Seven Philippine Constitutions in one book

Of great significance to law, constitutional, Philippine history students and the public is the book authored by COMELEC Commissioner Rene V. Sarmiento which was launched at San Beda College last week. The landmark publication, titled We, the Sovereign Filipino People, puts together a comparative study of the seven Constitutions framed from 1897 to 1987.

We can cite only salient points of the changes evolved in a period of 90 years. Sarmiento starts each chapter with a brief history of those changes. The first was the Biak na Bato Charter, written in 1897, which was patterned after the 1895 Cuban Constitution and vested governance in a Supreme Council composed of a president, a vice president and four secretaries for foreign relations, war, interior and treasury.

The Biak na Bato was replaced four years later by the 1899 Malolos Constitution, which created a parliamentary form of government which is considered the most democratic Constitution in Asia.

 The 1935, 1973 and 1987 Charters improved the system of education, stressing free primary education, mandating schools to stress moral character, personal discipline, civic conscience and vocational efficiency, and higher education to enjoy academic freedom.

Dr. Florangel Braid and Dr. Wilfrido Villacorta, both academicians who made remarks about the Sarmiento book at San Beda, agreed that the book is highly informative and could serve as a good reference material for students and the general public in varied fields of endeavor.

Dr. Braid, who, like Sarmiento, was a member of the constitutional commission that drafted the 1987 constitution, noted that the 1935, 1973 and 1987 Constitutions mandate that all lands in the public domain, waters, and natural resources belong to the State which shall have control over their exploitation; limit ownership and management of mass media to Filipino citizens; recognize the primacy of preservation and advancement of Filipino culture and scientific research and the supremacy of the civilian over the military and resources as an instrument of national policy, and affirm that public office is a public trust. Braid noted that the 1987 Charter mandates Congress to initiate and decide all cases of impeachment, and the Ombudsman to try cases of graft and corruption.

Villacorta noted that the Sarmiento book differentiates the Freedom Constitution of 1986 from the 1987 Constitution. The first, created upon the assumption of President Corazon Aquino by people power, was a transitory Constitution, which was followed soon after by the creation of a constitutional commission that drafted the 1987 Charter.

We congratulate Sarmiento for this seven-in-one book project that makes Philippine Charters understandable and within the context of political, social, economic and other forces availing at the time of their crafting by some of the country’s eminent citizens.

An added interest is the inclusion of a history of prayers in the Constitutional Commission of 1986, and inaugural addresses of five ex-presidents.

Sarmiento finished his AB in political science, magna cum laude, at San Beda College, and law degree at the UP-Diliman. He served as a member, then vice-chairman, of the government panel for talks with the CPP/NPA/NDF, and as officer-in-charge of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process. In addition to his job at COMELEC, he teaches political law review, constitutional law, evidence, and legal philosophy at San Beda. He is included in the Judicial Bar Council’s shortlist of nominees for the position of Associate Justice of the Supreme Court.

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Representatives of the local ceramic tile industry are scheduled to discuss with Secretary of Trade Gregory Domingo today his proposal to remove imported ceramic tiles from the Department of Trade and Industry’s mandatory list of products that are required to undergo quality testing.

The government has long imposed safeguard duties on imported tiles to protect local players on account of the influx of import tiles. The mandatory list is imposed on both imported and locally-manufactured tiles as these are deemed to affect the health and safety of consumers every single day. There is apprehension that with the gradual decrease of safeguard duties, by 2012, duties would be zero.

We’re told that Secretary Domingo is of the position that ceramic tiles do not pose any safety issue to merit its continued inclusion in the mandatory certification list.

Members of the Ceramic Tile Manufacturers’ Association which has over 2,000 employees and contributes some P 2 billion to the national economy disagrees with the proposed action of the DTI chief. As the association president, Benjie Laurel explained, all ceramic tiles, local or imported, must conform to the National Standard for Ceramic Tiles (PNS 13006:2007) to protect consumers from sub-standard tiles.

If for example substandard floor tiles are immersed in flood waters, simply washing them off and drying them will not suffice. The sub-standard tiles can rupture and cause people to slip and harm themselves.

Sub-standard tiles can also gather mold or bacteria due to the rupture or chip and lead to contamination and infection of users. Food manufacturers and processors, even restaurant owners are not given permits to operate if their commissaries, their bathrooms and kitchens are not properly tiled with quality tiles.

With the proposed lifting of mandatory testing for imported ceramic tiles, local manufacturers will be at a grave disadvantage because they still have to be certified according to law while their foreign competitors will not be required. Local manufacturers, whose products have been accepted worldwide as of high quality cannot understand why this is so.

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