Constitution Day

(7 February 2008 – Manila) – Unknown to many or perhaps, nobody really cares anymore is that today is, Constitution Day for the Philippines.

Exactly 21 years to this date, the 1987 Constitution was ratified, a document that formally re-established democracy in this country, ratified with the highest number of voters who went to the polls at that time.

A year before the Constitution was ratified, the country was at the edge of the knife, preparing to go to the polls whether to retain former President Ferdinand Marcos or elect the then dubbed “ordinary housewife,” Corazon C. Aquino.

Of course, a few weeks later in 1986, Marcos was eventually overthrown by a bloodless revolution and the “ordinary housewife,” became the next President of this republic, who would oversee the restoration of democracy after long years of being subject to martial rule of a dictatorship.

The 1986 Philippines Constitution was drafted by a few good men and women of that time, who kept in mind to draft the country’s basic principles that will ensure democracy will never be suspended or trampled again, equal rights will be upheld and ensuring that no dictatorship will be formed ever again.

As a student of the science of politics in my college years, my critical thinking was still being formed at a time when idealism was at its strongest, burning in almost every Filipino. Hope was there wherein a good future lies ahead and that this republic will do better, wiser from its past experience.

Two decades have passed and it seems that the idealism brought by this democracy that we have has been distorted anew and no matter what guidelines or premises of protection against the twisting of our rights and privileges, there are those who have succeeded in doing so, the same old story of events leading to September 21, 1972.


Then and Now

Indeed, the economy looks good, pronouncements are there that this country will do better, but there are twice as much Filipinos nowadays compared to twenty years ago and still poverty is at its worst (more people are being born poor or are becoming poor), and the gap between the rich and the poor widens further.

Back then, much of our skilled workers were roughing it out building the palaces of the sheiks and kings of the Middle East and now there are more and more Filipinos wanting to become nurses, information technology professionals, care givers or domestic helpers abroad. In almost every part of the world one can find a Filipino worker.

In 1987, there were intense and determined talks & promises of prosecuting those who benefited and stole from the wealth created by the sweat and blood of the Filipinos, more so, justice and retribution were promised for those who died fighting to free and reform this country, but nowadays, those who breathed under the wings and protection of the dictatorship are either back in power or are more wealthier than ever.

The worst part is that the honor and the lives of those who died to give us the benefits we are enjoying in this democracy today are being neglected, by a weak and feeble justice system, favoring those who have the resources and means to make justice favor them.

Before, one can not speak against the powers that be, otherwise, one faces an unexplainable death, ironically, in the hands of those who were sworn to protect the public. Today, one can speak freely, so free that anyone can go accuse anyone without any documented proof to support such accusations.

Media was not free back then and so media was one of those which was liberated by this Constitution – nowadays, it is so much liberated that even members of media have gone to the extent to violate its own basic principles – to tell the facts objectively.

Media has become so free, that no less than media practitioners sling dirt at each other before the public without the benefit of facts. Media gives out fact to benefit their own causes and dare proclaim themselves without bias or prejudice.

Perhaps the facts that the media present are true (or not), but who can really know which is the real truth anyway.


My Word Against Yours

The idealism burning from among the youth of my time who stood up hand-in-hand to block tanks and muzzle the rifle with flowers in order to bring a dictatorship down has burned-out long ago.

Before media, people lay claim to abuses, corruption and accuse anyone of wrong doing but somewhere along the way, they will recant and change their statements saying they were coerced, or were paid to do so.

Accuse now! Prove your claims later (or maybe even never! Who cares, the public will forget it eventually).

If justice in those days was elusive, more so now, despite the guarantees that was written and ratified in the 1986 Constitution.

There are more inmates nowadays. Violent crime is still on the rise. People accused of a crime blame inadequacies in opportunities as their reason for turning to crime.

Sadly, a lot of these inmates are still awaiting trial, rotting in jails for years, serving time even before they are convicted of any wrong doing.


Still Missing the Important Points

Among the more important entries in the 1986 Constitution was the priority on education but that is just a statement, despite assurances and guarantees, education as a priority for this republic is not a real commitment at all.

It’s not just allocating money to build more schools or hire more teachers, it’s the quality of education that matters.

Back then, this nation spoke fluent English because it was an essential, integral part of our education system but nowadays, most want to learn English because it’s a mean to work abroad or to work for a call center. At the age of two, my mother trained me to speak in pure, unaccented English, not because my career and future depended on it.


Awakening to the Past

If only I was frozen for twenty years and revived just now, I could swear that nothing has changed and I would believe that Marcos is still sitting at Malacañang.

Before 1987, elections was usually reeking in violence. Expect chaos when the polls open and then there are usual issues of mass fraud, claims of deceit.

Counting twenty years later – the most sacred edict of any democracy – elections, is still tainted and questioned, more chaotic than ever, and worst still in its archaic snail-paced counting process. It will still take weeks for the results to be known, compared to other nations who at the end of the day knows the victor and the loser.

The Constitution also guaranteed that government will be transparent and efficient but now, discounting the possible spin or twists written & fed to the media – the favoring of a few to dispense with lucrative contracts is daily topic from hotel coffee shops to the corner barbershop.

Corruption remains prevalent, and despite claims that there are efforts to curve it, people accused of corruption goes on the defensive, claiming innocence or claiming they are victims of a nasty political propaganda.

One can read stories of instant abductions (and killings), of progressives, of journalists and more recently, a government bureaucrat who might be the key witness to a possible corruption charged, disappeared and re-appeared.

Of course, there are the usual stories of people benefiting from juicy contracts, padding prices and then of course, pocketing of kick backs – somethings, (or everything) never changed.


The Constitution is What Makes This Nation Unique

The Constitution of 1986 ensured that the things leading to abuse will never happen again but now, facts, truths, principles have been bent and twisted to suit the whims and desires of those who were supposed to have sworn to uphold, protect and defend the Constitution.

A Constitution is an embodiment of what makes a nation, its people, but the way things are going, the Constitution is nothing more than a piece of paper, a mad idealistic rant of goals by a few good men and women who drafted it twenty one years ago.

This Constitution is under threat of being revised, for that matter abolished anew to create a new one that will be more, as they say realistic, practical and in tune with the times.

Or is it really just the whim for so to create a new Constitution to favor their own selfish desires and unholy ambitions.

Why enact amendments or for that matter, draft another one at all? We, after twenty years had little, if not, of no use to this Constitution.

The first subject in college that is related to civics is the study of the Philippine Constitution but I guess that is the only thing of use we have for this.

The way things are going, the Constitution could have been written on toilet paper.

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