I have a serious question for readers of this column: to some of you who are too eager to change the Constitution, are you also game on changing the people who run our country and our province and our cities and municipalities?
The recent surveys conducted in the run-up to the 2025 midterm elections have had many advocates of genuine change scratching their heads.
Same old politicians, same old personalities still top the senatorial preferences of Filipinos – and most of them have already proven to be either unqualified for the job or just lackeys of the ruling administration.
The same is also apparently true in the surveys being floated around on the local level – although some local media suspect that these surveys are nothing more than “mind-conditioning” tactics being used to influence voters.
Teka, akala ko ba gusto ninyo ng pagbabago? Bakit puro mga lumang pulitiko na lang lagi ang ating inihahalal?
Bakit parang takot na takot tayo na sumubok naman ng ibang mga lider? Bakit ayaw nating putulin ang “status quo” na siyang nagiging dahilan ng pang-aabuso sa kapangyarihan at katiwalian? Bakit sobra tayong napapaniwala sa mga propaganda na “komonesta” o “dilawan” o “walang experience [read: walang experience sa pangungurakot]” ang mga nais magsulong ng tunay na pagbabago?
This touches on the paradox that I had presented last year in the wake of the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections: Sigaw nga tayo nang sigaw ng "pagbabago" – pero ang totoo, ayaw natin ng pagbabago.
Let me say this, although I might sound like a broken record to my friends here: we don’t need a “Charter Change,” what we need is an “attitude change,” especially in choosing our leaders.
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By the way, has anybody checked on who among those who are really pushing hard for Charter Change are also “pro-China?”
The recent issue of the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) and the fact that it is owned by a Chinese corporation has had some sectors worried that Communist China may seize the opportunity brought by Charter Change to launch an “economic” invasion of the country.
As far back as 2015, when I was still a rookie desk personnel with OpinYon, we had warned in a front-page story that China’s…er, invasion of the Philippines can be accomplished not just by a military operation but by the gradual takeover of many of our vital economic sectors.
The NGCP, we must remember, control the grids that deliver electricity from our power plants to our households and business. What if, under “orders from above,” (no need to elaborate here) the Chinese owners of the NGCP might simply turn off the switch, causing massive economic loss to our local businesses?
That’s exactly what OpinYon’s Panay bureau had had in mind when it published a cover story a few weeks ago on the recent blackouts in Panay Island, highlighting the vulnerability of our power grids to international intrigues and China’s growing international aggression.
These are factors those proposing for Charter Change should really look into before they interfere with the safeguards that ensure that Filipinos – and Filipinos alone – should enjoy the fruits of their labor.
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