<p>
And to provide her government with so-called democratic legitimacy, she arrogated power unto herself by hand-picking 48 men and women, including prelates and communists, and hastily framed her own Constitution, the substance and wordings of which, due mostly to the hatred of Marcos and accommodations of the diverse political, social and economic interests of the framers, became the longest in Philippine history and probably in the world.
</p>
<p>
It had 39,000 words and punctuation marks, ran 58 pages and was four times longer than the brief but all-embracing US Constitution that has already been amended 26 times.
</p>
<div class="image-550">
<img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.kahimyang.com/resources-6/fm-cory-sm.webp" alt="President Marcos and Cory Aquino" />
<div>
(President Marcos and Cory Aquino)
</div>
</div>
<p> 
The 1935 Philippine Constitution, with 7,828 words and punctuation marks, was finished in nine months; the 1973 Constitution, consisting of 13,671 words and punctuation marks, was deliberated in a span of two years. The Aquino Constitution, by comparison, was completed in a record time of only four months.
</p>
<p> 
As a result, it had 97 open-ended and ambiguous provisions that were entrusted to Congress to provide the enabling law with equally nebulous phrases: "... as may be provided by law" or "as Congress may provide."
</p>
<p> 
For instance, the Aquino Constitution, in Section 26, Article II, provides that: 
</p>
<div class="article-comment">
<p>
"The State shall guarantee equal opportunities for public service, and prohibit political dynasties as may be defined by law."
</p>
</div>
<p>
Because of inaction, political dynasties became widespread ever since. Another provision, Section 28, Article II, also provides that: 
</p>
<div class="article-comment">
<p>
"Subject to reasonable conditions prescribed by law, the State adopts and implement a policy of full public disclosure of all its transactions involving public interests."
</p>
</div>
<p>
Again, by inaction, the Aquino administration had swept too many secrets under the rug, and her regime was littered with numerous rugs bulging with dark and dirty transactions.
</p>
<p>
Still another ambiguous provision is the mandate that the government pursues an industrialization policy, a policy that was no different from the infamous 1946 Bell Trade Act, which was designed to preserve the Philippines as an agricultural country, a supplier of raw materials, a reliable source of cheap labor and a market for imported consumer goods.
</p>
<p> 
Worse, most Filipinos, particularly the youth, are still ignorant about the Aquino Constitution.
</p>
<p>
Why? Because it failed to explain and educate them about its meaning and implications despite the specific mandate of her Constitution in Section 3, Article XIV, that: "All educational institutions shall include the study of the Constitution as part of the curricula."
</p>
<p> 
For instance, when the Aquino regime campaigned for the ratification of her Constitution in 1987, her propagandists resorted to "glittering generalities" by ascribing her Constitution with some lofty ideals.
</p>
<p>
Thus, some pro-Charter propagandists in that one-sided campaign said that a "yes" vote for the Constitution was a "yes" for democracy, for freedom, for progress and for stability. What right-thinking person was not for democracy, or freedom, or progress or stability?
</p>
<p> 
Since many, if not all, of the voters were for these beautiful concepts, they voted  yes to the Constitution, although most of them had not read its provisions.
</p>
<p>
Curiously, Aquino and her supporters, including some sectors of the Catholic Church, had vigorously opposed efforts to amend the flawed Constitution.
</p>
<p> 
Why is a good Constitution important?
</p>
<p> 
The answer is simple: It is very important because it affects the lives of all Filipinos, rich and poor. Their government is based on it, their rights and privileges are supposed to be protected by it  and their way of life largely depended on it.
</p>
<p>
To paraphrase Floyd G. Cullop, a teacher: 
</p>
<div class="article-comment">
<p>
"To be ignorant of the Constitution is to be ignorant of all the things your country is ... and of the truth its people have believed to be above all others in the relationship between human beings and government."
</p>
</div>
<p>
As a result of this naïveté and gross incompetence, compounded by lack of strategic direction, she ran the country on a blind chance, best described by an observer as an expert in "survival craft" rather than "statecraft."
</p>


<p>
<strong>Sources</strong>: 
</p>
<ul class="article-sources">
<li>
Martial law, human rights and other stark issues, <a href="https://goo.gl/7WX3cw" class="news_link" title="Source" target="_blank">Cecilio Arillo</a>, October 30, 2018, Business Mirror
</li>
</ul>
<p>




Perpetuating hatred and vengeance against Marcos - Fearing history will judge FM favorably