DESPITE THE EARLIER statement of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. that Charter Change (Cha-Cha) is not his priority, his sycophants – better known in tagalog language as “sipsip” – are vigorously pushing for the tinkering of the 1987 Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines.
On Tuesday, February 28, the House of Representatives headed by the President’s cousin Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez overwhelmingly approved thru viva voce or voice vote the second reading of Resolution of Both Houses (RBH) 6 which calls for Constitutional Convention (Con-Con) for amending the economic provisions of the 1987 Charter.
“Estoryahe” as the Cebuanos love to taunt in disbelief that those elected to compose the Con-Con will only limit themselves to the economic provisions.
PBBM was right when he said that there are ways to achieve economic reforms without touching the Constitution.
It can be noted that last year, Congress passed the Foreign Investment Act, which further liberalized foreign direct investments (FDI); amendments to the Retail Trade Liberalization Act of 2000, which lowers the requirement for foreign investors to engage in retail trade in the country, and amendments to the Public Service Act or Republic Act (RA) No. 11659 that allows up to 100% foreign ownership of public services in the country.
With the continuing culture of vote-buying during elections, most likely that those who will be elected Con-Con delegates are the same traditional politicians or “trapos” who have mastered the “art and science to fool the people.”
It is not rocket science that any sane Filipino will expect that the present Charter will be opened like the proverbial Pandora’s Box.
Who can stop these trapos from coming up with political provisions of the 1987 Constitution?
They may delete the anti-dynasty provision which is inutile anyway since political dynasts still dominate the two houses of Congress.
They may even scrap the term limits for all elected officials, from the barangay chairman up to the President.
If we truly want to change the Constitution, then it is really time that the voters will learn to respect themselves and love to see to a brighter future for their children in this archipelago by junking all trapos who will vie seats for the Con-Con.
I would like to propose that the future Con-Con should seriously consider a Unicameral Parliamentary system to speed up the passage of bills into laws and to have a more cohesive and responsive government truly representing the people’s aspirations.
(Amado Inigo/MTVN)
