Thursday, August 14, 2008 Espinoza: Cha-cha through Con-Con By Elias L. Espinoza Free Zone
INSTEAD of promoting peace, the failed Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) that would have provided the Bangsamoro with a juridical entity and an “ancestral domain” has become a source of serious conflict.
Because of the opposition by some sectors to the MOA and after the Supreme Court stopped its signing, intense firefights between government forces and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in the provinces of North Cotabato and Basilan broke out.
Members of the peace panel who concocted the MOA should answer to the public for their indiscretion when they recommended that some areas in Mindanao should be lopped off to form part of the proposed Bangsamoro Juridical Entity (BJE).
Hermogenes Esperon, retired Armed Forces chief and head of the peace panel, misread the people’s sentiments. He and the panel members must have thought they could fool us as well as the Bangsamoro.
The panel also failed to reckon with the true nature of some Muslim rebels. Consider that even before the MOA could be signed, the MILF drove out Christians in the hinterlands of North Cotabato.
Seizing the opportunity to solve the long-drawn conflict in Mindanao, President Arroyo strongly endorsed Charter change (Cha-cha) and a shift to federalism, with the current 11 regions to be created as states.
The proposed 11 federal states, called "centers of finance and development," are Northern Luzon, Central Luzon, Southern Tagalog, Bicol, Minparom (Mindoro, Palawan and Romblon), Eastern Visayas, Central Visayas, Western Visayas, Northern Mindanao, Southern Mindanao and the Bangsamoro State.
Malacañang’s endorsement of Cha-cha is timely. This could ease the conflict between government forces and the MILF since a Bangsamoro State is proposed. This approach is better than the BJE idea that Esperon’s panel offered to the Bangsamoro.
“Lopsided arrangement has spawned a host of problems, including massive nationwide poverty to runaway insurgencies and rebellions that feed on the social inequalities in the nation,” said Sen. Aquilino Pimentel in a resolution.
Critics should give President Arroyo the benefit of the doubt as it was Pimentel, her critic, who authored the proposal in the Senate for a shift to a federal form of government.
That she would be able to extend her term as President after the Constitution is changed is not possible because by that time her term would have already expired.
A new constitution may not prohibit Arroyo from running as House of Representative or senator in her state but this is a matter of decency. Why would a former president settle for a legislative post?
Under the present condition, the shift to a federal system would get the nod of majority of Filipinos. A federal system of government is appropriate for us because of our geographical setup.
Since the plan is for a total overhaul of the 1978 Constitution, it should be done through a Constitutional Convention (Con-Con) and not through a Constituent Assembly (Con-Ass).
Con-Ass can perhaps act on the matter faster than a Con-Con does since in the latter the delegates will still be elected. But the people, through the Con-Con delegates, will be well-represented in the crafting of the new constitution.
