You are probably familiar with the old adage that goes: "A fish is caught by its mouth." Figuratively, this saying is implied when a person, specifically a liar, carelessly revealed his hidden truths and ulterior motives through the words uttered in his own mouth.
The idea encapsulated in the proverb is common in Philippine politics. More often than not, our government officials, who habitually feed us with unending rotten damned lies and empty promises, were caught by their own foolishness. Senator Robinhood "Robin" Padilla's rash remark on Charter Change, well-known as "cha-cha," is one of the latest examples.
"Siguro, kung nagawa natin 'yung con-con noon, siya (Duterte) pa ang pangulo. Sayang. Alam niyo kasi iyan ang isang bagay eh, 'yung continuity. 'Yan ang problema doon sa nakikita ko sa Konstitusyon natin ng 1987 nawalan ng continuity,” Padilla stated during the charter change consultation in Cebu last March 16.
Padilla's statement has clearly insinuated two things: 1.) The disappointment he felt as an ally of Rodrigo Duterte on the failure of the cha-cha to push through during the previous administration, and 2.) The speculation about the possibility of amending the term limits of elected government officials has magnified.
In common parlance, cha-cha refers to amendments or revisions in the 1987 Philippine Constitution, which is considered the highest law of the land, where the Filipinos' fundamental rights are enshrined.
Additionally, the Constitutional Convention (Con-Con) is one of the ways to amend or revise the constitution, where delegates would be elected by the people. The two other methods are the 1.) Constituent Assembly (Con-Ass), where sitting members of Congress would be considered delegates, and 2.) People’s Initiative.
One might argue that Padilla's statement is just a minor slip of the tongue and there is nothing to be worried about since amending the political provisions, especially those with regard to the term extensions, are not included in the current agendas of cha-cha.
Nevertheless, it is particularly critical to point out that Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez, the chairman of House Committee on Constitutional Amendments, even admitted that the delegates of con-con have constituent plenary powers; that is to say that they have the ability to overhaul the constitution because they are duly elected by the Filipino people.
In other words, the possibility of carrying out sneaky actions, such as the lifting of term limits, that will certainly aid the government officials to enrich themselves and preserve their political power, high social status, and prestige remained.
Cha-cha is not new because multiple administrations have ventured to undertake constitutional reform in the past decades. The highly controversial attempt to lift government and office term limits is also not new. Through the years, the issue of term extensions has consistently been apparent whenever there is a conversation about charter change.
However, one thing that is new, which is extremely questionable, is the determined and valiant efforts of the 19th Congress to push cha-cha in a cursory manner amidst the various debacles that we must deal with right now, such as the high inflation rate, poverty, and corruption.
Our country has been in the doldrums due to worsening economic and social problems. Tragically, it seems that the numerically dominant pro-administration lawmakers are turning a blind eye to these issues as they are undeniably adamant to prioritize the charter change instead.
For context, the House of Representatives recently approved on third reading Resolution of Both Houses (RBH) No. 6 as well as its accompanying bill, which is House Bill (HB) No. 7352 or the "Constitutional Convention Act," in just the span of less than a month, with 306-6-1 votes and 301-7-0 votes, respectively.
RBH No. 6 proposes a con-con and tackles the entire stand of the House on cha-cha, wherein it states that “particular economic provisions of the 1987 Constitution need to be revisited and recrafted so that the Philippines may become globally competitive and attuned with the changing times.”
Meanwhile, HB No. 7352 provides the rules and regulations for a constitutional convention, wherein it calls for a hybrid con-con, with one delegate elected per legislative district, and 20% of the total coming from sectoral representatives jointly appointed by the Senate President and House Speaker.
As asserted by Speaker Martin Romualdez, the first-degree cousin of President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr., they are in high gear in their efforts to amend the restrictive economic provisions of the 1987 Constitution that prohibit the entry of foreign direct investments in the Philippines because they believe that we face tough competition and must attract foreign investments to encourage more business activities that will create high-paying and quality jobs for Filipinos inside the country.
Nonetheless, many lawmakers, like Senator Nancy Binay, have claimed that there is no need to amend our 1987 Constitution if the concern is only with economic provisions. The Public Service Act (PSA), Retail Trade Liberalization Act (RTLA), and Foreign Investments Act (FIA) already exist, and we only need to refine the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of these laws.
On that account, it appears that the pious proposal of our government officials to amend the restrictive economic provisions of the 1987 Constitution as one of the possible remedies to our country's drastic economic issues is merely a ploy to divert public attention away from their plan that will cater to their skulking power to control the state policies.
Railroading cha-cha fails to acknowledge that our severe economic problems must be addressed from yet another angle; that is, from a Filipino-oriented perspective that recognizes the struggles of the masses, specifically of our workers, farmers, and fisher folks, as crucial elements in a functioning democracy. To put it simply, government officials must rip off their blindfolds and must affirm, protect, and advocate for the welfare of their people rather than their own self-serving interests.
It is important to note that one of the basic functions of government is to represent and fight for the interests of its people; thus, it is only fair that we demand a better system that would highlight and amplify our fundamental rights and essential needs as citizens.
Instead of pushing cha-cha and allotting a whopping ₱28.5 billion reported budget for it, our government officials must redirect their attention and energy, as well as the people's taxes into dealing with the most pressing concerns in our society today.
For instance, to address the devastating effects of the high inflation rate, they must effectively control the prices of basic commodities. To combat poverty, they must intently listen to the calls of the masses to increase the wage rates. To address the cruel corruption, they must unapologetically diminish the proliferation of political dynasties, monopolies, and cronies.
Most importantly, our lawmakers must completely abandon the possibility of lifting the term limits of elected government officials and reconsider their proposal to allow 100% foreign ownership of Philippine industries and land because these plans are likely to have severe consequences for us as they will only intensify the glaring social inequalities in the country.
After all, no matter how many amendments or revisions will be made to our constitution, if the DNA of our government officials is composed of nucleotides that are structured by political dynasty, oligarchy, monopoly, cronyism, elitism, corruption, abuse of power and misconduct, the quest for attaining a radical change and genuine democracy will be still a long way off.
Graphics: Timothy Andrei Milambiling
This is the problem with people like you: you are lacking "root-cause analysis" when presenting your argument against Constitutional Reform. You're against Constitutional reform, but you don't have decent solutions to offer either. If you have done your research properly by doing a root-cause analysis in this issue and if you are going to be intellectually honest after that, you will find out that the "recommendations" (which are all motherhood statements by the way) you mentioned in the last four paragraphs of your article can be alleviated and drastically improved by changing the the rotten, lousy and hurriedly-written 1987 Constitution.
Do your research first before publishing some lousy, idiotic and stupidly written articles like this. You can start here: https://correctphilippines.org/pdf_library