Why I Think Dilawans Are Scared Of The Parliamentary System

I remembered a few days ago - I wrote a humor or satire post where I wrote about the rise of the Dilawan variant. The Delta variant is fearsome but the Dilawan variant is 100% vaccine-immune except to constitutional reform. I would really want to share another opinion piece. Just note that this is speculative (at best) with some dropping by of facts. There are Dilawans who are scared of the parliamentary system. The best thing they do is to simply keep raising up the so-called "Marcos Parliament". 

What's interesting is that the late Ninoy Aquino mentioned that the Marcos Years was parliamentary WITHOUT a parliament. It was a mockery of a real parliamentary system. Ninoy, as much as I want to question his status as a hero now, was RIGHT to say that the Marcos Years were not a real parliament. A president can't be the prime minister and a prime minister is not appointed by the president in a REAL PARLIAMENT. Ninoy revealed everything about how a real parliament works. His speech in Boston was rather informative even if he mentioned he wanted to give the Communist Party of the Philippines a voice. I wonder did the Dilawans take note of that part of Ninoy's speech or are they too busy clapping that they ignored it?

Now, let's think about a real parliamentary system and how it works

A parliamentary system would have a head of state and a head of government. Unfortunately, the late Corazon Cojuangco-Aquino was more fit as symbolic head of state with another person to serve as the head of government. Cory was symbolic throughout the whole 1986 EDSA Revolution. Any common sense will tell you Cory was more fit to accept credentials, to hold the keys, to do ambassadorial duties, and to accept credentials than to be the chief executive of the government. The decision to put Cory as both wasn't good. In contrast, parliamentary systems make their presidents symbolic and a unifying figure. Cory was good as a unifying figure but not as an executive. 

Meanwhile, the parliamentary system would put an Opposition. It's like Antonio Trillanes IV is the Opposition Leader while Rodrigo R. Duterte is the Prime Minister. Trillanes' role in the parliamentary is to question the government and hold it accountable. Duterte's role is to determine the general direction of the government. The caricature above would be best used to portray the role of both sides. The Opposition chases after the Government. All these are done in the weekly question hour. Both sides will duke it out. Trillanes must try to show Duterte doesn't know what he's talking about and Duterte must defend himself to that claim. The Opposition is also tasked to give alternatives to the government and not just oppose without alternatives. 

The Dilawans say that the parliamentary doesn't have term limits. Well, that's just partly true. In reality, the parliamentary system's term limits don't work the same way that the presidential term limit does. In a current presidential system, a president (regardless of performance) may only serve up to six years and legislators may only serve up to nine years. A parliamentary system still has elections. People vote by parties than by candidates to determine which parties become the Government and which parties become the Opposition. In parliament, a person may hold office for as long as possible as long as he or she is still qualified to sit in the office. The only thing that limits the terms of a Member of Parliament is in their performance. That is, anybody in parliament who loses the confidence of the legislature may no longer be allowed to sit in the office. 

Besides, there's also the vote of no confidence. A vote of no confidence is raised up if ever someone in parliament loses the confidence of the parliament. For example, just imagine if Joseph Estrada were the prime minister and he talks nonsense during the Weekly Question Hour. It would really end up in the statement, "I declare a vote of no confidence against the leadership of Prime Minister Estrada!" Another example is what if the late Noynoy Aquino said, "Hindi ko alam!" or "Eh di wow!" during the weekly question hour. Recently, just imagine if Leni Loud Robredo answered, "Mag-merienda na lang tayo!" when questioned if ever the grilling gets her. It's either these leaders straighten up or they risk getting removed. It's because they'll be impeached on the spot for misconduct OR they will lose their votes if they fail to uphold the confidence of the legislature. I guess this is where the Dilawans are most afraid of - it's because some of their favorite politicians may have been long gone under a parliamentary.

Though, Dilawans don't need to fear the parliamentary system. They need to see how it can benefit them in either way. Having an Opposition can help the Government better. If the Dilawans are in teh Government - any form of criticism from the Opposition can be helpful for their plans. For example, Noynoy had good ideas but not all of them were implemented well. A parliamentary would've helped Noynoy carry things out better. If they were in the Opposition now in a parliamentary - they can hold Duterte accountable EVERY WEEK. I guess they never thought of that long term, right? 

Not to mention, the Dilawan, the late Carlos Celdran, was pro-reform

What's also interesting is that Dilawan and Duterte critic, the late Carlos Celdran was for system change. CoRRECT Philippines' founder Orion Perez Dumdum was a Duterte supporter. Celdran was a Liberal Party supporter. However, unlike Jover Laurio, Celdran was one who criticized and gave solutions. Celdran knew the constitution was the real problem. Only if the Liberal Party really just decided to take Constitutional Reform in the agenda then they would've stayed relevant, right?