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[ VOL. X, February 06, 1935 ]
JOURNAL NO. 136
Se abre la sesión a las 5:20 p.m. ocupando el estrado el Presidente, Hon. Claro M. Recto.
EL PRESIDENTE: Se abre la sesión.
LISTA Y DEL ACTA
SR. MARAMARA: Señor Presidente, pido qué se dispense la lectura de la lista y del acta, y qué esta se de por aprobada,
EL PRESIDENTE: ¿Tiene la Asamblea alguna objeción a la moción? (Silencio.) La Mesa no oye ninguna. Queda aprobada.
SR. RAFOLS: Señor Presidente.
EL PRESIDENTE: Señor Delegado.
SR. RAFOLS: Desde ayer tengo registrada una Resolucion, en la qué se pide al Honorable Presidente de la Asamblea informe a la misma sobre quienes son los Miembros del Comité de Estilo, qué han emprendido la gloriosa e inmortal obra de perfeccionar nuestra Conatitucion.
EL PRESIDENTE: Manana se va a considerar eso.
El Delegado Gullas quiere hacer uso del privilegio de ta media hora, consumiendo diez minutes solamente, y después del discurso de dicho Delegado qué durara, segun el, Hues diez o quince minutos, levantaremos la sesión hasta mañana, a las diez del dia.
Tiene la palabra el Delegado Gullas.
DISCURSO DEL SR. GULLAS
MR. GULLAS: Mr. President, allow me to take up your time for a few minutes, while the powerful Committee on Style is retouching, remodelling, revising, and revamping the draft. A local writer has criticized that draft stating it is nothing but a copy from plain copy and that it is far from being ideal.
We should welcome criticisms of this kind. As a matter of fact, throughout the Philippines today, the people are asking whether this Constitution we have drafted is a good one or a bad one, whether this Convention is a signal success or a dismal failure. We are incompetent to answer these questions. President Quezon made his answer. We would rather leave this matter to the public and to posterity to decide.
Mr. President, I recall that in 1848 France drafted an ideal constitution, but today nobody pays attention to that constitution anymore. Once Latin was the ideal universal language; that language is dead now. What may he an ideal constitution for others may not work in practice in the Philippines. The merits of a constitution or a government is not its form but its practical services to the people and the amount of happiness and wellbeing that it brings to the nation.
In the preparation of this draft, we recruited the best legal minds of the country to the Sponsorship Committee, to the Sub-sponsorship Committee and to the Style Committee. We recruited the most brilliant legal minds, the Eharpest constitutional blades, and the best academicians and scholars of the Convention. This Constitution is not the work of one man, or one committee but the work of the entire Convention, representing Christians and Non-Christians, men from the highlands and the lowlands, jurists, physicians, doctors, priests and laymen. Some have contributed more, others less, but everybody placed his shoulders under the wheel. Bear that in mind becaus3 an article in one of the papers this morning protested against the ideal, the philosophy that is placed in the Constitution, saying that the trained and outstanding Members of the Convention have influenced the form of government and political and constitutional principles that we have adopted.
MR. ESCAREAL: Will the Gentleman yield?
MR. GULLAS: The same question has been asked and I am making' these remarks because there is no draft yet before the Convention. In order to make a comparative study and also answer a few questions and criticisms that have been launched against the Assembly, especially in the preparation of the draft, I wish to state to the Honorable Delegates that probably we shall be able to finish the work of the Convention this week or next week.
I made these remarks because someone mentioned that it would be a good ideal if we could perpetuate the memory of this Convention and the names of its Members. But I think one of the great things that we have derived from this Convention is the friendship and the camaraderie that have existed among us. In the beginning a little party spirit prevailed but it soon melted and party line also crumbled in the heat of collective ideas of responsibility. The article also mentioned in critical vein the electoral commission. As a member of the Minority, I believe that taking into consideration the preponderating influence of the Majority in this Convention and their dominance by sheer number, they have made a great concession to the Minority. They have given it power, and through the election of this Committee, this Assembly has shown its broad-mindedness and spirit of justice.
Mr. President, the idea has been broached about creating a club or an organization to continue friendship among the Delegates. I am making public such idea.
Mr. President and Members of the Convention: Since many among us have engagements waiting for them at the University of the Philippines, I close by thanking the President and the Members of this Convention for the acts of courtesy and friendship that we have received from you. We all thank the public for giving us the privilege of serving our people in the drafting of the Constitution that will be the fundamental law of our land.
EL PRESIDENTE: Sí no hay objeción, la Mesa lerantara la sesión hasta mañana, a las diez del dia. (No hubo objeción.)
Eran las 5:30 p.m.