Rustum Daniel Waldo H. DoctoraLegal WritingLlb 2E

Lifting Constitutional Limitations on Terms of Service

Vice President Jejomar Binay on July 16th 2015 said he wants limits on the terms of the countrys elected officials lifted. Vice President Binay believed that "certain restrictive provisions hinder the entry of foreign investments which would in turn generate jobs and address the prevailing problems of hunger and poverty especially in the rural areas. Binay said that Six years is good for a good president. Bad for a bad president. So four years would be just right,. It was the same setup prescribed by the 1935 Constitution, he noted. However, he would need to amend/revise the constitution if he wants that to happen.The Constitution provides that the President is not eligible for reelection after a six-year term. It also provides that no Vice President shall serve for more than two successive terms. Article 7, Section 4, paragraphs 1 and 2 of the 1987 Constitution provides that:The President and the Vice-President shall be elected by direct vote of the people for a term of six years which shall begin at noon on the thirtieth day of June next following the day of the election and shall end at noon of the same date, six years thereafter. The President shall not be eligible for any re-election. No person who has succeeded as President and has served as such for more than four years shall be qualified for election to the same office at any time.No Vice-President shall serve for more than two successive terms. Voluntary renunciation of the office for any length of time shall not be considered as an interruption in the continuity of the service for the full term for which he was elected.In response to this, I would like to subscribe and recommend what Senator Franklin Drilon said, to quote: I want to strengthen the term limitations by pushing instead the anti-dynasty bill, in order to comply with the constitutional mandate and plug the loopholes in the term limits set by law,As we all know, Makati has been under the rule of a Binay since 1986 and has just recently been relieved of that rule when Makati City Mayor Jejomar Erwin Binay, Jr. was suspended by the Ombudsman. The person acting mayor of Makati City now is Mayor Romulo "Kid" Pea Jr.Being a candidate for the presidential elections this 2016, Vice President Binays proposal to extend such political terms are somewhat colored in turning the Philippines akin to Makati City, that is to be ruled by a Binay for long span of time. He has once said, "Yes, we are a dynasty. We are a dynasty of service".As previously stated by Senator Drilon, I am for the passage of the Anti-Dynasty Bill. Even the 1987 Constitution recognizes the fear of being under a dynasty. Article 2, Section 26 provide that The State shall guarantee equal access to opportunities for public service, and prohibit political dynasties as may be defined by law.Since Article 2 of the 1987 Constitution is not a self-executing provision of the law, Congress needs an enabling law that will set into motion what Section 26, Article 2 of the Philippine Constitution provide.Political dynasties hold sway in the Philippines, becoming a stronger institution than political parties with no distinct ideologies. Dynastic politics exists alongside patronage politics, political violence, and elections where name recall determines the outcome. The current Senate anti-dynasty bill, if passed into law, will allow only 1 Binay in office. If the Senate version of the anti-political dynasty bill passes, Senator Koko Pimentel says the Binays will have to choose only one member to hold public office. Under the bill Pimentel is finalizing, only one family member will be allowed to hold public office from the barangay (village) to the national level. The bill prohibits spouses and relatives, up to the second degree of consanguinity or affinity of an incumbent official seeking reelection, from running for public office in the same election.The senator said that this would mean that in the case of the Binay dynasty, the 3 children presently in office will have to give way to their father's presidential bid. In one statement, Senator Nancy Binay made a futile and somehow inane argument comparing a family of doctors to a family of politicians saying both were the same in terms of dynasties. One doctor had to say: A family of doctors is NOT like a family of politicians. We do not earn our degrees by popularity or by democratic voting. We earn it. We work hard for it. And having our medical license does not depend on the majority. It's sad you had to use that analogy to justify your rejection of the Anti-Dynasty Bill. People probably know the real reason behind it. And I think it's not really because of a noble family practice or occupation. You do not undergo an operation or get treated based on who has the greatest number of ballots. You also don't have to amass a significant amount of knowledge, lose hundreds or thousands of hours of sleep, spend a number of years studying and mastering your craft, and then take numerous exams before you can enter politics. But maybe it's time that you should.The comments of senator Binay, obviously, were self-serving statements.The Anti-Dynast Bill, that the lawmakers are considering, only allows up to two members of a political clan to hold public office at the same time. They could either both hold national posts, local positions or a combination of the two. The bill seeks to level the playing field and combat the monopoly of political power and public resources of influential families and clans that are well entrenched in Philippine Politics.