An anniversary and a museum launch
TWO events this month will commemorate the 30th anniversary of the 1987 Constitution. The first is a press conference hosted by the Commission on Human Rights on February 2, the anniversary of the signing of the Philippine Constitution. The second is the launching of the Justice Cecilia Munoz Palma Foundation Museum on February 18. Justice Cecilia Munoz Palma was the president of the 1986 Constitutional Commission and the Museum story will particularly highlight her life and her role in the drafting of the Charter.
CHR Chairman Chito Gascon and his fellow commissioners have prepared a program which consists of a Statement from the framers of the 1987 Constitution to be followed by their reflections, and the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with Legal Protection Groups – FLAG, LENTE, IDEALS, ARTICULO TRES, and AHRC. An open forum will be followed by a fellowship with colleagues and friends from the various human rights groups. The event will take place at the Bulwagang Ka Pepe Diokno at the CHR office on Commonwealth Avenue.
The Museum launch on Saturday, February 18, will be held at the JCMPF Office located at the Justice Cecilia Munoz Palma Building within the Hall of Justice compound in Quezon City. The Museum trustees cordially invite friends and colleagues to celebrate the launch of a museum curated by Marian Roces, noted artist and critic. Roces had earlier designed and curated noteworthy art projects such as the Museum of Ideas. The Cecilia Munoz Palma Museum celebrates the life and work of the much revered first woman Justice of the Supreme Court. The Museum story captures Justice Palma’ s eminent career and her impact on the life of the nation. It shows how she has been a consistent model of excellence in many of her undertakings. She was valedictorian in high school, bar topnotcher, first woman justice of the Supreme Court, and other “firsts.” She had worked in all the branches of the government and was active with several peace and human rights NGOs. It also tells her story as a wife, mother, and an active citizen of the community. A focus in the Museum story is her role as president of the Constitutional Commission, and how she ably led and orchestrated the deliberation of the 47 members from various sectors of Philippine society. Shortly after the launching, the Museum will be open to the public at certain hours of the day.
Following, a statement prepared by the living framers of the Constitution, addresses many of our national concerns today:
THE PHILIPPINE CONSTITUTION @30
The 1987 Constitution was written in the aftermath of the EDSA People Power Revolt, a historic moment of national solidarity. To the poor, it was more than a changing of the guard; it was the promise of a new social order. It was also the first time that we, as a people, spoke to the world as a truly independent and democratic nation. It had not been imposed on us by any colonial power or by a dictatorship. The Constitution reflects our history and our aspirations for the future. We could have completely overhauled our system and form of government but in our national consultations before its writing, the people overwhelmingly preferred the stability of familiar structures – a democratic, representative, presidential system, with checks and balances and separation of powers. And overwhelmingly, they wanted the power to directly vote for their president.
But the Constitution also innovated with three central themes. Firstly, the heart of the Constitution is social justice, with the poor as the center of our development. Secondly, never again to any authoritarian government. Hence the strict limitations and conditions for declaring martial law and new provisions, including in the Bill of Rights, to protect citizens against abuses by the State. And thirdly, the national destiny must firmly and safely rest on Filipinos themselves. Never again amendments similar to the 1935 Constitution that gave Americans equal rights to our patrimony, foreign military bases and economic policies where even our exchange rate after independence could not be changed without the approval of the US President.
Moreover, we cut the umbilical cord of previous constitutions to the US Constitution by giving social and economic rights equal primacy with civil and political rights. Unlike the US, which is a country of immigrants who started from the same position, we are a country of inequalities from the colonial days to the present where the greatest divide is not culture, identity, or territory, but the divide between the rich and the poor.
The 1987 Constitution is among the most progressive in the world alongside that of South Africa and Canada. It already contains provisions that other countries want to install in their pursuit of peace and development. Yet there are proposals to overhaul our Constitution on the ground that it created an “imperial Manila” that stands in the way of the development of other areas, to the detriment of the poor. We beg to disagree. We submit that we have failed in human development not because of the Constitution, but because we have not fully implemented it, especially its provisions on social justice and local autonomy. The Constitution is not the problem; it is part of the solution. It provides a framework for addressing the current challenges we confront as a people.
We appeal to the Duterte Administration to heed the recommendations of experts that countries with functioning unitary systems should first try “reform” rather than “overhaul” the system to achieve the laudable objective of devolving more power and resources to the Local Government Units. The corrective legislation to the Local Government Code and other laws can be done quickly, without the complexity of a shift to federalism and will yield immediate benefits to the people. And it does not foreclose a shift to federalism, if still necessary. A “messed up” shift to a federal constitution is virtually irreversible. And will consume the energies of the government for other priorities that demand its attention. On the 30th anniversary of the Constitution, we hope that this worthy vision will be fulfilled.