‘The tyranny of the majority’

How can the senators ever participate in a Con-Ass where their very power will be threatened.
Surely, this case will end up in the SC.
I just hope it it will be addresed clearly once & for all.
I can understand why change & evolution can be so complicated & emotional in this country?
What is wrong w/ a proposal for change that will ultimatly be decided & voted upon by the people in a plebicite.
Why are there some people pretending to much to represent the people? The question is w/c people & what interest do they really represent?
why do we have the culture of “blocking’ & ‘harangan”?
Problems & issues are never faced squarely.Why?
Does anybody care to explain the pros & Cons of the change that is being proposed w/o confussing it w/ personalities?
I think it is false to conclude that people do not want change.
I think the surveys taken w/ leading questions can’t be a bases to make so many conclussions.
At the end of the day it is about voting.
Yes it will be about the numbers. Every debate & argument in the world is decided by numbers like it or not. It is also part of democracy. Why is it then for the loseing side suddenly “numbers” become a tyranny? Are there not supposed to to winners & losers to every issue? Or is it simply the pinoy way of being the perpetual “pikon” who can never admit to defeat but will insted brand the other side w/ all possible faults.
I can’t but conclude that that many word going around are not based on reason & logic but insted on so much perception, speculations & so much incomplete & polluted information.
I just hope that the destiny of this country will not be threatened by some Velarde who exploits peoples religious weakneses.
I just hope that these are the times to be in control of emotions & really think things hard.

Whoever said that the power of the senators as individuals are threatened? Maybe the house of senate, the same as the house of of representatives will both be replaced by a unicameral body called house of Parliaments or whatever they framers want to call it. The senators themselves can run and become members of the said unicameral body, the same as the current representatives or congressmen. So joselu, nobody’s power is threathened here, both bodies are going to disappear in a proposed parliamentary system. The way I look at it from half way the world…

The 197 resolution is a piece of trash authored by greedy traditional politicians. Resolution 197 is adopted by the lower house only and must need a senate version to be effective. In its wordings, it does not call to convene constituent assembly. What they call it? Congressional Assholes?? These shameless pigs are doing every dirty trick just to fool the Filipino people. Let’s kick their asses thy kingdom come.

by amending Section 105 of the House Rules, the HOR ALONE can adopt resolutions proposing amendments to or revision of the charter (doing away the bicameral nature of tackling proposals!).

by approving HR 1450 (renamed HR 197), ALL members of the Congress are now called on to file resolutions proposing constitutional amendments or revisions – giving a semblance of a convened Congress despite the expected snob of members of the Senate. (definitely, this will NOT be a Congress assembled in joint session and as such will not amount to a Constituent Assembly, more so, will not produce an Act of Congress!)

by adopting the published Rules of the Con-Ass, congressmen and/or senators will be made EQUALS not as legislators but as component elements of the constituent assembly – Rule I Constituent Power, Section 3…(emphasis on the word “OR” because, with the addition of the word, i gather that congressmen sans senators CAN already constitute a Con-Ass!)…thereby allowing even just 195 congressmen voting to propose amendments to or revisions of the charter. (this, in effect, will give you three-fourths of all the members of Congress!)

…isn’t it tyrannical for the majority (the Lower Ass) to impose their unilateral wish when all the while the two chambers of the legislature are supposed to function separately to come up with a JOINT resolution?

i don’t think the Senate will just feel threatened and make Upper Asses of themselves by not doing anything. i am sure when this whole thing becomes justiciable next week CJ Reynato et al will have full hands.

sa tingin ko ginawa na akong bobo ng mga Majority Cong.

dami problema ng bansa yan ang inuuna nila. kng matutuloy na yan at plebisito gagastos ng 2.5bilyon. kng ang 2.5 bilyon na yan ginawang tulong sa Albay eh di mas maganda.

Alam kasi nila malaki ang tyansa matalo ang mga yan sa election. at kng maging majority ang opposition sa lower house tyak lagot si GMA.

si IGGY ARROYO na yan. Congresman namin yan sa 5th Distric Negros Occidental. dami kalokohan yan. Jose Pidal nga. wala naman nagawang maganda sa distrito namin.
hindi naman yan komokonsulta sa nasasakupan nya. binobobo lng kami.

Halata naman sa mukha ni GMA dapat magCha-cha na.

Sorry, hindi pala si Gwaping. Si Joselu pala, yung member ng silent majority na wala naman dito sa PCIJ (kaya nga silent, heheh)

[...] THE President’s allies in the House of Representatives are set to adopt today a resolution calling for a constitutional convention, superseding an earlier resolution on constituent assembly. [...]

Postscript to Con-Ass

To better understand what triggered the combined force of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Phillipines, El Shaddai, Iglesia ni Cristo, Jesus is Lord, and the Baptist Churches (as a collectivity), to move against the strong political current that was the Con-Ass initiative, a cognitive re-enactment of what transpired on December 6 and 7 is necessary.

The whole imbroglio was actually ignited when a motion at the Plenary was raised with regard to amending Section 105 of Article XV of the Rules of the House of Representatives. It was voted upon via nominal voting 161 to 25 in favor of the amendment. Not surprisingly, the majority won, the minority lost – on account of what is called the “tyranny of numbers”. Better still, call it plain and simple – gangsterism. One historian aptly said, the “House ran amuck”.

What followed – two sleepless nights on the row – is to vote upon House Resolution 1450 calling for the convening of Congress into a Constituent Assembly. Again, by viva voce vote, the tyrants or the gangsters conveniently imposed their will upon their minions – the minority bloc. The majority won, hands down. So who are the real “bullies in the schoolyard” that GMA was talking about?

Voting upon any motion or appeal from the ruling of the chair appears to be the simplest way of the administration’s dirty tricks department to solve all sorts of contentious issues. It is a ‘catchbasin stratagem’ that has no place in civilization. Literally enough, the situation, for the minority, means – hoping against hope. The “Old Boys Club” that is the majority with their bullies or frontline ‘operatives’ pulled the rug from under our feet – unabashed, unashamed, unafraid, unscrupulous.

Then, at a point in time when the House of Representatives is supposed to commence Day 1 under a Constituent Assembly and propose the ready-made package of constitutional amendments, good JDV served public notice that the Con-Ass is “archived” as a sign that the House of Representatives is sensitive to the sentiment of the people at large. For the first time in history, the majority lost in the bar of public opinion. And May 11, 2007 is a day when revenge is sweet assuming martial law is not declared.

The House caved in to the pressure of a converging inter-faith community moving against Con-Ass. Certainly, JDV and his conspirators know their arithmetic or political calculus: El Shaddai has 4 million, Iglesia ni Cristo has 8 million, CBCP has 85% of the entire population, Jesus is Lord has 3 million, and the Baptist Churches, as a clique, has anything in between the range. All told, JDV has to swallow the bitter pill than be remembered in history as the tyrant, the gangster leader, the bigot.

Of late, there are last-minute “fireworks” still going on. Rep. Golez, though not a lawyer, has never been more circumspect than making sure House Resolution 197 is killed for it cannot be buried alive. Ironically, according to Rep. Suplico, there is no term that can be found in the House Rules relating to the word, “archived”. It is simply non-existent and JDV, the perceived magician in the context of “if tails, I won; if heads, you lose”, is trying to doze water in a burning fire. The grand conspiracy is like merely removing one live bullet from a loaded double-barrel shotgun – it still kills.

The CBCP went to the extent of publicly inviting elements in the AFP to join their scheduled prayer rally pursuant to its role as protector of the people and the Constitution. This gives General Esperon a little bit of a problem and like a warrior, ordered all units in the entire AFP under a state of red alert. General Calderon in the PNP is given the same marching order. Against this backdrop, who says that “civilian authority is at all times supreme over the military”? Blind obedience should have no place in more contemporary militaries around the world.

After the People’s Initiative has failed, the Con-Ass has failed, too. Now, JDV is heading toward option C, and this is the Con-Con thing. It seems that JDV is trying again to bait the Senate into accepting it – hook, line and sinker – this despite the increasing public hatred against any mode toward charter change. Will the self-styled JDV want to test the turbulent waters again to his own peril? Good friend Joe, please put your House in order and don’t bluff! Patronage politics is long taboo.

In defense of Bro. Mike Velarde

The article, “Is there really a Mike Velarde vote factor?” written by columnist William M. Esposo (Philippine Star issue of May 10, 2007) is meant to, by and large, discredit the leader of the largest charismatic group in the country – Bro. Mike Velarde – on arguments that are flawed, self-contradictory, and purely subjective.

It may not be far removed that the writer may have an ax to grind (for reasons known only to him) against the most influential spiritual icon in Philippine politics in our contemporary times. And doing so, the writer has unwittingly displayed his stupidity even idiocy to the approximately 5 million Catholic (or even non-Catholic) followers of El Shaddai.

Philippine Star, the 3rd largest newspaper in the country in terms of circulation might have to lose about 5 million of its valued subscribers. Diminishing readership of Philippine Star, theoretically enough, will impact badly on the continuing economic viability of a newspaper under siege.

This gives columnist Esposo only two options: leave Philippine Star or ask for a public apology. At the very least, the Philippine Press Institute, if such exists, should subject Esposo to appropriate disciplinary action since his own ‘grandstanding and perorations’ in a lengthy but otherwise vacuous column are meant to cast aspersions on the person of Bro. Mike, in particular, and to the 5 million El Shaddai worshippers, in general.

Esposo’s submission that El Shaddai followers ‘have ceased patronizing Velarde’ is farthest from the truth. It has no basis in reality. And again, Esposo cleverly undermined El Shaddai by pitting it with Iglesia ni Cristo over who gave Erap higher percentage of support based on a 1998 SWS survey. That to me is pedantic logic. As if to reinforce this claim, Esposo conveniently made reference to the one seat garnered by Buhay Party List in a prior party-list election. What is the beef?

It is most unfair even unkind for columnist Esposo to accuse Bro. Mike of acts unacceptable to the Catholic faithful. If the CBCP exercised restraint than El Shaddai in endorsing candidates in the just concluded mid-term election, Bro. Mike cannot be faulted in providing a moral compass for his followers. Further, there ought to be an ‘open procedure’ in Esposo going about inquiring on where the contributions to El Shaddai go.

To accuse Velarde of indulging in dirty politics just because he endorsed politicians, supported Erap, and supported GMA is doubtlessly misleading. Truth is, Bro. Mike’s open espousal of his position against the charter change issue as being ‘rammed down through the people’s throat’ pushed the panic button and Malacanang caved in to pressure. If that were dirty of the man, what is clean?

SWS survey, old and new, were never perceived as unreliable. The problem with Esposo is his rather purposive use of old statistical data to prove a convoluted argument. For instance, to prove as though were reliable gauge of El Shaddai vote power is the one seat in Congress earned by Buhay in a prior election – is really disconcerting. The world knew that in this 2007 election. Buhay got the maximum of 3 seats as the number 1 party list with over 1 million votes. Bro. Mike’s endorsement of Buhay, among other factors, certainly explains the patronizing over a million vote garnered. And if Dr. Muga can only convince COMELEC of his new mathematical formula, Buhay must end up getting about 8 seats in the House of Representatives.

I shall be happy to send the good columnist a copy of our findings on why Buhay tops the list in the COMELEC’s counting chart should he so please. Esposo’s thesis ‘that Velarde’s endorsement adds nothing to the national pattern of voting’ runs in the opposite direction in so far as this May 2007 mid-term election stands as mute witness. Bottomline, Esposo cannot use an old key to open a new lock – for its different set of teeth. Or that can only be viewed as sheer idiocy. It is pity to be able to meet one such columnist of a supposed-to-be reputable newspaper.

In the end, laymen, bishops, leaders, followers do genuflect before Bro. Mike Velarde and this never-ending stream of more men and women celebrating prayer rallies with their beloved icon shall be as proverbial as the grass. Be among us – Bro. William!

PRIMER C. PAGUNURAN
UP Diliman, Quezon City
Email: nielsky_2003@yahoo.com Cellphone: 09164985265