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.