Thursday, March 30, 2006

Barangay Assembly

The first thing that entered my mind when I heard that the Arroyo administration was mobilizing barangays to jumpstart the constitutional amendment process was a story told, If I remember correctly, by my high school history teacher.

He was telling us how in the barangay assemblies to ratify the 1973 constitution, people will be asked "who wants rice?", and the number of people who raised their arms on this question constitutes the supposed number of people who agreed to ratify the constitution.

I don't know if this story is true, and I have not read any history books that confirm if this really happened. Fortunately, you don't have to rely on my memory. Manuel L. Quezon III, has given links here, here and here, so people does not have to rely on second hand information.

The Arroyo administration seems bent on inviting comparisons with the Marcos regime. First they had PP 1017 being a carbon copy of Proclamation 1081, and now this? GMA must really be a glutton for punishment.

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