Abstract:
The Consultative Committee to Review the 1987 Constitution (ConCom) convened by President Rodrigo Duterte in early 2018 completed a draft federal constitution premised on the implementation of extensive political and electoral reforms as major pre-requisites to a shift to federalism. These reforms include: (1) the need to regulate the number of political dynasties; (2) the need to institutionalize a package of political party reforms that include campaign finance reform, subsidy to political parties, a ban on party switching, and strengthening citizen parties linkages; and (3) the need to strengthen a mixed-electoral system in the House of Representatives. Without these important reforms, a shift to federalism might prove to be disastrous for the country with the regions becoming fiefdom of local political clans and dynasties. Recently, the House Committee on Constitutional Amendments released its own draft federal constitution, co-authored by former president and current Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. The House draft constitution has not only expunged all of the ConCom’s proposed reforms, it has removed the anti-political dynasty provision and term limits for local and nationally elected officials already enshrined in the 1987 Constitution. With the 2019 midterm and 2022 presidential elections in the horizon, it is apparent that the country’s political elite cannot rise above their self-serving, narrow, and partisan interests for the good of the Filipino nation.
Short bio:
Julio C. Teehankee, an educator, researcher, and political consultant with a wide experience in electoral and political party related activities, is professor of Political Science and International Studies at De La Salle University. Teehankee served as chair of the Subcommittee on Political Reforms of the Consultative Committee to Review the 1987 Constitution that was convened by President Rodrigo Duterte in early 2018. He has published extensively on Philippine elections and party politics, and his latest publication is “Regional Dimensions of the 2016 General Elections in the Philippines: Emerging Contours of Federalism,” Regional and Federal Studies 28 (2018)
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