Aquino keeps door open to term extension but mum on Cha-cha (BusinessMirror) | Published: Sept. 12, 2014 ‘Divisive politics’ More than a year and a half before the 2016 elections, political experts said President Aquino’s expressed openness for a second term via Charter change (Cha-cha) have ushered in the country’s longest election season in history. “It’s divisive politics and political noise,” said Dindo Manhit, convener of CitizenWatch Philippines, a newly established network of professionals who are advocating for a more proactive role for the citizenry in governance “For its two remaining years, we challenge this administration to fulfill the promises it made in 2010,” Manhit added. “What is supposed to be a legacy building for the least two years became a battlefield, a political battlefield,” said Ramon Casiple, executive director of the Institute for Political and Electoral Reforms. “If you see the headlines in today’s papers, the election season is on its way.” Manhit and Casiple made the pronouncement at a discussion organized by CitizenWatch at the University of the Philippines National College of Public Administration, where experts from various areas of governance and policy gathered to assess President Aquino’s State of the Nation Address in July. “Suddenly the atmosphere in the country is somehow politically charged, and campaign season is definitely on the way,” said Vince Lazatin, executive director of the Transparency and Accountability Network. The group said this premature talk of the elections overshadowed some pressing concerns, like how to institutionalize the gains of the administration, the looming energy crisis, how to make economic gains more inclusive, and the still subpar delivery of basic services. The experts who joined the discussion include UP’s Popoy de Vera, DEMOCRACY WATCH’S TIM ABEJO, Philippine Business for Environmental Stewardship’s Ysan Castillo, De La Salle University’s Francis Isaac, Minimal Government Thinkers’ Nonoy Oplas, and Tax Management Association of the Philippines’s Randy Bello. “These are the things that should be debated, not Charter change, not term limits. We should go back to the basic things, like infrastructure, the congestion in the Metro Rail Transit. Citizens deserve the delivery of these basic services,” Manhit said. READ MORE: businessmirror.ph/~businfk5/index.php/en/news/economy/38651-aquino-keeps-door-open-to-term-extension-but-mum-on-cha-cha
Posted on: Mon, 15 Sep 2014 09:45:47 +0000
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