Speaker Martin would carry Region 8 hands-down if he chooses to run for a new Senate, and for once, CAR and Caraga will have an elected member in that Senate
The Senate, as presently composed, is wary of an existential threat if the 1987 Constitution is revised. Instead, it wants purely economic amendments to be on the table.
It has presented a compromise: let both houses of Congress pass the amendments to the economic provisions voting separately as in ordinary legislation.
But clearly, the House demurs.
Meanwhile, the Comelec has been validating a million or so signatures to a PI – People’s Intiatrive – that was clearly collected in stealth. Na “eat-bulaga” ang Senado.
Chairman George Garcia and his registrars have a ministerial duty unless the PI is declared illegal by the high tribunal.
The members of the “august” body who are elected at large by the entire nation recoil at being treated as ‘mere’ members, and insist on voting separately.
Meanwhile, Malacanang has been eerily silent, pretending to be clueless, while watching the spectacle.
But, as I have kept repeating in this space, things like these do not happen unless Malacanang has tacit approval.
The only way to solve the seeming impasse is for Malacanang to step in and broker a compromise.
And it can demonstrate its political will by doing so; damning the ‘torpedoes’ from the usual naysayers whose main argument is “you cannot trust Congress,” despite the fact that its members were elected by the ‘sovereign’ people, or by somebody like a former CJ Davide who hilariously declares the present Charter as “the best.”
And what is a compromise that the naysayers cannot argue against?
A Constitutional Commission whose members are elected by the people!
Who can defy the will of the electorate in choosing who should represent them in a body that will change the “kaluluwa ng bayan” (as described by Sen. Joel Villanueva), especially one that has been crafted by a body of 50 minus 1 or 2, selected while we were under a “revolutionary government”?
We need not be hamstrung by the forthcoming mid-term elections which can proceed as scheduled, to be circumscribed only by the provisions of the revised Charter when it is ratified beyond 2025.
And so that we do not have an unwieldy composition of some 250 to 300 members similar to the House of Representatives, let us have a common ground: elect members of the Commission by the 17 administrative regions.
Assuming each region is to be given equal weight, we can elect 3 Con-Con delegates per, for a total of 51, almost as big as President Cory’s selected membership in 1986.
Or if our legislators prefer a proportionately representative body, with at least one for the smaller regions, like CAR, Mimaropa and Caraga, with more for bigger regions like Calabarzon, NCR and Central Luzon, we would have a Con-Con of a tad more than 60 members.
After its ratification, the new Charter takes effect in 2028, with present term limits of the president and vice-president respected.
To dispel doubts that the current leadership wants to prolong his stay in Malacanang, President Marcos Jr. can make a solemn declaration that he will not seek office beyond 2028, whether the new Charter calls for a presidential, parliamentary or quasi-parliamentary form similar to France.
With the pervasiveness of social media, ordinary citizens can have their voices heard even while the Con-Con deliberates.
This writer has long been proposing changes such as a presidential two-party system with tandem voting for all executive positions; a regionally elected Senate; district-elected congressmen, with the abolition or strictly limited definition of party-list representation; as well as the abolition of elected councilors and provincial board members, replaced by municipal or component city mayors, and barangay chairmen as the case may be.
Senators of the Republic after all come from some region or another: Senadora Imee will always win in Region 1; Sen. Bong Go and Bato should win easily in Region 11; and the only problem would perhaps be in NCR, though surely our senators could choose to represent a region, such as Senadora Loren Legarda who once represented Antique in Region 6.
Speaker Martin would carry Region 8 hands-down if he chooses to run for a new Senate, and for once, CAR and Caraga will have an elected member in that Senate.
Explained properly to the people, I am confident they will approve of this compromise.
As for the “urgent” economic provisions, why, even Vietnam where land belongs to the State and is only leased to foreigners, is beating us hands-down in luring foreign investments.THE Senate, as presently composed, is wary of an existential threat if the 1987 Constitution is revised. Instead, it wants purely economic amendments to be on the table.
It has presented a compromise: let both houses of Congress pass the amendments to the economic provisions voting separately as in ordinary legislation.
But clearly, the House demurs.
Meanwhile, the Comelec has been validating a million or so signatures to a PI – People’s Intiatrive – that was clearly collected in stealth. Na “eat-bulaga” ang Senado.
Chairman George Garcia and his registrars have a ministerial duty unless the PI is declared illegal by the high tribunal.
The members of the “august” body who are elected at large by the entire nation recoil at being treated as ‘mere’ members, and insist on voting separately.
Meanwhile, Malacanang has been eerily silent, pretending to be clueless, while watching the spectacle.
But, as I have kept repeating in this space, things like these do not happen unless Malacanang has tacit approval.
The only way to solve the seeming impasse is for Malacanang to step in and broker a compromise.
And it can demonstrate its political will by doing so; damning the ‘torpedoes’ from the usual naysayers whose main argument is “you cannot trust Congress,” despite the fact that its members were elected by the ‘sovereign’ people, or by somebody like a former CJ Davide who hilariously declares the present Charter as “the best.”
And what is a compromise that the naysayers cannot argue against?
A Constitutional Commission whose members are elected by the people!
Who can defy the will of the electorate in choosing who should represent them in a body that will change the “kaluluwa ng bayan” (as described by Sen. Joel Villanueva), especially one that has been crafted by a body of 50 minus 1 or 2, selected while we were under a “revolutionary government”?
We need not be hamstrung by the forthcoming mid-term elections which can proceed as scheduled, to be circumscribed only by the provisions of the revised Charter when it is ratified beyond 2025.
And so that we do not have an unwieldy composition of some 250 to 300 members similar to the House of Representatives, let us have a common ground: elect members of the Commission by the 17 administrative regions.
Assuming each region is to be given equal weight, we can elect 3 Con-Con delegates per, for a total of 51, almost as big as President Cory’s selected membership in 1986.
Or if our legislators prefer a proportionately representative body, with at least one for the smaller regions, like CAR, Mimaropa and Caraga, with more for bigger regions like Calabarzon, NCR and Central Luzon, we would have a Con-Con of a tad more than 60 members.
After its ratification, the new Charter takes effect in 2028, with present term limits of the president and vice-president respected.
To dispel doubts that the current leadership wants to prolong his stay in Malacanang, President Marcos Jr. can make a solemn declaration that he will not seek office beyond 2028, whether the new Charter calls for a presidential, parliamentary or quasi-parliamentary form similar to France.
With the pervasiveness of social media, ordinary citizens can have their voices heard even while the Con-Con deliberates.
This writer has long been proposing changes such as a presidential two-party system with tandem voting for all executive positions; a regionally elected Senate; district-elected congressmen, with the abolition or strictly limited definition of party-list representation; as well as the abolition of elected councilors and provincial board members, replaced by municipal or component city mayors, and barangay chairmen as the case may be.
Senators of the Republic after all come from some region or another: Senadora Imee will always win in Region 1; Sen. Bong Go and Bato should win easily in Region 11; and the only problem would perhaps be in NCR, though surely our senators could choose to represent a region, such as Senadora Loren Legarda who once represented Antique in Region 6.
Speaker Martin would carry Region 8 hands-down if he chooses to run for a new Senate, and for once, CAR and Caraga will have an elected member in that Senate.
Explained properly to the people, I am confident they will approve of this compromise.
As for the “urgent” economic provisions, why, even Vietnam where land belongs to the State and is only leased to foreigners, is beating us hands-down in luring foreign investments.