Suggestions for a new Federal Constitution

Our special presentation on our talkshow Straight from the Sky tonight is a very important topic about Catholic marriages and how to strengthen Marriage. One poignant question to ask is “Do Catholics have the right to a Catholic wedding?” In our Catholic world, marriage is indissoluble for as long as there were no legal impediments to a marriage. But these days, marriage is literally on the rocks when couples find it more convenient to live together without the benefit of a marriage.

Tonight is a talk about the various problems in marriage and discussion on ways to strengthen marriage. We have with us tonight Fr. Jerome Cayetano, SVD a Bukas sa Loob sa Diyos (BLD) priest who knows the problems of marriages after helping the BLD through their marriage encounter programs. So what this very interesting show on SkyCable’s channel 15 at 8:00pm.

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Over the weekend, we celebrated the 25th anniversary of the EDSA People’s Power Revolt. When we ousted the well-entrenched conjugal Marcos Dictatorship, it was to produce many firsts for the world. It was the first time for instance that CNN broadcast the EDSA events live all over the world through satellite TV, although most of us didn’t even have cable TV back then. But because of it, we Filipinos became the darling of the world and whenever we travelled abroad, we would loudly proclaim our citizenship as Filipino! Yes, 25 years ago, we were proud to be Filipino.

Fast forward 25 years later, the word Filipino in Singapore has become derogatory, which means maids, or lowly paid workers. Back then, creative Filipino musicians came up with the song “Handog sa Pilipino sa Mundo” the Legacy of the Filipino to the world. But what kind of legacy did we really give to the world? Well, we did topple the Marcos dictatorship. However, the reforms that we demanded during our street marches were never given any attention.

One such reform was our slogan 28 years ago after the assassination of Ninoy Aquino, which was “Justice for Ninoy, Justice for All” JAJA. Today, injustice is still the norm and the best proof is the lengthy trials on almost all the cases filed in our courts. Take the case of the celebrated Vizconde massacre. This case was finally resolved after three Presidents in Malacañang. But was it really resolved? Shame! There’s still so much injustice around!

So the question in everybody’s mind is, “Where did we go wrong?” All I can say is, Filipinos got themselves a bloodless revolution. We got our dictatorship out of Malacañang so cheaply and since it didn’t cost any human life to rid ourselves of the Marcos dictatorship, all the governments that followed him no matter how inept or how weak or how corrupt, it was okay to us Filipinos as it couldn’t compare to the billions that the Marcoses allegedly stole.

Perhaps the most important lesson to learn from EDSA is that, God gave us that miracle, but we were supposed to finish those reforms ourselves. But Tita Cory and 49 of her cohorts instead created the 1987 Cory Constitution and let the euphoria of that time insure that the Filipino people would ratify it, even if it were the result of people still harboring a martial law hangover. Tita Cory should have allowed a constitutional convention (con-con) to fix our nation or at least go back to the 1935 constitution, which is still known to many as the best constitution we’ve ever had.

If we had a con-con, here are my suggestions or inputs that would ensure better governance for our country. First we should go back to the four-year term, renewable for another four-year term for the Presidency. This way, if we had a lousy President, it would only take four years of suffering and if we had a good one, we reward the President with another four years. However, we must add that no President can run for public office within the next four years after he or she steps down.

For the local government positions, they should be allowed a three, four-year terms with no more reelection after the third term nor should they be allowed to run for a lower post. That means a Mayor cannot run for Vice-Mayor. This should also mean that their wives, mothers, fathers, sons or daughters and even their namesakes are prohibited to run for public office.

Above all, the best reform we should institute is a Federal form of governance where the Regions are turned into Federated States with their own and respective Bureau of Internal Revenues (BIR). This means no more Internal Revenue Allotments (IRA), which lured many politicians to be in power as the money is irresistible. This is why the elective government positions have become something of a family heirloom and handed down from generation to generation. But this can be done only via a con-con.

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