After the Cha-Cha, we tango!

For our special guests on Straight from the Sky tonight, we bring you the good news that the Aboitiz Group Foundation, Inc. (AGFI) brings especially to our schoolchildren studying in public schools... because of their program, "Aboitiz Intervention in Education" which aims to improve the quality of public education for our poor school children. This program is broken into different form; the Aboitiz Infrastructure Program, a Computerization Program and the Aboitiz Scholarship Program.

Last Oct.17th, I went to the Ecotech Center to see 200 students and school heads and teachers from various schools, including street children from Mrs. Margot Osmeña's Task Force Street Children Foundation receiving their scholarships from AGFI. The school heads were there to get their computers or their schools refurbished. All this comes from a foundation of the Aboitiz Group of Companies... whose slogan is "Passion for Better Ways" and because they do their business so well, they contribute to the AGFI fund so it can achieve its mission statement, which goes, "Helping People Help Themselves."

Just so you don't get confused, the Aboitiz Family has two separate foundations, AGFI, which you'll hear about tonight and the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation, Inc. (RAFI). That's two arms to help those who have less in life. Indeed, sharing with others is inculcated in the hearts of the Aboitiz family. To give us the story of AGFI, we have with us Mr. Erramon I. Aboitiz, President of AGFI and Mr. Augusto "Sonny" Carpio III Managing Trustee. See them tonight on SkyCable's channel 15 at 8:00 p.m.

* * *

As a writer who has been exhorting the Philippine government for years to have the Constitution changed... I was one of the first who immediately embraced the creation of the Consultative Commission (Concom) when it was very clear that we could not have a Constitutional Convention (Concon) because of the time it would take to elect its delegates and come up with a draft new constitution, not to mention the staggering cost. Concom was the lesser evil.

Hence, I grudgingly agreed to Congress turning itself into a Constituent Assembly (Conass) in order to change our charter; and that's because of the creation of the Concom. Without the Concom, I would have been vehemently against the Conass... as many of us still do not trust politicians to reform our structure of government... they would not consult with the Filipino people and just ram what they want down our throats! If you recall, the Constitutional Commission that drafted the 1987 Constitution never went out of Metro Manila to consult with the Filipino people on what kind of government we wanted. Thus, we're once again fixing our constitution as we are in dire need of reforms.

By real reforms, let me point out what we learned during the consultations in Cebu a few weeks ago was a unanimous consensus that the people who attended the political exercise want to abolish the Pork Barrel. I'm sure this is a nationwide sentiment. So it would be interesting if the Concom will put in the draft constitution a declaration that our legislators or members of parliament will only be paid handsome salaries. But if we made that shift into a Parliamentary system, it would mean the fusion of the functions of the Executive and the Legislative, so that means the Pork Barrel won't be dead!

The big question we all should ask is; are we really headed towards what we've been dreaming of... a Federal/Parliamentary system of government? My reply to that is, not with the presence of a group of people in the Concom who are there only to protect their political turfs. I'm referring to the governors who have become the main stumbling block to our chances to achieve a Federated States of the Philippines... simply because they want their provinces to have more power! That would have been okay for a big Province like Cebu. But it would be ridiculous with small island Provinces like Siquijor or Camiguin.

With everyone seemingly on the mad rush to change our charter, perhaps would ought to give you a warning... that a unicameral Parliamentary System which fuses both Executive and Legislative functions into one entity would make Imperial Manila more powerful and extremely dangerous! I'm saying that the only way to neutralize Imperial Manila is to create equally powerful Federal States. Without Federal States, I'd rather keep this old rotten system... because at least there are better checks and balances, even if too often it ends up in a stalemate.

I know that PGMA wants to rush cha-cha so we can shift into a better system of governance. But we should not throw caution into the wind and forget that our Parliamentary System should be part and parcel with a Federal System. As they say, it takes two to Tango... so after cha-cha we dance the Tango!

* * *

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