Democratic Blogger

For the past years, there are some bills filed both in the Senate and the House of Representatives that seeks to reform the political party system which for the past decades, have been weak and exposed to exploitation and selfish machinations by some people. The bills calls for an end to switching political parties by most politicians for their personal convenience by penalizing it since it degrades party loyalty and discipline. It also provides for a state subsidy for political parties so that they could not anymore depend on others in financing their respective political campaigns, etc. But sadly, no administration dared to prioritize those bills to be enacted into law by the abovementioned Houses of Congress and no Senator or Representative dared to sponsor or co-author the bills as well as to push for their passages since most of them are members of the political dynasties and backed up by vested interests and who are turncoats in their political life, especially the trapos or tr...

As a Filipino, have you ever asked yourself how much you love your country? I would assume you do. Tonight, this blog will discuss some steps you could undertake to love your country further. Before I proceed, let me say to you that once you read this blog, be sure to comply with the steps. First, respect and obey the laws of the country strictly, including the Constitution, the highest law of the land and always exercise discipline in following them; Second, patronize, visit and promote tourist spots of the country, including the historical ones to your fellow Filipinos and to the foreigners so that they could visit them; Third, if you are working in the Government and in the private sector, pay your taxes rightly, to sustain the availability of funds of the Government to implement projects for the good of the country; Fourth, if you are a politician, be always loyal to a political party where you belong as well as to its core beliefs, party principles, constitution and id...

One of the reasons why the Philippines is being a laggard in terms of economic development in Southeast Asia, or perhaps in the entire Asia is because the country lacks an industrialization program. Industrialization is a full-scale development of industries nationwide or in a region. Many, many countries did it like South Korea, Japan, Singapore etc., that is why they are economically prosperous. Here in the Philippines, we tried an industrialization program during the Quirino administration which was successful. During Martial Law, during the Marcos administration, we also tried an industrialization program but soon was tainted with corruption and due to objections by the oligarchs and international banking institutions, it died. The Ramos administration also tried it to no avail, I surmised. Due to lack of an industrialization program, we are still an agricultural country. And because of this, many Filipinos are leaving the country to become OFWs hoping to achieve good life...

Tonight, I will be discussing for the record the emergency powers of the President of the Philippines.  In Webster's Dictionary, the word Emergency Powers is defined as "power granted to or used or taken by a public authority to meet the exigencies of a particular emergency (as of war or disaster) whether within or outside a constitutional frame of reference." 1 Here in the Philippines, the emergency powers that may be delegated to the President is within the confines of a "constitutional frame of reference." To quote the provision of the present 1987 Constitution about such powers: "In times of war or other national emergency, the Congress may, by law, authorize the President, for a limited period and subject to such restrictions as it may prescribe, to exercise powers necessary and proper to carry out a declared national policy. Unless sooner withdrawn by resolution of the Congress, such powers shall cease upon the next adjournment thereof....

First of all, what is impeachment? In my own term, it is a process of removing a high government official using high standards to ensure full accountability in governance. Here in the Philippines, some high officials of the Government under the Constitution, the highest law of the land are subjected to the process of impeachment: The President, the Vice-President, the Members of the Supreme Court, the Members of the Constitutional Commissions (CSC, COA, COMELEC) and the Ombudsman. How is the process being done: Article 11 of the Constitution provides the following: 1.) The House of Representatives is the initiator of all cases of impeachment. At this point let me tackle how to do this: First, a verified complaint for impeachment could be filed by a Member of the House of Representatives or by any citizen upon endorsement of such Member; Second, the Speaker of the House will include the complaint in the Order of Business of the House within ten session days and shall...

Hi good afternoon, everyone! My name is James Romer V. Velina, a former BS Tourism Management student of CEU-Makati and as an aspiring Senate staff. This is my blog, a political blog rather. I will discussing today what a semi-presidential form of government is and why it is best suit for the Philippines given the desire of the present Duterte administration to reform the present 1987 Constitution. Ok. Semi-presidential form of government is a form of government wherein a President and a Prime Minister shares executive powers. It is a mixture of a presidential form of government and a parliamentary form of government. A President is elected by directly by the people while a Prime Minister is being appointed by him or her from a political party that garnered majority of seats in Parliament or legislature and the Members of the Cabinet will also be appointed from among the members of the said political party who are also Members of the said parliament by the President, upon the...