CHANGE DERAILED
The problem with the country doing better than it ever has in spite of all the stupid Opposition is that it seems to present a good case for keeping the present system.
However, we need to remember that PRRD is a historical anomaly that is unlikely to happen again soon, thus we need to take advantage of the opportunity he has created to fix things before they go back to the way they were or even worse.
Thus the need for a Fed-Par Constitution and government.
The advantage of Federal-Parliamentary seems to break down into two major points:
While it would be almost impossible to eliminate political dynasties, the difference with Federal is that instead of having everyone who lords over a particular region just coming over to Manila in order to extract as much money as possible from the national government while keeping their regions as poor as possible in order to better keep them in line, all the political dynasties will be forced to focus on developing their own territories to make money instead of simply pocketing what they can. The more they steal, the less progress and the less to steal. If they actually gave back what they already stole and devoted it to progress, then they would not only cement their hold on their territories but they would also get back increasing returns the better they did their jobs.
In the Parliamentary system, there is much more incentive to perform as well as more accountability. Instead of having to suffer through the terms of corrupt and incompetent politicians, elections could simply be called when necessary. Since the politicians would end up having to spend every time if elections are more frequent, they would also have better reason to try to work together progressively rather than negatively.
It is already quite obvious at this point that neither Congress or even PRRD's appointed ConCom will ever come up with a righteous and proper Fed-Par Constitution most probably for the usual reasons - self-preservation for Congress and subversion by moneyed interests of the ConCom.
It seems that the behind-the-scenes strategy of the Opposition, masked by the distractions of their hysterical front-liners is an ISOLATION play. They know that Duterte cannot do it alone, thus their most best option would be to undermine him from within by subverting and co-opting his susceptible close advisers and men and by sowing discord, division and confusion among the DDS.
Unfortunately, they seem to be making some progress.
At the rate things are going, we seem to be moving towards a stalemate on many important fronts even as we make progress on others.
Accountability for the countless billions in anomalies of the past administration seems as doubtful as it has traditionally been.
No major policy changes on ENDO have been formulated.
The DFA and the DOH seem hopelessly mired by the seeming invulnerable incompetence of its Secretaries.
Even as the drug problem has abated somewhat, the regular arrests and deaths of low-level personalities and the dearth of big busts indicates that it has become more of a show rather than a real effort to get to the bottom of things.
The enthusiasm for the 2019 elections despite the appointment of Smartmatic again by an unrepentant COMELEC and the curious unwillingness of Congress to even think about electoral reform is perhaps the most puzzling of all. Will the people really accept elections run by Smartmatic?
I'm afraid the President is slowly getting boxed in and shut-out even as his initiatives have been losing steam. It does not help at all that many of the people whom he appointed and expected to do the right thing have turned out to be as bad as those they replaced.
The President needs the support of the people more than ever as push comes to shove. He needs to make some decisive moves to retake the initiative and regain lost momentum. The clock is ticking.