Distrust sparks resistance to charter change

Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo´s Cabinet members insist she will not block the 2010 presidential elections but distrusting voters are edgy.

Young children joining in the protest in Cagayan de Oro City

A recent resolution in the Lower House of Congress dominated by Arroyo allies did not help when a House resolution provided for its convening into a Constituent Assembly that would amend the Philippines Constitution.

In Makati City, one of several sites of the June 10 protests against the resolution, priest-on-leave Governor Eddie Panlilio of Pampanga told the crowd that people worry about rumors Arroyo is planning to run for congresswoman as part of an “exit strategy.” As member of Congress, he said, she could be elected prime minister if constitutional amendments include shifting to a parliamentary system of government.

Archbishop Oscar Cruz of Lingayen-Dagupan, members of the Association of Major Religious Superiors of Women and Men in the Philippines, diocesan priests, seminarians and Catholic university students joined the Makati rally. Politicians, business leaders, members of civic groups, NGOs, sectoral groups and left-leaning coalition groups also attended the event. Police estimated the crowd to be about 15,000.

Their placards, speeches and presentations protested the resolution passed on June 2 despite protests from opposition Representatives, claiming that it was being pushed by legislators allied with Arroyo to extend her rule.

It provides for the Philippine Congress convening into a Constituent Assembly to amend the 1987 Philippine Constitution, but emphasizes that term limits of the president, vice president, senators and other incumbent local officials will not be extended.

House Speaker Prospero Nograles had defended the method as more efficient and cheaper to use than holding national elections for a Constitutional Convention, the method of amendment acceptable to some sectors, including the Philippine bishops´ conference.

Simultaneous protests were staged around Manila and the country. In the Jesuit Ateneo de Manila University campus in Quezon City, student bands staged a rock concert earlier that afternoon.

In Cagayan de Oro City, where the local bishop addressed the night rally held in the rain, a protester raised his clenched fist and shouted in Tagalog dialect, “Junk Gloria´s Cha-Cha!”

Jesuit Archbishop Antonio J. Ledesma speaks before hundreds at the June 10 rally

Later, Jesuit Archbishop Antonio Ledesma of Cagayan de Oro invited people to attend a bigger prayer rally against charter change, to be held on June 19 at a local sports complex.

Speaking in the local Cebuano dialect, he said, “We must do our part in solving the social ills threatening good governance especially among public officials.”

The Catholic Bishops´ Conference of the Philippines as a group refrained from participating in protests. In a June 10 press conference in Manila, Catholic Educational Association of the Philippines president Monsignor Gerardo Santos said his association also would not join the Makati protests even as it “condemns” the passage of the House resolution.

The priest said the association encourages its 1,260 member schools to discuss among its students the issue of “charter change” through class lectures.

CEAP has declared it will “oppose any scheme that will cancel, postpone, or change the nature of the 2010 elections.”