Row over Ramos drowns Xmas cheer in Manila

Row over Ramos drowns Xmas cheer in Manila

By Ruben Alabastro

MANILA (Reuter): Christmas cheer in Asia's only largely Roman Catholic nation is being pushed to the sidelines by a row over whether to extend the term of President Fidel Ramos, barred by the constitution from seeking re-election.

The issue has deeply divided a country still smarting from the 20-year-long, iron-fisted rule of the late president Ferdinand Marcos, who was ousted in a "people power revolt" in 1986.

"The issue has awakened the sleeping demons of the past," analyst Amando Doronila said, alluding to fears that extending Ramos's term might revive dictatorship in the country.

"It has diverted national attention...away from economic concerns toward political warfare and confrontation," he said.

The debate gathered pace last week as a previously unknown citizens group calling itself the People's Initiative for Reform, Modernization and Action (PIRMA) launched a campaign to amend constitutional laws that limit terms of elected officials.

The aim is to collect the five million signatures necessary to force a plebiscite on whether the constitution should be changed. PIRMA, led by former diplomat Alberto Pedrosa and his wife Carmen, has said the economic reforms ushered in by Ramos will falter if he is not re-elected.

Last Saturday, PIRMA launched a fund-raising drive at a Manila restaurant, selling bowls of porridge for 1,000 pesos ($38) each. More than 100 people attended.

PIRMA also plans to hold a marathon, ballroom dancing and sell afternoon snacks like fried squid balls impaled on sticks and eaten with sauce, each stick costing 100 pesos ($3.80).

"The basic thrust is to restore to the public, the electorate, the right to choose the candidate of their choice," Alberto Pedrosa said at the fund-raiser.

"Although the people want to vote for him (Ramos), they can't because he is disqualified...now we think this is not a good system. The best arbiter of the term limit is the ballot box."

Ramos has said he will not run for office again when his six- year term ends in 1998, but has rejected an opposition call to put the pledge in writing.

Despite his protestations, squabbles have raged between supporters and critics of the move in television debates, radio talk shows and across newspaper columns.

Leading the opposition is the powerful Catholic Church, which has vowed to stop the campaign by unleashing street demonstrations on the scale of those that helped topple Marcos.

The church has found unlikely partners among businessmen, politicians and leftists.

Political analyst Teodoro Benigno, writing for the Philippine Star newspaper, said changing the constitution to allow Ramos to run "would set a dangerous, highly explosive precedent to claim that in a democracy, the sitting president is indispensable". "That's exactly the recipe for dictatorship," Benigno said.

"Such moves will be extremely divisive to Philippine society and will therefore slow down the momentum of our economic progress," two big business groups, Makati Business Club and Management Association of the Philippines, said in a joint statement.

Despite praising Ramos for turning the economy around, some foreign businessmen have also expressed alarm.

"Quite frankly, in whatever issue there is, business does not like to change the rules in midstream," a senior U.S. business executive told Reuters.

"You have the ground rules. Stick with it...(Former U.S. President) Ronald Reagan did a wonderful job with the economy but after two terms he had to go because that's the rule.