We shall continue to update this Candidates’ Constitutional Reform Platform Scoreboard to reflect their recent stands on each of the reform pillars. Latest update: We have added “Lifting of Economic Restrictions” to Duterte’s list, giving him three check marks.
Disclaimer: The CoRRECT™ Movement has no intention of endorsing any of the candidates for president. We believe that each Filipino is entitled to vote for his or her own candidate of choice. Our only intention is to document the stand of each candidate regarding constitutional reform and maintain the scoreboard above as fairly and objectively as possible.
Rodrigo Duterte is currently in the lead with Three (3) check marks. In a recent TV interview where CoRRECT™ Movement advocate, Foundation for Economic Freedom officer, and Bloomberg Philippines TV show moderator Tony Abad asked the question, which proved that Duterte supports all three points.
Jejomar Binay has repeatedly stated support only for the lifting of economic restrictions, while being non-committal on the the other two systemic reforms.
Miriam Defensor-Santiago has flip-flopped on the issue several times. At one point in time many years ago, she indicated that she was supportive of Constitutional Reform, particularly the adoption of a parliamentary system. However, she later changed her tune and became closed to it. Recently, she mentioned in a radio interview that she is now open to the removal of anti-FDI restrictions in the Constitution.
Grace Poe, though disqualified, had mentioned that she is for the lifting of anti-FDI restrictions, but has been non-committal on Federalism and the Parliamentary System.
Mar Roxas, so far, has been the most vocally opposed to all forms of Constitutional Reform, stating that he is “cautious” (about what, exactly??) and likewise claims to be unconvinced that there is a compelling reason for it. This is in stark contrast to the fact that in the year 2000, when Mar Roxas was in former President Erap Estrada’s economic team, Roxas was touting Estrada’s economic constitutional reform initiative dubbed “CONCORD” or “Constitutional Correction for Development.” Fast forward to 2015, Mar Roxas contradicts his year 2000 pro-CONCORD stand by opposing economic constitutional reform.
The 1987 Constitution of the Philippines is Flawed…
These flaws unfortunately contribute to all the major problems we continue to encounter in our daily lives as Filipinos. Massive Poverty, Massive Unemployment, Corruption, Rampant Criminality, Separatist Insurgency, Communist Trouble-making, Political Instability, Overcrowding in Metro Manila, Massive Traffic Jams, Pollution, the “drug mule” problem, dislocation from families among OFW’s, the Pork Barrel Scam, you name it — all these are symptoms of the systemic root problems caused by the flaws of the 1987 Constitution.
The CoRRECT™ Movement pushes for these main Three Constitutional Reforms:
Economic Liberalization
Dismantle Protectionism. Attract investors. Create more jobs.
If we are looking to increase the employment situation in the Philippines, then we must attract as many investors as possible by removing the restrictive provisions in the 1987 Constitution, so that MNC’s can invest & create employment.
Evolving Federalism
Empower the regions, respect diversity, decongest Manila.
If we can amend the Constitution to allow for the Philippines to evolve towards Federalism, though gradual region-based decentralization, the regions & provinces of the Philippines can develop economically & the Capital can be decongested.
Parliamentary System
Platforms & Competence: True leadership, not popularity politics.
If we shift from our faulty and unstable Presidentialism over to Parliamentarism, we will gradually see a change in our politics as campaigns will focus more on parties and their platforms and less on name-recall & the personal popularity of candidates.
Constitutional Reform & Rectification for Economic Competitiveness & Transformation
aka CoRRECT™
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This website aims to introduce the Philippine Public to the reasons behind the need for Constitutional Reform & Rectification for Economic Competitiveness & Transformation. We would like to introduce Filipinos to understand what are among some of the easy-to-solve issues that have continued to remain unsolved, simply because many of our leaders and elites have unfortunately been unable to look at root causes.
We are hit by many problems such as:
1) Chronic Unemployment & Mass Poverty.
This leads to high crime, misery among the masses, and even forces Filipinos to become OFW’s and sometimes get into desperate situations that lead them to become drug mules or get trafficked into prostitution.
Only Economic Liberalization by removing anti-FDI provisions in the Constitution will start solving that.
2) Impoverished countryside, overcongested Capital.
This leads to mass migrations from the regions towards Metro Manila and forces Filipinos to crowd themselves into the Capital where housing is a problem, causing our people to live in slums. Meanwhile, the rest of the country suffers.
Only Evolving Federalism by enshrining region-based decentralization in the Constitution will start solving that.
3) Political Instability, Misgovernance, Disrespect for Authority
Our current political system causes the Philippines to be one of the most chaotic and anarchic of countries in the region. We also have ended up with lousy governance and the adoption of wrong policies which have contributed to the lack of trust and respect among our people towards government and our authorities.
Only redefining the System of Government in the Constitution as a Parliamentary System will start solving that.
Virtual Constitutional Convention
In case you are interested in helping out to craft a proposed constitution or set up amendments to the current Constitution, you may want to join in the Virtual Constitutional Convention which is a wiki facility in this site that allows volunteers and other interested participants to propose constitutions or amend/edit other proposals. Click on the icon or HERE to go straight to it.
The Philippines Must Learn from Singapore
Singapore used to be much poorer and less developed than the Philippines back in the 1950s and 1960s, but as a result of policies designed to make Singapore much more open to foreign direct investors & multinational corporations, S’pore attracted more companies to come in. More jobs were created and unemployment & poverty were drastically reduced. As a result, S’pore became the richest in Asia. On the other hand, the Philippines with its highly restrictive anti-foreign investor restrictions in the 1987 Constitution, continues to turn investors off, making jobs scarce – keeping most Filipinos poor & desperate.
Singapore serves as a perfect example as the Philippines can easily learn to be open to foreign direct investors and multinational corporations in order to create more jobs. In the interest of political stability, the Philippines can also learn from how Singapore’s parliamentary system firstly allowed it to be able to end up with competent leaders like founding father Lee Kuan Yew and his People’s Action Party and see how it tends to be much more stable, efficient, and less prone to corruption. Lastly, because the Philippines is much bigger than Singapore, emulating Singapore requires that the Philippines autonomize its regions so that the regions all act each like Singapore and together attract investments and improve their own economies.
It’s also worth noting that Malaysia – whose majority Malays & Bumiputras are culturally similar to Filipinos – took many key learnings and insights from Singapore too. As a result, Malaysia is also one of the ASEAN region’s better economies. It’s time to quit being Asia’s Basketcase of Wasted Democrazy!