Checks and Balances

Checks and Balances

They have reasons to be worried, if not alarmed, over the future leadership and governance of this country, which our children and grandchildren will soon inherit. So in a June 22 full-page national newspaper advertisement some concerned Filipinos declared: “We don’t need the proposed charter change.”

Their reasons: “We don’t need a Constitution that would take away our right to vote directly for the President, create a powerful Interim Parliament composed of incumbent politicians that decide whether the 2007 elections will be held or not, create a super-President with additional Prime Minister powers, open the door for those in power to stay on indefinitely, and weaken the Supreme Court as a check against martial law, abuse of power and violation of human rights.”

The signatories to the full-page advertisement include former Comelec chair Christian S. Monsod, businessman Raul T. Concepcion, former Senator Wigberto Tañada, UP Economics Prof. Solita Monsod, former DILG Secretary Rafael Alunan, and scores of others who include prominent church leaders such the Most Rev. Angel N. Lagdameo of the archdiocese of Jaro, Most Rev. Orlando Quevedo of Cotabato archdiocese, Archbishop Oscar Cruz of Lingayen, and many more.

According to the signatories, the current proposed reasons to change the Constitution “take away power from the people and hand it over to those who already have too much of it.” As it has been oft-repeated, power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. So the signatories fear that the proposed reasons of the Charter change proponents would only further concentrate absolute power into the hands of those whose glasses are over-spilling with it as their piggy banks are getting fatter.

Monsod et. al. instead proposed that constitutional reforms are best done through a more transparent Constitutional Convention after the 2007 elections, “where any changes will not benefit those in power today.”

They also underlined the need for a “strong social reform program.” This program, they say, requires “a sharper focus and visible action on safety nets for the poor, especially in the areas of education, food security, health and housing; strict implementation of agrarian reform and environmental laws; a serious and sustained fight against graft and corruption; and increased representation in Congress and local governments for marginalized sectors.”

Under the backdrop of a discredited electoral system as a result of the “Hello Garci” fiasco, Monsod et. al. stressed the need for electoral reforms. They remind us that “a trustworthy electoral system is a fundamental building block of a democracy.” They say that the 2007 election, if credible, can serve as an indirect referendum on the term of the present administration, “so we can move on.”

And their battle-cry: “Ibalik natin ang tiwala sa ating mga institusyon, sa ating sarili, at sa ating demokrasya (Let us bring back trust in our institutions, in ourselves, and in our democracy).”

After the Marcoses were ousted in February 1986, many of us had the romantic notion that democracy and good governance would finally reign. But it turned out that it was not as simple as that. At least one institution -- a free press -- has been restored. But even the media institution has been under threat under the administrations that replaced Marcos’ martial law regime. The media is now seeing the worst thus far under Ms. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s administration when journalists are now being killed along with militant activists. Now the Philippines is said to be next to war-torn Iraq, in terms of the most dangerous place in the world to practice journalism.

Along with an independent and credible judiciary and an independent legislature, a free press is one of the important checks and balances of a real democracy. But how can journalists practice their democratic role when practicing their profession and vocation has become dangerous to their health?

If behind the proposed Charter change is “a creeping dictatorship” as some critics pointed, may God bless the Philippines. Under a dictatorship, we, in the press, can only harp on the true, the good and the beautiful but not on the bad and the ugly. Those who had experienced and survived hell under martial law, therefore, should have more reasons to join the chorus of other advocates of real democracy: NEVER AGAIN!