Declaration of Principles

and State Policies

Objectives
By the end of this module, students should be able to:
1. Recite by memory, Sections 1 to 28 of Article II of the 1987 Constitution
2. Define the various concepts under Article II
3. Apply the concepts in resolving legal problems and finding their applications in the
various inferior laws in force and effect in the country

Module Guide
Study the following concepts and answer the guide questions
I. Constitutional Provisions
A. Republicanism
Republicanism [Sec. 1. Art. II: “The Philippines is a democratic and repubican State.
Sovereignty resides in the people and all government authority emanates from them”].

1. Essential features: representation and renovation.

2. Manifestations.
a) Ours is a government of laws and not of men [Villavicencio v. Lukban, 39 Phil 778].
b) Rule of the majority. [Plurality in elections]
c) Accountability of public officials.
d) Bill of Rights.
e) Legislature cannot pass irrepealable laws.
f) Separation of powers.
1. Is the Philippines a democracy?
2. Recall the political spectrum chart

B. Separation of powers

i) Purpose: To prevent concentration of authority in one person or group of persons that

might lead to an irreversible error or abuse in its exercise to the detriment of republican
institutions. “To secure action, to forestall overaction, to prevent despotism and to obtain
efficiency” [Pangasinan Transporation Co. v. Public Service Commission, 40 O.G. 8th
Supp. 57]. See also Tuason v. Register of Deeds of Caloocan City, 157 SCRA 613; In
Re: Manzano, 166 SCRA 246.

ii) In La Bugal-B’Laan Tribal Association v. Ramos, G.R. No. 127882, December 1,

2004, the Court restrained itself from intruding into policy matters to allow the President
and Congress maximum discretion in using the mineral resources of our country and in
securing the assistance of foreign groups to eradicate the grinding poverty of our people
and answer their cry for viable employment opportunities in the country. The Judiciary is
loath to interfere with the due exercise by co-equal branches of government of their
official functions”. Let the development of the mining industry be the responsibility of the
political branches of government. The questioned provisions of R.A. 7942 (Philippine
Mining Act of 1995) are not unconstitutional.
iii) Application: Not “doctrinaire” nor with “pedantic rigor”; “not independence but
interdependence”.

iiia) In the absence of any administrative action taken against the RTC Judge by
the Supreme Court with regard to the former’s certificate of service, the investigation
conducted by the Ombudsman encroaches into the Supreme Court’s power of
administrative supervision over all courts and its personnel, in violation of the doctrine of
separation of powers [Maceda v. Vasquez, 221 SCRA 464].

1. Checks and balances

This allows one department to resist encroachments upon its prerogatives or to rectify
mistakes or excesses committed by the other departments, e.g., veto power of the
President as check on improvident legislation, etc..

2. Blending of powers
Instances when powers are not confined exclusively within one department but are
assigned to or shared by several departments, e.g., enactment of general
appropriations law.

3. Examine the workings of the government, cite 3 actual government actions or

processes where the separation of powers, checks and balances, and blending
of powers are applied.

C. What does “sovereignty resides in the people and all government authority
emanate from them” mean?
1. Martial Law
2. The president as commander-in-chief

D. What is “social justice”? Enumerate a few social justice laws and justify why they
are called as such.

 Social justice is "neither communism, nor despotism, nor atomism, nor anarchy," but
the humanization of laws and the equalization of social and economic forces by the
State so that justice in its rational and objectively secular conception may at least be
approximated. Social justice means the promotion of the welfare of all the people, the
adoption by the Government of measures calculated to insure economic stability of all
the competent elements of society, through the maintenance of a proper economic and
social equilibrium in the interrelations of the members of the community, constitutionally,
through the adoption of measures legally justifiable, or extra-constitutionally, through the
exercise of powers underlying the existence of all governments on the time-honored
principle of salus populi est suprema lex.

Social justice, therefore, must be founded on the recognition of the necessity of

interdependence among divers and diverse units of a society and of the protection that
should be equally and evenly extended to all groups as a combined force in our social
and economic life, consistent with the fundamental and paramount objective of the state
of promoting the health, comfort, and quiet of all persons, and of bringing about "the
greatest good to the greatest number."

1. Indigenous Peoples

“The State recognizes

and promotes the rights of indigenous cultural communities within the framework
of national unity and development.”] Read also Secs. 5(2), Art. VI; Sec. 5, Art. XII;
Sec. 17, Art. XIV. .

2. Explain: “Those who have less in life must have more in law”  

When legal remedies are applied to dispense justice in society, very often the poor who
have less resources compared to the rich, will have to depend solely on the law to
protect their rights. All remedies, therefore, allowed by law should be completely
exhausted for their protection. The appearance of being given “more” in law is
necessary to supply the chance of equality which they do not enjoy.

3. Agrarian Reform

The State shall apply the principles of agrarian reform or stewardship, whenever
applicable in accordance with law, in the disposition or utilization of other natural
resources, including lands of the public domain under lease or concession suitable to
agriculture, subject to prior rights, homestead rights of small settlers, and the rights of
indigenous communities to their ancestral lands, x x x The State may resettle landless
farmers and farm workers in its own agricultural estates which shall be distributed to
them in the manner provided by law [Sec. 6, Art. XIII].

E. The Family as a basic autonomous social institution

The State recognizes the sanctity of family life and shall protect and strengthen the
family as a basic autonomous social institution. It shall equally protect the life of the
mother and the life of the unborn from conception. The natural and primary right and
duty of parents in the rearing of the youth for civic efficiency and the development of
moral character shall receive the support of the Government. ” Sec. 13. Art. II: “The
State recognizes the vital role of the youth in nation-building and shall promote and
protect their physical, moral, spiritual, intellectual and social well-being. It shall inculcate
in the youth patriotism and nationalism, and encourage their involvement in public and
civic affairs. ”]

F. Role of women and children

G. The right to a Balanced and healthful ecology

Sec. 15. Art. II: The State shall protect and promote the right to health of the people and
instill health consciousness among them.”
Sec. 16. Art. II: The State shall protect and advance the right of the people to a
balanced and healthful ecology in accord with the rhythm and harmony of nature.”]
Read also Secs. 11-13, Art. XIII.

1. In Oposa v. Factoran, 224 SCRA 792, it was held that the petitioners, minors duly
joined by their respective parents, had a valid cause of action in questioning the
continued grant of Timber License Agreements (TLAs) for commercial logging
purposes, because the cause focuses on a fundamental legal right: the right to a
balanced and healthful ecology.

2. In C & M Timber Corporation v. Alcala, G.R. No. 111088, June 13, 1997, on the issue
that the “total log ban” is a new policy which should be applied prospectively and not
affect the rights of petitioner vested under the Timber Licensing Agreement, the
Supreme Court declared that this is not a new policy but a mere reiteration of the policy
of conservation and protection expressed in Sec. 16, Art. II, of the Constitution.

1. What is the “Doctrine of Transcendental Importance”?

 The Court, through Associate Justice Florentino P. Feliciano (now retired), provided the
following instructive guides as determinants in determining whether a matter is of
transcendental importance: (1) the character of the funds or other assets involved in the
case; (2) the presence of a clear case of disregard of a constitutional or statutory
prohibition by the public respondent agency or instrumentality of the government; and
(3) the lack of any other party with a more direct and specific interest in the questions
being raised.  (CHAMBER OF REAL ESTATE AND BUILDERS' ASSOCIATIONS, INC.
(CREBA) VS. ENERGY REGULATORY COMMISSION (ERC) AND MANILA
ELECTRIC COMPANY (MERALCO), G.R. NO. 174697, JULY 8, 2010, BRION, J.).

2. What is climate change?

Climate change is the global phenomenon of climate transformation characterized by

the changes in the usual climate of the planet (regarding temperature, precipitation, and
wind) that are especially caused by human activities. As a result of unbalancing the
weather of Earth, the sustainability of the planet’s ecosystems is under threat, as well as
the future of humankind and the estability of the global economy.

H. Doctrine of Incorporation vs. Transformation

“doctrine of incorporation,” which “mandates that the Philippines is bound by generally

accepted principles of international law which automatically form part of Philippine law
by operation of the Constitution.”

doctrine of transformation,” “which holds that the generally accepted rules of

international law are not per se binding upon the State but must first be embodied in
legislation enacted by the lawmaking body and so transformed will they become binding
upon the State as part of its municipal law.” 
Incorporation v. Transformation.
The doctrine of incorporation is expressed in Sec. 2, Art. II, Philippine Constitution, as
follows: “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”. See: Kuroda vs. Jalandoni, 83 Phil. 171 (although the Philippines was not a
signatory to the Hague and Geneva Conventions, international jurisprudence is
automatically incorporated in Philippine law, thus making war crimes punishable in the
Philippines); Lo Ching vs. Archbishop of Manila, 81 Phil 601; Borovsky vs.
Commissioner of Immigration, G.R. No. L-4362 (1951) (where prolonged detention of a
stateless alien pending deportation was deemed illegal, citing the Universal Declaration
of Human Rights which is incorporated in Philippine law).

b) The doctrine of transformation requires the enactment by the legislative body of such
international law principles as are sought to be part of municipal law. See: Laguna Lake
Development Authority vs. Court of Appeals, 231SCRA 292 (where it was declared that
Sec. 6, Art. II, Philippine Constitution, which reads: “The state shall protect and advance
the right of the people to a balanced and healthful ecology in accord with the rhythm
and harmony of nature”, was taken from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and
the Alma Conference Declaration of 1978 recognizing health as a fundamental human
right. Thus, the authority of LLDA to issue a cease and desist order to prevent the
pollution of Marilao River was upheld on the basis of the principle of necessary
implication^.

1. Sources of International Law

On the domestic sphere, the constitution, legislative enactments and case law (stare
decisis). On the international plane, it is a bit complicated because there is no body
likened to a national legislature, no fundamental law, and the doctrine of precedents is
not applicable.

1. However, the most authoritative enumeration is found in Art. 38, Statute of the
International Court of Justice, which provides that the Court, whose function is to decide
in accordance with International Law such disputes as are submitted to it, shall apply:
As Primary Sources:

a) International Treaties and Conventions, whether general or particular, establishing

rules expressly recognized by the contesting states.

b) International Customs, as evidence of a general practice accepted as binding law

through persistent usage over a long period of time, e.g., angary, exemption of unarmed
fishing vessel from capture. It is necessary, however, that the custom be [i] prevailing
practice by a number of states; [ii] repeated over a considerable period of time; and [iii]
attended by opinio juris or a sense of legal obligation.
c) General Principles of Law. These are rules derived mainly from natural law, observed
and recognized by civilized nations, e.g., res judicata, prescription, pacta sunt servanda
and estoppel. See Agustin vs. Edu, where the doctrine of pacta sunt servanda was
applied by the Court relative to the validity of the administrative rule requiring the use of
early warning device, as part of the Vienna Convention on Road Signs and Signals.
[Note: To these may be added the principle of ex aequo et bono (what is good and
just), provided that the parties to the dispute agree thereto, as provided in Art. 38 (1),
Statute of the International Court of Justice.]

As Secondary Sources:
a) Judicial Decisions, generally of international tribunals, the most authoritative being
the International Court of Justice. They are not really sources, but “subsidiary means”
for finding what the law is, and whether a norm has been accepted as a rule of
international law. The decision of a national court may be used depending upon the
prestige and perceived impartiality of the domestic court, not being in conflict with the
decisions of international tribunals and its admissibility in the forum where it is cited.

b) Writings of publicists, which must be fair and unbiased representation of international

law by acknowledged authorities in the field.

2. Interpretation of Art. 38. Although the provision is silent on the question of whether
the three primary sources have the same hierarchic value, by practice, treaties take
precedence over customs, and customs over general principles of law, except:

a) The principle of ius coaens: Customary international law which has the status of a
peremptory (absolute, uncompromising, certain) norm of international law. A peremptory
norm is a norm accepted and recognized by the international community of states as a
rule, from which no derogation is permitted and which can be modified only by a
subsequent norm having the same character. Examples are slave trade, piracy, and
terrorism. See Human Rights Cases vs. Marcos, where it was held that official torture of
prisoners/ dissenters was a violation of the principle of jus cogens.

2. Monism and Dualism

To monists, there is no substantial distinction between international law and municipal

law. But to dualists, the distinctions lie in that ML is issued by a political superior for
observance by those under its authority, while IL is not imposed but adopted by states
as a common rule of action; ML consists of enactments of the law-making authority,
while IL is derived from such sources as international customs, conventions or general
principles of law; ML regulates relations of individuals among themselves, while IL
applies to relations between states and international persons; violations of ML are
redressed through local judicial and administrative processes, while in IL, they are
resolved through state to- state transactions; and breaches of ML entail individual
responsibility, while in IL there is collective responsibility.
 2. Between International law and Domestic law, which one should prevail?

a) On the domestic sphere, with a local court deciding:

i) If the conflict is with the Constitution: uphold the Constitution. [See Sec. 5(2)(a), Art.
VIII, Philippine Constitution, which provides that the Supreme Court has the power to
declare a treaty or executive agreement unconstitutional.] In Secretary of Justice v.
Judge Lantion, G.R. No. 139465, January 18, 2000, it was held that in states where the
Constitution is the highest law of the land, such as the Republic of the Philippines, both
statutes and treaties may be invalidated if they are in conflict with the Constitution.

ii) If the conflict is with a statute: The doctrine of incorporation, as applied in most
countries, decrees that rules of international law are given equal standing with, but are
not superior to, national legislative enactments. A treaty may repeal a statute, and a
statute may repeal a treaty; thus, the principle of lex posterior derogat priori, that which
comes last in time, will usually be upheld by the municipal tribunal. See also Ichong vs.
Hernandez, 101 Phil. 115, where it was held that the Retail Trade Nationalization Law
prevails over the Treaty of Amity with China and the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights, because the law was passed in the exercise of the police power of the State,
and police power cannot be bargained away through the medium of a treaty or a
contract.
b) On the international sphere, with an international tribunal deciding: international law
is superior to municipal law, because international law provides the standard by whi ch
to determine the legality of a State’s conduct.

II. Statutes and other issuances

A. The Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (RA 8371)

1. Who are indigenous peoples?

h) Indigenous Cultural Communities/Indigenous Peoples (ICCs/IPs) - refer to a group of

people or homogenous societies identified by self-ascription and ascription by others,
who have continuously lived as organized community on communally bounded and
defined territory, and who have, under claims of ownership since time immemorial,
occupied, possessed and utilized such territories, sharing common bonds of language,
customs, traditions and other distinctive cultural traits, or who have, through resistance
to political, social and cultural inroads of colonization, non-indigenous religions and
cultures, became historically differentiated from the majority of Filipinos. ICCs/IPs shall
likewise include peoples who are regarded as indigenous on account of their descent
from the populations which inhabited the country, at the time of conquest or
colonization, or at the time of inroads of non-indigenous religions and cultures, or the
establishment of present state boundaries, who retain some or all of their own social,
economic, cultural and political institutions, but who may have been displaced from their
traditional domains or who may have resettled outside their ancestral domains. 
2. What are the rights of indigenous peoples?
B. Freedom of Information in the Executive Branch (Executive Order No. 2 Series of
2016)
1. Why is the FOI difficult to enact?
2. What is covered by the freedom?

SECTION 2. Coverage. This order shall cover all government offices under the
Executive Branch, including but not limited to the national government and all its offices,
departments, bureaus, offices, and instrumentalities, including government-owned or
-controlled corporations, and state universities and colleges. Local government units
(LGUs) are encouraged to observe and be guided by this Order.

SECTION 3. Access to information. Every Filipino shall have access to information,

official records, public records and to documents and papers pertaining to official acts,
transactions or decisions, as well as to government research data used as basis for
policy development.

SECTION 4. Exception. Access to information shall be denied when the information falls
under any of the exceptions enshrined in the Constitution, existing law or jurisprudence.

The Department of Justice and the Office of the Solicitor General are hereby directed to
prepare an inventory of such exceptions and submit the same to the Office of the
President within thirty (30) calendar days from the date of effectivity of this Order.

The Office of the President shall thereafter, immediately circularize the inventory of
exceptions for the guidance of all government offices and instrumentalities covered by
this Order and the general public.

Said inventory of exceptions shall periodically be updated to properly reflect any change
in existing law and jurisprudence and the Department of Justice and the Office of the
Solicitor General are directed to update the inventory of exceptions as the need to do so
arises, for circularization as hereinabove stated.

SECTION 5. Availability of SALN. Subject to the provisions contained in Sections 3 and

4 of this Order, all public officials are reminded of their obligation to file and make
available for scrutiny their Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN) in
accordance with existing laws, rules and regulations, and the spirit and letter of this
Order.

C. Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law (RA 6657 and CARPER)

1. What is the basis of agrarian reform?
Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law. See Association of Small Landowners v.
Secretary of Agrarian Reform, supra., on the constitutionality of the Comprehensive
Agrarian Reform Law, being an exercise of the police power of the State, using eminent
domain as an instrument to accomplish the police objective. In Sta. Rosa Realty &
Development Corp. v. Court of Appeals, G.R. No. 112526, October 12, 2001, it was
held that to the extent that the CARL prescribes retention limits to the landowners, there
is an exercise of the police power for the regulation or private property in accordance
with the Constitution. But where to carry out such regulation, the owners are deprived of
lands they own in excess of the maximum area allowed, there is also taking under the
power of eminent domain. The taking contemplated is not a mere limitation on the use
of the land, but the surrender of the title to and physical possession of the excess and
all beneficial rights accruing to the owner in favor of the beneficiary. See also Paris v.
Alfeche, G.R. No. 139083, August 30, 2001, on the validity of the retention limits.

2. What sovereign power is exercised?