COMPATRIOTS-NDF, the revolutionary organization of Filipinos overseas and a member of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP), believes that the Philippine Constitution is a worthless piece of paper that legitimizes and justifies oppression and exploitation of the Filipino people in a semicolonial, semifeudal society ruled by US imperialism, bureaucrat capitalism and feudalism.

All Constitutions (1934 and 1943) that had been in effect since the United States’ creation of a so-called Philippine Commonwealth, then followed by the Philippine Republic, were imposed on the Filipino people to legitimize its neocolonial rule. The 1973 Constitution or Marcos Constitution, which replaced the pre-WWII constitutions, made President Ferdinand Marcos Sr a one-man ruler. The constitution that Marcos implemented made him a dictator and allowed him to stay in power longer through the declaration of Martial Law.

The Filipino people’s anti-dictatorship struggle led to the ouster of Marcos in 1986, paving the way for the Corazon Aquino government and its 1987 Constitution, which included some favorable provisions such as the ban on nuclear and foreign military bases, limiting foreign ownership to 40%, anti-political dynasty and term limits for elected officials including the president. These provisions had been the subject of many devious attempts by previous puppet regimes to amend them.

Marcos Jr and his allies in his ruling class faction are behind the moves to revise the 1987 Constitution. He aims to tinker with this piece of paper with changes that will enthrone his family and cronies once more in perpetuity while ensuring the support of US imperialism by allowing the latter and its allies to plunder our resources and complete the annexation of the Philippine archipelago as its military base in the looming inter-imperialist shooting war with China.

The oppressed and exploited classes and sectors of the Philippine society have all the reasons to oppose Marcos’ Charter Change. Compatriots-NDF believes that the people’s opposition against Charter Change is growing and will succeed as it is linked and raised to the anti-imperialist, anti-bureaucrat capitalist, and anti-fascist struggle.

We call on the Filipino People to expose and oppose the Marcos Regime as US imperialism’s new tyrant at the helm of the puppet government of the Philippines. Any changes to the current 1987 Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines only aim to consolidate and perpetuate the power of the ruling classes of bourgeois compradors, big landlords, and the bureaucrat capitalist state, and favor the continued plunder and war-mongering agenda of its US imperialist master.

No amendment to the current neocolonial Constitution will provide relief or salvation to the Filipino masses from poverty, destitution, and oppression. The Filipino people’s national democratic revolution is the only and true solution to the fundamental economic, political, and socio-cultural problems of the Filipino people.

Onward with the People’s War!
Defeat Imperialism!
Advance the People’s Democratic Revolution!