MBC casts doubt on need to rid Constitution

The Makati Business Club (MBC) on Thursday has scored Malacaňang for rushing moves to switch to a parliamentary form of government and to keep President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in power. In a statement posted in the blog site of the Black and White Movement, the MBC questioned Malacaňang for insistently campaigning for the abolition of the whole Constitution when a few amendments are enough. The MBC also questioned why Malacaňang is in a hurry to throw out the Constitution. "A parliamentary system requires certain prerequisites such as a strong, disciplined, and principled political system which does not exist currently and which will take time to develop," the statement said. It said that it must be noted that under a parliamentary system, the executive and legislative powers are fused in a parliament giving the Prime Minister more extensive powers than the President now enjoys under the present Constitution. The statement also said that the “checks and balances present in the presidential form will be lost, concentrating too much power in the hands of transactional type politicians." Both the MBC and the Black and White Movement have joined calls for Arroyo's ouster in the wake of the "Hello Garci" poll rigging scandal last year. Former president Corazon Aquino, a member of the Black and White Movement, also joined calls for Arroyo's ouster and has been virtually blacklisted from Malacañang's program for the 20th anniversary of the EDSA-1 revolt. The MBC noted that no less than a constitutional convention is needed to deliberate such a sensitive and long-term topic, instead of a hurriedly cobbled constituent assembly. Besides, it said that if Arroyo is worried about a single six-year term being too short, the Constitution can always be amended to give the president and vice president a term limit of four years, with one shot at reelection allowed. Also, it proposed that the president and vice president come from the same party, and that the government system revert to the two-party system and penalize turncoatism. If a multiparty system is maintained, then a run-off election for president and vice president must be provided when none of the candidates achieve a clear majority, it proposed. "Provisions or restrictions on economic activities should be removed from the Constitution and made a matter of law that Congress can amend, revise or repeal as the need arises to meet changing conditions and global competition," it said. On the other hand, the MBC maintained that charter change be kept separate from the issue of the integrity of the electoral results and the legitimacy of Arroyo. It said the search for the truth behind the "Hello Garci" tapes should be pursued relentlessly and resolved, and failure to resolve this may result in a political free-for-all. The MBC also stressed its "strong and unequivocal" stand against moves to scrap elections in 2007. "We are against the deferral or cancellation of any scheduled election. The move is immoral, undemocratic and unconstitutional and illustrates a frame of mind which would be disastrous in a parliamentary form of government," it said.-GMANEWS.TV