I was thinking about the possible double-standard that exists. Who can remember there was a clamor to give #OneMoreTermForPnoy? Just then, it seems the same people who wished the late Noynoy Aquino had one more term are now against President Rodrigo R. Duterte's plan to run for vice president. I'd like to stress the political dynasty law is nothing more than a band-aid solution. Don't tell me it didn't become a political dynasty of the Aquinos when Noynoy ran as president because of his mother, his cousin Bam Aquino became a senator DURING his term and the possibility that Kris Aquino may also run for a seat. Both the Aquinos and the Dutertes are part of a political dynasty. But political dynasties aren't necessarily bad such as when Lee Hsien Long becomes a prime minister like his late father Lee Kuan Yew. I don't think anything would be wrong if Noynoy decided to run as Roxas' vice president or EVEN if Noynoy would be allowed one more term. I don't think anything would be wrong either if Duterte would run as vice president or re-run as president. What was PLAIN WRONG was when Joseph Estrada re-ran for president even after he was an impeached president!
Though, all these wouldn't matter under a parliamentary system. A term limit is defined as a legal restriction of limits that a candidate may serve in office. The parliamentary doesn't know such thing and would only stop somebody from running via DISQUALIFICATION. To say that there are no elections under a parliamentary system is sheer ignorance. Instead, there are elections under the parliamentary system when parliamentary is officially dissolved. That means new elections come in and people will vote by parties. For example, if people have a 94% satisfaction rating with Prime Minister Rodrigo Roa Duterte - they will vote for PDP-Laban. If people have a good satisfaction rating with the Liberal Party then there's the high chance the Liberal Paty may become the Opposition or will be mandated by law to form a coalition government with PDP-Laban. In short, Leni Loud Robredo can either be the Deputy Prime Minister (under coalition) or lead the opposition.
Now, let's examine the problem of term limits and what REALLY happened. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was president for three years when Joseph Estrada got impeached. Later, Gloria was permitted to run because she was a replacement president - not a candidate. Then later, Estrada was able to run during the 2010 elections and lost to Noynoy. Now, Arroyo had to run as a congresswoman. Before that, we also have both Fidel V. Ramos and Noynoy who had great plans for the Philippines. Ramos wanted to turn the Philippines into a tiger economy, he wanted to change the SYSTEM itself, but it was a failure due to all the naysaying. Noynoy also had several projects bought but some of them were left hanging for this reason - TERM LIMITS. For example, who can remember the time when the expressway from Baclaran to Bacoor was NOT FINISHED and when Duterte had to pick up Noynoy's Mactan project? One must ask was six years really enough for both Ramos and Noynoy to carry out big plans? Now, all the criticism done against Gloria is more based on term limits than whatever faults she had during her presidency. Estrada should've been criticized for running as president again after he did an offense that would've already disqualified him if he were prime minister.
Duterte becoming deputy prime minister or Noynoy having one more term as prime minister is NOT an issue under a parliament. It's also because a parliamentary system separates powers even more efficiently and effectively than the current system. Are you afraid that the prime minister has nothing to stop him or her? Well, there's the formalized opposition that competes for attention from the government. For example, Duterte as Prime Minister will be answerable to Trillanes as the Opposition Leader. Trillanes' job is to hold the government accountable and question them. Every government appointee has a shadow equivalent from the opposition appointee. The Opposition represents the voice of the minority preventing the tyranny of the majority.
One must look at the quality of the rule of both Lee and Mahathir Mohamad. Lee ruled Singapore from 1965 to 1990. Mohamad ruled Malaysia from 1981 to 1993 and made a brief return at a very ripe old age in 2018. To say that term limits are there to prevent "another Marcos" is stupid. The reason why the Marcos Years weren't the golden years was because of his ruling for 20 years. The reason is that Marcos was highly incontestible that a revolution government was probably the most feasible way to throw him out. If the Marcos Years were a parliament then a vote of no confidence could've gotten rid of him. Instead, Marcos had to be overthrown via EDSA. Ninoy Aquino himself even said that the Marcos Years weren't a real parliament. If anything, it seems Ninoy was a hero after all in the sense that Saban TRULY belonged to Malaysia. Sabah is better off in federalized Malaysia than unitarian Philippines. These guys could rule for a LONG TIME without becoming tyrants because the parliamentary system limited the coverage of their power even if they could rule for more than one or two terms.
I would say do some research about the parliamentary system. Research the history of Singapore and Malaysia for a start. It's not just the quality of their politicians. It's that the quality of their system gave them both good politicians!
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