The Senate’s Turn: NO to Chacha #7of10

Check out Pulse Asia’s March 2024 Nationwide Survey on Charter Change and weep for joy! Marami pala tayo!

Opposition to charter change is the predominant sentiment among adults in the country (74%) and becomes more notable from March 2023 to March 2024 (+43 percentage points)

Around three-fourths of the adult population do not see the need for charter change, regardless of timing. This opinion is echoed by small to big majorities in the various areas and classes (69% to 82% and 58% to 89% respectively). https://pulseasia.ph/updates/march-2024-nationwide-survey-on-charter-change/

The House of Reps, as expected, is screaming (in a manner of speaking) na black propaganda lang ang survey results, misleading daw and biased ang mga tanong, at kung ano-ano pa. To which Pulse Asia President Ronnie Holmes coolly replied:

“We have been running the questions for 20 years,” he said. https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2024/04/01/2344369/pulse-asia-stands-survey-results

Of course the HoReps are defensive: they just practically railroaded the HoR’s Resolution of Both Houses #7 (RBH7) allegedly because econchacha is what the people want and need.  Introduced on Feb 17, the House got it past public hearings, debates, first reading, second reading, and third reading, and approved it 288-2 with two absentions by March 20. Pwede pala ‘yon, just ONE MONTH to process a resolution into approval by 3/4 of all its members! Amazing race ba?

EASTER MONDAY morning I caught a Teleradyo newsclip of a Rep perorating on why he doesn’t believe Pulse Asia‘s numbers and that a plebiscite is still the way to go. Hmph! Hindi naniniwala sa scientific findings ng Pulse Asia on chacha 2024 pero bilib na bilib sila sa Pulse Asia noong 2022 nang inilabas ang high numbers ni BBM vs. Robredo. C’mon, Reps, be consistent naman. This insane chacha mission isn’t doing the House (Lower nga) or Nation any good. Take off the blinders.

SAMANTALA, SA SENADO

“Eye-opener” ang Pulse Asia survey, sey naman ni Senate Prez Migs Zubiri. A sign that the Upper House is right not to make chacha madali.

“This survey shows it is an unpopular move, with almost nine out of 10 Filipinos opposed to changing the Charter,” Zubiri said.

Meanwhile, those supportive of charter change drastically went down from 41 percent in March 2023 to just eight percent in the latest survey.

“These are things to be weighed in and carefully put into consideration by the subcommittee and the Senate as a whole,” Zubiri said.

Zubiri said the Senate will conduct hearings around the country to gauge the public’s sentiments about charter change. https://politiko.com.ph/2024/03/30/dapat-di-minamadali

I’m not sure I get what the Senate Prez is saying. More hearings in Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao will only tell the Senate what we’ve all already heard from the “experts” pro and con, ad infinitum, all through the first three months of the year. Pulse Asia has just given us already a gauge of public sentiment — 7 of 10 Pinoys don’t want chacha EVER. Now it’s the Senate’s turn to vote, and show us that the Upper House is one with the People at this critical point in time.

Surely it’s not possible that 18 of 24 senators would dare defy public sentiment, not when midterm elections are imminent.  And if the Senate insists on more public hearings, and more time to “gauge public sentiment”, and more time to woo anti-chacha senators with ex-deals and the like, it would be like the Upper House were hoping over time to sway public sentiment to a YES, and, even, that the Senate were set on pandering to the Palace and, yes, to the Lower House.

What happened to the independence of the Upper House? Suddenly I’m missing Tito Sen. I’m not sure why, but I imagine HE would have said NO to econ chacha from the first, walang nego-nego, walang miting-miting sa palasyo.  Of course there’s still also the People’s Initiative card that HoR-PIRMA is forever threatening the Senate, us, with. But saying YES to econchacha just because parang it’s a done deal, what the prez wants the prez gets, is like the Senate saying conceding that We the People have no say on the matter. C’mon, senators, level it up naman!

THINK AGAIN

I dare say that the spike in numbers of Pinoys saying NO to chacha, from 31% to 74% over the period March 2023 to March 2024, was actually triggered by the President’s embrace of the first cousin’s chacha campaign in December 2023.

On the matter of Marcos and chacha, we have long memories.

We haven’t forgotten that in the tatay’s time as president, we saw the 1971 Constitutional Convention hijacked, and the result was the unlamented 1973 Martial Law Constitution, complete with term extensions galore and the walang-kamatayang Amendment 6.

THIS time, the anak as president played hard to get muna, then changed his mind, even asked the Senate to do it without the “fuss” that attended the House’s fake People’s Initiative. All in aid lang daw of lifting economic restrictions, the better daw to adjust to a globalized world, never mind that it’s not what the economy needs. Like father like son.

Nakaka-deja-vu, di ba.

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