New Constitution by the year 2034

Like watching episodes of an apocalyptic zombie series where the undead thrive, we are seeing the reemergence of Charter change (Cha-cha) movers.

- MARICHU A. VILLANUEVA

The revival of Cha-cha proposals arose amid sinister plots to get President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. (PBBM) out of Malacañang. Over the weekend, the Foundation for Economic Freedom (FEF) came out with a public statement to renew their call to amend the country’s Constitution to institute much needed reforms in our political and economic system.

FEF president Calixto Chikiamco echoed anew their group's advocacy during the Stratbase Group's 2025 Pilipinas Conference last Friday. In the FEF’s latest proposal, Cha-cha can be done through a constitutional convention in 2028, coinciding with the next presidential election in May 2028.

Chikiamco bewailed corruption has gone up to dangerous levels affecting the entire country. While he did not mention it, he obviously pointed to the national public outrage on the alleged “ghost” and substandard flood control projects in the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) in collusion purportedly with certain lawmakers and greedy contractors.

Such outrage has been manifested by the growing number of Filipinos — young and old - being swayed to join protest rallies denouncing the trillion pesos of wasted taxpayers’ money that funded the yearly budget of the government. The first protest rally was aptly dubbed “Trillion Peso March” held on Sept. 21, coinciding with the commemoration of martial law. The next “Trillion Peso March” will be this Nov. 30, coinciding with the birth anniversary of one of our country’s greatest revolutionary heroes, Gat Andres Bonifacio.

The Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) staged their own “Transparency and Accountability” rally in Luneta originally set from Nov. 16 to 18. But the INC cancelled its third and last day after the address in Luneta of presidential sister Sen. Imee Marcos who publicly denounced her brother as a “drug addict” and asked him to step down.