The right Constitution allows Filipinos to change what’s wrong (Part I)

Filipino society is still autocratic in temperament. At home, you will hear adults demand: “Do what elders say…,” “Don’t question them…,” “You are only to be seen, not heard.” In school, the teacher also dictates, often discouraging questions. “Copy what the teacher says.” “Copy what the teacher writes on the blackboard.” “Refer only to the required textbook (instead of providing multi-textbooks).” “Your elders are always right.” “If father or kuya is wrong, don’t question them.”

Thus, we have been conditioned not to ever question the authorities: Parents, teachers and government leaders, even if they are wrong. Since we have been conditioned not to think, then we have not acquired the wisdom, which is only possible if one frequently exercises the right “to fight for the right without question or doubt.”

The advent of electronic communication resulted in a ‘knowledge society’

In the 18th century Victorian era, when things were prim and proper, the British and American adults tend to be autocratic as well. With the advent of two world wars, things changed. The psyche of Europeans and Americans changed. With the loss of husbands, fathers, and brothers, the womenfolk had to be more self-sufficient and assertive. Western education and psychology took stock of what remained of human energy and emotion. Schools and the media encouraged openness. Learning was geared to thinking sustainably to resolve problems daily.

With electronic communication, the whole world started to become a “knowledge society.” However, the Orientals’ pace of expressing one’s dissension to authority was slower. This authoritarian rule continued with political demagogues, insincere mayors, congressmen, and senators who failed to understand their constituents’ true needs especially when they are illiterate.

How we can change things that are wrong

Still, there’s not much point complaining about the government. You can change things that seem to be wrong. One way to start is by learning about the Constitution.

What is the Constitution? It is fundamentally, several pieces of paper, with some writings. The whole thing takes up less space than a regular book. The writing is what’s important.

THE CONSTITUTION TELLS US HOW THE GOVERNMENT WORKS. Our first Constitution of 1935 represents the aspirations of Filipinos in the Commonwealth era of President Quezon. We were then a colony of the United States. President Quezon and other statesmen negotiated for our independence. It was only in 1946 when we became independent. Since the 1935 Constitution adequately protected our civil liberties, it was not changed until the time of President Marcos.

Bobit Avila, Philippine STAR “Shooting Straight” columnist and staunchest advocate of Charter change, stated last Tuesday that the rash ways the Marcos 1973 Constitution and Cory 1987 Constitution were ratified is highly questionable.

“During the dark days of Martial Law, we trooped to the polling place for the referendum. Military officers asked, “Those of you who haven’t eaten lunch raise your hands.” Naturally we raised our hands for it was almost lunchtime. They took our photos. It was only the next day that we learned that our raising of our hands got the 1973 Constitution ratified.” By changing the Constitution in 1973, Marcos made sure he was president with dictatorial powers until 1986, when Mrs. Corazon Aquino was elected president. During her term the voters were simply asked to answer “yes” or “no” to constitutional change.

Adding laws on ‘Persons and Family Relations’ to the high school curriculum

I was fortunate to find a high school textbook written for young American students regarding the US Constitution. Since our first Commonwealth Constitution was largely inspired by theirs, I used this in our high school as an introduction to Law on Persons and Family Relations, which is actually man’s rights from birth to death.

Barbara Nesbitt, the author, uses a politically conscious format, which teenagers cannot resist. For instance, it reduces theories into practice. Then, it reveals the historical background of each bill of rights. An education specialist, author Nesbitt could easily draw out the simple essence of complex political matters.

The Constitution tells you how your government works. Without the Constitution, any of the following could happen to you.

• The police could kick open your door whenever they wanted to search your house.

• You could be standing on a corner talking to some of your friends, when suddenly you are arrested for no reason.

• If you are arrested and some of your friends come to get you out of jail, the judge could tell them it would cost a million pesos.

• You could go to your regular church and find a note on a locked door, saying the government had decided to close your church.

• The only things you could watch on TV or read would be what the government wants to see or read.

• Without the Constitution, the leader of your country could be a mean, 12-year old king, who shoots people he doesn’t like.

• If you wanted to go hunting for food the government could tell you that you can’t have a gun. If you have a gun, you can be arrested.

• You can hate the leader of your country for all the cruel things he had done, but there would be no way to get rid of him.

• You could be stopped on the street, searched and the police can take anything they want from you.

• You can be a slave.

• If you’re a woman, you’d have nothing to say at all about your country or your government.

• You can be told you’d better find a room and food in your house for ten soldiers because the government said so.

Some of these things do happen in some countries. Many of them happened in our own. The reason they do not happen anymore is the Constitution. If you do not want to wake up one day and say “Hey. What happened to my freedom?” – You ought to learn what’s in the Constitution. Reading the Constitution isn’t as interesting as reading the comics, but it is the most important document you will ever read.

55 founding fathers

The American Constitution was written about 200 years ago. (Nesbitt published the book in 1987, celebrating the bi-centennial year of the American Independence and Constitution. Fifty five men got together in Philadelphia in the late 1700 to write this Constitution. Before this was written, these 55 men had read and talked about all kinds of governments. Some were bad. The writers of this Constitution wanted to make sure this country had a good government. The men who wrote the Constitution, the founding fathers, were pretty sharp. What was finally written lasted a long, long time.

In 1787, the founding fathers put together the best of everything they know about other governments to make the American Constitution. In time, many things changed or disappeared. Dress styles, TV programs and models will all change or disappear sooner or later. But the Constitution has not changed much in time and it has not disappeared.

Before America colonized the Philippines, America was a British colony

America was also ruled by another country in the 17th century. England controlled her through her “13 colonies.” Unlike the Philippines, which was granted independence by the Americans through peaceful means, the Americans fought for seven years to gain independence from England.

LIFE magazine’s 1987 special on the American Constitution described the climate battle of the war for independence, which was fought 300 autumns ago. “The Revolution was well on its seventh year. On this southeast edge of Yorktown, Virginia, wildflowers now carpet the tranquil meadow that was once stained with soldier’s blood. In August 1781, the British General Charles Cornwallis, with an 8,300-man British force was met by George Washington. With an American-French army of 17,600 Washington’s siege of this hamlet commenced on the afternoon of October 9 and ended on the morning of 17th.”

The war for American independence

A soldier recalls, “A British drummer boy climbed up on a parapet and began beating out Cornwallis’ request for a ceasefire. All around him were soldiers badly injured and mortally wounded by fragments of bombs partly in the air, partly on the ground, their arms or legs severed or themselves struck dead.”

“Two days later, the surviving Redcoats marched somberly into the meadow, their band playing melancholy tunes. Regiment by regiment, they laid down their muskets.”

When the news reached London, the House of Commons voted to stop funding the campaign to retain the 13 colonies. A peace treaty was signed in Paris on September 3, 1783. Having peacefully won their freedom, the colonists were confronted by a problem: In what form would their new nation finally be constituted? Its resolution took another eight years, nearly as long as the revolutionary war itself.

Part II – “Jefferson Literacy and Independence”

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