Amendments, no amendments, amendments, on and on

It’s like plucking out the petals of a flower, he loves me, he loves me not, he loves me and on and on until the flower is gone. That sounds like an unrelated metaphor to the politics of constitutional reform in the Philippines but that is where we are now. It is sad. This is one of the defects of a democratic system of government. But we have to manage that cacophony of interests and come up with decisions in order to act for the majority.

Former Chief Justice Reynato Puno’s advice to Congress to take the safer route is well taken At the same time it might be pointed out that most of our legislators are oligarchs themselves and out to protect the status quo. They do not really want constitutional reform.  But we are faced with a constitutional provision discouraging foreign direct investments and we need foreign investments. It does not mean that there will be no regulatory measures for foreign direct investments. It only means that it will not be in the Constitution. There is a difference.

So former CJ Reynato Puno who is also president emeritus of the Philipppine Constitution Association (Philconsa) speaking before the group said he would rather that we do not “take unnecessary risks.” He is right.

But the legislative route to amendment on foreign investments came about because Congress and the Chief Executive do not want constitutional amendments.

So the problem is how do we enact a constitutional amendment without amending the Constitution? To others frustrated by the stalemate they would rather take the risk. Still others believe that once the first step is taken for constitutional amendment, it will open the door to further amendments. It can be taken as “putting a foot to open the door.”

A legislator once told me that we have a Constitution that is impervious to change. The danger he warned is the risk is that we either  change the constitution or have a revolution.

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It was good to receive an invitation from W-A Miailhe de Burgh to the launch “Of war & peace: Lantakas & bells in search of foundries in the Philippines.” Alain is a historian of French descent who has become a Filipino historian. Thanks to his avid research we will preserve many artifacts of our history and culture. 

“In a 20-year span, we have canvassed some 1,000 culverins (lantakas) including the 500 piece collection of the Sultan of Brunei, then for lack of date & indications, some 300 bells from Batanes islands to Zamboanga to locate some 30 foundries between 1600 and 1900 AD,” he writes. About 20 lantakas will be on display for 3 months at the National Museum from March 4 to May.

The book says that “lantakas” and bells attest to the rich tradition of metallurgy in the Philippines specifically during the Spanish Colonial period.  But how far back in time can we trace the beginning of a local metallurgical tradition? 

 Authors W-A Miailhe de Burgh, Fe B. Mangahas, and Regalado Trota Jose offer new insights on issue in their two-volume publication, “Of War and Peace:  Lantakas and Bells in Search for Foundries in the Philippines.”

The book has succeeded in establishing evidence of foundries of the Spanish Colonial period that may also yield evidence of earlier foundries from which they possibly evolved says the introduction. “A remarkable result of these studies reveal how objects used in seemingly incongruent contexts – in war and peace – potentially have similar, if not entwined, production technologies as illustrated by the melting and conversion of church bells into lantakas in times of war.

“Besides signifying the Filipino valor, lantakas also suggest the existence of a strong regional network of interactions among Southeast Asian communities.  Small swivel guns or cannon that were similar to lantakas were widely used in Southeast Asia particularly Borneo, Indonesia, and Malaysia. Lantakas, however, have the closest resemblance to the bedils of Brunei as evident in some of the pieces featured in this exhibit.”

I never knew that Filipinos made cannons way before Westerners colonized the country. Indeed we learned the technology of “bamboo cannons” from the Chinese.

“It was prevalent in precolonial South East Asia primarily Malaysia, the Philippines and Indonesia.

 â€œThe guns were used to defend against pirates demanding tribute for the local chief, or potentate.”

More interesting is how lantakas were used by the Moro soldiers in the Moro rebellion against US troops in the Philippines. These were also used by Filipino rebels during the Philippine Revolution. The rebellion might not have succeeded but it was not without a fight and using weapons they themselves made.

When Filipinos saw how the Europeans made their cannons with bronze they cast church bells to make more sturdy lantakas.

One cannon founder was a Chinese Filipino named Jose Ignacio Pawa, a blacksmith also.

According to the book’s authors the cannons are now collectors’ items. A lantaka can cost more than $50,000 USD for a single gun.

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It was not on my mind to distinguish between the Chinese in Taiwan, Chinese in the mainland or the Chinese in the Philippines when I wrote about the Tzu Chi Foundation in Strengthening Chinese-Filipino friendship. It contributed one of the largest amount,  more than P1.2 billion for the Haiyan victims and that to me was worth writing about because so few Filipinos would be aware of it.

I re-read my column on Tzu Chi Foundation and I made no distinctions in Filipino-Chinese friendship. 

Nevertheless I am publishing a letter from Peter C.Y. Pan from the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO) in the Philippines that clarifies on the aid.  

“I am writing in response to your Feb. 22 article entitled “The few against the many: Strengthening Filipino-Chinese Friendship.”

Please be advised that the Tzu Chi Foundation is from Taiwan, not from mainland China.

The Tzu Chi Foundation, like many other Taiwan organizations here, has put a lot of relief efforts in coordination with the ROC (Taiwan) government to help victims of Typhoon Haiyan. Below is the website and data for your further reference. You may find that the Tzu Chi Foundation is  this list.

Taiwan and the Philippines have a long term friendship and Taiwan’s help for the Typhoon Haiyan victims has been estimated as a total of around $11.85 million.” And yes, I will be happy to touch base with TECO as I would with any group of Chinese anywhere in the world as friends of the Philippines.