About the author- litigation lawyer in telecoms, taxation, criminal, labor, appellate, family law and corporate; a radio broadcaster, speaker, author a husband, a father, advocate for consumers, for justice www.angkapatiran.org and a sinner who wants to
be a saint. hilman1108@yahoo.com
Who wants to become RP President?
COMMONSENSE By Marichu A. Villanueva
The Philippine Star 01/30/2006
Who says there will be no elections (no-el)? Certainly not for some traditional and even non-traditional political parties which look forward to the holding of the May 2007 elections. And one of these political parties, in fact, have started this early to look around and scout for their potential candidates who they think should not only be winnable but also qualified to become responsible elected officials of the country.
In particular, “Ang Kapatiran” has launched their search for their candidates for the positions of president, vice president and senator. Yes, they are now looking for their national candidates in the elections that their group expects to be held at anytime and not necessarily taking place as scheduled in May 2007. Obviously, their search for candidates at this stage is premised on a post-President Arroyo and her Vice President Noli de Castro scenario.
And this new party in town has started doing this even while there have been a lot of talks of “no-el” as formally recommended by the Arroyo-appointed Constitutional Commission (Con-com) which the President tasked to draft the proposed amendments of the country’s 1987 Constitution.
This is the first time I heard about the existence of this newest political party in the country. But through an official statement sent to this writer, this group introduced itself as a national political party accredited by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) on May 8, 2004, two days before the last national elections in the country. It was the same election where the one million victory of President Arroyo over her next nearest rival remained under cloud of doubts up to now and, in fact, triggered the resignation calls against her and the Vice President.
“Ang Kapatiran,” headed by its founding president Nandy Pacheco announced their party’s active recruitment of members from whom they will pick their “servant leaders” to put up as their candidates. Pacheco is better known for his dedicated campaign to promote “gun-less” society in the Philippines. At the core of the party platform of “Ang Kapatiran” is their belief in non-violent change.
“We want to change the politics of guns, goons, and gold. Non-violent change also means elections, whether snap or regular. A snap or special election may happen. No one is certain what will happen,” Pacheco declared.
“Ang Kapatiran” has sent out a general invitation to all “Filipinos of goodwill” to become its members and perhaps become their party’s presidential standard-bearer. Pacheco says they look for the moral, intellectual, and physical fitness of the candidates and a platform with clear and specific policy objectives.
Ergo, Pacheco says, their first requirement for aspirants for the highest national office is for them to apply for their membership to the “Ang Kapatiran” as a pre-condition to become the official candidate of the party. As a registered member of “Ang Kapatiran,” a wannabe candidate “must completely believe in and live by the founding principles of the party, must accept and pledge to implement the platform in its totality, must accept the notion of servant-leadership, and must have no previous conviction involving moral turpitude.”
So for those interested to run and who want to become President of the Republic they may submit their bio-data together with a recent photograph to the Qualification Committee of “Ang Kapatiran” at the following address: 377 Columbia Street, Greenhills East, Mandaluyong City, Metro Manila. For inquiries, call or fax 6352796, or email alliance_commongood@yahoo.com. Or, log on to www.kpkcommongood.blogspot.com to know more about this party of Pacheco.
As far as our Constitution is concerned, candidates for the Presidency must meet the basic requirements specifically provided for under Article VII, Section 2 of The Executive Department. To wit: No person may be elected President unless he is a natural-born citizen of the Philippines, a registered voter, able to read and write, at least 40 years of age on the day of the election, and a resident of the Philippines for at least 10 years immediately preceding such election.
The present constitutional requirements for those who would like to run for the highest office in the land are quite easy to comply with. But if some of the proposed Charter changes become adopted and ratified, additional qualifications were included for all those running for national offices. This can be gleaned from the Con-com minority report, a copy of which was e-mailed to this writer by former Con-com commissioner Rene B.Azurin, one of the so-called “Magnificent 7″ in the Con-com who voted for maintaining the existing presidential system of government in our country where Filipinos will continue to enjoy their rights to directly vote for the President and Vice President.
Among the 20 proposed revisions of the Constitution in the Con-com minority report is a proposal to impose additional qualifications required of a candidate for the position of President or Vice President to include a tertiary educational degree and public service experience of at least one full term as Governor of a province or as a member of Congress, or at least three years as a senior official (Bureau/Agency head or higher) in the executive branch of government.
The minority report also recommended additional modes of removing public officials, in response apparently to prevent a repeat of the impeachment proceedings against President Arroyo after the largely administration-controlled Congress can be railroaded. The Con-com minority report suggested to do this either by judicial impeachment through a case filed in the Constitutional Court or through recall elections upon petition by 12 percent of voters who voted in the last general election in the subject area (the whole country in the case of the President).
The minority report of the “Magnificent 7″ was submitted to President Arroyo last Dec.13 at the same time with the Con-com majority report on their own proposed revisions. The Con-com majority report pushed for the shift to parliamentary form of government for the country, including their highly controversial “no-el” provision. The Con-com majority report subsequently admitted the “no-el” was really a carrot for the lawmakers to adopt their recommendations. But whose set of recommendations will prevail remains uncertain since both chambers of Congress have not reached any agreement yet on Cha-cha.
Write to marichu@philstar.net.ph
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