Elections is all about having a point of view and expressing it through the ballot. On that particular day, a household helper’s point of view is just as important as her employer’s. The ballot is the equalizer; what we write on it directly affects the balance of power in government.

This is especially true in times of seething turbulence when nothing makes sense yet everything seems normal. Next year, we shall all troop to our respective voter’s precinct to cast our votes and wish that the direct democracy exercise would bring the nation good. This early, the opposition seems to have the upper hand particularly with the senatorial race. Nevertheless, not all candidates have taken their rightful places at the starting line.

I think what is important is to come up with a coherent plan on how to make sure that the elections do take place, and that once it is underway, make it clean, respectable, and credible. Troubling is the announcement that Charter change is not over. No less than House Speaker Jose de Venecia declared that the administration party intends to push through with a constituent assembly with or without the Senate. To accomplish this, the administration would have to race against time and count on the yuletide cheer to distract millions of Filipinos from a Cha-cha stampede.

My point of view is that the administration is embarking on a path strewn with danger. I worry why the administration could not even dare consider the idea of a constitutional convention. This seems to me the most fair and democratic manner of pushing through constitutional reforms. I worry that the road to constitution-making has become so partisan that the entire exercise would be tainted with the ugly politics of the current times.

I urge the administration to be a maverick for the right things, at the right time and for clearly the right reasons. To go against public sentiments and opinion by trying to pull a pre-Christmas Cha-cha, is to be nearly everyone’s political Scrooge. Local government officials must have the courage to tell this to the executive; are they not the weathervane of national governance, good and foul?

I write this now as a mother concerned about her daughter’s future. If I can’t rely on government to be stable in its thinking and thoughtful in its decision, then where else can I turn to for rational leadership? I say, we the people deserve to know what exactly is the government’s plan for us. Will there be a constitutional convention after the May 2007 elections? Shouldn’t this be announced in advance to calm the waters and so that those running can make up their minds whether to run as constitutional delegates or as legislators? Will there be no elections at all in 2007, until the issue of Charter change is fully resolved? Well, I think the public deserves to know that as well, and be allowed to say whether it is an option acceptable to them.

A clear political roadmap will benefit us all, and remove the swagger from the elitist few in the know. Government is about involving the people, not excluding them on such matters of grave importance as elections and constitutional reforms. I suggest that those keen in changing the Charter enunciate clearly, and not just through the usual motherhood statements, what they are up to and why the obsession to change the Constitution even before the May 2007 elections are held.

If the biggest obstacle to our national growth and unity is the 1987 Constitution, then why wasn’t this urgently addressed in 2001 or the early years of this administration, rather than in the run-up to a lawfully-prescribed midterm election? The problem is that all this inexplicable haste is simply not rational, and thus becomes suspect, even to apolitical international observers. Hence, the low trust ratings of those in power and the overwhelming acceptability of the opposition’s senatorial bets. I offer this friendly suggestion to the leaders of this administration – please communicate directly with the people in the clearest terms possible, your united plan for the year ahead, beginning with the May 2007 elections. You have become the greatest source of uncertainty to our people, and all of us deserve a respite from this political and legal tugs-of-war.