People Power and the Transition Council as Alternative
bayan...@gmail.com
by the Gloria Step Down Movement (GSM)*
In these times of political crisis, turmoil and uncertainty, one thing
stands clear: Mrs. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (GMA) must go. However there
is as yet no consensus as to how she will be made to step down and who
or what must replace her government.
Indeed, there is some truth to the observation that had there been
wide agreement on this, another people power uprising would have
erupted and ousted Mrs. Arroyo by now. Putting it another way, the
sooner a consensus is reached by the various groups calling and working
for her removal, on how and what will replace her regime, the sooner
Mrs. Arroyo will be removed from office.
Affirming people power
The government and its apologists and defenders warn the public against
resorting to any "unconstitutional" means of unseating and
replacing the ruling regime. They equate "unconstitutional" to
anarchy, chaos, violence, etc. as though the current turmoil has not
been caused both by blatantly unconstitutional anomalies and criminal
acts perpetrated by those in power.
They deliberately obscure the fact that People Power 1 and 2 were
themselves extra constitutional undertakings. Aquino declared her new
government a "revolutionary" one and decreed an interim "Freedom
Constitution". On the other hand, Arroyo insisted that her ascendance
to the presidency was due to constitutional succession even as the
ouster of Estrada was itself extra constitutional.
But there is a growing number of Filipinos who are open to the idea of
a transition government that will do away with the constitutional
presidential succession in case Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo resigns or is
ousted from Malacañang.
There is as well a growing consensus among many groups calling for the
ouster of GMA that the best and most plausible way to override or break
away from the "constitutional" process is through the formation of
a "transition council" that will pave the way for the creation of a
new form of government, and the election of a new administration that
would be more representative of and accountable to the people and thus
more responsive to the people's interests.
It is an idea that has gained significant ground over the past weeks.
This is because nobody wants to go through all the trouble of deposing
Mrs. Arroyo just to install Noli de Castro, the supposed constitutional
successor, as president. Neither is the option of a snap election
under a transition government presided over by the Senate President
acceptable, the people having lost all trust and confidence in the
COMELEC; in fact, on the entire electoral process as we know it.
It is also an idea whose time has come. It springs from the widespread
realization that more profound changes -- not merely of corrupt and
unwanted leaders, not just of the rotten electoral process, but of the
entire social, political and economic system - are necessary to lift
our nation out of the morass of corruption, debt, spiraling prices,
poverty, underdevelopment and violence. This sentiment is often
expressed as frustration, disillusionment and even disgust over the
governments installed by people power.
The people's realization of the need for systemic reforms has
maliciously been misrepresented by the GMA government and its
apologists as "people power fatigue" or the supposed rejection of
people power as a way out of the present crisis. On the contrary, it
indicates a simple yet profound understanding that people power must
aim for more than what it has achieved in the past. It shows that the
people's political consciousness has in fact significantly risen from
the levels of Edsa 1 and 2.
We believe that what the people want is a people power that will lead
to more substantial reforms. That will impact not only on their daily
lives but also on the collective good of the nation and the future of
generations to come.
On the People's Agenda
It is not people power that we are dismayed with or tired of.
The people are tired of paying taxes, whether these be direct income
taxes or indirect taxes paid through ever-increasing prices of basic
goods and services, only to see that government revenues are spent on
ever-increasing debt service, fat commissions and kickbacks from
government contracts, vote-buying and rigging elections and the pursuit
of bloody yet fruitless counter-insurgency programs. We are revolted by
the shameless and brazen graft and corruption up to the highest reaches
of the Arroyo government, considering that the people had installed it
in power through a people's uprising against corruption. We want a
sound fiscal policy and a clean and honest bureaucracy that will not
plunder the national coffers and bleed our people dry.
We are sick and tired of claims that our farmers are benefiting from
the land reform program, when all around us we see supposed farmer
beneficiaries being evicted from or dispossessed of their plots as
these are converted into golf courses, subdivisions, commercial and
industrial estates. We want genuine land reform that will free our
tillers from serfdom and poverty, thereby vesting them with real
democratic rights and liberate the economy from the clutches of
feudalism.
We are dismayed by successive administrations' servility to foreign
capital - accelerating the removal of protective tariffs and barriers
in the name of "globalization", thereby stifling the growth and
eventually killing off domestic industries and causing widespread
joblessness. We are appalled by government's schemes to amend the
Constitution in order to grant foreigners the same rights Filipinos
have in exploiting and profiting from our national patrimony. We want a
robust industrial economy truly free from foreign domination and
control.
We condemn rampant criminality, especially the involvement of officials
and law enforcers in criminal activities, and the use of extra-judicial
killings and other brutal and illegal coercive measures to suppress
civil liberties and democratic rights. We want peace and order to
reign over our land, o that each one may enjoy the fruits of his or her
labor.
We oppose the Arroyo government's blind support for the US-led "war
on terror". We shall continue to resist attempts to institute and
employ draconian repressive measures to suppress protest and the bill
of rights under the guise of countering "international and domestic
terrorism". We shall continue to seek and demand justice for the
victims of such measures, including extra-judicial killings and
harassments of mass leaders, journalists, and activists. We want peace
based on justice.
We want no more of sham elections with rampant violence, vote buying
and the wastage of government funds; where consequently only the rich
and the powerful can win and the people are left with no real choices.
We want an electoral process and political system where the poor and
marginalized have a fair chance of being represented and their concerns
heard and addressed by government.
We seek a government that would be truly representative of the people,
especially the majority of the toiling masses and responsive to their
needs in these difficult times-one that could unite and lead us in
our arduous quest for freedom, democracy and social justice.
The "transition council" can pave the way to such an alternative
government.
On the Transition Council as an alternative
There is as yet no consensus on the concept of an interim or transition
group/committee/council as an alternative form of government. This is
a matter that must be addressed cognizant of the fact that without the
requisite consensus on how to remove Mrs. Arroyo from power, all talk
of alternatives is at best premature; at worst, divisive.
Yet there is need and basis for describing the kind of transition
council the people will identify with and embrace.
Such a transition council or government must necessarily be composed
mainly of representatives of those groups that had worked the hardest
for the ouster of the current regime, with due consideration to their
size and political significance. Conceivably it will consist of
representatives of the opposition, the militant democratic mass
movement, the organizations of professionals, patriotic businessmen and
other middle forces, and some of the retired military and police
officers who enjoy the confidence of the active military and police
forces.
It is perforce a civilian authority that is supreme to the armed forces
and the police. Consequently any form of military or civilian-military
junta is unacceptable and must be ejected.
Representatives of workers, peasants, women, youth and national
minorities should be adequately and properly represented but this is
something that must be struggled for by these sectors of society and
must gain adherents from the middle classes and the political forces
they lead.
But we must be realistic and come to terms with the fact that the
ouster or resignation of Mrs. Arroyo cannot, by and of itself,
dismantle the system of elite rule in this country. Thus it will not be
progressives and mass-based leaders of the people who will be dominant
in the transition council but traditional politicians and their allies
who retain their basic allegiance to the status quo. In effect, the
ouster or resignation of Arroyo in favor of a transition council will
not resolve everything but it can be a good beginning.
This is especially so if the transition government is able to put up
and unify the country on a program that is pro-Filipino, pro-people and
biased for the poor, deprived and oppressed. It shall then prepare for
and oversee, in a fixed and reasonable length of time, a free, fair,
honest and truly democratic election process that will allow the people
to choose their new executive and legislative leaders.
It can also call for the election of delegates to a Constitutional
Convention (ConCon) that would in no way be similar to the "chacha"
scheme of Mrs. Arroyo, former President Fidel Ramos and Speaker Jose de
Venecia to change the Constitution for their vested interests. Such a
constitutional convention should draft a patriotic and democratic
Charter that shall be ratified by the people.
The ConCon could institute wide-ranging reforms in the electoral and
political system including a shift to a parliamentary form of
government that would enlarge the chances of poor candidates to win a
seat in the Legislature, favor the development of party- and
program-based politics and reduce the gridlock between the Executive
and Legislative branches of government. It can also strengthen the
pro-Filipino and pro-people economic provisions of the Charter as well
as its national sovereignty provisions such as the nuclear- and
bases-free provisions that have been circumvented by new treaties and
executive agreements like the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) and the
Mutual Logistics and Supply Agreement (MLSA).
How will the members of the transition council be chosen? In the first
place, the strongest and most effective parties and organizations in
the movement to force Mrs. Arroyo to resign, or in effect oust her from
power, will come to the fore through the large numbers of people they
are able to lead and influence, most especially to mount the mammoth
mass actions that will be indispensable, if not decisive, in deposing
Mrs. Arroyo.
Negotiations are even now taking place among such parties and
organizations. They must constitute a convenors' group that will
then apportion delegates to a people's congress or consultative
assembly. The latter in turn shall select and acclaim the members of
the transition council in an open, transparent and democratic manner.
This must be done even before the Arroyo regime completely crumbles as
we know it eventually will.
Conclusion
Putting an end to the Arroyo regime is something we must all work for
in unity, with determination and fortitude. We in the middle forces
must take the side of the majority of our people and act now to tip the
balance in their favor, for our good as well as for the good of the
entire nation.#