You may scratch your head and sigh in disbelief why Robinhood Padilla, the former bad boy of Philippine movie is the upper house chairman on constitutional amendments and revision of codes. Further disbelief why in the House of Representatives the counterpart is Congressman Aurelio'Dong' Gonzales, an engineer and a contractor. It is as if a mechanic is dispensing medical prescription. ONLY IN THE PHILIPPINES.
And the latest news now it will be the subcommittee headed by Senator Juan Edgardo Angara, a lawyer who will tackle the chamber's proposed resolution on certain economic provisions. Kasi hindi naman talagang kaya ni Robinhood pangunahan angmga committee hearings. At lalo na sa pagdating sa plenary sessions na pagtatanungin siya ng kapuwa senadores. It can be expected that difficult legal questions will be thrown to his direction. How can he spar with the likesof Koko Pimentel or Alan Peter Cayetano for example? He is square peg and a round hole, so to speak.
There’s really a need for a charter change because many of its outdated provisions acutely need amendments. That's if those advocates have no hidden agenda. The party system for one. The multi-party is another one. The system is too confusing. Too many presidential candidates because of it. We no longer have a president voted by the majority of the electorates. There are too many senatorial bets. With the hundreds party lists in the ballot, it poses a challenge to many on how to pick the deserving ones. We don’t even know the people behind those party lists. ( Mostly now are unnamed kins of big shot politicians). But the sad part, once this so-called Peoples Initiative or is it Politicans Initiated will succeed most likely they will lift term limits so they can prolong their stay and keep enjoying their pork barrels which are mostly budget insertions of billions annually.
RETRO. Let’s tackle the political system. I grew up knowing two political parties in our country, the Liberal Party and the Nacionalista Party. Our political system copied the two party system of the United States of America. The counterparts in the USA are the Republican Party aka GOP (Grand Old Party) now headed by Donald Trump and the Democratic Party led by President Joe Biden.
The Liberal Party (LP) is one of the oldest extant political parties in the country and pride itself with big names like Manuel Roxas, Elpidio Quirino, Benigno 'Ninoy' Aquino and Diosdado P. Macapagal. It was founded after the war, sometime in 1945. And the oldest party is the Nacionalista Party (NP) which was founded in 1907. The NP was the ruling party from 1935 to 1944 and was headed by President Manuel L. Quezon till the war broke out. Quezon took the submarine with General Douglas Macarthur for the United States via Australia and left the country and the party under the care of Sergio Osmena Sr.
The NP big guns include former Presidents Ramon Magsaysay of Zambales, Carlos P. Garcia of Bohol, Ferdinand E. Marcos of Ilocos Norte and Claro M. Recto of Batangas. One national figure coming from Pampanga was the late Senator Gil J. Puyat of Guagua who became senate president. The late Rafael L. Lazatin of Angeles City and the late Congressman Igmidio Bondoc were the last known prominent members of the party coming from Pampanga.
The leaderships of this country changed hands from stalwarts of these two parties. No political figure during those years can become president unless they belong either to the NP or LP. I remember I was still in the high school when Raul Manglapus, a brilliant senator run as an independent candidate and assembled prominent names in his senatorial slate and all of them failed to get the approval of the electorates. Time to get back to the two party system. And no more party list system.