User:Alternativity/sandbox/Philippine Constitutional Convention of 1970

The Philippine Constitutional Convention of 1970 was called to change the 1935 Constitution of the Philippines, which had been approved and adopted by the Commonwealth of the Philippines (1935–1946) and later used by the Third Republic (1946–1972) after the Philippines was granted independence from the United States. A special election was held on November 10, 1970 to elect the delegates, and the convention was convened on June 1, 1971.

Convention leadership and members

Former Philippine President Carlos P. Garcia was sworn in as the President of the Constitutional Convention on the day the convention was convened, but he died thirteen days after taking oath. Former President Diosdado Macapagal replaced Garcia. Sotero H. Laurel served as the President Pro-Tempore of the convention.

Other prominent delegates included former Senators Raul Manglapus and Roseller T. Lim. Other delegates would become influential political figures including Hilario Davide, Jr., Marcelo Fernan, Sotero Laurel, Aquilino Pimentel, Jr., Teofisto Guingona, Jr., Raul Roco, Edgardo Angara, Richard Gordon, Margarito Teves and Federico Dela Plana.

The Quintero Expose

On May 19, 1972, Edgardo Quintero - a former Ambassador to the UN and the elected Constitutional Covention Delegate of Leyte Province's first district - revealed that some of the delegates, including himself, had been receiving money from a "Money Lobby." Saying he finally wanted "to do the correct thing,” he eventually released a three-page sworn statement that named 14 persons involved in the bribery, including 12 delegates, Leyte Rep. Artemio Mate's wife Paz Mate, and President Marcos' wife, Imelda Marcos. The expose tainted the convention and the resulting constitution in the eyes of the public, and at any rate, the convention would not conclude until after Marcos had declared Martial Law and arrested the delegates most vocally critical of him.

Rather than the constitutional convention, however, it was the social unrest brought about by Marcos' 1970 debt crisis which gave Marcos the impetus for staying in power past 1973 - by declaring Martial Law.

Impact of Martial Law on the Constitutional Convention

The work of the Convention was affected by the declaration of martial law in September 1972 by President Ferdinand Marcos; among the 400 individuals on the list of priority targets for arrest were members of the convention who happened to be outspoken critics of Ferdinand Marcos. Those arrested included Heherson Alvarez, Alejandro Lichuaco, Voltaire Garcia, Jose Nolledo, Bren Guiao, Jose Concepcion, Teofisto Guingona, Philippines Free Press Associate Editor Napoleon Rama and ABS CBN Broadcaster Jose Mari Velez.

1973 constitutional plebiscite and the Ratification Cases

It was submitted to a vote in the 1973 constitutional plebiscite. The results of the plebiscite was questioned before the Philippine Supreme Court in what came to be known as the Plebiscite Cases (Planas v. COMELEC (1973)), and the legality of the 1973 Constitution, questioned in what came to be known as the Ratification Cases (Javellana v. Executive Secretary).

In the Ratification Csses, six of the ten members of the court (the Chief Justice, and Justices Makalintal, Zaldivar, Castro, Fernando and Teehankee) said that the 1973 Constitution had not been ratified validly. But Justices Makalintal and Castro said that the people had acquiesced to the 1973 Constitution whether or not the ratification was valid, saying that the question of whether the Constitution could be invalidated was a political determination and not a judicial one. The constitution was thus effectively upheld.

Marcos would continue to rule as a dictator until being ousted by the People Power Revolution in 1986.