Philippine Constitutional Convention of 1971

The Philippine Constitutional Convention of 1971 was called to change the 1935 Constitution of the Philippines.

The delegates were elected on November 10, 1970, and the convention itself was convened on June 1, 1971. It was marked by controversies, including efforts to uphold term limits for incumbent President Ferdinand Marcos, and a bribery scandal in which 14 people, including First Lady Imelda Marcos, of briging delegates to favor the Marcoses.

Marcos' declared Martial Law in September 1972, and had 11 opposition delegates arrested. The remaining opposition delegates forced to go either into exile or hiding. Within two months, an entirely new draft of the constitution was created from scratch by a special committee.

The 1973 constitutional plebiscite was called to ratify the new consititution but the validity of the ratification was brought to questioned because Marcos replaced the method of votation through secret ballot with a system of viva voce voting by "citizen's assemblies." The ratification of the constitution was challenged in what came to be known as the Ratification Cases.

Background

The 1935 Constitution

By the middle of the 1930s, the end of the American occupation of the Philippines was supposed to be in sight. In 1934 the US had approved a ten-year plan for the Philippines' transition from a commonwealth to a fully independent nation state, based on the Jones act of 1916. One of the preconditions for this independence was the creation of "a stable democratic government" based on the American model of governance, rather than being based on the French Model as the Malolos consititution had been.[1]

Although World War II got in the way of the transition plan and a puppet consititution was put in place by the Japanese Imperial Army from 1943 until the defeat of the Japanese forces in 1944, the Philippines was granted independence on July 4, 1946. Upon independence, the 1935 constitution came into effect, featuring a government structure very similar to that of the United States: an executive branch with a President who would could be elected to a maximum of two four-year terms; a bicameral legislature consisting of a congress and a senate; and an independent judicial branch.[1]

The campaign to change the 1935 Constitution

In 1967, the executive branch was headed by the tenth president, Ferdinand Marcos. Expressing opposition to the administration policies and citing rising discontent over wide inequalities in society,[2] critics of Ferdinand Marcos began campaigning to change a consititution which they said had been written under the dominion of the country's former colonial overlords.[3] On March 16 of that year, the Philippine Congress constituted itself into a Constituent Assembly and passed Resolution No. 2, which called for a Constitutional Convention to change the 1935 Constitution.[4]

Marcos surprised his critics by endorsing the move, and it was later revealed that the resulting Consitituional Convention would lay the foundation for the legal justifications Marcos would use to extend his term past the two four-year terms allowable under the 1935 Constitution.[2]

Convention leadership and members

Former Philippine President Carlos P. Garcia was sworn in as the President of the Constitutional Convention on the day the convention was convened, but he died thirteen days after taking oath. Former President Diosdado Macapagal replaced Garcia.[5] Sotero H. Laurel served as the President Pro-Tempore of the convention.[6]

Other prominent delegates included former Senators Raul Manglapus and Roseller T. Lim. Other delegates would become influential political figures including Hilario Davide, Jr., Marcelo Fernan, Sotero Laurel, Aquilino Pimentel, Jr., Teofisto Guingona, Jr., Raul Roco, Edgardo Angara, Richard Gordon, Margarito Teves and Federico Dela Plana.[2][6]

The "Ban the Marcoses" provision

Even as far back as 1967 when the creation of the Constitutional Convention was proposed, opposition politicians feared that Marcos would use the convention as a way to stay in power beyond the two four-year terms allowed him by the 1935 constitution. Because of these fears, the original resolution in congress which called for the convention had a provision that would have required the proposed new Constitution to have a provision prevenging Marcos or his wife Imelda from running for office after the end of his term in 1973.[2](p"132") The provision was shot down in congress by a narrow vote.[2]

Members of the opposition who were elected to be Constitutional Convention delegates nevertheless proposed such "Ban the Marcoses" Provisions during the deliberations of the convention.[2]

Soon after the Constitutional Convention was convened, 176 of the 206 delegates signed a resolution by Delegate Napoleon Rama which called for a ban on the Marcoses. Later, the Committee on Suffrage and Election Reforms, chaired by Raul Manglapus, drafted a resolution[2] which read:

"No person who has served as President of the Philippines shall be eligible to occupy the same office or that of chief minister or chief executive any time in the future, nor shall his spouse or relatives to the second degree by consanguinity or affinity be eligible to occupy the same office during any unexpired portion of his term or in one immediately succeeding term.[2]"

Deliberations on these provisions dragged out due to partisan rambling, continuing until Marcos' declaration of Martial Law in September 1972.[2] Rama was put in Jail along with 10 other members of the opposition bloc, while numerous others, including Manglapus, were forced into hiding or exile. They were dropped from the Marcos-sponsored final draft of the constitution which was approved by the convention in November 1972.[2][7]

Eduardo Quintero's bribery expose

Already bogged down by politicking and delays, the credibility of the 1971 Constitutional Convention took a severe blow in May 1972 when a delegate exposed a bribery scheme in which delegates were paid to vote in favor of the Marcoses - with First Lady Imelda Marcos herself implicated in the alleged payola scheme.[2](p"133")[8]

Ever since the convention was convened, the "progressive bloc" of the convention believed that President Marcos was influencing the proceedings through the votes of delegates allied to the Marcoses and Imelda's family, the Romualdezes.[2] This suspicion was further strengthened on May 19, 1972, when Eduardo Quintero - a former Ambassador to the UN and the elected Constitutional Covention delegate of Leyte's first district - revealed that some of the delegates, including himself, had been receiving money from a "Money Lobby."[8] He was politically indebted to the Marcoses because he was elected with the aid of Imelda Marcos' brother, but he said that he finally wanted "to do the correct thing.”[8]

Quintero eventually released a three-page sworn statement that named 14 persons involved in the bribery. The list included twelve of Quintero's fellow Convention delegates, the wife of delegate Artemio Mate, and President Marcos' wife, Imelda Marcos.[9]

The expose tainted the convention, angered the Anti-Marcos opposition, and scandalized the country. Manila drivers plastered signs saying "Mabuhay Quintero!" (Long live Quintero!) on the sides of their cars in the days after Quintero's expose.[2] Later historians[2] note that this would have jeopardized any efforts on Marcos' part to hold on to power beyond the two four year terms allowed him by the 1935 constitution, but the social unrest brought about by Marcos' 1970 debt crisis enabled him to stay in power anyway - by declaring martial law.[2]

Impact of martial law on the Constitutional Convention

Arrested delegates

The work of the Convention was affected by the declaration of martial law in September 1972 by President Ferdinand Marcos; the military units assigned to implement martial law were given a list of 400 individuals to arrest, consisting mostly of outspoken critics of Ferdinand Marcos' administration. This included a number of members of the Constitutional Convention.[2]

Some of the individuals on the list, such as Raul Manglapus,[10] were either not in the Philippines when martial law was declared, while some, such as Raul Roco, where in the country but managed to evade arrest.[7]

However, numerous members of the Constitutional Convention's opposition bloc were among those arrested in the early hours of September 22, 1972.[2](p"157")[11][12][13] Convention members immediately arrested after the proclamation of Martial Law included[7](p37):

  • Napoleon Rama, who was also associate editor of the Philippines Free Press;
  • Jose Mari Velez, who was also an ABS-CBN broadcaster;
  • Bren Guiao;
  • Natalio Bacalzo;
  • Jose "Joecon" S. Concepcion Jr.;
  • Ernesto Rondon;
  • Jose "Pepito" Nolledo;
  • Teofisto "Tito" Ginguona Jr.;
  • Alejandro "Ding" Lichuaco; and
  • Voltaire Garcia and George Viterbo, who were later released.

As recounted by oppositionist convention delegate Caesar Espiritu, officials privy to variations of the priority arrest list eventually informed them which other ConCon delegates had been put on the list. Aside from those actually arrested, one "shortlist" of twelve delegates additionally identified six other delegates: Sonny Alvarez, Antonio "Tonypet" Araneta, Romy Capulong, Boni Gillego, Raul Manglapus, and Raul Roco. (Among those actually arrested, this list named Garcia, Guiao, Lichauco, Rama, Rondon, and Velez.)[7](p39)

The longest list the convention delegates were able to piece together listed a total 32 delegates, identifying Bacalzo, Guingona, Concepcion, Nolledo, and Viterbo who were all arrested, and additionally mentioned: "Delima (the only girl), Occeña, Badoy, Sanchez, the Espiritu brothers, Pepe Calderon, Kalaw, Father Ortiz, and Amatong."[7](p39)

With nearly a dozen of its members in jail and some of its most prominent leaders overseas or in hiding, the "progressive faction" of the convention which spoke against Marcos was no longer able to contribute to the discussion.[2]

Rushed approval

The convention moved quickly after Marcos had declared Martial Law. The opposition bloc had effectively been decimated and the threat of imprisonment hung over any delegats who might voice opposition in the convention. The regular rules of the convention were suspended and a 166-member group headed by Marcos-supporting Delegate Gilberto Duavit came up with a new draft of the constitution. By November 29, 1972 - a little over two months after the declaration of Martial law, the convention approved the draft, and it was presented to Ferdinand Marcos in Malacañang palace on December 1, 1972.[13]

1973 constitutional plebiscite and the Ratification Cases

On January 5, 1973, Ferdinand Marcos, who had seized legislative power as part of his declaration of Martial Law, issued Presidential Decree No. 86-A, an addendum to the Revised Barrio Charter (Presidential Decree No. 86) which he had signed in late December to reconstitute Philippine Barrios (villages) into a new structure called a "Barangay."[14] Presidential Decree No. 86-A cancelled the election plebiscite which in which Philippine citizens would have voted whether or not to ratify the new constitution. Instead, the 1973 constitution would be ratified using "Citizen's Assemblies."[15]

The constitution was supposedly presented for the people's ratification in the 1973 constitutional plebiscite,[2] where the Citizen's Assemblies supposedly showed their assent through viva voce votation.[16](p213) Due to the lack of reportage accompanying the gagging of the Philippine press during martial law, there are no reliable records of how many citizens actually participated in these assemblies.[2]

The results of the plebiscite were thus questioned before the Philippine Supreme Court in what came to be known as the Plebiscite Cases (Planas v. COMELEC (1973)), and the legality of the 1973 Constitution, questioned in what came to be known as the Ratification Cases (Javellana v. Executive Secretary).[17][18]

In the Ratification Cases, six of the 10 members of the court (the Chief Justice, and Justices Makalintal, Zaldivar, Castro, Fernando and Teehankee) said that the 1973 Constitution had not been ratified validly. But Justices Makalintal and Castro said that the people had acquiesced to the 1973 Constitution whether or not the ratification was valid, saying that the question of whether the Constitution could be invalidated was a political determination and not a judicial one. The constitution was thus effectively upheld.[17][18]

Marcos would continue to rule as a dictator until being ousted by the People Power Revolution in 1986.[2]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "Constitutional history of the Philippines". ConstitutionNet. Retrieved 2018-07-25.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 Magno, Alexander R., ed. (1998). "Democracy at the Crossroads". Kasaysayan, The Story of the Filipino People Volume 9:A Nation Reborn. Hong Kong: Asia Publishing Company Limited.
  3. ↑ Bautista, Andy (2014-10-11). "Chartering change (II)". The Philippine Star. Retrieved 2018-07-25.
  4. ↑ R.E.Diaz. "G.R. No. L-32432 - MANUEL B. IMBONG vs. JAIME FERRER". www.chanrobles.com. Retrieved 2018-07-25.
  5. ↑ "The election for the Presidency of the 1971 Constitutional Convention". Official Tumblr page of the Presidential Museum and Library. Retrieved 16 April 2015.
  6. 1 2 De Leon, Hector S.; Lugue, Emilio, Jr. E. (1984). Textbook on the new Philippine Constitution. Rex Book Store.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 Espiritu, Augusto Caesar (1993). How democracy was lost : a political diary of the Constitutional Convention of 1971-1972. Quezon City: New Day Publishers. ISBN 9711005336. OCLC 31066221.
  8. 1 2 3 "QUINTERO, Eduardo T. – Bantayog ng mga Bayani". Bantayog ng mga Bayani. 2016-05-16. Retrieved 2018-06-02.
  9. ↑ "Looking Back: The 1971 Constitutional Convention". Newsbreak. 2003-02-17. Retrieved 2018-06-02.
  10. ↑ Weil, Martin (1999-07-26). "Raul S. Manglapus, Former Foreign Secretary of Philippines, Dies at 80". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2018-07-25.
  11. ↑ "The intrepid 18, two times over". Bicol Mail. 2017-07-27. Archived from the original on 2018-07-23. Retrieved 2018-07-22.
  12. ↑ Duka, Cecilio D. (2008). Struggle for freedom : a textbook on Philippine history (1st ed.). Manila: Rex Book Store. ISBN 9789712350450. OCLC 958017661.
  13. 1 2 "In 1971 and 2006, new Charters designed to keep embattled presidents in power". Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism Website. 2006-05-01. Retrieved 2018-07-25.
  14. ↑ "https://www.lawphil.net/statutes/presdecs/pd1972/pd_86_1972.html". External link in |title= (help); Missing or empty |url= (help)
  15. ↑ https://www.lawphil.net/statutes/presdecs/pd1973/pd_86_a_1973.html. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  16. ↑ Graham., Hassall,; Saunders, Cheryl (2002). Asia-Pacific constitutional systems. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780511549960. OCLC 715166703.
  17. 1 2 Bernas, Joaquin (2003). The 1987 Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines: a Commentary. Rex Book Store, Manila
  18. 1 2 Cruz, Isagani A. (2000). Res Gestae: A Brief History of the Supreme Court. Rex Book Store, Manila
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