There are numerous comments noting with dismay the possible election of Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to the presidency in 2022. The focus of the discussion is the failure of our educators to teach the evils of martial law. None have fingered as the culprit our 1987 Constitution, which provided for a multiparty system with no run-off election. A run-off election is needed if no candidate gains more than half the votes in the first ballot, to ensure that the winner will enjoy a mandate from the majority of the people.
In the 1998 elections, Joseph Estrada won 39 percent of the votes. The runner-up Jose de Venecia gained 15 percent. Erap could have gotten 16 percent of the votes, and he would still have been president! These figures open the possibility of a Marcos revival. The votes of the Solid North and Imelda Marcos’ Waray votes are enough to surpass the 16 percent threshold. But if we have a run-off election, 50 percent plus one vote will be needed to win. A Marcos revival under that scenario is remote.
The dismal record of the elections under our 1987 Constitution is palpable. Had there been run-off races, the outcomes of the 1992 and the 2004 elections could have been reversed. The 1992 election was noted for its long count; it took a month to tally the results. The 2004 election had the “Hello Garci” scandal. Our Latin American cousins rightly claim that the beauty of the “segunda vuelta” or run-off election is that a crooked politician must cheat twice to get elected. That is a formidable barrier to cheating.
The election into office of politicians without a popular mandate has allowed demagogues from the lunatic fringe of society to rule to the consternation of mankind. The Bolsheviks in 1917 and the Nazis in 1933 illustrate the danger of a Constitution allowing minority rule. Both were fringe parties, but because of flaws in the Russian and German Constitutions at that time, they assumed power with only 33 percent of the votes. The Bolsheviks advocated the elimination of the kulak peasants while the Nazis proposed a “final solution” to the Jewish problem. The world did not take seriously the platforms of both parties. When the Bolsheviks assumed power, Stalin starved to death 20 million kulaks. Hitler, meanwhile, created the Holocaust that killed 6 million Jews.
On our part, we already have leaders from the lunatic fringe of society. Ferdinand Marcos Sr. assumed dictatorial powers in 1972 because of the flaw in our 1935 Constitution allowing the President unencumbered authority to declare martial law. Marcos Sr.’s action of stealing $10 billion when our national debt in 1986 was $26 billion qualifies as the act of a person in the lunatic fringe.
Think tanks abroad must also have classified the Duterte administration in the lunatic fringe. A definition of a diplomat is “An honest man sent abroad to lie for the good of his country.” The Duterte administration has turned this rule upside down. In his UN speech in 2020, President Duterte claimed that the award of the Hague Tribunal “xxx is now part of international law.” But before our countrymen, he stated that the decision of the Tribunal “is a worthless scrap of paper.”
The Pharmally case could be the first time in history that the president of a country is acting as the defense counsel of an alien company facing corruption charges. Add to this the repeated assertion of Cabinet secretaries Teodoro Locsin Jr. and Harry Roque that they do not want to refer to the United Nations the West Philippine Sea dispute since we should not “litigate the issue again.” The UN General Assembly, which will decide the issue, is a political body and does not accept litigation cases.
Mr. Duterte had asserted early in his presidency that “he will kill drug addicts and dump their remains to fatten the fish in Manila Bay.” He may still do something to this effect if his pawns win the coming elections. Remember, nobody believed Stalin and Hitler when they announced their program of government.
No question then that our Constitution is deeply flawed. Until this flaw is corrected, our voters should vote wisely and not elect politicians na Babalik Magnakaw (BBM).
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Hermenegildo C. Cruz is a retired career diplomat who served as Philippine ambassador to the Soviet Union, the United Nations, Bolivia, and Chile. He had the opportunity to evaluate the troubled history of elections in South America during his assignment in Chile and Bolivia.