A Congress for Our People

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Last night, Jose De Venecia, one of youngest cabinet member appointed in the Marcos regime, the longest speaker of the House of Representatives was ousted because of contradiction within the ruling coalition party. Last year, 2007, the House as a separate chamber from the Senate celebrated its 100 year centennial anniversary even if in the official seal of the House stated that it was re-founded only since 1987.

In 1907, the Philippine Assembly was organized by the Americans in the Philippines for the purpose of preparing the Filipinos for self-governance ignoring the fact which was admitted by many Americans and their military officers then that the Filipinos themselves are capable of governing compared to their South American counterpart. It was welcomed by the large members of the Malolos Congress of the same first Republic of 1899, by the Negros Republic who are lead by land lords and the local elite in that province, the Federal Council of the Visayas as well as the Islamic sultans of Mindanao.

The Malolos Congress as a war congress representing the will of the people to be free from any foreign interest and to become equal before the law and opportunity for the Indios only to be betrayed by the same Malolos Congress members who represent them by invoking their sovereign will and the sovereignty of the Philippine islands in their recognition of the Treaty of Paris of 1898.

In 1935, a new constitutional arrangement was institutionalized led by Senator Claro M. Recto to effect a compromised between the American interest and the clamor for a genuine Philippine independence since the time of the Tagalog Republic of the renewed Bagong Katipunan of Sakay and the Rizaline Republic of Ricarte. In reality, the 1907 and the 1935 Congress are both debating clubs with a few powers to affect civil service, education and diplomatic affairs with less power to assert our sovereign will.

After World War II, a group of progressive legislators won in an election but was denied from their own legitimate seat in Congress to prevent them in rejecting the Parity rights that allows equal rights to the Americans to continuously exploit our natural resources.

Without the amendment no.6 of Marcos that give him the absolute hold in congress as well as his dictatorial power, the Batasang Pambansa is close to perfection. But by the virtue of martial law, that effort in 1971 to create a better parliament or legislative house was reduced and was perceived as a puppet institution of the Marcos regime. In 1987, a Constitutional commission drafted a constitution and after subjected to a plebiscite, a Freedom Constitution of Cory Aquino was effected in the light of the aspiration of the people who sacrifice themselves in the long highway of EDSA.

The 1987 was a mixture between great aspiration of our people to have a better society and the ugly side of traditional politics of elite democracy. The Congress, the Senate and the House, with some perseverance to be with the people in the issues of land reform, energy, debt servicing, health, education, housing, natural resources, civil liberties and an independent foreign policy was proven to become an assembly not of the people’s will but the will of traditional politics of patronage, transactions, political survival and family interest. I don’t dream of an anti-American Congress. The American people are not enemies. They have their own decent leaders and we have true friends from them in the pages of our history. However, today, we heard of other agreement where the longer consequence does not favor the Filipino interest. We have enough ZTE with China, the JPEPA with Japan and other more which our common people, though they know but refused to make a stand because they are tired of being used by conflicting forces of our society.

Let us hope that our new leaders will seized this moment and move forward while they invoked the call for change to return to the original Congress, when the idea of a people’s assembly was still in the mind of our genuine heroes in harmony to the collective aspiration of our long suffering people regardless of their regional orientation, religious belief, economic affiliation, ethnical identity and most importantly for those who are unheard, neglected, ignored and forgotten.

(In memoriam to those who fell but unknown barefooted peasant soldiers after defending the Malolos Congress in the start of the Philippine-American war)


Albert Banico

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EDITORIAL- our war with the Americans

The enemy is us Tuesday, February 05, 2008
(excerpt frm the Manila Times editorial)

Filipinos have survived centuries of colonization, by at least three nations, to reach this vital act in their life.They fought at least three great armies with inferior arms but with great courage. A few have said Filipinos could use the anvil of a civil war to forge a stronger bond, a clearer vision and a sense of purpose.

But sacrifices, small and great, have to be made. Quiet acts of heroism in the daily life could help. Doing volunteer work is a good start. Electing honest men and throwing out the bloodsuckers is another. Getting involved and having your voice heard matters. Our civic duties challenge us everyday. We have fought the Spaniards, the Americans and the Japanese to evolve into an inchoate nation.

It is time to fight our personal and collective demons, the wrong values and weaknesses of character that are our greatest enemy.