Since Day One of the incumbency of President Rodrigo Duterte, the rallying cry of the former Davao City mayor’s supporters has been Cha-Cha (Charter change). This was predictable, considering that one of the Duterte’s two principal campaign provinces was shift to the federalist form of government (the other provinces being the eradication of illegal drugs, crime and corruption within 60 days). A shift away from the present system of government—the presidential system—requires a revision of the 1987 Constitution.
During the last 23 months the supporters of the Duterte administration have extended much effort, time and treasure in their effort to bring about Charter change. Every available forum, assembly, newspaper editorial and social media posting has been harnessed in supported of that effort. By names and leading personalities have been trothed our to convey the Cha-Cha for federation message. All of these efforts of the last 23 months have sought to create a national environment of “Charter change is this nation’s last hope.”
I’ve got news for the hot-eyed proponents of Charter change. They can now stop their fervid agitation for Cha-Cha. It is already here; the changing of the Constitution is now under way.
Change in the Basic Law takes place when a national referendum gives its assent to the new Constitution proposed by a Constitutional convention or a constituent assembly of the members of Congress or a People’s Initiative. The Charter changes that have taken place since July 1, 2016 have come into being without benefit of these Constitutional niceties.
The earliest instances of de facto Cha-Cha were the blatant violations of the Bill of Rights provisions of the Constitution, which lie at the heart of this country’s concept personal freedom and state benevolence. Individuals merely suspected of being so-called drug personalities are dragged out of their shanties, often in the middle of the night, by policemen unable to produce search warrants, and shot in streets or alleys or fields on the implausible pretext that they resisted arrest (nanlaban). No interrogation at a police station, no being held in jail pending arraignment, no trial no presumption of innocence, nothing. The Bill of Rights provisions of the Constitution has been amended de facto. The Cha-Cha has been effected not by the representatives of the Filipino people—either as constitutional convention delegates or as members of Congress—but by the Executive branch of the government acting through the Department of Justice and the Philippine National Police.
Another element of the Constitution that has likewise been changed de facto is the relationship between two of the three co-equal lawmakers of this country’s government. The last time I checked, the Philippines had the presidential form of government, but the way that Mr. Duterte has been barking instructions to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, this country may be regarded as having shifted to the parliamentary system of government with Mr. Duterte as the head of the ruling party in a Philippine parliament. This de facto Constitution change has been possible by the unwillingness of the members of the so-called supermajority to stand up to a highly assertive President. With these kinds of Executive and Legislative postures, there is no need for a proposal seeking a shit from the presidential to the parliamentary form of government.
But undoubtedly the most famous—more accurately, the most notorious—of de facto Constitutional change has been the removal of Maria Lourdes Sereno from the Chief Justiceship not by Congressional action—impeachment of the House of Representative and subsequent trial by the Senate— but by the Supreme Court itself acting on a Rule of Court-sanctioned petition filed by an official of the Executive Department. Effectively changing the wording of the Constitutional provision from “may” to “may also,” the Solicitor General contended that Chief Justice Sereno could be removed by a process other and impeachment proceeding. And so Jose Calida filed a quo warranto seeking to have the Chief Justice adjudged legally unqualified for the position she occupied. On May 11 the Supreme Court voted 8-6—with Maria Lourdes Sereno abstaining in favor of the Solicitor General’s petition. Incredibly, a Constitutional provision long accepted as the only way to remove a Supreme Court Justice was interpreted otherwise without benefit of action by the elected representatives of the Filipino people.
Which brings me back to the opening paragraphs of this column.
Those who are fervidly advocating Charter change can now lay down their arms and still their voices. There no longer is a need to agitate for the convening of a constitutional convention or for the congressional chambers covering themselves into a constituent assembly or for the holding of a people’s initiative. Cha-Cha is already under way.