Why The GMA-De Venecia Cha-Cha Scheme Is Rotten And Harmful To The People

By Prof. Jose Maria Sison
Chief Political Consultant
National Democratic Front of the Philippines
15 February 2006

The scheme of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and Speaker Jose de Venecia to amend and change the 1987 charter of the reactionary Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) is rotten and is extremely harmful to the Filipino people.

The proposed amendments do not only serve the political greed of Arroyo and De Venecia but are a comprehensive attack on the national and democratic rights of the Filipino people.

1. The pretense is to shift the form of government from presidential to parliamentary, as Marcos pretended before, but the real objective is to use so-called transitory provisions to keep Arroyo in power as a Marcos-type autocratic president in control of the executive branch and a pseudo-parliament under a docile prime minister.


2. Civil and political liberties are to be curtailed or undermined and the present restraints on the declaration of martial law and emergency rule and on violation of human rights are to be deleted or amended to pave the way for a brazenly anti-democratic rule in the name of national security and the US-instigated "war on terror"


3. The right of the Filipino people to economic sovereignty and national patrimony is to be discarded in conformity with imperialist "globalization" through the removal of the few remaining nationality restrictions on foreign investments in the 1987 charter, thus allowing the foreign multinational firms to have 100 per cent ownership and control of land, natural resources, public utilities and all types of businesses.


4. The provisions in the 1987 charter prohibiting foreign military bases, foreign combat troops and nuclear, biological, chemical and other weapons of mass destruction from Philippine territory are to be deleted.

It is enough to cite the above proposed amendments to prove that Arroyo and De Venecia are hell-bent on betraying and violating the national and democratic rights of the Filipino people. To serve their selfish interests and the interests of their imperialist masters, the two traitors plan to fabricate a "people's initiative" in order to ram through their cha-cha scheme if they cannot bend the Senate to their wishes.

If Arroyo and De Venecia have their way, with their traitorous and draconian cha-cha scheme, they would further goad and incite the broad masses of the Filipino people to intensify their revolutionary resistance. They would render impossible the resumption of the formal talks in the GRP-NDFP peace negotiations because they would have preempted with the cha-cha scheme the substantive negotiations on social, economic and political reforms for the benefit of the Filipino people.

In view of the diabolical cha-cha scheme of Arroyo and De Venecia, the broad masses of the people and the broad united front of patriotic and progressive forces are further intensifying their efforts to overthrow the Arroyo regime. They are outraged by the flagrant attempt of the regime both to deflect attention from its illegitimacy and crimes and to further entrench itself in power with the use of the cha-cha scheme. ###


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