Merry-Go-Round: Floro L. Mercene
THE Cha-cha train has already left the station. Around the bend, people are switching the rails to send it over the cliff.
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Our friend Erick San Juan has been conferred a doctorate in letters for international journalism by the St. Clements University in London. Call him Dr. San Juan from now on.
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Speaker Joe de Venecia says the nation could shift to a parliamentary government in three months.
He is our candidate for Prime Minister and a great PM he will be.
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Under the JdV Plan, GMA will remain President of a parliamentary government, aided by a Prime Minister, hopefully JdV himself.
She will become the first Filipino De Gaulle.
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A different scenario will have GMA as PM and JdV as ceremonial president.
Her allies in the House want her to hold the dual posts of President and Prime Minister until her term ends in 2010.
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Where does all these leave our good friend FVR, who at 78 is still a young statesman?
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Vice President Noli de Castro will have a role in the scheme of things, according to Rep. Constantino Jaraula.
Noli will convene the interim parliament that will complete the process of amendments and revisions of the Constitution.
De Castro will preside over the national assembly that will elect the interim Prime Minister and Speaker.
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Nene Pimentel and Joker Arroyo says Cha-cha is a runaway train headed for the cliff. Stop the music and jump out now.
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Malacañang is hell-bent on a parliamentary system. The opposition and other sectors are equally determined to stop the administration from ramming it through.
National paralysis is coming.
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AFP Chief General Senga wants to clip powers of the Commission on Appointments in the appointment and confirmation of military officers.
He just said a while ago that the military will bow to civilian authority at all times.
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Senior military officers have long complained against the CoA, claiming that the confirmation process is often abused by politicians for their vested interests.
Members of Congress should ponder this accusation seriously and reform themselves.
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GMA to military and police: If you have the right to hold guns, you surrender your right to free speech.
Yours not to reason why, yours but to do and die.
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Snap elections are not the solution to the present political predicament. The answer is not a change of personalities but a change of the system – and systemic changes can only be effected by constitutional reform.
Moreover, snap elections are unconstitutional. The President and Vice President both have six-year mandates and the Constitution states that their terms will only expire in 2010.
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We cannot replicate the l986 experience – where there was a clear choice between President Marcos and Cory Aquino – because right now there is neither a clear alternative to GMA nor a clear post-GMA scenario.
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The anti-GMA forces are entangled in a destructive factionalism and rivalries because they are at loggerheads on whether GMA alone should step aside; whether GMA and Vice President De Castro should resign; whether Vice President De Castro or Senate President Frank Drilon should assume the presidency; or whether a revolutionary council, transitory government, caretaker government, or military junta should commandeer the government.
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