To the august and honorable members of the House of Representatives,
I write this letter in the knowledge that within my inalienable right to free speech, I have the right to condemn, to dissent, and to express. My knowledge is limited, and my grammar is flawed. My eyes are not privy to law books, nor am I an expert in the terms and procedures surrounding a pending resolution in the House. Yet I believe my heart is in the right place, my anger is warranted, and my dismay and disdain for the events of June 2, 2009, 170 Representatives, and a ruthless, rude, and repugnant resolution roots my rage.
Last night, you held a marathon session to pass House Resolution 1109. The august and honorable members of the House majority have passed the resolution to set up a constituent assembly to open up the Philippine Constitution to changes that endanger Philippine sovereignty and the freedoms allowed of us in this country because of selfish interests. Last night, the possibility of “Gloria Forever” haunted a sleeping nation.
More than that, the resolution was rammed through, railroaded, and passed without regard to objection and without respect to the Philippine constitution. More than an agenda of “Gloria Forever,” what happened last night was a slap in the face to the ideals that this nation stands for. Ideals enshrined not only in the Constitution, but in the values and mores of Filipino society. What happened last night was a black eye to democracy, to prudence, and to dialogue. What happened last night, to my mind, was an embarrassment, a farce, and a shame.
The Constitution is a defining moment in history: the height of creating a politics of freedom, identity, and national strength. It is created and ratified on the basis that one’s country is not designed and built on whims, but that of foresight and the common good. One that sets a precedent for justice and fairness. It is the building block of democracy in free nations.
Last night was a defining moment in history: the height of a politics of ignominy, imprudence, and insolence. All for the approval of a seemingly harmless – yet shameless – and ambiguously-worded resolution that threatens the very existence of this country’s democracy. One that sets a precedent for injustice and unfairness. You made a grip on the very throat of this country’s democracy, and stifled it.
What you did last night was nothing short of shameless. That resolution will be tested and perhaps maybe even struck out of record one day. Forgotten, perhaps, but should stand – and will stand – as a testament to shame.
Honorable Representatives, the wisdom of amending the Constitution is not lost on anyone, and it certainly is not lost on me. Yet without the benefit of prudent dialogue and evaluation, the wisdom of Constitutional amendments – much less Charter Change – must be questioned. When the passage of a resolution that endangers democracy is made possible because of the maneuvering of the majority, the intentions and effects of moves to amend the Constitution must be questioned. And if the integral document of a nation is going to be altered by people with questionable integrity, everything about Constitutional amendments and Charter Change are questionable.
I do not intend to sow fear. In a free country, the citizens are – and should – be open to debate. Yet this debate should come with the curt and fair warning that our arguments and sides should always be framed by what is truthful, what is just, and what is fair. It is not sufficient or adequate to railroad the passage of this resolution if the rush and haste cannot be justified. That in a free country, in a democracy, the will of the majority will always be framed by the will of the minority. This, ladies and gentlemen, is the spirit of consensus. Something that does not take place when you railroad a bill, a law, or a resolution.
To railroad the passage of HR 1109, without regard and respect for this country’s constitution, and without regard to other august institutions, is nothing short of disrespectful. There is a right time and a right place for the changes you want – most especially the changes necessary – to take place. These changes take place in discussion, no matter how slow it may be, and with due respect to the branches of government involved. These changes occur with the knowledge and wisdom that those who perpetuate these changes are beyond doubt, beyond question, and have the integrity needed to challenge and amend a very integral document.
I ask, again: have you no shame?
Have you no shame, august and honorable members of the House? Have you no shame that on that one day, you shot democracy dead? Have you no shame that by railroading a questionable resolution, you railroaded a most questionable future for our country? Have you no shame to turn deaf ears to voices of dissent and disagreement, but welcome with open arms those who nod in agreement? Have you no shame to disrespect the very foundations of what this country stands for? Have you no shame to listen only to your voices in the speaker systems of the Batasan, but not listen to the voices of Filipinos who are against what you have to say?
Have you no shame to the righteous anger of the Filipino people who have had enough of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo? Have you no shame not to listen to the righteous indignation of the Filipino people who have called you out on your do-what-it-takes attitude to cling to power? Have you no shame that you railroad Constitutional change, yet not exercise the same sense of urgency for reproductive health and agrarian reform and poverty alleviation programs? Have you no shame in the power you throw off the balance? Honorable members of the House, show me – show us – your shame.
The absence of integrity in the House of Representatives came to light last night. The sworn protectors of the Philippine Constitution – those who swore upon that document when they assumed office – are now those who seek to subvert it and silence all opposition by railroading the passage of an ill-willed resolution, by dismissing dissent, and by playing numbers games instead of reflecting on the causes for, and consequences of, the change they so want to enforce and shove down our throats. More than “Gloria Forever,” the railroading and ramming through of HR 1109 is a clear indication that the public interest is secondary to personal political interests, or at the very least, ill-defined ones.
I reiterate, members of the House of Representatives, in a most humble – and humbling – tone: to change an integral document, you need to have integrity. Last night, honorable members of the House, you demonstrated a complete absence of it. The constitution is our document: it is the testament that we are a sovereign people. You do not tamper with this integral and integrating document if your integrity is in question.
It’s more than “Gloria Forever,” more than the compromising of sovereign territory, and more than technical squabbling on the form of government we’ll have. The railroading of HR 1109 is a clear exercise in what politics in this country has degenerated into: the tyrrany of deceit, the rule of disrespect, the noise of impunity, and the triumph of ignominy. What you did last night was a clear violation of the dignity of this nation. What you did was to kill democracy. I refuse to be represented by those who demonstrate that kind of politics.
A sham, ladies and gentlemen. You have no shame.
With much respectful indignation, this is as much as I can do. I respectfully demand that you tender your resignation letters, or voluntarily leave office for what you have done to the people and their Constitution. The night of June 2, 2009 will forever be inscribed in the annals of this country’s history as the day you stopped being august and honorable. If only for that symbolic act may your shame be damned.
August and honorable members of the House of Representatives, I thank you for your time. Thank you, in advance, for your response.
Very respectfully,
Marocharim
(Photo credit: Pecto Camero, MRS-PRIB / 15 April 2009 01:06:25 PM via congress.gov.ph)
Popularity: 1% [?]
Why so surprised with all this shamelessness? Since when have Pinoy politicians done anything decent? Get a grip. At the end of the day, any “Constitution” drafted will be subject to a plebiscite, right? Of course I could be wrong. Or are we afraid of what the people might vote for when that happens as well? :D
Marck Ronald Rimorin: Who are you addressing your open letter to? If Robert Cattes, Narciso Bravo or Emil Ong tell you “… hey, don’t look at me, I did the right thing”, what do you say?
Is your open letter also being addressed to the Binay and others who voted “no” to 1109? [Technically, you could -- for failure to schmooze, to wheel and deal, failure to push the self-evident majority-position (Cha-cha yes, but not now) of the Filipino people. Neither Binay nor Ruffy were able to stop the "yes"-1109'ers.]
Who are you addressing your open-letter to? Wouldn’t it be helpful if Biazon or Binay were to point to how Justin Chipeco, Erico Fabian, Monica Prieto-Teodoro, Arnulfo Go, Eric Singson, Rommel Amatong, Maria Angping, Benhur Salimbangon, Mary Susano, Alfonso Umali, Aurelio Gonzales, Mauricio Domogan and dozens of others voted, then there is less of “bato-bato sa langit” and this RECALL-Campaign that BongV speaks of can be focused.
Clearly Marck echoes the sentiments of a great deal of Filipinos, and is addressing his dismay towards the majority in the lower house.
I too am dismayed, and I could not have worded it any more eloquently than this piece.
I could. “To Whom It May Concern” letters are lazy and ineffective (in my opinion). I will address the please-resign letter to Judy Syjuco; also to Nicanor Briones; another to Florencio Vargas.
One can continue to send a thank-you letter if so inclined to Binay.
Now Marck (I’m assuming his return-address is somewhere in metro-Manila) can make happen a letter that will really grab the attention of Iloilo’s Judy Syjuco if said letter is signed by fifty or more voters of Iloilo (versus, say, Muntinlupa).
That’s what I think, maybe I’m being naive.
You know UP n, that’s not an entirely bad idea.. and honestly, writing a letter of indignation to our representatives should be a more common practice.
up n grad:
so what you’re saying is (as an example) i should write a letter of indignation to each of the 170 members of the house of representatives who made HR 1109 possible?
If y’all wanna do something really symbolic – dump an entire truck of rotten tomatoes in front of Congress…
or have everyone bring rotten tomatoes, and dump it in front of congress in an orderly manner
to UP n grad : from UP n grad
Please pass this to those who want to do more than pray at the St Peter Cathedral. The HR 1109 document itself contains a long list — Judy Syjuco, Pedro Pancho and many other names are named.
http://images.blacksunrider.multiply.com/attachment/0/SiVRJgoKCqkAAA1Pc@01/14523445-House-Resolution-No-1109.pdf?nmid=250038405
You guys can laugh and ridicule your own people all you want. Because you are safe, ensconched in the womb of a country you chose to flee after abandoning the ship of a country that gave you your birthright.
Marck Ronald Remorin and the rest of us will stick it out here; our beloved ship will weather the storm; we’ll be on it, for better or for worse.
And we will continue our fight against those who will try to dishonor and hurt our people, or sink our ship! Up to our last breath!
right on Bert but others like Nick and others choose not to ridicule our countrymen or saying Pinoy nga naman talaga…
Bert:
This is where Pinoys who left would say “I told you so, ayaw mong makinig e di, magdusa ka” :lol:
Sow wind, reap hot air.
Overseas Pinoys will make their voices heard – on their own terms – and live to fight another day.
A dead hero is another piece of carcass after the mobs have left.
By all means, knock yourselves out. :D
Hay Benigno, sometimes you’re really so charming. LOLs
You guys out there but keep your heart for country and your people, we are your people and you are ours. You are as dear to us as those who stay and be with our cause.
We love you, your country loves you!
Food for thought — an action-item, this one.
http://filipinovoices.com/get-a-grip/comment-page-1#comment-64716
C’mon I mean all of us knew that the majority in the house of representatives are going to pursue HR 1109. What have YOU done to stop your REPRESENTATIVE from voting for the HR 1109(if he/she voted)?
Puro tayo reactive eh.. We don’t lobby.. Or are we just a noisy minority?
We are not a minority. Refer to the latest SWS survey showing that majority of Filipinos are against charter change at this point in time. Our representatives in Congress, because of our dysfunctional system don’t represent our people so they are in no position to ram a Con-Ass in our throats.
Yep yun na nga madonna. i am not dismissing the surveys, but are we going to let surveys decide major issues? i mean why did we create a representative form of government in 1986?
when a representative government no longer shares the aspiration and dreams of the governed it is time for the governed to break that social contract that binds them and bring about a new government that is representative of their aspirations and dreams.
my question: did we reach the level of frustration and dissatisfaction through these surveys? are the governed wiling to break that social contract now?
the words Lobbying and pro-active advocacy..have not been translated into the local dialects yet, or may have been lost in translation.
Ah, maybe you are in Wonderland. You aren’t in Pinas.
there’s Wonderland..
there’s Enchanted Kingdom
there’s lalalala-land
So what the major issue you say? The major issue is this: the Pandak is very, very, very afraid of the word PLUNDER post 2010. That is the only issue here.
Jeez, at least Erap was tough enough to face his fate. An indication of his relative guilt.
plunder against gma? i truly doubt it. maybe, just maybe, some people in her administration, but her directly? that’s like the leftist loonies in the u.s. pressuring obama to indict bush for allowing waterboarding of suspected big-time terrorists responsible for 9/11. erap was different case altogether. the guy was so clueless he thought a president was so omnipotent he could do anything blatantly, including robbing the country blind, and get away with it.
Bencard,
On another note, if you recall the previous years’ attempts at using People’s Initiative as a mechanism for charter change.
In your opinion, can this same mechanism (People’s Initiative) be used to overrule HR 1109?
Bencard,
Erap is a saint compared to GMA. LOL
sorry bongv, re your question, i think it depends. the current constitution prescribes three ALTERNATIVE ways to amend it, i.e. concon, conass and p.i. i believe, in the absence of a binding precedent that i know of on the matter, each method can be taken reasonably at any time, assuming that the country is willing to go through time, expense and hassle of pursuing a different mode after one has already been chosen. however i would not consider it “reasonable” to do it capriciously for a duplicative or redundant purposes.
i think the genesis of the current controversy is the failure of the current constitution to spell out a requirement that the formation of conass must be by a vote of both houses of congress, voting SEPARATELY (as in declaring a state of war). i believe this is just one of the many “flaws” of the present constitution that urgently needs to be corrected.
this is just a brief statement of my position in answer to your query. when i find the time, i intend to write a full article on this matter (unless jcc, abe margallo or justice league beat me to it and take a position to which i am in agreement).
Bencard:
Got it. Thanks.
madonna, how so? is there any allegation (by any gma-hater, including you) of her having PERSONALLY stolen anything for her own personal gain from the public coffers, or from anyone? and if there is such an allegation, did the accuser present any credible evidence? and if so, was she indicted, let alone convicted?
Ah, it’s quite useless to shame them. They have ultra thick skins so no decent appeal will penetrate them.
can i ask? ano pala dapat ang tamang paraan ng paggawa ng batas at polisiya dito sa pilipinas?
imho, if we hit the reset button,
starting from the Power On Startup sequence till we get to the desktop
we are provided with a Starting Menu
given the starting menu, we figure out what exactly we want to do
and we select the menu option that allows us to do exactly what we want to do
the user interface needs some discovery though
oftentimes, users wind up witting the format button and even hit YES when prompted, when what the user actually wanted was to delete a file and empty the recycle bin.
and so goes the cycle – of course there are Mac users in a PC world
at the end of the day, we are given the menu option, we make the selections, and the computer will execute our selection – whether it was our intention or not. So, before making a selection, read and understand the menu option, or we can wind up reformatting the entire drive when all we wanted was to delete a temporary file.
better yet bongV
we should exercise extreme caution in choosing between a Windows and a Linux OS or whatever is it there is.
Liam,
that, too. exactly.
It is a waste of time talking to these Congressmen. They have
already become Robots of Gloria Arroryo and her administration.
The following are the reasons she wants to amend the constitution.
1. To extend her rule. She wants to become a lifetime President.
She also wants her sons to succeed her in the Presidency, like
Kim Jong Il of North Korea.
2. She wants to protect her loot. Her co-plunderers also want to
protect their loots. They want to neutrealize the Anti Plunder
Law. They will be subject ot the Anti Plunder Law, once they
are all out of power.
All in all she just wants to perpetuate her rule, become another
Dictator like Marcos. look at her minions: Former Marcos Martial
Law Administrators and people.
misguided appeal. looking for honor in a place full of scoundrels. :) :) :)
ladrones garapales vs ladrones garapales… who is going to come out victorious?…
we are all wasting our time.
it’s too bad, in flipland, the majority – the ignos, ijits, and ‘toopids rule…
and, we have to suffer the consequences of their stupidity…
Like what benign0 has said … this is what the people wanted thru their elected representatives …..
Hi Guys, I need to have the names of every flippin’ congressman who allowed House Resolution 1109. I would like to do my part by forwarding their names to all my friends so they don’t get our votes next year!
Refer to http://www.scribd.com/doc/14523445/House-Resolution-No-1109
Docu uploaded by mlq3
Madonna, thanks for the list. Will forward it to all my Pinoy friends… Need to go and vent!
BTW, although the House’ move to amend the constitution appears to reach a cul-de-sac, this does not mean that we have to forget what these morons have done. They will be back with bigger blunders if we don’t kick them out of congress!
I understood the Congress’ default setting. It was in 2006 when DJB, I think, explained it first – in the comments section of his blog post “Western-style Democracy.”
However, as in a computer, some types (read: NOT ALL) of default settings may be altered or customized by the user.
The HOR is persistently trying to customize the uncustomizable “voting separately” default setting. In so doing, I abHOR them.
Who has no shame? The people who elected their representatives to congress or the representatives that was elected by the people to represent them?
And you’re not thinking. Come on, use some of those brain tissues and neurons. What a waste.
Marck Ronald Rimorin has no shame? Are you trying to question the Filipino people’s representative wisdom? The representatives represent the people.
If the representatives want Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to extend her term, then, the people has spoken.
Marc Ronal Rimorin, you are shameless! You are an embarassment!
I agree 100% to what Marck Rimorin has written. The congressmen who were voted as representatives of the people have sold their souls to the devil and have no regard for the ordinary Filipino citizen. Heil Gloria!!!
Is it real? nag ChaCha na? well this is what the visayans and the rest of mindanao want. who would wanna be govern by a slow, centralized and a control freak Senate?
it’s time to move on…
Is there anyway we can publish the names of these congressmen who supported HR 1109?
http://www.scribd.com/doc/14523445/House-Resolution-No-1109
classic, perverted non-sequitor..
a line was broken there Righteous One.
can you see it?
would you want me to put it closer to your half open eyes?
ready?
here it is :
the representatives who voted yes has stopped representing the people.
they are representing themselves!
in the service of the Queen.
get it?
I will reserve my participation in rallies and demonstration as my last option. I have another mode of protest, which is to hit the wallet and credibility of the administration.
We all know that the first quarter GDP had a negligible growth of .4%, the national government is heavily indebted (75% of GDP), ballooning deficit, huge shortfall in revenues from taxes (brought by world economic crisis) and infested by corrupt officials in almost all layers and offices. With this backdrop, my way of legitimate protest are –
1. Being in business, I will reduce my payment of income taxes and value-added tax which directly goes to national government to pay the Congress, Executive and Judiciary and other agencies. I will simply reduce my production which shall be enough to pay my overhead, personnel cost and at the same time address the demand of my customers.
2. I will source my raw materials from informal economy which are not paying the national taxes also but benefiting the poor sectors.
3. Even assuming I will make profit, I can still legally reduce it by availing the full deductibility of the donation if made directly to government for priority activities in education, health, youth and sports development, human settlements, science and culture and in economic development as determined by NEDA or an accredited NGO. This will also directly benefit the poor sectors.
If done in unison, the national government’s wallet and credibility will certainly hurt.
SHAMEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE???????????????????????????????????????????????????
TANGINANG MGA CONGRESSMAN ALAM BA NILA KUNG ANO YUNG HIYA??????????????
EH MGA WALANGHIYA PA YANG MGA YAN SA LAHAT NG KUPAL NA NAGLIPANA SA BUONG MUNDO!!!!!!!!!
This is totally insane! TOTALLY, DUDE! The Flips representatives has spoken. The Flips wanted GMA term to be extended so they can bbe more poorer!!!!!
So what if Flps want to be poor what it has to do with you. WE WANTED TO BE POOR!!! IF YOU WANT TO BE RICH GO TO AMERICA FOR HEAVEN’S SAKE!!!!!
DUH!!!!
“when a representative government no longer shares the aspiration and dreams of the governed it is time for the governed to break that social contract that binds them and bring about a new government that is representative of their aspirations and dreams.
my question: did we reach the level of frustration and dissatisfaction through these surveys? are the governed wiling to break that social contract now?”
If you can allow some editing, please?
1. the word aspiration must have an s
2. after the word governed, there should be a comma
3. there must be a ‘to’ inserted in between the words – and bring
4. wiling can only be spelled correctly as willing (double l, di ba?)
5. is the word ‘governed’ a collective, in which case we may use “is”?
Primer:
If you wanna go this route. By all means.
Well, don’t even try or you just might end up displaying ignorance of the law.
Still, why should anyone else stop you? Can’t you think independently of others?