"Let's Cha-cha now" ULAP

PIA Press Release

ULAP, Sigaw say "Let's Cha-cha now"

Manila (28 July) -- Charter reform advocates challenged the opposition Thursday to "show statesmanship and accept the truth that Filipinos are tired of the present destructive state of our politics and it is now time to shift to a unicameral parliamentary government."

The 1.7-million strong Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines and the coalition umbrella Sigaw ng Bayan said that "the argument that the Filipino people don't want Charter reform has been crushed and no amount of self-denial can reverse it."

"The opposition can no longer hide behind the catch all phrase 'in the name of the people' in opposing Charter reform - because the people themselves have rejected their claims," Bohol Gov. Erico Aumentado, the national president of ULAP, said.

People realize that the opposition cannot solve the nation's problems by whining all the time without offering any alternative solution or program, Aumentado added.

Sigaw ng bayan spokesman Raul Lambino said the Pulse Asia survey and a similar one taken a week earlier by The Center for Issues and Advocacy (The Center) should be seen by Charter opponents "as the ultimate defeat of the forces of the super elite and the moneyed class who have manipulated politics and public opinion for the longest time."

The Sigaw ng Bayan advocacy is a move by the Filipino people "to reclaim the initiative in reforming Philippine society and politics."

This is also a warning to the opposition forces in Makati that continue to employ "Gestapo-like tactics to thwart the people's sovereign will in support of Charter reform," Lambino said.

The latest resolution by ULAP, approved a few days ago at the Local Government Unit Summit in Manila, denounced Makati mayor Jejomar Binay's "antidemocratic tactic" and challenged the opposition to stop employing political harassment to intimidate constitutional warriors in Makati.

The latest survey by Pulse Asia showed that more Filipinos are in favor of Charter reform - higher for the first time than the number opposing it since the campaign for Constitutional change was launched.

The Pulse Asia survey also showed 48 percent of Filipinos favor People's Initiative to amend the Constitution - more than twice the number of those who favor Constitutional Convention, which has fallen to 23 percent.

The third mode, Constituent Assembly of the Senate and the House of representatives, remained at 28 percent.

Puerto Princesa City Mayor Edward Hagedorn, chairman of the League of Cities, said the "time for debate is over, and the sooner the opposition can join us in this pushing for this historic endeavor, the faster we can put the ills of the nation behind us and usher in a period of stability and economic growth."

He said "we don't need another two or four months to prove that the great majority of Filipinos have embraced Charter reform according to the goals we want urgently to accomplish."

ULAP has a Memorandum of Agreement with the Majority Coalition of the House of Representatives led by Speaker Jose de Venecia to push for seven core amendments to the 1987 Constitution within the year.

Topping the proposed amendments is the shift from what the coalition called the "failed system of bicameral presidential government" to the unicameral parliamentary system, which is the governing structure in most successful countries of Europe and Asia.

De Venecia, in his statement opening the Third Session of the House of Representatives, said "we have awakened a national consensus for Charter reform" and said it was now up to the Supreme Court to give the nation guidance and direction on the most efficient mode of amending the 20-year old Charter.

The other crucial amendments call for an end to turncoatism, state financing for political parties, and synchronized elections once every five years to eliminate massive election spending that breeds corruption. (PIA-MMIO) [top]

# posted by ThePalawanEagle @ 10:06 PM 0 comments

PIA Press release- Senate irrelevant? - ULAP

Manila (8 August) -- The Senate's insistence on conducting hostile hate-filled inquiries rather than producing strategic policies has made the institution totally irrelevant and removed from the mainstream of Filipino life, the Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines (ULAP) charged yesterday.

ULAP national president, Gov. Erico Aumentado of Bohol, reiterated the call of 1.7 million local government officials nationwide for the immediate abolition of the Senate because it has become "the bastion of destructive and poisonous politics."

No one would lament the abolition of the Senate, which has become the single biggest obstacle to national stability and progress, Aumentado said in a statement.

Aumentado cited the Senate's mangling of the 2006 budget by P63 billion as the "best proof that the chamber is working not for the common good but in aid of the political agenda and ambitions of a few power-hungry senators."

Aumentado, who is also president of the League of Provinces of the Philippines (LPP), said the Senate's "very existence has become anathema" to the interest of Filipinos.

"It should be abolished this year to give way to one-house legislature under a parliamentary government. This is the change the country badly needs," said Aumentado.

He and Puerto Princesa City Mayor Edward Hagedorn, chairman of the League of Cities of the Philippines, concurred with Sen. Edgardo Angara's observation that the Senate's dismal performance on lawmaking- and its focus on unproductive congressional investigations - already made the chamber "lose its purpose and prestige."

Angara was quoted as saying that if the Senate, at the end of the legislative year, cannot produce "meaningful laws, then we are of no use as a legislative institution."

The Senate of the 13th Congress has approved no more than 20 laws since July 2004 - making it the worst-performing Senate since 1986. It has not acted on more than 820 bills that the House of Representatives already approved on third reading, many of which are national bills Speaker Jose de Venecia said are of "utmost interest to the nation."

The ULAP has a Memorandum of Agreement with the Majority Coalition of the House of Representatives to seek Charter amendments this year and shift the structure of government to the parliamentary system with a unicameral parliament.

Aumentado and Hagedorn said the present bicameral presidential system has highlighted the ills of a divided government that have made the country inefficient in creating a climate of stability vital to national development.

The two said the Senate's decision to slash the budget by P63 billion deprived LGUs of funds already programmed for anti-poverty projects and programs to provide clean water, electricity, medical health care and livelihood opportunities to depressed areas.

ULAP has also joined the multi-sectoral coalition Sigaw ng Bayan which has been pushing a campaign for People's Initiative to amend the Constitution and change the structure of government from the presidential to the parliamentary system.

At least 48 percent of Filipinos polled by Pulse Asia last month said they favored the people's Initiative to amend the Charter, while only 23 percent- down from 30 percent in April- favored a conventional convention to initiate amendments.

The latest survey showed clearly that more Filipinos are now accepting Charter reform in the face of destructive politics of which the Senate is the leading practitioner, Aumentado and Hagedorn said.

Meanwhile, Gov. Luis "Chavit" Singson of Ilocos Sur and Gov. Tomas Joson of Nueva Ecija led the provincial executives in urging the House of Representatives to immediately resolved "the recycled impeachment complaints against President Arroyo" to enhance the political and economic stability of the country.

During its recent national executive board meeting, the LPP also favorably endorsed the passage of the supplemental budget being asked by Malacanang from Congress, especially the allocation of P14.862 billion for the IRA (internal revenue allotment) shares of LGUs (local government units).

They also requested the President to provide national government counterpart funding to projects of the LGUs under the Kilos Asensyo program duly approved by the Provincial Development Councils (PDCs) and expressed support for the creation of mega regions to enhance countryside development. (PIA)