TARLAC STATE UNIVERSITY

COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SOCIAL SCIENCES

READINGS IN PHILIPPINE HISTORY

Malolos Constitution, 1935

Constitution, and 1973
Constitution

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 I. Nature and Concept of the Constitution
a. Meaning
b. Nature and Purpose

II. Constitution of the Philippines

a. Malolos Constitution
b. 1935 Constitution
c. 1973 Constitution

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

1. Comprehend the definition, nature, and concept of the constitution

2. Appreciate the importance of the constitution
3. Distinguish between Malolos, 1935 and 1973 constitution

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 NATURE AND CONCEPT OF THE CONSTITUTION

MEANING:
In its broad sense, it refers to that body of rules and principles in accordance with which the
powers of sovereignty are regularly exercised.
It is also defined as written instrument by which the fundamental powers of the government are
established, limited and defined and by which these powers are distributed among the several
departments or branches for their safe and useful exercise for the benefit of the people. (2011,
Hector S. De Leon)
Micro meaning – a document having a special legal status which sets out the framework and
principal functions of the organs of government within the state and declare the principles or
rules by which those organs must operate.
Macro meaning – the whole system of government of a country, the collections of rules which
establish and regulate the government. (https://www.oxbridgenates/law-constitutional-law) It is
the fundamental law of the state which contains the principles on which government is founded,
and regulates the division and exercise of sovereign powers.
The Constitution is a social contract because people have surrendered their sovereign powers
to the state for the common good. Likewise, constitution is both a conferment of powers and a
limitation on the exercise of such powers, like the provisions of the Bill of Rights. (Judge Ed
Vincent S. Albano)
Kinds of Constitution:
1.As to their Origin and History
a. Conventional or enacted – one which is enacted by a constitutional assembly or granted by a
monarch to his subjects.
b. Cumulative or evolved – one which is a product of growth or a lonf period of development
originating in customs, traditions or judicial decisions rather than from a deliberate and formal
enactment.
2. As to their Form
a. Written – one which has been given defenite written form at a particular time, usually by a
special constituted authority.
b. Unwritten – one which is entirely the product of political evolution, consisting largely of a
mass of customs, usages and judicial decisions together with a smaller body of tatutory
enacments of a fundamental character, usually bearing different dates.
3. As to the manner of Amending
a. Rigid or inelastic – one regarded as a document of special sanctity which cannot be amended
or altered except by some special machinery more cumbrous than the ordinary legislative
process.

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b. Flexible or elastic – one which possesses no higher legal authority than ordinary laws and
which may be altered in the same way as other laws.
NATURE AND PURPOSE:
1. Serves as the supreme or fundamental law of the land – it is the charter creating the
government. It is binding on all individual citizens and all organs of the government. It is
the law to which all other laws must conform.
2. Establishes basic framework and underlying principles of government – the purpose of a
constitution is to prescribe the permanent framework of the system of government and to
assign to the different departments their respective powers and duties and to establish
certain basic principles on which the government is founded. It is primarily designed to
preserve and protect the rights of individuals against arbitrary actions of those in
authority. Likewise, it limits the actions of every individual citizen.

CONSTITUTION OF THE REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES

A. MALOLOS CONSTITUTION
The only constitution ever framed by Filipinos is what is known as the Malolos Constitution,
taking its name from the then capital of the Filipino Revolutionary government. This constitution,
to be understood, should be viewed in relation to its background.

The Political Constitution of 1899 (Spanish: Constitución Política de 1899), informally known

as the Malolos Constitution, was the basic law of the First Philippine Republic. ... After a
lengthy debate in the latter part of 1898, it was promulgated on 21 January 1899. It established
the First Philippine Republic.
The Malolos Constitution was the first important state document that the Filipino people,
speaking through their representatives, had ever produced. Rebublican in orientation, the
Congress worked hard to have a constitution for the people, which was democratic in its
aspects. It is unique for three reasons: 1) The Assembly or the legislative branch was more
powerful than the executive or the judicial branch; 2) It provided that when the Assembly was
not in session, a Permanent Commission, composed of members of the Assembly, would sit as
a legislatuve body; and lastly 3) The Constitution established a unicameral legislature.
This Constitution has the following features: 1) It declared that sovereignty resides exclusively in
the people (Title I; Article 3); 2) It separated the powers of the Executive, Legislative and
Judicial branches of the government (Title II); 3) It separated the Church and the State (Title III);
4) It enumerated basic civil rights (Title IV with all of its Articles); 5) It called for the creation of
an Assembly of Representatives to act as the legislative body (Title V); and 6) It called for a
Presidential form of government (Title VI & Title VIII).

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 PREAMBLE

We, the Representatives of the Filipino people, lawfully convened, in order to establish
justice, provide for common defense, promote the general welfare, and insure the
benefits of liberty, imploring the aid of the Sovereign Legislator of the Universe for the
attainment of these ends, have voted, decreed, and sanctioned the following
provisions of the Constitution.

Provisions of the Malolos Constitution

TITLE I - THE REPUBLIC
TITLE II - THE GOVERNMENT
TITLE III – RELIGION
TITLE IV - THE FILIPINOS AND THEIR NATIONAL AND INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS
TITLE V - THE LEGISLATIVE POWER
TITLE VI - THE PERMANENT COMMISSION
TITLE VII - THE EXECUTIVE POWER
TITLE VIII - THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC
TITLE IX - THE SECRETARIES OF GOVERNMENT
TITLE X - THE JUDICIAL POWER
TITLE XI - PROVINCIAL AND POPULAR ASSEMBLIES
TITLE XII - ADMINISTRATION OF THE STATE
TITLE XIII - AMENDMENT OF THE CONSTITUTION
TITLE XIV - CONSTITUTIONAL OBSERVANCE, OATH, AND LANGUAGE
TRANSITORY PROVISIONS
ADDITIONAL ARTICLE
(https://www.lawphil.net/consti/consmalo.html)

B. 1935 CONSTITUTION

This constitution was approved by President Franklin Roosevelt of the Tydings-McDuffie law on
March 24, 1934 and it was ratified by the Filipino electorate on May 14, 1935.

The 1935 Constitution was adopted by the Commonwealth Government of the Philippines from
1935 to 1946. This Constitution did not contain original ideas of government. While the
dominating influence was the Constitution of the United States, other sources were also
consulted by the framers, particularly the 1898 Malolos Constitution and the three organic laws
that were enforced in the Philippines before the passage of the Tydings-McDuffie law, namely;
the Instruction of President William McKinley to the Second Commission on April 7, 1900; the
Philippine Bill of July 1, 1902; and the Jones Law of August 26, 1916 which, of the three
mentioned, was the nearest approach to a written constitution.

The constitution as approved by the 1935 Constitutional Convention was intended both for the
Commonwealth and the Republic. The government established by this constitution shall be
known as the Commonwealth of the Philippines. Upon the final and complete withdrawal of the
sovereignty of the United States and the Proclamation of the Philippine Independence, the
Commonwealth of the Philippines shall henceforth be known as the Republic of the Philippines.
In like manner, this Constitution was also used by the Third Republic of the Philippines after the
July 4, 1946 declaration of the Philippine Independence from the United States of America until

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1972 after President Ferdinand E. Marcos declared Martial law in September 21, 1972 by virtue
of Proclamation Order No. 1081 and called for an Amendment of the 1935 Constitution.

This Constitution was Amended three times. These are among the Amendments:
1. Establishing a bicameral legislature;
2. Allowing the re-eligibility of the President and the Vice President for a second four
year term of office;
3. Creating for a separate Commission on Elections;
4. The inclusion of the Parity Amendment which gave way to American citizens equal
rights with the Filipinos in the exploitation of our natural resources and the operation
of the public utilities; and
5. Allowing the women the right to suffrage as per Plebiscite held on April 30, 1937.
(2011, Hector S. De Leon)

The 1935 Constitution has the following features:

1. Aiming to meet the approval of the American government;
2. Ensuring that United States of America would keep its promise to grant the Philippine
independence (Article XVII);
3. Providing a Unicameral National Assembly then later on it was amended into a
Bicameral legislature (Article VI);
4. Provides the Charter of Liberties (Article III);
5. Provides the Presidential form of government (Article VII);
6. Guaranteeing the separation of powers of the three branches of government
(Articles’VI, VII, & VIII)

Preamble
The Filipino people, imploring the aid of Divine Providence, in order to establish a
government that shall embody their ideals, conserve and develop the patrimony of
the nation, promote the general welfare, and secure to themselves and their
posterity the blessings of independence under a regime of justice, liberty, and
democracy, do ordain and promulgate this Constitution.

Provisions of the 1935 Constitution

Article I – National Territory
Article II – Declaration of Principles
Article III – Bill of Rights
Article IV – Citizenship
Article V – Suffrage
Article VI – Legislative Department
Article VII – Executive Department
Article VIII – Judicial Department
Article IX – Impeachment
Article X – Commission on Election
Article XI – General Auditing Office
Article XII – Civil Service

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Article XIII – Conservation and Utilization of Natural Resources
Article XIV – General Provisions
Article XV – Amendments
Article XVI – Transitory Provisions
Article XVII – Special Provisions Effective Upon the Proclamation of the Independence of the
Philippines
Article XVIII – The Commonwealth and the Republic

C. 1973 CONSTITUTION

Accordingly, the experience of more than three decades as a sovereign nation had revealed
flaws and inadequacies in the 1935 Constitution. Taking into account the “felt necessities of the
times”, particularly the new and grave problems arising from an ever increasing population,
urgently pressing for solution to call for an Amendment of the 1935 Constitution. It was in March
16, 1967, when the Congress in joint session passed a Resolution No. 2 (as amended by
Resolution No. 4, passed on June 17, 1969), authorizing the holding of a Constitutional
Convention in 1971.

The Constitutional Convention started its work of rewriting the Constitution on June 1, 1971. The
1935 Constitution, was made the basis for the drafting of Amendments to the new constitution.
The proposed Constitution was signed on November 30, 1972. But, earlier on September 21,
1972, The President of the Philippines then Ferdinand E. Marcos issued Proclamation Order no.
1081 placing the entire country under martial law.

On December 31, 1972 the government issued Presidential Decree No. 80 creating a Citizens
Assembly in each Barrio in municipalities and in each district in chartered cities throughout the
country. Subsequently, Presidential Decree No. 86-A issued on January 5, 1973 defining the
role of the barangays (formerly Citizens’ Assembly). Under the same Decree, the barangays
were to conduct a referendum on national issues between January 10 and 15. Pursuant to PD
No. 86-A, the following questions were asked:
1. Do you approve the New Constitution? and
2. Do you still want a plebiscite to be called to ratify the New Constitution?

All the members of the Barangays (Citizens’ Assembly) voted for its adoption with a vote of
14,976,561, as against 743,869 who voted for its rejection. On the question as to whether or
not the people would still like a plebiscite to be called to ratify the new constitution, 14,298,814
answered that there was no need for a plebiscite.

Thus, on the basis of the above results purportedly showing that more than 95% of the
members of the Barangays were in favor of the New Constitution and upon the allegedly “strong
recommendation” of the Katipunan ng mga Barangay, the President of the Philippines then
Ferdinand E. Marcos issued Proclamation Order No. 1102 on January 17, 1973, certified and
proclaimed that the Constitution proposed by the 1971 Constitutional Convention had been
ratified by the Filipino people and had thereby come into effect.

President Marcos, what he called “Constituional Authoritarianism”, extended his presidency that
lasted twenty years or two decades – the longest in Philippine history. With Martial rule, the
1971 Constitutional Convention ended with the promulgation of the 1973 Constituion that
provided for a transitory form of government. Under it, the term of office of all officials, starting

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with the president, was extended. To effectively silence the opposition, the Congress was
padlocked, media was shut down, and Marcos’s critics and rivals were arrested and
detained .Marcos promise a NEW SOCIETY that will solved insurgency, criminality, and
poverty.

This Constitution had been amended on four occasions. Among the important amendments and
features are:
1. Making the then incumbent President, the regular President and regular Prime Minister;
2. Granting concurrent law-making powers to the President which the latter exercised even
after the lifting of martial law in 1981;
3. Establishing a parliamentary form of government then, it was modified into a Semi-
Parliamentary form of government;
4. Permitting natural born citizens who have lost their citizenship to be transferees of
private land, for use by them as residence;
5. Allowing the grant of lands of the public domain to qualified citizens; and
6. Providing for urban land reform and social housing program. (2011, Hector S. De Leon)

PREAMBLE

We, the sovereign Filipino people, imploring the aid of Divine Providence, in order to establish
a government that shall embody our ideals, promote the general welfare, conserve and
develop the patrimony of our Nation, and secure to ourselves and our posterity the blessings
of democracy under a regime of justice, peace, liberty, and equality, do ordain and
promulgate this Constitution.

Provisions of the 1973 Constitution

Article I – National Territory
Article II – Declaration of Principles and State Policies
Article III – Citizens
Article IV - Bill of Rights
Article V – Duties and Obligations of Citizens
Article VI – Suffrage
Article VII – The President and the Vice President
Article VIII – National Assembly
Article IX – The Prime Minister and the Cabinet
Article X – Judiciary
Article XI – Local Government
Article XII – The Constitutional Commissions
Article XIII – Accountability of Public Officers
Article XIV – The National Economy and Patrimony of the Nation
Article XV – General Provisions
Article XVI - Amendments
Article XVII – Transitory Provisions

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REFERENCES:

1. https://www.lawphil.net/consti/consmalo.html
2. https://www.oxbridgenates/law-constitutional-law
3. Agoncillo, Teodoro A. and Mangahas, Fe B. PHILIPPINE HISTORY: Expanded and Updated
Edition. 2010
4. Albano, Ed Vincent S. POLITICAL LAW REVIEWER. 1998
5. De Leon, Hector S. TEXTBOOK ON THE PHILIPPINE CONSTITUTION. 2011 Edition

6. Rodee, Carlton C. et.al. INTRODUCTION TO POLITICAL SCIENCE. Fourth Edition

7. Zulueta, Francisco M. FOUNDATION AND DYNAMICS OF POLITICAL SCIENCE. 1996

TARLAC STATE UNIVERSITY

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 COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SOCIAL SCIENCES
READINGS IN PHILIPPINE HISTORY

THE 1987 CONSTITUTION

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LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
1. Compare the previous constitution to the present constitution which is the 1987 constitution.
2. Appreciate the need of having a constitution.
3. Analyze every provisions of the present constitution.

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1987 CONSTITUTION

Pursuant to Proclamation Order No. 3, the then President Corazon C. Aquino promulgated on
April 23, 1986 Proclamation Order No. 9 , the “Law Governing the Constitutional Commission of
1986”, to organize the Constitutional Commission, to provide for the details of its operations and
establish the procedure for the ratification or rejection of the proposed new Constitution.

The Constitutional Commission, which marked the fourth exercise in the writing of a basic
Charter in the Philippine history since the Malolos Constitution at the turn of the Century,
convened on June 2, 1986. With the Malolos Constitution of 1898, the 1935 Constitution and the
1973 Constitution as “working drafts”, the Commission in addition to committee discussions,
public hearings, and plenary sessions, conducted public consultations in different parts of the
Country.

The proposed new Constitution was approved by the Commission on October 12, 1986. The
final session was held on October 15, 1986 and it was ratified by the people in a plebiscite
called for on February 2, 1987. With its ratification the FIFTH Republic was born. It superseded
the provisional Constitution which had abrogated the 1973 Charter.

The 1987 Constitution preserved many of the 1935 Constitution. Amonf its important and new
provisions include the following: 1) a single fixed term of six years for the President; 2) the
President’s power to appoint cabinet members, ambassadors and consuls, the Armed Forces
(from the rank of colonel and up)subject to confirmation by the Commission on Appointments in
Congress; 3) the power of the President to declare martial law that needs the approval of
Congress and that the President reports on his/her action within fourty-eight (48) hours; 4) the
Senator’s term is limited to two (2) terms, the Representative to three (3) terms and; 5)
members of the judiciary, although to be appointed by the President, should be recommended
by a Judicial and Bar Council.

Moreover, the 1987 Constitution provides for people empowerment; the recall of elected
officials; the appointment of sectoral representatives from labor, peasants, urban poor,
indigenous cultural communities, women, youth, the disabled; and the recognition of the role of
the people’s organizations. Also, the declaration of a nuclear-free Philippines would prohibit the
storing of nuclear arms in the country.

This Constitution has the following features/principles:

1. Recognition of the aid of Almighty God (Preamble);
2. Sovereignty of the people (Article II; Sec. 1);
3. Renunciation of war as an instrument of national policy (Article II; Sec. 2);
4. Supremacy of the civilian authority over the military (Article II; Sec. 3);
5. Separation of the Church and the state (Article II; Sec. 6);
6. Recognition of the importance of the family as a basic social institution and of the
vital role of youth in the nation building (Article II; Sec. 12 & Article XV);
7. Guarantee Human Rights (Article III);
8. Government through suffrage (Article V);
9. Separation of powers (Article VI, VII & VIII);
10. Independence of the Judiciary (Article VIII);
11. Guarantee of local autonomy (Article X);
12. High sense of Public service morality and accountability of public officers (Article XI)

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 13. Nationalization of natural resources and certain private enterprises affected with
public interest (Article XII)
14. Non-suability of the state ( Article XVI);
15. Rule of the majority (Article II); and
16. Government of laws and not of men (Article III) (2011, Hector S. De Leon)

PREAMBLE

We, the sovereign Filipino people, imploring the aid of Almighty God, in order to build a just
and humane society, and establish a Government that shall embody our ideals and
aspirations, promote the common good, conserve and develop our patrimony, and secure to
ourselves and our posterity, the blessings of independence and democracy under the rule of
law and a regime of truth, justice, freedom, love, equality, and peace, do ordain and
promulgate this Constitution.

Provisions of the 1987 Constitution

Article I – National Territory
Article II – Declaration of Principles and State Policies
Article III – Bill of Rights
Article IV - Citizenship
Article V – Suffrage
Article VI – Legislative Department
Article VII – Executive Department
Article VIII – Judicial Department
Article IX – Constitutional Commissions
Article X – Local Government
Article XI – Accountability of Public Officers
Article XII – National Economy and Patrimony
Article XIII – Social Justice and Human Rights
Article XIV – Education, Science & Technology, Culture, Arts and Sports
Article XV – The Family
Article XVI – General Provisions
Article XVII – Amendments/Revisions
Article XVIII – Transitory Provisions

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REFERENCES:

1. Agoncillo, Teodoro A. and Mangahas, Fe B. PHILIPPINE HISTORY: Expanded and Updated

Edition. 2010
2. De Leon, Hector S. TEXTBOOK ON THE PHILIPPINE CONSTITUTION. 2011 Edition

3. Nolledo, Jose N. STUDENT’S MANUAL ON THE NEW CONSTITUTION. 1996 Revised

Edition

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