PRESS STATEMENT | 01 February 2018
21 December 2017
The Constitution is the formal written embodiment of the spirit and essence of the State. It contains the State’s guiding policies and principles, its structure of governance, its powers and limitations and its contract with its own people. It has a foundational role in society thus, any change to it must deliberate, widely supported, beyond reproach and free of any badge of malice of ill-motive. Any change to it must be perceived as an articulation of the advancement of State’s political maturity and development. The dictates of vested interests, whether economic or political in nature, must be shunned at all costs, lest the role and spirit of the Constitution as the sunlight of our democracy dims with the passage of time.
The 1987 Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines has been hailed as a human rights constitution. The protection it provides to traditional civil and political rights is among the most forceful of any fundamental law of any member of the international community. Its normative provisions on the positive role of the state in promoting and ensuring the delivery of economic, social and cultural rights are truly innovative and an envy of the constituency of other states. The systems of checks and balances it prescribes strives to ensure that any violation of rights are expediently and adequately remedied. The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) itself owes its very existence to the 1987 Constitution. Any amendment or revision of the 1987 Constitution must ensure that these much-valued characteristics of the Constitution are retained, if not reinforced. Human rights and social justice should continue to be at the heart of the proposed text as how they figure prominently throughout the 1987 Constitution, especially in the discussion of the basic guiding principles of the State. It should also continue to recognize that the protection of life, liberty, and property, and the property and the promotion of the general welfare of the people are prerequisites to the enjoyment of democracy. Any contrary change would be disgrace to our history, nature and identity as a freedom-loving people of the first democratic republic in Asia. It would be diving back into the abyss of abuse and greed that we have crawled out as a people.
Independent constitutional institutions, such as the CHR, should be maintained and strengthened in view of their importance in a functioning and working democracy. The Philippines is a member of the UN General Assembly which adopted in December 20, 1993 the Paris Principles (Principles Relating to the Status of National Institutions), which provides, among others, that a national human rights institution” shall be vested with competence to promote and protect human rights,” and that it shall be given “as broad a mandate as possible, which shall be clearly set forth in a constitutional or legislative text.” Thus, the charter change that is contemplated must strengthen institutions on human rights.
The choice of the process by which change shall be effected is also a matter of great importance and consideration. The 1987 Constitution provides three methods of changing the Constitution, namely: (1) by Constitutional Convention, (2) by Congress with a vote ¾ of its members (popularly referred to as “Revision by Constituent Assembly”), and (3) by People’s Initiative (which is limited to amendments). Eventually, any chance arrived through any of the three tracks shall be subjected to a plebiscite. If the intention of Congress is to revise the Constitution to be more responsive to the needs of our people, the CHR is of the view that the Constitutional Convention track would be the most appropriate. It provides the greatest possibility of participation by and representation of the people. Allowing the formation of a constitutional convention with members elected at large and by sector would make the process as inclusive as it could possibly be. It would for greater debate and discussion that would ensure that any proposed change have been strictly scrutinized from multiple lenses from difference sectors of Philippine society. It is the process most akin to the human rights based-approach in governance. And such is a necessity in an extremely diverse society like ours.
In conclusion, the CHR, as a constitutional body mandated and committed to protect and promote human rights, calls upon the Congress, and all other bodies and personalities wielding the power to initiate and influence the process of charter change, to apply human rights as an ultimate standard. The CHR urges all key players in this grand undertaking, including the public, to always seek a society where all the people can responsibly exercise and claim their human rights and enjoy a sustained quality of life consistent with human dignity. Any change must retain, if not strengthen, the constitutional primacy given to human rights and human dignity under the present constitution and the process of change must be based on transparency, respect for diversity, inclusion and genuine participation.