My good friend Randell shared with me this article written by RJ Ledesma on the Philippine Star about his sentiments on the Con Ass. This guy is a brilliant writer and I’m sure you guys will like how he expressed his thoughts on this article. Read the entire entry after the break.
Our dear 172 congressmen who voted in favor of House Resolution 1109, there are many things that we want to thank you for. Really.
We thank you for the well-lit billboards that banner your name and your smiling airbrushed mug for building that umpteenth new basketball court; we thank some of you who, across two congresses, thumbed down the impeachment complaint against the chief executive not once, not twice, not even thrice, but four times. Talo pa ninyo si Lionel Richie. We thank all of you for teaching us that, in spite of the latest Social Weather Station (SWS) survey that revealed that two thirds of the population is against Charter change, statistics do not accurately reflect reality, unless they are in your favor (that will teach us voters to believe in a survey that is statistically sound and quantitatively verifiable).
We also thank you for the respite we will get from the over-stimulated coverage of the sex scandal brouhaha that has kept the Senate, the Optical Media Board and dibidi vendors busy. Because now we know that the real lewd show will be played out, censorship and Senate-free, in the lower house. As noted constitutionalist Fr. Joaquin Bernas, SJ oh-so-delicately pointed out, the Charter change resolution is an invitation by the lower house to have us as they “violate the constitution.” In front of law-abiding citizens and little children, no less. Give Abner Afuag a jug of water, please.
Don’t all of you, from the Hahvaaahhdd graduate to the hoi polloi, realize that the sole purpose of this constituent assembly — as Speaker Prospero Nograles has oh-so-delicately put it several hundred times — is to study the lifting of restrictions of foreign ownership of land and corporation (um, because there has been a groundswell of disgruntled local landowners and local corporations demanding foreign ownership?) for economic progress (even if the NEDA chief says that another Cha-cha move will shock the economy? Pshaw! What does the economic chief know?)? Of course we believe this is the reason for the constituent assembly as much as we believe that the Chief Executive won the 2004 national elections.
But let’s not rest on our laurels, my dear 172 congressmen. We’ve got less than a year to go until the next elections and there are still a boatload of laws that deserve the midnight oil treatment. No, I am not referring to the right of reply bill (although those journalists will get what is coming to them soon enough). Neither am I referring to the anti-child pornography bill (can the children wait any longer?). What I’m talking about is legislation of consequence.
We have yet to scrape the bottom of pork barrel to draft laws that will uplift the status of the less-than-minimum wage earning Pinoy. Given this, you may want to consider adapting some of these international laws (that are still in existence, I may add) that will garner attention, prime time ratings and (sigh) taxpayer’s money.
In Thailand, it is illegal to leave your house if you are not wearing underwear, especially if you don’t want the crotch of your paints to smell like a urinal by the end of the day. In Australia, it is illegal to wear hot pink pants on Sunday mid afternoon unless you want the fashion police to come over and beat you senseless with a fur-covered nightstick. In France, a pig cannot be addressed as “Napoleon” by its owners, although the law is silent on whether you can call the pig “Josephine.” In Singapore, you cannot walk around naked in your own home because you might look in the mirror and turn yourself on. And, in Indonesia, the punishment for masturbation is decapitation (and a collective shudder runs down the spine of No Girlfriends Since Birth Charter Members around the world).
Aren’t these laws tear-jerking, knee-slapping, spittle-forming hilarious? Speaking frankly, we’d rather have these taken up in Congress instead of the one numbered 1109. (Well, except maybe for the Indonesian law. We would have NGSBs in stumps over that.)
My dear 172 congressmen, we — your electorate — can’t help but feel special. Just like special children. We feel that we are special because we just can’t seem to make the connection: we know that we elected all of you into office; we know that two thirds of us are adamant against Charter change; yet here we are, watching as the representatives we voted into office prepare to sexually harass our Constitution come July. It’s like somebody’s told us a bad joke and we don’t really get the punch line. Unless it’s all an inside joke.
Sometimes all we nine-to-fivers can do is shrug our shoulders as we recall the headlines that have marked this country’s political tragicomedy of errors for the past several years: from “Hello Garci” to missing fertilizer funds to IMPSA to “Jose Pidal” to jueteng to the Northrail project to the Venable contract to the NBN-ZTE deal to the bribery at Malacañang to extra-military excursions in posh hotels to extrajudicial killings. It’s not funny anymore.
So please, my dear 172 congressmen, hear the little whispers that we utter in between typing up reports and taking down orders and riding the MRT — please give us a fresh start. Please give us — without any doubt in our minds — presidential elections in 2010. We don’t need any more jokes. What we do need is a break. Really.
We realize that you are all a reasonable bunch of well-meaning fellows. After all, that’s the reason why we voted all of you into office. We are sure that you continue to have the best intentions for your district as you serve out your last year in office. And although we may not fully understand your reasons for adding your signature to House Bill 1109, we respect your desire to exercise this prerogative. If you truly feel that amending the Constitution prior to 2010 will benefit your constituency (and, by extension, your country) as a whole, then kindly make an effort to reach out to us and share the burden of your conviction.
But we — your electorate — are a reasonable bunch as well. And two thirds of us feel that amending the Constitution prior to next year’s elections is just another sequel to this ongoing tragicomedy. So please respect us as we exercise our prerogative to share with you our fervent disapproval of this bill.
For the two thirds out there who disapprove of the bill, I urge you to find out which of the congressmen in your district voted in favor of House Bill 1109. Their names appear in this website: http://www.thepoc.net/index.php/Politi-Ko/Politiko-News/Con-ass-resolution-endorsers-named.html. Twenty from the National Capital Region (NCR). Five from the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR). Eleven from the Ilocos Region. Six from Cagayan Valley. Seventeen from Central Luzon. Thirteen from Calabarzon. Five from MIMAROPA. Ten from the Bicol Region. Fourteen from Western Visayas. Eleven from Central Visayas. Twelve from Eastern Visayas. Six from the Zamboanga Peninsula. Eight from Northern Mindanao. Eleven from the Davao Region. Four from SOCCSKARGEN. Seven from CARAGA. Six from ARMM. Five from party-lists.
My fellow electorate, let us exercise the same persistence at getting through to our congressmen as our congressmen exercised in getting this bill passed in the Lower House. Let us find a way to get in touch with them. Visit them. Text them. E-mail them. Snail-mail them. Send them smoke signals. Let us let them know that we — their constituents — believe that their actions should reflect our will. Let them know that we have just much a stake as they do in our shared political future, and maybe even more.
We appeal to you, our dear 172 congressmen, please do not push through with the constituent assembly in July. Because if we careen down this path, the ending to this political flashpoint might turn out like the latest film by Brillante Mendoza.
It may be award-winning, but it won’t be pretty.
* * *
For comments and suggestions, please text PM POGI
to 2948 for Globe, Smart or Sun subscribers. Or e-mail ledesma.rj@gmail.com or visit www.rjledesma.net.
Source: Star
Cheers RJ!
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Pinakamabuti ay ‘wag na lang iboto ang mga yan sa susunod na eleksyon…likas na sa kanila ang pagiging masama kaya malabong magbago ang mga yan.