d
by President Marcus to feed his desire to be a dictator. That was in sometime in
nineteen seventy-five (1975).Eliseo Zari the
first was born July 4th,1920 in Pandi Biga Bulacan, Philippines.
There he got married, (twice) had seven kids, each one got married and had great
kids of their own. He worked as a lawyer in Manila, spent decades in the
Filipino government. Eliseo knows past and present knowledge in his countries
government.
When I was in the Philippines, at the time I left, it was
under Martial law because the Phil… the constitution of the Philippines was
reconstituted
by President Marcus to feed his desire to be a dictator. That was in sometime in
nineteen seventy-five (1975).
The Philippines had a constitution. Enacted in nineteen thirty-five (1935), and that was amended or changed during the time of Marcus, and later on it was changed during the time of President Corazon Aquino way back in nineteen eight-six or eighty-seven (1986 or 1987) and that constitution is still enforced after the present. When Marcus rose to power he had a new constitution. He drafted for him in order to carry out his wishes. He abolished congress therefore without congress, he issued presidential decrees which was the law of the land. There were no street protest, there were no demonstrations because these were not allowed. Another one, Marcus called this “constitutional authoritarianism” because he used the constitution as the pinnacle for his authority. Therefore, he issued presidential decrees.
During that time, there was relative peace because there was no demonstrations, no strike, nobody could go against him under pain of going to prison. So everybody including me obeyed presidential decrees. That was until he was deposed in 1986. I, like many other Filipinos, enjoyed life better after Marcus’s rule. We felt Marcus was a dictator of sorts, but after Marcus, we Filipinos had more rights such as strikes.
While Marcus was still in control, I studied hard to become a lawyer. Inside my government, I learned how every system had a purpose and specific way of working.
The Philippines was given independence by the United States in July 4, 1936 after the second World War. The U.S. gave my country many new ideas on democracy and system of government. There are differences in matters of distribution of powers. The United States has a federal system of government with fifty states having their own constitutions and legislating themselves for their own respective rights. Giving the federal government only such rights as are given by them. In the Philippines, the Philippines is a unitary government. There are laws in different powers given to the provinces. There is only one national government sitting in the city of Manila, which governs the different towns and provinces of the Philippines. And the government is in control of the chief executive.
The executive department is independent from the legislative department. And the legislative and the executive are separate and independent from the Supreme Court judicial system. Uh, the department – the department under this justice system consist of the Supreme Court and the lower courts. The legislative consists of Congress which twenty-four senators and a number of congressmen representing the different districts of departments. And the executive is represented with the president who has the executive under, uh, under which is the different cabinet members who work under the president.
The Philippine President and Vice President are elected by the popular vote. Every voter votes for the president and the vice president. Unlike the United States, there is the electoral vote, not popular vote. It’s the Electoral College that determines the president and vice president. A voter can apply to participate in the election if he is eighteen (18) years of age or more. That’s the minimum age, eighteen (18) years old.
The Philippines wasn’t a rich country for as long as I can remember. From when I was there to the present, the Philippines still derives income from agriculture, mining, manufacturing and industries, and boldly tourism. Mining, we have gold mines, and we have also other minerals used for manufacturing. There are a lot of natural resources. The Philippines need investments capital in order to improve the different industries like agriculture mining and manufacturing. But the problem for the Philippines was and still is debt. The Philippines like any other developing country is scuttled with debts. International debts. We need investment capital to provide for new industries. And support all industries. So we had to have foreign borrowings. Every developing country without exception has to borrow from abroad in order to abet their budgets. To meet their demands.
The Philippines allows, and the law allows, labor to condemn strikes to earn grievances for better wages, better working conditions, and better living expenses. They may strike against capital manufacturers for an indefinite period of time until their demands are set or until they arrive at a fair settlement. The law does not allow any child labor in the Philippines. The Philippines qualifies labor as a minimum of eighteen years (18). Below that, that is considered slavery. That’s not allowed in the Philippines, but in agricultural areas, child labor in the farms is common.
The constitution of the Philippines has a Bill of Rights. One of which says every person has a right to life, liberty, property, and enjoyment of happiness, and the equal protection of the laws. Freedom of speech, in order to compare their differences. Freedom of religion, without the intervention of the government. Freedom of speech, anybody can say anything about the government or the government officials unless what is said about them is slanderous which is a crime. But in matters of airing, the malficials or officials in offices of government officials that is allowed as a freedom of speech.
There is a separation of Church and state in the Philippines. So in matters of whether or not religion taught in school, that is not a question of policy for the government to involve, because that is only a done voluntarily. As we had before in schools when I was studying, there were religious classes, but this without the sanction of the schools. And these are for our voluntary nature. But the law recognizes the separation between the church and the state, and therefore there is no religion that is sanctioned at the school. It is a matter of individual liberty.
There is only a trial to be producted by the deciding judge of the court. There is no grand jury in the Philippines. The matter of ascertaining whether a person is being brought to court by reason of the commission of the crime is done by the prosecution department of the government. In a trial courts, there is the physical who conducts the investigation and prosecutes the criminal.
There is no law in the Philippines that I know that sanctions discrimination by reason of gender, race, or ideology. Every person who suspected of having committed a crime is looked about the same for everyone whether he is a woman, whether he is an American, Polish, Filipino, or other nationalities. The law does not allow also the police to discriminate against those who protest or those who join popular protest regardless of gender or nationality or ideology. It’s also national policy, that these laws must be protected and maintained. Street protests against the government or against industries during strikes are allowed by law only to the extent that these protests do not create or do not lead to criminal acts on the part of the protesters. And if such situations the police may maintain rough tactics to maintain peace and order they may use batons or they may use the fire department to hose protesters or mobsters in order to separate them. And the protest in small fragments and easily controlled.
Finally, when I left the Philippines, it was for a better opportunity of life. Not that I did not love the Philippines when I left nor is it that I live the United States more then the Philippines when I came here. But what it is whether the question of love, I have a better living condition here rather then if I lived in the Philippines. Every immigrant coming from the Philippines is in search of greener pastures. And those who stayed in the United States have it the ideal or idea that is best suited for their lives. When I came to the United States and became a natural naturalized American, It’s not because I did not love the Philippines at the time or now. I live the Philippines because it’s the country of my birth. But I also love America because it’s the country that has provided me with a better living condition since I came here compared to what I was in the Philippines. I brought my whole family here all seven of my children and their families and we are all happy because we have better life here than if we stayed in the Philippine. So it is not a matter of whether I love the America more than the Philippines or whether I love the Philippines more than America. It is only a matter of saying which provides a better living condition for us. For the whole family.
Interviewed by Matthew Zari