EDITORIAL - A disastrous experiment

Vice President Jejomar Binay is in favor of any proposal lifting the term limit of the president and vice president. He said changing the term limit provision of the Constitution would be good for the country economically.

The vice president explained that instead of six years, the two highest officials of the land should have a four-year term, but they can be allowed to seek reelection for a second term of another four years.

Such setup is patterned after the one presently practiced by the United States. And it has been working perfectly well for hundreds of years in the world's most powerful and the biggest economy.

Binay stressed that a six-year term is too short for a good leader. For him, the only way to continue the country's economic growth is through revisiting the Constitution and amending the term limit provisions.

As expected, however, many have opposed to the move. The Palace itself expressed deep concern that lifting the six-year term limit would leave the door open to corruption, human right abuses, among others.

The single term of office for the president and vice president has been designed to prevent abuse of power, a thing Filipinos had gravely experienced during the dark days of our nation's history during the Marcos dictatorship.

Of course, we have to admit that other countries had gained economic success under the long leadership of their prime ministers. It was Lee Kuan Yew's three decades of rule that transformed Singapore into one of the world's wealthiest states.

However, such experiment has been proven to be disastrous for the Philippines. Because for 20 years, the Marcos dictatorship had not only killed democracy and curtailed Filipinos' freedom through martial law but pulled the country down from being one of Asia's richest economies as well.          

Instead of pushing for term extension, Binay should rather start training his eyes on other priorities that would bring more development to the country once he becomes the next president.   

Many see Binay's support for the move lifting the term limit for the two highest officials is tantamount to political suicide, especially now that he is fighting  massive corruption allegations that could derail his presidential ambition.