PARTS OF THE CONSTITUTION
national referendum, local referendum, national initiative
1. Constitution of Government - Political Law or
Constitutional law 1
2. Constitution of Liberty - Bill of rights or Constitutional
law 2
3. Constitution of Sovereignty - Article 17 of the 1987
Constitution (Amendments and Revisions)
AMENDMENT AND REVISIONS
1. Qualitative Test - A substantial change in the basic
principles on how government is planned; will lead to
an answer that will require a revision
There are two ways to to revise the Constitution:
a. House of the Representatives and Senate as a
Constituent Assembly
b. Constitutional Convention
Will Congressmen and Senators no longer do their
legislative work if they are members of the Constituent
Assembly?
No. Because the primary mandate that they instil form the
people is to be legislators. In the morning, they are
members of the Constituent Assembly and in the
afternoon, they are members of the Senate and the House
of the Representatives.
Legislative powers of our Senators and Congressmen are
to: (PEARL)
Propose
Enact
Amend
Repeal Law
Three ways to amend a Constitution
1. Constitent Assembly
2. Constitutional Convention
3. People’s Initiative - People only proposes amendments
and not revisions.
In the case of Lambino v. COMELEC, the Supreme Court
held that the constitutional changes by Atty. Lambino was
wrong because they were trying to change the form of
govenrment of the Philippines into a parliament. The
people alone cannot initiate such.
In the case of Santiago v. COMELEC, talks about self-
executing and non self-executing provisions of the
Constitution. The Supreme Court held that a people’s
initiative requires an enabling law. At that time, what was
existing only were only national law which are based on
and local initiative.
National Referendum - Congress who will be proposing a
law in which they will not approve but submit such law to
the people. The people will exercise then to enact laws.
Local referendum - referred by the Sangguniang
Panlalawigan, Sangguniang Panglungsod, Sangguniang
Bayan and even barangays through ordinances by the
constituents of their respective territorial jurisdictions.
Initiative - Supreme Court held that a this does not cover
to amend the Philippine’s Constitution
Two stages of an amendment or a revision:
a. Proposal - the output of the ConCon, ConAs; this is no t
a draft
b. Ratification - process over which the people will
approve or disapprove the changes in the Constitution;
COMELEC will put together the calendar when to approve
or disapprove and it shall not be earlier than 45 days nor
longer than 60 days. It needs this period because a
campaign is needed as Section 1 Article 2 provides that the
Philippines is a democratic and a republican state—
supremacy resides with the people and all governmental
authority resides from them.
Three ways to be able to interpret the Constitution:
a. To be able to interpret the language of the law in an
ordinary way because Constitution is not only for
lawyers but also for the layman
b. To be able to know the intent of the framers of the
Constitution
c. To be able to interpret the Constitution as a whole
When will the Constitution take effect?
May 10 or when COMELEC announces the results.