DODONG QUIJADA

Last Friday night, after attending a birthday bash of my “binata” in Nazareth, I brought an old friend, Atty. Frank Vasig, to Dos Compadres Piano Bar in Pryce Plaza. Atty. Frank Vasig went down to Cagayan de Oro from Bukidnon to attend a two-day Mandatory Continuing Legal Education (MCLE) to update himself on the new laws and decisions handed down by the Supreme Court.

Upon arrival at Dos Compadres, I saw the stage rather empty except for the organ player cum singer Dodong Quijada and a lady crooner singing familiar songs. I was a bit nostalgic as Pryce plaza was once my habitué every Saturday night in the past years listening to the Rock Beats, a band composed of not so-young yuppies singing the old tunes. Rock Beats had disbanded, I was told.

Dodong Quijada, who was once a low profile Rock Beats keyboard player, surprised us with his repertoire and held us in admiration of his songs until the wee hours. He performed with an enormous amount of talent blowing our heads off. Intently listening to him led me to question why he is still around while his talent could be sold anywhere else in the world.

So, before leaving, I talked to him for a while and he told me of all his travels around Asia. He was in Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and even Brunei. He has performed in almost all types of five star hotels like Hilton, Shangrila and Intercon. Yet, Dodong opted to be around and decided to stay despite the minimal fees he received.

Dodong’s option to stick around is quite ironical in the backdrop of our political milieu. The recent Supreme Court decision that showed the grand deceit perpetrated by PGMA could have given him a signal that the incoming years will not be well at all. This matter however did not bother Dodong at all.

The last week’s conundrum on the decision involving the alleged people’s initiative filed by the Sigaw ng Bayan and the Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines (ULAP) does not seem to have taken a toll on Dodong. He just keeps on singing and probably continues to believe that our government will do well because of the vigilance of many. Such vigilance was made manifest by the eight justices of the Supreme Court who held on to their principles in protecting the Constitution.

Justice Carpio who named ULAP and Sigaw ng Bayan the “Lambino Group” concluded the decision with these stinging words against PGMA:

No amount of signatures, not even the 6,327,952 million signatures gathered by the Lambino Group, can change our Constitution contrary to the specific modes that the people, in their sovereign capacity, prescribed when they ratified the Constitution. The alternative is an extra-constitutional change, which means SUBVERTING THE PEOPLE’S SOVEREIGN WILL AND DISCARDING THE CONSTITUTION.

Incantations of “people’s voice,” “people’s sovereign will,” or “let the people decide” cannot override the specific modes of changing the Constitution as prescribed in the Constitution itself. Otherwise, the Constitution – the people’s fundamental covenant that provides enduring stability to our society – becomes easily susceptible to manipulative changes by POLITICAL GROUPS GATHERING SIGNATURES THROUGH FALSE PROMISES. Then, the Constitution ceases to be the bedrock of the nation’s stability.

The Lambino Group claims that their initiative is the “people’s voice.” However, the Lambino Group unabashedly states in ULAP Resolution No. 2006-02, in the verification of their petition with the COMELEC, that “ULAP maintains its UNQUALIFIED SUPPORT TO THE AGENDA OF HER EXCELLENCY PRESIDENT GLORIA MACAPAGAL-ARROYO FOR CONSTITUTIONAL REFORMS.” The Lambino Group thus admits that their “people’s” initiative is an “UNQUALIFIED SUPPORT TO THE AGENDA” OF THE INCUMBENT PRESIDENT to change the Constitution. This forewarns the Court to be wary of incantations of “people’s voice” or “sovereign will” in the present initiative.

This court cannot betray its primordial duty to defend and protect the Constitution. The Constitution, which embodies the people’s sovereign will, is the bible of this Court. THIS COURT EXISTS TO DEFEND AND PROTECT THE CONSTITUTION. To allow this constitutionally infirm initiative, propelled by DECEPTIVELY GATHERED SIGNATURES, to alter basic principles in the Constitution is to allow a DESECRATION OF THE CONSTITUTION. To allow such alteration and desecration is to lose this COURT’S RAISON D’ETRE.

The manipulative iron fists of PGMA who tried to use or abuse more than six million people have been temporarily curtailed. Yet, soon after the decision was rendered, the puppets of PGMA in Congress have again voiced out their insistence to alter or revise the Constitution for their selfish ends through Constituent Assembly (ConAss).

The deception goes on. But Dodong Quijada, in his resiliency to all these political hullabaloos, will not be moved. He knows as he keeps on singing and tries his best here in our midst; some people will be around to subvert all the maladies that have been wrought to our nation. People like Dodong give us reason to fight for a better country.