Charter change top Arroyo agenda - INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for FilipinosChristian V. Esguerra, Dona Pazzibugan,
INQUIRER.net: Philippine Daily Inquirer, 3 Dec 2009
MANILA, Philippines—Malacañang is not desperate to douse the long-running suspicion that the point behind President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s run for Congress in 2010 is to push Charter change (Cha-cha)—and possibly bring about a shift to a parliamentary government, where she could bag the post of prime minister.
Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita Wednesday acknowledged that the amendment of the 1987 Constitution remained a priority of Ms Arroyo, who did the unprecedented when she filed her certificate of candidacy for Congress on Tuesday.
“Yes, even in the previous SONA (State of the Nation Addresses) of the President, she said she was gunning for it,” Ermita told reporters at the Sofitel Hotel in Pasay City.
Ermita expressed confidence that Ms Arroyo would easily win as representative of the second district of her home province of Pampanga, and that she would continue to wield influence in the 15th Congress.
“Let’s be realistic—the President is the President,” he said. “Because of her stature, when she gets [elected], definitely she will have a lot of clout on anything in Congress ... You can be sure that should she be elected, definitely she will have clout among the congressmen.”
CBCP to oppose
With Ms Arroyo almost assured of election as a member of the House, Catholic Church leaders are rethinking their avowed support for Charter change after she steps down from the presidency in June 2010.
Boac Bishop Rey Evangelista said the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) would oppose the amendment of the Constitution at that time if strong indications arise that it would be used to perpetuate “a few people” in power.
Evangelista said neither he nor the Filipino people were convinced that Ms Arroyo would be content to serve as a mere congresswoman.
“I do not believe that that is her only intention. And the Filipino nation also does not believe it, no matter how her allies deny it,” he said in Filipino over the Church-run Radio Veritas.
Democracy
But Ermita said it remained to be seen whether Ms Arroyo would actually push for Charter change when she wins a seat in the House of Representatives.
“I am not privy to the thoughts of the President on her advocacy when she becomes a congressman,” he said. “The problem with [critics] is they create scenarios, then throw them at the President as if they were her scenarios.”
But when asked if Ms Arroyo could be trusted not to position herself as prime minister in the future, Ermita said: “We are in a democracy [and] everyone is free to do things that they wish they should do, for as long as they are within the bounds of law.
“Everyone has to face up to his or her future, if and when they’re elected.”
Malacañang allies in the House, who include Ms Arroyo’s two sons, repeatedly pushed but failed to have the Constitution amended in the current Congress. The attempts at Charter change included proposals to lift term limits on the President and other incumbent officials.
Ms Arroyo is the second longest-serving Philippine president after the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, having come to power upon the ouster of President Joseph Estrada in January 2001.
She once promised not to seek the presidency in 2004 but did so anyway, scoring a disputed victory over the late opposition standard-bearer Fernando Poe Jr.
Just a step
Bishop Evangelista voiced the suspicion that Ms Arroyo would take advantage of fresh attempts to overhaul the Constitution to shift from the presidential to the parliamentary system of government, and then get herself elected as prime minister by her allies in Congress.
“She should not run for congressman anymore. Even if she says her intentions are good for [Pampanga’s second] district, we cannot prevent the entire nation from thinking otherwise,” he said, adding:
“Many Filipinos believe that this is just a step for a bigger plan after she is elected as congressman.”
Evangelista said that with no real alternative candidate and given the government resources at her disposal, Ms Arroyo could easily get elected as Pampanga representative.
“But it doesn’t end there. She will not just serve her district; she will go to Congress. There is the analysis that she will be voted by her allies in Congress as Speaker of the House. And after she becomes Speaker of the House she will move for Charter [change] to shift [to a parliamentary] form of government and have herself elected as prime minister. Then she will be back as head of state,” he said.
Evangelista called to mind how the late strongman Marcos perpetuated himself in power by imposing martial law in 1972. “We hope our country does not experience it again,” he said.
‘Church won’t allow it’
While the CBCP has firmly opposed the moves of Ms Arroyo’s allies in the House to overhaul the Constitution, it has also said it would welcome Charter change after her term ends.
But Evangelista said the likelihood that Ms Arroyo would get elected as Pampanga representative left suspect the motives for amending the Constitution in 2010.
“Of course there are things that need to be improved in the Constitution, but amending [it] for the sake of a few people or anyone with the intention to perpetuate themselves in power, the Church will never allow that,” he said.
The bishop said he himself was open to revisiting the Constitution, “but to change it for the sake of a few people, that should never happen.”
“Most likely that is what’s going to happen, and the Church will oppose it,” he said.
Addiction to power
Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Emeritus Oscar Cruz, a vocal critic of Ms Arroyo, aired a similar opinion.
“Once she becomes congresswoman, she would immediately put in Charter change. Don’t tell me she can’t do this. She can because she has a lot of money, a lot of resources. Once we have Charter change and a parliamentary [form of government], she will lobby in the parliament to be prime minister,” he said.
Cruz said Ms Arroyo’s candidacy betrayed her “addiction to power.”
“The devil has an addiction to power. So he tempted Christ. He said, ‘I will give you everything, the world, etc., if you will worship me.’ So addiction to power is very dangerous,” Cruz said.
According to Cruz, Ms Arroyo refuses to heed her consistently dismal trust ratings: “[She] knows that ... more than half of the people do not like her. That’s not a few people. But you do not listen, you go on. Now she will go for a lower office; that is addiction to power. Maybe next time [she will run] for barangay captain.”
Too much
But “patience has an end,” Cruz said.
He added: “It might come to a point that most Filipinos will say, ‘Tama na, sobra na (That’s too much).’ That is how I read the situation. [It] may erupt any moment from now ... The volcano may erupt. We hope not, but if it happens, we understand why.”
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