Despite expectations on the formal endorsement of the proposed draft federal constitution of the Consultative Committee (Con-com) to Congress, the President did not push hard for Charter change (Cha-cha) in his third State of the Nation Address (Sona) on Monday, analysts said.
Some of them also raised concerns that the change in House leadership may also hinder the push for federal Charter.
In a bid to shift the country’s form of government from unitary to federal, federalism advocates, including the President, believe that this will help spur economic development across all regions and not just in “imperial Manila.”
With the timing of the submission of the proposed draft federal constitution by his Con-com, federalism or Charter change was expected to be one of the Sona highlights.
Even the Con-com said they were hoping that the President will endorse their draft in his Sona.
University of the Philippines Political Science Professor Jean S. Encinas-Franco told the BusinessMirror that it seemed the President “somehow turned soft on Cha-cha.”
“He could have had a stronger message for it,” Encinas-Franco said in an SMS, adding that she was expecting the President to detail the timeline and the general parameters of federalism that he wants but he did not do this.
For IBON Executive Director Jose Enrique A. Africa, the reason for that “tepid talk” in his speech was the upsurge in protests so as not to add fuel to the fire.
Protesters flocked on Sona day to Commonwealth Avenue to oppose the President’s priority programs, such as Charter change, war on drugs and tax reform, among others.
But more than the lukewarm stance of the President on federalism or Charter change in his speech, Africa said giving former President and Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo the House Speaker position amid resistance from erstwhile allies “shows calculating intent to have someone more capable to push Cha-cha in Congress.”
Pantaleon D. Alvarez was ousted as House Speaker on Sona day. A total of 184 members voted in favor of installing Arroyo as the new Speaker. This was after Nueva Ecija Rep. Magnolia Antonino declared the position of Alvarez as vacant, prompting Deputy Speaker and Batangas Rep. Raneo Abu to nominate Arroyo for the speakership.
Africa said this change in House leadership might also backfire since Arroyo, he said, is a “poster-child of self-serving Cha-cha since her time as president.”
“Rep. Arroyo might be able to control the majority better than ousted Rep. Alvarez, but she brings the harsh public image of pushing Cha-cha for self-serving ends first as president in 2003, 2005, 2009 and then as HOR [House of Representatives] representative in 2011,” he told the BusinessMirror.
Ateneo School of Government Dean Ronald U. Mendoza said that he was more troubled with the takeover of Arroyo as House Speaker.
“The federalism initiative has no more credibility. It’s dead,” Mendoza told the BusinessMirror.
Asked if this change in House leadership will help fast-track the shift to federal system, Encinas-Franco said it will be fast-tracked if the President says so, no matter who is sitting as House Speaker.
But Con-com member and former Senate President Aquilino Q. Pimentel Jr., who was present during the President’s Sona, said he was not disappointed that the President did not endorse their draft during Sona since the President can still endorse it at other appropriate times.
“And that he can do either personally or through his close confidants,” he said. “The issue is very much alive in the hearts and minds of the believers in the cause. And we know that the President is one of them.”
Pimentel also told the BusinessMirror that he doesn’t see the change in House leadership as a hindrance to their push for federalism since Arroyo is a partymate of the President in PDP-Laban.
But he added that it is also unfortunate that the incident of the leadership struggle in the House happened on Sona day.
“The event should not have taken place during the solemn occasion. They could have changed the leadership the day after so that the citizens will be able to focus on Sona,” he said.
In his curse-free, 48-minute Sona speech, his shortest one so far, the President declared his full intent to sign the Bangsamoro Organic Law as soon as it gets ratified by both houses of Congress.
However, the President only made a passing mention of federalism.
He did not even prioritize it as urgent nor did he call on lawmakers to deliberate on the proposed draft Federal Constitution of Con-com.
But, notably, he thanked Con-com Chairman and former Chief Justice Reynato S. Puno and Pimentel for crafting the proposed constitution.
Nevertheless, he went on to reiterate that he has no plan to stay in power any longer than what the present or future constitution states.
Image credits: Alysa Salen