Reject Pro-Foreign and Pro-Elite Agenda
Reject the Estrada Charter

The Estrada government is in the course of changing the Charter. After it was shelved by the past Ramos government following strong resistance and to give way to the national elections, it is being revived with promises that the only economic and non-political changes will take effect immediately and that amendments related to politics and specially the term of office of the president will be implemented after 2004. Though the promises are waiting to be fulfilled, the motives behind amending or revising the Philippine Constitution will determine the outcome of charter change.

National and international developments in the recent years have been rendering the 1987 or Cory Constitution obsolete. Though it is, so far, the longest and most verbose in the history of the Philippine constitutions, the 1987 Constitution contains provisions that are not anymore fully consistent with the present needs and designs of global capital expansion for foreign investments in the country. In short, the very long and wordy 1987 Constitution has become too narrow to accommodate the demands of international and local economics and political elite.

Globalization demands the unhindered flow or freedom of movement of capital and goods across national borders. Accordingly, financial interests the world over should be secured against social unrest and conflicts deemed in the eyes of profit seeking multinational and transnational corporations as not conducive to growth. In this regard multi-lateral and bilateral agreements have been institutionalized through such agreements as GATT-WTO and the IMF-WB have been freely assuming roles that are unobstructed by nation-governments. Recently through the World Trade Organization (WTO) in which the Philippines is a member, the new Multilateral Agreement on Investment (MAI) is being finalized. MAI commands further economic liberalization of countries and thus would necessarily put the country in the course of removing all remaining constitutional provision that give preference to Filipino labor and raw materials and protection to domestic economy.

President Estrada has expressed commitment to further liberalization and has talked against "protectionism" in international and national meetings. He has referred to it as the "formula for failure in the global economy" and therefore is "ultimately anti-people, anti-democratic and anti-Filipino."

Moreover, legal and constitutional foundations must be provided for enacted laws like the Long Term Lease and the Mining Act of 1995 which both allow virtual 100% foreign control of the land. Proposed laws like the Retail Trade Liberalization, the Banking Sector Reform Program, and the proposal to give foreigners the right to own lands in the country require redefinition of national patrimony in order that their legal bases will be established.

Correspondingly, political stability and the effectiveness and efficiency of governance must be ensured. Efforts to streamline the multi-party into a two-party system are underway. While this is so, the need to accommodate as many members of the local-politico-economic elite in the government at any one time is being considered via the lifting of term limits, regionalization of Senate representation, etc. For government efficiency, a change from the bicameral to a unicameral system is also being considered.

And while the system that would best cater to the interests of foreign and local elite is foremost, the "rule of law" or "lawful order" that ensures this must be maintained. This means a redefinition of the Filipino people's civil liberties. In the guise of anti-criminal, anti-corruption, and anti-terrorist campaigns that would impel "progress", proposals that would strike at the very essence of individual private and public rights have been forwarded and at worst, tested. The National ID system, labor strike ban, curtailment of workers' right to form unions and to collectively bargain, repeal of the minimum wage law, redefinition of media responsibility, wire-tapping or the non-privacy of communication, non-privacy of bank accounts, new taxes and the local governments' power of taxation and other measures that impair rights to domicile, privacy, movement, association, expression, dissent are being surfaced. Furthermore, the legal and constitutional provisions for the US-RP Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) must be strengthened, including the exclusion from Philippine jurisdiction over foreign troops' criminal liabilities.

The completion of the country's integration into the global designs of world's powers which is tantamount to the sell-out of our national patrimony and sovereignty and a domestic "lawful and peaceful order" which means further repression of the people would be finalized through the Charter revision.

As we Filipinos saw through and massively opposed the sinister attempt in1997, we call again to our vigilance and steadfastness. We have learned many lessons in the recent and not so distant past. We have been tempered in the crucible of prolonged struggle against dictatorship and we would not allow the comeback of authoritarian rule, in whatever form it takes. We cannot anymore allow the wholesale of our national patrimony and sovereignty.

UPHOLD NATIONAL FREEDOM AND SOVEREIGNTY! FIGHT FOR ECONOMIC INDEPENDENCE! ASSERT OUR DEMOCRATIC RIGHTS AND RESSIST ATTEMPTS TO REIMPOSE AUTHORITARIAN RULE! REJECT AN ANTI-NATIONAL, PRO-FOREIGN AND PRO-ELITE CHARTER!

Signed by the REJECT Cha-Cha Organizing Committee:
June 23, 1999

(Sgd.) Rep. Michael T. Defensor Third District of Quezon City Philippine Congress	(Sgd.) Fr. Alfredo Sabado SVD JPIC Coordinator Central Province
(Sgd.) Sr. Arnold Maria Noel, SSpS Vice-President Assn. of Local Communities of Women Religious Of the Archdiocese of Manila (ALCWRAM)	(Sgd.) Sonia P. Soto National Chairperson Kilusan para sa Pambansang Demokrasya (KPD)
(Sgd.) Jaime Regalario Secretary-General Kilusan Tungo sa Pambansang Tangkilikan (KATAPAT)	(Sgd.) Rep. Wigberto Tañada Fourth District of Quezon Philippine Congress
(Sgd.) Fr. Robert Reyes Parish Priest Church of the Holy Sacrifice UP – Diliman Campus	(Sgd.) Rep. Juan Miguel Zubiri Bukidnon Philippine Congress