TITA C. VALDERAMA

FEBRUARY 2 is Constitution Day in the Philippines. It marks the anniversary of the ratification of the present Constitution 30 years ago. However, many of us Filipinos do not seem to appreciate the significance of the date.

The Constitution is an important document. It is the fundamental law of the land.

It is disheartening to get answers like “land reform” or “agrarian reform” when I ask students what the basic law of the land is. Very few, less than 10 percent, get the correct answer.

Perhaps that explains why most of us seem to be more interested to know what is in store for us in the Year of the Dog under the Chinese calendar than what our future will be under a federal system of government once the present Constitution is amended.

Perhaps it is because the Chinese New Year celebration is too commercialized while efforts to amend the Constitution are too politicized.

Proclamation No. 211, series of 1988, declared February 2 of every year as Constitution Day “to instill in the hearts and minds of the Filipino people the democratic principles and the noble and lofty ideals enshrined in the Constitution.”

It was intended “to give the Filipino people the opportunity to consecrate and dedicate themselves to the Constitution and ponder on (its) the significance.”

Since 1987, several attempts to tinker with the Constitution have failed. The current Congress is again trying not just to amend but to promulgate a new Constitution that will adopt a federal system of government.

In 2006, the issue even reached the Supreme Court when the Arroyo administration tried to convert the unitary presidential system of government to a deferral parliamentary system. The high court, however, struck down the attempt to effect the change via people’s initiative, citing the absence of an enabling law to implement the constitutional provision on the chosen mode.

The initiators had a difficult time pursuing Cha-cha via constitutional convention or constituent assembly because the Senate refused to participate in the process.

This time, President Duterte’s allies at the House of Representatives managed to pass a resolution for Charter change via constituent assembly, but the opposition in the Senate is providing some uncertainty that it could push through.

Two weeks ago, Duterte appointed 19 members to the consultative committee that will review the 1987 Constitution. But the Senate and the House of Representatives will have to draft the new Charter. The Filipino voters are supposed to have the last say on this when the proposed changes are presented in a plebiscite later on.

The 1987 Constitution is far from being perfect. It has numerous provisions that had the phrases “unless otherwise provided by law” and “as may be provided by law.” And in the last 30 years since it was ratified, Congress has failed to cure those deficiencies.

This is why Christian Monsod, a member of the 50-person Constitutional Commission that drafted the 1987 Charter, blames legislators for the problems that have been attributed to the defects in the Constitution.

“The problem is not the Constitution but the legislators who slept on the job for 30 years to fully implement it. Or when reform legislation was passed, [they]made sure it was watered down and under-funded. This is a legislature that wants to rewrite the Constitution,” said Monsod, also a former chairman of the Commission on Elections (Comelec), when he spoke at the Senate hearing on Charter change on February 1.

Ordinary citizens seem to have lost interest in the issue of Charter change because of the motives of those behind the efforts to amend it. Statements from political leaders indicate vested interests are behind those pursuing the changes.

While proponents have been dangling the need to open up protectionist provisions to attract foreign investments, the distasteful intent to prolong their term reveals their real motive in pushing Charter change.

If the 1987 Constitution needs to be changed, the qualifications for public office should come first. We are in dire need of public officials who abide by the rule of law, not those who find ways to break laws.

Voters should also appreciate the very important right and privilege guaranteed in the Constitution, the right to vote. We won’t get the efficient government we need if we keep on taking for granted our right to choose candidates who don’t deserve the privilege of serving the people.