Headline story by IKE F. PALINAR, SR. (January 24-31, 2006)

METRO DAGUPAN - Over 200 school heads in Region I have unanimously approved a resolution opposing the shift from presidential to parliamentary government. This is to strongly favor the retention of the presidential system as the best in the world to guarantee freedom, liberty, economic and structural development and happiness of the people.

Top school heads led by Dr. Mac Arthur Samson, president of the University of Luzon and newly elected president of the Association of Private Schools, Colleges and Universities (APSCU); Dr. Salvador T. Duque, Chancellor of Lyceum Northwestern University and Chairman, Regional Development Council and Dra. Erlinda Estonactoc, executive vice president of APSCU, along with other top school heads in the region have singularly expressed that the country under a parliamentary form of government during the time of then President Ferdinand Marcos was very tragic and dismal. Said regime, the educators said, resulted to murder of innocent people, unemployment, military abuse and many of the country’s problems remained unsolved and even worsened.

Other school heads: Dr. Voltaire Arzadon, owner of Colegio de Dagupan, Dra. Lilian P. Juan of Virgen Milagrosa University, also oppose the abolition of the Senate, an august chamber that has been able to prevent the passage of oppressive laws coming from the Lower House. In a press meeting with People’s Digest Staff, Dr. Arzadon said: “The Senate is an effective adviser tot he office of the President of what can and cannot be done within the bounds of the Constitution, as well as it is a source of wisdom and serves as bulwark in defense of democracy and liberty.

Dr. Gonzalo T. Duque, president of Lyceum Northwestern University and national president of the Private Schools Athletic Association, opined that once the Senate is abolished, dictatorship cannot be far behind.

Duque is asking Congress to consult the people’s pulse through referendum and Constitutional Convention because Congress was not vested with bigger right and power do. “Any group of persons can converge themselves to Constituent Assembly but certainly don’t have the power legally,” Dr. Duque, who is also a lawyer, lamented.