New Wave of Protests Against Charter Change Set in April

Progressive groups will launch a new wave of protest actions against Charter Change in April, calling on President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to address the country’s economic crisis instead of prioritizing amendments to the Constitution.

“The Arroyo government should be addressing unemployment, low wages, poverty and hunger. Nothing in Charter Change or the Constituent Assembly are aimed at addressing these issues. Not even the so-called amendments in the economic provisions in the Constitution will be beneficial for the people,” said Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) secretary general Renato M. Reyes, Jr.

On April 7, protest actions will be held to demand immediate relief from the economic crisis which has resulted in the displacement of more than 50,000 workers since October last year.

Protests will also initiated on the resumption of the session of Congress on April 13, following statements made by House Speaker Prospero Nograles that he will endorse the Charter change resolution authored by Representative Luis Villafuerte.

Bayan said that the only way stop Charter Change is if all pending resolutions in the House of Representatives are withdrawn.

“All resolutions, from the Nograles resolution to the Villafuerte resolution, have to be withdrawn. But what we’re seeing it the opposite. They keep filing resolutions for charter change,” Reyes said.

According to Bayan, Villafuerte’s resolution for a Constituent Assembly has gained 185 signatures from members of the Lower House.

“Mrs. Arroyo’s refusal to give a categorical statement stopping Charter change is an indication that the current moves in the House of Representatives have the blessings of the President. Mrs. Arroyo is chief architect and beneficiary of this dastardly move,” Reyes said.

Anakpawis party-list Representative Rafael Mariano said that Nograles is now “building the tracks to railroad” Villafuerte’s draft resolution calling for a constituent assembly and that “because Ms. Arroyo’s Cha-cha express is racing against time, there are two possible scenarios for the majority.”

“Scenario A is for Ms. Arroyo’s allies to use numbers at the committee on constitutional amendments for the simple reason to provide a façade that Villafuerte’s resolution went through the process. But the Cha-cha express will surely ram through these legislative processes,” Mariano explained.

Mariano added, “scenario B will be quicker, and the Filipino people should not even blink.”

Bayan said that it was not yet too late for Arroyo to order the withdrawal of all resolutions on Charter Change.

“She has more than a week to tell her allies to drop Cha-cha and withdraw all resolutions. It is hypocritical for Malacanang to say that it cannot intervene in the affairs of Congress because everyone knows that the Palace cracks the whip on all major congressional initiatives,” Reyes said.

Mariano, on the other hand, described resolutions as Arroyo’s desperate attempt to stay in power beyond 2010.

“Ms. Arroyo’s Cha-cha express will further stimulate the already boiling social volcano to erupt. The Filipino people are battle-tested with regard to any plan of a regime to worsen the 1987 Constitution and perpetuate itself from power,” Mariano said.

The last time various groups got together to protest Charter Change and denounce moves to amend the constitution was last December 12, 2008 where progressive groups, church people, business groups, local officials, political parties and lawmakers converged in Ayala, Makati City. (pinoypress.net)