SHOULD THE 1987 PHILIPPINE CONSTITUTION BE CHANGED OR NOT?

In recent times, there have been many talks of changing the constitution. These talks have been widely heard especially now that key officials of the country are ending their terms in a couple of years including the highest official of the land, the President. It is in this regard that many people believe is the main reason why a clamor for charter change is all over the news again. For me, the 1987 Constitution should not be changed. Our present Constitution is about 20 years old. If we study the history and the historical implications of our Constitution, we will learn that our Constitution had undergone modifications over time purposely in sync with a significant milestone and event in our nation’s history. It started with the declaration of our independence from the 300 plus years of Spanish authoritarian rule. Emilio Aguinaldo became president and the Malolos Constitution was born, the first democratic Constitution in Asia. This was a result of a bloody Philippine Revolution that came about because of the uproar the Filipinos made struggling to free themselves in an abusive, corrupt and totalitarian Spanish regime. However, this was short lived. The Americans came. We were under a new sovereign again and inevitably, the Americans overhauled our government. They ruled our country for a period of time and then handed the reigns over to the Filipinos establishing the Commonwealth government with Manuel L. Quezon as the President. Around this time in 1935, a new Philippine Constitution was ratified and came into effect. We gained our independence from the Americans in 1946 after World War II ended. The 1935 Constitution remained untouched until 1973 following widespread unrest nationwide under the leadership of President Ferdinand Marcos who declared martial law a year earlier. This marked another turning point in our nation’s history. Under his dictatorship, there was massive violence, exploitation, human rights violations and taking over of public utility companies. President Marcos controlled the legislation and the judiciary and some of the provisions in the 1973 Constitution made sure that he did. The Filipinos again revolted and a new government was established. President Corazon Aquino became the leader and the Freedom Constitution was ratified overwhelmingly by the people in 1987. This is now our present Constitution. It is a result of a transformation of the kind of government under a new leadership, the beginning of peace and stability in our society and economy. Therefore, modifications to our Constitution are consequences of a major shift of our government, social reforms and a new page in the Philippine history. There is no need for us to change the 1987 Constitution as we are not currently experiencing major turning points that will affect greatly the social and political make up of our government and society. Our 1987 Constitution was drafted by the framers having in their minds the needs of the Filipino people to be rightfully included in the Constitution for the improvement of our lives whether they would be political, social, economical and even environmental. The Constitution therefore encompasses almost everything important to the lives of the people living in the Philippines. What we actually need right now is a new administration that will uphold the integrity of the Constitution and its ideals and not a new Constitution.