Chapter 3

CIVIL AND POLITICAL RIGHTS

(FIRST GENERATION OF RIGHTS)

Bill of Rights In The 1987 Constitution

The Bill of Rights is a regular fixture in all Philippine Constitutions, except in the
Biak-na-Bato Constitution of 1897. In the 1935 Constitution, the 1973 Constitution and
the 1986 Freedom Constitution, it was called Bill of Rights. In the 1943 Constitution, it
was called Duties and Rights of the Citizen and in the 1899 Malolos Constitution, it was
called The Filipinos and Their National and Individual Rights. It is Bill of Rights in the
1987 Constitution.

The Bill of Rights is an enumeration of civil and political rights that are self-
executing (no need of implementing legislation) and serves as a restriction upon the
powers of the State Government, in order to preserve constitutional harmony and
stability has to honor and respect these rights while exercising its fundamental powers
like police power, eminent domain, and taxation. "What the Bill of Rights does," wrote
Fr. Joaquin Bernas, S.J., "is to declare some forbidden zones in the private sphere
inaccessible to any power holder" (I Record of the Constitutional Commission of 1986,
p. 674).

The provisions in Article III (Bill of Rights), The 1987 Constitution in relation to
Article IV (Bill of Rights), The 1973 Constitution can be classified into four (4) types.
They are: (1) the completely new provisions like Section 12(4), Section 18(1) and
Section 19(2); (2) the old provisions that contain amendments by addition like Section 4,
Section 6, Section 7, Section 11, Section 12(1), Section 12(2), Section 12(3), Section 13
and Section 19(1); (3) the old provisions where words and phrases were amended by
deletion like Section 2 and Section 15; and (4) the old provisions that remained intact
like Section 1, Section 3(1), Section 5, Section 9, Section 10, Section 20, Section 21,
and Section 22.

The Bill of Rights in the 1987 Constitution traces its beginning to Britain's 1689
Declaration of Rights that later on became known as Bill of Rights of 1689. The Bill of
Rights of 1689 recognized, among others, the right of the subjects to petition the king,
the free election of members of Parliament, the freedom of speech and debates in
Parliament, the prohibition against excessive bail and excessive fines and the non-
infliction of cruel and universal punishment.

The Bill of Rights of 1689 influenced the inclusion of Bill of Rights in the State
Constitutions of Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Virgina and finally the introduction of
the first 10 amendments to of the 1791.U.S. Constitution which are now known as the
Bill of Rights of 1791

Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights ane and International

Humanitarian Law

This is the first substantive agreement signed by the Negotiating Panels of the
Government of the Republic of the Philippines and the National Democratic Front on
March 16, 1998 in The Hague, The Netherlands. It took many years of peace talks
between the two (2) Panels at various venues at The Netherlands and of consultations
with their principles before the draft was completed and signed.

This Comprehensive Agreement consists of seven (7) parts. They are: (1) the
Preamble which introduces the Agreement and articulates the reasons for and the
intention of the parties in entering into the Agreement; (2) Declaration of Principles; (3)
Bases, Scope, and Applicability; (4) Respect for Human Rights; (5) Respect for
International Humanitarian Law; (6) Joint Monitoring Committee; and (7) Final
Provisions.

The three (3) principles of human rights, namely, universality, indivisibility, and
interdependence are enunciated in the Agreement through numerous rights like the
right of the people to oppose oppression and tyranny; the right of the victims and their
families to adequate compensation and indemnification, restitution, and rehabilitation;
the right to effective sanctions and guarantees against repetition of human rights
violations and impunity; the right against summary executions (salvaging) and
involuntary disappearances; the right not to be subjected to physical or mental torture,
solitary confinement, rape, and sexual abuse; the equal right of women in all fields of
endeavor; the right of children and disabled to protection, care and a home; the rights of
the minority communities in the Philippines to autonomy, to their ancestral lands and the
natural resources in these lands, etc.

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Article 3 to Article 21 of the Declaration contains the catalogue of civil and political
rights of the first generation. These are the right to life, liberty, and security; freedom
from slavery and servitude; freedom from torture and inhuman treatment or punishment;
the right to recognition as a person before the law; freedom from arbitrary arrest,
detention or exile; the right to equal protection of the law; the right to an effective
remedy; the right to a fair trial; the right to privacy; freedom of movement and residence;
the right to nationality; freedom of thought, conscience and religion; freedom of opinion
and expression; freedom of assembly and association; the right to property; the right to
participate in government, etc. (Drzewicki, 1999, p. 73).

International Covenant on
Civil and Political Rights

This Covenant was adopted unanimously by 106 States and entered into force in
1976. It is divided into a Preamble and six (6) parts. Parts I to III (Articles 1 to 27)
contain all substantive rights and some general provisions like prohibition of
discrimination and misuse, gender equality, a derogations and a savings clause. Parts
IV to VI (Articles 28 to 53) contain the international monitoring provisions, some
principles of interpretation and final clauses (Nowak, 1999, pp. 84-85).

The individual rights enumerated in Part III include right to life (Article 6), the
prohibition of torture and inhuman prison conditions (Articles 7 and 10), the prohibition
of slavery (Article 8), the right to personal liberty and security, including prohibition of
detention for debt (Articles 9 and 11), freedom of movement and protection of aliens
against arbitrary expulsion (Articles 12 and 13), procedural guarantees in civil and
criminal trials including prohibition of retroactive criminal laws (Articles 14 and 15),
recognition of legal personality (Article 16), etc. (p. 85).

The first Optional Protocol to the Covenant which provides for the possibility of
individual complaints was adopted by 66 to 2 votes, with 38 abstentions. On December
15, 1989, a second Optional Protocol aimed at the abolition of the death penalty was
adopted by 59 to 28 votes, with 48 abstentions (pp. 83-84).

Chapter 4
ECONOMIC, SOCIAL, AND CULTURAL RIGHTS
(SECOND GENERATION OF RIGHTS)
Social Justice and Human Rights
in The 1987 Constitution

The Article on Social Justice and Human Rights is an innovation in the 1987
Constitution. It is not found in previous Philippine Constitutions. It contains a rich
inventory of economic, social and cultural rights like rights of all workers to self-
organization, collective bargaining, and negotiations, and peaceful concerted activities;
right to security of tenure, humane conditions of work, and a living wage; right to
agrarian and natural resources reform; right to urban land reform and housing; right to
health; and right of working women by providing them safe and healthful working
conditions.

Social justice is not defined in the 1987 Constitution. But Commissioner Teresa
Nieva, Chairperson of the Committee on Social Justice in the 1986 Constitutional
Commission, said that social justice is the centerpiece of the 1987 Constitution and
rights, dignity, and participation remain illusory without social justice. It was Jose P.
Laurel, in Calalang vs. Williams (70 Phil. 726), who defined social justice as "neither
communism nor despotism not 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 .... "

The inclusion of the second generation of rights found in the is Article on Social
Justice and Human Rights of The 1987 Constitution is an acknowledgement of it's
equally important status vis-à-vis the first generation of rights.

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

The Declaration is not only a repository of the first generation of rights but also of
the second generation of rights. Articles 22 to 27 enumerates these rights as the right to
social security, the right to work, the right to rest and leisure, the right to an adequate
standard of living, the right to education and the right to participate in the cultural life
(Drzewicki, 1997, p. 73).

The second generation of rights in the Declaration has served as an inspirational

tool for regional human rights instruments and national constitutions. The African
Charter on Human and People's Rights protects the right to work in Article 15, the right
to health in Article16, and the right to education in Article 17. The European Social
Charter recognizes right to work, to favorable working conditions, the right to join trade
unions and to take collective labor in Article 1 to 10, the right to health in Article 11, the
right to social security, including the right to medical assistance and right to social
welfare services in Articles 12 to 14.
International Covenant on Economic,
Social, and Cultural Rights

This Covenant is the sister covenant of the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights. The two (2) sister covenants were adopted unanimously by 106 States.

The Covenant consists of 31 Articles contained in six (6) sections: the Preamble
and Parts I to V. The meat of the Covenant is found in Part III that lists the rights to be
protected. These rights are the right to work (Article 6), the right to fair conditions of
employment (Article 7), the right to join and form trade unions (Article 8), the right to
social security (Article 9), the right to protection of the family (Article 10), the right to an
adequate standard of living, including the right to food, clothing and housing (Article 11),
the right to health (Article 12), the right to education (Article 13), and the right to culture
(Article 15) (Craven, 1999, p. 103).

Several international instruments affirm these rights mentioned in the Covenant.

These instruments include the International Convention on the Rights of the Child
(Articles 24-31); the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
Against Women (Article 1) and certain instruments of the International Labor
Organization (ILO). Recognition is given to economic, social and cultural rights in the
African Charter on Human and People's Rights and in the European Social Charter
(ESC) (p.104).