Our Rights and Duties as Citizens

The Bohol Chronicle

July 20, 2014
As a teacher in political science in U.P. Diliman from 1950, I sensed that the framers of our 1935
Constitution merely copied the U.S. Constitution by having a Bill of Rights but no Bill of Duties. When
I studied in the United States in the 1950s and taught there as a visiting professor in the 1960s, I
observed that Americans were much more conscious of their duties and responsibilities as citizens
than we, Filipinos. Many Americans, including professors, joined either the Democratic Party or the

JOSE V. ABUEVA

Republican Party, and they vigorously participated in the nomination and election of their
presidential candidates.

In sharp contrast most teachers and also U.P. professors have not joined any political party to this day because they feel our political
parties are meaningless and not worth joining! And I joined a political party only in 2012, at the age of 84, because the Centrist
Democratic Party is truly Ang Partido ng Tunay na Demokrasya in its ideology and political platform. All members pay our annual
dues and take our political platform seriously.
And I have also observed that most of us, Filipinos, are more concerned with our rights and entitlements as citizens than with our duties
and obligations to our nation and government.
A Proposed Bill of Duties to Complement the Bill of Rights in Our 1987 Constitution. As the senior adviser to the Citizens Movement for
a Federal Philippines (CMFP), I led the drafting of a proposed constitution to change our Unitary-Presidential System to a FederalParliamentary System. In our Draft Constitution for a Federal Republic of the Philippines with a Parliamentary Government, the
CMFP proposed a new Bill of Duties and Obligations to complement the Bill of Rights in the 1987 Constitution.
We argued that, together, the Article on the Bill of Rights and the proposed Article on the Bill of Duties and Obligations would be very
helpful in the civic education and training of responsible and accountable citizens and leaders. While respecting freedom of worship, we
also urged that citizens should be assisted by concerned leaders and institutions in their spiritual developmentto round out their civic
and political education.
Our society seems to suffer from an excess of selfish individualism, (Wala akong paki-alam sa inyo. Bahala na
kayo.); materialism (materialismo, hindi espiritual); and secularism (makamundo, hindi maka-Diyos).
On the other hand, we have these important reminders over many years.Bayan muna, bago ang sarili! (Nation before self.)
This is a nationalistic reminder to all Filipinos as a sign of our love of country. As Jose Rizal said: the thought of my whole life has
always been love of my country and her moral and material development (1892). In his Dekalogo (1893),Andres Bonifacio said:
Always bear in mind that the true love of God is the love of country, and that this love is also the true love of thy
fellowmen.Apolinario Mabini said: Procure thy countrys happiness before thine own, making her a kingdom of reason, justice and
labor, for if she is happy, happy will also be thou and thy family (1898). For his part, Manuel L. Quezon said: We must imbue our
whole citizenry with a spirit of heroic patriotism. For a country as small and with such limited wealth as the Philippines, ordinary
patriotism is not enough to insure its security. Heroic patriotism is necessarya patriotism that is devotion, loyalty, and courage that
rises to the heights of self-sacrifice (1939).
To the Catholic Church: Filipinism, which is nationalism for Filipinos, means hard work and generous sacrifice for the welfare of the
Philippines in the temporal order, genuine love of Filipino culture in its nobler aspects, sincere appreciation of our historic past, honesty
in public as well as in private life, mutual cooperation in common endeavors, scrupulous administration of public affairs, faithful
compliance with laws, unselfish acceptance of the burden of services required by the nation, payment of taxes and sincere love for
national symbols and institutions (1959). Catholics who make up the great majority of the faithful have a duty to respect and not
discriminate against Muslims, Buddhists, Jews, and believers in other religions, or nonbelievers.
And as John F. Kennedy said in his inaugural, Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.
Therefore, as citizens in a developing democracy we should balance our emphasis on individual rights and privileges with a much
stronger sense of individual, collective and communitarian duties and obligations. In this way many more citizens can become patriotic,
responsible and effectivein solidarity with our kapwa Pilipino. We can then build a cohesive national community, a working
democracy, and a peaceful, nonkillng, just and humane society.
Citizens of progressive nations like Japan, Korea, China, Taiwan, Singapore, Israel, the Scandinavian countries, Germany, and the
United States of America have a deep sense of their duties and obligations to the community and the nation.

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