IT LOOKS like House Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is doing what she has been expected to do—as the better spearhead of the traditional politicians (trapo) in the lower chamber than the departed Pantaleon Alvarez. She and her minions drafted a draft federal constitution of their dreams—one without an anti-dynasty provision and without term limits—and want Congress to approve it hastily.
The other day, the House approved on second reading Resolution of Both Houses (RBH) 15, its draft of the proposed federal constitution, through viva voce. Plenary debates lasted for only three session days, which shows the eagerness of the trapos to pass the draft charter of their dreams.
Rep. Vicente Veloso, head of the House panel on constitutional amendments, said they are targeting to pass RBH 15 on third and final reading by February or March 2019. That’s around two months before the May 2019 mid-term elections. Again, that shows the eagerness of the trapos to pass the draft charter of their dreams.
The measure, though, would have a hard time sailing through the Senate. The term the senators use for that is “dead on arrival.”
That’s not only because of time constraints but more so because of some questionable provisions in the draft. The House even attempted to bypass the vice president in the line of succession, to please the administration party. The VP now is Leni Robredo of the opposition.
As I have written a number of times before, current politicians are the worst persons to initiate a change in the constitution or even to replace it. Now is among the worst periods in our history with fascist and conservative thinking dominant among our politicians.
This is unlike when the current constitution was drafted in 1986-1987, when liberal, democratic and progressive thinking was still dominant after the 1986 Edsa people power uprising.
The draft federal constitution proves my thinking. An example is the removal of the anti-political dynasty provision that is an important diktat of the 1987 Constitution.
The draft federal constitution also removes the two-term limit for senators and the three-term limit for district and party-list representatives and pegs to four the number of years that constitute each term.
Those provisions alone ensure that political dynasties would continue to bedevil our electoral setup and allow their members to rule a district or constituency until they die of old age. There is nothing progressive in those provisions and only the trapo mind could think of perpetuating these.
The saving grace there is that the mid-term elections are near and the Senate is there to derail efforts to pass in Congress this trapo idiocy. Now we know how important it is to elect the correct people in the House of Representatives and in the Senate. If we choose wrong, another draft federal constitution could be crafted by these trapos and rammed through our throats.
Let us elect liberal and progressive people in Congress and ensure that these trapos won’t again dare to insult our sensibilities.