The Four-eyed Journal » Charter change

Charter Change: Unicameral or Bicameral congress

jhay — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 14:40:14 +0000

Earlier this afternoon, in our mock Constitutional Convention, the assembly convened as a committee of the whole, took up tackled briefly the issue of whether or not the Philippine legislative department be switched from the present bicameral congress into a unicameral congress.

It was proposed to switch to a unicameral congress for the following reasons that I can best recall:

Faster enactment of laws – since there would only be one single body to deliberate and pass legislation.
A closer cooperation between the Executive and Legislative branches of the government.

While the above mentioned reasons are meritorious, I cannot help but beg to disagree because of the prevailing political landscape in the Philippines. With Congress and the government itself being a dominated by a ruling elite oligarchy, fusing congress into a unicameral body would only fuse and further concentrate political power into their hands. It will drown out and totally silence the voice of the poor Filipinos who make up more than 50% of the total population.

Against this back drop, the beauty of a bicameral congress comes into play. For a clear illustration, allow me to quote the reasons adopted by the 1986 Constitutional Commission which drafted the present 1987 Constitution as enumerated by one of its renowned members, Fr. Joaquin Bernas, SJ*:

an upper house is a body that looks at problems from the national perspective and thus serves as a check on the parochial tendency of a body elected by districts,

bicameralism allows for a more careful study of legislation, and

bicameralism is less vulnerable to attempts of the executive to control the legislature.

Looking back at how the combination of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo controlling of the Executive branch while her loyal cabal dominating the House of Representatives has plunged our country into deeper divisions, poverty, crises and basically screwed us all, the picture of a unicameral congress dominated by them would be a like jumping from the frying pan straight into hell.

This is the very reason why the people have resisted her machinations into amending the Constitution many times over during her term. And this is still the very same reason why the people have become weary of her becoming a member of the House of Representatives, along with her cabal of traditional politicians, which is another shot at pushing through with Charter change for their own selfish interests.

Sadly, this fact was forgotten by my classmates when they overwhelmingly voted for the proposal to switch from the present bicameral congress into a unicameral one.

Fortunately, the rules of Parliamentary procedure are in the minority’s side, those who oppose the proposal, because we can move for reconsideration of the adoption on the grounds that the issue was not thoroughly debated on due to time constraints. A maneuver I will attempt to accomplish come Thursday’s session.

If it was up to you, what would you prefer? A unicameral congress or the present system we have, a bicameral congress?

*Bernas, SJ, J. G. (2006, February 13). Jointly or separately. Philippine Daily Inquirer,

Charter Change at DLSU-D

jhay — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 03:35:25 +0000

Election season has pushed the burning topic of Charter Change to the back burner with the electorate and the public being fed with propaganda from candidates that the problems of our country stems from the obscene and systematic corruption in our government.

That’s not the case in our Parliamentary Procedures course as starting tomorrow, we officially convene our class into a mock Constitutional Convention tasked with the solemn duty of revising the 1987 Constitution of our Republic.

It’s an exercise for us to practice what we’ve learned in Parliamentary procedures which every good student of Political Science should know by heart. We’ve been divided into committees focused on major parts of the Constitution with myself being the Chairman of the Committee on National Economy and Patrimony.

It may not be my favorite committee but it’s an opportunity to protect the economy of the Philippines from the ravages of globalization and international ‘free’ trade. Also to conserve and reserve the resources of the Philippines for Filipinos. It all means that provisions that remove the restrictions on foreign ownership of land will not pass as on my watch. I’m not saying that we close-off the country to foreign trade and commerce, but the whole point is retain the “Filipino first” policy in the Constitution.

The only changes that need to be inserted would be a provision to include principles of sustainable development as part of the national economic policies especially now in this times of changing global climate and the need to preserve our natural resources.

The other changes I’d like to propose to the Constitution would be to strengthen the Constitutional Commissions like the Commission on Human Rights so that it would have the ‘teeth’ to protect victims of rights abuses and enforce laws that protect our civil, political and human rights.

Strengthening the Office of the Ombudsman would also be my priority. I’d like to have the Ombudsman selected not by Presidential appointment so as to achieve more independence and impartiality in doing its job of going after erring and corrupt officials.

Luckily, the minority bloc of the Consultative Commission called by Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo produced a more acceptable draft of a new Constitution, one that opposes the creation of a Parliamentary government thus avoiding the further consolidation of political and economic power in the ruling elite of our society.

ConCom Minority Draft

The important features of their draft Constitution that I find acceptable are:

Incorporation of the UN Declaration of Universal Human Rights into the Bill of Rights
Radical reform of the Judiciary for efficiency and stability in the law
Strengthening of the Commission on Human Rights and Ombudsman

It starkly differs from the majority version which was what has been pushed by the Arroyo administration since 2005 which focuses more on setting up a Parliamentary government and opening up our economy to foreigners.

I don’t know whom among my classmates would advocate the same proposals. What interests me is their reasoning and of course, how they would stand up to my opposition. Nonetheless it would be a fun and an enlightening exercise. Hopefully, we would be able to finish the revision on time and present a draft Constitution for the public’s consumption so that when the talk focuses once more on Charter Change, we Political Science students of DLSU-D would have given a valuable share in the national debate.

House calls for a Constituent Assembly

jhay — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 11:19:50 +0000

The news had already broken out in the final hours of June 2nd, 2009. The House of Representatives passed House Resolution 1109 which calls for a constituent assembly to propose amendments or revision of the 1986 Constitution.

Just like how the House majority disposed of the Impeachment complaints against their master, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, they used their sheer numbers in rail-roading the said resolution.

That despite the truth that there are other key pieces of legislation that has been languishing in the Lower House, like the right of reply bill and the extension of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP).

This dastardly act proves once more how rotten, corrupt and self-serving the present government is. They’re really bent on moving heaven and earth just to perpetuate themselves in power.

All the previous talk in the media of House key figures like Luis Villafuerte about how the Cha-cha express was halted because of the lack of time was just all that. All talk but more so, they were all just lies! Something that has been one of the defining attributes of this present dispensation.

They have even kept the mantra of saying that Cha-Cha does not mean the extension of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s stay in power but again, this has been proven to be nothing but bull as mentioned by Cavite Rep. Cavite Rep. Elpidio Barzaga Jr. when he was asked about that particular possibility. His reply was this:

“Everything is possible, but it depends on the sound judgment of our colleagues,”

Sound judgement? Well we’ve already seen the things brought about by their “sound judgments” and all we could expect from this particular passing of HR 1109 that nothing good will ever come out of it.

So once more, I urge all the good thinking Filipinos, wherever they are, to stand and oppose this kind of Charter Change.

Oppose this kind of Charter Change that will perpetuate Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in power!

Oppose this kind of “sound judgement” that will rape our Constitution!

Oppose this kind of politics that benefit only those who are already in power!

If we want to be true to the pledges we ourselves have made that are geared towards the good of our country, now is the time to put those convictions into action.

Show your opposition to the Constituent Assembly

Youth groups will protest today, 11:30 AM assembly at Bustillos Church, near LRT2 Legarda in Sampaloc, Manila then march to Mendiola to condemn railroading of Con-Ass resolution

UP students can converge earlier at AS (Palma Hall) Lobby at around 10 AM, then proceed together to the protest venues.

Later this afternoon at 1:00pm, students from all over Metro Manila will converge in front of the St. Peter’s Church along Commonwealth Ave to protest against and denounce the passage of HR 1109 and the delay of the approval of more important bills.

This is the continuation of our long struggle to restore good governance and effect more meaningful changes in our country.

Watch and Pray photos

jhay — Tue, 19 Dec 2006 05:11:53 +0000

Finally, I was able to write something and post our photos from the “Watch and Pray” prayer rally led by the CBCP last Sunday at the Quirino Grandstands, Rizal Park. I went there with my fellow Lasallian student volunteers, a couple of faculties from the LCDC office and our friends from the Campus Ministry Office, we were the contingents from the De La Salle University – DasmariÃ±as. We left Cavite at around lunch time and arrived at the Quirino grandstand some time before 3 o’clock. After having a short tussle with the parking security, we took a short pee break and then started to look for a spot to stay for the rest of the afternoon. We tried our luck to get seats in the grandstand but we were not given special IDs so we had to settle with staying out on the fields. A bit dismayed, we walked on to find our fellow Lasallians from the College of Saint Benilde amassed on the concrete road directly in front of the stage. Short greetings and recognitions as Lasallians, we then decided to camp out there, little did we know that we were standing right behind the reserved seats for the politicians and other big personalities in our society.

Aside from standing side by side with fellow Lasallians, other students from religious schools, colleges and universities, we were also alongside followers of the El Shaddai group. They were clad in their white dresses with matching head pieces. Together, we all stayed on and waited for the program to start despite the sweltering afternoon sun.

We were told by our instructors not to wonder off so I failed to get a real good look at the size of the crowd gathered but from where we stood, you could turn on a complete circle and you’d be drowned by the multitudes of people around. From students to nuns and priests, to the ministers to the street vendors, even the bodyguards of politicians, it was a well represented crowd. A lot has been talked about the size of the crowd, Sir Manolo Quezon has a good wraps on this little arguing over the number of people who attended and its implications. It wasn’t a people power movement so one could say that numbers would not really matter since the crowd was made of groups from almost every sector of the society. The left-leaning groups were there from start to finish. Even ordinary folk from the surrounding area, the malls and offices came to join in. Like the Bishops had said, “it’s the quality, not the quantity” that proved that the event was a success. Successful in terms of getting the message across, powerful messages at that.

It came from Cardinal Rosales himself; “character change” and not charter change. More importantly, change within the COMELEC. All these were applauded and cheered on by the crowd. Another message that was sent to every trapo and corrupt self-serving monster in the House of Representatives and MalacaÃ±ang is that, the Church and the citizenry have nearly had it. Stop and desist from all crooked things that you are doing and get your acts together, not for your selves but for the people.

Don’t assume for a minute that just because it’s the holiday season, the people would take things from you on bended knees and arms wide open. You are all dead wrong. The gathering at Rizal Park last Sunday is just but a taste of what’s prepared to face you all in case you try to screw up this country again. Now please don’t dangle that clause in the Charter you’re dying to change for yourselves, that establishes the separation of the Church and the State; for there is one dictum I’m sure you all have been taught at college or law school; Vox populi, vox dei – the voice of the people is the voice of God.

Now, for some photos

On another note

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