Safeguard the purity of sufrage and abide by the decisions of the majority

Title

Language

English

Year

1940

Subject

Code of Ethics submitted to the President of the Philippines

Rights

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Fulltext

tes was one of the causes of our revolution against Spain. Under the i-epublican 'system of government which we have adopted, the people, through their authorized representatives, determine what taxes shall be imposed and how they shall be collected and spent. During the period of propaganda ,; hi ch preceded the revolution, the nationalist movement was given impetus by the monetary contribution of public-spirited citizens. When it was reported .that Rizal lacked funds to enable him to write and publish the sequel to hi•s Noli Me Tange.:e, he received aid from a voluntary fund raised by his townspeople to which even women conb·ibuted their modest rsavings. . When the ,!evolution was finally declared, people .an over the country generously and spontaneously contributed to the support ,of the revolutionary governinent and its army. The tl'iumph of Filipino arms brought about the establishment of the Philippine Republic which waSI. likewise supported by popular taxation. It is recorded that in 1898, Leocadio Valera, then provincial governor of Abra, traveled by cart 400 kilometers from Ba.ngued to Malolos to personally deliver one thousand pesos in silver coins raised by the people of Abra as their share of the expenses of the revolutionary iovernment. It is al'sO recorded that in the same year General Jose Ignacio Pawa traveled from the Camarines provinces to the revolutionary capital to carry by horseback the fifty thousand pieces of silver unselfishly contributed by the people, of the J3icol Peninsula. We have established an autonomous government and by July 4, 1946 we shall be completely independent. We need, more than ever, to prove our capacity to place that government on a sound economic basis. Thi's cannot be achieved unless we contribute our just share of the nation's burdens freely and without hesitation. v. SAFEGUARD THE PURITY OF SUFFRAGE AND ABIDE BY THE DECISIONS OF THE MAJORITY. Suffrage is one of the most important political rights appertaining to citizenship. If exercised with purity and noble purpose, it is the security of popular government. On the other hand, if perverted or basely surrendered by those in whose f hands the law has entrusted its safeguard and protection, ) it serves instead to underfiline the entire edifice of democratic institutions. Suffrage is a public and social duty which • should not be neglected. The electors owe it to themselves and their government to exercise this important political right not ' only regularly but judiciously. • To preserve the integrity of elections, penalties for offenses against the ballot have been prescribed. No election law can be made effective without provisions defining ·and punishing offenses committed at the polls. To curb as much as possible attendant evils, our Election Law prescribes severe penalties for violations of its provisions. Pegal Jaws, however, are not sufficient. The people should be conscious of their civic responsibility and should e~erci•se "the watchful care I and reverential guardianship" of their precious right.The rule of the majority is the founaation stone of democracy, for if this principle of majority rule is not respected and honored, chaos and revolution will be the· result. Rizal demonstrated sportsmanly acquiescence to the will of the majority when he separated from the La Solidaridad because o~ the opposition of the Madrid Committee of Filipinos. So did Mabini when he resigned from the Cabinet, during the Philippine-American War, when he found out that his policy of irreconciliation made futile further negotiations with the Americans. His resignation as well as that of the other members of his Cabinet paved the way for the formation of the Paterno Cabinet on May 9, 1899, in which predominated the elements in favor of a conciliatory attit\lde toward the proclamation of the American Commission offering autonomy to the Filipinos prov.ided they laid down their arms. Mabini was only putting into practice the democratic theory which guided his first act as adviser to E.milio Aguinaldo abolishing the dictatorship and· transforming the revolutionary government into a representative one. In the ~eventh and eighth commandments of his True Decalogne, Mabini envisioned the implantation of democracy in this country based on the free suffrages of the. people: "Seventh-Thou shalt not recognize in thy country the authority of any person who has not been elected by thee and thy countrymen: for authority emanates from God, and as God spea~s in the conscience of every · man, the person design8.ted and proclaimed by the conscience of a whole people is the only one who can use true authority. PAGE 8 THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT REVIEW SUPPLEMENT

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