If I had been forewarned of the drift of the dissenting opinions in the Javellana vs. The Ex. Sec. cases and that there was danger of losing then I would have cut the Gordian knot and declared the establishment of a revolutionary government so that we could swiftly proceed with the reforms.
I was repulsed at first as it struck me that the court was engaged in limiting the power of the people to wage revolution which includes the means to write a totally new constitution.
Creatures of the system that spawned and learned them—they are captive—
They have a rough understanding of revolution and its effects.
The old school clinging to the classic or ancient wisdom that private rights are superior to government rights.
The doctrine of checks and balances sought to be extended into the martial law regime.
This could apply to the cases involving the agents or delegates of the people exercising delegated authority—
But not when the cases involved the people’s acts as in the citizens assemblies.
Fernando [Lopez?] was ostentatious and pedantic—
Muscle bound—
0.407—
“x x I find it impossible to transcend what for me are the implications of traditional constitutionalism.”
A confession of love for the past—limited perspective.
They cannot conceive of an economic, social and political revolution in its totality—to such an extent as to discard the old constitution.
Official Gazette for April 3, 1976: SUPREME Court has asked all lower courts to submit quarterly accomplishment reports as part of the efforts to bring about more efficient management of the courts.
AUDIT Commission Chairman Francisco S. Tantuico appointed 22 eligible persons in his first move to professionalize his office. He said that a large number of the new appointees have had extensive experience in private auditing firms.
The temptation was great to so declare through the citizens assemblies—that the new Constitution was a revolutionary act—
But I curbed my impatience with the narrow minded.
The thoughts have since been swimming through my mind.
“Does Peace annihilate a revolution?”
“Are the Marxists right when they say that a revolution must be bloody to succed?”
Commander Pusa [Benjamin Sanguyo].
And does a successful revolution breed its own downfall?
Is a revolution like a man on a bicycle. He must keep on moving to keep his seat.
But we must concentrate on one objective at a time.
We cannot disperse our forces.
So I must accordingly reassess our plans for the future.
And put more impetus to reforms.
- Local government—cases like Cabili
- Judiciary
- Civil Service
- Real Estate in urban areas
- Mindanao and Sulu cases like the Alontos
- General economic
- Military
There was improvisation in the first six months of martial law in the matter of the New Constitution and its ratification.
For I was engrossed in meeting the initial reverses suffered by our military in the secessionist battles in Mindanao, Basilan and Sulu. The secessionists threatened to engulf all of these islands and declare a separate state—a prospect I could hardly tolerate. This threat or conspiracy, discovered or confirmed Dec. boiled even into the Lebak, Cotabato attacks by secessionists. This was followed by almost take over of the key towns of Cotabato.
[Early May?] 1975, Gen. Stephen Fuad [sic] [Tun Muhammad Fuad Stephens] of Sabah was to confirm plot to establish a separate state under Tun Mustapha.
Thus when these cases were being threshed out in the Supreme Court, we were arming the civilians and organizing them into CHDF’s [Civilian Home Defense Force] to meet the thousands of secessionists that had wiped out their garrisons and taken over control of almost all of the provinces Sulu, Basila, Zamboanga del Sur, Lanao del Sur and Norte and Cotabato.
At the same time our troops were committed against the NPA [New People’s Army] in Luzon.
While engaged in this actual war, the atmosphere was that of crisis and the common belief was that the steps taken were a part of the revolution.
So the initial position we had adopted was that the enactment of the new Constitution was the political act of the people swiftly to sustain the momentum of reforms needed to revitalize the threatened Republic.
On this we stood on principle—not just on expediency as some of the justices would later seem to deduce.
From our point of view nothing is more of a sovereign act than the formulation of a new constitution that embellish the ideals of the revolution.
This is the legal principle that escaped the learned pedants.
Because then, they would not be able to take congruence of the cases.
“Judicial activism” would not have been of any help.
But when the problem reached us in the conferences at Malacañan where both Sec of. Justice Vicente Abad Santos and Sec. of National Defense, Juan Ponce Enrile recommended the immediate proclamation of a revolutionary government as soon as the cases were filed, so as to leave us free to confront our military enemies of the NPA and the south.
I did placate them with the decision that we would consider this if we lost the case in the Supreme Court.