GMA: The last President of the Philippines?

Speaker Jose de Venecia’s speech before the Manila Overseas Press Club (MOPC) exactly a week ago continues to reverberate throughout the country as a step in the right direction as it is a radical shift in our system of governance, where all of us must experience some kind of "paradigm shift." Call it Smokin’ Joe’s finest moment, as he was able to convince a lot of skeptical people like Sir Max Soliven about his debt-to-equity program and that Charter changes (Cha-cha) would greatly benefit this country.

I was listening to his speech on ABS-CBN and what De Venecia impressed upon the MOPC members was that Cha-cha was already forthcoming; it’s no longer a pipe dream or some senseless talk in a coffeehouse corner… it is right on our doorstep! What made people scramble to double-check what the Speaker announced was the so-called five options or alternatives for President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (GMA) to consider.

First in that five-option list is that she and Vice President Noli de Castro would finish their mandate in 2010, but a new parliament would already be formed as early as 2007 with the Prime Minister acting as a chief operating officer (COO). The second option is a bit more drastic as the ratification of the new Constitution would be presented already next year. That means by 2007, we will already have a unicameral system in place and the Prime Minister would be in power. The third option is a drastic cut in the terms of the President in 2007, where a new President would be elected as a ceremonial head of state, like in all parliamentary systems.

The fourth option, called the Ramos option, would force all elective officials to resign their positions in May next year and a fresh start under a parliamentary system would begin. The fifth and last option would see Congress abolished and a ceremonial President elected. So there are all these options on the table, but what if the Consultative Commission (Con-com) comes up with its own set of options?

Well, all this remains to be seen. What we want to see is the open-mindedness of the Filipino people so we can really move forward into a world of better governance and hopefully, a changed political system might also bring change in our present crop of ugly politicians, who have only helped stagnate our economy and worse, destroyed the credibility and stability of our present political system, which is why President Arroyo was left with no other choice but to put political reform in the front seat. Had it not been for her "Hello Garci tapes," jueteng troubles and that impeachment attempt, I doubt if we’d be talking about Charter changes like this today.

This is why I was quite surprised when Presidential Spokesman Ignacio Bunye rebuked the options presented by the Speaker as "premature" and "irrelevant." Is Bunye telling us that President Arroyo is turning her back on political reforms? Perhaps, we should ask Bunye whether he was speaking for himself or was that rebuke coming directly from the President herself.

If you ask me, if President Arroyo succeeds in forcing this shift from a presidential system of governance to a parliamentary-federal system of government, she’d get a special niche in Philippine history, therefore she need not even complete her term as she would always be remembered by the Filipino people as the last President of the Philippines.

* * *

I was reading last Thursday’s story by Ding Cervantes in the Nation page of The Philippine STAR, which bannered "PAF to retire F-5 fleet." The F-5, dubbed the "Freedom Fighter," is the only supersonic aircraft in our Air Force inventory that has the capability to intercept unidentified flying objects (UFOs), which can range from erring airliners, private jets or yes, foreign military air assets that may be snooping in our air space.

Call it a coincidence that Mactan Cebu International Airport Authority (MCIAA) General Manager Adelberto "Berty" Yap gave me just a few weeks ago a rare copy of the Blue Diamonds ’99 publication, which featured the Blue Diamonds (the PAF’s precision aerial demonstration team) when Gen. Yap was the wing commander of Fightertown at Basa Air Base in Pampanga. It was probably the height of our use (the Turkish Air Force still uses it) for the F-5, which has since fallen into decline. Thus, with the retirement of the F-5 fleet (come now, how do you retire airplanes that cannot fly anyway?) there really is a truism when many pundits say that we have an Air Force that is all air! I say that it is a sad day for our country as we are defenseless against any foreign intruder wandering about our air space.

* * *

For e-mail responses to this article, write to [email protected]. Bobit Avila’s columns can also be accessed through www.thefreeman.com. He also hosts a weekly talk show, "Straight from the Sky," shown every Monday, at 8 p.m., only in Metro Cebu on Channel 15 of SkyCable.