Expect no reforms coming from the Senate

Didn't we say that if and that's a big "if" Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (GMA) resigns, it won't mean the end of our political turmoil; rather, it would only prolong it because it is too obvious that the object of the game is to remove our established and legitimate government? Well, I just read an article in the Inquirer News Service entitled, "Reds leader: If Arroyo resigns, De Castro won't last long". That piece of news came from Communist Party of the Philippines founder Jose Maria Sison who predicted that Vice President Noli de Castro would not be able to stay long in power should President Arroyo be impeached and be forced to step down.

Well, to those who still wonder why Pres. Arroyo wasn't ousted by People's Power, it is due to the presence of the red flags flown by our homegrown, but close to extinct Communists who are still hoping against hope to overthrow our legitimate government and establish their own communist system. At this point, as one of the proponents of a Federal system of government, we'd like to know whether Pres. Arroyo could bring about this shift under the present circumstances.

If I read correctly the statement of Senate President Franklin Drilon, I think this idea isn't going to move forward because it is clear to us that the present Senate would never allow itself to become extinct! Clearly, too many people are too comfortable with the status quo and we all know that the status quo is no longer working; this is why we asked yesterday the poignant question where do we go from here? Certainly we should not accept a military junta or worse, turn Communists! So what do we do?

Thus, allow me to reprint an article by my good friend, Ruben Almendras, an apostle of Good Corporate Governance and a former chairman of the Metro Cebu Water District who also writes for us in The Freeman. This is his idea in "Investing in Political Reform." "I believe that 99% of our present politicians will not hesitate to do what PGMA had done to ensure their victory; and this is the major reason there is no moral outrage coming from the people, particularly the middle class. The structure of our political system and the consequent actions of the politicians have made the present situation inevitable. In fact, it had been happening in the last ten elections or the last 40 years; the Marcos years the most blatant, except that now somebody got caught on tape.

The Presidential-Bicameral form of our government tends to centralize the power of the executive branch and gridlock or stalemate the legislative agenda. It also distances the executive and legislative offices far from the citizens not just geographically but also in terms of accountability. This is a situation that encourages graft and corruption as the lack of transparency makes the citizens mostly unaware of the happenings in the power centers until something blows up in the media.

Then as the positions of the legislatures and the executive departments become very financially lucrative, there ensues a no-holds barred fight to be in power, and to stay in power. It then creates the dynastic and hereditary succession in the political offices, using the ill-gotten riches of their positions to buy or steal the elections. Given the nature of politicians, what has to be done is to reconfigure the organizational structure of government and politics, to make politicians behave properly if they want to stay in power, or at least make it difficult for them to survive in the new political environment if they insist on self-serving and amoral actions.

It is time for the President and Congress to call for a Constitutional Convention and for the elected delegates to move to a Parliamentary and Federal form of government; a unicameral Parliament and the country divided into States with governors and state legislatures. The parliamentary form will eliminate the popular vote for the Presidency and preclude the current popularity contest, which elects the popular incompetent to the highest office. The federated states will flatten the organizational structure, bringing the government closer to the people, forcing them to be more transparent and accountable. Corruption would be more visible and subject the politicians to defeat and prosecution. So we would not even need the term limit provision to avoid political dynasties.

We have to do this political restructuring and reforms within the next five years if we still want to be in step with the Asian and the global economies. These reforms are necessary conditions precedent for our continuing economic growth and stability that will reduce our poverty level. We are at the eleventh hour and our politicians better heed the signs if they want to survive.

Ruben D. Almendras"

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For email responses to this article, write to [email protected]. Bobit Avila's columns can also be accessed through www.thefreeman.com