Philippine Constitutional Convention, 1971
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The Philippine Constitutional Convention of 1971 was called to change the
1935 Constitution of the Philippines Events January * January 7 – Italian premier Benito Mussolini and French Foreign Minister Pierre Laval conclude an agreement, in which each power agrees not to oppose the other's colonial claims. * January 12 – Amelia Earhart bec ...
. 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 President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...
Ferdinand Marcos Ferdinand Emmanuel Edralin Marcos Sr. ( , , ; September 11, 1917 – September 28, 1989) was a Filipino politician, lawyer, dictator, and kleptocrat who was the 10th president of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986. He ruled under martial ...
, and a bribery scandal in which 14 people, including First Lady
Imelda Marcos Imelda Romualdez Marcos (; born Imelda Remedios Visitacion Trinidad Romualdez; July 2, 1929) is a Filipino politician who served as the First Lady of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986, wielding significant political power during the dictator ...
, were accused of bribing delegates to favor the Marcoses. Marcos declared martial law in September 1972, and had 11 opposition delegates arrested. The remaining opposition delegates were 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 constitution, but the validity of the ratification was brought to question because Marcos replaced the method of voting through secret ballot with a system of
viva voce ''Viva voce'' is a Latin phrase literally meaning "with living voice" but most often translated as "by word of mouth." It may refer to: *Word of mouth *A voice vote in a deliberative assembly *An oral exam **Thesis defence, in academia *Spoken evi ...
voting by "citizens' assemblies". The ratification of the constitution was challenged in what came to be known as the
Ratification Cases The Ratification Cases, officially titled as ''Javellana v. Executive Secretary'' (G.R. No. L-36142, March 31, 1973; 50 SCRA 30), was a 1973 Supreme Court of the Philippines case that allowed the 1973 Philippine Constitution to come into ful ...
.


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 Constitution The Political Constitution of 1899 ( es, Constitución Política de 1899), informally known as the Malolos Constitution, was the constitution of the First Philippine Republic. It was written by Felipe Calderón y Roca and Felipe Buencamino as ...
had been. Although World War II interfered with the transition plan and a puppet constitution 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 could be elected to a maximum of two four-year terms; a
bicameral Bicameralism is a type of legislature, one divided into two separate assemblies, chambers, or houses, known as a bicameral legislature. Bicameralism is distinguished from unicameralism, in which all members deliberate and vote as a single grou ...
legislature consisting of a congress and a senate; and an independent judicial branch.


Campaign to change the 1935 Constitution

In 1967, the executive branch was headed by the tenth president,
Ferdinand Marcos Ferdinand Emmanuel Edralin Marcos Sr. ( , , ; September 11, 1917 – September 28, 1989) was a Filipino politician, lawyer, dictator, and kleptocrat who was the 10th president of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986. He ruled under martial ...
. Expressing opposition to the administration's policies and citing rising discontent over wide inequalities in society, critics of Marcos began campaigning to change a constitution which they said had been written under the dominion of the country's former colonial overlords. 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. Marcos surprised his critics by endorsing the move, and it was later revealed that the resulting Constitutional 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.


Convention leadership and members

A special election was held on November 10, 1970, to elect the delegates of the convention. Once the winners had been determined, the convention was convened on June 1, 1971, at the then-newly completed
Quezon City Hall The Quezon City Hall is a government building which houses the office of the Mayor of Quezon City located along the Elliptical Road. The Quezon City Council is housed within the adjacent Legislative Wing. History The first location of the city ha ...
. Former Philippine President
Carlos P. Garcia Carlos Polestico Garcia (November 4, 1896 – June 14, 1971) was a Filipino teacher, poet, orator, lawyer, public official, political economist, guerrilla and Commonwealth military leader who was the eighth president of the Philippines. A l ...
was sworn in as the President of the Constitutional Convention on the day the convention was convened, but died thirteen days after taking oath. Former President
Diosdado Macapagal Diosdado Pangan Macapagal Sr. (; September 28, 1910 – April 21, 1997) was a Filipino lawyer, poet and politician who served as the ninth president of the Philippines, serving from 1961 to 1965, and the sixth vice president, serving from 19 ...
replaced Garcia. Sotero H. Laurel served as the President Pro-Tempore of the convention. A total of 320 delegates were elected to the convention, the most prominent being former senators
Raul Manglapus Raul Sevilla Manglapus (October 20, 1918 – July 25, 1999) was a prominent post–World War II Filipino politician and songwriter. He co-founded the reformist Progressive Party of the Philippines and the Christian Democratic Socialist Movement i ...
and
Roseller T. Lim Roseller Tarroza Lim (February 9, 1915 – July 5, 1976) was a Filipino politician who served as a member of the Senate and House of Representatives from 1949 to 1963. He also served as Court of Appeals Justice from his appointment in 1973 u ...
. Other delegates would become influential political figures, including
Hilario Davide, Jr. Hilario Gelbolingo Davide Jr. (born December 20, 1935) is a Filipino lawyer, professor, diplomat, constitutionalist and former politician, who served as the 20th Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines and Permanent Representative ...
,
Marcelo Fernan Marcelo "Celing" Briones Fernan (October 24, 1927 – July 11, 1999) was a Filipino lawyer and political figure. He is the only Filipino to have served as both Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and as Senate President. He is also the thi ...
,
Sotero Laurel Sotero Cosme "Teroy" Hidalgo Laurel II (September 27, 1918 – September 16, 2009) was a Filipino politician and educator who served as a Senator from 1987 until 1992, including a period as President pro tempore from 1990 until 1991. Laure ...
,
Aquilino Pimentel, Jr. Aquilino Quilinging Pimentel Jr. (, December 11, 1933 – October 20, 2019), commonly known as Nene Pimentel, was a Filipino politician and human rights lawyer who was one of the leading political opposition leaders during the regime of Ferdina ...
,
Teofisto Guingona, Jr. Teofisto "Tito" Tayko Guingona Jr. (born July 4, 1928) is a Filipino politician and diplomat who served as the 11th vice president of the Philippines from 2001 to 2004, during the first term of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. Born in San ...
,
Raul Roco Raul Sagarbarria Roco (October 26, 1941 – August 5, 2005) was a political figure in the Philippines. He was the standard-bearer of ''Aksyon Demokratiko'', which he founded in 1997 as a vehicle for his presidential bids in 1998 and 2004. He was ...
,
Edgardo Angara Edgardo Javier Angara (, September 24, 1934 – May 13, 2018) was a Filipino politician who served as the President of the Senate of the Philippines from 1993 to 1995. He was a Senator from 1987 to 1998 and then served as Secretary of Agricultu ...
, Richard Gordon,
Margarito Teves Margarito "Gary" Bustaliño Teves (born August 1, 1943) is a Filipino politician who served as Secretary of the Department of Finance of the Philippines. He was appointed to the position in July 2005 by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, followi ...
, and Federico Dela Plana.


Proposal of "Ban Marcos" provisions

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 preventing Marcos or his wife Imelda from running for office after the end of his term in 1973. The provision was defeated in Congress by a narrow vote. Members of the opposition who were elected as Constitutional Convention delegates nevertheless proposed such "Ban the Marcoses" provisions during the deliberations of the convention. Soon after the Constitutional Convention was convened, 176 of the 206 delegates signed a resolution by delegate Napoleon Rama calling for a ban on the Marcoses. Later, the Committee on Suffrage and Election Reforms, chaired by
Raul Manglapus Raul Sevilla Manglapus (October 20, 1918 – July 25, 1999) was a prominent post–World War II Filipino politician and songwriter. He co-founded the reformist Progressive Party of the Philippines and the Christian Democratic Socialist Movement i ...
, drafted a resolution 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.
Deliberations on these provisions dragged out due to partisan rambling, continuing until Marcos' declaration of martial law in September 1972.
Rama Rama (; ), Ram, Raman or Ramar, also known as Ramachandra (; , ), is a major deity in Hinduism. He is the seventh and one of the most popular '' avatars'' of Vishnu. In Rama-centric traditions of Hinduism, he is considered the Supreme Bein ...
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.


Eduardo Quintero's delegate bribery exposé

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. Ever since the convention was convened, the "progressive bloc" of the convention believed that Marcos was influencing the proceedings through the votes of delegates allied to the Marcoses and Imelda's family, the Romualdezes. This suspicion was further strengthened on May 19, 1972, when Eduardo Quintero – a former Ambassador to the United Nations and the elected Constitutional Convention delegate for
Leyte Leyte ( ) is an island in the Visayas group of islands in the Philippines. It is eighth-largest and sixth-most populous island in the Philippines, with a total population of 2,626,970 as of 2020 census. Since the accessibility of land has be ...
's first district – alleged that some of the delegates, including himself, had been receiving money from a "Money Lobby" in the convention. In his speech on the plenary, Quintero accused fellow delegates that were for the moment unnamed of bribing him P11,150 to vote in support of provisions that would prolong the political career of the Marcoses and against those that would hamper it. The major provisions that would have greatly impacted the political surivival of the Marcos family were the proposals to a shift to
parliamentarianism Parliamentary sovereignty, also called parliamentary supremacy or legislative supremacy, is a concept in the constitutional law of some parliamentary democracies. It holds that the legislative body has absolute sovereignty and is supreme over all ...
which would have enabled President Marcos to run as
Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...
unhampered by the term limits set in the
presidential system A presidential system, or single executive system, is a form of government in which a head of government, typically with the title of president, leads an executive branch that is separate from the legislative branch in systems that use separati ...
of the 1935 constitution as well as the "Ban Marcos" provisions of Napoleon Rama. Quintero himself 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". Quintero eventually released a three-page sworn statement that named 14 persons involved in the bribery scheme. The list included 12 of Quintero's fellow Convention delegates, the wife of delegate Artemio Mate, and Imelda Marcos. The exposé tainted the convention, angered the anti-Marcos opposition, and scandalized the country.
Manila Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...
drivers plastered signs reading "Mabuhay Quintero!" ("Long Live Quintero!") on the sides of their cars in the days after Quintero's exposé. Later historians 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.


September 1972 bombing

On September 18, 1972, the convention was targeted by one of the last
1972 Manila bombings The 1972 Manila bombings were a series of "about twenty explosions which took place in various locations in Metro Manila in the months after the Plaza Miranda bombing and immediately preceding Ferdinand Marcos' proclamation of Martial Law". The f ...
– about 20 explosions in various locations in Metro Manila in the months after the
Plaza Miranda bombing The Plaza Miranda bombing ( fil, Pambobomba sa Liwasang Miranda) occurred during a political rally of the Liberal Party at Plaza Miranda, Quiapo district, Manila, the Philippines on August 21, 1971. It caused nine deaths and injured 95 others ...
and immediately preceding Marcos' declaration of martial law.


Arrest of opposition delegates

The work of the convention was affected by the declaration of martial law in September 1972 by President Marcos. The military units assigned to implement the law were given a list of 400 individuals to arrest, consisting mostly of outspoken critics of Marcos' administration. This included a number of members of the Constitutional Convention. Some of the individuals on the list, such as
Raul Manglapus Raul Sevilla Manglapus (October 20, 1918 – July 25, 1999) was a prominent post–World War II Filipino politician and songwriter. He co-founded the reformist Progressive Party of the Philippines and the Christian Democratic Socialist Movement i ...
, were either not in the Philippines when martial law was declared, while some, such as
Raul Roco Raul Sagarbarria Roco (October 26, 1941 – August 5, 2005) was a political figure in the Philippines. He was the standard-bearer of ''Aksyon Demokratiko'', which he founded in 1997 as a vehicle for his presidential bids in 1998 and 2004. He was ...
, were in the country but managed to evade arrest. However, numerous members of the Constitutional Convention's opposition bloc were among those arrested in the early hours of September 22, 1972. Convention delegates immediately arrested after the proclamation of martial law included: * '' Napoleon Rama'', who was also associate editor of the
Philippines Free Press The ''Philippines Free Press'' is a weekly English language news magazine which was founded in 1908, which makes it the Philippines' oldest weekly English language periodical currently still in print. It is known for being one of the few publicati ...
* ''
Jose Mari Velez Jose is the English language, English transliteration of the Hebrew language, Hebrew and Aramaic language, Aramaic name ''Yose'', which is etymologically linked to ''Yosef'' or Joseph. The name was popular during the Mishnaic and Talmudic periods ...
'', who was also an
ABS-CBN ABS-CBN (an initialism of its two predecessors' names, Alto Broadcasting System and Chronicle Broadcasting Network) is a Television in the Philippines, Philippine Commercial broadcasting, commercial broadcast broadcast network, network tha ...
broadcaster * ''
Bren Guiao The Philippine Constitutional Convention of 1971 was called to change the Constitution of the Philippines, 1935 Constitution of the Philippines. The delegates were elected on November 10, 1970, and the convention itself was convened on June 1, 1 ...
'' * ''Natalio Bacalzo'' * ''Jose "Joecon" S. Concepcion Jr.'' * ''Ernesto Rondon'' * Jose "Pepito" Nolledo * Teofisto "Tito" Guingona Jr. * ''Alejandro "Ding" Lichuaco'' * ''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 Convention delegates had been put on the list. Aside from those actually arrested, one "shortlist" of 12 delegates identified six other delegates: Sonny Alvarez, Antonio "Tonypet" Araneta, Romy Capulong, Boni Gillego,
Raul Manglapus Raul Sevilla Manglapus (October 20, 1918 – July 25, 1999) was a prominent post–World War II Filipino politician and songwriter. He co-founded the reformist Progressive Party of the Philippines and the Christian Democratic Socialist Movement i ...
, and
Raul Roco Raul Sagarbarria Roco (October 26, 1941 – August 5, 2005) was a political figure in the Philippines. He was the standard-bearer of ''Aksyon Demokratiko'', which he founded in 1997 as a vehicle for his presidential bids in 1998 and 2004. He was ...
. (Among those actually arrested, this list named Garcia, Guiao, Lichauco,
Rama Rama (; ), Ram, Raman or Ramar, also known as Ramachandra (; , ), is a major deity in Hinduism. He is the seventh and one of the most popular '' avatars'' of Vishnu. In Rama-centric traditions of Hinduism, he is considered the Supreme Bein ...
, Rondon, and Velez.) The longest list the convention delegates were able to piece together listed a total of 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". 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.


Revised new draft Constitution

In contrast to the slow, contentious deliberations that marked its early days, 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 delegates who might voice opposition in the convention. Macapagal thus allowed the regular rules of the convention to be suspended so that 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, with Macapagal "reluctantly putting his signature" on a document that would give so much power to Marcos. It was presented to Marcos at the Malacañang palace on December 1, 1972, marking the end of the Constitutional Convention's task.


1973 constitutional plebiscite and the Ratification Cases

On January 5, 1973, 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 A barangay (; abbreviated as Brgy. or Bgy.), historically referred to as barrio (abbreviated as Bo.), is the smallest administrative division in the Philippines and is the native Filipino term for a village, district, or ward. In metropolitan ...
". Presidential Decree No. 86-A cancelled the election plebiscite 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". The Constitution was supposedly presented for the people's ratification in the 1973 constitutional plebiscite, where the Citizen's Assemblies supposedly showed their assent through ''viva voce'' votation. 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. The results of the plebiscite were thus questioned before the
Philippine Supreme Court The Supreme Court ( fil, Kataas-taasang Hukuman; colloquially referred to as the ''Korte Suprema'' lso used in formal writing is the highest court in the Philippines. The Supreme Court was established by the Second Philippine Commission on Ju ...
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'').Bernas, Joaquin (2003). ''The 1987 Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines: a Commentary''. Rex Book Store, ManilaCruz, Isagani A. (2000). ''Res Gestae: A Brief History of the Supreme Court''. Rex Book Store, Manila 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. Marcos would continue to rule as a dictator until being ousted by the
People Power Revolution The People Power Revolution, also known as the EDSA Revolution or the February Revolution, was a series of popular Demonstration (people), demonstrations in the Philippines, mostly in Metro Manila, from February 22 to 25, 1986. There was a ...
in 1986.


See also

*
Timeline of the Marcos dictatorship This timeline of the presidency of Ferdinand Marcos in the Philippines covers three periods of Philippine history in which Marcos Marcos may refer to: People with the given name ''Marcos'' *Marcos (given name) Sports ;Surnamed * Dayton Marcos, ...
*
1970 Philippine Constitutional Convention election A constitutional convention was called to change the 1935 Constitution of the Philippines, written to establish the Commonwealth of the Philippines. A special election was held on November 10, 1970 to elect the convention's delegates, which would ...
*
Ratification Cases The Ratification Cases, officially titled as ''Javellana v. Executive Secretary'' (G.R. No. L-36142, March 31, 1973; 50 SCRA 30), was a 1973 Supreme Court of the Philippines case that allowed the 1973 Philippine Constitution to come into ful ...


References

{{The Marcoses Constitutional conventions (political meeting) Political history of the Philippines Constitutional Convention Presidency of Ferdinand Marcos 1971 conferences