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Saturday, April 22, 2006
Carvajal: Charter change can wait
By Orlando P. Carvajal
There are some very crucial problems this country needs to solve, and can do so, even without Charter change.
These are the problems, for instance, that can be solved if President Arroyo and Congress acted on former Supreme Court chief justice Hilario Davide’s recommendations for electoral reforms.
The full report has not been made public but what we know looks good and shows a lot of promise if implemented, like the revamp of the Comelec, going back to the two-party system, penalty for turncoatism, to name a few.
To me, whatever can be done under the old constitution to revamp, reorganize and restructure the Comelec should be the first priority.
Corruption in the Comelec is at the very core of the corruption problem in the country. It is the mother of all corruption, so to speak, since it guarantees that this country will be ruled by corrupt officials who cheat during elections and later in office in order to recover their investment.
This country should not move any further until something is done about Davide’s recommendations. On one hand, we certainly do not need Charter change to implement some of Davide’s recommendations. On the other, no Charter change can help us if the electoral system, at the heart of which is the Comelec, continues to allow cheating politicians to get elected into office under any system of government.
Unfortunately, however, Davide’s report is already drifting towards limbo if it is not there already. First of all, the full report has not been released. And second of all, there is hardly any talk about what is going to be done about the major recommendations contained in the report.
After Malacañang commended Davide’s work, nothing has been heard about it. Why is such an important report by a very credible person being left to gather dust in some obscure corner of our collective consciousness?
Unfortunately for Filipinos, the answer would seem to be that our politicians, administration and opposition alike, do not want to preside over their own funeral because reforming the Comelec would mark the end of election by fraud. God knows how many officials owe their positions not to the people but to the Comelec.
Unfortunately also for Filipinos it is wishful thinking to expect Chairman Benjamin Abalos and company to resign out of a sense of honor and integrity, knowing that the Comelec at the moment has zero credibility.
Nevertheless, with or without Cha-cha, we all need to work somehow to transform the Comelec into a true and effective instrument of democracy. Somehow this has to happen first so honest but very often penniless leaders can get elected and move this country forward.
So, first things first: let’s revamp, reorganize and restructure the Comelec for a credible start. The Cha-cha can wait.
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (April 22, 2006 issue)
Write letter to the editor.Click here.
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