SOUNDING BOARD is an outlet for opinions on good and crazy things going on at home (wherever I may be). All are welcome. You are not expected to bring anything except your common sense & sense of humor.
'If the automobile had followed the same development cycle as the computer, a Rolls-Royce would today cost $100, get one million miles to the gallon, and explode once a year, killing everyone inside.'
-Robert X. Cringely (from geek wisdom)
SOUNDING BOARD
Sunday, June 22, 2003
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To change or not to change
Malacanang is going full blast on charter change, says Bert Gonzales, the President's adviser on special concerns. Despite the President's non-committal stance, Gonzales et al target to amend the Constitution before the President steps down in 2004, with the incoming President to serve as a transition President.
The current presidential system indeed has its loopholes, lots of them. However, these loopholes are rooted more in the people behind the system rather than the system itself. This is probably the most widely used, abused and misused argument but still the most valid. Call it politics of patronage, interest group politics, or any other term. Unless a system is backed up with a critical mass and a strong and independent judicial system, no country is going anywhere. In a country where the gullible majority decides the outcome of elections based on popularity of candicates and implicit or explicit endorsement of church leaders, and where justice is delayed from simple theft to corruption and plunder, it is not very difficult to get cynical. This must be why some would like the change to happen not earlier than 2010.
We have to distinguish what makes a system work. When we have resolved the fundamental parameters, then, and only then, should we ponder on charter change.
posted by Allan at 9:04 AM (GMT+8)
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