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Friday, April 28, 2006
Ledesma: The senators are coming!
By Jun Ledesma
Sunbursts
THE latest is that the senators, once they come back from their junkets abroad, will fan out to the provinces to campaign against the Cha-cha. I thought I heard the senators say that Charter change will never ever happen because it will not have their imprimatur. Now they are saying that as soon as they come back from their foreign trips they will start with their campaign sorties to hinder the people's initiative (PI) to gather signatures that has backstopped the move for Cha-cha should this be contested in the Supreme Court.
The way things are going, the PI has gathered more than the necessary number of signatures to support the move to amend the constitution.
There is more than meets the eye in this exercise. The statistics says that those who want a shift from the present structure of the government to unicameral parliamentary has dramatically increased from a low of 20 percent to a high of 43 percent. This cannot just be ignored. Given the fact that the local government units, business organizations and civic institutions are now openly working for the number that would send a loud noise for the people's initiative, neither the nonchalant Senate or the High Court can just ignore the cry.
It is interesting to hear that now the senators have made known their intention to campaign in the provinces and cities against the people's initiative and charter change, a tacit admission that they're not sure their stand against Cha-cha can be sustained by the Supreme Court. Before this, the senators were pooh-poohing the initiative as irrelevant. I suspect that the senators are now afraid the figures will go beyond the 50% support and in effect render the Senate irrelevant. But the more significant aspect here is that knowing that charter change is in fact the centerpiece of GMA's political agenda from the start she campaigned for the presidency, the bigger the number of people supporting the change the happier the President can be. For obvious reasons. The Senate which is at loggerheads with the President and the Lower House will definitely be not comfortable with this development as this would make them the villain.
So expect the senators, who are hardly seen in the provinces and cities after they got elected, to be visible this time. At least they will get to know that major roads and bridges that have not been accomplished in past administrations are now finished.
Their other predicament is that they might do their thing alone. A large majority of the local government officials are for constitutional amendments so expect the Senators to be getting embarrassingly lukewarm reception by the LGUs. Of course there are a handful of opposition governors and mayors. Add to that the ubiquitous militant groups who fortunately hardly matter these days as their sound and fury have become a dead monotone.
In Davao City for example, Mayor Rodrigo Duterte had made known to all and sundry that he supports the peoples' initiative and he underlines his reasons why. Yonder Mt. Apo, the great divide between Davao City and Cotabato, Gov. Manny Pinol is vocal about his support for the PI. The rest of the political leaders in the Davao provinces supports the initiative. I have my reservations though with the Bautista domain in Davao del Sur, although Dodo Cagas is definetely not a pushover.
Maybe the senators will have a kind reception in General Santos City and in South Cotabato but then again it will be a different story in Sultan Kudarat and Maguindanao. If they think that Cagayan de Oro City will be hospitable to them because Senator Nene Pimentel is from there, they better think again. Well, Mayor Celso Lobregat of Zamboanga City might spread a red carpet for them.
BTW, Davao City will be sending a team of taekwondo players to Manila to compete in the New Face Taekwondo Tournament sponsored by the Philippines Taekwondo Association. The event will be on May 7-8. Only players who have not participated in any national taekwondo competition will be allowed to participate. Our boys and girls had been training daily in their quest to bring home the gold and honors for Davao City. Let's cheer for them.
For Bisaya stories from Davao. Click here. (April 28, 2006 issue)
Write letter to the editor.Click here.
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