A group calling itself as Tugon ng Bayan has turned the table against those seeking to abolish the Senate through Charter change.

While the Sigaw ng Bayan wants Charter change through people's initiative, Tugon ng Bayan favors Charter change through a constitutional convention.

Tugon ng Bayan through Francisco Catibayan said that they strongly disagreed with the current proposal of the Sigaw ng Bayan for our country to shift again to parliamentary form of government.
Catibayan said that Tugon ng Bayan would campaign for the immediate abolition of the House of Representatives and the strengthening of the Senate.

If the House is abolished, there will be savings of about P20 billion in pork barrel funds alone per year. This can be used instead for education and social services, Catibayan continued.

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President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has ordered an all-out war against the 37-year-old Communist insurgency.

She ordered the release of P1 billion as seed money for the military and police to fight the communist insurgency.

Three army battalions from the war-scarred Mindanao arrived last Monday in Camp Nakar in Lucena City for deployment in areas in Luzon where they will battle guerillas of the New People's Army.

Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan, one of the country's top counter-insurgency fighters, said he planned to deploy soliders in 118 towns and 12 cities of Central Luzon to help President Arroyo in her goal of defeating the insurgency within her term, or at least wipe the insurgents out of critical areas in Luzon within two years.

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But leaders of the country's Roman Catholic Church voiced concern and called the Arroyo administration to go back to the negotiating table.

Bishop Deogracias Iniguez, head of the Commission on Public Affairs of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) said it would be better if the government would continue with the peace talks.

Msgr. Pedro Quitorio, spokesperson of the CBCP, said the Arroyo administration should learn from history that the insurgency could not be defeated by military force.

Msgr. Quitorio said the past presidents starting from Cory Aquino did not solve the insurgency. Violence against violence is not the solution, Msgr. Quitorio said.

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Certainly, the people will suffer in the counter-insurgency operations. Imagine yourself caught in the cross fire between the government and rebel forces. You have nowhere to go.

Instead the government should look into the root causes of the insurgency problem. Let's give peace a chance.

The Communist insurgents in other countries have come to peace agreements with their respective governments. For instance, in Nepal, the Communists have been included in their government. In China, the Communist are the ones running their government.

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Communists have been demonized by the present administration. But why are the Communists Chinese roaming around the Philippines as guests. The Chinese Communists are free to go around because they are in power in China.

What's the difference between the Filipino Communists and Chinese Communists? Your answer is as good as mine.

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If despite the opposition of the Catholic Church of the administration's all-out war strategy against the insurgents, the Arroyo administration would insist in pursuing it, then the counterinsurgency operation would be another diversionary tactic foisted by the present administration to divert attention on the problem of corruption and poverty in the Philippines.

The Charter change did not work. Now, the all-out war against the insurgents is next in the agenda. Would it work?

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