Think about it
Character change vs. charter change
By Jun Velasco
WHATEVER you say about the United States, its recent election was a showcase of an enviable genuine democracy.
Out there, we got what we’ve learned in our political science books: a healthy debate has a bearing on public behaviour.
We all had inkling on what the American electorate would do to the Bush administration after it tripped on the Iraq weapons for mass destruction issue.
A vanquished President Bush, however, matter of factly picked up from the debris of defeat very quickly to underscore the sturdiness of American democracy. We could only wish that what we just witnessed in Yankee country would also happen in the Philippines.
* * *
A potent group of political pundits in Manila is taking a different view at the never-say-die charter change issue in the country.
The group says the murky picture kicked up by the Supreme Court’s “dumping” of the People’s Initiative petition and the ascent of the Constituent Assembly (Con-Ass) fallback plan looks like a curtain raiser for a, hold your breath!, no-el (no elections).
We earlier viewed this as a most risky business by the administration, but it’s always best that we view it with concern if not alarm.
How will the election-hungry Pinoys take that?
No matter what, one can already read the handwriting on the wall, and don’t tell us we didn’t warn you about it.
* * *
A chat with Mayor Monching Guico at his posh League of Municipalities office in Cubao gives one an insider’s view of backroom moves in Philippine politics.
The soft-spoken chieftain of the country’s town mayors has retained a brand of humility that’s hardly available to a man of his stature, a close kin of the President with access to privileged information.
We admire his nonchalance, otherwise being an old pal, he would have opened up at his own risk.
Of course, we’ve assured him of confidentiality, but he could be right, we might bungle a few against our will. That rule applies to everyone, he said.
* * *
There’s an adroit move by the fans and admirers of Sigaw ng Bayan mogul Raul Lambino that he take a crack at a senate seat, as if doing so won’t confuse his advocacy to demolish the senate.
Our casual reaction is that Raul, far from the “easy, easy-lang beerkada” we used to be, has evolved into a serious combatant in the Philippine political arena.
Raul’s sweetheart, the former Marlene de Guzman of the famous family in Bauang, La Union let us in a secret: she, as well as all members of the family, will picket the Philippine government to disallow him to run for the senate or any elective post because they have missed his physical company for centuries!
Woe unto Raul’s fans who find him an easy winner in a senate race. But wait! Are these fans serious? If they share Raul’s vision of a parliamentary government, why are they giving a hoot to a senate race?
Well, precisely, it’s almost next to impossible to change the Pinoy attitude towards politics as a pastime and as a chance to install a favorite persona in a political office, never mind whatever he could be there for later.
Maybe, one observer was right. It’s not charter change that we need, but character change. That should apply not only to the candidates but also, if not more so, to the people.
(For past columns, click http://sundaypunch.prepys.com/archives/category/opinion/think-about-it/)
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