Open Letter to Our Leaders: Why We Are Not Out In The Streets

[oldblue]

people remember Marcos. That's why there's such a strong anti-chacha sentiment. Also, chacha favors the trapo. With power in parliament held by regional warlords and dynasties, influence peddling & politicking will pick our next national leader, not informed decision making...(yeah, not much worse than now, but...) so, under parliament, our next head of state may well be the ultimate trapo... JDV.

I like to compare the parliamentary system to a private corporation.

in a corporation

-stockholders/shareholders/employees with stock options elect board of directors, then board of directors choose chairman/CEO. if CEO/chairman becomes incompetent, the board of directors can quickly correct the deficiency by voting him/her out.

in a parliamentary system

-people/citizens elect members of parliament, then members elect a PM. if PM becomes corrupt, the members of parliaments can do the same action. hindi naman siguro realistic that a PM controls all members of parliament. mas maging ok nga kasi maging two-party system. pro-PM vs. anti-PM.

wala ng third force, fourth force like what we have now: FVR/JDV force, Erap/Lacson Force, Magdalo/YOU Force, Communist Force, then we have the Liberals, the Lakas and sino pa ba ang gulo-gulo.




we pinoys are very successful in operating/working inside/under corporations. I see no hindrance how we can be ineffective under parliamentary rule.

[niky]

Oh, Catch22, with chacha, no senate... no senate, no impeachment... that's another reason GMA is all for it. I honestly don't know how she can survive a 2007 impeachment if chacha doesn't push through and the specter of elections erodes her congressional support.

[niky]

Well, the point is, there is no Ninoy... and that's the only difference. :-)

I too, disagree with Esposo on Cory Aquino (hello? what have you done for the country?... and what about her witch hunt for all her former enemies during her term?) but really, there are credible people working against GMA in a constitutional manner.

I give that you don't have to support Mr. Esposo's position, but Mr. Austero's is just more... egh. :lol: And I do find that he generalizes, particularly as he speaks in the "we" form of voice. How can he say that people are happy with the cheating? Or that GMA has apologized for it? Hello, I watched that speech very carefully... she never apologized for cheating... she apologized merely for the lack of common sense she exhibited in "speaking to a COMELEC offical during the election". She neatly sidestepped the whole "Hello Garci" issue by apologizing for an act, but not specifically The Act. This is so as not to render herself liable to litigation or for the speech to count as a confession.

GMA's confession was a very clever political ploy.

And yes, Austero really doesn't make any distinction between who was in the streets. While many may have been there for selfish reasons, there are others who were genuinely protesting (no, not the "hakot" crowds or the "prayer rally" in Makati)...

As a former UPer'... it was just too depressing to go out there and stand beside those idiots...

And, tell me... who is this "YOU" that Austero talks about, then? (hmmmh?) He's asking for protection from... Cory? (harmless), Erap's cronies? (doubly so... they couldn't even impeach GMA)... protests? Despite the protests, our economy was unaffected... investors and bankers could see the small numbers on the streets. What did affect the market (only slightly) was the idea that the military wasn't on GMA's side.

Protests have never hurt our economy... graft and corruption does. I don't get why it was okay then, and "destabilizing and anti-Philippines" now.

I'm personally not marching in the street because I see GMA's politically suicidal tendencies in all that she's done. She's alienated some of her closest allies and biggest assets in her Cabinet (over the years)... how can she run the country effectively if all she will have left at the end of her term are yes-men?

She's managed to turn some of her major allies away in the Senate... she's locking horns with her biggest non-House allies in the Supreme Court over Chacha... and she risked losing the Lower House with the stunt she tried to pull under 1017 (arresting Congressmen without warrants, despite the fact that Congressmen are immune to even warranted arrests while Congress is in session).

I'm not marching because I can see her end coming... and while I don't like the instability that implies, she brought it all upon herself with her tremendous egotism and monomaniacal beief in her own ability. I give her two more impeachments... at the most.

By the way, Mr. Esposo's letter is not as a veteran newsman against an amateur... merely one Atenean refuting another... merely... how can you claim to speak for all of us?

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*oldblue: That's precisely why I favor a parliamentary system... I merely outlined the "Macoy" angle as the reason why people don't like it. And the influence peddling and politicking in parliament is all-too-real. I've seen it in private boardrooms, too... heck, we've lost a lot of insurance money because of boardroom shenanigans (Nicphil... look it up), as have other people (CAP, PacificLife)... so no, it's not perfect, either... I believe a parliamentary system could work better, but we do need a clean slate for it, and keeping the current Congress (as per GMA) on as Parliament is a big no-no.

The anti-impeachment angle is real, also. GMA has stated that even in the event that the country shifts towards a parliamentary system, that she would stay as a steward... errhh... President-Prime Minister-Parliament... see anything wrong with this?

[Alpha_One]

I'm personally not marching in the street because I see GMA's politically suicidal tendencies in all that she's done. She's alienated some of her closest allies and biggest assets in her Cabinet (over the years)... how can she run the country effectively if all she will have left at the end of her term are yes-men?

She's managed to turn some of her major allies away in the Senate... she's locking horns with her biggest non-House allies in the Supreme Court over Chacha... and she risked losing the Lower House with the stunt she tried to pull under 1017 (arresting Congressmen without warrants, despite the fact that Congressmen are immune to even warranted arrests while Congress is in session).

I'm not marching because I can see her end coming... and while I don't like the instability that implies, she brought it all upon herself with her tremendous egotism and monomaniacal beief in her own ability. I give her two more impeachments... at the most.

You've hit the nail right on the head with this one.

[Isuzoom]

Nyeta kayo mga politiko!!! kayo ang nagpapahirap sa mg filipino..TANG NA NYO!!!

[ss3wiper]

I'm very excited of FVR's proposal... Shift to Parliament system, GMA to step down, tuloy ang election sa 2007. kaya lang malabo na mangyari to. pinatay na agad ang idea ng mga ganid na politicians to serve their personal interrest