With the House of Marcos teetering like a house of cards, the grapevine buzz about a military-backed caretaker government keeps getting louder.
This is how proponents imagine it would happen – that is, if they actually get what they want: President Marcos and Vice President Sara Duterte will both resign, and a caretaker government will hold the reins until the 2028 presidential elections.
While waiting for the elections, this OIC government will push for key changes in the Constitution and pass some measures they deem are crucial in the fight against corruption and for the Philippines to reach its full potential on the world stage.
These measures include the Anti-Political Dynasty Law, legislation that would prohibit members of the same family from holding public office simultaneously, especially within the same locality or immediately after one another.
While the 1987 Constitution mandates the prohibition of political dynasties, a specific law to implement this has never prospered in Congress. We all know why.
Another measure they are pushing for is to reform or abolish altogether the party-list system in the House of Representatives, which has become a backdoor entry for traditional politicians and their family members – or just about anyone who wants to get a slice of the budget – instead of providing genuine representation to marginalized sectors.
Another measure is to have a new unicameral body of representatives of the people. I don’t know how this will go, but past proposals include abolishing the Senate and the present House of Representatives.
One way to do this, according to lawyer Josephus Jimenez, writing for The Freeman in February 2024, is to keep representations to people who actually studied law, “not actors, not wives of professional trapos, not comedians and not retired generals.”
He also said: “Actors, comedians, TV hosts can run for mayor, governor, even president or vice president. But they should not be allowed to run to become legislators if they do not even know the principles of check and balance, separation of powers, power of judicial review, executive privilege, parliamentary procedures and parliamentary immunity. No one should be named chairman of constitutional amendments who is an actor and an ex-convict. The people should be respected and only qualified men should be allowed to make laws.
“If we reduce the number of non-performing and highly troublesome legislators to only 100, we shall reduce the budget for Congress by one third, and that means more tons of rice to feed our poor people, more houses for the homeless, more schools for the children and better health services for the exploding population. Congress should not be too burdensome to the people.”
There’s also the view among the proponents, or those helping them draft a legislative agenda, that there should be an effective law to govern SALN filings. Simply mandating our government officials to file their respective SALNs is toothless without an actual law that would look into the statements, go through the details and actually go after the official if there are discrepancies.
There are many more proposals and reforms that the caretaker government wants to achieve.
But admittedly, it’s a bold move.
The biggest puzzle – and the most difficult obstacle – I see is how to convince both BBM and VP Sara to step down, especially VP Sara.
BBM, too, is acting like he is doing everything he believes would appease the Filipino people’s anger over this grand looting of flood control funds.
On Friday, the Department of Public Works and Highways and the Independent Commission for Infrastructure recommended the filing of plunder and graft charges against former House speaker Martin Romualdez and former lawmaker Zaldy Co before the Office of the Ombudsman.
It’s a big step against the perceived masterminds of the scandal, but we’ll have to wait and see what actually happens.
With these actions, BBM is hoping to quell public anger.
Against this backdrop, I don’t think he would step down, not even with his political capital and popularity depleted, and despite that perception that his boat is sinking.
The second question is who would be in charge of the caretaker government.
The name of the indefatigable tycoon Ramon S. Ang or RSA, who heads San Miguel Corp. as chairman and CEO, is floating in business circles, as reported by Politiko.
But RSA doused cold water on such talks.
“I am not entering politics,” Ang said in a Facebook post on Nov. 20.
This is a reiteration of his stance even as various quarters are pushing him to run for president in the 2028 elections.
RSA’s fellow Forbes-listed billionaire, close to both him and BBM, and who belongs to one of the country’s richest clans, is the one who wants RSA to head a caretaker government, a source told me.
This is a testament to the restlessness of the country’s tycoons over the growing political instability in the country.
But they don’t want to call for BBM’s resignation alone because it would automatically mean a Sara Duterte presidency.
Thus, the idea is for the top two officials of the land to resign.
It could be an ideal situation, a reset that we badly need, but how to get from there, if it actually happens, to the next chapter is the big question.
What would stop a caretaker government from being corrupted as well?
Remember that cautionary tale – whoever goes out to kill the ogre becomes the ogre himself.
* * *
Email: [email protected]. Follow her on X @eyesgonzales. Column archives at EyesWideOpen on FB.