By Robert B. Roque, Jr.
National Security Adviser Clarita Carlos, highly respected for her political insights as a long-time professor at the University of the Philippines, told senators last week that with a shift to parliamentary democracy, our Congress will be gone of political dynasties.
I don’t know how well she slept the night before she faced the Senate, but NSA Carlos must be dreaming.
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She also told the public hearing conducted by the Senate Committee on Constitutional Amendments on the measure to revise the 1987 Constitution that a parliament is supreme over a presidential form of government.
While it may be true in many respects, I defer to the wisdom of Prof. Solita Collas-Monsod, who sees no significant advantage of a parliamentary system over a presidential form of government.
I think that argument holds true even for the proliferation of political dynasties in our country. See what we did to the party-list system of representation.
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Also, Carlos agrees with the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) that opening up key sectors of our economy to foreign control poses no serious security risk to our country.
And that includes telecommunications. When Sen. Koko Pimentel asked if full foreign ownership of telcos did not worry her, Carlos replied: “I would say it’s not a high threat.”
Even if it were China? Now, I believe old folks are poor techies.
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Last week, six Customs officials in the Port of Subic who were relieved from their posts over the supposed entry of smuggled sugar from Thailand were exonerated by the investigating panel and reinstated by Customs Commissioner Yogi Filemon Ruiz.
From alleging that the import permit used for the sugar shipment was recycled, there was a complete turnaround by the Bureau of Customs (BOC), saying all the documents “were in order.”
I knew all along this was one big “zarzuela.” Do you know who else knew better? Yogi Bear.
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The ABS-CBN partnership with TV5, in which the former will be buying in a stake of at least 34 percent in the latter, has been terminated even before it could fly.
And that’s just days after forces in Congress responsible for burning ABS-CBN’s chances at renewing its franchise to free TV to the ground rose up, once again.
Who’s to say now that there’s no attempt to curtail media freedom in the new Marcos administration? I say giant networks ABS-CBN and TV5 reek of fear.
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