Wednesday, July 05, 2006
Group claims Cha-cha deceptive
By Rachel M. Nessia
THE chairman of the Charter change (Cha-cha) Advocacy Commission denounced as "all lies" the statement of the One Voice Movement, an anti-Cha-cha group, that the People's Initiative to rush the Cha-cha was a "deception."
"It seems that they look down on the people as lacking discernment and lacking judgment on the issue of Charter change," Dr. Jose Abueva, former president of the University of the Philippines, told a jampacked symposium Monday at Negros Oriental State University (Norsu).
Abueva was reacting to the challenge of the new anti-Cha-cha group published in major national newspapers.
One Voice condemned the move to shift the form of government from presidential to parliamentary.
He noted that of the 80 signatories that supported the group's anti-Cha-cha campaign, 15 were from the religious sector.
The movement had asserted that the country does not need to change its form of government to solve the woes plaguing the country.
"But what has this current form of government brought us? Until now we haven't solved the country's worst problems," Abueva argued.
He said the country continues to suffer from poverty, unemployment, political instability, threats of coup d'etat, and others.
Abueva said the country's electoral process is "corrupting" and costly.
"Under our proposal, we'll do away with the election and have a unicameral parliament that will be more efficient in implementing and passing laws," he said.
Abueva said that One Voice's allegations that the rushing of the People's Initiative was a 'deception' as false.
"Never before in the history of the Philippines have we consulted the people (on Charter change) as (much as) we are consulting them now," he said.
He said that public fora and nationwide consultations have already been happening long before the pro Cha-cha group Sigaw ng Bayan launched the initiative.
'Cha-cha now, not later'
In the same symposium, lawyer Raul Lambino, spokesperson of Sigaw ng Bayan and convener of People's Initiative, described the current form of government in the country as degenerated and has not met the needs of the people.
Around 5,000 students, faculty, and staff of Norsu and its satellite campuses turned up at the symposium to listen to pro-Cha-cha leaders Abueva, Lambino, and Ambassador Jose Romero, Jr., and anti-Cha-cha representative lawyer Andrew Icao of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines Negros Oriental chapter.
Norsu president Dr. Henry Sojor organized the symposium as part of the 2nd Charter Anniversary celebration of the state university.
Lambino said things could only turn worse if the country would not institute reforms to strengthen its democratic institutions.
"Ten years from now, if we don't change this degenerated form of government, even East Timor would surpass us," he said.
(July 2, 2006 issue)
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