The adoption of certain aspects of a parliamentary system in the amended Constitution does not alter its essentially presidential character. Article VII on the Presidency starts with this provision: ‘the President shall be the Head of State and Chief Executive of the Republic of the Philippines.’ Its last section is an even more emphatic affirmation that it is a presidential system that obtains in our government. Thus: all powers vested in the President who, by virtue of his election by the entire electorate, has an indisputable claim to speak for the country as a whole. Moreover, it is he who is explicitly granted the greater power of control of such ministries. He continues to be the executive, the amplitude and scope of the functions entrusted to him in the formulation of policy and its execution leading to the apt observation by LASI that there is not one aspect of which that does not affect the lives of all.
True, there was a prime minister named Cesar Virata. However, the words of the late Lee Kuan Yew already said in his book From Third World to First the following on Virata:
As soon as all our aides left, I went straight to the point, that no bank was going to lend him any money. They wanted to know who was going to succeed him if anything were to happen to him; all the bankers could see that he no longer looked healthy. Singapore banks had lent US$8 billion of the US$25 billion owing. The hard fact was they were not likely to get repayment for some 20 years. He countered that it would be only eight years. I said the bankers wanted to see a strong leader in the Philippines who could restore stability, and the Americans hoped the election in May would throw up someone who could be such a leader. I asked whom he would nominate for the election. He said Prime Minister Cesar Virata. I was blunt. Virata was a nonstarter, a first-class administrator but no political leader; further, his most politically astute colleague, defense minister Juan Ponce Enrile, was out of favour. Marcos was silent, then he admitted that succession was the nub of the problem. If he could find a successor, there would be a solution. As I left, he said, “You are a true friend.” I did not understand him. It was a strange meeting.
With medical care, Marcos dragged on. Cesar Virata met me in Singapore in January the following year. He was completely guileless, a political innocent. He said that Mrs. Imelda Marcos was likely to be nominated as the presidential candidate. I asked how that could be when there were other weighty candidates, including Juan Ponce Enrile and Blas Ople, the labor minister. Virata replied it had to do with “flow of money; she would have more money than other candidates to pay for the votes needed for nomination by the party and to win the election. He added that if she were the candidate, the opposition would put up Mrs. Cory Aquino and work up the people’s feelings. He said the economy was going down with no political stability.
Marcos nominated Virata as a possible president. Virata's job as prime minister wasn't the same as the prime minister of a parliamentary system. More on Marcos' declaration also had this paper for Virata:
The Prime Minister may advise the President in writing to dissolve the Batasang Pambansa whenever the need arises for a popular vote of confidence on fundamental issues, but on a matter involving his own personal integrity. Whereupon, the President may dissolve the Batasang Pambansa not earlier than seven nor later than fourteen days from his receipt of the advice, and call for an election on a date set by him which shall not be earlier than forty-five nor later than sixty days from the date of such dissolution.
In the parliamentary system, the president is purely ceremonial. As Benigno Simeon "Ninoy" Aquino Jr. said in his speech in Los Angeles, the president is just there to open the door. The way Ninoy detailed things before his death, already proved that there was no parliamentary system (read here). Marcos had already made Virata as nothing more than a personal adviser. LKY's words calling Virata as a non-starter, a first-class administrator but no leader, is based on experience. Some say parliamentary works in Malaysia and Singapore, because of much lesser corruption and the supposed absence of stupid voters. However, we need to realize for the nth time, the Constitution is the operating system of the country. The Constitution restrains the behavior of politicians, which in turn, will also restrain the behavior of the citizens!
If the Philippines was truly under a parliamentary system, why in the world is Virata even considered a candidate for president? Even more, Marcos had a running mate with Arturo Tolentino. Maria Corazon "Cory" S. Cojuangco-Aquino ran with Salvador "Doy" Laurel Jr. as her vice president. Doesn't this look like a presidential election? Marcos already admitted it. Ninoy already admitted it. Doy even mentioned the lack of legitimacy with Marcos' reign. There were no meaningful elections since Marcos declared martial law in 1972! There was really no parliamentary system. Otherwise, Marcos could've been ousted when he was supposedly prime minister and president. There's no such arrangement in any legitimate parliamentary system!
True, there was a parliament. Just because there was a parliament and a prime minister, doesn't mean that it was a parliamentary form of government. Taiwan is a presidential form of government with a parliament. True, Marcos and Tolentino were declared "winners" (but documentation of cheating was really there). However, what kind of "opposition" was there in parliament anyway? Parliamentary elections vote by parties--not by candidates!
By virtue of Resolution No. 38, signed on February 15, 1986, Ferdinand Marcos and Arturo Tolentino were proclaimed by the Batasang Pambansa as winners of the snap elections. This announcement was met with public outrage. Fifty opposition members of parliament walked out in protest. The next day, Corazon Aquino and Salvador Laurel held a “Tagumpay ng Bayan” (People’s Victory) rally at the Quirino Grandstand in Luneta Park, Manila. Aquino called for a civil disobedience campaign through strikes and the boycott of companies owned by Marcos cronies. Among these were the major newspaper companies, San Miguel Corporation, and several banks, including the Philippine National Bank. In less than a week, a total of Php1.78 billion had been withdrawn from crony banks. People all around the country had heeded Aquino’s call.
Sadly, some people still try to insist on the same myth. They have a cognitive dissonance with the matter. Are they too lazy to do research in the information age? Come on, one can also buy research papers online. Some people are still stuck in the comfort zone of the 1987 Constitution of the Philippines. Never mind that the very words of Cory even said these:
You must define and protect our individual freedoms and rights; you must decide how our different institutions of state will relate to each other. Do not be distracted by political debates and matters of policy that do not belong within your constitution-making exercise. You are here appointed, by the people’s wish, to write a constitution; you are not here as elected politicians.
Bear in mind that you shall be pondering, debating and writing a constitution not only for our contemporaries with their present concerns, but also for succeeding generations of Filipinos whose first concerns we cannot presume to know beforehand. Future Filipinos must always be free to decide how to address these concerns as they arise. Even the wisest cures for present maladies should not be imposed on succeeding generations that will have their own unique problems and priorities.
True and long-lived constitutions, a wise justice has told me, should be broad enough to be able to meet every exigency we cannot foretell and specific enough to stoutly protect the essentials of a true democracy; in short, open-ended documents that will always be relevant. Remember that constitutional changes are not safe or easy to come by. Our first attempt at constitutional revision was followed by a dictatorship. And this, our second endeavor, was preceded by a revolution.
Future Filipinos and their legislatures and Supreme Courts can best assess and address the challenges they will meet if they enjoy the widest latitude of thought and action. In writing a constitution have the fullest confidence that the wisdom of our race is exhausted in us. Our race has grown in wisdom over time. I believe it will continue to do so.
Yours is indeed no easy task. On the other hand, depending on the result, yours will be no small glory. Our people have suffered much.