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Concept Brief on the Conference-Exhibit (TQLT)

November 18, 2023

“PHILIPPINE CONSTITUTIONS AND THE SOCIAL ORDER:

COUNTING BLESSINGS, RISING ABOVE CHALLENGES”

For thousands of years, humanity has struggled to develop communities of imagined

perfection. Though clearly progressive, their struggles were nonetheless preoccupied with
three endemic problems – famines, plagues and wars. Remember the 2.8 million French
subjects (15 per cent of the population) who died of severe famines from 1692 to 1694 while
their Sun King, Louis XIV, cavorted with mistresses in the mirrored halls of Versailles.
The dawn of the twenty-first century, however, promises a new world, one that is not
necessarily free of starvation, epidemics and violence but one that has managed to rein in
their unmanageable excesses. The last century ushered in economic, social, technological and
political developments that created more robust safety nets against mass famines, more
effective medical treatments against deadly pathogens and world institutions (imperfect but
functional) to leverage wars away from collective suicide into the conference tables. And for
the first time in human history, it has been reported that more people die (i) from eating too
much than from starving, (ii) from old age than from infectious diseases and (iii) from more
suicides than from the violence of soldiers, terrorists and criminals combined.
And while our progress may be phenomenal, it also made us realize that growth
comes through disruptive changes. Our ecological equilibrium is being destabilized by global
warming, climate change and pollution that threaten the livability of this beautiful, blue
planet. With the shifting world order from the West to the East, the great waters of Southeast
Asia and East Asia may become the maritime equivalents of the Mediterranean Sea with its
history of naval conflicts like Salamis (480 BC), Actium (318 BC), Lepanto (1571) and Gallipoli
(1915) where civilizations rose and fell. And technological advances in information, genetic
engineering, artificial intelligence and nanotechnology are ramping up other visions of a new
world. This is the VUCA world, a euphemism for a social order that is “volatile, uncertain,
complex and ambiguous.” It is a world that we have yet to fully understand, moderate and
embrace.
This world is opening up with breakthroughs in both mental and bodily faculties
undreamed of before. The technology of in vitro fertilization can now produce a three-parent
superbaby. Selecting the best from many of the embryos which carry their DNAs, parents can
correct any genetic deadly mutations in the chosen embryo without destroying it. Technology
can replace its Mitochondrial DNA (tiny organelles within the human cells that produce the
energy used by the cells) with the Mitochondrial DNA from a third party. The baby’s Nuclear
DNA comes from the biological parents while the Mitochondrial DNA comes from the third
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person. This three-parent superbaby would impact on family structures, marriages and the
child-parent relationships revolutionizing, in the process, human society itself.
Expand this to other breakthroughs with both positive and negative implications.
Nanotechnology is merging the organic body with non-organic devices that can create nano-
robots able to navigate our bloodstreams to diagnose and repair damages. And cyber
technology can develop malicious software codes called “logic bombs” that can be planted in
peacetime, targeted at some critical infrastructure facilities elsewhere and detonated at will.
The possibilities appear endless, bold and daunting.
Developments of this nature add layers of new meaning and urgent challenges to our
dreams of imagined perfection. While continuing to keep famines, plagues, wars and
ecological disasters at bay and trying to understand complex algorithms, we have the inherent
power, not only to count our blessings, but also to set ourselves up with both daring goals and
better rules to achieve and manage our desired social order.
A nation’s social order (or nationhood) may perhaps be summed up as the sum total of
all its resources and efforts to be alive, free and happy. A thousand years separated Epicurus
(341 BC – 271 BC) and Thomas Jefferson (1743 – 1826) but both spoke of happiness as a social
good. Epicurus said it was the supreme good that must be pursued with moderation, not with
blind pleasure (as misinterpreted by many). Thomas Jefferson, in the American Declaration of
Independence (1776), called it an inalienable right. And both declared that the pursuit of
happiness was a personal responsibility.
Jefferson clearly taught that a private sphere of choice should be preserved to free
individuals from state supervision and did not make the state responsible for citizens’
happiness. Jeremy Bentham (1748 – 1832) thought otherwise and declared: “the greatest
happiness for the greatest number” is the supreme good and the noble, sole aim of the state
is to promote it. As a result, the responsibility for the pursuit of happiness, as with life and
liberty, morphed into the sudsy battle between greater individual freedoms and more state
supervision over the social order.
The social order may perhaps be best maintained through the prudent exercise of the
rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Jose Rizal (1861 – 1896) said that this
requires a triduum of virtues: “malinis na kalooban, matuwid na isip at mabuting asal.” This
is the marrow of nationhood, the great realm of the inner conditions (the spirit) that
animates action.
The Filipinos experimented and experienced this marrow of nationhood through the
flow and grit of five historic fundamental laws – the 1898 Malolos Constitution, the 1935
Commonwealth Constitution, the 1943 Japanese Constitution, the 1973 Constitution and the
1987 Constitution. The 1898 and the 1973 Constitutions followed modified parliamentary
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forms of government while the 1935, 1943 and 1987 constitutions established presidential
forms of government. All sought to create communities of imagined perfection where
people’s lives, liberties and the pursuit of happiness were shaped not only by the laws that
were adopted (the political system, market structures and social relationships) but by the
internal conditions of their selfhood.
Sometimes they succeeded, sometimes they failed. Every success or failure dispensed
a lesson learned, contributed a move refined, added an experience more layered, more
informed. And through the currents and froths both of the past and of the present, they have
evolved and are now developing a social order where an emergent future is impinging on
their lives not only with great possibilities but with urgent challenges. Even as we count our
blessings, we must also rise above those challenges.*
The objective of this 2-day Conference and 1-day Exhibit therefore is to beam a
spotlight on the social order with both its great breakthroughs and its great challenges and
how the powerful instrument of constitution-making, that earlier framed and changed our
lives, could now and hereafter re-imagine and reframe the face and fabric of the country into
a recognizable future that is more livable, free and happy. It is, in brief, our tribute to the
power of ideas. Welcome to the Conference and the Exhibit. Mabuhay!
*References: Ricardo V. Quintos (Publisher), Legacy of Hopes and Possibilities: The 1971 Constitutional Convention, 2022; Ray Dalio, The
Changing World Order: Why Nations Succeed and Fail, 2021; Pablo S. Trillana III, Rizal and the Wide Road of Progress, 2019; Yuval Noah
Harari, Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow, 2016; Ken Wilber, The Eye of Spirit, 2001.

CONFERENCE THEME: - “Philippine Constitutions and the Social Order:

Counting Blessings, Rising Above Challenges”

EXHIBIT THEME: - “Guardians of Nationhood: Constitution-Making in Philippine History”

Organizers:
71-72 Constitutional Convention Delegates
National Historical Commission of the Philippines
National Museum of the Philippines
Order of the Knights of Rizal
The Rizal Academy for Innovation and Leadership (TRAIL)
Rizal Center Foundation (RCF)
Venue
National Museum of the Philippines
Dates
January 16-18, 2024
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Recommended Guests of Honor/Speakers/Panel Conversationalists and Their Topics***

DAY ONE – JANUARY 16, 2024
AM
Entrance of Colors
National Anthem
Prayers (songs)
Welcome Message: Director General Jeremy Barnes
National Museum of the Philippines

Conference-Exhibit Overview: “Nationhood and Constitution-Making in Philippine History”

Chairman and Dr. Emmanuel Calairo
National Historical Commission of the Philippines

KEYNOTE SPEECH: “Philippine Constitutions and the Social Order:

Counting Blessings, Rising Above Challenges”
Chief Justice Alexander G. Gesmundo
Supreme Court of the Philippines
Guest of Honor and Keynote Speaker

PANEL CONVERSATIONS:

1. “The Philippine Constitution and the Political System: Wheels of Power, Stability and
Resilience in the Service of the Emergent Social Order”
Con-Con Del. and Chief Justice Hilario Davide Jr.
Guest of Honor and Speaker

Panelists: Con-Con Del. and Chief Justice Hilario Davide Jr.

Con-Con Del. and Associate Justice Adolf S. Azcuna
Manila Hotel President and Senator Jose Lina Jr.
PM

2. “The Philippine Constitution and the United Nations: Is Manageable Peace an

Impossible Dream in the World Order?”
Chief Justice Reynato S. Puno Jr.
Guest of Honor and Speaker

Panelists: Chief Justice Reynato S. Puno Jr.

Con-Con Del. and Ambassador Amado Tolentino Jr.
MB Publisher Herminio B. Coloma Jr.
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3. “Philippine Constitutions and International Law: The Philippine Island Territories and
the World-Changing Geopolitics in the West Philippine Sea”
Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio
Guest of Honor and Speaker

Panelists: Associate Justice Antonio Carpio

Con-Con Del. and Congressman Michael Mastura
Journalist and TV Anchor Karen Davila

………
Master of Ceremonies
Atty. Lilia B. de Lima
Con-Con Del. and PEZA Director General
___________________________

DAY TWO – JANUARY 17, 2024

AM
4. “The Philippine Constitution and the Running Bulls of Technology: AI, Genetic
Engineering, Nanotechnology and Information”
Chief Justice Artemio Panganiban
Guest of Honor and Speaker

Panelists: Chief Justice Artemio Panganiban

Con-Con Del. and PM Director General Jose Leviste Jr.
DICT Secretary Ivan John E. Uy

5. “The Philippine Constitution and a Tiger’s Leap into the New Economic World Order”
Prime Minister Cesar E. A. Virata
Guest of Honor and Speaker

Panelists: Prime Minister Cesar E. A. Virata

Con-Con Del. and Finance Secretary Margarito B. Teves
NEDA Director-General Arsenio M. Balisacan
BDO Senior Vice-President and Investment Banker Fritz Ocampo
PM
6. “The Philippine Constitution as Nerve Center of the Social Order: Responsive to Needs,
Accountable for Resources”
Con-Con Del. and Senator Richard J. Gordon
Guest of Honor and Seaker
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Panelists: Con-Con Del. and Senator Richard J. Gordon

BizNews Asia Founder and Chairman Antonio S. Lopez
PHA President and Dr. Chas Navarro

7. “The Philippine Constitution and the Sanctity of Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of
Happiness”
The Reverend Fr. Ranhillo Aquino
Dean of the Graduate School of Law, San Beda University
Guest of Honor and Speaker

Panelists: The Reverend Fr. Ranhillo Aquino

Con-Con Del. and NHCP Chairman Pablo S. Trillana III
Con-Com and Columnist Bernardo M. Villegas

Conference Integration: “Reflections and Moving Forward”

Atty. Carlos Serapio
Vice-Presidential Candidate 2022
Katipunan Ng Kamalayang Kayumanggi
Serapio and De Castro Law Office

Closing Conference Message: “A Tribute to the Power of Ideas: Constitutions

and History”
Con-Con Del. and Ambassador Rodolfo D. Robles

Exit of Colors
…………
Master of Ceremonies
Atty. Lilia B. de Lima
Con-Con Del. and PEZA Director General

DAY THREE– January 18, 2024

Exhibit Theme: “The Philippine Constitutions: Guardians of Philippine Historical Heritage”

Prayers
Opening Remarks:
Director General Jeremy Barnes
National Museum of the Philippines

Inspirational Message: “The Joys of Maintaining Philippine Historical Heritage”

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Acting Director General Carminda Arevalo

National Historical Commission of the Philippines

Keynote Address: “The Constitutionalists: Enduring Savants of Hopes and Possibilities”

Con-Con Del. and Agriculture Advocate Ricardo V. Quintos
Guest of Honor and Speaker
Cutting of the Ribbon:
Con-Con Del. and Sr. Sonia S. Aldeguer
Con-Con Del. and Congressman Ali Pangalian M. Balindong
Con-Con Del. and Congressman Salvador B. Britanico
Con-Con Del. Natalio Castillo Jr.
Con-Con Del. Gonzalo O. Catan Jr.
Con-Con Del. and RTC Judge Teresita Dy-Liacco Flores
Con-Con Del. and PCGG Chairman Magtanggol C. Gunigundo
Con-Con Del. Manuel T. Molina
Con-Con Del. and Congressman Victor F. Ortega
Con-Con Del. Flor Sagadal
Con-Con Del. Ricardo Sagmit Jr.
Con-Con Del. and Congressman Oscar F. Santos
Con-Con Del. and Chairman on Commission on Audit Reynaldo A. Villar

NHCP Chairman and Dr. Emmanuel Calairo

NM Director General Jeremy Barnes
KOR Supreme Commander Gerardo Calderon Jr.
NHCP Deputy Executive Director Alvin Alcid
PHA President and Dr. Chas Navarro
TRAIL Chairman and RCF Director Marisol Lopez

Viewing of the Exhibit - Featuring Facsimiles of Philippine Constitutions and Memorabilia

Master of Ceremonies
Con-Con Del. Elizabeth Chiongbian-Johnston
………………………………..
Curators: National Historical Commission of the Philippines
National Museum of the Philippines
Philippine Historical Association
Coordinators of Inter-Active Exercises: TRAIL and RCF
Intermission Numbers: STA Concert Chorus (Bulacan) : Angono Dance Company (Rizal)
Note: *** subject to confirmation and changes as appropriate