Constitutional Reform as a Key Enabler of Real Economic Progress

Constitutional Reform as a Key Enabler of Real Economic Progress

by Mr. Orion Perez D. Co-Founder of CoRRECT Movement

The Philippines has been considered to be “Asia’s Sick Man” for quite some time now, and part of our inability to solve our problems has been our rambunctious, free-wheeling, and ultimately personality-oriented brand of perverted American-style Democracy.

Constitutional Reform is one of the most important improvements that must happen at this point in our history. The 1987 Constitution and its defects and imperfections are obviously a huge part of why our country continues to wallow in poverty and underdevelopment, forcing millions of our people to work abroad in search of economic opportunities meant not to create surplus wealth, but for the most part, are simply meant to support the everyday consumption of basic necessities by their families left behind.

Before we all forget, Constitutional Reform is not even only about merely shifting over to the Parliamentary System. It must be stressed that the real point of Constitutional Reform is to enable the improvement of the Philippine Economy.

Here are the real points of Constitutional Reform, based on the true logical order they should be in:

1. Revision of Economic Provisions 

The Philippines needs to improve its people’s lives by drastically improving the economy in order to create millions of new and better-paying jobs. A major deterrent to our ability to rapidly and massively create new jobs is the dearth of foreign direct investment that the Philippines receives, due in large part to the protectionist economic provisions (60% Filipino, 40% Foreign restrictions) and excessive restrictions which exclusively favor the local Oligarchs (not the masses), and keep away Foreign Companies who may potentially pose as competition to the oligarch-owned companies. Unfortunately, since those Protectionist Economic Provisions are found in the Constitution, there is unfortunately no real way to change them unless the Constitution is amended via Constitutional Reform.

Dr. Bernardo Villegas of the University of Asia and the Pacific, in a recent Inquirer column manifests clear support for Constitutional Reform as he says that he “would also strongly encourage the Aquino government to move quickly to remove from the Constitution the ultra-nationalistic provisions that discourage foreign direct investments (FDI) in the Philippines.”

He goes on to continue that he does not object to a Constituent Assembly as a means to rectify and reform the Constitution as he states that “The amendments to the economic provisions in our Constitution can be done by Congress. There is no need for a constitutional convention which can be distracting during these crucial times when our main concern is to hit the ground running to take advantage of the recovering global economy. “

This is the most important component of Constitutional Reform, especially if one looks at the underlying philosophy behind it as a means towards drastically improving the Philippine Economy with the ultimate goal of providing better livelihood to ordinary Filipinos. This component of Constitutional Reform, focused primarily on the goal of the massive creation of new jobs  seeks to solve the perennial unemployment, under-employment, and forced deployment of Filipinos abroad as OFW’s which has brought about numerous social problems, by creating a more vibrant and dynamic economy that can create fulfillment in the lives of our people.

2. Proposal to Shift from Unitarism to Federalism 

Rather than continuing to have the majority of economic developments occur only in “Imperialist Manila”, the proposal to shift to Federalism aims at distributing Economic Development to the different regions. By autonomizing the various Philippine Regions, and putting the onus on their proposed regional governments to spearhead local economic development instead of waiting for Manila to give this to them, the different regions of the Philippines will no longer need to be dependent on the mercy and largesse of the National Capital Region.

Since the Philippines is an archipelago with different ethno-linguistic groups each with their own languages, cultures, and customs, it makes absolute sense to grant the different regions the necessary fiscal, economic, and cultural autonomy with which to better develop their people’s livelihood, and preserve their cherished traditions according to how their people see fit.

Moreover, competition as well as cooperation between and among the different autonomized regions (under the proposed shift to Federalism) will serve to be a healthy means towards greater economic dynamism.  Instead of having essentially one major Metropolis in the Philippines (Metro Manila), the shift towards Federalism aims to create numerous Metropolises each having the attendant modern facilities which inhabitants of the various regions may more easily take advantage of to develop themselves intellectually, culturally, or economically, as opposed to the current scheme where almost everything modern is done only in Metro Manila.

Compare highly-centralized and unitary France, having practically only one major metropolis (Paris) against the federalism-based USA with its numerous metropolises all scattered around. It turns out that currently, the Philippines’ unitarism has resulted in the unabated migration of Filipinos towards already over-populated and ultra-congested Metro Manila and has resulted in a half-hearted economic development in the regions. Once again, the move towards Federalism has an extremely economy-focused aspect to it. The creation of numerous dynamic economic centers all around the country will mean greater ability to find gainful employment much closer to home. Federalism ultimately intends to translate into more jobs and economic opportunities in every area of the country, not just the Capital.

3. Shift to a Parliamentary System 

To serve as a solid foundation for better, more efficient, and faster decision-making related to Economic Development and other decisions related to Nation-building, the shift towards the Parliamentary System ensures that the Philippines will be more able to make serious and better-quality decisions it needs to make, focus the electorate and the country’s leaders on the most important priorities and issues, and veer away from the vacuity and pettiness that has characterized the extremely chaotic, rambunctious, and free-wheeling practice of Philippine Democracy characterized by political grandstanding and publicity stunts within the popularity-focused and personality-centric Philippine Presidential System.

In the same way that a strong and sturdy building needs a solid and stable foundation for it to withstand the tests of time and the environment, Constitutional Reform's real mission of essentially enabling rapid and large-scale Economic Development requires a strong, flexible, efficient, and policy-oriented Political System that promotes serious discussions on the current and future welfare of Filipinos and avoids the destructively divisive personality-politics that has dominated the status quo system.

Excerpt from: http://correctphilippines.org/philippineprogress