speak up, Cebu

something i posted in ilovescihi:

Speak up, Cebu

I do beg of you.
This rant will be totally unrelated to the cause this blog was set up for and so I give the moderators the freedom to delete this page for such grounds. I just want to raise an issue that bothers me so deeply.

You guys might have heard of Charter Change, and you might be all too tired of it already or might find it too irrelevant to our daily troubles. As officer of the Ateneo Student Council, I’ve been bombarded with opinions, analyses, whatnot. I share the same sentiments at times.

But I raise this issue and I do so now ’cause if you tune in to ANC ’til 6 in the friggin’ morning you would realize how our congressmen are handling it. Brazen and with utter disregard of the law.

You may have chosen a side already on the issue. Maybe you favor Charter Change. Maybe it is the solution to all our problems. Maybe these men are so enlightened that they know the actual provisions our Constitution needs. But why the haste?

ngano dali-dali-on man ang pag-usab sa pinakaimportante nga balaod sa atong nasud

We were in Congress ’til midnight observing the farce at play and you would easily notice how dubious the show is being run. Whether you are in favor of changing the Constitution or not, whether you like Pres. Arroyo or not, whether you do believe in a parliamentary system or not, it does not matter.

If the very mode of changing our Constitution is dubious, all it produces is a dubious Constitution. We need a Constitution we all could rally behind. We must be particular of the very process that changes it.

Guys, I know we do have a lot of things to think about but I appeal to you, my friends in Cebu to please take a stand on the matter. At the very least talk about it. These congressmen already approved to convene this Tuesday without the Senate. They plan on having a plebiscite soon so we postpone May elections to November. That’s a promise on their part, but observing how they run the game, it’s so hard to believe that there will be any upcoming elections anyone could participate in thanks to this utter disregard of the law.

I for one trust people by default. But I am deeply troubled with what I have heard and witnessed. I am trying to tap my old network of friends and student leaders in Cebu but I beg of you to please talk about it. You, scholars of this country.

We owe a lot to the people who paid for our high school education, whether we like it or not. Let us not do this because we owe anyone anything. Let us do this because it is the right thing to do.

To protect the very democracy we need to survive as a nation.
Bother me at 09157882132 and forgive me for this lengthy rant.