Yes to constitutional reform, no to P-Noy

Like everyone else this column is against term extension for President Aquino. And more. He should be removed now because of his wayward and unpredictable reactions to crisis that can be disastrous for the country. There are several minefields in both local and foreign issues that have been so mishandled and two years is a long time to risk more of the same. The country’s welfare is more important than a “term that needs to be finished.”

This is precisely what constitutional reform advocates have been saying all along. We need to shift from a presidential system to a parliamentary system for a more painless way of removing a leader through a no-confidence vote. We would not need these protests, the church or calling in the army if we had  a more civilized way like a parliamentary vote of no-confidence. But the NewYork Times editorial did not see the nuance of statements like “President Aquino is now hinting at running for a second term in 2016 which would require a constitutional amendment…”

If we had shifted to a parliamentary system before he ever came into the picture, he would not have been acceptable as a leader. In this I agree with Karl Popper, the author of the “The Open Society and its Enemies. When asked on the types of government, he said, “You can choose whatever name  you like for the two types of government. I personally call the type of government which can be removed without violence “democracy,”  and the other “tyranny.”

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With the formation of the National Transformation Council we have moved closer in  our advance towards changing the politics and structure of the country that have been  the root of most our problems. As I write this piece the bayanko.org.ph has 276,479 hits and 174,331 visits. Good but not enough. So we will continue reaching out and getting to Filipinos here and abroad who can help in this difficult but necessary enterprise to change the way our country is governed.

 Two of our members have already recommended looking for Filipinos abroad who have the experience and expertise with parliamentary system. One is Dr. Rey Pagtakhan, a Filipino who became a a cabinet minister in the government of Jean Chretiens and Paul Martin. Crowdsourcing opens to many ideas and innovation. Another important post was from a young Filipino living and working in Spain who wrote that Canadian MPs are trained for the best practices in ethics. For a country with more than 7 million Filipinos across the world we have an asset that we have not properly used in nation-building.  That is also a task that crowdsourcing can do – make a directory of Filipinos abroad who can contribute their skills and ideas. Meanwhile Red Cross Chairman Richard Gordon welcomed the Bayanko.org.ph youth to partner with the Red Cross 143 barangay groups during disasters.

Bayanko.org.ph is headed by Glenn Chong. He is a brilliant young lawyer who has tirelessly continued his protest against the Smartmatic-PCOS election results in Biliran, Leyte.

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On delicate foreign issues, the South China Sea conflict is a difficult issue that P-Noy is not equipped to handle properly. And it seems so with his Secretary of Foreign Affairs.

Ambassador Alberto Encomienda who has defended a more creative approach to the conflict pointed out to me an article, “Creative solution needed for South China Sea row” by Robert Kemp of Reuters.

In his article Kemp says that with China’s need for oil becoming more urgent it will not back down from its position on the South China sea conflict. “Expecting China to put the South and East China Seas off limits to exploration and production until disputes over sovereignty can be resolved through some undefined legal or diplomatic process is unrealistic.”

On the other hand US diplomats seem to want to freeze the disputes instead of taking more creative diplomatic action that can benefit both China and other claimants.

“This strategy (expressing no view on sovereignty while trying to freeze the status quo pending an unlikely diplomatic resolution of the disputes) is dangerous and threatens to worsen the standoff because the status quo is not remotely stable.

Although the United States Geological Survey (USGS) made an estimate that the South China Sea contains about 11 billion barrels of oil and 145 trillion cubic feet of natural gas that have yet to be discovered is not given its significance to China.

“US diplomats have suggested the disputes could be resolved through international law, norms and diplomacy, without outlining how that might actually be achieved.”

The Philippines, blindly followed that alley of going to the international court when it could have resorted to other approaches. I remember a Chinese diplomat who told me that at bottom there is an underlying cultural difference that was not taken into account. The West might not think much about a legal suit but in the East, it is an insult and can break friendships.

“But UNCLOS cannot resolve the underlying disputes about sovereignty in the first place.

China has already rejected the arbitrators’ jurisdiction, which suggests the process is headed for failure.”

There are sea disputes in different parts of the world that have been settled through negotiation and diplomacy. The US itself has been party to such settlements and incidentally it is not a signatory to the UNCLOS.

“The only real solution is diplomatic. The coastal states around the South and East China Seas will have to agree to divide, share or pool their sovereignty in the interests of security and to permit the peaceful exploitation of the resources.”

He cites examples of such shared resource development, ranging from the Spitsbergen Archipelago in the Arctic to the Neutral Zone between Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.

“The challenge for diplomats, especially from the United States, is to help the parties discover creative solutions that benefit all the coastal states.

Instead, US diplomats have encouraged all parties to harden their positions and suggested the entire dispute can be frozen until some ill-defined legal process runs its course. This strategy will not work and is escalating rather than defusing tensions in the area, encouraging coastal states to pursue maximal claims rather than compromise and negotiate common solutions.”

One non-military approach being suggested by Encomienda and group is an overall cooperative framework through which archipelagic countries can work together starting with preserving and managing the sea.