Ex-rebel leader bats for ‘initiative’

In the early 1970s, Nilo Tayag was a student activist leading fiery street rallies before later joining the communist rebel movement to fight the Marcos dictatorship.

For this, he was arrested and jailed for almost a decade.

Tayag still fights for his cause, but this time he is leading a nationwide grassroots campaign to push for the people’s initiative seeking to shift the form of government from the present presidential system to a parliamentary system.

Tayag is now the secretary-general of the 2.5 million-strong Philippine Guardian Brotherhood International (PGBI), a support group of the Sigaw ng Bayan Movement (SBM).

He said the people’s initiative is the most democratic move for a peaceful transition in the form of government: "I fought Marcos in the street, in the mountains and everywhere and I again will go back to the streets or to the mountains, if necessary, to fight for the Sigaw ng Bayan cause."

He founded the militant Kabataan Makabayan and later became a key leader of the New People’s Army (NPA), where he spent 10 years as a rebel leader before being captured and imprisoned.

"My perception, as a student of the political movement, is that there is no way of stopping the people’s initiative," Tayag said at the Kapihan sa Sulo Hotel forum in Quezon City. "The masses are the makers of history. Fundamental change must not be left to the hands of politicians alone."

He said the PGBI will actively campaign for the approval of and protection of almost 10 million signatures gathered by their group to petition the Commission on Elections (Comelec) for the people’s initiative.

He said his group is consolidating a mass base that will serve as frontline advocates pushing for the Charter change.

According to Tayag, the ongoing political upheaval in the country is a historic event that may lead to the country’s transition to a new form or government — though he cautioned that violent upheavals may result if the initiative is suppressed.

Biliran town Mayor Gerardo Espina, who was also present at the forum, said the shift to the parliamentary system will merge the executive and legislative branches of government, which will create structural reforms in the bureaucracy.

He said that since Cabinet officials will also be members of parliament it will no longer be necessary for lawmakers to follow up on development projects because the heads of agencies will also be part of parliament.

The new system will also put in place a two-party system, wherein the prime minister or head of government will come from the dominant political party, unlike the present multi-party system that has produced "minority presidents."

Meanwhile, the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) said they will submit the results of their fora on Charter change to the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines when the CBCP convenes for its mid-year general assembly on July 7.

PPCRV secretary-general Bro. Clifford Sorita said they were conducting the sixth and last of their consultations, which have been ongoing since May 25: "We will present the results of our series of forums to the CBCP on July 7."

He said the PPCRV is non-partisan and wants to present both sides of the proposed constitutional amendments to the people.

The PPCRV sponsored the fora "because we do not want the voters to simply sign the (people’s initiative) petition — because there have been reports that some of the voters sign it without knowing what it is for. We want to establish a baseline of how the barangay leaders explain Charter change to their constituents," Sorita said.

PPCRV national chairwoman and former Ambassador Henrietta de Villa said the PPCRV aims to refocus their group’s program.

De Villa also said PPCRV’s job is not limited to poll-watching and canvassing because they also have a responsibility to educate their volunteers.

"We want to give them a general insight... Whatever will help our Filipino voters come up with a decision" that is fed by an "unpolluted source of information," she said.

The PPCRV is also interested to learn if the SBM signature campaign for the people’s initiative has already reached the communities where the PPCRV are conducting fora.

After the forum, they distributed questionnaires to the audience, who were asked to state their level of understanding of Charter change. After hearing the pros and cons of amending the Constitution, the participants were also asked to state whether they believe the country was ready to make such a fundamental change.

The PPCRV also asked if pro-Charter change proponents provided adequate information on the people’s initiative before soliciting their support, how the advocates for constitutional amendment went about their campaign, and even if there were any government officials present during these consultations.

The PPCRV will release the statistics they gathered from respondents’ answers soon, Sorita said: "We have not yet completed the statistics because we just finished with our final forum but so far it appears na kulang ang information ng tao regarding Charter change."

The initial information, he added, will be made available to the public in a week’s time.

Besides the forum at the Pius XII Catholic Center on UN Avenue at 1 p.m. yesterday, the PPCRV also had gatherings in Lingayen and Dagupan in Pangasinan, Capiz, Legazpi City in Albay, Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao and Borongan in Eastern Samar. The fora were made possible in coordination with the respective dioceses and archdioceses.

However, there has been some criticism that the PPCRV forums may be too late since the SBM said it has already gathered nearly 10 million signatures in support of a people’s initiative.

Sorita said he is not bothered by the SBM report: "I do not think that we are too late. For, as long as they have not filed it before the Comelec, there is no formal declaration." — With Evelyn Macairan