Chapter 2

Sources and Foundation of Human Rights Law

The 1987 Constitution

The basic source of Human rights law in the Philippines is the 1987 constitution.
A bill of right may be defined as a declaration and enumeration of a person’s right
and privileges which the Constitution is designed to protect against the violation
of government, or by an individual or groups of individuals. A novel feature of the
of the first national human right commission in the world. Two of its important
function under section 18, Article XIII of the 1987 Constitution are to investigate
human rights violations involving civil and political rights either committed by the
government or non-government entities and to establish a program of education
and information to enhance respect for the primacy of human rights.

Other deemed important powers and function of Commission of Human Rights

under sec. 18 Article XIII of the 1987 Constitutions are follows:

1. Exercise visitorial powers over jails, prisons, or detention facilities

2. Monitor the Philippine Government’s compliance with international treaty
obligations on human rights
3. Recommend to the Congress effective measures to promote Human rights
and for provide for compensations to victims of violation of human rights,
or their families.

The 1987 constitution has been the basis of law passed by Congress dealing with
the first generation of rights like republic act no. 7438 (Rights of person arrested,
detained, or under custodial investigation), AN ACT DEFINING CERTAIN RIGHTS OF
PERSON ARRESTED, DETAINED OR UNDER CUSTODIAL INVESTIGATION AS WELL
AS THE DUTIES OF THE ARRESTING, DETAINING AND INVESTIGATING OFFICERS,
AND PROVIDING PENALTIES FOR VIOLATIONS THEREOF. The section 2 of RA 7438
define the rights of person under custodial investigation and these are the
following:
(a)  Any person arrested detained or under custodial investigation shall at all
times be assisted by counsel.

(b) Any public officer or employee, or anyone acting under his order or his place,
who arrests, detains or investigates any person for the commission of an offense
shall inform the latter, in a language known to and understood by him, of his
rights to remain silent and to have competent and independent counsel,
preferably of his own choice, who shall at all times be allowed to confer privately
with the person arrested, detained or under custodial investigation. If such person
cannot afford the services of his own counsel, he must be provided with a
competent and independent counsel by the investigating officer.

(c) The custodial investigation report shall be reduced to writing by the

investigating officer, provided that before such report is signed, or thumbmarked
if the person arrested or detained does not know how to read and write, it shall
be read and adequately explained to him by his counsel or by the assisting
counsel provided by the investigating officer in the language or dialect known to
such arrested or detained person, otherwise, such investigation report shall be
null and void and of no effect whatsoever.

(d) Any extrajudicial confession made by a person arrested, detained or under

custodial investigation shall be in writing and signed by such person in the
presence of his counsel or in the latter's absence, upon a valid waiver, and in the
presence of any of the parents, elder brothers and sisters, his spouse, the
municipal mayor, the municipal judge, district school supervisor, or priest or
minister of the gospel as chosen by him; otherwise, such extrajudicial confession
shall be inadmissible as evidence in any proceeding.

(e) Any waiver by a person arrested or detained under the provisions of Article
125 of the Revised Penal Code, or under custodial investigation, shall be in writing
and signed by such person in the presence of his counsel; otherwise the waiver
shall be null and void and of no effect.

(f) Any person arrested or detained or under custodial investigation shall be

allowed visits by or conferences with any member of his immediate family, or any
medical doctor or priest or religious minister chosen by him or by any member of
his immediate family or by his counsel, or by any national non-governmental
organization duly accredited by the Commission on Human Rights of by any
international non-governmental organization duly accredited by the Office of the
President. The person's "immediate family" shall include his or her spouse, fiancé
or fiancée, parent or child, brother or sister, grandparent or grandchild, uncle or
aunt, nephew or niece, and guardian or ward.

Other law passes are Republic act no. 8493(Speedy trial act of 1998), and Republic
act no. 9745 (Penalize acts of torture). Those dealing with second generation of
rights like RA 6657 (Comprehensive Agrarian Reform, RA 8282 (Social Security Act
of 1992) and RA 8749 (Philippine Clean Air Act of 1999).

The International Bill of Rights

The 1987 constitution contains an incorporation clause found in the Article II,
section 2, stating “ The Philippines renounces war as an instrument of national
policy, adopts the generally accepted principles of international law as part of the
land”…This clause made possible the application in the Philippines of the human
rights principles stated in the international bill of rights composed of the
threesome Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the international Covenant on
Civil and Political Rights, and the International Covenant of Social, Economic, and
Cultural Rights)

The Preamble to the declaration is important because it refers to the concepts of

inherent human dignity and one alienable nature of human rights as the
philosophical sources of the Declaration and inspiration for further development
of human rights. Today, the declaration is considered as the first internationally
adopted catalogue of human rights and is one of the best legal instrument on
human right ever adopted.

Classes of Rights

The rights that a citizen of a domestic state enjoys may be classified into:
1. Natural Rights- they are those rights possessed by every citizen without
being granted by the state for they are given to man by God as a human
being created to his image so that he may live a happy life. Example are the
right to life and the right to love;

2. Constitutional Rights- they are those right which are conferred and
protected by the Constitution. Since they are part of fundamental law, they
cannot be modified or taken away by the law making body; and

3. Statutory Rights- they are those rights which are provided by laws
promulgated by the law making body and, consequently, may abolished by
the same body. Example are the right to receive a minimum wage and the
right to adopt a child by an unrelated person.