Cha-cha refuses to fade away

Sure, there are many defects, flaws, and inadequacies in the 1987 Constitution. One of them is the declaration of a bicameral form for the legislature. Another is the provision mandating a multi-party system instead of the traditional two party system. As a result, we can never elect a President who can get a majority vote of the people. And of course, the present Constitution has many good and lofty provisions which have not been implemented, because of the absence of supplementary or enabling votes from Congress.

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But then, now is not the time to talk about Charter Change. There are far too many urgent problems that need to be acted upon. Talks about Cha-cha at this time will only waste precious time and money which could otherwise be used to implement pressing problems that can alleviate the plight of the people, especially the countless poor who can hardly eat three meals a day.

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In Congress itself, there are many pending bills that have to be deliberated upon. Most of these bills are still languishing in the various congressional committees, and there is hardly any time to pass them through the legislative mill. But instead of tackling these priority measures, the senators and congressmen are spending their time talking about Cha-Cha.

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When I was a law student, my professor in Constitutional Law always emphasized that all constitutions should be given time to ripen and mellow. We cannot just toy around with the existing constitution, tinker with its provisions without giving them the test of time. Note that the 1987 Constitution is just 25 years old. It is too early to introduce amendments through a Cha-cha. There will be a proper time and place for this important and sensitive job of crafting an amended constitution.

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It is hard to determine how much money will be spent to prepare for Cha-cha. It can run to billions of pesos. For instance, just the foreign trip abroad of senators and congressmen, together with their legislative staff, spouses and friends – allegedly to determine whether overseas Filipinos can participate in the election process and vote from the foreign lands they are in – must be costing the Filipino taxpayers a lot of money.

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Another thing to consider is that there is no universal clamor among the people for Cha-cha. The great majority of Filipino would rather have the government spend its time attending to the existing problems on poverty, housing, electoral reforms, etc. than waste saliva on constitutional amendments.

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A Modest Proposal was the title of a satirical essay by Jonathan Swift, proposing that the number of poor children in England be reduced by eating them. I take this up with apologies to Jonathan Swift.

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Taking together the facts that the present Macapagal-Arroyo administration sincerely wants to help the poor, that efforts to this end are frustrated by lack of funds, and that there is continuing passion concerning the revamp of our constitution, I advance this modest proposal involving the last which will accomplish the first despite the second.

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I propose that the term for all political offices be standardized at six months. This proposal may seem radical and even ridiculous on first reading but consider with the same degree of seriousness with which they are proposed the following points. I think you will agree that this modest proposal has the potential for enormous benefit to every Filipino who is not a politician.

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Discounting qualities such as patience, tolerance and an enormous capacity for hard work and sacrifice, all of which have no commercial value, the only thing the poor possess which the rich and powerful desire is their vote. Holding elections every six months would at least assure the poor of income twice a year. Given the ingenious and ingenuous nature of our masses, they may well manage to sell their votes to several politicians at the same time. All of the poor will benefit with little expense to the government.

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The ancillary benefits may exceed those of the primary. One is that one of the marginalized sectors of the working poor, the public school teachers who are also utilized as poll monitors, will also be assured of additional income.

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An even larger benefit of this proposal is that politicians will go from campaigning for election to the formal swearing-in ceremonies and orientation programs and then immediately back to campaigning. Politicians will be so busy getting re-elected that they will have no time to make laws or to give privilege speeches impugning the reputation of honest officials.

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Since a number of elections are contested and the case is not resolved for months or even years, many of the elected politicians will never even serve. What a blessing to the republic!

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The greatest benefit of all is that, since their term in office is so brief, there is no incentive to offer them bribes or kickbacks on major government projects. One simple amendment to the constitution eliminates the greatest problem that our country faces today!

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I ask my dear readers to contact me with other benefits of this proposal which might have passed my notice. In fact, since constitutional change seems to be a topic of the day, I ask my readers for other proposed amendments which would benefit our country and its citizens. I ask only that your suggestions be equally as serious and as gravely considered as this modest proposal. But please note what the first paragraph said. The idea was borrowed from a satire by Jonathan Swift. I cite this lest curse, darts and arrows are thrown my way by readers who think I am always a very serious writer.

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Thoughts For Today:

When you doubt close your eyes,
count your blessings.
Remember the many surprises God has given you,
then smile and say life is sweet.

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A new day . . .
A new life . . .
A new beginning . . .
What a blessing!
Give thanks and live life to the fullest.

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My e-mail addresses: jaywalker@pacific.net.ph and artborjal@yahoo.com