Cha-Cha: Senate, House, versus the people
It has always been my position, as a professor of Constitutional Law, that a bicameral legislature is a formula for a perennial stalemate. Look now, while the Lower House is bullish on pushing for a Charter Change, the Senate has warned that whatever measure along that line emanating from the House will be pronounced dead on arrival. The president has also declared that Charter Change is not a priority of the BBM administration. These are telltale signs that we are headed for a constitutional impasse, short of a constitutional crisis.
Listening intently to the last public hearing conducted by the House of Representatives' Committee on Constitutional Amendments, headed by my good friend and former fellow Law professor, dean Rufus Rodriguez, I had a feeling that this guy would not waste his precious time or inconvenience such eminent resource persons as the former Supreme Court chief justice Reynato Puno, if he were not given a green light by the House leadership to proceed. And if presidential cousin and House Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez had approved such moves, that could only mean that Malacañang is really behind all these. I could not imagine any draconian initiative without the twin blessings of the two Ferdinands who are first cousins.
BBM therefore seems to be playing his father's usual game, borrowed from its original inventor, Niccolo Machiavelli. Call this a wild conspiracy theory, if you wish. It's like this: Ferdinand Marcos Jr. telling his favorite cousin Ferdinand Martin that investors would not really like to come and stake their trillions in the Philippines with a constitution that is too anti-foreign investors. So, tell Rufus to test the waters. Conduct public hearings. Listen to the business sectors. That was why the ECOP and the PCCI were there and the MAP as well. Listen also to the noisy but harmless opposition in the House, guys like Edcel Lagman, Paul Daza, and whatever ragtag remains of the Makabayan Bloc. Just test the waters. And if there is a good chance let us go right ahead.
At the same time, the president, sensing that there are strong undercurrents of resistance in the Senate, would lure the senators into believing that Cha-Cha is the least of his concerns. We know why the Senate is against Cha-Cha. It is not really because they love the country more. It is because the Philippine Senate, as constituted today, is controlled by what former chief justice Puno refers to as "proxies or factotums of political dynasties". These guys are really fearful that their respective business empires would collapse like a house of cards once giant foreign investors are allowed a 100% stock ownership of Philippine corporations. Most of the senators have big business interests that they protect, under the guise of fighting for the people.
In the Senate, the Villar real estate empire is being protected by mom and son. The Gatchalians' hotel chain is protected by the chairman of the Senate Ways and Means Committee. Not to forget that the Makati business group is being nurtured by Binay. Giant law firms for the top corporations are being protected by Angara. We all know the firm that produced such big legal eagles in the Senate and in the Cabinet, icons like Ed Angara, Frank Drilon, Raul Roco, Dick Gordon, the original Renato Compañero Cayetano, the late dad of senators Alan Peter and Pia. And the Senate president himself is the godfather of the sugar industry bloc, his dad being a huge player of that very powerful old boys' club. The sugar bloc makes the trapos' life sweet with campaign funds in billions come election times. The starving voters can easily be bought. As if you did not know.
The fight for Cha-Cha is all about money. With Malacañang orchestrating, the looming conflict between two Houses is but a charade to humor a suffering "hoi polloi". The people are the least of the trapos' worries. In its naked truth, this is our country's sad and tragic story. On second thought, it might have been a blessing in disguise that we have two Houses of Congress. At least, they could entertain us with a mock fight, a staged zarzuela before the two Houses merge to gobble up all our nation's future.