Lesson 2: THE PHILIPPINE CONSTITUTION

Humans are primarily dependent beings. Basically, they need food, shelter, and clothing
to survive. Education and protection from crime and violence should also be considered. To
provide these needs, people create governments and delegate powers for them to exercise for
the common good. The problem is that while governments need powers to be able to perform
their functions, power without limits can lead to corruption, dictatorship and oppression. With
this, a state has to construct basic written rules to keep things in order. This is where the role of
constitution takes place. In a democracy, it serves as the rules that the players are bound to
observe.

LESSON OBJECTIVES

By the end of this lesson, the students must be able:

• To have a constitutional grounding of the Philippine political institutions within the
government;
• To have historical background of the Philippine Constitution and be able to relate it on
how it is established as it is today; and
• To become aware of the current issues surfacing with the implemented constitution and
take initiative on solving those issues.

LESSON MATERIALS

CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY

The Constitution Net explained that the Philippines had long been used as a trading
port in Asia, and this led to their colonization by the Spanish and later by the Americans.
The Spanish converted most of the population to Catholicism and the religion remains the
dominant one in the country. During the latter part of more than 300 years of Spanish
rule, nationalist sentiment began to grow among groups of Indios (which was how the
Spanish referred to the Filipinos), fuelled in large measure by the writings of national hero,
Jose Rizal (later executed by the Spanish authorities) and other illustrados (the Filipino
intellegensia). A revolution was launched against Spain and the revolutionaries declared
Philippine independence in Kawit, Cavite on June 12, 1898. What became known as the
Malolos Congress was convened on September 15, 1898 and the first Philippine
Constitution, called the Malolos Constitution, was approved on January 20, 1899,
ushering what is called the First Philippine Republic. In the Spanish- American War of 1898,
the revolutionaries sided with the Americans, hoping that, with the defeat of Spain,
independence would be granted by the US to the Philippines. This, however, did not
happen. After Spain ceded (or sold) the islands to the United States in
the Treaty of Paris, the US immediately proceeded to brutally suppress the Philippine
independence movement.

In 1916, the US passed the Jones Act which specified that independence would
only be granted upon the formation of a stable democratic government modelled on the
American model, not the French model as the previous constitution had been. The US
approved a ten-year transition plan in 1934 and drafted a new constitution in 1935. World
War II and the Japanese invasion on December 8, 1941, however, interrupted that plan.
After heroic Filipino resistance against overwhelming odds finally ended with the fall of
Bataan and Corregidor in 1942, a Japanese “republic” was established, in reality, a period
of military rule by the Japanese Imperial Army. A new constitution was ratified in 1943 by
Filipino collaborators who were called the Kapisanan sa Paglilingkod ng Bagong Pilipinas
(KaLiBaPi). An active guerilla movement continued to resist the Japanese occupation. The
Japanese forces were finally defeated by the Allies in 1944.

Philippine independence was eventually achieved on July 4, 1946. The 1935

Constitution, which featured a political system virtually identical to the American one,
became operative. The system called for a President to be elected at large for a 4-year
term (subject to one re-election), a bicameral Congress, and an independent Judiciary.

INDEPENDENCE TO MARTIAL LAW

From the moment of independence, Filipino politics have been plagued by the twin
demons of corruption and scandal. Notwithstanding, Presidents Ramon Magsaysay (1953-
57), Carlos Garcia (1957-61), and Diosdado Macapagal (1961-65) managed to stabilize the
country, implement domestic reforms, diversify the economy, and build Philippine ties not
only to the United States, but also to its Asian neighbors.

Ferdinand Marcos was elected president in 1965 and was re-elected in 1969, the
first president to be re-elected. Desirous of remaining in power beyond his legal tenure,
he declared martial law in 1972, just before the end of his second and last term, citing a
growing communist insurgency as its justification. He then manipulated an ongoing
Constitutional Convention and caused the drafting of a new constitution – the 1973
Constitution – which allowed him to rule by decree until 1978 when the presidential
system of the 1935 Constitution was replaced with a parliamentary one. Under this new
system, Marcos held on to power and continued to govern by decree, suppressing
democratic institutions and restricting civil freedoms. In 1981, martial law was officially
lifted, but Marcos continued to rule by the expedient of being “re-elected” in election to
a new 6-year term. He continued to suppress the opposition and thousands of vocal
objectors to his rule either mysteriously disappeared or were incarcerated. Despite
economic decline, corruption allowed Marcos and his wife Imelda to live extravagantly,
causing resentment domestically and criticism internationally.

THE PEOPLE’S CHOICE

When opposition leader Benigno Aquino Jr. was assassinated upon returning from
exile in 1983, widespread outrage forced Marcos to hold “snap” elections a year early. The
election was marked by fraud on the part of Marcos and his supporters but Marcos had
himself declared the winner constitutionally, amidst international condemnation and
nationwide domestic protests. A small band of military rebels tried to mount a coup,
which failed because of its discovery, but this triggered what became internationally
celebrated as the “People Power” revolution, when droves of people spilled out onto the
streets to protect the rebels, eventually numbering well over a million. Under pressure
from the United States, Marcos and his family fled into exile. His election opponent,
Benigno Aquino Jr.’s widow Corazon, was installed as president on February 25, 1986.

THE 1987 CONSTITUTION

Ruling by decree during the early months of her tenure as a president installed via
the People Power Revolution, President Corazon Aquino was granted three options:
restore to 1935 Constitution, retain and make reforms to the 1973 Constitution, or pass a
new constitution. She decided to draft a new constitution and issued Proclamation No. 3
on March 25, 1986, abrogating many of the provisions of the 1973 Constitution adopted
during the Marcos regime, including the unicameral legislature (the Batasang Pambansa),
the office of Prime Minister, and provisions which gave the President legislative powers.
Often called the "Freedom Constitution", this constitution was intended as a transitional
constitution to ensure democracy and the freedom of the people. The Freedom
Constitution provided for an orderly transfer of power while a Constitutional Commission
was drafting a permanent constitution.

The Constitutional Commission was composed of forty-eight members appointed

by Aquino from varied backgrounds, including several former members of the House of
Representatives, former justices of the Supreme Court, a Roman Catholic bishop, and
political activists against the Marcos regime. The Commission elected Cecilia Muñoz-
Palma, a former Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, as its president. Several issues
were of particular contention during the Commission's sessions, including the form of
government to adopt, the abolition of the death penalty, the retention of U.S. bases in
Clark and Subic, and the integration of economic policies into the constitution. Lino
Brocka, a film director and political activist who was a member of the Commission,
walked out before the constitution's completion, and two other delegates dissented from
the final draft. The Commission finished the final draft on October 12, 1986 and presented
it to Aquino on October 15. The constitution was ratified by a nationwide plebiscite on
February 8, 1987.

The constitution provided for three governmental powers, namely the executive,
legislative, and judicial branches. The executive branch is headed by the president and his
appointed cabinet members. The executive, same with the other two co-equal branches,
has limited power. This is to ensure that the country will be "safeguarded" if martial law
is to be declared. The president can still declare martial law, but it expires within 60 days
and Congress can either reject or extend it.

The task of the Supreme Court is to review whether a declaration of martial law is
just. The legislative power consists of the Senate and the House of Representatives. There
are twenty-four senators and the House is composed of district representatives. It also
created opportunities for under-represented sectors of community to select their
representative through party-list system. The judiciary branch comprises the Supreme
Court and the lower courts. The Supreme Court is granted the power to hear any cases
that deals with the constitutionality of law, about a treaty or decree of the government.
It is also tasked to administrate the function of the lower courts.

Through the constitution, three independent Constitutional Commissions, namely

the Civil Service Commission, Commission on Elections, and Commission on Audit, were
created. These Constitutional Commissions have different functions. The constitution also
paved a way for the establishment of the Office of the Ombudsman, which has a function
of promoting and ensuring an ethical and lawful conduct of the government ( Candelaria
and Alphora,2018).
RESOURCES:
• Candelaria and Alphora, Jhon Lee and Veronica (2018). Readings in Philippine History as
published in Wikipedia Last retrieved: May 2020
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippine_Constitutional_Commission_of_1986
• Constitutional History of the Philippines (2020). ConstitutionNet Last
Retrieved May 2020 http://constitutionnet.org/country/constitutional-history-
philippines