Today’s political climate is unlike that in 1985

There is no doubt that the political stock of Sen. Manuel “Mar” Roxas has risen quite sharply with his surprising announcement in giving way to the presidential bid of Sen. Benigno “”Noynoy” Aquino III and accepting to be his vice presidential candidate. But as of press time, Noynoy has not yet made the decision to jump into the presidential bandwagon. This undoubtedly was a brilliant move by Mar Roxas whose ratings in the presidential derby had woefully stagnated. But since Mar’s noble declaration, he has now morphed from a mere politician to that of a statesman, a title that no senator today can boast to have.

So all eyes are focused on Noynoy Aquino, whether he’ll jump into the presidential bandwagon or not… although stalwarts of the Liberal Party (LP) are saying that Noynoy’s acceptance of the “torch” was already a done deal. This is why certain pundits are pushing the idea that Mar Roxas had no choice but to give up his presidential quest because he already knew that his party wanted Noynoy to be their presidential standard-bearer. So he was allowed “kuno” to make that dramatic announcement before Noynoy would accept the LP party’s official nomination. Now whether this was the result of the backroom political deals, we’ll get it directly from Mar Roxas when he comes to Cebu for the campaign.

This dramatic announcement by Mar Roxas to slide down as a vice presidential contender no doubt has disappointed many of his friends who already gave him their full support in the 2010 presidential elections. Notable among them is Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña who saluted the move of Sen. Roxas, saying that he was right in openly declaring his support for Mar’s presidential bid. But Mayor Osmeña wasn’t hasty in transferring the support he had given to Sen. Roxas to Sen. Noynoy Aquino. He is now looking at other possibilities like Sen. Loren Legarda or Sen. Chiz Escudero.

Meanwhile, the waiting continues as to whether Sen. Noynoy Aquino’s presidential bid can truly unite the splintered opposition. History tells us that when then Sen. Salvador “Doy” Laurel made his historic decision to sacrifice his presidential bid for the honor and prestige to wage a political battle with then President Ferdinand Marcos so that Tita Cory could rise up to the occasion, it allowed the splintered opposition to unite and the rest is history. So will history repeat itself when Noynoy makes his presidential bid?

Let me point out there’s a huge difference in the political climate today and in 1985 when Tita Cory declared her bid for the presidency. First of all we no longer live under the fear of the Marcos Dictatorship. Secondly, under the 1987 Constitution, the president of the Philippines, under the Executive Branch, is still the most powerful persona among the three branches of the Philippine government, which are supposedly co-equal in power and stature with the Legislative and Judiciary. That’s why everyone wants to be the next president of this ungovernable country.

What we have today are personalities having a “Messianic complex,” believing unto themselves as the men or women who can turn this country around. Most of them are in reality mere “legends in their own minds.” Since President Marcos, we’ve had four presidents running this country, all of them taking their oaths to improve the lot of the Filipino people, especially the poor. But the poor are still with us and please don’t tell me that a President Noynoy Aquino would turn things around for this politically sick nation!

I have said it here before and I’ll say it again that what we need are dramatic and drastic changes in our system of governance, which unfortunately can only be done through… yes, you guessed it right, Charter changes. But we’ve always favored a constitutional convention (con-con) and this is where we should be going, alas we’re not doing it!

Too many people are saying that it’s not the proper time for Charter changes. But I guarantee you that when we have a new president, whoever that person will be, we will certainly say that Cha-cha is not necessary as he or she would want to enjoy his or her six-year term of office. In the end, talk of Cha-cha will only happen in the last two years of that president’s term.

Just one major reason why we should have Charter changes is the present political reality that our multi-party system has not given us the true-blue public servants that our people need. What we have are actors, actresses, dancers and what-have-you kind of politicos who don’t even know how to debate. Worse of all, we are supposed to have 350 more politicians for our present population? What we need so badly in this country is to depoliticize our system because our present Constitution allows politicians to make a family business out of their government office. Cha-cha can change this! So like it or not, this means we really have to bite the bullet of Cha-cha. –Bobit S. Avila (The Philippine Star)

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For e-mail responses to this article, write to vsbobita@mozcom.com or vsbobita@gmail.com. Avila’s columns can be accessed through www.philstar.com.