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PUBLISHED: ‘Note Verbale’, Manila Times (Sunday-Career Times) – 2 September 2007 Issue

In the current discussions of the Supreme Court on the writ of amparo (a court order to protect the constitutional rights of a person) to compel state agents to look for missing persons in cases of forced disappearances, there is a move to complement this with the legal process so-called writ of habeas data.

In this modern world, personal data are being collected and obtained on persons with impunity from birth to death.  Nowadays, a person is compelled or obligated to divulge information about himself or herself in the course of his or her personal dealings and day-to-day transactions. Application for government records, services, social security, clearances, permits and licenses as well as availing of third party private services like bank deposits, investments, credit cards, cable and utilities, school admission, employment, medical care, professional services, and similar other transactions too many to mention here would require individuals to reveal their personal information and circumstances. And people are not wary of the disclosure because they are either too busy or lazy to discern their repercussions or perhaps there is a prevailing trust on the integrity of the system of data collection.

But what if these data base systems are utilized by unscrupulous persons or entities to perpetuate some malicious or criminal ends? Who would, and what would, protect ordinary individuals from these types of attacks and exploitation of their privacies?

A legal and judicial process referred to as the ‘writ of habeas data’ exists in some countries precisely to address the concern.  Literally, this Latin term habeas data means “you should have the data”.

Although its form varies from country to country, habeas data is generally a legal relief made available to citizens to protect their individual image, privacy, honor, reputation, information self-determination and freedom of information in a judicial proceeding.

They say that this legal relief is of European origin. For instance, Germany, as early as 1977, has the Persönlichkeitsrecht, a law that covers collection, processing and use of personal data collected by public federal and state authorities, as long as there is no state-regulation, and of non-public offices, as long as they process and use data for commercial or professional aims.  In 1981, there was also the 108th Council of Europe Convention on Data Protection that sought to secure individual privacy regarding the automated processing of personal information.

In 1988, Brazil was the first country in the world to implement habeas data as part of its Constitution. Thereafter, other countries followed suit and adopted it also in their respective constitutions: Colombia in 1991, Paraguay in 1992, Peru in 1993, Argentina in 1994 and Ecuador in 1996. 

Spain, a country that constitutionally recognizes the right to privacy, secrecy of communications and data protection, enacted in 1992 the LORTAD or the “Spanish Data Protection Act” that establishes the rights of the citizens to know the personal data contained in computer files with the right to correct or delete false information. The law requires that personal information may only be disclosed to a third party with the consent of the individual.

Many nations in the world that put premium to privacy rights particularly on the disclosure of personal information have caused the creation of a public office referred to as ‘privacy commissioner or ombudsman”.

As early as 2000, when this author wrote his thesis for the National Defense College of the Philippines (NDCP) on the national identification system, he realized the importance of institutionalizing habeas data in the country’s legal system and the creation of a privacy office, and made them as part of his recommendation.

So the next time someone is kidnapped for ransom or becomes a target of nuisance marketing or a victim of harassment, vexation or even a simple annoyance, the immoral and unethical exploitation and use of personal database systems could easily be identified as the root cause. Meanwhile, it is still perfectly legal to do so.

If the Filipino cannot find immediate refuge from Congress to protect their constitutional right to privacy, perhaps the Supreme Court through its rule-making power could provide the appropriate legal and judicial relief.

LINK: ‘Note Verbale‘, Manila Times (Sunday-Career Section) - 26 August 2007 Issue

Language is the basic norm that defines a society. It is the building block of every community. 

Language plays an important part in the evolution and consolidation of culture. And every time a sovereign nation is born, a common language ordinarily understood and spoken by the people becomes an integral part of the process that defines national identity. Just like the flag and other state symbols, language is always the source of national pride in most countries around the world.

Never mind if foreign visitors or travelers, who are unable to speak, read, or understand the language in country destinations like Japan, Korea, Germany, Italy, Arab states and all other countries that earnestly take pride of their own native tongue, are inconvenienced by the practice. If it is obligatory for foreigners to obey and respect the laws of country destinations, why cannot they oblige themselves to adapt to a foreign national language?   

First world countries like the United Kingdom and the United States have conquered the world efficaciously by consciously or unconsciously influencing people from all walks of life to use English as a standard medium of communication, in the same way that most Latin American counties are predominantly Spanish-speaking because of conquest and people of Chinese descent continue to use their native tongue wherever they are because of their affinity. The extension of these languages to foreign jurisdiction is surely a source of continuing pride to the country origin.

Except for France and its neighboring nations and former territories, the French language has not shown a similar type of dominance in present-day communication. But the French has managed to keep their language officially recognized in international bodies and proceedings like that of the United Nations and the World Trade Organization, and thus enable them to preserve French pride.

Perhaps it a mere coincidence that countries that do not adopt English as an official language but take significant pride of their own national language, like Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Germany, France, Hong Kong, Greece, Israel, Sweden or Portugal, are considered and classified as nations with advanced economies. The only plausible conclusion that can be derived here is that embracing a national language even in a parochial sense is never a hindrance to development and progress.

The Philippine Constitution declares that the country’s national language is ‘Filipino’. But for purposes of communications and instructions, both Filipino and English are recognized as official languages, until such time that a law is passed limiting the official language to Filipino. The same constitution has tasked government to take steps to make of it as a medium of official communication and as a language of instructions in the educational system.

‘Filipino’ as a language has yet to attain a definitive direction. At the moment, Filipino is simply the usual standard version of Tagalog, one of the more than a dozen major regional languages or dialects used all over the country by over a million Filipinos.

The shortfall of the country’s policy and resolve on the eventual evolution of Filipino as a national language is that it is a false hope and a dream that would never come to fruition. 

Since the adoption of the Constitution in 1987, government never lifted a finger to take serious efforts to make Filipino as a medium of official communication and instruction in schools. There are also some misgivings and criticisms from various regional ethnic groups to make Filipino predominantly Tagalog based. In the meantime, Filipino workers are tasked to brush up on their English to land jobs abroad and in call centers. Meanwhile also, Filipino families adopt the language or dialect best suited to them within the comfort of their homes.

The net effect of the current scenario is to have more and more Filipinos who are poor in both English and Filipino. Hence, “taglish” (an informal mix of Tagalog and English) was born and has almost permanently evolved as the unofficial national language.

If language is a measure of national identity and pride, it is a source of great wonder how the Filipinos would fare. If the evolution of a national language is the product of a people’s way of life, the country might as well discard both English and Filipino as official languages and give way to ‘Taglish’. 

Right now, the Philippines is ‘neither here nor there’.

LINK: ‘Note Verbale‘, Manila Times (Sunday-Career Section) - 22 July 2007 Issue

Tomorrow, the 14th Congress of the Philippines begins its regular session with the State of the Nation Address of the President. 

Thereafter, both the Senate and the House of Representatives are expected to pass legislations that would address the pressing needs of the country or perhaps improve the lives of the Filipino people.

Hopefully in the next three years of the 14th Congress, it enacts legislative measures along these lines:

1.  A enabling law that would finally define, prohibit and dismantle political dynasties in the country’s political environment as mandated by the Constitution.

2.  A law that would strengthen political parties by prohibiting and punishing political turncoats, granting state subsidy and funding of major political blocks, and assuring transparency in electoral campaign spending and contribution.

3.  A law that would at least lessen, if not eliminate, red tape in government particularly in the delivery of frontline public services whereby the general public availing of the services of government is treated as kings and queens by the bureaucracy.

4. A law that would define the appropriate land use classification of every piece of the country’s territory taking into account local and regional profiles and settings and make land as a real engine for economic growth.

5. A law that would impose heavy taxation on idle lands to serve the ends of the economy, the environment and social justice. When land is unproductive, its economic and environmental functions are stifled. What is worse is when landowners derive undue profits from their idle possessions through sheer speculative activities.

6.  A law that would grant the Commission on Human Rights and the Commission on Audit quasi-judicial powers or even the authority to prosecute all cases involving government officials and employees that violate laws within their ambit.

7.  A law that would exempt from income taxation employees earning below the yearly poverty threshold as determined by the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), and not merely based on existing minimum wage structures as proposed, and lift taxes or prohibit imposition of charges on small time deposits and investments.

8. A law that would ensure prosecution of tax cheats by prohibiting taxpayers from entering into a compromise with the Bureau of Internal Revenue or the Bureau of Customs after deliberately evading the payment of taxes or duties.
9. A law that would automatically give scholarship to any or all students who demonstrated excellent academic performance in any school of their choice within the Philippines, private or public. 

10. A law that would support, finance, subsidize, or give incentives to Filipino inventors and their inventions.

Of course, this list can go on and on as if there is a shortage of laws in this country.  But the truth is there are tens of thousand of law in the country’s statute books. Many of them are in fact good laws which have long been forgotten or rarely being implemented.

Keen political observers in fact would often say that this country does not need more laws.  What it needs is the difficult task of better and more effective means of demanding obedience to existing laws.

Perhaps, one of the important things that this present Congress should also do is to take an inventory of all the laws of the Republic and start proceeding with the tedious task of codifying them for better implementation.

What Greek philosopher Arcesilaus observed as early as before the birth of Christ, when he said: “Where you find the laws most numerous, there you will find also the greatest injustice” should also provoke the thoughts of Filipino solons. 

It is hoped that the people of this beautiful country still finds sense in the existence of Congress.

LINK: ‘Note Verbale‘, Manila Times (Sunday-Career Section) – 10 June 2007 Issue

It is self-evident that nothing is permanent in this world except change. Ironically, some public concerns in Philippine society today remain either stagnant or perennial. Or perhaps, there were changes but for the worse.

Heavy traffic in the metropolis. Some would say that heavy traffic is actually a sign of progress. It could be true.  But if one closely analyses the bad traffic condition in major thoroughfares, there is actually only the lack of discipline on the part of drivers and pedestrians to blame. Traffic rules and regulations are certainly one of the most violated laws in this country. The strict imposition of traffic discipline would probably solve at least half of the problem.

Tax evasion. The most honest and faithful taxpayers in this country are the ordinary wage income earners.  It is simply because they do not have the flexibility or the schemes to avoid paying their taxes. Taxes are automatically withheld by their employers every time they receive their pay. Unfortunately, paying the right taxes is the least concern of those who could afford to pay and should pay more because they think they have all the legal ammunition to cover their violations. And government lacks the adequate resolve, resources and manpower to run after them. If caught, tax violators know that it is easier and practical to settle amicably and privately than to follow the rules.

Diminishing access to good education.  There is no argument that education is vital to national progress. But every school year, the country has the same concern of lack of classrooms, teachers, and books in public schools, where access to education is supposedly free. There is no telling, on the other hand, when tuition fee increases in private schools, would stop even momentarily. Thousands of private schools mushroomed all over the country over the years because it is one big business. Many parents entice their children in courses where they could easily land a job abroad after graduation. The focus of education in this country is simply employment and not entrepreneurship. Sometimes even the quest for knowledge becomes secondary. The net effect is tens of thousands of Filipino youth graduate every year from many diploma mills.
 
Rising costs of fuel and utilities. The promise of the oil deregulation law is lower prices of fuel. But as they say promises are made to be broken. Oil companies usually blame the high peso-dollar exchange rate for their upward price adjustments for their imported fuel products. And when fuel prices are high, the increased cost of utilities and prices of commodities usually follow. Now that the peso is performing very well against the dollar, prices of fuel continue to upsurge even more.  This sounds illogical, if not irrational.

Electoral fraud. When former President Ramon Del Fierro Magsaysay ran for the presidency in 1953 he knew fully well that the “birds and the gees” voted in Lanao province in Mindanao.  Fifty four years later, they still do but this time in many part of the country.

Lack of a good public health care system. One commercial ad described this issue aptly in the vernacular – “Getting sick is prohibited”. The cost of medicine and hospitalization is becoming more prohibitive and would make an ordinary Filipino want to just die instantly. Social security is weak, benefits are low, and many complain of red tape. Public clinics and hospitals are in a pitiful state. Thus, the drug market is now flooded with herbal medicines and vitamins. But even these supposed preventive and alternative medicines are getting costlier.
 
Graft and corruption. This is the same old problem that continues to hound every political administration since time immemorial to the point that a public discussion of the matter already sounds corny.  

There are other perennial problems confronting Juan and Maria de la Cruz like squatters, beggars in the street, unemployment, and human rights violations.

But who really cares?

LINK: ‘Note Verbale‘, Manila Times (Sunday-Career Section) - 27 May 2007 Issue

The aftermath of the May 14, 2007 midterm election is not actually different from previous polls.
 
Name every provision in the country’s statute books on the conduct of a free, honest, and orderly election and chances are they were all violated. Unfortunately, this litany of poll irregularities is committed with impunity. 

The usual electoral scenario leaves an indelible question to poll observers whether there is still hope in Philippine democracy. Is there?

The interim results of the senatorial race shows that the voters are no longer excited about the celebrity status of the candidates. Tito Sotto, Richard Gomez and Victor Wood are losing miserably. The fact that Senator Ralph Recto is the husband of popular actress and now Batangas governor Vilma Santos did not seem to have much impact on his reelection bid.  Actress Sharon Cuneta on Senator Francis Pangilinan is an entirely different matter because people think that he stood for his principles when he ran independent.
 
The big publicity spenders in the senatorial race were also flatly rejected by the people while Oakwood mutineer Antonio Trillanes IV, who is languishing in jail and hardly had any media exposure, is still in contention. While there is no doubt that media can make or unmake a person’s good image, candidates should learn the lesson that there must be truth in advertising. And the Filipino people had just shown their capacity to discern the truth from falsehood or mere propaganda.

The so-called ‘command votes’ of incumbent political leaders, as well as the endorsements of religious groups who claim to have the strength of numbers by voting in block, also did not matter much in the outcome of the senatorial tally.  Somehow, this is indicative that given the opportunity the present generation of Filipinos tends to vote out of conscience, not out of sheer or blind obedience.

Apparently, candidates from the administration who are making it to the senatorial race are those who are known for their independence, like Senator Joker Arroyo, and performance, like Senator Edgardo Angara. Secretary Mike Defensor, a known loyalist of the president and who has been in the news all year round is in the losing circle.

It seems also that the people are starting to get tired of political dynasties. There is still a possibility that top-notch lawyer Aquilino Pimentel would not join his father and Representative Alan Peter Cayetano may not be with his sister in the Senate. If the people do not mind political dynasties they would have easily put both candidates in the sure winner lists.

On the party-list front, it is a source of wonder why the votes garnered by BANAT led by Raul Lambino, who led the so-called people’s initiative petition to amend the constitution last year, is nowhere the vicinity of the 6.3 million voters who he claimed signed the petition.  Even the BANTAY party-list of reitred General Jovito Palparan is still fighting for its life, maybe because of the alleged human rights violations associated with him while still in the military service.

On the local contests, it is true that there is no real big change in political leadership. This may be due to the failure of non-administration parties to put up candidates in many areas. Also, for the local constituency, it is always a case of who can best deliver the goods for them, a case of voting smart so to speak.

But given the option, like in the case of Pampanga, where Catholic priest Eddie Panlilio fought against the almost impenetrable political machinery incumbent Governor Mark Lapid and Board Member Lilia Pineda, the people would not hesitate to express their conscience on their votes.

Representative Darlene Antonino Custodio, who belongs to a political family in General Santos City, routed the most popular Filipino today, boxer Manny Pacquiao. And it was a choice between mere popularity without any real political agenda as against a political dynasty with a proven track record in public service.

All these point to the growing sensitivity of the Filipino people for political change.  Who knows, the world might be in for one big political surprise come 2010.

LINK: ‘Note Verbale‘, Manila Times (Sunday-Career Section) - 4 March 2007 Issue

The mid-term election fever is very much in the air. And many of those vying and in competition to win the polls for another mandate are the same faces who made politics a life long career.

Despite the term limits imposed by the Constitution, it is rarity for these old guards in Philippine politics to yield their vested interests over an elective post to pave the way for fresh leadership. They will continue to perpetuate themselves in power through their alter egos in the persona of their spouses, children, siblings or immediate relatives, or maybe after ensuring themselves of getting appointed to another sensitive or juicy government post by virtue of a political tit for tat.

It is no longer a source of wonder why many of the country’s politicians would do whatever it takes to remain in power. They would spend a fortune to fund extravagant electoral campaigns and political dole-outs. Some would not mind employing dirty tricks and unlawful schemes or resorting to intimidation, force or even political killings just to ensure poll victory.

If there is any rational or logical explanation for all of this display of ‘political will’ on the part of the candidates, it is simply because politics is a lucrative career.

Of course, the standard line of the typical politician is to the contrary. They seek public office to serve the country and its people, or to alleviate the plight of the poor and the down-trodden, or get rid of corruption. All of these though are pure lip service. At the end of the day, nothing really significant would change in the lives of their constituencies. Proof of this is the fact that the usual problems and concerns facing the country that are being tackled every election campaign remains almost the same interminable and long-standing issues. 

But by taking a second look at many politicians and political families and comparing the extent of their wealth and fortune today from that of elections ago, there would be a remarkable difference in most cases. And this is a source of great wonder especially in a theoretical situation where statutory defined government pay and amenities for elective public positions are not really commensurate with the huge amount of political investments put in to earn the votes.

Notwithstanding the practical realities, no politician who has been in office for the longest time did ever become poor or miserable and would give up political ambitions for such a reason.

The return of investments in a political career is quicker, very tempting, and apparently much easier compared to a savvy businessman who would engage in serious entrepreneurship. And every ‘political entrepreneur’ would know that recovery at the very least of political investments is next to impossible, except through kickbacks or payoffs in government transactions, or in the form of protection, lobby or retainer money from unscrupulous supporters whose economic interest, legitimate or otherwise, might be in jeopardy, or via the various business opportunities using other people’s money that become easily accessible or instantaneously available to a person in power or authority.

Some would argue the point that when they entered politics they were already rich but would hide the fact that it also made them richer by a mile afterwards.

The motive is easily discernible why people would cling to political power, themselves or through their kin, or stage a political comeback after some period of hibernation from an electoral defeat.

On a positive note however, it is also comforting to know that there are also virtuous politicians in the midst of it all. But they are a rarity and would usually and understandably vanish from the public view as quickly as they get in.

There is no reason to get envious though. For those who are seriously thinking of starting a lucrative career, there are more than 17,000 elective positions at stake in both the national and local level on May 14, 2007.

But take note that the deadline for application is on March 29.

LINK: ‘Note Verbale‘, Manila Times (Sunday-Career Section) - 25 February 2007 Issue

Today is the 21st anniversary of the ‘EDSA People Power Revolution’ that toppled the regime of former President Ferdinand E. Marcos.

But other than being a public holiday with government-sponsored festivities, this revolution is slowly losing its luster in the hearts and minds of the Filipino people.

“Regretfully, the prevailing view is that EDSA was no big deal … that EDSA is no longer that important seems more and more the conventional wisdom … as the event recedes into the fog of history,” said former President Fidel V. Ramos, a key player in this historical event. 

What is the big deal about People Power when there is unabated corruption in public governance, when government merely pays lip service to violations of human rights, when the economic conditions of the country continue to favor the rich than the poor, when the suffrage remains subservient to electoral cheating or political patronage and getting elected to public office is reduced to a mere popularity contest, in addition to traditional rule of political dynasties?

More than two decades after the EDSA revolution, many of the same faces under the Marcos regime are still in power, only death perhaps would make them vanish from the political limelight. The new faces on the other hand simply and conveniently assumed the ugly faces and the usual ways of their old counterpart.

Twenty one years is not even enough to sustain a final conviction of the so-called Marcos cronies and put them where they finally belong at the national penitentiary. The recovery of the alleged ill-gotten wealth is still mired in a complicated process of litigation. 

All of these are the promises that EDSA failed to keep. And as years go by, there is little hope that these promises will ever be fulfilled.

With People Power, the Filipino people had that once in a lifetime opportunity for dramatic social transformation and wide-ranging political reforms. But they missed the chance very miserably either because all the post-EDSA governments did not have the political will or the people of this country are morally weak or even innately lackadaisical in preserving their gains.

Perhaps some political observers are correct in saying that what this country needs is a benevolent dictator in the concept of an ‘enlightened despot’ of ancient Greek philosopher Plato. With a dictator, political will prevails over rules and people are driven to follow. The only problem with the set-up is that it is grossly subjective. A government of men and not of laws would always be a shaky condition.

Erstwhile President Corazon C. Aquino could have been the enlightened despot the country needed at the onset of her revolutionary regime. But it is not in her mettle and so she chose the difficult path of restoring and re-building democratic processes and institutions. In any case, it would also be difficult to imagine for the people then to accept a tyrannical rule after overthrowing a tyrant.

More than twenty years later, the 1986 People Power is simply just another historic fairy tale except that it did not have an ending where Filipinos lived happily ever after. Even its 2001 sequel did not make any difference on the status quo. 
  
The next time that the people wake up to call for social and political reforms, it could be a bloody confrontation among compatriots, a cleansing process that was wanting, they say, in the bloodless coup of 1986 for the Filipino people to hold sacred the value of freedom and democracy and everything that they represent.

People power – is there really such a thing? Or is it just a broken dream?

Illegitimate children, as a general rule, shall use the surname and shall be under the parental authority of their mother. But pursuant to the ”Act Allowing Illegitimate Children to Use the Surname of their Father” (R. A. 9255 – approved: 24 February 2004), which amended Article 176 of the Family Code, illegitimate children may however use the surname of their father if their filiation has been expressly recognized by the father through the record of birth appearing in the civil register, or when an admission in a public document or private handwritten instrument is made by the father. The father however has the right to institute an action before the regular courts to prove non-filiation during his lifetime.

LINK: ‘Note Verbale‘, Manila Times (Sunday-Career Section) - 28 January 2007 Issue

While the country gears up for the midterm national and local elections, the season for the race to the US presidency in 2008 also began.

The Democratic Party, perhaps one of the oldest political parties in the world whose origin can be traced back as early as 1792, is pitting two exciting figures in its election primary, senators Barack Hussein Obama Jr. of Illinois and Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton of New York.

Either of them winning the party nomination and eventually the US presidency would make a first in that country’s history. 

Obama may yet become the first black president of his country and now at the age of 45 could be the second youngest after assassinated President John F. Kennedy. Clinton, on the other hand, could be the first woman president of the US, the first former First Lady to become one, and the first woman to be nominated to the presidency by a major political party.

Obama was born in Hawaii. He is only the fifth African American senator in US history and the only one of such breed serving at the US Senate at present. His father, a Kenyan, died in a car accident when he was twenty-one years old. His mother Ann Dunham of Kansas, who divorced Obama Sr. when he was two years old, re-married an Indonesian and died of cancer in 1995 several months after he published his book, Dreams from My Father. He has written other books one of which is about his political convictions entitled: The Audacity of Hope that remained in New York Times list of best sellers since its publication in 2006.

Four years of Obama’s childhood were spent in Indonesia attending Catholic and Muslim schools. He graduated magna cum laude at the Harvard Law School and first gained national recognition when he was elected as the first African American president of Harvard Law Review, the oldest operating student-edited law review in America. After becoming a lawyer, he briefly became active in a voters’ registration drive, worked for a civil rights law firm, and taught constitutional law in Chicago until his election as senator in 2004.

They say that many Americans are drawn by Obama’s everyman image and broad appeal because in his own words “people project their hopes on him”.

Clinton, as everyone knows, is the wife of former US President Bill Clinton, who involved herself in policy making primarily on health care during her husband’s tenure, departing from the traditional role played by First Ladies. When she won a Senate seat in 2000, Clinton became the First Lady to seek public office and became the first woman senator of New York.

Clinton was born in Chicago. As a student, Clinton had already shown her academic brilliance, her mettle as a student leader, and her passion for political life and causes. Like her husband, she graduated from the Yale Law School where she served on the Board of Editors of Yale Review of Law and Social Action.

In 1996, Clinton authored a book entitled: It Takes a Village: And Other Lessons Children Teach Us that became a best-seller. Her 2003 memoir Living History sold more than one million copies in the first month following publication. In the latter book, she explained that love is the reason why she chose to stay with Bill during the Monica Lewinsky scandal in 1998.

Magazines Time and Forbes had placed Clinton as among the most powerful figure in today’s world.

Just like the drama of world tennis championship, Obama and Clinton unfortunately will not battle it out in the finals because they will have to knock each other out early on.

Wanted: Obamas and Clintons in Philippine politics.

PUBLISHED: ‘Note Verbale‘, Manila Times (Sunday-Career Section) – 17 December 2006 Issue

After the defeat of the people’s initiative in the hands of the magistrates of the Supreme Court, the gung-ho minions of Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. at the House of Representatives practically took advantage of their number in the majority coalition to push for the amendment or revision of the Constitution through a confutative constituent assembly.

From the theoretical standpoint, the move seems justified from the context of a democratic framework. Firstly, congressmen are supposedly the direct representative and the voice of the people in state affairs and governance. Secondly, the principle of ‘majority rule’ has always been the decisive factor in determining the popular will in a democracy.

Representative Douglas Cagas of Davao del Sur captured this sense during the marathon con-ass sessions in reaction to the protestations of spectators when he said for the record: “The point is that we’re lawmakers, and you’re not.” x x x x “Mr. Speaker, before we vote, there will always be differing opinions… That is accorded in a democracy [but] let us exercise our numbers. After all, these debates have been done before,”

But just like a breeze of fresh air these concepts of representation and the rule of majority may be rendered impure by personal and vested interests of the elected representatives.

An elected represented may conveniently disregard the will of his constituency and substitute it with his own and still invoke that his stand on public issues is the voice of the people. What is worse is when the stand is hidden as always under the cloak of promoting the national interest.

The majority of the representatives may patiently allow the voices of dissent to be heard but would never care to listen at all at the end of the day knowing fully well that the die is cast anyway. What is worse is when established rules and precedents are twisted to accomplish the objective and still invoke constitutional adherence and the rule of law.

Christian Monsod, one of the framers of the present Constitution, said that it is precisely for the reason that the 1986 Constitutional Commission adopted the principle that “(T)he Philippines is a democratic and republican state.” The insertion of the word ‘democratic’ is to put emphasis on the active and direct role of the people in the life of the nation.

To boost its arguments for a judicial consideration of the people’s initiative, Sigaw ng Bayan argued along the same line that the Supreme Court should not disregard the signatures of more than six million Filipinos desiring charter change. But where is the popular clamor of those who supposedly signed the petition for people’s initiative now that all moves to change the constitution are dead? 

Even before the people could gather today in a prayer rally in Luneta organized by religious groups and civil society, the majority coalition of Speaker Jose de Venecia in the House of Representatives and President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo had already declared the death of their constitutional initiatives at this time. It could be an effort to thwart the political storm of a people power or to show sensitivity to the popular will or both.  Whatever is the reason is moot.

As the Filipino people gather today in prayer to defend constitutional democracy in this country, the following exhortation from Thomas Jefferson, former US President and principal author of his nation’s Declaration of Independence, sometime in 1810 may be in point:

“A strict observance of the written laws is doubtless one of the high duties of a good citizen, but it is not the highest. The laws of necessity, of self- preservation, of saving our country when in danger, are of higher obligation. To lose our country by a scrupulous adherence to written law would be to lose the law itself, with life, liberty, property, and all those who are enjoying them with us; thus absurdly sacrificing the end to the means.”