Snap Elections Bill, anyone?

Here’s a new twist on what our Congressmen think can solve the various political crises that have gripped the country:

Snap Elections. (here’s a briefing from the Inquirer)

it’s a House bill that has been passed by the Committee on Suffrage and Electoral Reform, chaired by Makati Rep. Teodoro Locsin, Jr. The bill was filed by Nueva Ecja Rep. Eduardo Nonato.

I was unable to find the complete text of the bill, though.

Reading the article, there are a few things I wish our respectable congressmen will consider:

• Who will define what a ‘crisis’ ?
• Who will define if the country is experiencing a ‘crisis’?
• Will there be a limit as to how many snap elections there will be? (What if we have a crisis after a crisis after another crisis? Will we have 3 different presidents by then?)
• There has to be a standing budget for this at all times – where will it be from?

And how does the Palace react? “It’s unconstitutional.”

Actually, I’m not against snap elections…

Hmmm… Maybe it is time to change the constitution to at least allow the conduct of snap elections whenever, but on a very limited fashion. Just so that whoever is seated in Malacañang will not be too complacent and feel all-powerful because our hastily-prepared constitution did not allow the ultimate check-and-balance provision for the highest person in office (yes, considering that the impeachment provisions have been constantly bastardazed in the last four years).

Please, people, it is really REALLY time to change…

Generating Responses

This post is for all the people who have commented on my first post, Spotlight: A federal Republic of the Philippines – Thank you for all your inputs and the issues you’ve raised!

Here are some excerpts:

• I appreciate your noble intentions in starting up this blog. This is a good venue for an intelligent discussion on this matter. As noted by Sen. Biazon in Resolution No. 10, “it is about time that this issue is put to serious national debate. This is a good start, indeed.
  - batang buotan
• I have volunteered to host a site for the Cebu Federal, Inc. that is still in the process of being registered with the SEC. We started off a listeners to a radio program over DYRF and decided that we must do something after talking.
  We have just posted our primer and a resolution in support to the move to change the Constitution. With these, we are also starting a signature campaign and hope that people would become more aware of the reasons and issues about federalism.
  - MrGram
• …I think federalism will encourage UNITY than SECESSION because unlike in our present system that is so Manila-south Tagalog centric, in a federal setm up, we will be equal people. ATM, non-Tagalogs are treated as second-class citizens. They even have the guts to call Ilocano, Bisaya as ‘dialects’ rather than languages.
  - Amber

Please continue to be active in the discussions and invite other people to join in.

I do hope more people will be stumbling on this blog. More importantly, I do hope that it will generate action in the future… say 2 years from now, when there will be an election. It would be a gratifying dream to have the elections also coincide with a plebicite as to whether or not the Unitary Philippine state will embrace Federalism.

Now, to touch on discussions in the first post of this blog, I’m convinced that the change to a Federal Republic must coincide with a change as to how we perceive ourselves as a people. I’ve been trying to research more on the history of the different parts of the Philippines, basically to see how rich the diverse cultures are. Sadly, there is a scarcity in resources for this.

But for those of you who are interested to entertain a greater ‘change’ than just the shift to a Federal Government, I invite you to visit these pages (blogs / discussion threads / webpages) and come back to this entry to start a discussion on various topics that range from

• “Are we going to stick with ‘The Philippines’ as a name for our Nation?”, “What do we want to call Ourselves?”
• “Should we deny our Colonial Heritage?”, “How can we enrich Ourselves with our Past?”
• “Is there a ‘Filipino’ Nation to speak of?”

Here are some of my recommended readings:

• Philippine History 101: A Sense of History
• Colonial Name, Colonial Mentality and Ethnocentricity
• Historical Flag of the Sulu SUltanate
• Munitng Kasaysayan ng Pira-pirasong Bayan
• Ang Pungsod Ilonggo
• The Prodigal Mole Cricket
• Do you know where the term “Filipino” originated?
• Blueprint for a New Philippines
• Different Names for the Philippines?

P.S. To those who own the blogs/blogposts I featured here, I hope you don’t mind me putting up the link prior to asking for permission.

P.P.S. If you have more resources regarding the history of the Philippines (not ‘contemporary’ history form the books we’ve all read in our school years), please provide the link.