The Senate convened as an impeachment court on Monday and began the trial of Vice President Sara Duterte with Sen. Francis Escudero elected as presiding officer. Led by Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian, 21 senators dressed in red robes attended Day 1 of the scheduled 92 trial days. Duterte was not present; her lawyers said she was...
Tag: 1987 Constitution
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Is Senate abolition the best option?
What good is an institution that does much harm, has lost its way, and many of whose members steal from the people, circumvent the law, cause divisiveness and discord, pursue their vested interests, and entrench themselves further in power? Clearly, far from good. Nowadays, this is an apt description of the Philippine Senate: far from...
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No joint commemoration of 40 years of the Edsa revolution among progressive groups
The nation celebrates and commemorates this week the 40th anniversary of the Edsa People Power Revolution, a seminal event in Philippine history. But the hope and expectation that the main forces and their allies that worked to dismantle Ferdinand Marcos Sr.’s dictatorship would march shoulder to shoulder on the now-world-famous avenue to mark the historic...
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An antidynasty law is a long-delayed constitutional promise
Almost 40 years after the 1987 Constitution pledged to prohibit political dynasties, the strongest push for action has come, not from Congress, but from the courts. In March 2024, members of the University of the Philippines College of Law Batch ’76 filed a petition for mandamus at the Supreme Court, docketed as G.R. No. 272370....
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1987 Charter ‘imperfect’ but carries safeguards vs instability, framer says
When politicians tried to have their way in the crafting of the 1973 Constitution, they were met with street protests in the tumultuous early years of Ferdinand Marcos Sr.’s regime. The writing on the wall was very clear. Filipinos “didn’t want politicians to be involved in the drafting of the Constitution,” human rights activist Edmundo...