GMA Lays Down Structure To Put Needed Programs To Work, Says Arroyo Ally

MANILA -- Charter Change Advocacy Commission (AdCom) chairman Lito Monico Lorenzana said Monday that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s State of the Nation Address (SONA) has clearly communicated to the Filipino people that the most prohibitive red tape can be found in the 1987 Constitution and therefore there is a need to change the structure now.

“Red tape is one of the major obstacles of the bureaucracy. Likewise, the President has sent a strong signal that there is a better way to do politics—and even acknowledged that this can be done by clearing out the obstructions. By this alone, we are inspired to work doubly hard to prepare the roadmap for Charter Change,” Lorenzana said.

He added that the President clearly explained what changes should be undertaken to make the country economically strong, politically stable and structurally ready to compete in the global market.

Lorenzana said the President has laid down the structure to finally put the needed socio-economic programs to work in the next four years.

He added that Arroyo has clearly communicated that the current presidential system has been laggard and it’s about time to bring back the ultimate empowerment to the Filipino people.

“President Arroyo’s SONA is an all-inclusive analysis of what should be prioritized as far as the roadmap for her medium-term development agenda is concerned. We are glad that constitutional and electoral reforms are given equal primacy in her speech,” the AdCom chairman said.

According to Lorenzana, he is glad that the President has likewise laid down the blueprint for super-regions that would eventually prepare regions to greater local autonomy once a federal system is in place under a parliamentary setup.

“Electoral reform and creating regional development corridors take a front seat among her priorities. It is no doubt that Charter Change is the necessary impetus to realize the programs that the President wants to be in place before her term ends in 2010,” Lorenzana said.

“The overriding aim is to get ourselves moving and working on a process for the future by laying down the structure now before it’s too late,” Lorenzana said, noting that Charter Change is the backbone of the President’s SONA.