Long ago, people believed that the heavenly bodies were made up of not only air, water, fire, and earth but also another element, the quintessential or fifth essence. It was believed that if they could somehow isolate this element from the others, it would cure all diseases.

This idea was later abandoned, but the word quintessence remained in the English language to mean the “purest essence of a thing,” the Aether, and what the idealist calls the spirit of consciousness, the abstractions, and laws that are more fundamental in reality than sensory things.

Like the quinta essentia, many others before us have given up on the idea and abandoned the pursuit of the quintessential government. However, the thought never fails to attract generation after generation of intellectualswilling to take the chance as if nobody has failed before or if failing does not matter.

After all, humans are afraid of the unknown; that is why we have to know at least something about everything, even if it means doing it in fear.

We are thrown into the world without any fixed essence, and we exist constantly, imagining and reimagining who we are as we move through time.

Therefore, the most fundamental aspect of human existence is the material human condition or the state of being conscious of our own existence.

It is then up to us to use our existence to shape and create the substance of what we can call a quintessential government. The quintessence is, therefore, not merely found but consciously created.

We might not notice it, but we are all going through the process of creating and recreating the quintessential government in our minds. Our incessant pursuit of this dream creates real spaces where we can try to self-project and experience the idea even in the most ordinary moments of our waking life – in academic talks at college school canteens, in cheap bar conversations, or underground assemblies.

Sovereign will

The Constitution is the manifestation of the sovereign will. The social contract we execute within and among ourselves signifies our collective aspiration to self-govern.

The Constitution is where we imbedded the quintaessentia that represents our collective dream. It is then naturally incumbent upon us, who framed the highest law of the land, to reject or at least question any attempt to undermine its supremacy.

We created this great charter to show our willful surrender to the rule of law, and that the Law binds us all and is superior to the government and all its officials.

As Justice Isagani Cruz explained, the quintessential constitution “must grow with the society it seeks to re-structure and march apace with the progress of the race.”

In this pursuit, we have repeatedly built our society upon the achievements of the past and careful examination of history. It, therefore, means that the Constitution may be reformed to correct injustices and create a social climate that allows people to self-actualize. Any other motive that defeats the idea of democracy and republicanism is deemed arbitrary and deserving of scrutiny and rejection.

The Constitution of 1987, for example, was carefully written to correct the faults of previous constitutions and specifically eradicate the vestiges of the Marcos regime. Hence, it is a valid exercise of people's power.

Therefore, it is a potent tool that regulates social affairs and is powerful enough to abolish and replace a government with a new one.

A government is, therefore, a blossom of the root, the edifice yet to rise. It is the agent of the sovereign people for the will of the State to be formulated and realized.

Unconditional adherence

Just like the quinta essentia, the idea of a quintessential government is also elusive because to suppose that a government is quintessential, it must be cured of all disease. But we are a society of flawed and imperfect humans, and the attempt to isolate human nature from human affairs is vain.

In reality, we don’t need to find some rare element of pure essence to create our very own quintessential government. The only absolute requirement to realize our collective dream is the government's unconditional adherence to the letter of the Constitution, which enjoys the presumption of being the perfect representation of the will of the people.

The principles of democracy and republicanism are all that are needed to realize an exemplary government because they declare that the people are supreme. They are a proclamation of our resentment of despotic regimes and an affirmation that every citizen is an individual source of authority.

No government in humanity's history has attained quintessence in transgression from the intent of sovereignty. Thus, the government must always adhere to the spirit of democracy and republicanism because a quintessential government only acts within the purview of the delegated power.

A quintessential government is, therefore, mandated to act on behalf of the people at large and always be accountable to the people they are sworn to serve. And it is needless to say; the purpose has always been the promotion of the common welfare according to the will of the people themselves.