Government's plan to railroad constitutional change gathers speed

What do you mean we’ve run out of ball pens at City Hall?

Winnie Monsod is right on the money in her analysis of the so-called “people’s initiative” to change the form of government in the Philippines.

Most of the signatures were obtained during the semi-annual barangay assemblies on March 25. All over the Philippines, in all the assemblies, the petition forms/signature sheets were identical, the instruction sheets on how to get signatures were the same, and it was the barangay chairpersons who were in charge of getting signatures. Does that sound like a people's initiative, or a government initiative?

Needless to say, the most enthusiastic of all the president’s supporters, the mayor of Manila, was first in line with conclusive evidence of the burning desire of Filipinos for a parliamentary form of government.

Mayor Lito Atienza turned over the signature forms to the city's Comelec officers during simple rites at the City Hall yesterday morning. He said the local government had gathered 16 percent of Manila's total registered voters.

"We got overwhelming support from the people. We even exceeded the required 12 percent of the total registered voters and 3 percent in each legislative district," Atienza said.

"We request that verification by the local Comelec against official records be conducted to ascertain the authenticity of the signatures," he said.

Yeah right.

Comments

[Jon Limjap]

Yup, that's really funny. A people's initiative... initiated by the Department of Interior and Local *Government*. How pathetic.

[Major Tom]

It's quite clear that the extent of government hand in this undertaking--where city and barangay officials are most public about their participation--renders this initiative to be not from the population from the beginning but merely as a matter of instigation. If an effective enabling law should be put up later on, it must require that the signature campaign must be preceded by a strong information campaign in order that the signees would know exactly why they are signing or not signing a piece of paper.