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Philippines
Thursday, March 28, 2024

Oh no, you don’t!

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Fearing for its very own existence, the Senate is going to convene itself into a constituent assembly (Con-Ass). Senator Panfilo Lacson said he would file a resolution this week to preclude the House of Representatives from abolishing the upper chamber under a parliamentary/federalism unicameral system.

“The current maelstrom generated by the differing opinions on how the amendments or revision of the Constitution has caused bitter political bickering between and among the leadership in both houses of Congress,” said Lacson. His Senate Resolution 580 seeks a separate voting on Charter change and intends to prevent the Senate from being abolished.

Senate Majority Leader Tito Sotto, and Senators Grace Poe and Miguel Zubiri said they would join Lacson’s move as co-authors of the resolution. It didn’t take long before Senators Jayvee Ejercito and Sonny Angara said they too were in favor of the Senate to do its own revision of the Constitution separate from the House plan to change the charter.

Under a parliamentary/federal system to be proposed by the House in a revised charter, the Senate will be abolished and absorbed into a unicameral parliament. The move would make the former senators less influential against 245 congressmen particularly in the voting for the passage of important bills.

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Indeed under the new set-up, the former senators will be no more than bystanders even if they speak up on the parliament floor to oppose the railroading of certain bills that affect the people’s lives.

“The bicameral system has been long a form of check and balance against the use of excessive power by the executive,” said Senator Joseph Victor Ejercito. He added that it would be easier for the executive to control a unicameral parliament than if there were two chambers like the Senate and the House.

Amid all the talk about Constitutional Assembly and the charter amendments, foremost of which is the proposal for a federalism/ parliamentary form of government, there is a persistent speculation that the agenda of the proponents is to extend their term and that of President Rodrigo Duterte. The Palace has denied the President wishes to extend his term beyond the six-year single term.

The House movers of Charter change, however, are planning to install President Duterte as Prime Minister during the transition period from bicameral to a unicameral parliament. The duration of the transition period is not specific and could last a couple of years making Duterte PM even after his actual term as president ends in 2022.

False alarm

“Hawaii is beautiful, but it’s not where I want to die,” said relieved vacationer Jocelyn Azbell, who like other panic-stricken tourists were herded into the Maui hotel basement.

Native Hawaiians ran for cover in their homes or under restaurant tables while others caught on the street looked up to the sky as if to see what Armageddon was like.

They were later told that a public alert of a missile attack heading for Hawaii was a false alarm. A member of the Hawaii public alert system accidentally pressed the wrong button during a shift in personnel duty.

But hey, you never know when that lunatic leader of North Korea might have finally pushed the button. Kim Jong Un, after all, has been threatening to launch intercontinental ballistic missiles targeting American territory like Guam, Hawaii as far as the US West Coast. Several times last year, Kim sent missiles across and over Japan.

What if the man at the White House reacted instantly and sent US nuclear warheads into the heart of Pyongyang, thinking the missile alert was for real? It’s a scary scenario we all do not want to see happen.

A bomb attack on this island paradise in the Pacific is not new to the natives. For those old enough to remember, it brought back memories of the Japanese attack on the US naval base at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.

The missile menace posed by North Korea is forcing Japan to change its post-war pacifist Constitution and re-arm. For all we know, Japan might already have its own nuclear arsenal without telling the world about it. The Japanese people after all are scientifically savvy as seen by the electronic products they produce and sell in the world market.

In the US, not a few Americans are calling on President Donald Trump to launch a preemptive strike against Pyongyang’s missile madness. It’s a volatile global situation when you have an unhinged North Korean despot and a temperamental American president who just might react and put his finger on the trigger.

Then again, Trump is too busy building walls to keep out illegal Mexicans and presumed terrorists from Middle Eastern and African countries.

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