HAND-OUTS NO: 1( PHILIPPINE POLITICS AND GOVERNANCE WITH PHILIPPINE CONSTITUTION)

Prepared by: MR. FOBE MECHAEL A. NUDALO MST-ARALING PANLIPUNAN

POLITICAL SCIENCE- It is the systematic study of and reflection upon politics. Politics usually
describes the processes by which people and institutions exercise and resist power.

Political Science is the systematic study of the state and government.

The word political is derived from the Greek polis, meaning a city, of what today would be
equivalent of sovereign state.
Science comes from the Latin scire, “to know”

Scope of Political Science:

1. Political theory
2. Public Law
3. Public Administration
 Political Theory
It refers to the entire body of doctrines relating to the origin, form, behaviour, and
purposes of the state are dealt with the study of political theory.
 Public Law – the (a) organization of governments, (b) the limitations upon government
authority, (c) the powers and duties of governmental offices and officers, and (d) the
obligations of one state to another are handled in the study of public law.
 Private Laws are the one which govern the relations among individuals, public law is so specialized
that separate courses offered in each of its subdivisions, namely: (a) constitutional law, (b)
administrative law, and (c) international Law.
 Public Administration - attention is focused upon methods and techniques used in the actual
management of the state affairs by executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government.

N.B, today, legislative bodies have been forced to delegate greater discretion to executive officers
responsible for the conduct of government policies and powers. Thus we find many administrative
agencies exercising quasi-legislative and quasi-judicial powers.

Interrelationship of Political Science with other branches of learning:

1. History(History is past politics and politics is present history.”)
 Political Scientist adopts a “historical approach and employs knowledge of the past when
he seeks to interpret present and probable developments in political phenomena.

2. Economics- Refers to the study of production, distribution, and conservation, and consumption of
wealth.
 Political Scientist adopts an “economic approach” when seeking to interpret matters like public
financial policies and government regulation of business.
3. Geography Geopolitics-It is concerned with the study of the influences of physical factors such as
population pressures, sources of raw materials, geography, etc. Upon domestic and foreign politics.
4. Sociology & anthropology-It is deeply concerned with the origins and nature of social control and
governmental authority, with the abiding influences of race and culture upon society, & with the
patterns of collective human behavior.
5. Psychology-It promotes studies of the mental and emotional processes motivating the political
behavior of individuals and groups. Particular topics under this are: public opinion, pressure groups,
and propaganda.
6. Philosophy-The concepts and doctrines of Plato, Aristotle & Locke are important to the specialist in
academic philosophy and also to the political scientist.
7. Statistics and Logic-Political theorist must have abroad background & knowledge of current political
problems and he must employ scientific methods in gathering and evaluating the data & in drawing
conclusions.
8. Jurisprudence-This branch of public law is concerned with the analysis of existing legal systems &
also with the ethical, historical, sociological, & psychological foundations of law.

STAGES IN THE STUDY OF POLITICAL SCIENCE

Religious Stage – the government it’s leader and laws was considered as divine or divinely inspired.
Metaphysical Stage – the state was considered as a human institution and it is therefore absolute (cannot be
changed).
Modern Stage – the state was deemed capable of being improved by rulers and subjects according to certain
principles and laws.
DEVELOPMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE
 ARISTOTLE- wrote “Politics”, the first systematic work on political affairs.
Father of Political Science

 NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI
-wrote “The Prince”, a handbook for rulers in the art of government.
-Father of Modern Political Science

 PROF. FRANCIS LIEBER

-wrote “Manual of Political Ethics”; the first systematic
-treatise in political science

Meaning of the State

State is a community of persons more or less numerous, permanently occupying a definite
portion of territory, having a government of their own to which the great body of inhabitants
render obedience, and enjoying freedom from external control.

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN NATION AND STATE?

State is a legal or juristic concept, while Nation is an ethnic or racial concept .

Nasci = to be born indicates a relation of birth or origin and implies a common race.
 It is also possible for a single state to be made up of more than one nation, e.g. US which was
the “melting pot” of many nations that were eventually combined into the “American nation”

Elements of State:
1. People
2. Territory
3. Government
4. Sovereignty
5. Recognition
1. People-This refers to the mass of population living within the state. There is no requirement as
to the number of people that should compose a state. But it should be neither too small nor
too large: small enough to be well-governed and large enough to be self-sufficing.
The smallest state is Vatican. China has the largest population.

Different meanings as used in the 1987 Constitution:

Inhabitants (sec. 2, Art III; sec. 1, Art. XIII);
Citizens (secs. 1 & 4, Art II; sec 7, art. III);
Electors (sec. 4, Art. VII)
As a requisite for Statehood, there should be an adequate number for self-sufficiency and
defense; of both sexes for perpetuity.

What is difference between Citizenship and Nationality?

Citizenship
 Legal or juristic
 Can be changed or taken-back

Nationality
 Ethnic or racial
 Absolute or innate

2. Territory

Components of Philippine Territory

1. Terrestial- land
2. Fluvial-internal waters
3. Aerial domains- aerospace
4. Marine- both external waters both surface and sub-aquatic
 The smallest state is Vatican State with an area of 0.43 square kilometres. It
would fit in Rizal Park in Manila. The biggest state is Canada with an area of
3,852,000 square miles which covers a surface nearly as large as Europe.
 The Philippines has a total land area of about 115,707 square miles .
3. Government
 It refers to the agency through which the will of the state is formulated, expressed
and carried out.
 Section 1, Art II. The Philippines is a democratic republican State. Sovereignty resides in
the people and all government authority emanates from them.
 Republican- It is one wherein all government authority emanates from the people and is
exercised by representatives chosen by the people.
 It is the organization or agency through which
 the state expresses and enforces its will.
 It is the organization that directs or controls the affairs of the state.
 Our Constitution requires our government to be democratic and republican.

What does it mean to be Democratic but Republican?

 Republican- It is one wherein all government authority emanates from the

people and is exercised by representatives chosen by the people.
 Democratic-This emphasizes that the Philippines has some aspects of direct
democracy such as initiative and referendum.

4.Sovereignty-It is the supreme power of the state to command and enforce obedience
to its will from people within its jurisdiction, and to have freedom from foreign
control.
Two kinds of sovereignty
1. Internal or the power of the state to rule within its territory;
2. External or the freedom of the state to carry out its activities without subjection or
control by other states. External sovereignty is often referred to as independence.

Legal sovereignty is the possession of unlimited power to make laws. It is the

authority by which law has the power to issue commands.
Political sovereignty is the sum total of all the influences in a state which lie behind the
law. It is roughly defined as the power of the people.

Duties of the State

 Peace and Order
 Political Harmony(Good Laws)
 Social Justice
 Economic Development

Theories of State Origin

 Divine Theory- the state is of divine origin, all political authority emanates from God.
 Social Contract Theory - this theory states that men agreed among themselves to live
under one civil society or body politic. A person surrendered his natural liberty but
gained in return the protection and civil rights guaranteed by the governments.
 Force Theory – the state has arisen through sheer force; a tribe conquering other tribes to
form a kingdom.

What is a Constitution

 It is the fundamental, paramount, and supreme law of the nation.

 It is a social contract that binds, by its terms and conditions, the people and their
government in a civil society
  It laydown and guides the duties and powers of the government, and the duties
and rights of its citizens and residents.

Why do we need Constitution?

 To define the organization of the government
 To determine the distribution of the government powers
 To established principle governing the operations of the government
 To define the rights of the individual citizen
 To hold the state together

 The Constitution currently took ineffect was enacted in 1987, during the
administration of President Corazon C. Aquino, and is popularly known as the
"1987 Constitution―. Philippine constitutional law experts recognise three other
previous constitutions as having effectively governed the country — the1935
Commonwealth Constitution, the 1973 Constitution, and the 1986 Freedom
Constitution. Constitutions for the Philippines were also drafted and adopted
during the short-lived governments of Presidents Emilio Aguinaldo (1898)and
José P. Laurel (1943).
Kind of Constitution
1. As to their origin and history: a. Conventional or enacted b. Cumulative or
evolved
2. As to their form: a. Written b. Unwritten
3. As to manner of amending them:
a. Rigid or inelastic b. Flexible or elastic

Constitution distinguished from Statute

1. Constitution is a legislation direct from the people
2. Constitution merely states the general framework of the law
3. Constitution is intended not merely to meet existing conditions but to govern
the future
4. Constitution is the supreme or fundamental law
Statute
1.Is a legislation from the people’s representatives.
2. It provides the details of the subject of which it treats
3. Is intended primarily to meet existing conditions only
4. Statute conforms to Constitution

Historical Development of Constitution

 Malolos Constitution (1899)
 Commonwealth and Third Republic (1935)
 Japanese Sponsored Republic (1943)
 Martial Law Constitution (1973)
 Freedom Constitution (1986)

1.Malolos Constitution (1899) First Philippine Republic republic

 The Malolos Constitution was the first republican constitution in Asia.
 It declared that sovereignty resides exclusively in the people, stated basic civil rights,
separated the church and state, and called for the creation of an Assembly of
Representatives to act as the legislative body.
 It also called for a Presidential form of government with the president elected for a term
of four years by a majority of the Assembly.
 It was titled "Constitución política", and was written in Spanish following the declaration
of independence from Spain, proclaimed on January 20, 1899, and was enacted and
ratified by the Malolos Congress, a Congress held in Malolos, Bulacan.
2.Commonwealth and Third Republic (1935) 1935 Constitution
 The 1935 Constitution was written in 1934,approved and adopted by the
Commonwealth of the Philippines (1935–1946) and later used by the Third Republic of
the Philippines (1946–1972).
 It was written with an eye to meeting the approval of the United States Government as
well, so as to ensure that the U.S. would live up to its promise to grant the Philippines
independence and not have a premise to hold onto its possession on the grounds that it
was too politically immature and hence unready for full, real independence.
3.Japanese Sponsored Republic (1943) Second Philippine Republic(1943 Constitution)

 The 1943 Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines , composed of a preamble and
twelve articles, creates a Republican state with a powerful executive branch and
subordinate legislative and judicial branches. The executive power is vested in the
President, who is to be elected by the members of the National Assembly from among
themselves.

 The President is the head of government, and commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces.
The powers of the President are: to veto any bill of the Assembly, to promulgate
regulations when the Assembly is not in session and in times of war or national
emergency, to declare martial law, to suspend the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus,
and to appoint the members of the Council of State and officials of the local government.

 A limited legislative power is exercised by the unicameral National Assembly whose

members, like the President, are not directly elected by the people.

4.Martial Law Constitution (1973) 1973 Constitution of the Philippines

 The 1973 Constitution, promulgated after Marcos declaration of martial law, was
supposed to introduce a parliamentary-style government.

 Legislative power was vested in a National Assembly whose members were elected for
six-year terms.

 The President was ideally supposed to be elected as the symbolic and purely ceremonial
head of state from the Members of the National Assembly for a six-year term and could
be re-elected to an unlimited number of terms.

5.Freedom Constitution (1987)

 1987 Constitution of the Philippines Following the EDSA People Power Revolution that
removed President Ferdinand E. Marcos from office, the new President, Corazon C.
Aquino issued Proclamation No. 3 as a provisional constitution.

 It adopted certain provisions from the 1973 constitution and granted the President broad
powers to re organise the government and remove officials from office, and mandated
that the president would appoint a commission to draft a new constitution.