The Senate presumes too much

Heartened by what happened in Thailand with the resignation by Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, several members of the Senate have launched again the drive to ask President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to resign. And they are going to spend their Holy Week going around the country to stoke the "Resign, Gloria" campaign.

Unfortunately, that is something that may not entice people as much as the members of the senate may have hoped. First, the faithful may not be too open to listen to the senators when they are commemorating the Passion, the Crucifixion and the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Usually, although admittedly it is no longer that intense, most Catholics devote themselves to meditating on the death of Christ and its meaning. They are not too enthusiastic about politics and the attempts to picture GMA as the cheater of the election. In the first place, that is a closed issue insofar as majority are concerned.

Perhaps, the Senators may find time to meditate on the spiritual implications of the Holy Week. Somehow, we hope that God will enlighten them on what to do later to focus their attention on the future of the country rather than spend their time trying to tear down the elected leader of the people.

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Meanwhile, I join Negrenses and the people of Murcia in saluting Jason Hontarciego a Grade 6 student of the Don Valeriano Gatuslao Elementary School of Barangay Blumentritt, who was credited with the rescue of an 18-year-old Mary Ann Cañete from drowning.

Murcia Mayor Esteban Coscolluela presented the young boy a cash reward and, I suppose, also a plaque for his heroic deed.

Mary Ann reportedly swam in the river and disappeared under water. This prompted a group of schoolchildren to summon help.

Hontarciego, however, jumped into the river and tried to find the drowning teenager. He failed to locate her for several minutes. On his third attempt, the young boy said he felt the strands of her hair brushing his arms and he grabbed her. Then he pulled her out of the river and immediately applied first aid technique which he had learned as a Boy Scout member in school.

That was a heroic act which prompted the municipal government of Murcia to grant Jason as cash award.

A salute for a heroic boy scout.

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Barangay 30 chairperson Elvira Arcobillas called on the Department of Interior and Local Government to fund an information drive that would keep the citizenry informed on why they should vote for or against Constitutional Change.

That makes her outstanding. A not rare commodity when one considers that she is a descendant of Graciano Lopez Jaena, the national Ilonggo hero.

Arcobillas may have committed a risky act by bucking the people's initiative signature campaign where most of the local barangay officials simply asked people to follow the line of least resistance - by signing the resolution calling for Cha-cha.

But, as she aptly pointed out, the exercise is faulty from the very start because only a handful knew what it is all about.

And, it is common knowledge that most of the signatories do not even know the Constitution. In short, how can they intelligently sign a document calling for its overhaul when they know next to nothing about its contents and the various provisions that need to be amended as claimed by the administration.

In the first place, do they really understand the implications of a shift to the Parliamentary system. Or, for that matter, the differences between the unitary presidential system and that of the parliamentary system and later, federalism?

Many of the country's intelligensia had devoted hours studying the issue and its implications. But the common tao, most of whom had pleaded ignorance about what the exercise was for, simply signed the resolution. For what? They don't know, and that was supposed to reflect the popular sentiment.

That is why Mrs. Arcobillas must be heeded by the DILG. And the government agency and other government bodies should devote more time to explain to the people what charter change means. And the various proposals that go with it.

It is just a numbers game to some, including the DILG and the top administration officials. But constitutional change is a very serious matter. It cannot be simply rammed through a popular vote by people who are virtually ignorant of what they are signing. A salute to Mrs. Arcobillas for her bold advocacy.*

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