MODULE11: MONASTIC SUPREMACY IN THE PHILIPPINES

(La Soberana Monacal en Filipinas)

Marcelo H. Del Pilar’s La Soberenia Monacal en Filipinas was first published in Barcelona, Spain,
in 1898.

ITS POLITICAL ASPECT

 The interference of the friars in the government of the Philippines is so ingrained that
without difficulty the friars control the status quo of the country in defiance of the
nation and the institutions.

 In charge of almost all the parishes, their parochial mission takes on the double
character of a political organ and popular patronage.

 They offer the government to suppress the country’s rebelliousness and the government
gives them all its autocratic support, going to the extreme if the friars so demand, while
they portray the ruler as the personification of tyranny and despotism.

 The basis of monastic wealth is the lack of union between the people and the
government, and it is necessary to foster it by fanning the resentment of the first and the
despotism of the second.

 To achieve this, they count on the diversity of languages among the rulers and the ruled;
and to preserve that diversity, to impede popular education, and to avoid at any cost
that the people and the government come to understand each other, are the best way of
keeping them in perpetual antagonism.

 In the Philippines, however, religious amortization is very conspicuous. Ignorance and

fanaticism encouraged by the monastic institutions and ignoring the claims of blood
relations as if they were contrary to divine law have been responsible for centuries for
the immense number of disinherited families. The best lands, the best estates, thus
passed to the control of monastic communities.
 Today the convents are the millionaires of the country; their large funds cannot be
alienated. Their lands are cultivated without the stimulus of the owners and with
discouragement on the part of the tillers.

 They are leased and the rent increases from time to time and in proportion to the
improvements introduced on the land.

 The Filipinos pay direct taxes consisting of the personal cedula, urban tax, industrial
subsidy and additional municipal tax, provincial tax, and personal loan; and besides
these, the indirect one of the markets, vehicles, horses, stamps and surcharges, slaughter
of cattle, river tolls, and others. Well then; besides the direct and indirect there exists
another which, though it does not figure in the financial plan of the Philippines,
nevertheless is a burden on her interests.
 This is what we would call the tax of religious festivals. The papal decree of 2 May 1867
aimed to relieve the Filipino Catholics of this burden by reducing the number of feast
days and ordering that each diocese have only one patron saint to be named by the Holy
See, and in fact this was done.

 Each parish church has a tutelary patron of the town besides the patron saint of one or
more confraternities and patron saints of secondary importance venerated in some
churches according to the curate’s devotion.

 Aside from these numerous and costly festivals, in every district where fifty families
dwell, a chapel is erected at a cost of at least one thousand pesos; there are some costing
five, ten, and fifteen thousand pesos.

ITS RELIGIOUS ASPECT

 The essential requirement is the curate’s approval. The signature of the curate is
necessary to the census of residents in a municipality, to the conscription of eligible
young men, to formalize accounts and other official documents.; to everything and
for everything the curate’s signature is an essential requisite.

 Supreme orders are carried out if the crate so pleases.

 The foundation of a building is to be laid and the curate does not like it, then national
integrity is in danger; public health demands that the corpses should not be brought
into the churches; well nothing, national integrity is in danger. And the same litany
in everything.

 To consolidate fraternity between Spain and Philippines is the best defense of

national integrity; it is Spain’s ideal; it is the dream of the Philippines. If the divisive
plan of the friars offers advantages to monastic exploitation, it however jeopardizes
the future of the Philippines as well as the highest interest of both countries.

ITS ECONOMIC ASPECT

 The laws that regulate the foundation and development of convents in the
Philippines are undoubtedly based on the belief that monastic life is
unproductive.

 But the abundance found in the convents makes laughable the pity of the
government. The Philippine government lacks resources to undertake public
works; on the other hand, the monastic orders build grand and costly convents
in Manila and in each parish of three thousand souls, they erect a spacious palace
for the residence of the regular curate.
 The government finds a thousand obstacles in collecting taxes from the
taxpaying public; but the monastic orders empty without the difficulty the purse
of the same public in return for heavenly promises.
 The government worries about meeting its peremptory financial needs, but the
monastic treasuries are overflowing with money so that their only worry is how
to send away from the country their copious savings that foster the banking
interest of foreign trade.
 The amortization of lands is fatal to agriculture everywhere. Experience and
economics have shown the needs for laws of disentail.
 The ready-made belt without priestly blessing costs and is sold at four or five
pesos a hundred, but the moment the priest blesses it and the belt passes on to
the class of spiritual things and becomes an object of papal and Episcopal
indulgences, from that moment the price rises one hundred per cent at least. To
the new member of confraternity, it is sold at sixty-two cents, four eights of a
 peso each belt, the price going down until twenty-five cents minimum when the
buyer is a customer

MODULE12: TAXATION UNDER SPANISH PERIOD

 Taxation during the Spanish period was compulsory. All Spanish colonies in America
and the Philippines were required to pay taxes for two reasons: (1) as recognition of
Spain’s sovereignty over the colonies, and (2) to defray the expenses of pacification (the
act of forcibly suppressing hostility within the colonies) and governance thereafter.

 Several colonial laws on taxation were made by the Real y Supremo Consejo de las
Indias (Royal and Supreme Council of the Indies) for the Spanish monarch. These laws
were embodied in the compilation of legislation related to the New World called the
Recopilacion de leyes de los reynos de las Indias.

 Tributo was a general tax paid by the Filipinos to Spain which amounted to eight Reales.
Those who were required to pay the tributo were the (a) 18 - 50 years old males, (2) the
carpenters, bricklayers, blacksmiths, tailors, and shoemakers, and (3) town workers
such as those in road construction, and those whose in public in nature.

 Sanctorum was a tax in the amount of 3 Reales. These were required for the cost of
Christianization, including the construction of churches and the purchase of materials
for religious celebrations.

 Donativo was a tax in the amount of half Real for the military campaign of the
government against the Muslims. In later years, however, the amount collected from
donativo was almost exclusively used for the Spanish for it Zamboanga.

 Caja de comunidad was a tax collected in the amount of 1 Real for the incurred expenses
of the town in the construction of roads, repair of bridges, or the improvement of public
buildings.

 Servicio personal also called polo y servicios was a form of forced labor during the
Spanish period in the Philippines. All able-bodied males, 16 to 60 years old were
required to work in the construction of bridges, churches, and galleon ships. They were
called polista. Earlier, the polistas were required to work for 40 days; however, the
number of days was lowered to 15 days in 1884 as a result of the tax reform issued
through a Royal Decree.

 Some of the polistas were brought to fight against the Muslims and others were brought
in the Spanish expeditions. The only way that a polista can be freed from forced labor
 was when he paid falla, or fine. But only very few could afford to pay the fine. The
gobernadorcillo, cabeza de baranggay, and other members of the principalia were
exempt from forced labor and falla.

REVOLTS AGAINST THE TRIBUTE

 Cagayan and Dingras Revolts (1589). In 1589, the Cagayan and Dingras Revolts against
the tribute occurred on Luzon in the present-day provinces of Cagayan and Ilocos Norte.
The revolt of the Ilocanos, Ibanags, and other Filipinos was triggered by the alleged
abuses of the tax collectors, including the collection of high taxes. Six tax collectors who
had arrived from Vigan were killed by the natives. Govenor-General Santiago de Vera
sent Spanish and Filipino colonial troops to pacify the rebels. The rebels were pardoned
in the end. The Philippine tax system was also reformed because of the revolt.

 Agustin Sumuroy’s Revolt (1649-1650). On June 1 1649, Agustin Sumuroy, who was a
Waray from Palapag in today’s Northern Samar, together with his followers rose in arms
against the Spaniards over the polo y servicio or forced labor system being started in
Samar.

 The revolt was triggered when the town mayors sent the Warays to the shipyards in
Cavite for forced labor, contrary to the directive of the government of Manila that all
natives subject to the polo would not be sent to distant places from their hometowns to
do forced labor.

 David Dula, Sumuroy’s co-conspirator, continued the quest, but was wounded in one of
the fierce battles he fought with the Spaniards years later.

 Francisco Maniago’s Revolt (1660-1661). In 1660, Francisco Maniago, a Kapampangan,

led an uprising in Pampanga. The Kapampangan were against the tribute, forced labor,
and rice exploitation. For eight months, they were made to work under unfair conditions
and were not paid for their labor and for the rice purchased from them. Because of this,
they set their campsite on fire and the fight ensued. This was the start of a bloodier
revolt in Pangasinan.

 Andres Malong Revolt (1660-1661). Malong (who was the Maestro de Campo of
Binalatongan, now San Carlos City, Pangasinan), in the 1660s was coaxed by Maniago to
revolt against the abuses of the Spaniards because they were experiencing the same
abuses.
 Malong, hoped to be king in the province of Pangasinan, as he assisted many Spaniards
in governing different towns in the said province, but abandoned it when the war broke
out in Pampanga.

 THE TAX REFORM OF 1884 One of the good reforms which Spain introduced in the 19th
century was the Tax Reform of 1884, as provided by the Royal Decree of March 6, 1884,
this tax reform contained two important provisions: (1) abolition of the hated tribute
and its replacement of cedula tax, and (2) reduction of the 40-day annual forced labor
(polo) to 15 days

 The Cedulas Personales. Cedulas were first issued based on the Royal Decree on March
6, 1884. All men and women residents of the islands - Spaniards, foreigners, and natives
- who were over 18 years old were required to obtain a cedula. The only exceptions
were the Chinese, who paid another poll tax, the remontados d infieles, that were not
subject to the local administration, and the natives and colonists of the archipelago of
Jolo and of the islands of Balabac and Palawan.

 All in all, there were 16 different classes of cedulas. Originally, there were nine classes
taxed, the rates of taxes ranged from 1.50 pesos to 25 pesos, and a tenth, gratis, for
priest, soldiers and privileged classes.

MODULE13: AGRARIAN REFORM FROM THE SPANISH COLONIAL

PHILIPPINES
 Land Reform has gained great significance all over the world as it aims to achieve social
justice and full development of human dignity.
 The introduction of Torrens system created serious problems that have far-reaching
effects on the early systems of landholding.
 Pre-Spanish Period Filipinos already lived in villages and barangays even before the
Spaniards came to the Philippines. The settlements were ruled by chieftains or datus
who comprised the nobility. There were also the maharlikas (freemen), the aliping
mamamahay (serfs), and aliping saguiguilid (slaves). Despite the existence of a social
structure, everyone had access to the fruits of the soil. Rice was the medium of exchange
as money was yet unknown.
 Spanish Period (1521-1896) The Spaniards introduced the concept of encomienda to
the Philippines. Encomienda was a system of giving lands (Royal Land Grants) to the
Spanish conquerors that were loyal to the Spanish Monarch.
 As a matter of policy, encomenderos must defend his encomienda from external attack,
maintain peace and order within, and support the missionaries. In turn, the
encomenderos were given the right to collect taxes (tribute) from the indios (natives).
 Because of this, encomenderos started to abuse their power by renting their lands to a
few powerful landlords, and the natives who once freely cultivated the land became
share tenants.
 Agrarian Uprising (1745-46) Taxation was not only the reasons for the revolts of the
Filipinos during the Spanish period, but the agrarian unrest as well.
 The grabbing of lands by the Catholic religious orders angered the native land owners
and demanded that their lands be returned based on ancestral domain.
 However, the Spanish priests refused which resulted to riots and massive looting of
convents and the burning down of churches and ranches. Troops were sent from Manila
to Batangas to quell the disturbance.
 y. The agrarian conflicts reached the ear of King Philip VI who appointed Oidor (a judge
of the Royal Audiencias and Chancillerias) Pedro Calderon Enriquez to investigate the
charges brought against the religious orders and to ascertain the validity of their titles to
the lands in question. The friars were ordered to submit their titles to a secular judge,
but refused to comply, claiming ecclesiastical exemption.
 In the face of their opposition the governor general dispossessed the friars of the lands
which were said to have been illegally occupied by the friars and which they were
continuing to hold without legitimate title, restoring the lands to the Crown.
 But the whole matter did not stop here; subsequently, the friars won their case and
retained the disputed lands, and their ownership of the lands remained intact even after
the end of the Spanish regime.
 The First Philippine Republic When Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo came to power in 1899,
the Malolos Constitution which they crafted intended to confiscate the so-called Friar
lands and other large estates. However, the First Philippine republic was short-lived so
that the plan to confiscate the lands was never executed.

 American Period (1898-1935) President Manuel L. Quezon advocated the Social

Justice program to block the increasing social unrest in Central Luzon.

 The 1935 Constitution, which was promulgated for the promotion of social justice to
ensure the well-being and economic security of all people, should be the concern of the
State.
 The Commonwealth Act No. 178 (An Amendment to Rice Tenancy Act No. 4045) enacted
on Nov. 13, 1936, provided for certain controls in the landlordtenant relationships.

 The National Rice and Corn Corporation (NARIC) of 1936 established the price of rice
and corn that helped the poor tenants as well as consumers.

 The Commonwealth Act No. 461, 1937, specified the reasons for dismissal of tenants
and only with the approval of Tenancy Division of the Department of Justice.

 The Rural Program Administration, created on March 2, 1939, provided the purchase
and lease of haciendas and their sale and lease to the tenants.

 The Commonwealth Act No. 441, enacted on June 3, 1939, created the National
Settlement Administration with a capital stock of P20 000 000.

 Japanese Occupation During the Second World War (that started in Europe in 1939
and in the Pacific in 1941), the Hukbo ng Bayan Laban sa mga Hapon (HUKBALAHAP)
controlled the areas of Central Luzon.

 The HUKBALAHAP was composed of peasants and workers who took up arms against
the Japanese forces. Peasants who supported them earned fixed rentals, while
landowners who supported the Japanese lost their lands to peasants. But this was short-
lived because it ended with the end of WWII.

 The problem of land tenure in the Philippines remained even after the Philippine
Independence in 1946. To address the problem, the Philippine Congress revised the
tenancy law.

 President Manuel L. Roxas (1946-1948) During the Roxas’ administration, the

following laws were enacted: Republic act No. 34, which established the 70-30 sharing
arrangements and regulated the share-tenancy contracts. Republic Act No. 55, which
provided for a more effective safeguard against arbitrary ejectment of tenants.

 President Elpidio Quirino (1949-1953) President Elpidio Quirino (1948-1953) issued

executive order No. 355 on October 23, 1950, replaced the National Land Settlement
Administration with Land Settlement Development Corporation (LASEDECO) that took
over the responsibilities of the Agricultural Machinery Equipment Corporation and the
Rice and Corn Production Administration.

 President Ramon Magsaysay (1953-1957) enacted the following laws: (a) Republic Act
No. 1160 of 1954, which abolished the LASEDECO and established the National
Resettlement and Rehabilitation Administration (NARRA) to resettle dissidents and
 landless farmers. It was particularly aimed at rebel returnees providing home lots and
farmlands in Palawan and Mindanao.

 (b) Republic Act No. 1199 (Agricultural Tenancy Act of 1954), which governed the
relationship between landowners and tenant farmers by organizing share-tenancy and
leasehold system. It also created the Court of Agrarian Relations.

 (c) Republic Act No. 1400 (Land Reform Act of 1955), which created the Land Tenure
Administration (LTA) that was responsible for the acquisition and distribution of large
tenanted rice and corn lands over 200 hectares for individuals and 600 hectares for
corporations.

 (d) Republic Act No. 821 (Creation of Agricultural Credit Cooperative Financing
Administration), which provided loans to small farmers and share tenants with interest
rates of as low as six to eight percent.

 President Carlos P. Garcia (1957-1961) President Carlos P. Garcia (1957-1961) who

succeeded the presidency after the death of President Ramon Magsaysay continued the
program.

 President Diosdado Macapagal (1961-1965) Republic Act No. 3844 of August 8, 1963
(Agricultural Land Reform Code) that abolished share tenancy, institutionalized
leasehold, set retention limit at 75 hectares, invested rights of preemption and
redemption for tenant farmers, provided for an administrative machinery for
implementation, institutionalized a judicial system of agrarian cases, incorporated
extension, marketing and supervised credit system of services or farmer beneficiaries.

 President Ferdinand Marcos (1965-1986) The Philippines “New Society” (Kilusang

Bagong Lipunan) was ushered in by the proclamation of Martial Law (Proclamation No.
1081) on September 21, 1972.

 (1) Republic Act No. 6389, (Code of Agrarian Reform) and RA No. 6390 of 1971 that
created the Department of Agrarian Reform and the Agrarian Reform Special Account
Fund and expanded the scope of agrarian reform.

 (2) Presidential Decree No. 2, September 26, 1972, declared the country under land
reform program and activated the Agrarian Reform Coordinating Council. All
government agencies were ordered to fully cooperate and assist the Department of
Agrarian Reform (DAR).
 (3) Presidential Decree No. 27, October 21, 1972, restricted the land reform scope to
tenanted rice and corn lands and set the retention limit at 7 hectares.

 President Corazon C. Aquino (1986-1992) (1) Executive order No. 228, July 16, 1987,
which declared full and land ownership to qualified farmer-beneficiaries covered by PD
27.

 (2) Executive Order No. 229, July 22, 1987, provided the mechanism for the
implementation of the Comprehensive Agraria Reform (CARP).

 (3) Proclamation No. 131, July 22, 1987, which instituted the CARP as a major program
of the government. It provided for a special fund known as the Agrarian Reform Fund
(ARF), with an initial amount of Php 50 billion to cover the estimated cost of the
program from 1987-1992.

 (4) Executive Order No. 129-A, July 26, 1987, which streamlined and expanded the
power and operations of the DAR.

 (5) Republic Act No. 6657, also known as the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law
(CARL) which was signed into law on June 10, 1988. This law instituted a
comprehensive agrarian reform program to promote social justice and industrialization.
This law is still at work until the present.

 (6) Executive Order No. 405, June 14, 1990, which conferred in the Land Bank of the
Philippines (LBP) the responsibility to determine land valuation and compensation for
all lands covered by CARP.

 (7) Executive Order No. 407, June 14, 1990, which accelerated the acquisition and
distribution of agricultural lands, pasture lands, fishponds, agro-forestry lands and other
lands of the public domain suitable for agriculture.

 President Fidel V. Ramos (1992-1998) President Fidel V. Ramos (1992-1998) enacted

laws that would promote a more meaningful agrarian reform program.

 (1) Republic Act No. 7881 of 1995. This law amended certain provisions of RA 6657 and
exempted fishponds and prawns from CARP coverage.

 (2) Republic Act No. 7905 of 1995, which strengthened CARP implementation.
 (3) Executive Order No. 363 of 1997, which prescribed the guidelines for the protection
of areas non-negotiable for conversion and monitoring compliance with Section 20 of
the Local Government Code.

 (4) Republic Act No. 8435 of 1997 (Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization Act AFMA) ,
an act prescribing urgent related measures to modernize the agriculture and fisheries
sectors of the country in order to enhance their profitability and prepare said sectors for
the challenges of globalization through an adequate, focused and rational delivery of
necessary support services, appropriating funds therefore and for other purposes.

 (5) Republic Act 8532 of 1998, and act strengthening further the Comprehensive
Agrarian Reform Program (CARP), by providing augmentation fund therefor, amending
for the purpose Section 63 of Republic Act No. 6657, otherwise known as “The CARP
Law of 1988”. This law provided an additional Php 50 billion for CARP and extended its
implementation for another 10 years.

 President Joseph E. Estrada (1998-2000) Executive Order No. 151, September 1999
(Farmer’s Trust Fund), which established the farmers trust development program and
provided institutional reforms and fund mechanisms for mobilizing long term private
sector capital for rural development.

 President Estrada launched the Magkabalikat para sa Kaunlarang Agraryo or

MAGSASAKA. The DAR forged into joint ventures with private investors into agrarian
sector.

 The “Agrikulturang Maka Masa” was also launched that achieved an output growth of 6
percent, which lowered the inflation rate from 11 percent in January 1999 to just a little
over 3 percent by November of the same year. This was a record high at that time.

 President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (2001-2010) President Arroyo envisioned to make

the countryside economically viable for the Filipino family by building partnership and
promoting social equity and new economic opportunities towards lasting peace and
sustainable rural development.

 (1) Executive Order No. 379 s 2004, amending Executive Order No. 364 entitled
Transforming the Department of Agrarian Reform into the Department of Land Reform
(DLR), which broadened the scope of the Department by making it responsible for all
land reform in the country. It also placed the Philippine Commission on Urban Poor
(PCUP) under its supervision and control. DLR was also responsible for the recognition
 of the ownership of ancestral domain by indigenous peoples, under the National
Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP).

 (2) Memorandum Circular No. 4 series of 2003 operationalized the development of

Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan Agrarian Reform Zones (KALAHI ARZones).

 (3) Republic Act No. 9700 s 2009, an act strengthening the Comprehensive Agrarian
Reform Program (CARP), extending the acquisition and distribution of all agricultural
lands, instituting necessary reforms, amending for the purpose certain provisions of
Republic Act No. 6657, otherwise known as the comprehensive agrarian reform law of
1988, as amended, and appropriating funds therefor.

 President Benigno Simeon Cojuangco Aqiuno III (2010-2016) resident Benigno Simeon
Cojuangco Aqiuno III (2010-2016) together with farmers, Catholic Bishops, and other
land reform advocates developed a plan of action for the implementation of the
Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program Extension with Reforms (CARPER).

 (a) coverage and distribution of agricultural lands; (b) movement and performance of
Department of Agrarian Reform personnel; (c) delivery of support services to the
beneficiaries; and (d) budget allocation and utilization.

 President Rodrigo Roa Duterte (2016-Present) The issue of land reform has been
persistent even up to the present. The current Duterte administration is committed to
pursuing the agrarian reform program in the country. President Duterte, who is also the
chairman of the Presidential Agrarian Reform Council (PARC), has included land tenure
security in his 10-point socio-economic agenda to improve the quality of life of farmers
and raise their productivity.

MODULE14: THE PHILIPPINE CONSTITUTIONS

 A constitution is a set of fundamental principles or established precedents according to

which a state or other organization is governed. It symbolized the county’s freedom and
independence.

 THE 1897 CONSTITUTION OF BIAK-NA-BATO. The elected president was Emilio

Aguinaldo, and the vice president was Mariano Trias.
 It was on November 1, 1897 that the Republic of Biak-na-Bato (Republica de Biac-na-
Bato) was established during a meeting held at Biak-na-Bato in the town of San Miguel
de Mayumo in Bulacan.

 This was a De Facto Constitutional Republic.

 In this meeting, the constitution written by Isabelo Artacho and Felix Ferrer was
promulgated by the Katipunan, which acted as Constitutional Assembly. The
Constitution of Biak-na-Bato known as the “Constitution Provisional de la Republica de
Filipinas” was short-lived as it operated only from November 1, 1897 to December 14,
1897.

 1899 Malolos Constitution OR Pilotical Constitution of 1899 (Constitution Politica de

1899) was the basic law of the First Philippine Republic whose form of government was
unitary semi-presidential constitutional.

 The Malolos Constitution was the first republican constitution in Asia (Tucker 2009)
written by Felipe Calderon y Roca and Felipe Buencamino after the declaration of
Philippine independence from Spanion 12 June 1898 . It was signed into law by the
Malolos Congressand promulgated on January 21, 1899. The Malolos Constitution was in
operation from January 23, 1899 to March 23, 1901.

 Philippine Organic Act of 1902, also known as the “Philippine Bill of 1902”, first organic
law enacted by the US Congress for the Philippines. It provided for the creation of the
Philippine Assembly, and a bicameral legislature composed of a Philippine Commission
(upper house) and the Philippine Assembly (lower house) were the law making power
was vested.

 Philippine Autonomy Act of 1916, also known as the “Jones Law “, amended the
structure of the Philippine government that was provided for in the Philippine Bill of
1902.

 It removed the Philippine Commission (upper house) and replaced it with the Senate
whose members were elected by the Filipino voters.

 TYDINGS-MCDUFFIE ACT OF 1934 On March 24, 1934 the United States passed the
Tydings-McDuffie Act that allowed the Filipino nation to have a self-government.
 A ten-year transition period was granted by this Act so that the Filipinos could be
prepared for self-government and full independence.

 THE 1935 PHILIPPINE CONSTITUTION This constitution was written in 1934 with the
goal of meeting the United States’ expectation of political maturity among Philippine
leaders so that a full and real independence could be granted by the US.

 This constitution was promulgated by the 1934 Constitutional Convention and was in
operation during the Commonwealth era (1935-1946), until the Third Republic (July 4,
1946 - January 16, 1973).

 In the Third Republic, the 1935 Constitution was still in operation, the form of
government of the Philippines was Unitary Presidential Constitutional Republic

 Again, an amendment was made in 1947, which provided for provision of the Parity
Rights between the American and the Filipino Citizens. The Parity Rights granted the
U.S. citizens and corporations equal rights with Filipino citizens over the Philippine
natural resources.

 Again, an amendment was made in 1947, which provided for provision of the Parity
Rights between the American and the Filipino Citizens. The Parity Rights granted the
U.S. citizens and corporations equal rights with Filipino citizens over the Philippine
natural resources.

 THE 1943 CONSTITUTION

 The Preparatory Committee for Philippine Independence (PCPI) promulgated the 1943
Philippine Constitution during the Japanese occupation of the country.

 the Second Republic was then formally proclaimed. The Second Philippine Republic was
a single-party authoritarian republic. Jose P. Laurel was appointed as President by the
National Assembly and was inaugurated into office in October14, 1943, and Benigno
Simeon Aquino Sr. was the Speaker of the National Assembly.

 The 1943 Constitution was in operation in Japanese-controlled areas of the Philippines

from October 14, 1943 to August 17, 1945.
 The 1973 Constitution was promulgated by the 1973 Constitutional Convention, after
Marcos declared material law.

 A unicameral legislature was established during this period, whose members were
elected for a six-year term of office.

 The President was elected from among the members of the national Assembly for a
sixyear term and eligible for re-elections. The elected president will serve only as purely
ceremonial head of state. Executive power was exercised by the Prime Minister who was
also elected from amongst the members of the national assembly. The Prime Minister
was the head of government and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces

 (1) In the 1976 amendments, the Interim National Assembly was replaced by the
Interim Batasang Pambansa, the President would also become the Prime Minister and
would exercise legislative powers until the lifting of the martial law, the President can
legislate on his own on an “emergency” basis.

 (2) In the 1980 amendment, the retirement age of the members of the Judiciary was
extended to 70 years.

 (3)In the 1981 amendments, the false parliamentary system was formally modified into
a French-style semi-presidential system were: executive power was restored to the
President, direct election of the President, direct election of the President was restored,
an Executive Committee composed of the prime Minister and not more than 14
members was created to “assist the President in the exercise of his powers and
functions and in the performance of his duties as he may prescribe, ”and the Prime
Minister was a mere head of the Cabinet.(

 4) The 1984 amendment abolished the Executive Committee and restored the position
of VicePresident.

 THE 1986 FREEDOM CONSTITUTION Right after the 1986 People Power Revolution that
Compelled President Marcos to step down from power, President Corazon Aquino
Issued Proclamation No. 3 to serve as a provisional constitution
 Power such as government reorganization, removal of officials, appointment of a
commission to draft a new and more formal Constitution, which upon ratification, would
supplant the Freedom Constitution.

 “whereas, the new government was installed through a direct exercise of the power of
the Filipino people assisted by units of the new armed forces of the Philippines;
whereas, the heroic action of the people was done in defiance of the provisions of the
1973 constitution, as amended;

 Whereas, the direct mandate of the people as manifested by their extraordinary action
demands the complete reorganization of the government, restoration of democracy,
protection of basic rights, rebuilding of confidence in the entire governmental system,
eradication of graft and corruption, restoration of peace and order, maintenance of the
supremacy of civilian authority over the military, and the transition to a government
under a new constitution in the shortest time possible; Whereas, during the period of
transition to a new constitution it must be guaranteed that the government will respect
basic human rights and fundamental freedoms;

 THE 1987 PHILIPPINE CONSTITUTION

 The 1987 Philippine Constitution was drafted by a constitutional assembly that was
mandated in Proclamation No. 3.

 The commission composed fifty members appointed by President Corazon Aquino from
various Backgrounds: former members of the House of Representatives, former justices
of the Supreme Court, a Roman Catholic bishop, and political activists against the Marcos
regime.

 Cecilia Muñoz-Palma, who was a former Associate Chief Justice of the Supreme Court,
was elected by the commission as its president. The final draft of the 1987 Constitution
was finished on October 12, 1986 and was presented to President Aquino on October.
The constitution was ratified on February 8, 1987 through a nationwide plebiscite.

 The 1987 Constitution operates since 1987, during the administration of Cory Aquino
(1986-1992), Fidel Ramos (1992-1998), Joseph Estrada (1998-2001), Gloria Macapagal
Arroyo (2001-2010), Benigno Aquino III (2010-2016), and the current administration
of Rodrigo Roa Duterte (2016-present).