All because of a word; Bicolanos bite the bullet

Our attention has been so riveted on what mode to use to reform the 1987 Constitution that we missed a far more important fact: we cannot amend our Constitution. That to me is the unforgivable failing of the Cory-appointed constitutional commission. I have heard members of the commission say that it was an inadvertence.

The story goes that throughout the proceedings the consensus was building up towards parliamentary government but when it was voted down, they failed to correct how a two-house Congress would meet in amending the Constitution. And that is how it has been since. We live in the shadow of a mistake.

It is not right to just wave it away as an inadvertence because the implications of not having the means to amend a Constitution are dire.

That is the more significant perspective, not the scramble to take sides in different interpretations of the 1987 Constitution.

It is not a matter for politicians alone but for the entire nation. It is the people who are cheated of their sovereignty because our Constitution cannot be amended.

Inadvertence or not that is the point on which we can come together and find a solution. I’ve heard members of the Committee on Constitutional Amendments use the words — “if we have to bite the bullet, then we will bite the bullet.” All this said with no small hint of defiance and frustration that the exercises of debating and voting are conducted in vain because of one word. Does Congress meet and vote jointly or separately? The word had been omitted.

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Since we have followed the American Constitution, it may be wise to refer to their debate about amendments to the Constitution.

According to the American lawyer and professor Douglas Linder “delegates to the Constitutional Convention believed that an article providing for amendments to the Constitution was desirable.”

Linder writes that “the men assembled in Philadelphia were under no illusion that the constitutional scheme they were struggling to establish was perfect for present circumstances, much less perfect for the future of Americans that they hoped would live under it.”

Another reason Linder gives for the need of a provision on amendment is that “the delegates believed that a flexible constitution would provide the protection needed by a young and somewhat fragile government against revolutionary upheavals.”

He cites a delegate who said it correctly and concisely: “The novelty and difficulty of the experiment requires periodical revision. The prospect of such a revision would also give intermediate stability to the Government.”

Thus on July 23, 1787, the American Constitutional Convention unanimously agreed to a resolution “that provision ought to be made for the amendment of the articles of the union, whensoever it shall seem necessary.”

A Constitution that cannot be amended has serious implications that ought to go beyond the rivalry between the two houses of Congress. As representatives of the sovereign people of the Philippines they have failed their constitutional mandate if they continue wrangling.

Article 17 has to be corrected as soon as possible or we have the anomaly of a Constitution that cannot be amended.

After being heckled by an oppositionist member of the committee whether there was indeed any reason at all for constitutional reform, the chairman, Rep. Victor Ortega answered, “Yes.” If it was not to do anything at all but to provide for an unambiguous provision for amendment, it would have been worth the work of the committee.

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While representatives of the sovereign people argue and disagree on constitutional reform, sovereign people have decided to take steps that would allow them to tackle pressing problems of poverty and good governance rather than wait out the infighting in Congress.

These Bicolanos have plodded for months now. The movement is led by Dante Jimenez of the Volunteers against Crime and Corruption. With him are Brenda Locsin for Albay, Richard Talento for Camarines Norte, Rennie Gumba for Camarines Sur, Atty. Susan Ordinario for Catanduanes, Hamilcar Arregadas for Masbate and Godofredo Ditan for Sorsogon.

 I have followed them in their sojourn, as they met with communities in all the six provinces of Bicol to inform, educate and debate on their cause for greater autonomy. They see greater autonomy through Charter change as the way to fight poverty. The region is one of the poorest in the country and yet they have some of the richest natural resources.

The group has now drafted what they call The Charter of Bicol Autonomous Region that will be launched and signed by representatives of multisectoral groups on December 8 in Daet, Camarines Norte at the First Monument of Rizal. All Bicolanos are invited to attend this historical event.

The preamble reads: We, the Bicolanos, imploring the aid of Almighty God, in order to establish a just and humane society and a Bicol Autonomous Region that will embody our ideals and aspirations, within the authority of the Constitution and national sovereignty, in order to secure to ourselves and our posterity the blessings of regional autonomy, democracy, equality, justice, peace, and the right to self-determination, do ordain and promulgate this Charter of the Bicol Autonomous Region.

The Bicol region’s charter is ground-breaking that is sure to be followed widely by other regions dissatisfied with the structure and system of government that has kept them down. Most of the movements for greater autonomy are directed towards settling ethnic or religious differences. In Bicol it is about the creation of wealth that has been stifled by waiting for largesse from imperial Manila.

“It is the purpose of this proposed Charter to establish the Bicol Autonomous Region, to provide its basic structure of government within the framework of the Constitution and national sovereignty and the territorial integrity of the Republic of the Philippines, and to ensure the equality, justice and peace before the law of all the inhabitants in the Bicol Autonomous Region, maximize and expedite the development of the region through an autonomous set-up, and ensure proper and sustainable utilization of its natural endowments.”