We have not just a nation of intellectuals but also a nation of “non-tellectuals” to coin a new word.   For all of our claim to be the first democracy in Asia, ours is a democracy on the verge of pity.  The nation is not without the best of minds and yet we don’t have the best of life.  Could this be the result of too much know-how in the governance or because we simply don’t think that deeply about what could happen every time we do something?  Is the Philippines a nation of the poor because the non-tellectuals have made it so?  Or because of a plain system error, that is, we have the right food in the wrong plate?

The system I’m referring to is the presidential form of government which has been here since democracy dawned on us.  And since then, it seems like progress and prosperity have stopped only at dawn.  In the pre-Marcos era, the system was presidential and it looked like the nation was on the right track.  Then came the proposal to embrace the parliamentary form of government during Marcos’ term.  It was introduced with the aim of fast tracking economic growth and renovating the political landscape of the country for the sake of progress.  It was like a new dress for the nation to look better and more beautiful.  Everything was ready and everybody was eager to see what could transpire with the new dress that we were about to wear.

But surprise!  Marcos suddenly proclaimed Martial Law and put to nullity all that was dreamed to be a bright future of the nation with the parliamentary dress.  Marcos did not remove the dress but redesigned it according to his plan, not the plan of the framers of the change.  That was how parliamentary form of government developed a negative picture in the mind of the ordinary Filipino.

When Cory Aquino replaced Marcos, she could not erase the black stigma of the Marcosian parliament and she completely shoved it away in favor of the previously tested presidential system.

What I have in mind to share is that parliamentary form of government in its true essence is democracy in itself yet how easily people see it to be anti-democracy.  People see it as a breeder of dictators and a violator of the basic human political rights of the people.  But that is not what the parliamentarian government really is.  It has its merits to offer to any nation that embraces it and also its weaknesses for that same nation to suffer.

Two decades after Marcos was toppled, our nation is still a crawling nation.  It should be walking or running like all other nations run by intellectuals but it seems like the communism of China has much more ease to offer than the popular democracy of the Philippines. 

What if we try the parliamentary form of government?  Will there be better days?  Shall we see more sunshine than rain?  Could the stumbling blocks on our nation’s path be put to the sideways and would we see the Filipino walking or running instead of crawling?

I’m sounding off already my bias for the parliamentary form of government but I’m also aware of the fact that people runnning a system also count in the success or failure of the system.   I don’t know if at this time, we are being governed by intellectuals or non-tellectuals.  Even if we change our dress there may still be not much change if we keep the non-tellectuals among our leaders.