Tag: constitutional reform

PNoy wants to amend Cory Constitution to punish Supreme Court for ruling against DAP

August 15, 2014August 15, 2014 Ilda 68 Comments

After years of saying no, Philippine President Benigno Simeon (BS) Aquino has finally admitted yes, he is for the amendment of the 1987 “Cory” Constitution. That’s bad news for a lot of people particularly his supporters who insisted that “it is not the President himself who wants to extend his term; it is the people…

Charter Change, Crime, Government, Politics

PNoy’s desperate move to rule for a second term a sad bid to stay out of jail

August 15, 2014 benign0 75 Comments

Amending the Philippine Constitution is one thing. Amending it for the wrong reasons is another. If there had always been a compelling case to modify the provisions in the current charter that limit the term of the president to just a single six-year term, then the ‘debate’ around that will likely have resonated and endured…

Crime, Government, Politics

Former President Cory Aquino speaks to PNoy from beyond the grave

August 14, 2014 benign0 10 Comments

Former President Corazon “Cory” Aquino, the late mother of Philippine President Benigno Simeon ‘BS’ Aquino III seems to be speaking to her son from the grave in the following speech (where she tries to dissuade then President Fidel Ramos from pushing for charter change to extend his term). Note the irony in her words in…

Charter Change, Government, Politics

Second term for President Noynoy Aquino? Anything’s possible!

August 10, 2014 benign0 20 Comments

I could take the easy path and highlight the irony (which likely flies over most Filipinos’ pointed heads) in how Philippine President Benigno Simeon ‘BS’ Aquino III and his supporters are now taking a position similar to the one his predecessor, former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was reviled for in the closing days of her administration…

Charter Change, Government, Politics, Society

Achieving developmental focus: The Philippines’ Vital Few initiatives

July 4, 2014July 4, 2014 benign0 1 Comment

The Philippines is a most massive outcome of lots of actions underpinned by very little thinking. So many initiatives, advocacies, “movements”, agendas, and vested interests driven by even more characters in a country of 100 million clueless people — it sounds like a chapter out of John Barrow’s book Impossibility. The Philippines is a case…

Charter Change, Development, Economy, Media, Society

Constitutional Reform: What it Looks Like from the Outside

April 24, 2014 BenK 15 Comments

The idea of ‘charter change’ is nothing new to outsiders, but being able to observe and discuss the movement as a serious idea rather than cynically dismissing it as the same old limited-focus canard that gets floated every year is a refreshing change of pace. So what’s different about ‘charter change’ now, as opposed to…

Charter Change, Development, Politics

Kevin Rudd new Australian Prime Minister again in Labor efforts to cling to leadership in Parliament

June 27, 2013 benign0 12 Comments

Australia has a new old Prime Minister. Kevin Rudd has been sworn in as PM three years after being ousted as head of the Australian government by his then deputy Julia Gillard in a bitterly-fought jostle for leadership of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) in June 2010. At the time Rudd had served for only…

Charter Change, Culture, Politics

Loser mentality: Filipinos’ 500-year dependence on foreign investment

June 13, 2013July 8, 2015 benign0 10 Comments

To understand the fundamental flaw in the idea of the Philippines’ relying on a strategy of counting on “foreign investment” to rescue its people from their own self-created wretchedness, it is important to understand the equally fundamental definition of poverty. Quite simply: Poverty is a habitual entering into commitments one is inherently unable to honour….

Charter Change, Development, Economy