Don Paulino Gullas and the Constitutional amendments

The issue of how the Constitution can be amended, the giving of autonomy to local government units, deciding the term of the president, all these are not new as these were debated almost a century ago.

The Tydings-McDuffie Law-sponsored 1935 Constitution underwent an amendment, this was four years after its ratification by the Filipino people as the first Democratic Constitution ever drafted.

First to echo its opposition was the Cebuano delegate of the 1934 Constitutional Convention and Assemblyman of the newly formed republic under Manuel L. Quezon, the first president to be elected, on September 16, 1935.

The arguments of Don Paulino Gullas, the founding publisher of The FREEMAN (1919) and first registrar of the University of the Philippines Cebu, said his words, recorded in the magazine Free Press:

"Only a few days ago a straw vote conducted by the FREE PRESS, a non-partisan and widely read weekly in the Philippines concluded, the result was against reelection. Of course, it is not an absolute indication of how the public will vote. But it clearly shows which way the wind blows. It is a barometer of the sentiment of the people. Like a finger on the pulse, it counted, as it were the heartbeats of the nation.

"If that is not sufficient, two months ago, a debating team from the University of the Philippines toured the country from north to south, from east to west. The members of that team will tell you that in practically every town, the home team selected to defend the negative side of the question of presidential reelection. They will tell you that the public reaction in practically every city they visited was decidedly against the reelection of the President.

"What does it all mean? It means that the public wants you to give the Constitution a fair trial. They want the Constitution to reflect the stability, not the instability of our government, they want the Constitution to be permanent and not transitory, and not reflecting the passing whims of the leader or party that may happen in power."

The National Assembly (which reverted to unicameral as the 1935 Constitution) with its members called the Assemblymen, and three district delegates and the governors constituted the constitutional convention. It was opened on July 6, 1939 by Speaker Jose Yulo. Don Paulino Gullas who was appointed by Assemblyman Hilario Abellana faced ejection by the party officials but the ouster was too late. However, the voice of Gullas was overshadowed by the majority of the delegates who were given instruction to favor the amendment especially on the reelection of the president.

In the original 1935 Constitution the president only had one term of six years and the amendment was to change it to two four-year periods. It also revived the old bicameral legislature and the revision of local governments to make them more responsible and efficient. The amendments sought by Quezon and his partymates were all approved and ratified by the Filipino people.

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