ULAP completes 100-day advocacy drive in 79 provinces

The Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines (ULAP) said yesterday that only a change in the form of government will solve the gridlock in Congress and move the country forward by creating more wealth and opportunities for the Philippines to join the ranks of Asia’s tiger economies.

"This is what Charter change is all about," Davao del Norte board member Allan Zulueta told a gathering of local residents in the island-province of Batanes as ULAP concluded its nationwide Cha-cha (Charter change) advocacy campaign around 79 provinces in exactly 100 days.

Zulueta said that the 1987 Constitution was crafted in a hurry to end the Marcos era but the situation did not improve and in fact worsened, prompting a series of failed attempts to revise the Charter until things turned around with the birth of the Sigaw ng Bayan movement and the entry of ULAP.

"Our collective efforts have produced overwhelming support from the people that will make sure the proposed shift to a unicameral parliament will be achieved this year," said Zulueta, who is ULAP advocacy head and chairman of the Board Members League.

Mounted by ULAP, Sigaw ng Bayan and the Charter Change Advocacy Commission (ad-com), the Tao at Organisasyon sa Pagbabago provincial summits on Cha-cha "netted millions more of converts who are anxious to vote on plebiscite day armed with an informed choice," Zulueta said.

Sigaw spokesman Raul Lambino said the people’s spontaneous response to the consultative meetings showed that Filipinos are tired of poison politics they have been getting from politicians for many years.

"Their lives have not changed for more than six decades under the present system. People want change and not lip service from politicians. They want more jobs, more food, better health care and good education," he said.

Lambino said the advocacy drive was in direct response to the concerns of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) to reach out to more people on the issue of constitutional reforms.

"We have heeded the counsel of the bishops," he added, "and we are glad that the millions more of the people we have reached out to and touched are now in favor of the shift to the unicameral parliamentary system."

Bishop Nilo Tayag, a former UP student leader from the militant Kabataang Makabayan who joined ULAP’s provincial schedules, said there were some incidents where some participants asked hostile questions.

Philippine Councilors League president Carlo Fortuna said the consultations drew vast media coverage, notably from local newspapers and radio stations, thereby effectively bringing the discussions to the homes of millions of Filipinos.