Atty. Gregorio B. Austral, CPA
An exercise of sovereignty
Tomorrow is judgment day. The country will choose a person who will hold the reins of government for the next six years. In his hands lie the power to appoint the heads of the executive departments, ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls, or officers of the armed forces from the rank of colonel or naval captain, and other officers whose appointments are vested in him in the Constitution. He has the power of control of all the executive departments, bureaus, and offices while he has to ensure that the laws be faithfully executed.
The person we will elect tomorrow will be the Commander-in-Chief of all armed forces of the Philippines and whenever it becomes necessary, he may call out such armed forces to prevent or suppress lawless violence, invasion or rebellion. In case of invasion or rebellion, when the public safety requires it, he may, for a period not exceeding sixty days, suspend the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus or place the Philippines or any part thereof under martial law. He may grant reprieves, commutations, and pardons, and remit fines and forfeitures, after conviction by final judgment, and may contract or guarantee foreign loans on behalf of the Republic of the Philippines with the prior concurrence of the Monetary Board.
On Monday, we will elect the President of the Republic of the Philippines. Your choice for President may not be the same as mine. Social media is witness to the divisiveness our country is experiencing right now due to this election. Supporters rally behind a candidate to the point of staging verbal and physical attacks against the supporters of another candidate. Candidates and political parties who lag behind the surveys have already descended to the level of running negative ads using children just to bring the frontrunner down. Recently, no less than the sitting President himself urged the voters and other presidential contenders to unite and rally behind his anointed candidate in a desperate attempt to prevent an imminent dictatorship.
Despite of all these, the fact remains that on Monday, we will exercise our individual right of suffrage. It is at the very moment when we shade our ballot that we exercise our personal right as part of the sovereign Filipino people from whom all government powers emanate. The day after tomorrow, we shall go back to be the governed and our elected officials shall be wielding the enormous and awesome powers of government like the demigods of Mount Olympus. In a representative democracy, we entrust to the elected not only the reins of government but also our future as a nation. It is therefore important that the seat of power must be given to the most deserving candidate.