Cha-cha can be done now ‘the Cory way’—Gonzales

21 April 2009

CHARTER change can be done today—very quickly and without much mess.  That is, if there is sincerity and political will among our present political leaders to pursue the societal changes that the country needs.

National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales yesterday made this assertion as he put forward yet another mode of changing the country’s Constitution: the way President Corazon Aquino did it after the people power revolt of 1986—through a constitutional commission.

Gonzales pointed out that President Aquino created a constitutional commission less than three months upon assuming revolutionary powers and changed the country’s Constitution in about a year.

“Given our political environment today, the best mechanism that we can have to amend our Charter is the same as President Aquino’s constitutional commission,” Gonzales said.

“Since we are not under a revolutionary government today, what we can do is have one amendment to the Constitution that will add constitutional commission as another mode of Charter change. The alternative is to change the nomenclature of the constitutional convention mode to reduce its composition to a more manageable size,” the Malacanang official explained.

The 1986 Constitutional Commission created by Aquino consisted of 50 members drawn from across the various segments of Philippine society and appointed based on their integrity and leadership within their respective sectors.

Gonzales recalled that in just about a year, President Aquino completed Charter change and subsequently called for new elections.

“It was cheap, uncomplicated and very quick. And the body that changed the Constitution was very lean,” he emphasized.

“Should the current political leadership decide to undertake the same noble act, time should not be a constraint. It is really a question of sincerity and desire for change on the part of our present political leaders,” Gonzales said.

The Malacanang official stressed that the key to charter change today is the heads of the three branches of government coming together to have a sincere dialogue and agree among themselves to finally pursue the societal change long needed by the country. “We are talking here of just four people to begin with,” he noted.

Gonzales stressed that the new constitutional commission, to be credible and acceptable, should represent a broad spectrum of public opinion.

Gonzales added that there may no longer be a need for his proposed transition presidency if the nation pursues charter change before 2010.

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Notes:

Why Constitutional Commission?

Charter change is the key to the political reforms the country needs to be on the path of progress and transformation.  Many among our political leaders agree we need Charter change.  It seems, however, that we can never bring ourselves to making this a reality for certain reasons. On one hand, a new president elected for a full six years term does not think of Charter change, which may cut his/ her term, in the first years of his/ her presidency.  On the other hand, the same president is suspected of wanting to extend his/ her term if he thinks of Charter change in the last years of his/ her presidency.  This is part of the rationale why National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales put forward the idea that the country needs a transitional president, a president who sought to spearhead the fundamental reforms the country needs and is willing to call for new elections after the reforms.

Secretary Gonzales is of the position that constitutional convention is the best way to change the Constitution.  People’s initiative has been tried but the way it was employed did not work.  Our lawmakers are insisting the Constituent assembly mode, but our people do not trust our lawmakers to do the job of changing our fundamental Law and there is a running dispute between the Senate and the Lower House on how this mode should be carried out.

Secretary Gonzales was thinking Con-con could be initiated by the current administration by seeking to conduct the election of Con-con delegates in 2010, synchronized with the regular national and local elections.  At the rate things have been going, however, one wonders if the country will ever have the Charter change it urgently needs.

In his search for ways to push Charter change, Secretary Gonzales recalled how President Corazon Aquino did it after the ouster of the Marcos regime.  It was through a Constitutional Commission composed of 50 people appointed by President Aquino to represent the broad spectrum of Philippine society.  It was a “cheap, uncomplicated and very quick” process, as Secretary Gonzales pointed out.  And it was possible under the revolutionary government installed by the EDSA people power uprising.

The country is currently not under a revolutionary government.  How can it have a Constitutional commission?  Secretary Gonzales believes it can be done.  The key is for the heads of our three branches of government to agree among themselves to undertake Charter change.  To Secretary Gonzales’ mind, this is not a complicated thing.  All it takes, he says, is sincere desire for change among our aforementioned political leaders and a sincere dialogue among them.

CENTER FOR PEOPLE’S RIGHTS AND PARTICIPATION (CPRP)

STATEMENT ON SELECTIVE VIGILANTISM IN DAVAO CITY
6 April 2009

We from the Center for People’s Rights and Participation, Inc. (CPRP) join Chairperson Leila M. de Lima of the Commission of Human Rights (CHR) in condemning the selective vigilantism that has been going on in Davao City. CPRP holds that all human beings, whatever their social status, are rights-bearers and all are duty-bearers. CPRP is therefore horrified at the vigilante killings of hundreds of persons in Davao City suspected of having committed crimes. These killings are all the more reprehensible because they selectively victimize the already societally disadvantaged and marginalized.

Such lawless meting out of death or injury is a blatant violation of human rights, undeniably placing our socially uninfluential fellow citizens at the mercy of criminally misguided vigilantes and seriously undermining the process of law guaranteed by our Constitution.

We share the cogent observation of the CHR Chairperson that only poor citizens have been subjected to the killings perpetrated by unnamed groups and individuals who, ironically, style themselves as defenders of peace and order and protectors of the weak and innocent. The alleged high-mindedness of their objectives can never justify the foul means they employ, which amount to selective murder of people whose guilt is yet to be proven.

In a civilized society due process of law must always prevail. No one has the right to slay another person on mere suspicion. The democratic traditions of our nation demand that no one shall be deprived of life, liberty or property without a fair trial. Our laws hold that no one, whether socially influential or uninfluential, shall be subjected to inhuman treatment, as everyone is entitled to equal protection of the laws. Anyone who transgresses these principles, state actor or not, is a human rights violator and deserves to be penalized in accordance with our legal system.

We in CPRP cannot countenance the atrocities committed in Davao City. Thus we throw our full support to the CHR in its campaign to end selective vigilantism in Davao City and other places in which this scourge has begun to show its bloody hand. We stand with the Chairperson of the CHR as she leads the Commission to take steps to identify the perpetrators and bring them to justice. While we believe that peace and order are essential for national security and economic development, we strongly maintain that the rights of our fellow citizens and fellow human beings are sacred, especially the right to life, which is the most fundamental of rights. These rights must not be sacrificed. And those rights we shall faithfully defend at all times.

Quezon City, Philippines
6 April 2009

RYAN CHRISTIAN P. ECHEVARRIA
Executive Director
Center for People’s Rights and Participation

Dutch terrorist tag on Sison good for his deportation—NSA Gonzales

THE Dutch government’s unchanging classification of Communist Party of the Philippines founder Jose Ma. Sison as terrorist will help Philippine government in working for his deportation to face trial in local courts especially with the abolition of death penalty in the country, National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales yesterday said.

Gonzales pointed out that despite Sison’s repeated appeals through Dutch and European Union courts, the Dutch government has been firm in denying him political refugee status as it continues to regard him as terrorist.

The Malacanang official noted that the Dutch government has consistently maintained—and its courts have upheld—that Sison is “liable for subversion and related charges of the Philippine government” and for his “contacts with terrorist organizations,” referring to the CPP and its armed group, the New People’s Army.

Gonzales, who has pushed for emphasizing political and legal offensives in government’s fight to end the long-running communist insurgency, has declared the Arroyo government will write its Dutch counterpart to seek Sison’s expulsion from his European base.

The national security chief said previous efforts by the Philippine government to have Sison sent back to the Philippines failed because the country had death penalty and the Dutch government feared for his life.

The Dutch Council of State, in its 1992 and 1995 decisions, maintained that “secret intelligence dossiers” cannot be used as evidence against Sison and found “no sufficient evidence for crimes that would exclude him from consideration as political refugee.”

Despite these judicial decisions, however, the Dutch government has continued to refuse to grant the Filipino communist leader political asylum and residence permit, saying that doing so would “run counter to the commitment and credibility of the Dutch state to its allies.” The Dutch government is also invoking its “freedom of policy and discretion.”

It is clear from these facts that Sison has no automatic refugee status, Gonzales emphasized. “He is technically non-existent in the Netherlands .”

The Dutch government included Sison, the CPP and the NPA in its terrorist list in August 13, 2002, a day after the U.S. Government did. This terrorist tag on Sison and his organizations has since remained, Gonzales noted.

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Joma Sison to face RP courts—NSA Gonzales

NATIONAL Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales yesterday vowed government will be working hard to get Communist Party of the Philippines founder Jose Maria Sison back to the country so that he can answer cases filed against him in local courts.

“Sison may be free now from the suit against him in Dutch courts but not from the arm of our own justice system,” Gonzales said.

Gonzales even assured that the communist leader who is based in Europe since 1987 will have a fair trial in the country. The national security chief is credited for enhancing government’s decades-long fight against communist insurgency, emphasizing legal and political offensives.

Government will write to its Dutch counterpart to formally seek Sison’s expulsion from his European base, Gonzales said. He noted that there is no extradition treaty between the Philippines and the Netherlands, but getting Sison back to the country may be worked out through diplomacy.

“We will look into our laws and their (Dutch) laws to find ways to have Sison expelled from Netherlands and back into the country. We will really go after him,” Gonzales stressed.

Government’s similar efforts in the past were not successful because the country had death penalty law and the Dutch government feared for his life, according to the Malacanang official. Now that the country’s death penalty law had been repealed, there should be no more reason for the Dutch government not to cooperate with us on this matter.

Gonzales believes the fact that it is known in Netherlands that Sison and his comrades have continued to exercise control of the armed communist rebellion in the Philippines from their Dutch base will help Philippine government in its case for his expulsion back to the country.

Gonzales also pointed out that Sison’s request for asylum in the Netherlands has been rejected. “Technically, he is non-existent in the Netherlands.”

Sison’s assets and his pension have also been frozen by the Dutch authorities.

The Dutch courts dropped the case against Sison because of lack of willing witnesses, Gonzales said.

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2010 polls a national security concern—NSA Gonzales

NATIONAL Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales yesterday said responding to his call for ‘transition president’ in 2010 may be a foolish idea to most traditional politicians but it is a patriotic response to the urgent need of the country.

“Yes, my idea may demand a supreme sacrifice from the next president for the sake of rebuilding our nation. That sacrifice entails accomplishing political reforms that would presumably involve change of political system and would require him or her to seek a new mandate from the people under a new system. Since when is this kind of sacrifice a stupidity?” Gonzales asked.

“Are we saying that our country is bereft of leaders who are stupid enough to offer their selves to make this sacrifice? Are we saying that we don’t have leaders now who love our country enough to be concerned with fundamental reforms for the country more than with their political ambitions?” Gonzales added.

The national security chief said the pursuit of fundamental reforms is the direction that every political force in the country today, including the administration coalition, should be taking in 2010.

Gonzales said his own party, the Partido Demokratiko Sosyalista ng Pilipinas, which belongs to the administration coalition, cannot allow that important national issues “like political reforms, electoral reforms, including poll automation,” be not discussed now, before 2010.

“When will these issues be discussed, after 2010? My party will go back to the people and discuss these issues with them now,” Gonzales emphasized.

The Malacanang official also pointed out that these issues and the 2010 elections are of national security concern. “For a long time now, our country has been drifting to nowhere because of our dysfunctional politics. It was about time the nation, as one people who believe they deserve better, fully addressed the issue.”
Gonzales has been saying the country’s dysfunctional politics is the greatest threat to the future of the nation.

He has said he feared that, without change of mindset of the country’s political leaders and electorate, “we will only have more of the same in 2010; the same corrupt and dysfunctional political system, and the same elitist and self-serving politicians.”

“If we do, then 2010 will be another wasted opportunity for real societal change. We will have another six years of bad politics, of unending political squabbles, at the expense of our hungry people and poorly educated children,” Gonzales said.