 FORM OF GOVERNMENT

It was stated in the Title II : The Government under Article 4 that the Government of the Republic is
popular, representative, alternative, and responsible, and shall exercise three distinct powers: namely,
the legislative, the executive, and the judicial. Any two or more of these three powers shall never be
united in one person or cooperation, nor the legislative power vested in one single individual. It just
means that this constitution is under the responsible government which technically systematized to
accountability of each house. The best precedent of that is executive branch is responsible to the
legislative.

 PERIOD OF OPERATION

1899 - 1901

The Malolos Congress approved the said constitution on 29 th of November, 1898. However, President
Emilio Aguinaldo modified the constitution on the 1 st of December, 1898. The operation was impeded
since the congress repudiated the amendment made by the late President Aguinaldo. Subsequently, the
constitution is under alteration so the President approved it on the 23 rd of December, 1898 and on the
20th of January, 1899 the constitution was formally arrogated by the Malolos Congress. Eventually,
President Emilio Aguinaldo made the constitution publicized on the 23 rd of January, 1899. It was
concluded that the Malolos Congress basically started on the year of 1899. The Malolos constitution was
discontinued on 23rd of March, 1901 because of during that year, Americans already governed the
Philippines by their own law.

 AMMENDMENTS

Complete Religious Freedom – It means that the church and the state were completely separated.
According to Title III, Article 5 of the Malolos constitution: "The State recognizes the freedom and
equality of all beliefs, as well as the separation of Church and State". We are all sensible of the
experience in the Spanish Era that there was a union between the church and the state. The governor-
general had authority inside the rule of the church and on the other hand, friars also controlled the
government.