Edit: I added a little bit of formatting, I have a little bit of OCD I guess. I also corrected some spelling and grammatical issues, sadly I couldn't change the one I submitted to my professor.
Imagine yourself as the President of the Philippines... What do you think is the root of the problem in our society? how can you address that? Which of the National Concerns stated in our lesson would you prioritize to resolve? What programs would you implement?
So here goes.
Our society has many flaws. A lot of 'The Constitution of the Philippines' is not followed by the people AND by the GOVERNMENT itself. Let's look at out preamble...
"We, The sovereign Filipino people..."
Wait, What? We the SOVEREIGN Filipino people. This part means that Filipinos are the RULER of the waters around the Philippines and anything therein (according to Article I, National Territory); If so, then what happened to the Spratley's islands? Scarborough Shoal? Let's not even get to the rightful owner of Sabah, since the Philippines GAVE IT AWAY when they created the 1987 Constitution. The Spratley's Islands, discovered first by a Filipino, but taken by China, why? because Filipino's didn't show their SOVEREIGNTY, Even the Scarborough Shoal is inside our own territory but we don't own the place. The first five word of the Preamble is already flawed what else for the other parts?
"...Imploring the aid of Almighty God..."
Once more, Are all Filipinos THAT religious? Yes we pray, go to church, talk about religious issues, even Government VS Church is such a big controversy (RH Bill anyone?), BUT do we live by these words? do we follow the teachings of God? The Commandments? NO, I can estimate only 10-20% of Filipino's CATHOLICS do so. I love the way that Muslims do live by their teachings (According to a few friends).
"...in order to build a just and humane society and establish a Government that shall embody our ideals and aspirations, promote the common good, conserve and develop our patrimony, and secure to ourselves and our posterity the blessings of independence and democracy under the rule of law and a regime of truth, justice, freedom, love, equality, and peace, do ordain and promulgate this Constitution."
It's amazing how the government seems to be the root of all our problems. Where's the embodiment of our Ideals and Aspirations? Road fixes? So many Road Fixes... and they just make most of our roads worse. Truth? A lot of our Officials can not be honest to save their own lives. Justice? It's funny how when China hung Filipinos for drugs and our Government didn't do anything but say "No China, Please don't hang them, we'll be good.". Freedom? Yes! finally, we have freedom... and a lot of it, I Jaywalked once though Espana road because I was SO late, but no one cared, This isn't freedom, I should have been punished, Officers are just lazy. Love? When Filipinos do something good, well say, "YAY! GALING NG MGA PINOY", when something bad happens, we say "BOO! NAKAKAHIYA ANG MGA PINOY", and don't forget the Philippine Dragon Boat team's return, so much for love. Equality and Peace? Oh boy, Agrarian reform, Racism, Stereotyping, MILF, NPA, Terrorists, Corrupt Officials, Ill-mannered children, Angry Shop Clerks, Is there more to say? But let's do take into account that the Government gave a lot of us the "Blessing" of Independence, so independent that a lot of our countrymen are starving to death and has a 'who-knows-what virus'.
I would love to write something that covers all the flaws I see in our Government, but that would take forever. I'll just talk about a few more. Let's take a good look at Article II Sec. 3: "Civilian Authority is, at all times, supreme over the military." Let's expand this a bit, say Police, according to the policy, we are supposed to be protected by them, sadly, my favorite line from FPJ (Fernando Po Jr.) is something that we can relate this to, "Isang bala ka lang", When you get mad for an unjust ticket, what do you get? a gun in your face, BUT WAIT, 'there was the gun-ban naman diba?', Thanks to the gun-ban how are these Police going to protect us now? The first thing that came into mind was a line from a PNE (Parokya ni Edgar) song, "...Papagulpi na kita sa gwardyang may batuta!". Article II, Sec. 15: "The State shall protect and promote the right to health of the people and instill health consciousness among them.", Funny how a lot of people still don't know if they are healthy or not, isn't it?
Something that I would really love to talk about is Article II, Sec. 27: "The State shall maintain honesty and integrity in the public service and take positive and effective measures against graft and corruption.", EVERYTHING in this policy is IGNORED, it's like this policy doesn't even exist. We have literally hundreds of corrupt officials, ranging from simple Sangguniang Kabataan councilors to even the President of the Philippines. What does the Government do about this? Nothing. What does the people do about this? Turn it into gossip that in the end leads to nothing. I was supposed to run as an SK Councilor, but I was too old, The previous group... NO, the previous Chairman was so corrupt that he didn't even pay his councilors and had NO proper project whatsoever, he bought not more than thirty books for WAY over 100,00PHP, or so he says. How in the world would a few books cost so much? What are they, made of gold? The corruption in our country is getting worse and worse no matter what the "Big Fancy Expensive Recognized" Survey says, WE ARE NOT GETTING BETTER.
Straying away from the Government itself, The People also share the blame. We see illegal settlers on the news and the owner of the land with the aid of the government demolishes their homes and try to send them away to new and better homes. The People are like, "NO DON'T DESTROY OUR HOME! WE HAVE NOWHERE TO LIVE!", and then the government goes, "NO NO YOUR SETTLING HERE IS ILLEGAL AND YOUR HOUSES MUST BE DESTROYED". On the government side though, Why don't they just get everyone to gather in one place, get a big megaphone, say "Every is going to be relocated to somewhere, BETTER, and have Jobs for all, and live happily ever after.", BUT NO, they chose to force the people. People fail to understand what good (at least there are good things done by the government) the government is doing. The people and the Government needs to change.
As an aspiring politician (naks), I know that what I stated was not nearly enough for all our issues, BUT it's enough for now. If I were to be the President of the Philippines, I can not guarantee that I can address all the issues, and I don't believe that the next president after me can, and the next and the next... Until someone can REBUILD the entire Society, Constitution, and Government, from the ground up, nothing's going to work, for Democracy and a Republic government that is. I WILL change the Government into a Democratic Dictatorship. Now people think that dictatorship is bad, fortunately it isn't. The type of dictatorship depends on who is the one ruling, It's like the TRUE martial law (Which went bad because of corruption). This is where the Democratic part comes in, The Dictator follows what the people wants without the corruption of a lot of officials. You can say NO to what you think is wrong and no one would oppose you. You can remove corruption with a single policy, since there is very little possibility that a government official is going to stop you. The people can say what they need, and you can give it to them directly or neglect them if you think it's wrong.
Possibly through a good and non-corrupt Democratic Dictatorship, We can get back up on our feet. we can destroy all the natural concerns, Poverty? A good method of giving people a happier and more fruitful life is described a little bit before. Pollution? How about a year of community service and jail time for littering. Unemployment? With you in control, you can distribute good and proper jobs for everyone along with giving better benefits for current ones (I believe that our Basureros deserve more pay). Security? It's one big martial law, you can spread the military and police everywhere. Health? this is already a part of pollution and poverty, without these two there would be little health issues. Education? A big focus on adding GOOD schools, and GOOD teachers, some government schools today are just "UGH". Majority of the students have no Moral Values, so do some of the teachers.
Our country is flawed in many ways, yet we do nothing and the government does nothing. There are many ways to fix this and I chose to turn the government into a democratic dictatorship. There are a lot more benefits of this type of government that its consequences. Though, the system may fail, one they there will be something that will get us Filipinos back up on our own two legs.
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