The 1973 constitution

A. Establishment of a modified parliamentary government.

Parliamentary form of government

Parliamentary government is a democratic form of government in which the political party that wins
the most seats in the legislature or parliament during the federal election forms the government.
This majority party chooses a leader to be the Prime Minister or Chancellor, and other high-ranking
members of the party make up the cabinet. The minority party forms the opposition, and its job is to
challenge the majority party. If no party is able to win a majority in the election, a coalition
government will be formed with a few political parties cooperating together.
It's called 'parliamentary government' because all of the power is vested in the parliament. In a
presidential system like the United States, the executive branch is separate, and the president is
popularly elected by the citizens of the nation. In a parliamentary system, the head of the
government is chosen from the parliament, and is often one of the most senior members or ministers
in parliament, which is where we get the term 'Prime Minister'. Often in a parliamentary system, the
country will have a Head of State, who is a ceremonial figure like the Queen, but does not engage in
legislating or politics.
A parliamentary system of government means that the executive branch of government has the
direct or indirect support of the parliament. This support is usually shown by a vote of
confidence. The relationship between the executive and the legislature in a parliamentary
system is called responsible government.

How is the power distributed in the parliamentary government?

= The executive is made up of the prime minister or premier, and that official's cabinet. The
prime minister and his cabinet are members of the legislative branch called the parliament.
Voters elect the legislature. The executive and legislative branches are separate, independent
of one another, and coequal.

Countries that exercise parliamentary government

United Kingdom

Denmark

Sweden

Japan

Germany
 B. Suspension of bill of right.

Article III – Bill of Rights

Article III enumerates specific protections against the abuse of state power, most of which are similar
to the provisions of the U.S. Constitution. Some essential provisions are:

 a right to due process and equal protection of law

 a right against searches and seizures without a warrant issued by a judge
 a right to privacy
 The right to freedom of speech and expression, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, and
the right to petition
 The free exercise of religion
 a right of abode and the right to travel
 a right to information on matters of public concern
 a right to form associations
 a right of free access to courts
 the right to remain silent and to have competent legal counsel
 a right to bail and against excessive bail conditions
 a right to habeas corpus
 the right to a speedy trial
 the right against self-incrimination
 the right to political beliefs and aspirations
 a prohibition against cruel, degrading, or inhuman punishment
 protection providing for no imprisonment for debt
 the right against double jeopardy
 Prohibition of ex post facto laws and bills of attainder.

Example of abuses during the time president marcos.

Archimedes Trajano was only 21 when he questioned Imee Marcos on why she was the
National Chairman of the Kabataang Barangay during an open forum. He was forcibly
taken from the venue by Imee's bodyguards, and was tortured and thrown out of a
building window, all because the presidential daughter was irked by his question.

Maria Elena Ang was a 23-year-old UP Journalism student when she was arrested and
detained. She was beaten, electrocuted, water cured, and sexually violated during her
detention.

Dr Juan Escandor was a young doctor with UP-PGH who was tortured and killed by the
Philippine Constabulary. When his body was recovered, a pathologist found that his
skull had been broken open, emptied and stuffed with trash, plastic bags, rags and
underwear. His brain was stuffed inside his abdominal cavity.
Boyet Mijares was only 16 years old in 1977 when he received a call that his
disappeared father (whistleblower and writer Primitivo Mijares) was still alive. The caller
invited the younger Mijares to see him. A few days later, Boyet's body was found
dumped outside Manila, his eyeballs protruding, his chest perforated with multiple stab
wounds, his head bashed in, and his hands, feet and genitals mangled.

Trinidad Herrera was a community leader in Tondo when she was arrested in 1977. In
this video she recounts being electrocuted on her fingers, breasts, and vagina until her
interrogators were pleased with her answers to their questions.

Neri Colmenares was an 18-year-old activist when he was arrested and tortured by
members of the Philippine Constabulary. Aside from being strangled and made to play
Russian Roulette, he witnessed fellow detainees being electrocuted through wires
inserted into their penises, as well as being buried alive in a steel drum.

Hilda Narciso was a church worker when she was arrested, confined in a small cell, fed
a soup of worms and rotten fish, and repeatedly gang-raped.

Necessary methods

60,000 were arrested during the first year of Martial Law alone, and many of their
stories will never be told. Michael Chua wrote a paper detailing the torture methods
used during the Marcos regime.

Aside from electrocution of body parts and genitals, it was routine to waterboard political
prisoners, burn them using cigarettes and flat irons, strangle them using wires and steel
bars, and rub pepper on their genitals. Women were stripped naked, made to sit on ice
blocks or stand in cold rooms, and were sexually assaulted using objects such as
eggplants smeared with chili peppers.

Forty-three years have passed. Time, as well as the circus that is Philippine governance
makes it easy to forget Martial Law as the darkest and most terrible moments in
Philippine history. Many of its victims have died or have chosen to remain silent –
silence being most understandable because these stories are truly difficult to remember,
and much harder to tell.

Stories need to be told

Yet these horrific stories need to be told over and over until we realize that the pretty
cover of the book of the Marcos years is actually full of monster stories. We need to
bring the graphic accounts of torture and murder to light so that those who rest
comfortably in their illusions that the Marcos years were pleasant will at least be stirred.
Instead we often hear from those who want to erase the evils of the past, those who tell
us that these young people, many of them barely past their childhoods when they were
tortured and killed, were violent rebels who sought to overthrow the government. Never
mind that it was one of the most corrupt and cruel dictatorships the world has ever
known, and that it was by the efforts of these young heroes that the reign of the Marcos
ended.

Majority of Martial Law victims were in their 20s and 30s at that time – the same age our
younger citizens are now – those who have the luxury of shrugging off the Marcos years
as a wonderful time. Unscathed by a morecruel past, the younger generation is only too
eager to criticize the current state of our government and our people as being
undisciplined and requiring an iron fist such as the one Marcos used to supposedly
create peace in the past.

They forget that if we were still under Martial Law (or should it return), such sentiments
of “subversion” could cost them their lives, and that the same freedom and voice they
use to reminisce about a time they know nothing about would have been muted and
extinguished if we did not have the democracy we enjoy today.

Hindsight is always 20-20, as they say. It's convenient to look at the past with rose-
colored glasses instead of memories of needles in your nail beds, electric wires
attached to your genitals, and a barrel of a gun thrust inside your mouth, the way
thousands of Martial Law victims suffered and still suffer to this day.

Just because it didn't happen to you or your family doesn't mean it didn't happen to
more than 70,000 victims during that time. Just because you were spared then doesn't
mean you will be spared the next time this iron fist you wish for comes around.

 2,668 incidents of arrests

 398 disappearances
 1,338 salvaging
 128 frustrated salvaging
 1,499 killed or wounded in massacres
Amnesty International reports:

 70,000 imprisoned
 34,000 tortured
 3,240 killed
C. Has given greater power to the executive department.

Article VII, Section 1, of the 1987 Constitution vests executive power on the President of
the Philippines. The President is the Head of State and Head of Government, and
functions as the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. As chief
executive, the President exercises control over all the executive departments, bureaus,
and offices.

The President of the Philippines is elected by direct vote by the people for a term of six
years. He may only serve for one term, and is ineligible for reelection. The term of the
President of the Philippines starts at noon of the 30th day of June after the election.