Philippines Could've Been Richer If The 1987 Constitution Was A Parliamentary, Federal, FDI-Friendly Constitution

Happy 93rd birthday Fidel V. Ramos, right? One can't forget the pictures he had shared with the late Corazon C. Aquino who was set-up as a revolutionary president. However, a closer look at EDSA will reveal that Cory herself was a UNIFYING figure for the revolution. The real heads of the EDSA Revolution were Fidel V. Ramos and Juan Ponce-Enrile. Cory didn't lead EDSA but she served as the inspiration and unifying figure. The fact Cory was inexperienced in politics and a housewife so didn't qualify her to lead the nation. Instead, Cory herself was more fit to be the president of a PARLIAMENTARY SYSTEM. Why the president of a parliamentary system? Cory herself was the unifying figure during EDSA. The ones who led EDSA should've formed the Philippine Parliament. That would mean Cory herself would be the Head of State while Ramos himself acted as the Head of Government. Cory's responsibilities would be to open the door, to receive credentials, to give Filipinos someone to look up to and to serve as a representative for the Philippines to other nations. Meanwhile, Ramos himself as the Prime Minister would be running the Government in its decisions. The 1987 Constitution opting for a similar system (Presidential-Unitary-Protectionist) set-up was a huge mistake, to begin with.

How would a parliamentary system actually start to make sure the Marcos Years were not repeated? 

I guess most people think term limits are the best way to avoid them. However, even the late Ninoy Aquino admitted that the Marcos Years was a MOCK PARLIAMENTARY. Ninoy expressed that it was a Parliamentary WITHOUT a parliament. In short, it wasn't a real parliamentary. A real parliamentary system would've easily exposed Marcos' shortcomings and even arrest him for his crimes. However, Marcos simply kept shifting from the British Type (which is ideal) and went to do 80 Days Around the World. The parliamentary system would give more terms to people who are qualified and cut short those who don't. In short, the parliamentary system would put to shame anyone who screws up via a LIVE declaration of a vote of no confidence. Instead, the term limits had given fewer terms for those deemed competent. Can a president with a ONE-TERM six-year limit ever do that much? True, Noynoy Aquino did some things to improve the Philippines but can he really DO THAT MUCH in such a ridiculous time limit?

The parliamentary system will fix things with the Weekly Question Hour. Why do you think college professors check your project every week and drop you when you don't show results? It's the simple logic that weekly questioning or weekly inspection will check performance along the way. The parliamentary system sets up two sides of the coin - the Government (Majority Bloc) and the Opposition (Minority Bloc). In some cases, there's the Coalition Government which might be like if PDP-Laban and Liberal Party become the Government (which means Leni Loud Robredo as Deputy Prime Minister CAN'T lead the Opposition against Prime Minister Rodrigo R. Duterte) while other parties form the Opposition with (let's say), Antonio Trillanes IV as the Opposition Leader. The role of the Opposition is the Minority having its voice to question the Majority and hold them accountable. That means people who aren't ready are bound to really get kicked out any time soon.

The parliamentary system would also require more transparency on income. You can imagine how the DAP/PDAF issue under Noynoy could've put Butcher Abad in hot water if he were the Minister of Finance. Spending right now during the COVID-19 crisis will be much more transparent exposing any possible corruption right now. Marcos would have really failed if his government was a real parliamentary. It would have also meant that both Joseph Estrada and Noynoy Aquino would've to really either shape up or risk getting voted out as prime ministers. 

How the federal system will decongest the Philippines 

The federal system will help spread out development. The recent problem of the Philippines is that almost everything is centralized in Metro Manila. Hence, Metro Manila is mockingly called Imperial Manila. However, under federalism, the regions will be the ones responsible for certain major decisions like economics and development. They will not be stuck with EDSA. Instead, it will be the call for ASYMMETRIC federalism. Germany as one of the most progressive countries in the world uses federalism. Malaysia is also a federal country and it's doing better than the Philippines.

The federal system will allow the 18 regions of the Philippines to have more autonomy. It's amazing how the Philippines already has been MORE THAN READY for federalism yet it remains unitary. What's the use of dividing the Philippines into regions if Imperial Manila has TOO MUCH POWER over the other regions? Wouldn't it be better if Region Heads in the Philippines were allocated more power than having everything to be approved by Imperial Manila? Processes like government transactions and the like would be faster. Instead, the Imperial Manila system just has made the division of regions into a useless thing Worse, sometimes, someone will still have to fly ALL OVER TO MANILA just to get a single document that could've been recovered in their region.

How free markets would've easily helped the Philippines recover from the Marcos debt crisis

It's really so easy to talk about how Marcos was an abusive tyrant. What can't be denied is that many tyrants tend to be protectionist freaks themselves. Adolf Hitler and Mao Zedong were protectionist freaks. The big problem is to obsess over what if Marcos never rose into power rather than fixing the damage that came along with Marcos being overthrown. Instead, the focus should be on what could've done to help the Philippines recover from the Marcos years' damage. Remember Germany suffered much after the fall of Nazi Germany and China suffered much during and after the fall of Mao Zedong. Germany and China focused on economic development. China was once poorer than the Philippines but the introduction of free markets into the communist state made it progressive. For Deng Xiaoping, he called his new movement as Socialism with Chinese Characteristics. Vietnam also recovered by adopting capitalist policies in its communist state. 

How can the free markets help the Philippines recover from the Marcos debt crisis? It's simply common sense that more businesses mean more taxable income. The lie that's uttered over and over again (and it's getting REALLY TIRING) is that only foreign investors will get rich. The other big lie is always about foreign investors will invade the country. The same lie is told over and over again using the same techniques the Nazis did their occupation of Germany. However, history will tell us that China got rich because Deng reversed the economic policies of Mao. Lee Kuan Yew didn't self-industrialize Singapore. Instead, Lee opened Singapore for business that turned it into a business hub. Just think that those countries that were once poorer than the Philippines are now WAY RICHER than the Philippines. Having much income revenue would've helped the Philippines recover. Instead, the obsession with recovering the stolen wealth of the Marcoses kept the Philippines stagnant for more than 30 years. 

It's simple really. If you do business or work in another country - are you by means conquering it? Working in another country or investing in another country means you're subjected to the rules of that country. An investor does business in the Philippines BUT it's Filipinos who get the jobs. True, Filipinos may have a foreigner for a boss. However, the foreign boss is subjected to the Filipino government. Foreign firms are still required to comply with Filipino laws even if they operate without a Filipino partner. They are still be required to pay their Filipino tenants their rent and the Filipino government their income taxes. It's because foreign firms will be subjected to Filipino laws if they want to continue getting rich. Otherwise, they can be deported like an evicted tenant. The taxes they produce would be a much better source of income than just getting the Marcos ill-gotten wealth back.