What constitutional crisis? There’s none!

I was watching last Tuesday evening’s ANC Presents Charter Change with Lynda Jumilla with no less than former Senator Aquilino “Nene” Pimentel Jr., the Father of the Local Government Code and member of the 1971 Constitutional Convention (con-con) together with former Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairman Christian Monsod, a member of the 1986 Constitutional Commission (Con-com) and Prof. Edmund Tayao of the University of Sto. Tomas on the question “Is there a need to change the Charter?”

Call it the perfect people to give the audience of ANC an idea of why we need Charter changes. Christian Monsod is totally wrong that we are blaming the Constitution for our poverty. Clearly Atty. Monsod is against Charter changes simply because he has taken the exact same stance as former Pres. Benigno “P-Noy” Aquino III not to change the Constitution named after his mother Pres. Cory Aquino.

Thirty years after the EDSA Revolt, we are back to square one on the issue of having a need to change our Charter. That is because the yellow blooded members of the con-com like Christian Monsod allowed the return of the hated oligarchy of which the Aquino/Cojuangco family belonged and they have grown rich beyond anyone’s dreams including their own! Thanks to people like Monsod who were appointed to change our constitution rather than have a constitutional convention.

ANC used the Pulse Asia survey to show that 44 percent of our people do not want Charter change… but I really want to know how this survey was collated? Did Pulse Asia only ask 1,200 respondents who live in Luzon? Pray tell us. It is important that Pulse Asia collate a great number of the Filipino people to really get the pulse of the nation. Ask the ordinary Cebuano or Davaeño and believe me those numbers would dramatically change.

Christian Monsod said that the heart of the 1987 Constitution is social justice… yet 30 years after this constitution was approved…we still lack social justice and worse as Nene Pimentel used as his example, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) then under Dinky Soliman is our proof that Imperial Manila controls even the distribution of emergency resources, like what happened during Super Typhoon Yolanda where today a huge number of those funds have remained unaccounted for.

On the issue of how the Charter should be changed, Nene Pimentel was leaning towards a constituent assembly (con-ass) for as long as Congress would hold public meetings to be held in major areas of the country so that the ordinary people can participate… something that never happened during the con-com under the 1987 Constitution.

Let me add my 10 centavos worth into this debate. Today with our unicameral system of governance, we in Cebu lost out in infrastructure development because the regional director of the Department of Public Works & Highways (DPWH) who does not come from Cebu refused to listen to our advice. Worse, the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA), which is under the control of the President, refuses to give funds for Cebu’s development. This happened to Cebu during the six-long arduous years of the Aquino Presidency from 2010 to 2016.

This is why we are fully supportive of Pres. Duterte’s call for Charter change and a federal system of governance so that we can chart our own destiny and not wait in line for development to be given by Imperial Manila. If our neighbor Malaysia is federal… or the United States of America a federal nation… I don’t see why the Philippines cannot follow their system.

I was listening on TV when Pres. Digong issued a statement, which the other newspaper said that he threatened to declare Martial Law. So let’s get that quote from Pres. Duterte who said “Please wag mo ako…hindi ako…di ako gago. If this continues, pigilin mo ako, sig pag nagwala, would you rather that I declare Martial Law?” Where is the threat to call Martial Law?

Please, you folks ought to read between the lines! Pres. Duterte was merely expressing his frustrations that our Justice system is slow, tedious and as the old Latin dictum says, “Justice delayed is Justice denied!” In effect, what the President wanted from the Supreme Court was to get its act together more so that judges have been tagged as “protectors” in his war against illegal drugs and it is time that the Judiciary does something about it!

If at all, Pres. Duterte could have threatened Chief Justice Sereno with impeachment, just like what his predecessor did to the late Chief Justice Renato Corona. But Pres. Duterte is not into personal vendetta like former president P-Noy, he merely wants swift justice, which could very well happen if he declared Martial Law. Pres. Duterte and Chief Justice Sereno should sit down and talk things over rather than make our people believe that we are headed for a constitutional crisis when there’s none!

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