The Pangasinan Star ONLINE

WINDOWS
Gabriel L. Cardinoza


IT looks like Pangasinenses strongly favor a shift from the existing presidential form of government to parliamentary. Based on last Friday’s consultation conducted by the Consultative Commission at the Pangasinan Regency Hotel, Pangasinenses also want the present unitary structure of government changed to federal.

There were several issues and concerns raised during the separate workshops. For instance, Vice Gov. Oscar Lambino, who was there the whole day, was concerned about checks and balances in a parliamentary system. “How can we ensure checks and balances in a parliamentary system?” he asked.

Regional Development Council chair Dr. Ado Duque, who was in the same workshop group, asked if the abolition of the position of Speaker under a parliamentary system will be good for the country.

Dagupan City Councilor Vlad Mata, for his part, wondered if a parliamentary form of government will survive in an ethnically-divided country like ours. “A parliamentary system also requires a strong bureaucracy and a strong party system, which the Philippines does not have,” he added.

Good points. But as more and more issues were raised during the discussions, our very own Commissioner Raul Lambino, who, incidentally, was the ConCom Commissioners’ team leader, all the more convinced the participants on the need for a parliamentary shift through his answers.

To my mind, the participants were almost unanimous in voting for a parliamentary shift because they were able to get a clearer glimpse on how a parliamentary system works based on the commissioners’ explanations. With Raul in his workshop group were Commissioners Oscar Rodriguez, a former congressman and now San Fernando City mayor, and Sr. Luz Emmanuel Soriano, Commissioner, EDSA People Power Commission; UNESCO National Commission of the Philippines.
Another interesting result of last Friday’s consultation is that most Pangasinenses want foreigners to do business in the Philippines. This means that they want the Constitutionally-mandated 60-percent Filipino ownership in businesses doing business in the Philippines changed.

Mayor Benjamin Lim, who was in the workshop, batted for an open-door policy that would allow foreign-owned companies to set up businesses in the country. The mayor sadly noted that the world’s top 1,000 corporations had instead set up in the People’s Republic of China because of, despite its being Communist, that country’s liberal foreign investment policy.

The participants also agreed to allow foreigners to own commercial and industrial lands where they will set up their businesses as well as ownership of residential lands. They, however, opposed foreign ownership of private agricultural lands.

Vice Mayor Alvin Fernandez, who presided over the workshop with businessman Levy Laus, explained after the voting that allowing foreigners to own residential lands in the country would attract them to retire here. In the process, he added, more opportunities for caregivers, nurses, physical therapists and other medical workers will be opened.

The workshop participants also agreed to allow foreign-owned corporations to go into large-scale development projects of the country’s natural resources, such as mining. And this makes sense, because doing so will make them accountable and responsible in everything that they do in the development projects.

QUICKQUOTE: How can you govern a country which has 246 varieties of cheese? -- Charles De Gaulle