Behind political moves
What, to me, is getting obvious is the intention of President Rodrigo Roa Duterte, to stay in power even beyond the six-year term provided in our constitution notwithstanding his repeated disavowal of clinging to the presidency. I believe that the president is using an incredible array of tools and methodology to achieve this end. Let us remember his predicate which is daily aired in the national radio/television program, Kabayan, of former Vice President Noli de Castro. In his words, President Duterte claims that he is ready to lose his life and the presidency under certain conditions. Sadly, his subsequent pronouncements carry a different impression that sowed some degree of confusion, if not doubts among lesser mortals.
For some time now, President Duterte initially, and his rah-rah boys subsequently, brought forth a new and dangerous term called Revolutionary Government. I use the word dangerous because it means a government of one man, the revolutionary leader and in disregard of the constitution. The word of the revolutionary leader is the law. There can only be a revolutionary government when someone usurps the power of governance and asserts his authority over constitutionally established institutions. We saw this when, by the sheer and overwhelming number of our people, we forced Ferdinand E. Marcos, out of the presidential seat and by our acquiescence, installed Corazon C. Aquino the president. Aquino did not become our ruler in accordance with constitutional processes as demonstrated by the fact that her oath of office was not the one written in our Constitution.
We have also heard President Duterte, desiring a change in our constitution. He, at a still later time, said that an amendment to or revision of the constitution should be done thru a constitutional convention. Based on the provisions of the fundamental law and from political history a constitutional convention is a preferred methodology mainly because the task of tinkering with the charter is given to representatives chosen by the citizenry. By such expression, the president seemed to dilute his leaning towards his perceived baby-revolutionary government. I thought that when the president adverted to the extra-constitutional revolutionary government it was his way of expressing of expediting the change he promised.
Out of the blue however, the House of Representatives passed a resolution constituting themselves into a Constituent Assembly with the announced purpose of revising the fundamental law. This happened last Tuesday, one that I will mark in my diary as a day of mourning.
Few days before the congressmen okayed that resolution, Representative Roger Mercado revealed, in a press conference, the information that they would “revisit” the constitution. He made it clear that the House Committee on Constitutional Reforms that he chaired would propose only minor amendments to the charter. Subsequent events proved that either he himself did not know what he was talking about or worse, he lied His reference to the president as the compelling force behind their move showed who the puppeteer is. It became apparent that the marching order to revise (not just amend) the constitution is President Duterte such that when the Mercado committee convened and among the so-called salient features he mentioned was forming a transition government, I could not help but conclude that this was one of the Machiavellian ways resorted to by powers-that-be in order to perpetuate their grip of government.
I am willing to concede that the president does not really want to suffer the cruel fate Marcos went thru. He must have seen that from historical stand point. But, at the same time, it is possible that the awesome privileges appurtenant to the presidency might have moved him to explore ways of perpetuating power. If it is the latter, then we know why revolutionary government and constitutional change are being pushed.
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