"Eleven of the 320 delegates were jailed by the strongman."
"Eleven of the 320 delegates were jailed by the strongman."
On Tuesday, June 1, 2021, the 40 or so surviving members of the historic 1971 Constitutional Convention will convene for a golden anniversary reunion lunch at the Manila Hotel, the venue for the assembly’s opening session. A commemorative marker will be unveiled.
Fifty years ago, a former Philippine president, Diosdado Macapagal, took his oath as ConCon president before Richard J. Gordon, then 25, the youngest delegate. Now Senator Dick Gordon has sponsored a resolution honoring the delegates of three major constitutional assemblies – the 1934 Constitutional Convention, the 1971 ConCon, and the 1986 Constitutional Commission which drafted the present charter.
“By inculcating in our citizenry especially the youth the examples of the delegates to our Constitutional Convention, we may be able to develop among them an active and knowledgeable citizenry, who are advocates of democracy and liberty, and who will be stewards of our country by being active in public discourses about our current predicaments and the future in order to build a national consensus,” said the Senate resolution.
By the way, my grandfather, Don Vicente Siriban Nepomuceno, was one of the four delegates of Cagayan province to the 1934 ConCon. Born in Camalaniugan, my parents’ hometown, Don Vicente was considered Cagayan’s foremost intellectual. A lawyer and a scholar, he served as Cagayan’s revolutionary governor (1898-1900). He wrote a 266-page history of Cagayan in Ibanag, the local language, and Spanish. He produced a Spanish-Ibanag dictionary and an Ibanag-Latin dictionary.
Though it did a splendid job producing a Constitution that to me is the best ever, next to the 1935, the 1971 ConCon was overtaken by events. President Marcos declared martial law on Sept. 21, 1972 and installed himself a dictator, with full powers of the executive, the legislature, and the judiciary—a one-man rule. Eleven of the 320 delegates were jailed by the strongman.
Marcos allowed the ConCon to go on and produce the 1973 Constitution. The new charter was ratified on Jan. 17, 1973, in an unprecedented manner, by raising of hands, or viva voice. It was like the people were asked, “Who wants rice?”. Everybody, of course, raised his hand. The new basic law took effect Feb. 2, 1973, with a rider called Transitory Provisions—Marcos would continue his strongman rule for the next 14 years.
The 1973 Constitution creates under a parliamentary system, a legislature called Batasang Pambansa composed of no more than 200 members (the law can increase the number. The 1935 Constitution pegged the old Congress’ membership at 98). The BP members could be younger—25 years of age, from the 30 minimum age under the 1935 Constitution. The 1973 Constitution introduces the concept of sectoral and regional representation
Both the 1935 and 1973 restricted foreign ownership to no more than 40 percent for exploitation of natural resources which is reserved for Filipinos and corporations which are 60 percent Filipino. Also reserved for Filipinos are “certain traditional areas of investments when the national interest so dictates”.
The 1973 Constitution, however, introduces the concept of service contract for exploitation of natural resources. The 1987 Constitution retains the restrictive provisions of the 1935 and 1973 Constitution banning majority ownership of companies engaged in natural resources use.
The restriction is often cited as one reason why the Philippines has missed out on three major waves of foreign investments that flowed into Southeast Asia in the last 50 years.
You cannot find the word “accountability” in the 1935 Constitution. The 1973 Constitution creates an entirely new section, on Accountability of Public Officers.
Just like in the 1935 Constitution, the 1973 Constitution says the president, the vice president, members of the judiciary, and the auditor general can be removed from office by impeachment. The 1973 also creates new constitutional commissions whose heads can be removed by impeachment.
The 1973 Constitution creates an anti-graft prosecutor called Tanodbayan (or Ombudsman) and a special anti-graft court called Sandiganbayan for complaints relative to public office.
The 1987 Constitution improves on this anti-corruption provision. It mandates that all public officers and employees must “lead modest lives.” Enrichment, when obvious, thus becomes a crime and a source of shame.
Still, governments after the 1987 Constitution became even more corrupt than those under the 1935 and 1973 Constitutions. For two reasons: One, the abolition of the two-party system; and two, the failure of term limits to curb nepotism and perpetuity in power of political dynasties.
The abolition of the two-party system led to incompetent governments and extremely corrupt elected officials.
The old two-party system of the Nacionalista and Liberal parties under the 1935 Constitution ensured competence, relative honesty among officials, and clean electoral counts.
The object of the NP and LP was to capture power, principally the presidency. To do that, the parties must capture first the Senate, the breeding ground of presidents. Until 1966, most presidents came from the Senate.
To capture the Senate, the NP and LP fielded the best and brightest from each region. Usually, these were the bar topnotchers, the best educated and the professional class from each region. The rigid selection for senators promoted excellence and competence.
A two-party system also meant the state partly financed presidential campaigns because the NP and LP each was represented at the precinct-level election boards. No results could be released unless signed by the chairman, a teacher, and the NP and LP representatives. Today, there is no such system. This forces the presidential candidate to employ his own poll watchers—at least two per precinct. If there are 40,000 precincts, he must employ 80,000—very expensive, given a two-day electoral rites.
Without government-funded campaign finance, presidential elections became horrendously expensive and divisive. Winning presidents become beholden to big time donors, the vested interests, and thus have to be corrupt to pay back. Without the two-party system, popular actors, comedians, boxers, and TV people win hands down during elections. They also manage to win the presidency. Competence is disregarded as an issue.
Term limits were supposed to curb dynasties. But after their limited terms, incumbents substituted relatives –parents, children, in-laws. The result was even bigger, monstrous dynasties. So you have had in the Senate, siblings serving at the same time, parents alternating with their children, and husbands and wives. The dynasties, of course, help themselves with the resources of the state.
Today in ASEAN, the Philippines is the worst managed, among the most corrupt, and with the lowest FDI, and the highest incidence of hunger and poverty.
