Nationwide Citizens Assemblies Clamor for Change Politics
Demanding an end to Filipino politics-as-usual, citizens raised their voices yesterday in unprecedented internet-linked simultaneous assemblies in ten (10) areas across the country. One year before the May 2010 elections, core members of the newly formed Change Politics Movement (CPM) from more than 38 provinces and cities converged in Davao, Cagayan de Oro, Butuan, Ormoc, Borongan, Mandaue, Dumaguete, Iloilo, Naga and Quezon City, and were linked by live video-streaming and cellular phone calls into one concerted clamor for change politics. The assemblies also served to launch CPM, which now has 2,000 core members. “We need to take back politics from corrupt politicians and make it the sacred covenant it is meant to be, between leaders and their constituencies,” declared Dinky Soliman, one of the interim national convenors of CPM. “Civil society has long participated in politics from the periphery --- remaining non-partisan, watching and waiting for reform as winning candidates take...