Where are the people?
By Noralyn Mustafa
Inquirer

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THERE IS A HAND-GAME AMONG KINDERGARTEN children that I have always found amusing because it deals with a question that is of vital importance in any sphere of human endeavor, exercise or ritual.

The game is a sequence of two: in the first, hands are clasped with eight fingers interlaced and thumbs put together in the shape of a roof, while we declare: "This is the church." Then both forefingers go up and we say: "This is the steeple." The thumbs part at the command: "Open the door!" Then the inevitable question: "Where are the people?"
And we see a desolate, empty church.

In the second part, both hands are clasped with six fingers interlaced in between the palms so that when you open the door, the people are there, wiggling merrily, and the church comes alive.

Both manipulations accurately describe the administration of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

The first shows a government where the people are alienated from an administration that ignores them and, in return,
they distrust and even consider illegitimate. In the second, there are people indeed, but they are enclosed in between the clasped palms of Ms Arroyo-they are the appointees and allies beholden to her, wiggling merrily out of sheer delight amid the torrents of perks, privileges and purses going their way at her behest.

So where are we, the people, otherwise known as the citizenry, a.k.a. constituents?

We are the unseen, invisible non-entities outside the Clasp, breaking our backs and working our hands to the bone to pay the EVAT and RVAT and all the other VATS in the Arroyo magic alphabet, which is meant to ensure the continuous flow of perks, privileges and purses for the well-being of the Clasp.

And to ensure our continued and perpetual bondage to the Clasp, we are now being hoodwinked into believing that the troubles that beset us are a result of "degenerate politics," which is the offspring of a bad Constitution. Therefore, this Constitution must be changed immediately, to save the "nation," which to them is the other name for the Clasp.

It is of no consequence that before she took over the presidency -- bringing along her gang of degenerates -- by way of a mob rule that she now vehemently condemns, we were living quite peacefully.

(By the way, in the definition of terms, it is important for us to know that "government," "democracy" and "state" can be used interchangeably to refer to Ms Arroyo, so that any opposition to her is branded as "destabilization efforts against the government" or an act "undermining democracy"; and those opposed to her continued stay in Malacañang, "enemies of the state.")

Now the question "where are the people?" in the seemingly inexorable rush to change the Constitution, to "shatter it to bits and mold it nearer to (her) heart's desire" is the very timely subject of the book just off the press, "Trapo Governance and the Cha-Cha Conspiracy" authored by former Undersecretary for Constitutional Reform Manuel Valdehuesa Jr., who was thoughtful enough to send me a copy.

Because I received it only last Thursday, I had just enough time to browse through it before writing this piece, and believe me, it was hard for me to put the book down. Though it tackles politics, a field that is beyond my ken, it is so engaging and so readable, it has given a political blockhead like me a very clear picture of why we are in the mess we're in.

Valdehuesa has no hidden agenda except what is clearly stated in the title; you can literally judge this book by its cover, which has a unique and very fitting design rendered by Ramon Sunico. But Valdehuesa doesn't just tell us what's wrong. He shows us that something can be done: there is hope. And we need not fall into the trap of the so-called "people's initiative," which is actually a "sleight-of-word" redefined by Ms Arroyo's local government lackeys to refer to themselves.

And he tells us where the people are. They are in the barangays.

This is about empowerment of the people (last we looked at the Constitution, all government authority emanates from them) through barangay assemblies and "grass-roots" parliamentary discourse, all of which are provided for and stipulated in RA 7160 or the Local Government Code of 1991. Except that no one has bothered to implement the law.

In fact, right after the elections, right after the government coffers were reportedly wiped out to fund her campaign --consequently forcing her to announce that we have a "fiscal crisis" -- one of Ms Arroyo's first policy announcements was the plan to cut the internal revenue allotment of local governments, which would have seriously crippled the country's smallest political unit -- the barangay -- where, in a true democracy, real power lies.

So, you might wonder: Where is Valdehuesa -- now a gentleman-farmer in his place of origin, Cagayan de Oro -- who has no hidden agenda and who sides with no person, party or persuasion, coming from?

Well, the epilogue (titled "Where Do I Stand?") should be good enough for the most suspicious minds. Excerpts: "The Constitution must become the Social Contract we never had!

"No longer should we settle for the presumption that a document cobbled together by a few, adopted by a few, and promulgated by a few will automatically command the respect and compliance of the many... Such a document, served up lutong macao, to people with little or no idea of what role or rule it holds for them today and tomorrow, is not ipso facto a binding one ....

"Sure, let us amend the Constitution, which is the template of our Social Order, and fix the bureaucracy, which is its operating system, but most important of all, let us upgrade and energize its power source -- the Filipino people!"

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