Press Release
November 27, 2006

Kiko on the proposal for Constituent Assembly/
seeking middle ground on Charter Change

"We are open to discuss the Constituent Assembly proposal, but only after the May 2007 elections, when members of Congress have secured a fresh mandate from the electorate on a platform of Charter Change, among others. There is not enough time before the May 2007 elections to have an intelligent and objective public debate on Charter Change.

But now at the 11th hour, they seek a middle ground. At this point, it is too late for this. If the effort to find a middle ground was exerted from the very beginning, then Charter Change would have moved forward more quickly. There was bad faith in the effort from Day 1. This is why it failed to gain critical support.

My advice to the Charter Change advocates they should go back to the drawing board, do a post mortem by way of evaluating the reasons behind the failure of Charter Change to make headway, redo their whole approach to Charter Change and then renew the push after May 2007.

The first order of business for Charter Change advocates is to recognize that they cannot force the issue by pushing for an 'all or nothing,' 'take it or leave it' proposition and then employ both fair and foul methods to achieve this.

In the meantime, we should all prepare for the May 2007 elections as scheduled under the Constitution. It should serve as a referendum on the administration and its performance in the past 3 years. As public officials, we should never lose sight of the basic democratic tenet that in the end, we are all accountable to the people and are held accountable precisely through the democratic exercise of elections. Elections are the moment of reckoning for all those who aspire to be of service to the people. Without elections, our constitutional democracy becomes a sham. "

News Latest News Feed