THE answer is yes! Or so say the incumbent administration and
the Duterte sympathizers. The problems of
poverty, inequality and violence, among others, had been getting worse, despite
optimistic rhetoric every time a new tenant occupies Malacañang. The current president seem so convinced that
only a federal form of government could bring lasting peace and progress to the
entire country, but especially in Mindanao. But will changing the form of government be
the magic wand that will transform the country into a never-never land of
utopian peace and prosperity?
President Ferdinand E. Marcos was
more believably equipped with both rhyme and reason when he presented his “new-society”
ideology which was guaranteed with his battle cry that “this country can be
great again.” That, of course, did not
happen. Instead, the Philippines became fractured into penury, human rights
violations and plunder after about 14 years of dictatorship.
But while Marcos had logic and a
first presidential term to backup a track record, Duterte only has rhetoric
that still need a good deal of substantiating.
His one-track view of bringing about change is the revision of the 1987
Constitution by changing the form of government from unitary to federal system.
But there are neither guarantees nor
empirical data to prove his claim, only thug-talk laced with expletives and
profanities. The lengthening list of
unfulfilled promises that were enumerated at his first State of the Nation Address
makes the building blocks for change even more doubtful—despite changing the
fundamental law of the land.
In a joint pastoral guidelines
issued by the four Diocese of Negros, the bishops expressed the Church’s
concern “whether the proposed change would lead us to the attainment of the
common good” or “whether it would be for the better or for the worse.”
One can only pray that changing the
form of government or the Constitution will succeed in transforming the country
into better one.
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