Lawyer Christian Monsod. RADYO INQUIRER file photo
Lawyer Christian Monsod on Thursday slammed the shift to a federal form of government being pitched by the PDP-Laban party claiming it is “so disappointing” as he noted that the political party was with the people when they brought down the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos and sought a new social order.
Monsod effectively gave a critique of the federalism model envisioned by the administration party when he spoke at the Senate’s resumption of the public hearings on the proposed amendments to the 1987 Constitution by the joint committees on constitutional amendments and revision of codes as well as on electoral reforms and people’s organizations.
Monsod, a former member of the 1986 Constitutional Convention that drafted the current Constitution, defended the Charter from questions that it was made as an “overreaction to the Marcos dictatorship and was written in anger.”
He said the writing of the Constitution, in the aftermath of the Edsa uprising against the Marcos dictatorship, was “one of celebration of hope” and a “historic moment of solidarity when the rich and the poor got together in a peaceful revolt when we promised another new social order.”
Quoting then former justice Cecilia Muñoz-Palma, he said that the heart of the Constitution was social justice.
“That is why the Constitution can be described as ‘affirmative action’ to correct the injustices of the past to the poor and to dismantle feudalism that has been impervious to change to this day,” Monsod said.
Monsod said if there was no anger when the Constitution was written, but added there was anger today “when we see that the promise of a new social order is not being kept and there are people even blaming the Constitution which has all the provisions to fulfill that vision.”
He said that the Constitution was not the problem but the legislators who did not do their jobs in implementing the Constitution and passing reform legislation, as he noted that this were the “legislators who want to re-write the Constitution.”
“That is why the PDP-Laban version of the Constitution is so disappointing, because PDP-Laban was very much a part of Edsa,” Monsod said.
He asked why the party, where now President Rodrigo Duterte is an official, was pushing for a shift to a federal-parliamentary system, which they admit does not directly, but only indirectly, “address the twin problems of mass poverty and gross inequalities that is central to a new social order.”
“In other words, social justice is no longer a compelling provision of the Constitution but it is another means to economic growth, like globalization, free trade, market-driven solutions, international competitiveness, increased foreign trade investments.”
“Doesn’t PDP-Laban know that if we remove social justice as the central theme of the Constitution, there will be hell to pay from the poor? As my former colleague Haydee Yorac used to say: Let justice be done thou the heaven’s fail,” he said.
Monsod also said the transition of shifting to a federal form of government by the PDP-Laban would take at least 11 and a half years, including one and a half years to enact a new regional and local government code.
“If the plebiscite is held in May 2019, the transition will end at the earliest in 2030…That’s the carrot for them to deliver the votes for the Cha-cha train -a term of 11 years from 2019-2030,” he said.
And looking at the PDP-Laban draft, Monsod said the president to be elected in the new government being mentioned there referred to President Duterte.
And while he said Duterte claimed to step down when the shift to a new government was made, Monsod asked whether the Chief Executive would be able to resist the call for him to serve. Still, he asked what would happen if Duterte dies before 2030 when he would be 85 years old.
“That’s the problem when we place our destiny in the hand of one person rather than on institutions,” Monsod said.
Monsod said that democracy could end up being ruined “because a messed up structure change is virtually irreversible.”
He said the PDP-Laban draft was offering federalization without sovereignty, and was “nothing more than an enhanced multi-level unitary system, which is already mandated by the Constitution.”
Monsod suggested that instead of pushing for Charter change, Congress should enact the fiscal decentralization and other legislation that would devolve more power and resources to the 14 poor regions and local government units.
Department of the Interior and Local Government Assistant Secretary Jonathan Malaya said it was the department position that amending the Local Government Code will “not lead to true national development but to the same stunted growth and uneven lopsided development across the different regions of the country.”
Malaya said that if the unitary system will remain, the rich and the rich parts of the country will continue to be rich unlike the poor regions.
Malaya said that federalism provide a viable alternative because it was “the highest form of decentralization.”
On Monsod’s concerns, Malaya, speaking now as a member of the PDP-Laban, said that “nothing in the PDP-Laban model states that the incumbent President will serve continuously until the 10 or 15 year transition.”
He said President Duterte had said he did not want an extension of his term and that was why “who are we to impose to the President who did not want to serve beyond.”
Malaya also said nothing in their draft stated that local officials would continue to serve as regional members in the transitory period without being elected to those positions. They have to be elected and once their terms end, they have to be elected again, he added.
“I’m afraid that the critics of federalism are seeing monsters when there are none. They are using the spectre of fear because since federalism is a totally new concept… is not easily understood, they are propagating a lot of fear to our people questioning even the motives even for those proposing a federal form of government,” Malaya said.
Also at the hearing, former party-list Rep. Neri Colmenares said House resolution no. 9, which the House adopted in seeking to convene Congress into a constituent assembly to propose Charter changes, had “dangerous and lots of self-serving provisions.”
Colmenares said that charter change should not happen under the Duterte administration.
He described it as the “worst Chacha” as he noted among others, that the proposed House resolution will see a powerful president as he can among others, appoint his Cabinet members from members of the Senate and the House.
The president under this system will also has oversigh powers of all legislative, executive, judiciary and constitutional bodies.
Colmenares asked why if the push was for a parliamentary one, the president here was so strong. /jpv