Marriage Equality Act

If I were a legislator, this would be the bill I'd be pushing for...but I know the country isn't ready for this yet.

Title: Marriage Equality Act

Executive Summary:

           

Homosexuality in our country, the Philippines is evidently not acceptable compared to other developing countries. Discrimination is still very much evident as some people still refuse to accept the existence of the third sex and other times, limit their expectations, assuming that members of the third sex are deemed to be unclean.

Marriage has long been one way that couples express their love for one another and their commitment to their relationship. Despite arguments that so-called “same-sex marriage” seeks to redefine “traditional marriage,” allowing committed gay and lesbian couples to get married does not change the meaning of marriage. Gay and lesbian couples want to get married to make a lifetime commitment to the person they love and to protect their families.

Bill Text:

The concept of equal protection under the law, to be preserved in our Constitution, requires that fundamental rights like the right to marry be made available equally to same-sex and opposite-sex couples. This bill would not only allow same sex couples to get married, but would also serve as an enshrined advocacy on defending LGBT (Lesbian, Gays, Bisexuals and Transgenders) rights and broaden the range of civil liberties.

The act would open the minds of the many who refuse to live with the third sex that they have equal rights as straight people, that they have the capacity to love, work, trade as those who are straight. The act would be part of the constitution, thus it would reflect the political principles of government, and thus recognizing the existence and delegating equal rights to the LGBTs.

In article posted by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), “Nine states plus D.C. allow same-sex couples to marry, two more respect marriages of same-sex couples validly performed in other states, eight provide civil unions or comprehensive domestic partnerships, and two more have more limited domestic partnership systems. That’s 20 states plus D.C. that provide some significant state-level relationship protections, and those states are home to 130 million people.

These facts are heartening, but there is still a lot of work to do to improve laws that will protect all families. Since the first marriage lawsuit for same-sex couples in America in 1971, the ACLU has been at the forefront of both legal and public education efforts to secure marriage for same-sex couples and win legal recognition for LGBT relationships.”

For Philippine Implementation, education is the first step for this act to be recognized and accepted to society. Movements promoting the advocacy of giving equal and distinct rights to the LGBTs must also be strengthened and persisted.

A Philippine government system defect and the disadvantage of bicameralism

“As of 2011, more than 20 countries had bicameral legislatures. Many other countries have unicameral legislatures, which consist of single legislative houses. The term "bicameral" comes from Latin and combines bi, which means "two", with camera, which means "chamber." "Unicameral" substitutes uni, or "one," for bi. “ (wisegeek.org)

The legislative branch of government comprises of two chambers; the senate and the house of the representatives. The Senate is composed of twenty four senators, half of which are elected every three years and serve a total of six years. They do no not represent any geographical district.

The House of Representatives is composed of a maximum of 250 congressmen. There are two types of congressmen: the district and the sectoral representatives. The district congressmen represent a particular geographical district of the country. All provinces in the country are composed of at least one congressional district. Several cities also have their own congressional districts, with some composed of two or more representatives.

The sectoral congressmen represent the minority sectors of the population. This enables these minority groups to be represented in the Congress, when they would otherwise not be represented properly through district representation. Also known as party-list representatives, sectoral congressmen represent labor unions, rights groups, and other organizations.

The Constitution provides that the Congress shall assemble for its regular session every year beginning on the 4th Monday of July. A regular session can last until thirty days before the opening of its next regular session in the succeeding year. The President may, however, call special sessions which are usually held between regular legislative sessions to handle emergencies or urgent matters.

Based on an article in wisegeek.org, “Some political scientists believe that having a bicameral legislature makes meaningful political reforms more difficult to achieve and increases the risk of deadlock. This risk is greater in cases when both chambers have equal powers. Other political analysts argue strongly for the merits of the checks and balances that are provided by the bicameral model, which they believe helps prevent ill-considered legislation from being passed into law.”

The main disadvantage often stated against bicameral legislature is the amount of time it takes for legislation to be passed through each chamber to become law. Many people feel that two chambers debating the same topic delays the lawmaking process and is a waste of resources and money and this has led to dissatisfaction with the system.

What makes the doctrine of separation of powers workable?

The doctrine of separation of powers divides the institution of government into three separate branches; the legislative, executive and judicial. The  powers and execution of each  vary and carried out by  different individuals. They are not allowed to execute solely for another’s authority, each being interdependent from another.

The division of power should prevent absolutism (like in monarchies and dictatorship where all branches are concentrated in a single authority). The doctrine also prevents corruption. The branches also serve as security or authorities to correct and check upon one another. Each interdependent branch helps keeps the other from exceeding their power, thus ensuring the rule of law and protecting the rights of individuals.

The practice of the doctrine is basically a mechanism to prevent power being over concentrated in one arm of government. This is very much workable in the Philippines since abuse of power and corruption is very much rampant in much country, even within the presence of these three branches. The Philippines is a republican state, meaning, sovereignty resides with the people and it loathes the concentration of one or a few. The powers or basic state authority given to the three branches, were only delegated by the people. “The Executive, the Legislative, and the Judiciary – each branch being supreme in its own sphere but with constitutional limits and a firm tripod of checks and balances” (Atty. Fred)

The Executive branch, headed by the President of the republic, is the approving and implementation body of the supreme government. The President serves as the chief executive and represents the government as a whole. The President exercises general supervision over all local government units and is also the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

 Being elected by the citizens, the president has control over the executive departments, the bureaus and offices. This means that he has the authority to assume directly the functions of the executive department, bureau and office or interfere with the discretion of its officials. Contrary to the power of control, the President also has the duty of supervising the enforcement of laws for the maintenance of general peace and public order. Thus, he is granted administrative power over bureaus and offices under his control to enable him to discharge his duties effectively.

The legislative branch, which has the authority to make laws is the Congress. The Congress is composed of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Senate is composed of twenty-four Senators, who are elected at large by the qualified voters of the Philippines.

The House of Representatives, on the other hand, is composed of not more than two hundred and fifty members, unless fixed by law, who are elected from legislative districts located among the provinces, cities and the Metropolitan Manila area, and those who are elected through a party-list system of registered national, regional and sectoral parties or organizations.

Judicial Power is vested in the Supreme Court, or any lower courts prescribed by law. The Supreme Court is composed of a Chief Justice and fourteen Associate Justices. While Congress has the power to define, prescribe and allocate the jurisdiction of the various courts, congress cannot deprive the Supreme Court of its jurisdiction provided in the Constitution. No law shall also be passed reorganizing the judiciary when it undermines the security of tenure of its members. The Supreme Court also has administrative supervision over all courts and the personnel thereof, having the power to discipline or dismiss judges of lower courts.

Is redistribution unfair to rich and unemployed citizens?

Equality of condition, as defined by Ricardo Tocqueville, is the “ability of any individual to have an equal opportunity at achieving success or upward movement in society. Through hard work, and good character, a person will certainly alleviate his current social standing. Equality of condition is harmless, since it attempts to give everyone the same opportunity of what another man has in changing his current social situation.

An example of an evidence of the existence of Equal Condition was during the first years of Europeans colonizing the Americas. The “New Americans” were limited of their titles, positions or aristocratic orders. They were free to engage in art, commerce and literature without any criticism or any government interruptions. The people were free to work in an attempt to move upward in society. This was only possible because they had no titles or inheritances carried over from Europe “the old world”.

This however, is not the case in the modern days. In the Philippines, financial capacity, titles, positions or social status play an important role in what a person could achieve during his or her lifetime. Equality of condition, is nonexistent

The government’s proposal of redistribution of income, as they cited, is the government’s attempt to promote or regulate “equal condition” in the country. This is where a portion of the income of all employed persons, may be rich or part of the working class, is to be taxed away as mandatory to be evenly distributed to the unemployed. However good this may result, as a form charitable tax and compulsory “donation”, this form of policy does not promote equal condition, for equal condition means fair opportunities are given to both rich and poor, and does not involve obligating the working class people, to give away the money that they have worked hard, while the unemployed wait for subsidy.

However, as logical people, we do not have to close our minds, let us give this policy a chance of being amended according to the culture of the Philippines. In normal taxation, special taxes are being regulated when taxpayers are registered through application and mandated depending on the annual revenue they have incurred. This can also be applied with the proposed redistribution policy. For instance, in the Value added tax rules, businesses are only required to require VAT tax if their annual income has a minimum of Php 1 500,000 or if they have any proof that they will incur Php 1 500,00 for the year (like collectibles and payables to the firm).

This type of system could be adapted, or any other amendments that does not affect taking money from the working class so as not to cause further speculations on the government’s capacity to formulate rules essential to the development of the nation.

Aside from making poor people lazy, the original proposal would only produce more people, in a sense that they would only wait for money to come to them, they will lose their pride and sense of empowerment. Understudied policies will certainly cause certain arguments, especially when it puts another group of individuals at stake at losing even a part of their already reduced income. Regulation of redistribution is certainly unfair to the employed citizens, however, for me, taxation can be implemented to the rich who has so much to give without sacrificing much.