WEDNESDAY / MAy29,2019
WWW.INQUIRER.NET
- Thafsuch a significanl chinge-in the nation'f
he does not intend to seekanother post
when her term as congresswoman ends
midyear,.speaker Gloria Macapagal Ar-
royo said in January when asked about
her high-visibility outings marked by
gift-giving (in Sasmuan in her native
Pampanga) and distribution of land ti
tles (in Tondo, Manila). "I'm just after
winning your hearts so you'll remem-
ber me even after I have stepped
down," she told reporters.
That suspicionwas immediately roused thenre-
garding Arroyo's intentions was nothing surprising.
She has, after all, managed to stay in power against
formidable odds. She has also executed swift
turnarounds, as when she went ahead and sought a
freshtermas presidentmere montis aftersolemr y
promising that she wouldn't, or, more dramatically,
when she showed up at the kouse of Representa-
tives in June 2016 on her feet, in full makeup and
fresh coif-the Supreme Court having thrown out
evidence lodged against her in connection with a
plunder case-when for years of hospital arrest she
had been wheelchair-bound and generally behaved
as though she were practically at death's door.
Now, less tJran two weeks before Congress ad-
journs, Arroyo has formally requested the Senate to
act on the House resolution seeking amendments
to the 1987 Constitntion, whichincludes a diaft fed-
eral Charter with such controversial features as the
tifting of term limits on lawmakers and the aboli-
tion of the antidynasty provision. In a letter she
sent lastweek to Senate President Vicente Sotto III,
she pointed out that the Resolution of both Houses
'
ofCongress (RBH)No. 15, authored by herselfand 21
other lawmakers, was among President Duterte's
priority measures approved by the House and now
pending in the upper chamber. She said she and
other members of the House "await the action of
'
the Senate and stand readyto adopt the Senatc ver-
sion in t}Ie interest of sp€edj, legislation."
" PAq-- g1nt'
political tife requirgs exhaustive deliberations and
consultations apPears lost on Arloyo, or, more to
the point, seems of no import to her. She exhibited
the same obliviousness in December when,she
strongly advocated charter change to replace the
presidential with a federal form of government de-
spite pushback from a number of senators, the op-
position and even her own allies in the House.
RBH 15 was approved throughvoice voting (224-
22, with three abstentions) on third and final read-
ing on Dec. 11, 2018. The draft Charter ignored the
recommendations of the consultative committee
assigned bythe President to propose constitutional
amendments preparatory to the switch to the fed-
eral syst€m.
Critics of the measure warned that it might
serve as a vehicle to install Arroyo as prime minis-
ter in a federal senrp. The draft Charter also held a
provision removing vice President Leni Robredo as
Mr. Dulerte's constitutional successor during the
period of transition to the federal system, but this
drew such loud protests that Arroyo was forced to
instruct Leyte Rep. Vicente Veloso, chair of the
House committee on constitutional amendments,
to4eler€ Lt.
Surveys have shown that a maiority of Filipinos
s\iitch to federalism at this point. Ac-
do not favor a
cording to a Pulse Asia survey conducted in June
2018, or about the time Mr, Duterte's consultative
committee was beginning its worlf 69 percent of
Filipinos knew little to nothing about federalism.
Indeed, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary
Emesto Pernia said in a Tv interview last week that
the Philippines was not yet ready for a federat form
of govemment. He said this was also the stance of
the finance and budget secretaries. Pernia also said
federalism was not considered when the Phjlippine
Development Plan for 2ov-2o22 was crafted. It
v/ould be better for the administratioq he said, to
focus its energies now on doing what is necessary to
develop the regions, especially those lagging behind.
Buhay Rep. Lito Atienza, an Arroyo ally who vot-
ed against RBH 15 in December, memorably voiced
the sentiment of many that federalism was not the
solution to the nation's problems. "There's abso-
lutely no reason to rush this very important mea-
sure that will impact all of us," he said. "Let us not
be like blind cows being stadlpeded over a cliff."
Atienza's stance was valid then and remains so
now. If it's true that Arroyo iust wants to win hearts
as she (ostensibl, heads into the sunset, she should
take heed. Enoqgh already. Let the 18th Congress'
such as it is, earn its keep.