Return of the Con-asses

EDITORIAL

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11/23/2008

Shame is no longer the concern of Gloria and her Charter change (Cha-cha) lackeys for one burningly urgent reason: Exactly one and a half years are left for her constitutional limit to leave her usurped office.

The effort to form a Constituent Assembly (Con-ass) is now in full swing and as it was in the past, the only way to stop this new attempt to subvert the people’s will is to show public outrage.

Gloria and her lackeys seem to have the Cha-cha machine parked but humming and ready to go at full speed at every chance.

Previous attempts to tinker with the Constitution were cut short whenever the crescendo of public outrage reached a point where massive street rallies become imminent.

This time, it would take more than a threat of massive rallies for Gloria and her cabal to back down from Cha-cha.

The urgency at which the latest Cha-cha effort is being fueled, makes it grant no quarter.

The assurance that Cha-cha will not pursue any political agenda related to the extension of Gloria’s stay in power does not have a single strand of credibility.

The sinister nature of the Arroyo administration makes the claim that Cha-cha is all about strengthening the economy is comical.

While indeed certain provisions of the Constitution related to restrictions on foreign capital may need revisions, Gloria has always equated the change in the system of government among the necessary changes to supposedly speed up economic development.

Following such an argument, it would not be entirely false for Gloria and her minions to claim that Cha-cha is all about enhancing the economy.

The brazenness of the Cha-cha revival was reflected in the way that Gloria’s allies in Congress have diluted the Cha-cha move through Con-ass into another numbers game.

The numbers do have its beneficial equivalent from the Palace as what was relayed to her allies in the House of Representatives when Gloria and Mike appeared personally in a Forbes Park gathering that was made out as a birthday party but was actually the day that the new Cha-cha move was let loose.

The forming of the Con-ass is almost a certainty as Gloria’s chief House lackeys have committed to produce whatever numbers are required to make it a certainty.

The assembly then would draft the proposed changes to the Constitution after which this would be subjected to a plebiscite.

The Palace acknowledged the Cha-cha move but insisted that all there is to it are amendments to the economic provisions in the Constitution and that the 2010 elections will proceed even if Gloria and her lackeys do the Cha-cha.

Even a recent survey showing that more than 70 percent of respondents said they were against efforts to amend the Constitution will not stop Gloria’s Cha-cha train. The survey indicated that under a fair situation, which is when the vote through the ballot is respected, the Cha-cha move is a waste of efforts and resources.

Gloria, however, is known for not playing by the rules of the game, just as how she discarded the rules, which the nation experienced in the 2004 elections where a systematic and massive cheating operation was employed to keep her in power.

The latest Palace statement about Cha-cha that it would not involve the extension of Gloria or anybody else’s term feels strikingly similar to Gloria’s Rizal Day announcement in 2002 that she would no longer contest the presidency two years later in 2004 to unite the nation.

Of course, everybody found out that it was a barefaced lie not even a week after, when her Palace minions started initiating a signature campaign purportedly to convince Gloria to change her mind into reconsidering a run for the presidency in 2004.

Malacañang’s assurance that Gloria would not extend her term all the more makes Filipinos believe that indeed the Cha-cha effort is all about her political perpetuation.

The rush at which constitutional changes is being pushed is already a dead giveaway on its purpose.

To think about it, just what is the trouble in the matter of the Cha-cha waiting for the next administration?

Time is not even a crucial element since Gloria’s term is ending a little over a year from now.

The rush is all about Gloria’s insatiable ambitions.

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