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Friday, March 29, 2024

More on Charter change

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Should legislators, elected to office to pass laws, be allowed to tinker with the Constitution?

This was the question raised by Buhay Party-List Rep. Lito Atienza who maintained lawmakers were sworn into office to uphold and defend the Constitution, not violate it. Atienza’s query becomes even more relevant in the wake of news report the Senate is open to a Constitutional Assembly proposal being pushed by the supermajority at the House of Representatives.

“I’m prepared to debate on the issue against House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, Davao Rep. Karlo Nograles and other leading proponents of Con-Ass in the lower chamber,” said Atienza.

Nograles said the cost of holding an election for delegates to a constitutional convention-—paying their salary and allowances plus the cost of renting an appropriate venue—would run to about P7 billion.

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Atienza disputed Nograles’ reason for a constituent assembly that the government would save a lot of money if the present members of Congress would just do the job of changing the Constitution. Atienza said that lumped together the government wasted more than P7 billion in the purchase of the P3.8-billion defective carriages for Metro Rail Transit Line 3, the P3.5 billion for the lethal Dengvaxia dengue vaccine and the frequent foreign travel expenses of government officials, including congressmen.

“There is indecent haste to revise the Constitution, but the people can see clearly the agenda of the Con-Ass proponents. The congressmen want to skip the 2019 mid- term elections so they can stay on as holdover officials. I will also benefit from this arrangement but I cannot in clear conscience allow myself to be tainted by this patent violation of the Constitution,” said Atienza who is one of the few remaining independent minded members in the House.

“Whether it’s Con-Ass or Con-Con, live television coverage of the major networks would expose those who are pushing for vested interests,” said Atienza, adding the people should know who are mangling the basic law of the land. He said the academe, Lions Club, Rotarians, Gabriela and other civic groups must join forces to defend and protect the Constitution from being subverted by the politicians.

This early, Atienza said, the people cannot be passive; they must let Congress know that Charter Change done through Con-Ass will not pass in a plebiscite. If he cannot stop Con-ass from being railroaded at the House, Atienza, a former street protester, said he would lead a nationwide campaign for a plebiscite to reject an anomalously revised Constitution. He urged his colleagues in the House to reconsider their position on Con-Ass.

The revision of the 30-year-old Constitution and the looming impeachment trial of Supreme Court Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno are converging events in May that have all the makings of a maelstrom. The Merriam Webster dictionary defines maelstrom as a turbulent whirlpool or a violent movement of water current. I’m not wishing for a social upheaval but those whose hands are in the lever of power should not whip up a political storm of their own making. Tampering with the Constitution could lead to a political crisis that may be difficult to contain . It’s better to be an alarmist now than regret being complacent later.

Let us pray for peace in our country and the enlightenment of our legislators to do the right thing.

Overfishing

The Philippines as an archipelago is endowed with having the Pacific Ocean on its eastern side and the South China Sea on the western side. Because of this geographic advantage, Filipinos depend on fishing as a livelihood harvesting an estimated 4.7 million tons of fish a year.. But this bounty from the sea might soon be depleted because of overfishing, according to an international study group.

Adding to the problem is the unabated poaching of fishermen from other countries like China, Vietnam, and Taiwan in our territorial waters. The poachers when apprehended by the Philippine Coast Guard are usually released by local authorities due to diplomatic intercession of the countries whose nationals were arrested

The biggest violator of poaching in our waters are the Chinese who went even further by claiming waters within our 200-mile exclusive economic zone under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. Using gunboat diplomacy, Chinese patrol boats shoo away Filipinos from their traditional fishing ground in Bajo Masinloc off Zambales. What a reversal of fortune! The Chinese grabbed Scarborough Shoal, other islets and reefs near our coastlines. The poachers are now the enforcers.

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