Political reforms now... before it's too late

When President Benigno “P-Noy” Aquino III announced the other week, “Charter change is not a priority in my administration”, he literally slammed the door to any real political reform in this country. It makes me wonder why is this President who prides himself as a reformist afraid of reforming our country via revisiting our Constitution so we can fix whatever inherent defects we are already suffering from.

A couple of months ago when President Aquino secretly met with Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) chairman Al Haj Murad, on the table for discussion was a “sub-state” for the MILF. It was unclear whether which side offered the “sub-state”, however what was clear to us is the reality that not even Congress can create a sub-state unless it calls for a Constitutional change (Cha-cha), hence that “not-so-secret” meeting with the MILF will result to nothing if the talks doesn’t progress.

So far, what has progressed in those talks is the P5 million that P-Noy has given to the MILF without any explanation how this money would be spent. What we only know is that last Oct. 19 AFP soldiers were ambushed and killed and the killers are still scot-free. What is more painful than the killing of those 19 soldiers is that the MILF still claims its Area of Temporary Safety (ATS) zones where the military is off limits even on hot pursuit operations. This act has incensed many Filipinos who are disgruntled because P-Noy’s nonchalant attitude against the enemies of the state who are clearly abusing the goodness of P-Noy.

This brings us back to the need for genuine political reforms, something we needed yesterday. It’s been 25 years since the first EDSA Revolt that booted out the Marcos dictatorship and EDSA Dos that booted out the corrupt Erap presidency and yet our people are still waiting for political reforms to happen. Alas the 1987 Constitution did not bring to our country the reforms we thought would come in the name of the Filipino people.

While President Marcos had his political monolith called the Kilusang Bagong Lipunan (KBL) party, this disappeared when he flew out of the country and out of the political scene. Yet today, our political parties are still personality driven and when that political personality is out of power, the same goes for his or her political party. The fruit of EDSA apparently ushered the dawning of age of the political butterfly.

Today our fragile democracy is in peril with the Executive Branch showing its utter contempt and disrespect for the Judiciary, a co-equal branch of government, while another co-equal branch, the Legislative has become too subservient to the Executive Branch which in turn also shows disrespect for the Judiciary. On this issue alone, there is a need to call for Charter changes before things get out of hand and we end up having our own version of Occupy Wall Street or worst, our own version of the Arab Spring.

Last Tuesday I attended a lecture forum dubbed “Reforming the Philippine Political System” at the University of San Carlos’ (USC) Gansenwinkel AVR Hall, which was sponsored by the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, Kaabag sa Sugbo, CDM-Dan-ang Region VII Assembly, the Centrist Democratic Movement and the USC and USJR Law Centers. When I got my invitation, my first impression was, are these people deaf? Didn’t they hear what the President just said that political reform was not a priority?

I guess the people who sponsored that activity are a hardy bunch. They intend to push for political reform with or without P-Noy. First to speak was Philip Camara of the Subsidiarity Movement, who hit the right nail when he said, “People Power has not solved the problems of our country.” Indeed, we’ve had two EDSA revolts, but in the end, where did it bring our country? Back to square one! In short, we need to think out of the box. No more EDSA revolts for us. But yes, we must have reforms and we want it now and Mr. President you must listen to your bosses!

Former Supreme Court Chief Justice Reynato Puno was the principal speaker who gave an hour’s lecture on the problems we are facing in our current political system. The former CJ spoke on so many relevant topics, I don’t even know where to start. One main topic he talked at length was the lack of judicial independence and I would dare even add the lack of respect for the Judiciary, which many Filipinos already know about.

While I’m running out of space, thankfully I taped the hour-long speech of the former Chief Justice and from time to time, I will use it to advocate to our people the dire need for Charter changes before it’s too late. Former CJ Puno intimated to me that he too was alarmed that the President’s Daang Matuwid as making a huge “left” turn. Abangan!

* * *

For email responses to this article, write to [email protected] or [email protected]. His columns can be accessed through http://www.philstar.com.