Regionally-Elected Senate

I have posted sometimes in Facebook, the need for a regionally-elected Senate here in the Philippines for various reasons and since talks of reforming the present 1987 Constitution is gaining ground despite some opposition. On this blog, I shall reiterate the reasons why there has to be a regionally-elected Senate;

1.) For the regions to have representation in the Senate and legislation. In the present nationally-elected Senate, most senators are from Luzon, only one are from Visayas and three from Mindanao, hence, the disparity in representation;

2.) Any candidate for senator will only have to campaign in a region he or she wants to represent in the Senate. Less costs in campaigning unlike in a nationally-elected Senate wherein a candidate for senator would have to go around the country to campaign and it has many costs;

3.) So that unknown people can be candidates for senator. In the past and present nationally-elected Senate, most senators belong to political and business clans, showbiz clans, and other prominent people and moneyed people.

4.) Every concern of every region will be heard in the Senate as well as in legislation, not only national concerns;

5.) And upon its founding on 1916, the Senate is first composed of senators elected by senatorial districts; A nationally-elected Senate was only introduced in the 1940 amendments to the then 1935 Constitution that was carried away until the present 1987 Constitution, save for the then 1973 Constitution that provided for a unicameral legislature, the Batasang Pambansa;

6.) To have many senators that will deliberate on any national or regional measure for passage and enactment into laws. Like for example, region 2 will be represented by three senators. The more, the merrier and;

7.) The present nationally-elected Senate cannot keep apace with the country's population growth.

And a nationally-elected Senate sometimes is being used by some senators as a stepping stone in running for a higher office like the presidency.

I hope this will be included in any draft for a proposed constitution for a Federal Republic of the Philippines that will be tackled in a Constituent Assembly that will later revise the 1987 Constitution, probably this year.

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