the widest participation of all concerned. If something happens too fast it can only be because somebody is acting more of a de facto dictator in a theoretical democracy like what the Philippines is about to become if it is not yet that already.
If Charter change is going to do us any good, it is crucial that Filipinos perceive it as indubitably the wish of the majority. Both the manner by which we will change our Constitution and its content revisions must be openly discussed and agreed upon after patiently taking in all sides of the issue.
Any hint of steamrolling will do more harm than good. The slightest shadow of doubt as to the acceptability of both method and content will work against the stability of our country. Yet we do not have just a hint of a steamrolling.
We do not just have a shadow of doubt. We have a brazen attempt by PGMA and her cohorts to steamroll Charter change and we have a firm conviction, not a doubt, that their purpose is just to give the President a graceful exit and protect her from any court action.
We need more than three months to first identify provisions in the Constitution that are either causing us serious problems in our life as a nation or tying our hands down and preventing us from effectively solving our problems.
We need more than three months to work together to come up with alternatives or revisions and explain how each alternative or revision would solve the problem or problems that the corresponding old provisions have caused.
It’s only after this that we can ask the people to decide whether they want to change the Charter or not or, if they do want change, how they want the change to come about and what are the main changes they want made in the fundamental law of the land.
This country is in a sorry state because our leaders lord it over us and do not listen to us. This has to change and the change should start even now with the way we go about changing our Constitution…under conditions of optimum participation by all sectors of society.
Yet now they are not only rushing they are also less than candid about it. It seems that the signatures they gathered were not for a petition but for a questionnaire. What next?
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (April 8, 2006 issue)
Write letter to the editor.Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board.Click here. |
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