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Haste makes waste

House Speaker Jose de Venecia’s time table for amending the Constitution to establish an interim parliamentary by June is dangerously fast — dangerous for the Filipino people — because changing the Constitution will not be limited to the form of government but will also amend provisions dealing with national patrimony and economy.

In the report of the Constitutional Commission formed by Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, it is clear that provisions on ownership will be amended and will give foreign corporations the right to own lands in the country which the 1987 Constitution clearly prohibits. This is hazardous for Filipinos particularly for indigenous peoples because foreign mining corporations will be given the right to buy and own ancestral lands which will ensure their unhampered mining operations that will certainly be detrimental to the environment and the interest of indigenous peoples.

And after almost a week of the simultaneous nationwide barangay assembly to discuss amending the Constitution, the means by which the signatures have been gathered remains questionable because of various tactics of deception (i.e. the petition is for changing the president; pro-Chater change should sign on the first page and those against will sign on the second page; etc.) and massive signature buying. This is clearly a violation of the people’s will. And if the proponents of this people’s initiative can manipulate and deceive the people just to meet the required signatures, how can the people be sure that amendments to the Charter will truly be reflective of the people’s will?

Lastly, as long as leaders whose legitimacy remains highly questionable, changing the form of government will not ensure political and economic stability as well as a government that will be responsive to the interest of the people. Just to refresh, it is the question of GMA’s legitimacy and her anti-people and fascist policies that hastened political instability. #

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