Cha-Cha

Date drawn: January 5, 2007 (My first editorial cartoon)
Published: “The Crusader” of Pasig Catholic College, March 2007

Dancing with Firecrackers
By Sherwin Billones, Editor-in-Chief
Published: “The Crusader” of Pasig Catholic College, March 2007

Catholics, the CEAP said, should unite in one stand against Charter change, thereby promoting character change. The overwhelming support as witnesses in the prayer rally held in Luneta last Dec. 17 is an unmistakable sign of non-conformity with the move to amend the Constitution and replace the system of governance in the country. As far as the CBCP is concerned, Cha-cha is not a practical attempt for now considering the crises the country is dealing with. And if ever the right time would come for the country to make such transition, the people should be aware of the reality that any change should begin with a single individual – that is, Character change in its simplest sense.

Diving deeper into the appeal, however, sprouts a more complicated contradiction when it comes to realistic change. The youth as they say are natural idealists but this doesn’t discount the fact that they are realists as well. Any change is not a guarantee of a better way of life in as much as it doesn’t assure the things will worsen. Likewise, the means of implementing change is not as pragmatic and convincing especially if the effort of transformation is no less than a short at the moon.

While it’s true that constitutional amendment offer a great deal of progress to our socio-economic dealings, the Filipinos should keep an eye on preying officials seeking only personal benefits and therefore, must not be allowed and tolerated. Vested interests of any sort are not welcome in public governance and should not even be considered as a compromise for the betterment of the lives of the Filipinos. For now, the Charter should not be altered in any way and should not be used to justify the government’s inability to resolve the country’s problems. The Filipinos have survived all tribulations from the dawn of this presidential system and they will endure whatever troubles would come their way in the future. Therefore, Charter change is no-no, at least for the meantime.

Character change is indeed a remarkable proposition to smoothen the pursuit for change. However isn’t this too much for everybody to bear? How realistic is it to change a person’s character, or the entire character of Filipinos for this matter? This is not impossible but the drawback of how extensive character change would be efficiently effected is quite a tedious effort. Also, there is no adequate description on how this would be possible for such a society like ours wherein people have lost trust in our public servants. The task is so complicated to say the least. Character change is voluntary and to encourage others to do such is nothing but an open-ended appeal. Again, character change may be the remedy but the length of time that this would effectively be attained is no less than a dream.

Bottom line is that there is really no perfect system nor is there an ideal-realistic solution to our nation’s problems unless the people being governed would speak inn one voice and walk the same path. While the change in the system of government may be the smallest of our concern and character change may be the most significant of all solutions, the people is the only key to make a balance among everything else. A society divided cannot be adjoined by territory or by promises of convenient living. Let’s look on the same horizon before it’s too late. ■