Suppose we grant that there will be election on May 10, 2010 and when GMA decides to vie for a lower elective office like a congressional seat to represent her constituents in her own legislative district in Pampanga that she will win – hands down. So, she becomes a Member of the House of Representatives in an election held via automation. Let us shove aside whether or not, the whole sovereign exercise has been attended to with fraud, deceit, and cheating.
If Prof. David’s anecdotal fear be true, GMA will be chosen as the Prime Minister and therefore the true head of this Republic of the Philippines. This presupposes that the initiatives at the House of Representatives to convene a Constituent Assembly or to call for a Constitutional Convention to revised or amend the Constitution will take place. And if it were to take place, under the new emerging move, the ConCon so constituted via a plebiscite have only a year to come up with the new drafted Charter and within 60 days thereafter, assuming it was approved in a plebiscite, to approve of the New Constitution.
If is understandable that the new Constitution would have changed the present form of government from presidential to parliamentary. Thus, there is only a Parliament who would choose amongst themselves who their Prime Minister will be. If nothing in the political configuration can be altered or that fact – that political families lord over their respective territories – then, it is not far removed that GMA could easily be chosen to be the Prime Minister and as such wields true power in governance.
With GMA as prime minister, no one can say that she would have usurped authority outside of constitutional bounds. In other words, it is not really that difficult for her to chase her dream of a “Gloria Forever”, come to think of it. Lucky for her then to have a tamed if not patronizing following from the third termers now who will pass on the reins of power to their immediate family members anyway and for the 1st and 2nd termers who have already realized the advantage of aligning with the ruling bloc or the administration.
As it is said – ‘politics is local’. In all likelihood, GMA will win in her district in Pampanga against any other political aspirant such as Prof. Randy David. Therefore, nothing can stop her phenomenal rise back to the ‘highest office of the land’, this time as – prime minister. If Prof. David simply leaves it to chance, then it might happen that indeed, he is in for a rude awakening.
The whole political architecture has been carefully planned – nothing seems to have been done in haste. If people cannot have the choice they want, then we may well content ourselves with the thought that we have GMA again – first as a ‘trustee’, second as a ‘impostor’, and third as a ‘chosen one’.
Depending on the language of the new Constitution, it is beyond us whether or not there is any provision for the Prime Minister to relinquish reign of power after a given period of time or that it becomes one in perpetuity. Since, no politician in his right mind can undermine GMA, then political currents necessitate as they require that everyone now holding either elective or appointive position under GMA will just have to tow the line and kowtow to all what GMA’s heart desires.
The viral contagion of patronage politics is again set in motion and there cannot be any way out of the noose. As a result, a form of gestalt switch from being president for two terms and becoming prime minister is not a remote possibility. Can we hope and pray that Prof. Randy David be in a capacity to outsmart GMA in the local elections come May 2010? Are there other options against a looming possibility of a feared “GMA in perpetuity”? Perhaps, the presidentiables have something else in mind. That seems to be a bit reassuring.
But sometimes, power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.