Towards a new, more democratic constitutional order

No to the status quo, to any military junta, and to any transitional council without broad popular support

We at Partido Sosyalista share the dismay and rage that so many in our country feel today as the government once again proves itself incapable of addressing the most pressing problems we face as a society.

Zaldy Co’s allegations only further drive home one point: that the problem of corruption, along with so many other social problems, can never be solved within the boundaries set by our existing legal and political frameworks. We cannot count on the country’s highest officials to hold plunderers accountable when they themselves were elected using the fruits of plunder; when they themselves have condoned plunder; and when they themselves are being directly accused of plunder.

The problem of corruption is systemic so the solution must also be systemic: We need a comprehensive overhaul of our political system for elections to cease to be a mere conflict-resolution mechanism among billionaires and their agents, for the bureaucracy to be liberated from the clutches of the oligarchy and their imperialist patrons, and for our legislative institutions to be freed from the grip of political dynasties. But beyond these, we need to provide workers living wages, ensure universal social protection, give working people more power in production, and carry out fundamental economic reforms aimed at enabling the majority to participate meaningfully in politics.

But these fundamental political and economic reforms needed to address the root causes of corruption are impossible within the existing constitutional framework. The post-Marcos social and political order—and thus the 1987 constitution on which it is founded—is intrinsically biased in favor of the rich and mighty, so efforts aimed at undermining their economic and political power in favor of subordinate groups are bound to fail again and again and again.

This is why even as we at Partido Sosyalista join all those calling for the immediate resignation of both President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Vice President Sara Duterte, we find ourselves unable to support the proposal of liberals and their social-democratic allies for us to keep imprisoning ourselves within the bounds set by the 1987 Constitution when thinking about alternative ways forward. To do so is to continue to make it impossible for us to address corruption and other social problems.

At the same time, however, we also resolutely reject others’ proposals for the establishment of a military junta. An unaccountable group of generals cannot be counted upon to carry out the transformative changes we direly need today to lift our people out of the morass we have been stuck in for decades; they are much more likely to use violence against the people to entrench the oligarchy and further roll back democracy.

We welcome proposals from Left formations to establish a “People’s Transition Council”. Proposals such as these highlight the importance of alternative options for us jaded by systems that have long ruled. We offer our support and encourage broad collaboration under these conditions:

• That such a council must have deep and broad popular legitimacy. 

• That it must be capable of bringing together the biggest coalition of working people and other oppressed groups possible. 

• That it must be fully autonomous from the ruling class.

• That it must be constantly subject to recall and accountability mechanisms set by this popular coalition. 

• And that it must at all times aim at creating the conditions for the self-government of the oppressed to be realized instead of perpetuating itself as a new governing body over the oppressed.

We at Partido Sosyalista support the establishment of such a body and commit ourselves to joining ranks with those who share such a goal and who seek to create the conditions for its realization. 

We call on working people and all members of oppressed to break free from the tyranny of the post-1987 social order; to resist the establishment of a military junta; and to bring about a new, more democratic society as part of our struggle to build a new world founded on cooperation and solidarity.