Charter change road show begins
Said to be urgent clamor of local gov’t execs
By Tony Bergonia
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 01:34:00 02/13/2008
MANILA, Philippines -- Faced with renewed demands for her to resign, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s staunchest allies among governors and local government executives have revived a campaign to amend the Constitution, ostensibly to set up a federal form of government.
The revival of the Charter change (Cha-cha) proposal coincided with a new scandal over alleged kickbacks in the aborted, $329-million National Broadband Network (NBN) project involving people close to Malacañang.
The campaign to test the waters for federalism pushed through Tuesday amid reservations from some of Ms Arroyo’s allies over the timing of the move to amend the Constitution.
Palace officials, whose involvement will be deep in the campaign, said the next stops of the campaign would be Cebu City on Wednesday; Butuan City, Feb. 18; and Cagayan de Oro City, Feb. 22.
Administration critics said the proposal could lead to an overhaul of the Constitution to remove term limits and keep Ms Arroyo in power beyond the end of her term in 2010 whether as president or prime minister under a parliamentary setup.
“This could be suicidal,” said one Arroyo confidante who did not want to be identified because he feared castigation by the President.
The source said that if the new campaign would send any message to the people, it was “simply perpetuation in power,” a message that could turn the crisis that the Arroyo administration now faces from bad to worse.
Cheering squad
The Philippine Information Agency (PIA) took charge of the campaign, but in Legazpi City, Albay Gov. Joey Salceda, Ms Arroyo’s former chief of staff and key adviser, led the cheering squad for federalism in which provinces would be transformed into autonomous states with their own laws on taxes and other powers but still accountable to a central government.
The new push for Charter change comes amid the testimony of Rodolfo Noel Lozada Jr. on allegedly anomalous deals, involving high government officials and individuals close to the President, that shaped the NBN contract bagged by Chinese firm ZTE Corp.
But some of Ms Arroyo’s closest advisers have strong reservations about the wisdom of the new push for Charter change, saying it could further agitate the people into joining a call for Ms Arroyo to step down.
In Legazpi City and Davao City, the PIA hosted forums on the shift to federalism attended by local government officials, businessmen, members of the academe and newsmen purportedly to obtain views on the new campaign.
Too much resources, power
Salceda, who is leading the campaign in the Bicol region, said at the forum that federalism was an idea whose time had come because “being an archipelago, the Philippines is already overly fragmented.”
The current setup concentrates too much resources on the national government and allows non-elected Cabinet members to wield too much power, according to the Albay governor.
But Daraga Mayor Cicero Triunfante, a former political science professor at the Divine Word College in Legazpi, advised caution.
“All forms of government look good on paper. The problem is with the people who run them and its implementation,” Triunfante said.
“No constitutional system can legislate individuals to change,” he said.
Bigger share of income
The business sector in Legazpi, however, said federalism would have its benefits.
Lito Tuanqui Jr., of the Albay Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said autonomous local governments could mean less red tape and a bigger share of the national income for local governments.
Eduardo de Leon, PIA Bicol director, said the PIA would host forums on federalism nationwide.
In Davao City, advocates of federalism said they would lobby Congress for the shift to federalism. They added they felt confident of the new campaign because the Speaker, Prospero Nograles, is from Mindanao.
Efren Elbanbuena, PIA director for Southern Mindanao, said the Lihuk Pideral, a Davao-based movement headed by Rey Magno Teves, held a media forum at the NCCC Mall in Davao City in the morning.
“They wanted to revive the campaign for federalism,” Elbanbuena said.
Single amendment for Muslims
Officials, led by peace talks adviser Jesus Dureza Jr., have dangled federalism to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) to untangle a deadlock in negotiations over territory.
But MILF leaders flatly rejected the offer, saying it was just a government ploy to trick the guerrillas into dropping a demand for at least 1,000 villages to be part of the proposed Bangsamoro Juridical Entity (BJE) that the MILF would govern should the talks lead to an agreement.
Dureza and other officials made public their offer to the guerrillas and said that should it push through, there would be just a single amendment to the Constitution -- to create a federal state for Muslims in Mindanao.
Dureza issued several statements seeking to assure critics that there was no hidden agenda in the federalism proposal that was being dangled to the MILF.
But the strategy to clothe Charter change with MILF acceptance failed, forcing its proponents to simply bring the curtains down on their presentation of federalism as a way to untangle the peace talks.
Weeks after, however, the curtains were raised again to open another presentation -- that of federalism as an urgent clamor of local government units, particularly governors who are doggedly loyal to Ms Arroyo.
If plans don’t miscarry, proponents of the new push for federalism are expecting a groundswell of support from local government executives.
Task easier with new Speaker
The task would be easier, according to the proponents, with the new set of leaders in the House of Representatives under Nograles.
Attempts to amend the Constitution under then Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. did not prosper largely because of massive opposition and lingering doubts over the real motives.
Some Palace officials, who asked that they not be identified for lack of clearance to speak on the matter, said divisions among proponents of Charter change at the time of De Venecia also led to the movement’s failure.
Clash over PM’s age limit
One Palace official pointed to a clash between De Venecia and former President Fidel Ramos, also a supporter of Charter change, over the age limit for prime minister under a parliamentary setup, then the main objective of Charter change.
The source said Ramos had wanted to lower the age limit for prime minister to 65, which didn’t sit well with De Venecia, who is past 65, because it would effectively frustrate his ambition to become prime minister.
Proponents of the new Charter change move said they saw no feud among them this time because the visible objective would be just to shift to federalism.
Supreme Court ruling
By a vote of 8-7, the Supreme Court ruled on Oct. 25, 2006 against the “people’s initiative” led by Sigaw ng Bayan and the Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines to amend the Constitution to shift to a parliamentary form of government.
The tribunal said the initiative was null and void because it failed to comply with the constitutional requirement that the initiative must be directly proposed by the people and because proponents of the amendment also sought an overhaul of the Constitution.
More than a push
Critics of the new move among Ms Arroyo’s circle of close allies, however, expressed fear that while the push for federalism could attract attention away from the sordid revelations of whistle-blower Lozada, it could also become a bigger source of threat to the Arroyo administration.
“We shouldn’t be driving more nails into the coffin,” said the source, refusing to elaborate.
The launch of the campaign in the turf of Ms Arroyo’s former chief of staff and key adviser, however, sends a strong signal that the push for federalism is more than just a push.
“The plan is to show that there’s a nationwide clamor for it,” said an official deeply involved in the campaign, but who could not be identified for fear of being removed from his position. With reports from Jayvee Gamil, Inquirer Southern Luzon, and Inquirer Mindanao
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