Thursday, September 01, 2005
Let's chart our own destiny
By Chito R. Gavino III
FIRST, let's pray the favorite prayer of our friend Rey Magno Teves, National Convenor of the Citizens' Movement for a Federal Philippines and other federalists:
Disturb us, O Lord
"Disturb us, O Lord,
when, with the abundance of things we possess
when our dreams have come true because we dreamed too little;
when we have arrived in safety because we sailed too close to the shore
"Disturb us, O Lord,
when, with the abundance of things we possess
we have lost our thirst for the water of life;
when, having fallen in love with Time, we have ceased to dream Eternity;
and in our efforts to build the new earth have
allowed our vision for the New Heaven to
grow dim.
"Stir us, O Lord, to dare more boldly,
to venture on wider seas, where storms shall
show Thy Mastery
where, losing sight of land we shall
find the stars,
"In the Name of Him Who pushed back the horizons
of our hopes and invited the brave
to follow Him.
Amen."
Inspiring, "di ba?" Yes, today many Filipinos dream "to little" and sail "to close to the shore." In this time of chaos in our country, we must "dare more boldly" to win our future. Let's not be so "wishy-washy" and be overtaken by events. Let's take calculated risks. Let's "grab the bull by its horns" so to speak and be masters of our own fate!
***
Finally, a great number of Filipinos, especially our elected local government officials, have awakened to the merits of the federal system. They've, at last, realized the many harms brought about by our present obsolete and unresponsive highly centralized government known as Unitary System. Thus, these people want to adopt, and rightly so, in the earliest possible time, the Federal System in the country. But this can only be achieved if members of our Congress - Senators and representatives - agree to undertake an honest-to-goodness Charter Change or Cha-Cha.
Social surveys undertaken before the 2004 elections, showed that a big majority of Filipinos were for Cha-Cha. Unfortunately, recent social surveys indicated a change of hearts/minds in our people anent Cha-Cha. Majority now of Filipinos are not keen on doing the Cha-Cha. Perhaps because of the ongoing political crisis besetting our present administration, this adversely affects the hearts/minds of many Filipinos concerning Cha-Cha.
But let's not be deterred by this problem. Bear in mind that in every problem there's always a corresponding solution. And as a famous adage goes: "Crisis is an opportunity for greatness." Hence, let's think how we can overcome this predicament.
I think that if our people will see that President Gloria and members of our Congress are really serious and sincere in pursuing an honest-to-goodness Cha-Cha that will truly benefit the greater majority of Filipinos, chances are that there will again be a change of hearts/minds of many of those negative to Cha-Cha and support it in the end.
Our people must first learn to separate the impeachment case from the Cha-Cha issue. I know that this is not easy to do especially for anti-Gloria people. However, if their love for our country will be great, their anger with President Gloria, hopefully, will not be a barrier in our pursuit of Cha-Cha.
The tougher question is: How will President Gloria and the members of our Congress convince our people that they are really serious and sincere in pursuing an honest-to-goodness Cha-Cha?" On their own, I doubt very much if they can do it. Then what should be done?
The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) should enter the picture. They must because it's their moral duty for the lives of all Filipinos are affected by whether we do the Cha-Cha or not - whether we adopt a Federal System or not. The CBCP met and made their united stand apropos the controversies facing President Gloria to the point of even recommending the creation of the Truth Commission. The Cha-Cha issue is undoubtedly, more important to the future of the Filipino people. Thus, regarding this matter, the CBCP must lend again its helping hands to our elected national leaders who continue to quarrel like undisciplined children at the expense of our people. Furthermore, our citizens trust the CBCP. How will CBCP do this? Let's leave this to our good bishops for they know better how to handle this thing.
Our CBCP should assist in resolving the tough-nut issues of: 1) Should we undertake Cha-Cha next year or not?; 2)If not, when then?; and 3) When we do the Cha-Cha , should it be via Constitutional Convention (Con-Con) or Constitutional Assembly (Con-Ass)? Please members of the CBCP, help our national political leaders on this for the sake of our people. Please dialogue with then on this crucial issue. Let's hear your respected voice anent this question on Cha-Cha.
Together, then, let's "venture on wider seas" of Constitutional reforms. "Be not afraid." Our ray of hope for the country is a Federal System. No Cha-Cha, no Federal System. With no federal System, our crisis situation will persist that would lead to violent change. It is very dangerous to allow this highly centralized government system doing a lot of harm to our people continue.
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