Romero: It's the people, not the system

No proposition has been subjected to as much abuse of late as the idea that this country's economic and social problems are attributable to its system of government at present and that the only thing that needs to be done to place this country on the road to rapid and sustained development is to replace the presidential and centralized system of government with the parliamentary and federal governmental system. Like all instances of abuse, the abuse of the the-system-is-the-problem notion has to be brought to a speedy end.

The idea that all that needs to be done to cure all our national ills is to scrap the presidential system in favor of a parliament – the principal purveyors of this political nostrum are former President Fidel Ramos and Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. — is pure and unadulterated nonsense. It is a miserable excuse for the frailties and shortcomings that have held back the development — especially the economic flowering — of this country. It is what Americans call a cop-out.

Indeed, Messrs. Ramos, De Venecia and others of similar persuasion remind me of the now-classic remark made by Peanuts of the Charles Schultze comic strip of the same name. “I love mankind,” Peanut proclaimed in a moment of grandeur. “It's people I hate.” Our current natural predicament is not about systems; it's about people.

I am not for an instant suggesting that our republican, democratic and presidential system of government at present is perfect. Far from it. It has many flaws. It needs tuning up, and it requires refining in certain places. But basically it is, in my view, a good system.

People make a governmental system work or not work. The best system — whatever that is — quickly deteriorates and soon becomes largely unserviceable in the hands of unworthy people. On the other hand, even the most rudimentary and unsophisticated governmental system can provide the basis for rapid and sustained natural development if operated by men and women imbued with patriotic feeling and good sense.

By and large, our current governmental system — a system based on the mutual checking and balancing of its three branches — has served this country well. To be sure, it needs improvement and refinement in many places, especially the economic ones. But there is absolutely nothing wrong with it that good governance cannot put right.

While I have always been a pro-parliament person, I fully realize that it is neither the end-all nor the be-all of good public administration. Some parliaments in the world operate wonderfully; others leave much to be desired.

With the kind of politics that is being practiced in this country — highly personalized, corrupt and philosophy-less politics — a parliamentary system could bog down, before too long, in a morass of unstable government policies and even more unstable political activity. There just isn't any guarantee that the parliamentary system will produce the governance wonders that it has produced in other climes and times.

People, not particular systems of government — are what count. To get people to collect and pay higher amounts of taxes, one does not need the introduction of a new type of government. The current tax laws and tax administration structure can do a good job of ensuring high tax compliance if allowed to operate efficiently.

The fervent pursuit by FVR and Jose de Venecia Jr. of a shift to a parliamentary system in the midst of a movement to get Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to resign the presidency because of electoral fraud is mainly an attempt to provide Mike Arroyo's wife with a graceful exit and provide FVR with an opportunity to get back in Malacañang. Will the people allow them — the two savvy pols their captive daddy — to get away with this ploy? I don't think so. “Punish the lady first, then let's talk about a parliament” is the feeling of the majority of Filipinos.

Summing up, its people, not the system, stupid.

From Rudy Romero of the Tribune.