A POLITICIAN known to both allies and rivals as “Speaker Nogie” does not exactly inspire thoughts of fortitude and military-like discipline, but Speaker Prospero Nograles seems to have steeled himself for a war of attrition on Charter change.
“The committee report [of the House committee on constitutional amendments, recommending the mode of change] will come out in January and will hopefully be ready for plenary debates by February,” Nograles said in a text message to the Philippine Daily Inquirer. “As far as the House is concerned, Cha-cha will go the route of ordinary legislation.”
Nice. As the world braces for the full impact of the global economic crisis, Nograles wants us to know that the country’s congressional leaders will continue to waste precious time and resources on the Arroyo administration’s cynical effort to amend the Constitution.
As both the general public and various sectoral leaders (religious, business, mass-based organizations, civil society) voice strong opposition to any attempt to fast-track Charter change, Nograles wants us to know that President Macapagal-Arroyo’s allies in the House will continue to prioritize the President’s personal interest and theirs above that of the nation’s.
They do not, of course, speak of the matter in this wise. They refer to the common fear that constitutional change is meant primarily to extend the President’s term of office or turn at the helm as mere speculation; they characterize the Catholic bishops’ statement advising against Charter change at this time as mere meddling; they belittle street demonstrations against any constitutional amendment that will benefit President Arroyo as mere kibitzing.
In view of the growing economic turmoil, they have started to beat the drum of economic necessity. Long-held positions about the need to change some of the Constitution’s economic provisions, including those involving foreign equity in local businesses, have suddenly become matters of urgency—as if opening the country to more investments now, this year, would stabilize the Philippine economy during a global downturn.
On this matter, Kampi, the President’s personal party that plays an increasingly assertive role in the ruling coalition, is much more cynical than Lakas, to which Nograles belongs. Nograles had initially proposed Charter change in order to amend certain economic provisions; lately, however, he has said he was open to either the constituent assembly or the constitutional convention mode of change, as long as the economic provisions were successfully amended.
This posture—his friends will call it open-mindedness, his impatient partners will call it waffling—has piqued Rep. Luis Villafuerte, the Kampi president and the author of the bill that seeks to convene Congress into a constituent assembly. We can all easily guess why. Changing the Constitution through a constitutional convention would take a long time; changing the Charter through a constituent assembly is the only way to force change through in 2009.
And there’s the crux of the matter. Those closest to Malacañang want Charter change this year; 2010 will be too late.
But ambition invents its own necessity. Rep. Danilo Suarez has already tried his hand at formulating a new and improved rationalization for Charter change this year: election “reform” and economic urgency. It is difficult to hear what he says without breaking into loud laughter, but this is what he said: “Our goal is to change the period between elections from three to six years. We cannot afford to continue this system because our fiscal position is under threat every election year—tax revenues and customs duties are down in the first six months of every election year.”
Of course, he does not bother to talk about the pump-priming effect of that multibillion-peso extravaganza we call our elections; it will undermine his economic argument, and expose his proposal to “change the period between elections” for what it actually is: an attempt to lengthen politicians’ term of office.
We can expect more of the same vulgarity, from more allies of the President, as “Nogie” wages his faithless and ultimately useless war of attrition. Pity the nation.
Copyright 2009 Philippine Daily Inquirer. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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