Malilong: ‘Habal-habal’ is screwed

“HABAL” is a Visayan word that has sexual connotation but I am not sure if that has any influence on the evolution and nomenclature of the unique public transport system that has served us for almost two decades. What is certain is that unless Congress intervenes, the habal-habal and the better-organized Angkas are going to be screwed big time.

You cannot blame the Supreme Court for issuing the restraining order that threatens to wipe the for-hire motorcycles off our streets. The Court decides on what law to apply to a particular set of circumstances, not on what is useful or wise. That authority belongs to Congress.

The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) and the Land Transportation Office (LTO) oppose the use of motorcycles as public transport because of safety concerns. But theirs is not the final opinion. The one that matters is that of the legislature and if they give the go signal to the habal-habal and Angkas, that is it.

Unfortunately, time is not on Angkas’s side. The legislators are only a few days away from their Christmas break and when they resume sessions next year, they will be very busy with election preparations already. If the LTO and the LTFRB make good their threat to run after them, it’s going to be a long, barren season for habal-habal and Angkas drivers.

Speaking of Congress and the holiday break, they just showed us how they could fast-track the law-making process if they want to. And we’re not talking of any ordinary law here but the constitution itself, the source and giver of rights and authority.

It helped that it was the speaker herself, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who shepherded the draft constitution in her House. In fact, it was she who authored it for reasons that we could only guess. Maybe, it was an ego thing; she wanted a Gloria constitution in the same way that president Aquino had her Cory constitution. Maybe, her reasons were political, she wanted the term limits removed to allow her to continue serving as congresswoman or its equivalent and become the prime minister, perhaps?

Or maybe, she honestly believes that a new constitution is good for the nation. It’s the easiest claim to make but also the most difficult to believe. Majority of the people have made it known that they did not trust Congress to revise the constitution. They wanted it done by a constitutional convention (ConCon).

A ConCon was also what President Duterte had in mind until someone convinced him that the process was too costly. Duterte nevertheless created a constitutional commission to draft the new constitution and submit it to Congress. The commission was composed of learned men and they were or at least perceived to be neutral, meaning free from any vested interest.

But Arroyo junked their draft as soon as they submitted it and crafted her own version with the help of her allies. Her instructions to have their draft approved by her House quickly so it can be submitted to a plebiscite simultaneously with the 2019 elections were religiously carried out. She inexplicably forgot, however, that for that to happen, she still had to deal with a less pliable Senate.

Early this week, the spokesman of the Commission on Elections announced that it was no longer possible to hold the plebiscite on the constitution simultaneously with the election because the poll body will already be printing the ballots by January, next year. Gloria’s plan has been foiled and we can heave a sigh of relief. But it does not mean that they will not try again because they will.

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