Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago did the politically correct thing in supporting the move to shift to a unicameral parliamentary government.

Her public statement of support for the campaign promise of President Arroyo, her standard-bearer in the May 2004 election, is something that should be emulated by all candidates who won under the President’s wings.

All senatorial and congressional candidates are expected to subscribe to the platform of their standard-bearer. An exception is Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. who persuaded the late actor Fernando Poe Jr. to include the shift to a parliamentary-federal government in his platform of government before agreeing to run in Poe’s Senate ticket. Poe had no such idea until Pimentel talked him into its necessity for equalizing political and economic development. Pimentel has been a federalist his entire political life, although he suspended his support while President Arroyo remains in office.

Charter change already a priority

During the 2004 election campaign, President Arroyo had already stated that a shift to a parliamentary-federal government was one of her top priorities should she win. This is not an afterthought; this is not a consequence of the impeachment complaint filed against her. The senatorial and congressional candidates of the K-4 coalition knew this and they were therefore expected to give it flesh in the legislature should they win. There are no ifs, ands or buts about this. To do otherwise means they joined the K-4 not because of its platform of government but for the sake of convenience.

Coalition candidates

The candidates who won Senate seats in 2004 under the Arroyo-led coalition are Rodolfo Biazon, Pia Cayetano, Richard Gordon, Lito Lapid, Ramon Revilla Jr., Mar Roxas and Santiago. Among them, Biazon, Gordon and Roxas are questioning the urgent need for amending the Constitution at this time. If the Philippines has a mature political system, such questioning should have been done before the campaign and not after the winners have been proclaimed.

The problems besetting President Arroyo in pushing for charter change were similar to the ones that faced former President Fidel V. Ramos.

Ramos, upon the urgings of Speaker Jose de Venecia, the late House Majority Leader Francisco Sumulong and former Agusan del Norte Rep. Edelmiro Amante, included the shift to a parliamentary government among his campaign promises. With his victory, it would have been completely understandable for Ramos to implement his campaign proposals, but he wilted from claims that he was merely after a second term.

A more determined GMA

The only difference between the two leaders is that President Arroyo is more determined to see her campaign promise through. A House leader says that if only FVR had pressed for charter amendments during his term as strongly as he is doing now, there would have been a shift in the form of government more than eight years ago.