The Con-Ass issue has so far generated a lot of divisiveness.  Based on the recent survey, 70 percent of Filipinos are not in favor of changing the constitution, but the simple fact is not too many people know about the fundamentals of a federal parliamentary system.  It is really a matter of making the public aware of the pros and cons on the issue.

One of the arguments against it is change the people in government, not the system.  It's really a matter of the chicken-and-the-egg situation.  The Number One proponent of Charter Change, FVR was the guest speaker at the Joint Foreign Chambers of Commerce meeting the other day.

At the open forum, I asked him why do we need to change the system since it seemed to have worked well during his time.  I wanted to ask him a more probing follow-up question, but ever the psychwar expert, FVR asked me to join him on stage which ultimately made me limit my question to just one.

I subscribe to the idea that systems can change people.  As a matter of fact, many of our OFWs and immigrants, like those in the US, learn to play by the rules.  They follow the system—they pay taxes, obey traffic rules and they generally assimilate with the laws and culture of their adoptive land.

Those who were undisciplined have become hard-working, law-abiding citizens abroad.  So what does that tell us?  Together with Con-Ass, the government needs to kick ass.

Recently, GMA gave another 90-day reprieve to death convicts.  This only shows leniency sends the wrong message: Crime does pay.  It's really a matter of following the law to the letter.  Our lives wouldn't be so complicated if we just followed the statute books and have the appropriate punishments meted out.  The present system allows patronage and relationships to hold sway.

People are confused because they don't know who to believe anymore.  They feel they are being made fools with flip-flopping witnesses and the countermoves of the warring camps.  People were dazed with Mike Defensor's presentation of how a US expert, who also analyzed bin Laden's tapes, showing the voices on the tapes were spliced.  As one business executive put it, people are simply exhausted and overdosed with so many presscon exposés.

On the average, it takes 25 years, roughly one generation, for deep institutional change to take root.  The system we have right now causes gridlocks where one branch of government can cancel out the other's initiatives.  The Con-Ass is a prime example.

While Congress prefers a Con-Ass in making constitutional amendments, most members of the Senate insist that a con-con should be the way to go. All these things are making people think that they are being conned either way, being led forward and backward in the same manner as the cha-cha dance steps.

We have also seen such instances where the constitution allows the Judicial Branch to reverse the decisions of the Executive like in the case of Amari, the Manila Hotel, Camp John Hay, and NAIA 3.  One of the most glaring is the SC's issuance of a TRO on the implementation of the E-VAT based on the petition of four groups questioning the legality of the E-VAT.

In fact, we have so many laws, but only a few are really being implemented or enforced.  We have to show that we take ourselves and our laws seriously.  Now, the Wiretapping Scandal is forcing the government to renege on last year's austerity measures and laws.

It recently allocated P1-billion in funds from GSIS dividends for pre-need plan victims enrolled in state universities and colleges and released P5-B in pork barrel funds for infrastructure.  All these in the name of survival.  Our short memories and short attention spans ultimately work against our long-term good.

Some people are even suggesting that business operate independently from the wrangling of the government and the Church to protect the economy.  But seriously, everybody suffers from political instability because the economy slows down resulting in low tax revenues.

The major and urgent problem today that should really concern our politicians is the rise of crude oil prices to an all-time high of $65 per barrel.  The World Bank warned that developing countries like the Philippines face a global economic recession by 2008 unless other sources of energy are developed.  More politics and less focus on business result in the neglect of crucial priorities.  As I have said before, it is the economy that will ultimately determine the survival of the Administration.

Be that as it may, we have to choose a system that fits the temperament of Filipinos.  Knowing ourselves, this time we have to choose one that limits the worst in our traits and encourages the best in us.  I don't presume to be an expert in political science or on the constitution, but from what I've been reading lately about Switzerland's federal parliamentary system, it certainly seems viable.  The proponents of Charter Change might want to consider it because of the similarities we share with the Swiss.

Switzerland is a multi-cultural country with several languages, yet its political stability is outstanding.  Having thrived close to 800 years, the Swiss model is successful, to say the least.  Its people have a say in governance because they can directly participate in important political decisions through referendums.  The regional autonomy it allows could harness the best of our regionalist impulses.

Best of all, the Swiss practice a form of power sharing where various sectors are represented to avoid the ruinous results of the "winner-take-all" system we have here.  This makes the Opposition-of-the-day immune to the delusions of rabid power grabs.

At the end of the day, most Filipinos are tired of internecine political rumbles.  They just want to make a decent living.  Whether the system of Switzerland, Swaziland, or Zimbabwe will work best for us still remains to be seen.  What is clear is that amending the Constitution through a Con-Ass won't make the country change for the better overnight.

What matters is that we submit ourselves first to the rule of law then choose a system that will be ultimately be good for the country.  No amount of Con-Ass will change us, unless we first kick ass.

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