PREPARING
FOR ELECTIONS. Local party stalwarts of PDP-
Laban convened yesterday with
lawyer Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel (2nd from left) for their 22nd Provl
General Assembly. The group elected Atty. Artemio Cabatos to succeed former city
Vice Mayor Jorge Cabalit (extreme left) as provincial party chair. | | Eighty-five
percent of the Boholanos are against the new proposal of Malacañang and
the House of Representatives to convene a constitutional convention (Con-con).
This
even as Pres. Arroyo backed out last Thursday her call for either ConCon or Constituent
assembly (ConAss).
Con-con was proposed by administration congressmen led
by Speaker Jose de Venecia after their initiative to convert Congress into a constituent
|
assembly
(Con-ass) in proposing Charter amendments met strong opposition from civil society
and the Church last week.During
a radio survey last Monday over station dyRD's top-rated programs Inyong Alagad,
Pulso, Media Patrol and Action Line, 85% expressed opposition to Con-con. Out
of 60 radio listeners who phoned-in and texted their responses, 51 vehemently
objected the proposed Con-con.
Only
10 favored changing the Charter.
Distrust
in the Arroyo administration and its cohorts in Congress was the main reason voiced
out by radio listeners why they disapprove Charter change, whether through Con-con
or Con-ass.
| | | Majority
of the sentiments of callers and texters who participated in the radio survey,
however, revealed they are in favor of changing the Constitution only after Pres.
Arroyo's term expires in 2010.
Others
still prefer to maintain the presidential form of government than shifting to
parliamentary, which is the main feature of the proposed Cha-cha.
Most
of the respondents said going into a parliamentary form of government is being
resorted to by Pres. Arroyo and some politicians to perpetuate themselves in power. |
Rep.
Francis Escudero of the minority bloc, during an interview over dyRD last Monday,
argued that the constitutional convention would still elect the same political
faces and their allies while there are those who believed that it is just a face-saving
maneuver by the Arroyo administration as Catholic bishops and civil society promised
mass protests starting this week.
Among
those who participated in the radio survey who expressed their opinions against
Con-con were former Bohol OIC-Gov. Victor dela Serna (a delegate to the 1971 constitutional
convention), Integrated Bar of the Philippines-Bohol President Atty. Salvador
Diputado, retired Judge Andrew Namocatcat, environmental lawyer Raul Barbarona,
Engr. Petronilo Sarigumba and Bayan-Muna provincial coordinator John Ruiz III.
On
the other hand, Albur town mayor Efren Tungol said it is important to listen to
the voice of the people before making judgements on the proposals to amend the
Charter.
He
said local officials and congressmen who supported Cha-cha should not be condemned
for their stand as they are also elected and given mandate by their constituencies.
Tungol
said he prefers that more public consultations should be made in order to capture
the real sentiments of the majority.
Meanwhile,
non-government and people's organizations together with multi-sectoral groups
and church organizations here will push through with their scheduled rally on
Saturday to show their objection to Con-con.
STOLEN
CELLPHONE. National Telecommunications Commis-
sion (NTC) Bohol chief Dennis
Rocamora shows a Nokia 7360 he
confiscated last December 5 from a student
in one of the colleges here after said student complained of the absence of cellphone
signal and referred it to the local NTC office. It turned out the phone was reported
stolen by its owner, one Dario Chavez last Nov. 9, who requested the NTC to have
the cellphone blocked. According to the student, he bought the phone from a cousin
in Cagayan de Oro City. Rocamora already notified the NTC head office to inform
the owner on the phone's retrieval. | | |
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