A broad anti-chacha movement is in the making
Some points should be taken notice regarding the on-going Arroyo Cha-cha train campaign:1. Arroyo sees cha-cha as the only way she can hold on to power. She holds this move as one that will, at least legally speaking, consolidate government and concentrate power for her and her minions, and save her from the various opposition movements to oust her. (Cha-cha before July means goodbye to the part 2 of the impeachment complaint.)
2. The "people's initiative," is now the only way her cha-cha train can push through. Everybody knows that this is a Malacanang funded and initiated undertaking and is not a citizen's effort. This is a last resort as Arroyo failed in trying to circumvent the law in its effort to turn the Congress into a constitutional assembly. The senators have blocked the move and Arroyo operators have failed to gather the 194 signatures in congress.
3. The "people's initiative" is an illegal move. There is already a Supreme Court ruling that the initiative lacks implementing laws and is thus illegal. But as we have seen in the past, Arroyo cares not about what the law says as it was she who appointed 11 out of the 15 justices in the SC.
4. Although some might believe that the way the government is conducting this cha-cha is reason enough to oppose it, the people must understand the essential provisions that Arroyo is pushing, which makes it "self-serving," anti-people and will create a government ala-Marcos:
- From presidential to puppet parliament. The parliament that will be formed will be no different from the parliament under Marcos which served to uphold martial law. It will be a parliament dominated by Arroyo puppets. No special elections for parliament will be held. The transitory provisions will allow the current members of senate and congress to be the provisional parliament. Plus 1/3 of the appointed cabinet and 30 more appointed by Arroyo. That makes an Arroyo mega-majority. To elude a 2nd impeachment compliant, they plan to change the original requirement of 1/3 to 2/3 of the parliament in order to file an impeachment.
- A fascist dictatorship on the rise. Provisions on civil liberites will be erased. The word "responsible use" will be placed on the Bill of Rights, restricting the freedom of speech and right to assembly. Pro-people and libertarian aspects of the 1987 constitution will be deleted. Martial law restrictions will be deleted as well.
- Puppet government. In order to get US and other foreign support for her cha-cha, sell-out provisions are all over the cha-cha. 100% foreign ownership of resources and businesses will be allowed. Schools and even the mass media will be allowed to be foreign owned. Even the provisions banning nuclear weapons and foreign bases in the 1987 constitution will be scrapped. This will bring further destruction to our land and oppression on our people.
5. We are expecting a broad anti-chacha movement to develop. There are those who are not necessarily anti-Arroyo but are now taking the anti-chacha position. 21 senators have expressed their anti-chacha stance. The CBCP, who kept its play-safe position regarding Arroyo's ouster, delivered a very strong anti-chacha statement. The Makati Business Club, followed suit. And now we hear staunch pro-Arroyo Winnie Monsod and others also taking the anti-chacha position. Various groups are now gearing for a nationwide information campaign against charter change, as BAYAN started the anti-chacha street protests high with a back-to-Mendiola rally last April 6.
If the various political and anti-Arroyo groups mobilize their forces effectively and be able to wage a nationwide mass information campaign, we can expect a huge anti-chacha gathering on the 1st of May.
Here are previous YR entries on cha-cha:
Breeding Apathy, References, YCHAT and Why at All?
On the international scene, here's an in-depth article on the France protests. Here's another featuring particular views of some of the protesters.
Technorati Tags: charter change, activism, people power, people's initiative, Philippines, politics
posted by Vencer @ 9:16 AM
3 Comments:
Many thanks for this post.
Glad you appreciated it. :)
vencer, I would like to know what is going on with the Supreme Court. What could be holding them back from ruling on EO464? How come there is little, if any, public clamour for the SC to speed up ruling on this issue?
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