NUDALO, RAYMUND BERMEJO

ARTICLE 2 – DECLARATION OF PRINCIPLES AND STATE POLICIES

Article 2 of the 1987 Philippine Constitution is the basic political creed of our nation.
This basically contains provisions that our government must abide in creating state
policies. Of all the sections in Article 2, the most important for me is Section 2, which
states:

Section 2. The Philippines renounces war as an instrument of national policy,

adopts the generally accepted principles of international law as part of the law of
the land and adheres to the policy of peace, equality, justice, freedom,
cooperation, and amity with all nations.

It is brilliant basics for a government to ensure that peace is maintained in our country.
This is a policy that the President needs to do correctly because a wrong decision can
put our freedom and peaceful lives in danger. I think one of the notable achievements of
the current administration with regards to peace is the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL)
which aimed to facilitate the creation of a Bangsamoro (nation of Moros) autonomous
area, in the South, without having the south secede from the country. This policy was
important in promoting peace with our brothers and sisters in the South. For the longest
time, war has been persistent in Mindanao and passing this into law shows that
President Duterte is serious about bridging peace in the region.

President Duterte’s stand on peace and foreign policy was again tested on the disputes
on South China Sea. Although President Duterte was very specific on his stance in
upholding the Hague ruling which rejected China’s claims on the territory, I believe that
he needs to do more to make sure that China will honor the legality of this decision. It is
also noted that we are opting to go the peaceful way of fighting for this territory but I
think we can do more in showing that we are not allowing China to bully us by
threatening us in going into war if we don’t follow what China wants to happen. Peace is
very important but with peace, we also must uphold our dignity and rights for the
territory.

In my opinion, President Duterte is adhering to Section 2 and this is evident in the eight
foreign policy realities outlined by our president. These eight foreign policy realities
strongly outline how our country values our peaceful relationship in the international
communities. If President Duterte will be serious in implementing these foreign policy
realities, we will be able to promote and maintain a peaceful relationship with the global
community.

Another important section for me is Section 21, which states:

The State shall promote comprehensive rural development and agrarian reform.
This is very important because this assures that we will be able to sustain the needs of
every Filipino. If our government will be able to come up with more sustainable rural and
agrarian reform, this will greatly help our farmers, hog raisers and fishermen in
becoming competitive and produce more and earn more. This can possibly help boost
our economy and the livelihood of our countrymen. Potentially, rural development will
also protect our land natural resources and our environment. We can also take note that
though we’ve seen a boost in our economy, we still have a great portion of our
population who are still considered poor and most of them live in the rural areas.

Last June 2019, President Duterte signed into Law Administrative Order No. 18, which
ordered a moratorium on the processing of applications for ecozones in Metro Manila to
complement the promotion of rural development and create robust economic activity in
areas outside Metro Manila. President Duterte, through this AO, shows that he knows
and understand that there is potential in improving the rural areas outside Metro
Manila. This will help provide more jobs outside the metro, possibly decreasing the
population in the capital. This will also help increase the revenue earning of the
communities outside Metro Manila. We can also see that he is trying to improve the
transportation situation in Metro Manila and nearby provinces. This will allow people to
travel easily and do business within and outside the metro.