Plan to extend Ramos term stirs uproar in Manila<\/p>\n
MANILA (Reuter): A top Philippine official has unveiled plans
\nto extend President Fidel Ramos's term into the 21st century,
\nprovoking Vice-President Joseph Estrada to declare yesterday he
\nwould lead a nationwide protest to thwart the move.<\/p>\n
Analysts said the plan could be sharply divisive and might
\nrekindle fears of autocratic rule akin to that of late strongman
\nFerdinand Marcos.<\/p>\n
Executive Secretary Ruben Torres said on Saturday that members
\nof the president's People Power (Lakas) party favored scrapping
\nthe constitutional provision limiting the president to one six-
\nyear term, and would try to convince Ramos to agree.<\/p>\n
"If the demand is overwhelming, maybe he will bow to it,"
\nTorres told reporters. "Six years is really so short for a good
\npresident."<\/p>\n
It was by far the strongest signal from the administration
\nthat Ramos, who will turn 69 next month, may still be in office
\nin the 21st century.<\/p>\n
Ramos tried to ease the uproar over Torres's statement.
\n"Secretary Torres is really just stating his personal opinion
\nbecause we have not taken any official stand in Lakas," he told
\nreporters in northern Baguio city. "Let's just wait."<\/p>\n
Ramos has denied he wants another stint in office when his
\ncurrent term ends in June next year, but has initiated moves to
\namend the constitution to clip the wings of the Supreme Court.<\/p>\n
Earlier this month, the court set aside the sale of the
\nhistoric, government-owned Manila Hotel to a Malaysian firm and,
\nunder a "Filipino First policy", awarded it instead to a local
\ncompany that had lost the public bidding.<\/p>\n
Ramos had said the decision was a slap in the face to his
\nprivatization program, the cornerstone of his economic reform
\nagenda. Last week, he called for changes in the constitution to
\ncurb the power of what he called an "intrusive" Supreme Court.<\/p>\n
Estrada, who has made no secret of his plans to seek the
\npresidency and is widely regarded as the man to beat in the 1998
\nelections, said he would launch a nationwide campaign to oppose
\nany charter changes.<\/p>\n
The former movie star, who belongs to the opposition Party of
\nthe Filipino masses, warned that amending the constitution to
\nallow Ramos to stay in power after 1998 would provoke street
\nprotests.<\/p>\n
"If they push through the extension, there will be trouble...
\nWe will really fight it... I cannot swallow it," Estrada said,
\nspeaking in Tagalog on a private radio station.<\/p>\n
"Only the blind cannot see the signals that the president is
\ndetermined to stay in office by executing a bloodless
\nconstitutional coup on himself," the Philippine Daily Inquirer
\nsaid in an editorial.<\/p>\n
"That's what President Marcos did. The only difference is that
\nMarcos used martial law to deliver the coup, while President
\nRamos is executing his coup with the fig leaf of a constitutional
\namendment."<\/p>\n
Marcos was in power for 20 years until he was ousted by a
\npopular people's movement in 1986. His successor, Corazon Aquino,
\nincluded a presidential term limit in the new constitution to
\nprevent any incumbent from staying too long in office.<\/p>\n
Political analyst Teodoro Benigno said: "We are a democracy
\nprecisely because our leaders and our political
\nparties...alternate peacefully to power. Disturb or disrupt that
\nas President Marcos disrupted it when he declared martial law and
\nyou set loose a whirlwind where madmen will rule. Again."<\/p>",
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