Macalino, Paolo Antonio M.

JD-I

Statute Law: The Constitution

In 1899, A revolution was launched against Spain, the revolutionaries

declared Philippine Independence from their Spanish colonizers on June 12,
1898. The Malolos Congress was convened on September 15, 1898, and the
first Philippine Constitution created and approved on January 20, 1899,
called the Malolos Constitution.
During the American colonization, the United States passed the Jones
act which specified that the independence of the Philippines would only be
granted upon the formation a stable democratic form of government. The
United States approved a ten-year transition plan in order for the democratic
government to be modeled to its own model. In 1935 a new constitution was
drafted and was consequently called the 1935 Constitution.
In 1965, Ferdinand Marcos Sr. was elected as president, and was re-
elected again in 1969. He was the first and remains to be the only president
to be re-elected. He had devised to declare Martial Law in 1972 to extend his
reign over the Filipino people just before the end of his second term under
the guise of extinguishing a rising communist insurgency. He manipulated a
Constitutional Convention and drafted a new one. This new constitution
allowed him to rule by decree until 1978 when the previous system of the
1935 Constitution was replaced by a parliamentary form of government. This
was consequently called the 1973 Constitution.
Following the acts of President Ferdinand Marcos Sr., the people of
the Philippines came together against his reign and revolted which has come
to be famously known as the People Power Revolution. Corazon Aquino was
elected as President and issued a unilateral proclamation establishing a
provisional constitution. A Constitutional Commission consisting of 48
members drafted a new constitution and was ratified by the people on
February 2, 1987. This constitution was heavily inspired by the American
constitution and incorporated Roman, Anglo and Spanish law, and which
ahs now become known as the 1987 Constitution which is still in effect to
this day.