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Monday, May 08, 2006
Cha-cha movers confident of new system
LOCAL leaders of a group backing the proposed shift from the current bicameral presidential form of government to a unicameral parliamentary system are optimistic that the country will have a new system of government before the end of the year.
Former South Cotabato governor Hilario de Pedro III, regional coordinator of the Sigaw ng Bayan Movement, said their group has set the months of September to December this year as the official timetable for the conclusion of the ongoing people's initiative for the proposed Charter change.
"We're hoping to wind up all the necessary actions, especially on the likely legal questions, by September so we could finally set the proposed changes in motion before December," de Pedro said at a forum on Charter change in Koronadal City.
He said they set the timetable to counter the claims repeatedly raised by their critics that the initiative is just part of Malacañang's moves to protect President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo tenure amid the mounting calls for her resignation.
De Pedro said the group's primary concern is to make sure that the country's long delayed shift to a parliamentary system of government would finally take place.
"The time frame clearly shows that we have no hidden agenda. We're not out to block the impeachment case or planning to perpetuate the political ambitions of some personalities," de Pedro said.
He urged the public not to equate Sigaw ng Bayan with House Speaker Jose de Venecia "who may have his own agenda" regarding the proposed Charter change.
"I have to admit that the claims linking us to Speaker de Venecia and the President have been giving us some headaches. So I am asking the people to just focus on our proposals and not on any personality," he said.
De Pedro reiterated that Sigaw ng Bayan, which he described as a confederation of Charter change advocates led by the Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines (Ulap), is not directly linked in any way with the government and has been pushing the proposed Constitutional amendments on its own.
To prove his point, de Pedro said, he had resigned as member of the administration party Lakas-Christian and Muslim Democrats. (Allen V. Estabillo)
For Bisaya stories from General Santos.Click here. (This section is updated every Monday)
(May 8, 2006 issue)
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