MERGED: Charter Change

[mannyamador]

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You're changing your tune dude

You seem to lack storage space between your ears, kotong. Or did you just deliberately "forget"? Well, despite your deceptive "ignorance", here's my earlier post on the matter:

https://www.istorya.net/forums/politi...ml#post3592457

It is stupid to want to change for its own sake. We should want change for the better.

But there's no point in changing the form of democratic government if the same CORRUPT leaders still run the show. If you want REAL change for the better, get rid of the dirty crooks running the government. Don't listen to those brown-nosing sycophants who adore these corrupt politicians.

But then you're the expert at ignoring reality, aren't you? Have a banana. Forget about your nasty cow activities.

[cottonmouth]

Sorry peps am gonna borrow a lot of brains this time. I just like their ideas...boy I wish I have their brains. This one is an old column but it just fits right. Here's another one for you @mannyboy and to your two monkey pals.

Quote:

A need for system change!
INSIDE CEBU By Bobit S. Avila
The Philippine Star 07/29/2005

I expected that right after the State of the Nation Address (SONA) of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (GMA) we would have started the debate on how we should change our Constitution — via a constitutional convention (con-con) or a constituent assembly (con-ass). Actually, we debated this issue years ago... that despite its huge expense, the con-con was still preferred by many because we don’t trust our congressmen to monkey around with changing our Constitution.

But instead of this debate, we are now hearing people questioning the move for Charter changes, saying the problem is not the form of government, rather the need for moral change. Clearly, a lot of people are totally ignorant of what’s going on around them! If I do not dispute the observation of Lingayen Archbishop Oscar Cruz, it is because he obviously doesn’t know why the present system of government is no longer working. For instance, does he know that the multi-party system has only promoted "personality politics"? Just look at how many political parties have come and gone. What we ought to do is shift to a two-party system... give strength to a political party, not to political animals or political nincompoops!

Does Archbishop Cruz understand that the people in the South are fed up with our colonizers? Four hundred years ago we were colonized by Spain, then the Americans colonized us for 50 years... 50 years later, many of us believe that the rest of the Philippines has become a colony of Metro Manila, and that’s exactly why President Arroyo was applauded when she proposed a shift to a federal system of government as it frees the rest of the country from the bondage of Imperial Manila! Alas, most of our priests do not understand what this means because the Catholic Church isn’t a government and the Vatican’s style of governance isn’t exactly democratic! But I don’t question it. [This is one reason you should not trust what those priests says]

Perhaps, the good Archbishop doesn’t know that our language policies have caused the suppression or even the extinction of the other languages in this archipelago. Yes, saying that Tagalog is Pilipino and that Cebuano and the other languages are mere dialects of the Pilipino language is a big farce! In truth, Pilipino, as it is spoken today, is really a dialect of Tagalog; after all, Pilipino is 99.9 percent taken from the Tagalog tongue... not the other way! [ you will like this @ratilaboto]

Thanks to a centralized or unitary form of governance, those in Imperial Manila want everyone to speak their native tongue to the detriment of their own culture! Like it or not, our group, dubbed Save Our Languages through Federalism (SOLFED), and the Internet group called Defenders of Indigenous Languages in the Archipelago (DILA) call this a form of ethnic cleansing! For us, it is only through a federal system of governance that we will best preserve our cultural and ethnic diversity. The truth is no one is really born a Pilipino; he is either an Ilocano, Chavacano, Tagalog, Waray, Ilonggo or Cebuano! Pray, tell me who was born a Filipino?

So there you are. I can present more hard evidence of how bad our system of governance has gone and I will certainly run out of space. So you better believe that our present system of governance is one of the principal causes why this nation has never grown economically and politically. We tend to give too much emphasis on the President... as if the President is a "miracle worker." But in truth, the President is just another politician lost in the vortex of political accommodations, patronage and greed.

But the reality is the presidency isn’t just the problem here. We’ve also got 24 other headaches... called Senators, who are mini-dictators in their own right, 24 people out of 85 million Filipinos who control billions of pesos in pork barrel! No, my dear Archbishop Cruz, the present system is very much at fault and if you compare our system of governance to the countries that are better than us, believe me it’s a no brainer!


Unquote.

[cottonmouth]

You seem to lack storage space between your ears, kotong. Or did you just deliberately "forget"? Well, despite your deceptive "ignorance", here's my earlier post on the matter:

But then you're the expert at ignoring reality, aren't you? Have a banana. Forget about your nasty cow activities.

Ouch!!! you're hurting me too deep...arghh!. Common! you can do more than just petty rants..don't be a sore-loser dude. If you can't stand it, ask help from your two monkey-friends.

Let's get it on!

[mannyamador]

Let's get it on!

Leave me out of your nasty nocturnal monkey-and-cow activities, kotong. That's only for...


YOUR Bulag, Pipi at Bingi squad.


A brazen move to extend Arroyo’s term
November 28, 2008 02:47:00
Amando Doronila
Philippine Daily Inquirer
Charter Change

As the country approaches closer the constitutional termination of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s presidency in 2010, the more audacious the attempts to extend her stay in office become.

The most brazen of these attempts is a resolution filed by Batangas province’s Rep. Hermilando Mandanas in the House committee on constitutional amendments seeking to extend her grip on power for another year through the subterfuge of postponing the general elections in May 2010 to a year later. The scheme in effect extends the President’s tenure, awarding her an extra-legal stay in office. There are fears that an extension could open the gates to a longer and more permanent extension.

House Resolution 550 states: “All elected officials whose term will end at noon on June 30, 2010 shall hereby hold office until noon of June 30, 2011.” It covers all elected officials who will be given a one-year bonus, including the President and the Vice President, who, together with senators, hold a six-year term. It also seeks to extend the terms of congressmen to four years and other elected local officials, including governors and mayors.

The resolution comes as an opening wedge for the entry of measures intended to amend the Constitution, including the resolution to convene Congress as a constituent assembly.

The resolution came to the surface in the wake of a campaign pushed by the President’s eldest son, Pampanga province’s Rep. Mikey Arroyo, to secure congressional backing for a resolution calling on the Senate and the House to convene as a constituent assembly to consider constitutional amendments, voting jointly but not separately.

Both the HR 550 and the one sponsored by the younger Arroyo are being pushed against strong public resistance to constitutional change, as reflected by public opinion polls. A survey conducted by the poll group Social Weather Stations (SWS) from late September to early October showed that 64 percent of adult Filipinos are opposed to amending the Constitution to allow President Arroyo to remain in power. The survey also found that very few wished to extend the terms of office of the President, the Vice President, senators and congressmen. A total of 63 percent of respondents said the President’s term was “just right as of now.”

The fresh moves to ram constitutional changes intended to extend the presidential tenure fly into the historical record showing that most Filipinos have always been opposed to any extension of a president’s stay in office. In December 2007, the fourth quarter 2006 SWS survey found that 66 percent said no to Charter change, or “Cha-cha.”. In its June 2006 survey, SWS found the no vote to Cha-cha rising to 67 percent, with only 6.8 percent signing a people’s initiative petition. In its fourth quarter 2005 survey, SWS found that 54 percent approved of Cha-cha whereby Ms Arroyo would step down.

In another indicator of the antagonistic public mood toward the President, another SWS survey found that in August 2005 49 percent in Metro Manila said impeachment was more important than Cha-cha, which was preferred by 22 percent. In its second quarter report, SWS found only 30 percent favored amending the Constitution, while 64 percent opposed allowing Ms Arroyo to be prime minister. In January 2003, SWS found “no grass-roots clamor to amend the Constitution; only one-half of one percent cited parliamentary system.”

The plan to postpone the 2010 election to 2011 is expected to provoke more resistance than other forms of Charter change, because seldom have national elections been cancelled, except in a national emergency, such as war. Of all the institutionalized procedures of democracy, elections have been held by Filipinos as the most popular mode of renewal and leadership change, despite the outcome of the elections and the cheating that has surrounded regular elections. This tradition stands as the most formidable obstacle to the suspension of elections, especially if it is seen as a way to extend the President’s tenure.

The movements have come at a time when the President is experiencing a prolonged rock-bottom public approval rating, which is worse than that of any previous president since the 1986 People Power Revolution toppled Ferdinand Marcos. While presidential minions have swamped the House with resolutions seeking constitutional change in myriad forms, these efforts have weaker prospects of success than the crushing of impeachment complaints against the President. Only the other day, the administration demonstrated its raw power to crush impeachment complaints when the House committee on justice voted to declare the fourth impeachment complaint against President Arroyo “insufficient in substance.” But the administration and its House allies would find it more difficult ramming the proposal to convene a constituent assembly to consider constitutional change. The biggest obstacle will be the Senate which stands to be eliminated by a shift to a parliamentary system from the presidential system.

With the administration majority in the House, the other approaches toward unseating the President aside from impeachment include people power, which has so far remained unawakened despite the corruption scandals that have rocked the administration. The revelations of corruption scandals by the former presidential ally, former House speaker Jose de Venecia, have not elevated public outrage to the level where it would fuel mass protests.

[cottonmouth]

Dude, you really believe in SWS surveys, don't you? @ratilaboto must be angry with you now coz SWS ask only the the Manila peeps who doesn't want the power removed from them.

SWS...they don't move w/o the money. Who's got milk, they'll suck it.

[mannyamador]

Who's got milk, they'll suck it.

Don't think too much about your cow sweetheart, kotong. It won't fit into the brown paper bag from GMA.

[kamikaze426]

nindot cguro ni charter change para ma represent ang each region gyud.

[am_believer24]

same set of leaders? na, ayaw na lang!

[edgeknife]

okey baya ang charter change after na sa 2010 elections... pero b4 2010 elections, ayaw lang pod...

[mannyamador]

same set of leaders? na, ayaw na lang!

Well said, bro!!!


Cha-cha moves affect Arroyo credibility
November 27, 2008 02:11:00
Belinda Olivares-Cunanan
Philippine Daily Inquirer
http://www.inquirer.net/specialfeatu...0081127-174585

The junking of the impeachment complaint against President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo by the justice committee of the House of Representatives was predictable despite the protestations of impeachment advocates that the 100-page complaint with 500 pages of attachments was substantial. It will now go to plenary session where the voting is also predictable.

What’s more difficult to comprehend is the move by some House allies of the President on Charter change, or Cha-cha. If, as the Palace and the President’s son, Rep. Mikey Arroyo, insist, she is determined to step down after her term ends in 2010, why then did Batangas province’s Rep. Hermilando Mandanas file a resolution seeking the extension of the terms of all elected officials, from the President down, to June 30, 2011? Considering that Mandanas is a ranking Lakas-CMD party leader, this move does not lend credibility to the administration’s assertion. If the justification is to bring about economic reforms, it is not commensurate to the political instability being generated.

Banking and finance experts opine that while our country seems to have escaped some of the worst effects of the global financial turmoil, we can expect a recession over the next two years as we feel the impact of lower demand for our products, including call center services. In view of this, the best thing to do is to postpone all Cha-cha moves to after the 2010 elections and concentrate instead on shoring up the economy and cushioning the recession’s impact especially on the very poor. Three years ago I pushed hard for Cha-cha since that was the right time to do it. But this is not the right time for it.