A Business Graduate's Reviewing History Blog

ABS-CBN News I noticed that some stubborn boomers on Facebook are citing Article VII, Section 5, of the "sacred" 1987 Constitution of the Philippines. This is what it says: SECTION 5. Before they enter on the execution of their office, the President, the Vice-President, or the Acting President shall take the following oath or affirmation: “I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully and conscientiously fulfill my duties as President (or Vice-President or Acting President) of the Philippines, preserve and defend its Constitution, execute its laws, do justice to every man, and consecrate myself to the service of the Nation. So help me God.” (In case of affirmation, last sentence will be omitted.) Does this mean that the 1987 Constitution must be upheld at all costs? The reality is absolutely not . In fact, preserving and defending a constitution doesn't mean that no changes can be made whatsoever. This is the mindset that people like Atty. Hilario Davide Jr. (who...

Henry Rose Lee I wrote a blog post discussing Filipino baby boomers using mobile devices , to type anti-FDI rants . Consider this a "part 2" post of my earlier post, even if this blog handles random history rants . It's a strange but true phenomenon that we have Filipino baby boomers writing comments that reflect their fear of constitutional reform. It should be ironic that they have the smartphone and WiFi at hand, presumably gifted by their children. These Filipino baby boomers may be using the devices to stay connected as a co-parenting grandparent (that is, communicating with the grandchildren).  However, if one started reading their comments on Facebook, I would like to point out these things in common, though it's not a monolith: There's still the irritating phrase that I often hear, such as, "When I was your age... I already did this and that...". This is where baby boomers often compare their children (mostly Millennials and Zoomers) to them, ign...

It's National Heroes' Day, and I'm afraid many Filipinos tend to take those heroes for granted. Honestly, I often asked myself that question growing up in the Philippines. I had an identity crisis as a Chinoy, because Chinoy history often had this clannish, insular mindset. Sure, there's no Binondo in Cebu City, and the Chinoy population is often better integrated   these days. I thought about how I felt the Philippines wasn't "worth it" or "worth fighting for" because of things like: I remember being in elementary school with poor discipline, driven by how students who landed the punch were singled out, while the student who triggered it with an insult didn't even get a scolding. I mean, sure, the student who landed the punch deserves suspension, but letting the student who triggered the fight go without a scolding and parental counseling is uncalled for. Also, that school was guilty of not respecting people's time by starting programs a...

I'm certainly glad that Senator Francis "Kiko" Pangilinan is out of the job as the head of the constitutional amendments, if he's too stubborn to see the reality. This blog post doesn't seek to discredit anything good Kiko has done. I don't like the idea of Senator Robin Padilla as the head of the same committee either. Instead, I'm going to try to enlighten every spectrum by discussing the Broken Windows Theory . What is the Broken Windows Theory? We need to look into it first. This Criminal Justice Know How article by Kelly M. Glenn gives this introduction: The Broken Window Theory was coined by James Q. Wilson and George Kelling in 1982 and greatly impacted police work in the decades to follow.  The Broken Windows Theory uses the basic metaphor of a broken window to demonstrate how crime and disorder tend to flourish in environments where small problems go unaddressed.  As the environment falls into neglect and disrepair, people responsible for crime a...

  It's something that I read crybaby comments online where people are saying, "Making EDSA a special working day is making us forget the glory of EDSA." Please, let me remind people that even 10 years later , neither the late Lee Kuan Yew's birthday nor his death anniversary has become a national holiday in Singapore! Singapore simply honored LKY's birthday by working on that day. I was laughing at the toxic Facebook page called We Are Millennials. What truly made me think that these people are stuck in nostalgia is that EDSA 1986 would never have been possible if the Filipinos were stuck in nostalgia . I remember talks about how the first Marcos administration was built on these two pillars. The first pillar was information control . The other pillar was toxic positivity. I remember back in 1995 when the social studies teacher talked about how he thought that Ferdinand E. Marcos Sr. was a "good president" due to the long holidays. However, the holidays ...

Philippine Japanese Journal Some advocates against charter change often cite that some countries have an older constitution. One example is the USA. The other example, surprise for some, myself included, is Japan. Some may say that a new constitution isn't needed because some countries have an older constitution. However, reading through the Constitution of Japan and comparing it with the 1987 Constitution of the Philippines , one can think about quality over quantity. The Philippines had changed its constitution from 1935, to 1973 (which I believe was illegal), and the 1987 version (which sprang out of a desperate need). I recommend reading both links that I just sent, to understand my point! Can a shorter vs. longer constitution be the reason? As I read both, the Constitution of Japan is  surprisingly  not-so-complicated. The Constitution of Japan would only be composed of  16 pages  (printed on short bond paper). Meanwhile, the 1987 Constitution of the Philippine...

I've observed several anti-constitutional reform pages on Facebook. Whether it'd be Change Scamming, Silent No More PH, Mahal Ko Ang Pilipinas, La Verite (and Pinocchio ironically represents this page), Rule of Law Sentinel, We Are Millenials, etc.--the argument tends to quote the framers (or the Catholic Bishops' Conference in the Philippines) more than anything. Most of them tend to echo the same idea, echo the same sources, etc. In fact, one foolish old man I met said he wouldn't believe anything about the constitution if it's not from Filipino constitutionalists.  In short, I'm dealing with a group of broken records. Why do I say that they're broken records? It's always repeating the same ideas over and over again. It may not be the same words over and over again. However, one can look at the idiomatic meaning of broken record, as a person  who keeps repeating the same ideas or statements, over and over again , without offering anything new. In fact,...

As I insist on the need for constitutional reform, I already feel like I'm alone. It's not because I'm in jail (otherwise, I would not be able to type this), but because most of my life, most Filipinos have become the collective   tyranny . In fact, one can say, "Are we a democracy or are we an anarchy?" The more I think about the surveys by Pulse Asia, they claim that 88% of Filipinos (but have they truly surveyed everywhere) are supposedly against charter change. This is where the tyranny of the majority kicks in. People may have overthrown the tyranny of Ferdinand E. Marcos Sr., but they haven't learned much. Instead, people insist on false myths such as the Marcos Parliamentary Years (which, by the way, is bogus to the core, read why here ). As Benigno Simeon "Ninoy" A. Aquino Jr. said, "We had a parliamentary system, without a parliament. "  I felt alone many times when I wanted to change the Philippines. When I went to Singapore for a...