Constitution’s Preamble not a license for a theocracy

Opinion, , , , ,

Ask any lawyer, law student or anyone who has attended Consti 101 classes, the Preamble DOES NOT grant substantive legal rights or expand government authority. The phrase “imploring the aid of Almighty God” is merely a recognition of the religious identity of Filipinos. It refrains from endorsing any specific dogma, church, or institutional religion. The Constitutional Commission intended the phrase to embrace diverse faith traditions across the country—including Christianity, Islam, and indigenous beliefs—without creating a state religion or infringing upon the Non-Establishment Clause (Article III, Section 5)

In other words, one cannot invoke the Preamble to justify imposing or objecting to a government policy simply because one’s religious beliefs do not align with it.

So for anyone harboring ideas or delusions, that the Philippines is a “Christian nation”, Article III, Section 5 squarely disagrees:

“No law shall be made respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. The free exercise and enjoyment of religious profession and worship, without discrimination or preference, shall forever be allowed. No religious test shall be required for the exercise of civil or political rights.“

While it is fair to say that “Faith is Constitutional” it does not mean that the State bears the responsibility to ‘teach’ or ‘nurture’ one’s “faith” because to do so violates the separation of Church and State, even if the majority of Filipinos belong to one of the Christian denominations.

The Supreme Court in Estrada v. Escritor (2003 & 2006), formally adopted benevolent neutrality as the constitutional framework for Philippine religious freedom. Under this approach, the State is not hostile to religion; rather, it actively accommodates religious practice unless an overriding public interest requires otherwise.

That overriding public interest is the protection of LGBTQ Filipinos, especially the youth, who are subjected to discrimination, bullying, violence and marginalization. To carry this out, various state policies are being implemented like the Gender and Development programs, DepEd Child Protection Policy, DepEd Order No. 40, s. 2012 – protects children from many forms of abuse like bullying, Gender-Responsive Basic Education Policy, DepEd Order No. 32, s. 2017 – a framework fffor gender-responsive education grounded in the Constitution, Enhanced Basic Education Act, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, CEDAW, and other human-rights commitments of the Philippines.

Such policies are based on evidence, advances in child development, and the lived realities of Filipino children.

Objections and opposition to these state policies based on religious dogma deserves recognition as it is your right to express such views, but like any other views in a free and democratic society, it needs to be addressed, tested and opposed especially if such views promote harm, hate and suffering.

Forty One

Daily dose, , ,

For the third year in a row, my birthday fell on a rainy day. It’s the middle of the monsoon season and there are, as I write this, three tropical storms barreling across the Pacific towards Japan, Taiwan and the Philippines one after another.

It didn’t stop us from going all the way out to Metro Manila to celebrate. First stop was the Gundam Base Pop Up Store in Shangri-La Plaza. We had higher expectations but we weren’t disappointed neither. It was the closest we could get to visiting Japan to experience the Gundam Base and the kids were delighted by the many Gunpla on display.

Next stop was at the IMAX theater to see Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey. COVID kept me away from the movie house and I promised that when I do return, it would be to see a Christopher Nolan film. So after almost seven years, I did and while opinions are split, I thoroughly enjoyed Nolan’s take on the classic epic. It’s not the definitive nor the best one, but it’s something that anyone could see and still walk away with the feeling that they’d been on an adventure. I’ll leave the rest to the critics and scholars to argue about.

Overall, it was a great day. Looking back, I’m more than satisfied that we are in a much better place now. There are much more options or paths available for us to achieve our goals. Surely there storms and bad weather will never go away, but we are now more than capable to see things through and come out in a much better shape.

So cheers to a year and four decades!

A Tale of Two Presiding Officers

Opinion, , , , ,

The Vice President’s impeachment trial started in an emotional, “I’m from Ateneo / UP Law, so shut up!” ruckus by the Cayetano siblings over the motion to elect Sen Chiz Escudero as the Impeachment trial’s Presiding officer. That was their first formal challenge to the new majority and directly against Senate President Win Gatchalian’s authority.

Senate President Win Gatchalian may be a veteran Senator, but he’s not a lawyer and this handicap would certainly be exploited by the Cayetanos to influence the Impeachment trial proceedings in a way that will benefit their ally the Vice President. We clearly saw that yesterday.

The Impeachment trial is not a purely legal exercise, it is also a political one, the public will be watching the trial from start to finish, and in politics optics matter. So when we saw Senate President Gatchalian move aside, figuratively and literally, to make room for Sen Chiz Escudero as the Presiding Officer of the Impeachment trial, it is tacit admission of this handicap. It is now a smear on the Senate Presidency of Win Gatchalian.

However, as demonstrated by the troublesome Cayetano siblings, such a move, a sacrifice even, by Senate President Gatchalian was the right move. Say what you will of Sen Chiz Escudero’s shrewdness, but he certainly has the legal skills and wits to keep the Cayetano siblings in check, and the impeachment trial from going off the rails.

Besides, while the Constitution is clear that the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court shall preside over the impeachment trial of the President, it doesn’t say that the Senate President shall preside over impeachment trials of other impeachable officers. Granted that the intention of the framers of the Constitution recognized that the Senate President will preside over the impeachment trial of other impeachable officers as he is the default presiding officer of the Senate, nothing stops the Senate President from appointing another Senator to become the presiding officer as it is common practice in the Senate’s performance of its legislative functions. The election of Sen Chiz Escudero as presiding officer of the impeachment trial of the Vice President is just an affirmation of the Senate President’s power to delegate.

At the end of the day, that’s what is important for the public: to have an impeachment trial that would be as fair, orderly and sensible as possible, so that the Vice President would be given the opportunity to be heard and defend herself.

By giving the Vice President due process, we reaffirm our commitment to the rule of law, democracy and respect for human rights, the very principles that the Dutertes stand opposite of.

BPI #SUCKS

Opinion,

At the start of the year, I joined a different organization which forced me to open a new payroll account with a bank that I left more than a decade ago, Bank of the Philippine Islands.

Which means that I was among the thousands of its customers that was temporarily denied access and use of my own money from June 14 up until June 17, 2026 when BPI’s online services and app had an epic downtime.

Today, BPI president and CEO TG Limcaoco, in an interview with One News Money Talks apologized for the outage which turns out was the result of their inadequate infrastructure and terrible planning:

“The reality is it’s a series of unfortunate events that just came one after the other. We had a network issue on Sunday, which we resolved, and then because we had updated the app to a new version… the load on the backend was quite heavy, given the outage on Sunday, and then it was payday. I apologize to all our customers, and I take it on myself. Its’ my responsibility.”

First, BPI is notorious for having frequent outages that usually happens on or before payday. So that alone is proof that the country’s oldest bank with an $8.38 billion market cap is still running on a weak and unreliable infrastructure.

Second, BPI’s management is either incompetent or stupid or both, as who in their right mind would push out an app update less than 24 hours to when your banking systems regularly see peak traffic because it’s payday?!

The bank president’s apology is not enough. BPI must be made accountable, in concrete terms. It’s high time to strengthen laws that regulate banks and financial institutions like huge fines for service disruptions. Waiver of or compensation for fees incurred because of delayed payments. Criminal prosecution for its officers. Apologies are not enough. Customers deserve a lot more.