Neither Conciliatory Nor Humbling

There was nothing “conciliatory” nor “humbling”, to quote Charter Change advocate (although I’m beginning to think more along the lines of fanatic) Carmen Pedrosa in the actions of the pro-Charter Change representatives, when they supposedly gave in to the Senate’s preference for a constitutional convention, and gave the Senate a 72-hour deadline in which to pass a resolution calling for such; otherwise, if the Senate doesn’t pass such a resolution, the House would continue on its constituent assembly route.

The House’s so-called conciliatory and humbling gesture is neither of the two adjectives because it’s akin to a kidnapper setting a deadline for a ransom to be paid. It’s an arrogant gesture, holding the Senate hostage to the threat of continuing with the constituent assembly. If the Senators were smart, and, in this case, I think they will be, they will ignore the Representatives’ call. Let the pro-Charter Change push through with their fraudulent assembly; the case will wind up in the Supreme Court, and, like the government initiative, it will probably be squashed.

It’s funny, though, because, originally, the House was all set to push through and go ahead on its course to revise the Constitution all on its lonesome. So why do the representatives, led by Speaker Joe de Venecia, suddenly backtrack and say that they’re passing the buck to the Senate?

Simple. They realized that it would be suicidal to continue in the face of the possibility of massive protests that would be called to fight against their selfish and dangerous actions. It’s not because they were being magnanimous and were calling the Senate’s bluff; it’s because they probably realized that their move was bound to fail, and, now, they’re bailing out, and trying to pass the blame for the failure of Charter Change to the Senate.

It’s not going to work. ABS-CBN covered the marathon sessions to change the House rules last week, and the administration representatives were exposed for the greedy idiots that they are. One could see Davao del Sur’s mercenary Douglas Cagas losing his composure, and shouting at the gallery members heckling him that they were only guests, that they had no right, forgetting that he is a representative of the people, and it is their voice he is ignoring. Perhaps he has gotten so used to buying his votes, that he’s forgotten that some of these people actually have voices, and demand to be heard.

With their most recent move, the pro-Charter Change representatives are trying to save whatever face they have left, but I think that they will only wind up with egg all over their rotten faces.