The need for a constitutional convention

Title

Creator

Sinco, V. G.

Language

English

Source

Panorama Volume XVIII (No.4) April 1966

Year

1966

Rights

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Abstract

A plea for the election of an independent body which shall meet, for the first time in the history of the country, to draft with full freedom a new constitution of the Republic of the Philippine

Fulltext

■ A ploa for the election of an independent body which shall meet, for the first time in the history of the country, to draft with full freedom a new constitution of the Republic of the Philippine*. THE NEED FOR A CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION Conditions prevailing in the Philippines since the end of the last War warrant a serious reexamination of the basic governmental structure of our country. Since the 4th of July, 1946, when direct American influence over our public affairs was formally ended by the declaration of Philippine independence, the country has undergone a series of local and national disturbances which have dis closed to our observant citi zens certain weak and un suitable provisions of the present Constitution. These deplorable conditions affect ing our body politic have developed under a govern mental set-up largely made possible by certain constitu tional provisions alien to our traditional conception o f authority and duty. This sad situation has ena bled unprincipled persons in both public and private life to take advantage of ill-defin ed responsibilities and non existing restraints on official conduct and to capture power and prestige for their per sonal benefit. The excessive employment of money in elections threatens .the main tenance of our democratic system. The gross misuse of government property and fa cilities in political campaigns and a habitual indulgence in personal vilification of candi dates in newspapers and other methods of communi cation are sources of serious danger to public peace. They undermine social order and constitutional morality and expose the people to in ternecine strifes. The civil service has to be strengthened in several ways to fortify the basic organs of administra tion. It needs a much stronger guarantee of inde pendence from partisan dicPanorama tation to enable it to recruit persons of high ability and tested integrity. The selec tion of judges needs im provement. Taxpayers . are oppressed by needless and irresponsible multiplication of government units and employees which reminds us of Parkinson’s Law, and by a terrific addi tion of worthless activities. The criterion of public pur pose, which alone makes a tax legal and just and which should be strictly and honest ly observed, is ignored in a senseless orgy of spending public funds. To say that the political affairs of the country, the moral behaviour of govern mental officials and em ployees, and the tone and direction of business are in a state of serious confusion is tb repeat a commonplace and banal observation. With out going any further, which is quite simple to do, these and a host of other valid reasons call for some changes intended to improve our pre sent Constitution. At any rate, a general survey of the operation of the agencies established by our Constitu tion by special representa tives of the people with the end in view of replacing out dated features is doubtless necessary and urgent after a lapse of 31 years covering a period of colonial status and a period of national indepen dence. It is, of course, true that a good government depends more upon men of ability, honor, and integrity than solely upon laws and consti tutions; but it is also true that many men of this type could only be attracted to government service under a constitution which could be so implemented that it could reduce the number of oppor tunists, adventurers, and semi-literates to compete with them for public offices by foul, degrading, and imper tinent tactics. It is but pure cynicism to assert that the Filipinos have been so influenced by cultural conditions of such a na ture that any change in our Constitution will not im prove our ability to solve our problems. There are still many in this country who are competent, honest, and sincere who would willingly serve the country even with the social and political ad April 1956 3 versities now existing, pro vided that conditions of pub lic service are changed under a constitution which largely reflects the best of our own historical and political ideas, social values, customs, and traditions. Structurally our Constitu tion is largely American in origin. As such its basis were the conditions existing in the thirteen American co lonies of England in 1776. It is not sufficiently adjusted to our own country and peo ple whose cultural condi tions, social ideas, and na tive political beliefs rest upon a background not quite identical with that of the Americans. A reorientation is urgently needed in view of our efforts to discover and assert our identity. The delegates to our Cons titutional Convention of 1934-1935 did introduce some changes not found in the Am erican system, such as the uni cameral legislature and a pres idential term of 6 years with out reelection, features which students and critics of govern ment here and in America considered wise and desirable a 11 e rations. Unfortunately, these were almost immediate ly removed by amendments suggested to the Assembly by a President who wanted a much longer term of office for himself and who dominat ed the political party which controlled the National As sembly. But even if these features were to be wholly or partly restored, the Constitution still contains provisions which are quite alien to the national ethos and so are left to slum ber in peace. Some parts are contradictory to each other and have misled government officials into disregarding fun damental principles. Institu tions of basic value to a mo dern state, such as one which should be given full and in dependent tontrol over the nation’s currency and mone tary policies or one that as sures a knowledgeable deci sion on educational and scien tific development indepen dent of political action, are not adequately provided in the present Constitution. The corrupting influence of power endangers the national wel fare and democracy when all decisions on every subject, in cluding those which require special expertise, are placed in the hands of political or4 Panorama gans such as Congress and the President. The Constitution permits two methods of amending its provisions. The initiative is left with Congress. One method is for Congress to make the amendment propo sals by a three-fourths vote of all the members of each house. Another is for Con gress to call a constitutional convention, again by a threefourths vote, to approve pro posals for amendments. It is for Congress to choose which of these two methods should be used. But if the amend ments are to be satisfactorily adjusted to the basic features of our country and the char acter of our people, they should be left to a constitu tional convention to propose. The Constitution does not, of Course^ prescribe a crite rion as to when it is proper for Congress alone to make proposals for amendments and when it is better for it to call a constitutional convention for making the proposals. Much depends upon the nature and purpose of the projected changes of the Constitution which are deemed imperative. But to be more specific, amendments intended to alter the powers, privileges, duties, qualifica tions, disqualifications, terms of office, salaries, and per quisites of the President, members of Congress, the judiciary, or other offices pro vided in the existing Consti tution as well as the funda mental rights and privileges of the people can best be de cided and should be decided only through a constitutional convention. Not being con nected with the existing or gans of government, adminis tration, or legislation, a con vention could be expected to act with less prejudice and more freedom and impartial ity than Congress. Moreover, it is more difficult for the President to exert pressure on convention delegates. For instance, months before the Constitutional Conven tion of 1934-1935 was held. President Quezon expressed strong objection to a unica meral legislature. He told 9ome persons about it. A number of delegates, how ever, strongly advocated theunicameral plan and with the help of the Manila news papers, which published a number of editorials in its favor, President Quezon re April 1966 5 mained silent on the subject. The result was that the ma jority of the Convention was ultimately persuaded to adopt the unicameral legislature designated as the National Assembly. But about four years later President Quezon thought of having the Constitution amended. It was then time for him to push through his personal preferences. With his control over the Nacionalista Party, it was easy for him to prevail upon the National Assembily itself to propose the necessary amend ments reviving the Senate and removing the prohibi tion against the reelection of the President. Thus, he was able to accomplish through the legislative power of pro posing amendments what he failed to ,see adopted in the Constitutional Convention. For Quezon to favor a lengthening of his term even in this runabout way was to follow the practice of some undemocratic governments in Latin America. High Com missioner Francis Sayre, therefore, recommended a veto on this amendment by President Roosevelt on the ground that it was a step of ‘’exceeding danger to demo cracy” and a way to indefi nite tenure and eventual dictatorship. Roosevelt, how ever, was then on the way to running for a twelve-year term and soxould have been accused of inconsistency had he disapproved the 8-year term for Quezon. Inciden tally, not satisfied with hold ing the office for 8 years, Quezon was able to persuade Mr. Osmena to step aside from the presidency and to persuade the U.S. Congress to permit him to continue in office till the end of the War. Unfortunately for him death cut short his expecta tion. The same case was expe rienced in pushing through the so-called Parity amend ment to the Constitution. This measure or the idea be hind it was opposed by the majority of Filipino leaders. It could never have been ap proved thru a constitutional convention. Therefore, Pres ident Roxas had to make Congress propose the Parity amendmept which he had so wanted to see adopted. He even went to the extent of having some senators and re presentatives deprived of 6 PANORAMA their seats in Congress be cause he suspected them as unfriendly to the Parity amendment. A cons t i t utional convention, which is more directly representative of the people, would never have approved such disgrace ful change of the Constitu tion of a free people. These two instances show that Congress could be easily influenced by partisan consi derations and by official pressure to propose undesir able changes. It is quite ob vious that if a change con templated is simple and does not involve the interests of its members, Congress may properly be left to make the proposal. But in cases of basic alterations of the fun damental law, it is best for Congress to let the people elect special representatives to deliberate on proposed changes in a constitutional convention. To our Senators and Con gressmen this appeal is pre sented: Give the people a chance to select as members of a constitutional c o n v ention men and women who in their opinion are best fitted to do one particular work — to propose necessary amend ments to the Constitution. Give the people a chance to be represented in a cons titutional convention which is completely free to propose changes in the structure of our government, changes that may affect the position and functions of the Pres ident, the Senators, the Con gressmen, and other govern ment agencies. Give the people a chance to select delegates. to a cons titutional convention who are not at present enjoying government powers, privi leges, and special advantages and are not, therefore, in fluenced by any thought of preventing the introduction of changes that may adverse ly affect their actual posi tion in the government and their political standing. The plebiscite for the final approval of the draft of a constitution cannot be .se riously considered as an ins titution that makes a consti tutional convention unneces sary as suggested by certain persons. Composed of mil lions of voters, it cannot ini tiate proposals of amend ments with sufficient judg Afril. 1966 1 ment and deliberation. Its use is confined to merely saying Yes or No. It can accomplish this task with greater assurance of correct ness when the proposals of amendments are the direct product of men and women specially selected by the peo ple to make them. One more point should be remembered on the selection of delegates to the constitu tional convention. Authori ties on the question are una nimously agreed that the legislature or Congress has no legal right to name spe cific persons or groups to sit as delegates in the conven tion. Neither is Congress au thorized to provide ’ that the delegates shall be elected at large. The delegates have to be chosen from “the va rious localities” of the coun try. By this method, accord ing to authoritative opinion, the convention becomes truly and fairly representative of the people. The practice of including ex officio delegates finds no valid suport from authorities on constitutional conventions. The Filipinos have never had a chance to hold a cons titutional convention with complete freedom of action and under conditions of poli tical independence since the Malolos Constitution was drafted and approved about 67 years ago. If for no other reason than to give them an opportunity to select dele gates to formulate with ut most freedom a constitution more suitable to the condi tions of their own country, our Congress should consider it their duty to call a cons titutional convention to amend or revise the present Constitution. No expendi ture of public funds could be deemed too high for this purpose. A general and care ful revision of the basic law upon which our political, social, and economic struc ture is to rest is worth all the money the public trea sury and Congress could mus ter. — V. G. Sinco. 8 PANORAMA

pages

2+

Media