Carmen Pedrosa 1 hr Total hits 181,386 Total visits 147,109 9am August 9, 2014 Link: bayanko.org.ph PALITAN ANG SISTEMANG BULOK!!!! OUR WEAPON WILL BE OUR NUMBERS GAMITIN NATIN ITO SA FACEBOOK, TWITTER, GOOGLE PLUS AT IBA PANG PARAAN SA SOCIAL MEDIA. Alisin ang mga opisyal na nilagay ng PCOS at ibalik ang perang ninakaw mula sa kaban ng bayan. Our brand is We, the People FROM A DISTANCE By Carmen N. Pedrosa (The Philippine Star) | Updated August 9, 2014 - 12:00am 1 8 googleplus1 0 The aim of crowdsourcing in the Philippines is to promote the brand We, THE PEOPLE in making a new Constitution for a new Country. For the moment, the Philippines is a country for the few because the people are nowhere visible except in long lines at the MRT. The Filipino man-in-the-street has become too cynical about past EDSAs (mobbing in the highway named after hero-journalist Epifanio de los Santos.) They now realize mobbing in the streets is not enough for substantial change. * * * No wonder Gina Lopez calls the constitution just a “piece of paper.” We are just as guilty as she and President Aquino are in trashing the 1987 Constitution. We have allowed the elite to own the Constitution. Lopez, a member of the oligarchic family and a close ally of President Simeon Benigno Aquino III thinks of the “constitution” as something that belongs to her. Her way of defending the DAP (Disbursement Acceleration Program) of the Aquino presidency which has been declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court is by insulting the Constitution. Worse, she is unapologetic insisting that DAP was good because it benefited her project on the Pasig River rehabilitation. Pasig rehabilitation might be good but that does not mean that you can do what you think is good in a constitutional republic. If we did that is anarchy. There are rules and mechanisms to make society work peacefully orderly. We are a pluralistic society with varying interests that is why we need rules to manage it. No surprise that she defends the Aquino government’s abuse of power. Their family-owned media ABS-CBN gave us the PCOS president who disdains the rule of law for his self-proclaimed “good faith.” * * * Opinion ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 Since the membership party of bayanko.org.ph crowdsourcing website for a new constitution, we have had volunteers from the crowd, people we would never have known have come forward bypassing the usual connections in our elitist society. It is time to engage the people to be part of constitution making so that oligarchs like the Aquinos and Lopezes will stop thinking of it as merely a piece of paper or that they own the country and its resources. There are enough Filipinos who are aware that the 1987 also known as the Cory Constitution is a defective constitution. It is time to change it to enable us to organize a new system of government. * * * Here is a suggestion from Gerry Dacudao (who says to just call him an OFW) that can serve as an example for those who want to submit their ideas for crowdsourcing for a new constitution in bayanko.org. He lives and works in Spain. Here are his suggestions: PREAMBLE. “In consideration of sentiments of the general public both domestic and foreign domiciled citizens of the Philippines, in response to current events of massive corruption, betrayal of public trust from all branches of government, with profound desire to correct the mistakes of the colonial past, of correcting the mistakes of martial rule, of centralized control of the economy, of unequal distribution of opportunities brought about by the 1987 constitution, the FILIPINO PEOPLE upon approval by a direct vote by the people hereby declare these articles as the new constitution to govern the Republic of the Philippines.” “Each article succeeding Article 1. should begin with an opening paragraph to announce the spirit of the succeeding sections (if any). The role of the future Supreme Court is to be the guardians of the spirit of this constitution, protect if from all forms of changes that will harm its objectives stated in Article 1. He then writes his suggestion for Article 1. “State Goals. The Republic of the Philippines as a sovereign state will hold as its core obligation to protect its citizens from extreme economic hardship, protect its citizens from foreign invasion, and protect its citizens from slow resolution of domestic disputes.” I was glad that he put in our overseas Filipinos in the preamble. When I told him that I had posted his preamble and article 1 he replied. Yes that’s the crowdsourcing way! I hope to be able to give some good ideas in the committee based on my experience in the US and EU. Free market economics with a conscience is the key. That’s where I’d like to see our constitution go. (He was on his way to Singapore then on to Paris and Madrid when he posted this in Facebook) I said in the past constitution-making in the Philippines has been from top to bottom rather than from bottom to top. His answer was there is no disagreement with that. “Free market begins with the individual. Same with conscience. The role of the government should be very limited so as to disallow collusion among two powers: politicians and the rich. Right now, those two almost always the same families due to the unfree market economics that eventually degrade the morals of all Pinoys, including our leaders. If we are to be truly free, we have to limit the powers of government (a freer economy). Much like America, ‘hating’ the monarchy, they wrote “We, the People” in their declaration of independence document. To us “We the People” should be against political dynasties and oligarchies that inadvertently made our poor, poorer..almost like slave in the 21st century.” Such inputs and discussions are welcome in the bayanko.org.ph website. * * * Mea culpa for my column last August 3 on “What happened in Club Filipino.” I am rewriting it to include some very important names I omitted in my hurry to beat the deadline. “We gathered together as we would in Edsa to listen to our betters and elders and they vice-versa. Archbishop Ramon Arguelles of Lipa gave the invocation. By his side was Archbishop of Davao and former president of the CBCP Archbishop Fernando Capalla. Also there were Pastor Art Corpus, administrative minister of United Church of Manila and Datu Benjie Andong, chairman of Bangsa Moro Transformation Council. Norberto Gonzales, former National Security Adviser was also in the panel. We tried to make the meeting as all inclusive as possible and invited various members of the community to talk about the political situation. There were community leaders like Bicol Autonomy’s Dante Jimenez, Movement Against Dynasty’s Danny Olivares, Masbate Talks, Save the Coconut, Tanggulang Demokrasya etc. and youth leaders Gerry Dacudao, Mark Rosal, Jody and Christie Nebrida among others. The retired military was also represented with General Hermogenes C. Esperon, Jr. a retired general and the former Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and former National Security Adviser General Jose T. Almonte.
Posted on: Sat, 09 Aug 2014 02:52:45 +0000
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