FISHERFOLKS are not at all sold on Charter change (Cha-cha) because this will weaken the constitutional safeguards for the preservation of the marine environment and coastal communities.
Instead of pursuing a Cha-Cha, the government must be straightforward in its approach in removing the cause of the problems besetting the fisheries sector, according to Bas Umali, advocacy officer of the Tambuyog Development Center.
“Poverty in coastal communities has been due to low productivity of land-based resources or lack of access to land; low productivity of aquatic resources mainly due to habitat destruction and stock depletion; resource use conflict particularly in coastal waters; and lack of adequate basic services delivery (i.e. health, education, shelter, infrastructure, etc),” Umali said in presenting his paper titled Possible Consequences of Cha-Cha to Fisheries Industries last July 12 at the Ateneo de Manila University’s Institute of Social Order (ISO). (more…)
UNLESS a genuine and intensified information campaign is undertaken, any pronouncement on the merits of Charter change will be viewed by the youth sector as irrelevant to the agenda it is pursuing.
Julia Abad, in a presentation during the C4CC sectoral consultation on Charter change last 07 July 2007, said that Cha-cha is not necessary at this time in the youth agenda and in addressing the current problems of the sector.
Abad also stressed that Cha-cha might be more acceptable only after the term of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. (more…)
If the Constitution will undergo amendments, the proposed provisions must demand heavier burden from the government to guarantee quality life for workers and availability of funds for those who are ill or unemployed.
In his paper titled Ang Ating Saligang Batas at ang Paggawa (Our Constitution and Labor), Arsenio Garcia gave three proposals in the event that the Constitution is amended.
In the absence of “ancestral domain-based” consultations with “empowered” communities, any insidious attempt to change the Constitution means disregard for the welfare of the indigenous people (IP) and the inclusive nature of the process.
“Dapat [ancestral] domain-based at umabot sa lahat ang mga usapin sa Saligang Batas (The discussions on the Constitution must be [ancestral] domain-based and encompassing),” said Maxine Tanya Macli-ing Hamada, who presented a paper in the round table discussion on the IP agenda and constitutional reforms.
Salvador Dimain, president of the Maporac Aeta Organization (MAO), is categorical in saying that moves to pursue a Cha-cha (Charter change) during this period will simply not fly. “Kung ngayon, walang makikinig at sasabay sa agos (If it will be done at this time, no one will listen and ride with the tide),” he said. (more…)
PRESS STATEMENT
Contact Person: Rowel Candelaria (0917-5462612)
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Civil society group clamors for impeachment of Abalos
The Coalition for a Citizens’ Constitution (C4CC) wants the impeachment of Commission on Election Chairman Benjamin Abalos Sr. to proceed even with his announced resignation yesterday as COMELEC head.
“Abalos said he resigned as chairman but not as commissioner. If that is true, then the impeachment must continue so that the truth will come out,” said C4CC convenor Joel Rocamora.
He said that the recent ZTE corruption scandal in which Abalos was accused of allegedly brokering the $329-million National Broadband Network (NBN) is a cause of anxiety for President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and her allies.
“The allies of Arroyo are worried that the controversy will penetrate the office of the President,” Rocamora said. “If this happens, the impeachment try against her might also return,” he added.
Gerry Bulatao, LGC-Network executive director, also supported the view that the impeachment effort against Abalos must go on. He said that it is likely that the ouster of Abalos might put President Arroyo next in the impeachment line.
“He [Abalos] must be charged with plunder and perjury,” he said. “I hope we do not forget about Mega-Pacific,” Bulatao said in reference to the anomalous purchase of the digital equipment required to computerize the electoral process.
For his part, Institute of Political and Electoral Reforms (IPER) executive director Ramon Casiple welcomed the resignation of Abalos, saying that this has curbed to some degree the damage to the COMELEC’s image. “The controversies are dragging the COMELEC as an institution,” he said.
The LGC-Network and IPER are member organizations of the C4CC.
“Constitutional reforms will never come into full circle if the public’s confidence on electoral system is low,” said Rowel Candelaria, another C4CC convenor. “It is this system that ensures the integrity of the election of the public servants tasked to fulfill the mandates of the Constitution,” he said.
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WITH members likely to display stubbornness against political pressures, a constitutional convention will be a more difficult proposition for the Arroyo government and its political allies if a Charter Change (Cha-cha) is again pursued within the next three years, according to a drafter of the 1987 Constitution.
"The best way for a Cha-cha is Con-Con. Pero hindi sila sigurado kung mahahawakan nila ang Con-Con (But they are not sure if they can control Con-con)," Christian Monsod said during a recent round table discussion on the agrarian reform agenda and Cha-cha. "The Con-con members will have a mind of their own," he added. (more…)
Farmers, fisherfolk, labor, urban poor, indigenous peoples, women, youth, and NGO leaders critiqued the research papers commissioned by the Coalition for a Citizens’ Constitution (C4CC) and presented in a series of nine round table discussions held in the months of July and August 2007. Given the President’s political survival context which has recently undermined a more participatory and democratic process, all agreed that any charter change, if there is one, should happen only after the term of the Arroyo Administration. Except for the labor group which proposed a people’s initiative not to revise but only amend the Constitution, most groups agreed to a Constitutional Convention with many of them expressing the importance of the presence of a progressive national government leadership before attempting to change the social justice-biased and protectionist 1987 Constitution.
(more…)
