Constitutional reforms we need

Yesterday I was honored to have Bohol Governor Arthur C. Yap for my second Zoom interview on my TV talkshow Straight from the Sky. Bohol is part of Region-7 and yes, unlike Cebu, which is the longest lockdown on record, Bohol only had one fatality in the four months they were on lockdown and very few infections. Gov. Yap attributed this to the obedience of Boholanos to the mandate that the IATF made for them, where they only shut down their ferry services and the airport in Panglao.

Bohol continues to go on face mask, social distancing and washing of hands, but most of their businesses remain open. Even their public transportation never stopped. Even last May, during the fiesta month, Bohol celebrated their fiestas, but without inviting people living outside Bohol. So kudos Gov. Yap for doing a great job protecting the people of Bohol!

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With the country’s dire economic situation these days, worsened by the reality that the world is really having global pandemic COVID-19… this means that in the next phase of our lives we would be living in what we call the “new normal.” I read in the news that despite the threat from COVID-19, over 1,000 municipal mayors will campaign for the Duterte administration to push for constitutional reforms, as these would supposedly empower local government units.

Apparently that report came from the national president of the League of Municipalities of the Philippines (LMP) and Narvacan, Ilocos Sur Mayor Chavit Singson who said last Friday that some 1,488 mayors were particularly interested in two constitutional amendments that would help them attain economic and social progress in their respective localities. An LMP Resolution was sent to Interior Secretary Eduardo Año, which endorses a proposal to institutionalize the so-called Mandanas Ruling of the Supreme Court in the Constitution and the lifting of restrictions on foreign investment in industries that are presently limited to Filipinos.

While I submit that these are issues that the local government units (LGUs) want… however if we are talking about constitutional reform we should include the type of government we should have. Should we go for parliamentary or a federal-parliamentary type of change in our system of governance? Right now thanks to the 1987 Constitution we have a presidential form of governance, but with political parties that are better suited to be in a parliamentary government.

Then we should ask you to consider going for a unicameral form of government in order to save funds. I’m been saying that our 24 Senators have prepared for themselves an P8.9 billion office building that for me and many of our readers is nothing but a total waste of funds! In the coming new normal we want a government that gives more funds to our poverty stricken people many of whom have lost their jobs due to this pandemic.

What about the issue of political dynasties? I read an article from Asian Politic & Police (APP) entitled “The effect of political dynasties on effective democratic governance” evidence from the Philippines.

To determine whether dynastic presence has a positive or detrimental effect on good governance, we examined the House of Representatives, an institution where more than 60 percent of its members have been dominated by such clans since the restoration of democracy in 1987.

Specifically, we tested whether provinces dominated by established families are more likely to bring higher levels of pork barrel allocations to their provinces. The findings show how provinces dominated by clans are less likely to experience good governance in terms of (a) infrastructure development, (b) spending on health, (c) prevalence of criminality, (d) full employment, and (e) the overall quality of governance. The implications of the empirical analyses convey that political dynasties have deleterious effects in terms of the allocation of public goods, even if their presence induces higher levels of congressional earmarks.”

At this point, I would like to begin by asking the members of the constitutional reforms committee to immediately reduce the salaries of our Congressmen and Senators to the levels of private firms. I’d like to point out during this lockdown period that so many Filipinos lost their jobs and no longer enjoy the wages they used to earn. But the only Filipinos not affected by the pandemic are our Senators and Congressmen. So if these people won’t learn to sacrifice like most Filipinos are doing… then we should no longer vote for them anymore! So if you are thinking of constitutional reform either you think the way I do or just leave things alone!

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