PPGC 211
WEEK 1 : POLITICS AND GOVERNANCE
- An introduction: to concepts of Politics, State, Governance
and Citizenship.
Nature and Definition of Politics
Politics
- Comes from the Greek word “polis” meaning city-state.
- Modern definition: “What concerns the state.”
- Politics can be defined as the study of the state, it aims and
purposes the institutions by which those are going to be
realized, its relationship with its individual members and
with other states.
- Politics is defined in such different ways: as the exercise of
power, exercise of authority, the making of collective
decisions, the allocation of scarce resources, the practice of
deception and manipulation, and so on. (Heywood, 1997)
- Politics is the way in which we understand and order our
social affairs, and acquire greater control over the situation.
- B. Pomton and P. Gill
Harrold Laswell
- Political Scientist Harold Lasswell, (1936) author of a major
study of the distributive consequences of political activity
- In his 1936 book, the political scientist Harold Lasswell said
that “politics is who gets what, when, and how.”
- BOOK: Politics – Who Gets What, When, and How.
- According to Harold Lasswell, Politics is concerned with
determination, by official governmental decision making
and action, of:
o Who in political society receives what benefits,
rewards, and advantages and how much of them
they receive,
o When they receive the benefits, rewards, and
advantages, and
o What are the methods by which they receive them.
- Conversely, politics is also concerned with determining, by
governmental decision making and action,:
o who in society is denied what benefits, rewards,
and advantages,
o when and how long they are denied them, and
o the methods by which they are subjected to such
deprivations.
Political Science
• The study of politics.
• Political Science is a classical discipline that deals with
the study of political phenomena.
• Political Science deals with the systematic study of
political structures, political processes, and political
behavior.
• Political Science focuses on the theory and practice of
government and politics at the local, state, national, and
international levels.
How Politics is Studied?
• Giovanni Sartori has pointed out, “approaches and
research methods are largely decided by the kind of
evidence which is available for the units, and the kind of
problems with which one deals.”
• Approach: a particular orientation or POV in looking at
and interpreting the world of politics.
 • An approach seeks to provide a framework for analysis, 2. The emergence of a new approach did not necessarily
explanation, and prediction. completely or entirely displace an older one; for
Approaches example, while traditionalism was challenged by
• As to the criterion of time dimension: behavioralism in the 1950s and 1960s, a number of
1. Traditional Approaches: philosophical, political scientists continued to hold to traditionalism.
historical, and legal-institutional modes of 3. Two of the three research approaches have tended to
analysis define themselves in opposition to their predecessors
• Tends to emphasize the and, in so doing, have helped shape the manner in
usefulness of analyzing which those prior approaches have been remembered.
governmental institutions. Comparisons
2. Modern or Behavioral Approaches: value-free, Traditional Approaches Behavioral Approaches
empirical, and behavioral modes of inquiry • Dates back to • Dominant approach
• Tends to assert the importance Ancient Greece in 1950’s to 1960’s
of research into the intricacies • Concerned with what • “Scientific tradition”
of the behavior of individual “should”, “ought”, or
political actors. “must” be brought
about, rather than
3. Postbehavioralism: is an approach that
what “is.”
emphasizes that (a) political science research
• This involves the • Objective and
should be meaningful, that is, that it should analytical study of quantifiable data
address urgent political problems, (b) that ideas and doctrines against which
science and values are inextricably connected; that have been hypotheses could be
and (c) that political science should not seek to central to political tested
model itself on the strict application of scientific thought.
methods used in the natural sciences. • Literary analysis on • David Easton:
Key Points to Remember what major thinkers “politics could adopt
1. Traditionalism, behavioralism, and postbehavioralism said. the methodology of
are broad categories, and within each category one the natural sciences”
finds a variety of political scientists who are not Characteristics of Traditional Approaches:
necessarily in agreement on all matters relating to the 1. Traditional approaches are largely normative and
study of politics. stresses on the values of politics.
 2. Emphasis is on the study of different political structures
and institution.
3. Traditional approaches made very little attempt to
relate theory and research.
4. These approaches believe that since facts and values are
closely interlinked, studies in political Science can never
be scientific.
FORMS OF TRADITIONAL APPROACH
1. Philosophical- This approach firmly believes that
values cannot be separated from the study of politics
and political system. Therefore, its main concern is to
judge what is good or bad in any political society.
2. Historical- As the name of this approach is related to
history, it emphasizes on the study of history of every
political reality to analyze any situation.
3. Institutional- This approach is concerned with the
study of formal structures and institutions like
legislature, executive, judiciary, political parties, etc.
4. Legal- This approach is concerned with the legal
process, legal bodies or institutions, justice, and
independence of judiciary.
BEHAVIORAL APPROACH (BEHAVIORALISM)
• The behavioral approach to political science mainly
emphasizes on scientific, objective and value free
study of political phenomenon.
• This approach stresses upon the use of empirical as well
as scientific methods of study political behavior.
• This approach shifts its emphasis from the study of the
state and government to the day-today problems,
activities and behavior of individuals and groups.
CHARACTERISTICS OF BEHAVIORALISM
1. Regularities - believes that there are certain
uniformities in political behavior which can be
expressed in generalizations or theories in order to
explain and predict political phenomena.
2. Verification - emphasizes testing and verifying
everything. According to the behaviorists, what cannot
be verified is not scientific.
3. Techniques - put emphasis on the use of those research
tools and methods which generate valid, reliable and
comparative data.
4. Quantification - After collecting data, the researcher
should measure and quantify those data.
5. Values - believe that to do objective research, one has
to be value free.
6. Systematization - research in Political Science must be
systematic. Theory and research should go together.
7. Pure Science - believes that the study of Political
Science should be verified by evidence.
8. Integration - Political Science should not be separated
from various other social sciences like history, sociology
and economics, etc.
GOVERNANCE
• The World Bank defines governance as “the manner in
which power is exercised in the management of a
country's economic and social resources for
development” ... “Governance has been defined as “the
rules of the political system to solve conflicts between
actors and adopt decision (legality).”
 • Governance is commonly defined as the exercise of
power or authority by political leaders for the well-
being of their country’s citizens or subjects.
• It is the complex process whereby some sectors of the
society wield power and enact and promulgate public
policies which directly affect human and institutional
interactions, and economic and social development.
Etymology of Governance
• The word “governance” came from the Latin verb
“gubernare,” or more originally from the Greek word
“kubernaein,” which means “to steer.”
• Basing on its etymology, governance refers to the
manner of steering or governing, or of directing and
controlling, a group of people or a state.
Eight Indicators of Good Governance
1. Participation
• Good governance essentially requires participation of
different sectors of the society. Participation means
active involvement of all affected and interested
parties in the decision-making process.
• It requires an enabling environment wherein
pertinent information is effectively disseminated and
people could respond in an unconstrained and
truthful manner. It also means gender equality,
recognizing the vital roles of both men and women in
decision-making.
2. Rule of Law
• Rule of law demands that the people and the civil
society render habitual obedience to the law. It also
demands that the government acts within the limits
of the powers and functions prescribed by the law.
• Democracy is essentially the rule of law. It is through
the law that people express their will and exercise
their sovereignty. Thus, good democratic governance
is fundamentally adherence to the rule of law.
3. Effectiveness and Efficiency
• Effectiveness (meeting the needs) and efficiency
(proper utilization of resources) must necessarily go
together to ensure the best possible results for the
community.
• When valuable resources are utilized, without
wasting or underutilizing any of them, means that
there is efficient governance.
4. Transparency
• Transparency means that people are open to
information regarding decision-making process and
the implementation of the same.
• In legal terms, it means that information on matters
of public concern is made available to the citizens or
those who will be directly affected.
• When there is transparency, people are placed in a
better position to know and protect their rights as
well as denounce corrupt or fraudulent practices in
the public sector and in the private sector.
5. Responsiveness
• Responsiveness means that institutions and
processes serve all stakeholders in a timely and
appropriate manner.
 • In other words, the interests of all citizens must be
well protected in a prompt and appropriate manner
so that each of them can appreciate and take part in
the process of governance.
6. Equity and Inclusiveness
• Equity and inclusiveness means that all the members
of the society, especially the most vulnerable ones or
the grassroots level, must be taken into
consideration in policy-making.
• Social equity refers to a kind of justice that gives
more opportunity to the less fortunate members of
the society. It is based on the principle that those
who have less in life should have more in law.
7. Consensus-Oriented
• Governance is consensus-oriented when decisions
are made after taking into consideration the
different viewpoints of the actors of the society.
• Fundamentally, democratic governance is based on
the partnership of the actors of the society in
providing public services.
8. Accountability
• Accountability means answerability or responsibility
for one’s action. It is based on the principle that
every person or group is responsible for their actions
most especially when their acts affect public interest.
• Political accountability refers to the accountability of
public officials to the people they represent.
WEEK 2: Definition, Elements, and the Inherent Powers of the
State
The State
• The modern term “state” is derived from the word
“status”. It was Niccolò Machiavelli (1469-1527) who
first used the term “state” in his writings. His significant
work is titled as “The Prince”.
• The state is the most universal and most powerful of all
institutions.
• Is Philippines a state? Yes
• A State is a community of persons, more or less
numerous, permanently occupying a definite portion of
territory, independent of external control, and
possessing an organized government to which the great
body of inhabitants render habitual obedience.
• Based on this definition, what are the elements of a
state?
Elements of the State
1. People
- refers to the inhabitants or population of a particular
territory.
- No specific number required; but must be able to
sufficient to sustain the state.
- The people that make up a state are usually called as
the nation or nations.
2. Territory
- a definite portion of the surface of the earth which is
the subject of the jurisdiction and sovereign rights of a
state in accordance with the international law.
- The territorial domains are:
o terrestrial (land)
o fluvial (water) which includes maritime; and
o aerial (air).
- Article I, 1987 Constitution: National Territory
o The national territory comprises the
Philippine archipelago, with all the islands
and waters embraced therein, and all other
territories over which the Philippines has
sovereignty or jurisdiction, consisting of its
terrestrial, fluvial and aerial domains,
including its territorial sea, the seabed, the
subsoil, the insular shelves, and other
submarine areas. The waters around,
between, and connecting the islands of
archipelago, regardless of their breadth and
dimensions, form part of the internal waters
of the Philippines.
3. Sovereignty
• the supreme power to command and enforce
obedience, the power to which, legally speaking, all
interests subdue and all wills subordinate.
• There are two aspects of sovereignty:
o Internal sovereignty is the supreme or absolute
power of a state to enforce its will on the
people within its territory; and
o External sovereignty refers to the independence
of a state from control by any other state.
• Sec. 1, Art. II, 1987 Constitution
o The Philippines is a democratic and republican
State. Sovereignty resides in the people and all
government authority emanates from them.
4. Government
• an institution or aggregate of institutions by which an
independent society makes and carries out those rules
of action necessary to enable men to live in a social
state, or that which are imposed upon the people by
those who possess the power or authority of prescribing
them.
• There can be no state without government.
Government is the agency to which the will of the state
is formulated, expressed, and carried out.
3 Branches of Philippine Government
Constitution
(Provide a separation of powers)
Legislative Executive Judicial
(Makes the law) (Carries out the (Evaluate the law)
law)
- Congress - President - Supreme
- Senate - Vice Court
- House of President - Other
Representatives. - Cabinet courts
Additional: International Recognition
• Recognition then refers to the act, made by the family
of nations that renders a state its international status.
• It has to be a member of the family of nations, that is,
nations that recognize each other.
• A community may have all the requisites for a state to
exist. It may already have its people, a territory, a
government and sovereignty, however, until it is
recognized, it shall remain to be only a de facto state.
The Fundamental Powers of the State:
- They are inherent in a State, inseparable from its
sovereignty; hence, can be exercised even without
 being expressly granted in the Constitution or laws.
However, the conditions for their exercise can be
regulated and limited
The Three Inherent Powers
1. Police Power
• Police power is the plenary power vested in the
legislature to make, ordain, and establish wholesome
and reasonable laws, statutes, and ordinances, not
repugnant to the Constitution, for the good and welfare
of the people.
• This power to prescribe regulations to promote the
health, morals, education, good order or safety, and
general welfare of the people flows from the
recognition that salus populi est suprema lex – the
welfare of the people is the supreme law.
• Is this the power of the policemen? No
• Generally exercised by the Congress.
2. Eminent Domain
• the power of the nation or a sovereign state to take, or
to authorize the taking of, private property for a public
use without the owner’s consent, conditioned upon
payment of just compensation.
• “An inherent political right, founded on a common
necessity and interest of appropriating the property of
individual members of the community to the great
necessities of the whole community.”
3. Taxation
• It is the power by which the State raises revenue to
defray the necessary expenses of the Government.
• It is the enforced proportional contributions from
persons and property, levied by the State by virtue of its
sovereignty, for the support of the government and for
all public needs.
• Basis: Lifeblood Doctrine
• “The existence of government is a necessity; that
government cannot continue without means to pay its
expenses; and that for these means it has a right to
compel its citizens and property within its limits to
contribute.”
Theories on the Origin of the State
• There are several theories that attempt to explain the
origin of the state, but no single theory offers an
adequate explanation.
• These theories have been formed and developed as a
result of the political thought and philosophy in the
ancient time until the Enlightenment period in Europe.
1. Divine Right Theory
• The Divine Right Theory holds that the state is of divine
creation and the ruler is ordained by God to govern the
people. Reference has been made by advocates of this
theory to the laws which Moses received at Mount
Sinai.
• This is the oldest theory concerned in the origin of state.
According to this theory, state is established and
governed by God himself by agent or vice regent or
vicar of God.
2. Necessity or Force Theory
• maintains that the state must have been created as a
product of the existence of the strong and the weak in
 society, and as a result of their struggle against each • It believes that the state must have been founded to
other wherein those who are strong are able to take charge of man’s various needs that must be
dominate and impose their will upon the weak. continuously and consistently satisfied.
• The creation of the state through the constant war and 7. Historical or Evolutionary Theory
invasion of the great warriors in the ancient time • This theory is more scientific.
dominated the weak and later on formed a state. • The Historical or Evolutionary theory explains that “the
3. Natural or Instinctive Theory state is the product of growth, a slow and steady
• The Natural or Instinctive Theory holds that the state is evolution extending over a long period of time and
founded out of man’s natural instinct for association. ultimately shaping itself into the complex structure of a
The social urge of the human being to be within a group modern state.”
of people in the community as in sociology describes • The state is not a mere artificial mechanical creation but
that “man is a social being.” an institution of natural growth or historical evolution.
• The social group provides the political development to The Nation
stay and work together with common goal in the • A nation is a society of inhabitants of a specific
community and later transforms into a state. geographic region united and bound together by a
4. Patriarchal Theory common racial ancestry, the same language and culture,
• The Patriarchal theory attributes the origin of states to historical past, laws and a shared interests and
the enlargement of the family which remained under sentiments over the passing of many years.
the authority of the father or mother. State Nation
• A state is a political • A nation is an ethnic
concept. or racial concept.
• A state is not subject • A nation may or may
to external control. not be independent
5. Social Contract Theory of external control.
• Social contract theory asserts that the early states must • A state cannot • A nation is a nation
have been formed by deliberate and voluntary compact become a state whether or not a
among the people to form a society and organize without a nation or state exists.
government for their common good. nations that consists
• This theory justifies the right of the people to revolt of its people.
against a bad ruler.
6. Economic Theory
 • A single state may • A single nation may
consist of one or be made up of
more nations or different states.
peoples
WEEK 3: POLITICAL POWER
Meaning and Nature Power
 Power may be explained in different ways because its
meaning is within the context of human relations. We
are encountered with many different explanations in
various disciplines. Even within a single social discipline,
power is defined in several different ways.
 Some social scientists define it as the use of force
whereas many others explain it as the capacity to
secure the desired goals through the use of force or
threat of use of force or even by exercising influence.
 According to Morgenthau “Power is the power of man
on others” and as a “man’s control over the minds and
actions of other men.”
 Another definition is from Schwarzenberger who view
power as “the capacity of one to impose his will on
others by reliance on effective sanctions in case of non-
compliance.”
 Charles P. Schleicher defines power as “the ability to
exercise such control as to make others do what they
otherwise would not do by rewarding or promising to
reward them, or by depriving or threatening to deprive
them of something they value.”
 In Social Science and Politics, Power is the ability to
influence or outright control the behavior of people. It is
authority when the power is perceived as legitimate by
the social structure. Power may also be seen as evil or
unjust, but the exercise of power is accepted as
reserved only to humans as social beings.
NATIONAL POWER: DIMENSIONS, FEATURES, AND EXERCISE
National Power
 National Power is that “combination of power and
capability of a state which the state uses for fulfilling its
national interests and goals” according to Paddleford
and Lincoln.
 To Hartman, national power denotes the ability of a
nation to fulfil national goals, how much powerful or
weak a particular nation in securing them.
 National Power is simply the ability or capability of a
nation to secure the goals and objectives of its national
interests in relation with other nations. It involves the
capacity to use force or threat of use of force or
influence over others for securing the goals of national
interest.
 In this way, we can define National Power as “the ability
to control the behavior of other states in accordance
with one’s own will.” National Power is the currency of
international relations.
NATURE OF NATIONAL POWER
National
 National means pertaining to the nation making
national power the power of a nation. However, in the
context of national power the term ‘nation’ does not
mean the same as in Political Science.
 In the context of national powers, nation stands for the
power of the group of decision makers and authorities
 who exercise power on behalf of the nation. It is the
power of the decision-makers who formulate and
implement the foreign policy of the nation and thereby
attempt to secure national goals.
Power
 For understanding the nature of power in the context of
National Power, it is necessary to distinguish between
Power and Force, and Power and Influence.
Power and Force
 Force means physical force, violence in the form of
police action, imprisonment, punishment or war.
 Power means a psychological relationship of control
which is backed by the use of force, or threat of use of
force.
 When physical force, war and other means involving the
use of military power or police power are actually used
to secure certain objectives, power stands replaced by
force.
Power and Influence
 Both involve the ability to produce an intended change
or effect in the behavior of others. However, the two
are not the same. Power involves a use of force or
threat of use of force. Political Power or Legal Power is
backed by authority or sovereignty of the state.
 Influence involves the attempt to change the behavior
of others through persuasion and not by threats or
force. The scope of influence is wider than the scope of
power and it is more democratic than power.
Dimensions of National Power
 The three forms of national power are inseparable from
each other. Without economic power no nation can
develop her military power, and without the latter no
nation can play an active role in international relations.
Psychological power can be enduringly and effective
only when it is backed by economic and military power.
I. Military Power
- Military power is an important dimension of national
power. It is regarded as essential for achieving the
objective of security of the nation. For every nation,
security is the most vital element of its national interest.
It is the primary concern of every nation to work for her
security.
- Military power is as such a vital part of national power.
The role and importance of a state in international
relations depends upon its military power. No state can
get recognition as a superpower without being militarily
superior.
II. Economic Power
- Economic power is the second important dimension of
national power. It is constituted by the ability of a
nation to satisfy its own needs and to control the
behavior of other states by affording or denying access
to economic goods and services.
- The economic means of foreign policy are today the
most vital means which a state can use for influencing
the actions and behavior of other states. No state can
become a military power without having adequate
economic power.
 - Economic power is used by rich and developed nations
to influence other states by granting them economic aid
and loans and try to secure their interests in
international relations. It is used to induce as well as to
coerce a desired change in the behavior of other states.
III. Psychological Power
- Psychological power means the power of opinion and
image of the nation. The role of propaganda and
persuasive negotiations in international relations have
been used by the states for securing an intended change
in the behavior of other states.
- Using psychological and cultural means a nation always
tries to influence the people and leaders of other
nations. The ability to influence others through
systematic publicity and educational and cultural
relations constitutes the psychological part of the
national power of a nation.
METHODS OF EXERCISING NATIONAL POWER
1. Persuasion
- The art of persuasion consists in defining and logically
explaining a particular problem or issue or dispute to
other nations or any other nation. An attempt is made
to persuade other nations to adopt a particular and
desired view or perception of the nature of issues
involved in any bilateral or multilateral problem, dispute
or issue.
- Persuasion is widely used by diplomats and statesmen
for securing the desired and defined objectives of the
foreign policy. But success in persuasion can be
achieved only when it is supplemented by other
methods and when it is supported by a strong national
power and effective foreign policy.
2. Rewards
- The offering of rewards can be material or economic or
psychological. A nation can give material help to
another nation in times of crisis or in other ways.
- The practice of giving economic aid and easy loans or
grants-in-aid is another method of winning support and
inducing a change in the behavior of other states.
- The lease of territories or a military bases or
equipment—industrial or military, transit and trade
facilities and grant of right to allow passage of ships are
some of the other forms of rewards which a state can
offer to other states for securing a desired change in
their behaviors.
3. Punishment
- A powerful nation can inflict punishment on an
offending or unhelpful state by imposing economic
sanctions or norms or policies or placing trade
restrictions or ensuring a denial of a possible reward.
Denial or reduction in foreign aid or loan or refusal to
export certain items or technology can be used by a
powerful nation for inflicting a punishment or pressure
on other nations.
- The most effective punishment is the one which secures
the desired objective of a state without the actual
infliction of punishment on other states. Threat of
punishment is a better method of exercise of national
power than its actual infliction.
4. Force or Physical Violence
 - Using military power or physical force, a powerful
nation can compel a desired behavior of another nation.
As a method of exercising power, force is related to
punishment.
- When punitive action is taken against another nation, it
becomes a case of use of force. However, when only
threat of punitive action is given without the actual use
of physical violence against the other state, it becomes
a case of exercise of power through the use of
punishment. As such the difference between force and
punishment is in the actual use of force versus the
threat of use of force.
- Physical force or violence can be used by resorting to
war or acts of reprisals by a powerful state. Resort to
war is the extreme form of exercise of force in
international relation. It is a risky and dangerous
method, which can damage the national power of the
state which resorts to war. This consideration makes the
resort to war as a method of last resort.
NATURE AND DEFINITION OF AUTHORITY
 Authority is “the right or the capacity or both to have
proposals or prescriptions or instructions accepted
without recourse to persuasion, bargaining or force”.
 Concise Oxford Dictionary of Politics defines authority
as “the power or right to give orders and enforce
obedience, the power to influence others based on
recognized knowledge or expertise.”
 “Authority can most simply be defined as legitimate
power. Authority is, therefore, based on an
acknowledged duty to obey rather than on any form of
coercion or manipulation. In this sense authority is
power cloaked in legitimacy or rightfulness”.
TYPES OF POLITICAL AUTHORITY
1. Traditional Authority
- Traditional authority is power that is rooted in
traditional, or long-standing, beliefs and practices of a
society.
- It exists and is assigned to individuals because of that
society’s customs and traditions.
- Traditional authority is legitimated by the sanctity of
tradition. The ability and right to rule are passed down,
often through heredity. It does not change overtime,
does not facilitate social change, tends to be irrational
and inconsistent, and perpetuates the status quo.
- Traditional authority is typically embodied in feudalism
or patrimonialism. In a purely patriarchal structure, “the
servants are completely and personally dependent upon
the lord”, while in an estate system (i.e., feudalism),
“the servants are not personal servants of the lord but
independent men” (Weber 1958, 4). But, in both cases
the system of authority does not change or evolve.
2. Charismatic Authority
- Charismatic authority stems from an individual’s
extraordinary personal qualities and from that
individual’s hold over followers because of these
qualities.
- Such charismatic individuals may exercise authority over
a whole society or only a specific group within a larger
society.
- They can exercise authority for good and for bad, as this
brief list of charismatic leaders indicates: Joan of Arc,
Adolf Hitler, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr.,
Jesus Christ, Muhammad, and Buddha. Each of these
individuals had extraordinary personal qualities that led
their followers to admire them and to follow their
orders or requests for action.
- Charismatic authority is found in a leader whose mission
and vision inspire others. It is based upon the perceived
extraordinary characteristics of an individual. Weber
saw a charismatic leader as the head of a new social
movement, and one instilled with divine or supernatural
powers, such as a religious prophet. Weber seemed to
favor charismatic authority and spent a good deal of
time discussing it.
3. Legal-Rational Authority
- Legal-Rational authority derives from law and is based
on a belief in the legitimacy of a society’s laws and rules
and in the right of leaders to act under these rules to
make decisions and set policy.
- This form of authority is a hallmark of modern
democracies, where power is given to people elected by
voters, and the rules for wielding that power are usually
set forth in a constitution, a charter, or another written
document.
- Legal-rational authority is empowered by a formalistic
belief in the content of the law (legal) or natural law
(rationality). Obedience is not given to a specific
individual leader - whether traditional or charismatic -
but a set of uniform principles. Weber thought the best
example of legal-rational authority was a bureaucracy
(political or economic).
- This form of authority is frequently found in the modern
state, city governments, private and public
corporations, and various voluntary associations. In fact,
Weber stated that the “development of the modern
state is identical indeed with that of modern officialdom
and bureaucratic organizations just as the development
of modern capitalism is identical with the increasing
bureaucratization of economic enterprise.
WEEK 4: THE GOVERNMENT
Early Attempts to Classify Governments
• Aristotle made one of the earliest attempts to classify
government structures. He distinguished between
states ruled by one person, by the few and the many-
monarchy, aristocracy, and mixed government.
• His intention was not only to describe but to evaluate
and thus he extended his classification scheme to their
'perverted' forms, which he labelled tyranny, oligarchy
and democracy.
• Charles baron de Montesquieu, a French philosopher of
the eighteenth century, produced one of the most
famous schemes of classifying governments:
• 'There are three species of government: republican,
monarchical and despotic.’
• Montesquieu's classification differed from Aristotle's in
that aristocracy and democracy were part of his
republican type of government, but his categorization
was firmly in the classical mold since the type of
 government depended on the number of people
holding power.
CLASSIFICATIONS OF GOVERNMENT
A. As to the number of Persons exercising sovereign
power.
1. Monarchy is a government in which supreme and final
authority is in the hands of a single person.
• Absolute Monarchy is a government in which the ruler
rules by divine right.
• Limited Monarchy is a government in which the ruler
rules in accordance with the Constitution.
• Tyranny is an autocratic form of rule in which one
individual exercises power without any legal restraint.
• Dictatorship is an authoritarian type of government
where there is absolute control by one person.
2. Aristocracy is a government in which political power is
exercised by few privileged classes which is known as
aristocracy or oligarchy.
• In an oligarchy, a small group of people has all the
power in the government.
3. Democracy is a government in which political power is
exercised by a majority of the people.
• Direct or pure democracy is a government in which the
will of the state is formulated or expressed directly and
immediately through the people in a mass meeting or
primary assembly.
• Indirect, representative or republican democracy is a
government in which the will of the state is formulated
and expressed through a relatively small and select
body of persons chosen by the people to act as their
representatives.
B. As to extent of powers exercised by the Central or
National Government
• Unitary Government is a government in which
the control of national and local affairs is
exercised by the central or national
government.
• Federal government is a government in which
the powers of government are divided between
the national and local governments.
C. As to the relationship between the Executive and
Legislative Branches of Government
• Parliamentary government is a government in
which the state confers upon the legislature the
power to terminate the tenure of office of the
real executive. Legislatures called parliaments
operate under a parliamentary system of
government in which the executive is
constitutionally answerable to the parliament.
Parliaments usually consist of chambers or
houses and are usually either bicameral or
unicameral.
• Presidential government is a government in
which the state makes the executive
constitutionally independent of the legislature
as regards to tenure to a large extent.
 • A presidential system is a system of
government where an executive branch is led
by a president who serves as both head of state
and head of government. In such a system, this
branch exists separately from the legislature, to
which it is not responsible and which it cannot,
in normal circumstances, dismiss.
FORMS OF GOVERNMENTS
• Anarchy is the state of having no government.
• Adhocracy is a type of organization that operates in
opposite fashion to a bureaucracy, government in
unstructured fashion.
• Androcracy or andrarchy is a form of government in
which the government rulers are male.
• Atheocracy is a government where religion is forbidden.
• Autarchy is a government by an absolute ruler.
• Bureaucracy is a government by civil servants.
• Confederacy is a union of sovereign states.
• Dyarchy is a government by two, dual monarchy.
• Ethnocracy is a form of government by a particular
ethnic group.
• Geniocracy is a government of intelligent people.
• Gynarchy is a government by women; gynocracy.
• Heptarchy is a government by seven people.
• Judiciocracy is a government by judges.
• Kakistocracy is a government by the worst.
• Kleptocracy is a government by thieves.
• Malarchy is a government by bad leaders.
• Matriarchy is a form of government by women or
mothers.
• Meritocracy is a government by those with merit.
• Minarchy is a government with the smallest possible
size.
• Nomocracy is a government through established laws
• Ochlocracy is a government by mobs.
• Particracy is a government by political parties.
• Patriarchy is a government by fathers.
• Plutocracy is a government by the wealthy.
• Polyarchy is a government by many people.
• Republic is a government by elected officials.
• Robocracy is a government by robots.
• Stratocracy is a government by armed forces.
• Technocracy is a government by technical experts.
• Tetrarchy is a government by four people.
• Theocracy is a government by a deity through the clergy
or by religious law.
• Timocracy is a government by the propertied class.
• Triumvirate is a government by three people.
Meaning of Ideology
• Ideology is a comprehensive set of normative beliefs,
conscious and unconscious ideas, that an individual,
group, or society has.
• An ideology is less encompassing than the ideas
expressed in concepts such as worldview, imaginary and
ontology.
• Political ideologies can be proposed by the dominant
class of society such as the elite to all members of
 society as suggested in some Marxist and critical-theory
accounts.
• In societies that distinguish between public and private
life, every political or economic tendency entails
ideology, whether or not it is propounded as an explicit
system of thought.
POLITICAL IDEOLOGIES
LIBERALISM
• Individualism – the individual takes priority over
society.
• Freedom – Individuals have the right to make choices
for themselves.
• Progress - Traditions should not be kept unless they
have value. New ideas are helpful because they can lead
to progress in the sciences, the economy, and society.
• The free market - Liberalism and capitalism go hand in
hand. Liberals like the free market because it easily
creates more wealth.
Conservatism
• Conservatism, political ideology, or doctrine that
emphasizes the value of traditional institutions and
practices. Conservatism is a preference for the
historically inherited rather than the abstract and ideal.
• Stability is a precious thing, and change must be made
gradually to preserve it. Undermining stability is very
dangerous because societies can easily fall into chaos
and violence.
• Concreteness Liberalism is too abstract. It focuses on
freedom and equality, not on the concrete way people
live every day, which is the focus of conservatism.
• Human Fallibility Humans are frequently ignorant,
prejudiced, and irrational.
• Unique Circumstances there is no universal answer to
the problems of society; the circumstances are unique
in each country.
• Capitalism is a political and economic ideology which
states that individuals are free.
• They are free to make money, own businesses, sell
goods and services and crucially own private property.
Emphasis within capitalist countries is on the role of
individuals rather than the state.
• In a capitalist economy, capital assets—such as
factories, mines, and railroads—can be privately owned
and controlled, labor is purchased for money wages,
capital gains accrue to private owners, and prices
allocate capital and labor between competing uses.
Pillars of Capitalism
• Private Property allows people to own tangible assets
such as land and houses and intangible assets such as
stocks and bonds.
• Self-interests people act in pursuit of their own good,
without regard for sociopolitical pressure.
• Competition through firms’ freedom to enter and exit
markets, maximizes social welfare, that is, the joint
welfare of both producers and consumers.
 • Market mechanism that determines prices in a • Public ownership Society, not individuals, should own
decentralized manner through interactions between the property.
buyers and sellers • Central Economic planning the government plans the
• Freedom to choose customers can buy different economy; there is no free market.
products, investors can pursue more lucrative ventures, • Economic equality All citizens have roughly the same
workers can leave their jobs for better pay level of prosperity.
• Limited role of government to protect the rights of DIFFERENCES BETWEEN SOCIALISM, CAPITALISM,
private citizens and maintain an orderly environment COMMUNISM
that facilitates proper functioning of markets. Attributes Socialism Capitalism Communism
Factors of Everyone Individuals Everyone
Production
Socialism are owned
• Socialism is an economic system in which the factors of by:
production are valued in relationship to their usefulness Factors of Usefulness to Profit Usefulness to
to people. Production people people
• Socialists consider both individual needs and greater are valued
social needs. for:
• They allocate resources using central planning, as in a Allocation Central plan Demand and Central plan
command economy. decided by: supply
• The mantra of socialism is, "From each according to his From each Ability Market Ability
ability, to each according to his contribution. according to decides
• Everyone in society receives a share of the production their:
based on how much each has contributed. To each Contribution Wealth Need
according to
• This system motivates them to work long hours if they
their
want to receive more. Workers receive their share of
production after a percentage has been deducted for
the common good. WEEK 4: HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF THE PHILIPPINE
Characteristics of Socialism GOVERNMENT
• Collectivism human beings are social by nature, and a. The Barangay and the Sultanate
society should respect this. Individualism is poisonous. - In early Philippine history, the barangay was a complex
sociopolitical unit which scholars have historically
 considered the dominant organizational pattern among
the various peoples of the Philippine archipelago. The
term, barangay, refers to both a house on land and a
boat on water; containing families, friends and
dependents and is currently the basic political unit of
the Philippines.
Government
• unit of government was the barangay, which consisted
of from 30 to 100 families. The term came from the
Malay word balangay, meaning boat.
• barangays were headed by chieftains called datu.
• the subjects served their chieftain during wars, voyages,
planting, and harvest, and when his house needs to be
built or repaired; they also paid tributes called buwis.
• the chief or datu was the chief executive, the legislator,
and the judge; he was also the supreme commander in
times of war.
• alliances among barangays were common and these
were formalized in a ritual called sanduguan.
• conflicts between or among barangays were settled by
violence; those who win by force is always right.
Laws
• were either customary (handed down from generation
to generation orally) or written (promulgated from time
to time as necessity arose)
• dealt with various subjects such as inheritance, property
rights, divorce, usury, family relations, divorce,
adoption, loans, etc.
• those found guilty of crimes were punished either by
fine or by death; some punishments can be considered
as torture by modern standards.
• however, it must be noted that ancients did not believe
in endangering society by letting loose a gang of thieves
of recidivists who are incapable of reform.
Legislation
• before laws are made, the chief consults with a council
of elders who approved of his plan.
• they are not immediately enforced until the new
legislation is announced to the village by the
umalohokan, who also explains the law to everyone.
Judicial Process
• disputes between individuals were settled by a court
made up of the village chief and the council of elders;
between barangays, a board made up of elders from
neutral barangays acted as arbiter.
• the accused and the accuser faced each other in front of
the “court” with their respective witnesses.
• both took an oath to tell the truth; most of the time, the
one who presents the most witnesses wins the case.
• if the losing party contests the decision, he is bound to
lose in the end because the chief always take the side of
the winner.
Trial by Ordeal
• to determine the innocence of an accused, he is made
to go through a number of ordeals which he must pass.
• examples include dipping one’s hand in boiling water,
holding a lighted candle that must not be extinguished,
 plunging into a river, and staying underwater for as long
as possible, chewing uncooked rice and spitting, etc.
• among the Ifugaos, ordeal by combat was common, i.e.,
bultong (wrestling), alaw (duel)
THE SPANISH COLONIAL ADMINISTRATION (1565 - 1821)
• The Philippines was a crown colony ruled by Spain
through Mexico from 1565 to 1821, as such, Spain ruled
the Philippines with the help of the Council of the
Indies, created in 1524, which was an overseas ministry
governing the colonies of Spain. The head of the council
was the Viceroy of Mexico.
THE SPANISH LAW
 Laws in the Philippines were from Spain and consisted
of royal decrees of the king. The numerous laws
governing the colonies were compiled and published in
the convenient colonial code entitled “Recopilacion de
las Leyes de Indies”, popularly known as the Laws of
Indies.
THE SPANISH INSTITUITIONS
• Polo - The forced labor rendered by Filipinos to the
government annually.
• Falla - exemption fee for rendering forced labor.
• Tribute – the tax called tributo, as a symbol of vassalage
to Spain.
• Bandala – system that caused a lot of hardships to the
Filipinos where products were sold compulsory to the
government.
• Encomienda System - a grant designed to reward those
persons who have rendered valuable services to the
king of Spain. Those who were given encomienda were
called “encomenderos”.
• In exchange to these privileges, the encomendero was
obliged by law to promote the welfare of his
constituents. He must 1. protect them from enemies
(bandits and pirates), 2. assist the missionaries in
propagating Christianity, 3. maintain peace and order, 4.
promote education, and to render humane treatment
among his subjects.
THREE CLASSSES OF ENCOMIENDA
• Royal Encomienda - those that were set aside for the
King of Spain
• Ecclesiastical Encomienda - those which were assigned
to the religious order.
• Private Encomienda - those who were given to the
Spaniards who helped in the conquest and colonization
of the Philippines.
Divide and Rule
• Using people to fight their own people, one fighting for
his new master, while the other preserving his own
independence.
Frailocracy
• The rule of the friars
• This made the clergy, by way of the Royal Patronage,
obtained certain political powers and privileges.
Isolation Policy
 • Prohibiting people from trading with other Asian
countries.
• This policy is to ward off the expressed interests of
other colonial powers over the island.
The Governor General
▪ He was the King’s official representative in the
Philippines.
▪ He was vested with executive, legislative and judicial
powers.
▪ He also exercised religious and extraordinary powers
called cumplase.
Executive Power
• He enforced Spanish laws and royal decrees in the
Philippines. He appointed all subordinate officials
including “alcaldes mayores” (provincial governors).
Legislative Power
• He enacted and issued laws, regulations and decrees
called superior decrees.
Judicial Power
• He was the president or presiding officer of the “Royal
Audiencia” which was the supreme court of the
Philippines during the Spanish Era.
Ecclesiastical Power
• He had the power to recommend priests for
appointment and intervene in controversies between
religious authorities.
Military Power
• The Governor General is also the commander in chief of
the armed forces.
Veto Power
• He can overrule the royal decrees; called “cumplace”.
From 1565-1898, a total of 122 governors general served in the
Philippines. Accordingly, there were more undesirable governors
who only exploited the Filipinos than serve them. There were,
however, a few good men who truly served well and are worthy
to be remembered by Filipinos.
The Three Most Remembered Spanish Governor-Generals in
Philippine History
Miguel Lopez de Legazpi (1565 – 1572)
• He was the first governor general of the Philippines. The
governor general who desired that the Spaniards &
Filipinos will live together as one community. He is
remembered for his diplomacy with natives.
Jose Basco y Vargas (1778 – 1787)
• He established Economic Society of the Friends of the
Country and the tobacco monopoly.
• He laid the foundation of agricultural progress of the
Philippines.
• He promoted the country’s economy.
Carlos Ma. De la Torre (1869 – 1871)
• He abolished press censorship.
• He is the most liberal-minded governor.
• He introduced reforms.
Checks to Gubernatorial Powers
The Royal Audiencia
 • The Supreme Court during the colonial period.
• It was established in the Philippines by virtue of the
Royal Decree of May 5, 1583.
• Its first president was Governor General Santiago de
Vera.
• It functions as an appeals court, hearing and deciding
civil and criminal cases.
• The Royal Audencia also performed non-judicial
functions such as doing consultation with the governor
known as “real arcados”.
Residencia
• The office of the incoming governor general
investigating the acts of the outgoing governor general
and other officials.
Visitador
• An investigative body sent by the king to investigate
colonial conditions.
Direct complaints
• Reports to the King by friars and other officials.
THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT
• Spain instituted the centralized form of government.
The previously independent barangays became part of
the unitary government.
• Philippines was divided into provinces consisting of two
types:
➢ Pacified – called alcaldia mayor headed by the alcalde
mayor.
➢ Unpacified – called corregimentos, each under a
Corregidor.
- The city government was called ayuntamiento.
ECCLESIASTICAL ORGANIZATION
- The Diocese of Manila, the most powerful diocese in
Asia was canonically erected on February 6, 1579 by
Pope Gregory XII encompassing all of the Spanish
colonies in Asia. The Diocese of Manila covered the
whole Philippine archipelago making the bishop of
Manila at the top of ecclesiastical hierarchy in the
colony. The bishop was appointed by the pope upon the
recommendation of the King of Spain. The first bishop
of Manila was Fr. Domingo de Salazar.
Religious Orders
• Augustinians
• Franciscans
• Dominicans
• Jesuits
• Recollects
Causes of Filipino Resistance Against Spain
• The imposition of the polo
• The tribute and other Spanish policies
• The delegation of strong political powers to the friars
• All the injustices, abuses and maladministration
committed by government officials.
Some Filipino Heroes
• Magalat led the Cagayan Revolt (1596)
• Francisco Sumoroy led the Samar Revolt (1649)
• Tamblot & Bankaw led the religious revolt in Bohol and
Leyte
• Dagohoy led the 85 years of Boholano Revolt (1744-
1829)
 • Diego & Gabriela Silang led the Ilocos Revolt
• Hermano Pule led the Tagalog religious revolt (1840)
• Muslim resistance which lasted throughout the entire
period of colonization
WEEK 4: U.S OCCUPATION TO COMMONWEALTH
THE U.S CIVIL GEVERNMENT
• War days are over that it was already time to change
government, from military shifting to a civilian rule. On
July 4 ,1901, right after Aguinaldo’s capture, the U.S
Civil Government was inaugurated with William Howard
Taft as Civil Governor. However, the military rule , due
to the continuing resistance, still prevailed over
Southern Luzon until 1902, Northern Mindanao until
1905 (after the execution of MacarioSakay), and
Southern Mindanao until 1914 (due to Muslim
resistance).
THE PHILIPPINE COMMISION
• The history of the Philippine Commission started on Jan.
31 ,1900 and is mentioned earlier in the previous
chapter. Its creation was intended to function as the
body that would study the Philippine situation and
recommended to the U.S Congress necessary measures
to make the U.S administration in the Philippines more
effective.
• With the first one w/c is the Schurman Commission, the
following were recommended to the American
Government:
a. The establishment of a territorial form of
government w/c will create a bicameral
legislature that are elected and appointed if
insurgency soon comes to an end.
b. That once there is already the cessation of
hostilities, military rule would be withdrawn,
and a civil government must be established.
c. Conservation of natural resources
d. organization of autonomous local governments.
e. Provision of free primary schools.
f. Appointment of capable Filipinos to
government offices.
• On June 3, 1900, the right to exercise legislative
functions in the Philippines was transferred to the
second Philippines Commission called as the Taft
Commission, as it was presided by William Howard Taft
(his previous position before becoming U.S Civil
Governor).
• During the Taft Commission,499 laws for the Philippines
were proposed to the U.S Congress and have become
applicable immediately. Gen. Arthur MacArthur, in the
last days of his military administration, offered amnesty
on June 21,1900.
• The opportunity was grabbed by notable person like T.
Pardo de Tavera, Felipe Buencamino and Pedro Paterno,
who later created the pro-American Federal party.
Those who were captured or surrendered but remained
unyielding were exiled to Guam and other destinations.
Mabini and Artemio Ricarte were some of them.
• The man responsible for the ending of the Military
Administration in the Philippines was Sen. John Spooner
who passed to the “Army Appropriations Act” the
 provision that would create a Civil Government in the
Philippines. This amendment is now called as the
“Spooner Amendment”.
THE TAFT ADMINISTRATION
• Taft was the first Civil Governor of the Philippines. His
administration lasted from 1901-1904. During his term,
the ff. were some of his accomplishments:
a. The passage of a relief fund for the Philippines w/c
amounted to $3 million as approved by Congress.
b. The American purchase of “Church Lands” from the
Vatican. Pope Leo XIII agreed to sell to the U.S
government the 423,000 acres of land that various
religious orders (e.g. Dominicans) possessed during the
Spanish period. These were some of the lands fought for
by landless Filipino farmers during the revolution.
The lands that were denied by the friars from the Filipinos were
distributed by the Americans to the landless farmers for low
costs and interest rates made payable for 25 years.
c. The assurance from the U.S that the Philippines will
be for Filipinos.
d. The passing of the Cooper act, or what is called as the
Philippine Bill of 1902, w/c provided for:
1. The extension of the Bill of Rights (of the U.S.
Constitution) to the Philippines and the Filipino
except, only, for the trial by jury court procedure.
2. The appointment of two Filipino Resident
Commissioners who shall function as Philippine
representatives to the U.S. Congress;
3. The creation of a Philippine Assembly w/c shall be
composed of Filipinos elected by the people. This shall
serve as the lower house of the bicameral legislature;
4. The retention of the Philippine Commission (duly
appointed by the Governor) w/c would serve as the
Upper House Legislature.
5. Conservation of natural resources.
After the inauguration of the Civil Government on July 4, 1901,
w/ William Howard Taft as Civil Governor, the office of the Vice-
Governor was likewise created on August 29, 1901. On Sept. 1
of that year, Cayetano Arellano was made Chief Justice of the
Supreme Court.
THE PHILIPPINE BILL OF 1902
• The first stage in the development of the Civil
Government was done through the passage of the
Philippine Organic Act of 1902 w/c was officially called
as the Philippine Bill of 1902, passed on July 1, 1902. It
provided that a Philippine Assembly would be created
under conditions that: a) complete peace is achieved; b)
census is made; c) a lapse of two years after the
publication of a census. It provided also for two resident
commissioners and the extension of the Bill of Rights of
the U.S. Constitution (except for the right of trial by
jury) for the Filipino people.
THE GOVERNOR GENERAL
• In 1904, Luke E. Wright was made Civil Governor
replacing Taft. In the same year, new nationalist political
parties emerged like that of Pedro Paterno’s
 Independence Party and Pascual Poblete’s National
Party. In 1905, Wright assumed the position of the
Governor General as resistance to American rule was
finally over. Wright governed from Feb. 1, 1904 to April
1, 1906. He was succeeded by Henry C. Ide on April 2.
• The significant contribution of Ide was the lifting of the
ban on independence parties that was instituted by
Wright during his term. He was replaced by James F.
Smith on Sept. 20, 1906. The most significant events
that took place during his term were the election of the
members of the Philippine Assembly and the
inauguration of this legislative body.
THE PHILIPPINE ASSEMBLY
• As the executive power was vested in the Governor
General, who also was the chairman of the Philippine
Commission, the legislative power was partly vested in
the Philippine Assembly being the lower house of the
bicameral legislature, of w/c, the Philippine Commission
served as the Upper House.
• The assembly was composed of Filipinos elected by the
people. From it would come the two Resident
Commissioners who would represent the Philippines in
the U.S. Congress.
• These representatives were given the same privileges
as members of the U.S. House of Representatives,
except for the voting privilege. The first two
commissioners were Pablo Ocampo and Benito Legarda.
• The first law that passed the Philippine Assembly was
called as the Gabaldon Law. The law created a budget
for primary education in the barrios.
• The first leaders of the Philippine Assembly were Sergio
Osmena, who served as House Speaker, and Manuel
Luis Quezon as Majority Floor Leader.
• Because of the outstanding performance of Quezon,
who was pushing for an independence measure, he was
sent as Resident Commissioner in 1909 replacing
Ocampo and partnering Legarda. In the U.S., Quezon
made impressive remarks regarding the necessity for a
Philippine independence law. Both Filipinos and
Americans were impressed w/ Quezon. Late in 1909, a
new Governor was named, William Cameron Forbes,
replacing Smith on Nov. 11.
THE PRO-FILIPINO DEMOCRATS
• From the beginning of the American civil rule up to the
time of Governor William Forbes the Americans have
continued to deny the reality that the Philippines
already needed a road for independence. The
Republicans, members of a U.S. political party, never
favored this idea. Presidents William McKinley 1897-
1901, Theodore Roosevelt, 1901-1909, and William H.
Taft, 1909-12 were all republicans. It was only on Nov.
1912 that events turned out differently and the
Democrats finally took office when Woodrow Wilson
defeated Taft. A new Governor in the Philippines was
the named, Francis Burton Harrison, a Democrat, in Oct.
1913.
 • The ff. were the accomplishments of the Harrison
Administration:
a. Pres, Wilson assigned five Filipinos out of the nine
members of the Philippines Commission, giving The
Filipinos the majority of Upper House.
b. Harrison replaced American employees w/ the Filipinos
in government service making 89% of all government
offices occupied by Filipinos by 1913. This made Wilson
and Harrison very popular among Filipinos but hated by
many Americans since many lost their jobs due to the
“Pro-Filipino” policies.
c. The Jones Bill of 1912: The bill that provided for a
complete independence in eight years, but not able to
pass the House of the Representatives. This was the first
set back of Rep. William Atkinson Jones, a democrat. It
was submitted again in 1914, at the opening of the next
Congress, only to be amended by Sen. Clarke of
Arkansas who wanted it in two to four years. It was a
better proposal and it won in the Senate w/ vice Pres.
Marshall breaking the 41 – 41 in this favor.
THE JONES LAW OF 1916
• When the bill reached the House of Representatives in
1912,and then in 1914, it was debated heavily that it
lasted up to 1916 when finally Pres. Wilson signed it on
August 29,1916, without the Clarke amendment. The
Jones law was an American law w/c was officially called
as the Philippine autonomy Law. It contained the ff.
a. A separate Bill of Rights intended for the Philippines.
b. Definition of Filipino Citizenship
c. Continuation of representation through the resident
commissioners and
d. Provision for a budgetary system and powers granted to
the new Government.
e. The creation of a bicameral (Congress) legislature,
abolishing Philippine Commission and Assembly.
THE PHILIPPINE INDEPENDENCE MISSIONS
• The first independence mission was composed of 40
members w/ Manuel L. Quezon as it’s leader. It left
Manila on Feb. 23, 1919. They were welcomed by War
Sec. Newton D. Baker who was a Philippine
independence sympathizer. However, the mission
failed w/o even meeting Wilson who was in Paris that
time. Later that year, in the Philippines, the Congress
passed a “Declaration of Purposes” w/c reiterated
Philippine aspiration for independence.
• This was reinforced by a report that Gov. Harrison made
for the U.S Pres. w/c confirmed that stable Gov’t.
already exists in the Phil.
• The end of the two terms of Pres. Wilson gave way to
the elections of another republican Pres., Warren G.
Harding. This also ended the term of Gov. Harrison who,
in Dec. 2, 1920, expressed in his farewell address that
the time for Philippine independence had come, and
that due to the stable Gov’t. that already exists. Pres.
Harding believed otherwise.
THE WOOD-FORBES MISSION
• When Pres. Warren Harding assumed the presidency he
formed a special American mission to the Philippines
w/c was tasked to report on the state of affairs of the
 latter. This mission was headed by former Gov. Forbes,
and the incoming Gov. Leonard Wood. This was the
Wood-Forbes Mission. After spending four months in
the Philippines, they were back in the U.S on Dec. 8,
1921. The report that they submitted to the President
concluded that the Filipinos were not yet prepared to
assume the responsibilities of independence.
CONTINUED MISSION FOR INDEPENDENCE
• To counter the claims of the Wood-Forbes Mission, the
Phil. Congress sent in 1922 a Second Independence
Mission to the U.S. It was jointly headed by Senate Pres.
Manuel L. Quezon and House Speaker Sergio Osmena.
They insisted that the Philippines was already worthy of
independence but, to no avail, Pres. Harding declined.
The third independence mission in 1923 likewise failed.
1923 CABINET CRISIS
• In 1923, a federal agent Ray Conley, who was sent for a
special mission had allegedly violated some gov’t.
protocols in the conduct of his work. On this reason,
Interior Sec. Jose P. Laurel terminated his services. Gov.
Wood did not favor Laurel’s decision and, instead,
reinstated the agent. As a reaction, Laurel filed his
resignation from the Cabinet. For a strong sign of
protest, a mass resignation by the rest of the Cabinet
followed.
• From 1924-1930, the Philippines sent their yearly fourth
to the eighth independence missions. All of them were
unable to secure a law, from the U.S Congress, that
would provide for the independence of the Philippines.
They were already many bills presented but none was
chosen.
THE OS-ROX MISSION
• The Os-Rox Mission, w/c was also called the Ninth
Independence Mission of 1931, was headed by Senate
Pres. Pro-Tempore Sergio Osmena and House Speaker
Manuel Roxas. By this time many American senators
and congressmen have already creating a law for
Philippine Independence. One of them was Sen. Harry
Hawes who, together w/ Rep. Hare and Sen. Cutting,
created the Hare-Hawes-Cutting Act. This was favored
by the mission. By 1932, the US Congress had already
made approval signs for the HHC Act. However,
someone was not supportive, Senate Pres. Quezon.
THE 10TH INDEPENDENCE MISSION
• Desperate enough to get the credit for achieving the
law w/c would give Filipino people their independence,
Senate Pres. Quezon sent another (10th) independence
mission. He commissioned Benigno Aquino to find him
another law from other American legislators. To
Quezon’s disappointment, Aquino defected to the Os-
Rox mission.
• By Jan. of 1933, the Hare-Hawes-Cutting Act had already
passed as a law in the Congress. However, it was vetoed
by Pres. Herbert Hoover on Jan. 13. Persistent, the
Congress passed it again that Jan. Later, it was then
signed into law by Hoover. The last signature would
 have to come from the Phil. Senate Pres. As expected,
Quezon made his maneuver.
• Later, Quezon, Himself, left for the 11th Independence
Mission. In Paris, he met Roxas and Osmena in oreder to
settle an agreement. No result was reached. On Oct. 17,
1933, Quezon officially rejected the Hare-Hawes-Cutting
Law.
THE TYDINGS-MC DUFFIE LAW
• After the rejection of the Hare-Hawes Cutting Law
under Resolution No. 46, Quezon led another mission to
the U.S in the attempt of securing another
independence law. On March 24, 1934, a new
independence measure called the Tydings-Mc Duffie
Law was passed in the congress and signed into law by
US Pres. Franklin Roosevelt. The authors of this law
were Senator Millard E. Tydings and Congressman John
McDuffie. The law was only a revised copy from the
original Hare-Hawes-Cutting Law.
• The only difference was the title & an elimination of
some military reservations. Under this law the US shall:
a. Provide a 10 year transition period, during w/c time
shall be established the Commonwealth of the
Philippines;
b. Draft a constitution that is republican by nature w/c
includes a Bill of Rights.
c. Retain the Philippines as an American territory during
the transition period.
d. Make all the Filipinos owe allegiance to the US;
e. Ensure equal protection of civil & political rights &
economic privileges among Filipinos & Americans alike.
f. Have the power, to the US Pres., to suspend any
contract or executive order made by the
Commonwealth once it becomes contrary to the
interest of the US.
g. Have the power, to the approval of US Pres., over
Commonwealth Laws pertaining to currency, coinage,
foreign trade ; immigration;
h. Create the US High Commission representing the US
Pres. Authorize Philippine representation to the US
through a resident commissioner.
i. Supervise & control Philippine foreign affairs.
j. Empower the US Supreme Court to review important
cases passed to the Commonwealth Supreme Court,
w/c includes cases pertaining to the constitution.
k. Restrict Filipino immigration in the US while not having
any limit on the number of Americans who would
migrate to the Philippines.
• The Tydings-McDuffie Law was finally accepted
by the Philippine Legislature on May 1, 1934.
The final signatures were made by Speaker
Sergio Osmena & Senate Pres. Manuel L.
Quezon.
THE COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES
• On July 10, 1934 the Philippine Legislature
elected the representative to the Constitutional
Convention, the delegates’ task was to draft the
Constitution of the Philippines. On July 30, it
was inaugurated at the Legislative Building in
Manila. There were 202 members w/ Claro M.
Recto as Pres., of the Convention.
 • On Feb.8, 1935, the Convention formally
approved a draft w/ 177-1 ratio in favor of
approval. On March 23, it was approved by the
US Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt & on May 14, it
was, through a plebiscite, ratified by the Filipino
people. The Constitution consisted of 17 articles
w/c included the Philippine territory, The Bill of
Rights, Citizenship & the three branches of
Gov’t., the executive (vested in the Pres., of the
Commonwealth as provided by law); the
Legislative (a unicameral National Assembly) &
the; Judiciary (vested in the Supreme Court).
THE 1ST COMMONWEALTH ELECTIONS
• The first national election for the President & the
member of the National Assembly was held on Sept. 17,
1935. In the Presidential election three parties
contested block voting system. This were: the Coalition
Party w/ Quezon for Pres. & Osmena for Vice Pres.; The
Nacionalista Social Party w/ Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo for
Pres., & Reymundo Melliza for Vice Pres.; The
Republican Party w/ Bishop Gregorio Aglipay for Pres.,&
Norberto Nabong for Vice.
• The Coalition Party won the elections w/ Manuel L.
Quezon as President & Sergio Osmena as Vice President,
together w/ an overwhelming majority seat for the
members of the National Assembly.
a. The Philippine Army drafted able-bodied 20 yr.
old men to be enlisted men & officers of the
armed forces. Army strength was more than
40,000.
b. Reserved Officer Training Corps or ROTC
courses were introduced in Colleges &
Universities.
c. The National Assembly enacted the 1st law of
the Commonwealth, the National Defense Act.
NATIONAL DEFENSE MEASURES
• In accordance w/ the Philippine Constitution that made
the national defense of the state “the prime duty of the
government”, the Commonwealth took the 1st steps to
national security:
a. Gen. Douglas Mc Arthur, w/ the permission from
the US War Department, was appointed as field
marshall of the newly created Philippine army.
GOVERNMENT REORGANIZATION
• Quezon established the Government Survey Board to
study the existing institution that time. Its resulted to
the revamping of the Executive Departments, Offices &
Bureaus w/c were either merged or abolished. The
Finance Department was Established. By 1914, there
were already 9 departments.
• On economics, the administration put up the National
Economic Council for the promotion of industries, crop
production, enterprise, tariffs & taxation.
• The National Development Company was created for
the mass production of staples like rice & corn. The
Agricultural & Industrial Bank was established to help
small farmers w/ convenient loans on easy terms. On
education, in Feb. 19, 1936, the National Council of
 Education was created w/ Rafael Palma (former U.P.
Pres.) as its chairman.
• The Court OF Appeals was likewise created on Feb. 1,
1936 to aid in the speedy disposition of cases. Justice
Pedro Concepcion became the 1st Presiding Justice of
this new court.
WOMEN’S SUFFRAGE
• When the democratic exercise of voting began in the
Philippines it initially did not include the women as a
part of the voting population. The US itself had only
recently allowed its women to vote. And this was only
during the term of Pres. Wilson. To extend the stretch
of democracy & recognize the equal right of women in
the building of the nation the government ordered a
plebiscite to be held for the purpose of asking the
society on whether or not the women should be given
the right to vote. On April 30, 1937, the result was
affirmative, believing that the “Filipinas” must also
respond to this call of citizenship.
THE NATIONAL LANGUAGE
• Manuel L. Quezon, on Nov. 13, 1936 created the
institute of National Language. He recommended that
the Tagalog language be the basis of the National
Language as was proposed by Jaime C. de Vera, the INL
Chairman. On Dec. 30, Quezon made the proclamation
between Filipino, based on Tagalog, as the national
language of the Philippines. Together w/ Filipino,
English & Spanish were also proclaimed as 2nd and 3rd
languages as proposed by Jaime de Vera, a Visayan.
TRADE & COMMERCE
• Due to the much restrictions that the Tyding-McDuffie
Law imposed upon the Commonwealth on Trade &
Commerce, Quezon made an official trip to the US to
remedy the problem. In the US., Pres. Roosevelt created
the Joint Preparatory Commission on Philippine Affair
(JPCPA). This commission dealt on the mutual trade
relations between the two countries. As part of its
operation, Commonwealth gov’t sent a representative
committee w/c would study the existing trade relations
between the Philippines & the US. Francis Sayre, Asst.
Sec. of State, was named as its 1st chairman.
OTHER EVENTS
• A monumental event took place in 1936 & this is the
“Arnacal” Flight. For the first time in history two
Filipinos aviators, Antonio Arnaiz & Juan Calvo, flew all
the way from Madrid to Manila establishing a new
world record. The gov’t of the republic of Spain granted
them the highest decorations reserved for civilians. The
33rd International Eucharistic Congress was held in the
Philippines w/ the celebrated arrival of His Holiness
Pope Pius XI.
• The event took place from Feb.2-7, 1937 & was the first
time that the Pope of Roman Catholic Church visited &
was heard in the Far East.
NEW CHARTED CITIES
• Before Commonwealth there were only the cities of
Manila & Baguio that exist. By 1941, 9 cities were
added: Cebu, Iloilo, Davao, Zamboanga, Bacolod,
Quezon City, Tagaytay, Kawit & San Pablo.
COMMONWEALTH PLEBISCITE
• The plebiscite was in regard to the restoration of the
bicameral legislature, the Senate & House of
Representatives, & the presidential term w/c was
proposed to be 4 years w/ one reelection instead of 6
w/ no reelection. The yes vote won overwhelmingly.
This was the 1st time Filipino women were allowed to
vote. The plebiscite results gave a room for Quezon &
Osmena to seek for another election.
THE LAST PRE-WAR ELECTIONS
• Adherent to the results of the plebiscite, general
elections were held on Nov. 11, 1941. At this time,
better diplomatic relations were being reached between
Japan & the USA. The election made Manuel L. Quezon
reelected as President by an impressive majority over
Juan Sumulong of the popular Front Party, Pedro Abad
Santos of the Socialista & Camilo Moncado of the
Modernist Party. Osmena also made it to his 2nd term.
All 24 senators came from the Nacionalista w/ Claro M.
Recto leading.
WEEK 4: THE THIRD REPUBLIC
1940 CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT OF 1935 CONSTITUTION
▪ Unicameral assembly was abolished and replaced by a
bicameral congress.
April 23, 1946
▪ Congress called for a national election set.
▪ Prior to this election, worsening relation between
Osmeña and Roxas reached breaking point.
▪ Liberals won over Nacionalista Party
INDEPENDENCE AND REPUBLIC
• July 4, 1946
✓ Independence and inauguration of the Third Philippine
Republic
✓ American Ambassador Paul McNutt-Lowered the
American flag
✓ President Manuel Roxas- Raised the Philippine flag.
FIRST PRESIDENT OF THE THIRD REPUBLIC
MANUEL A. RAMOS (1946-1948)
▪ EARLY POLITICAL CAREER
▪ Began his active and prominent role in Philippine
politics as a member of the legislature.
▪ Was elected to the senate in 1941.
▪ Offered his services to MacArthur as military aide
▪ Acted as liaison officer between the Army Commander
and Philippine Government
▪ Was appointed presidential secretary by Manuel
Quezon.
THIRD PHILIPPINE REPUBLIC
EFFORTS TOWARDS REHABILITATION
• Started on a foundation of a war-damaged nation.
• Went to Washington to solicit the help of US for funds.
• Request for immediate loan of $25 million within 5
years and $1 billion at 1.5% interest for 30 years
BELL TRADE ACT
• Law authorized by Congressman C. Jasper Bell on April
30, 1946
• Provided for free trading relations between Philippines
and the US up to the year 1954 after which, Philippine
exports to the US would be taxed an ascending tariff of
 5% every year until 1974, when all the Philippine
exports will be paid in full to US import tax.
• Fixed the exchange rate at Php2 to a $1
▪ Rebellion problem in Central and Southern Luzon
▪ Started as a guerilla organization in 1942 under Luis
Taruc and was, above all, anti-Japanese.
▪ A peasant organization who believes in the ideals of
protecting the rights of the poor and the land less
▪ Finality of conflict came when Magsaysay became
president.
Roxas
▪ Outlawed HUKBALAHAP, referring to them as lawless
and communists.
Quirino
▪ Offered them an absolute amnesty after negotiations
with Luis Taruc
April 28, 1949
▪ Mrs. Aurora Quezon, wife of late President Quezon and
their daughter were ambushed and shot to death in
Nueva Ecija
QUIRINO ADMINISTRATION
ELPIDO QUIRINO (1948-1953)
As vice president, he immediately succeeded Roxas as president
after the latter’s death in 1948
Promised to accomplish his two objectives:
- continuation of the country’s economic recovery
- preservation of the faith and confidence of the people
through restoration of peace and order
BELL MISSION REPORT
• Headed by Daniel W. Bell to survey all aspects of the
Philippine economy
• Cited the existence of inefficient production, low
incomes excessive volumes of ports, misdirected
investments, mounting deficits, inefficiency and
corruption in the government.
• Recommended reforms in public administration,
improvement of production, higher taxes, more foreign
exchange and land reforms.
• Recommended an economic aid of $250 million be
granted to Philippine government.
QUIRINO ACCOMPLISHMENT
• Successful in disabling the powerful HUKBALAHAP,
thereby restoring peace and order
• Worked on the creation of the President’s Action
Committee on Social Amelioration (PACSA) to improve
economic condition of the masses
• Established the Agricultural Credit Cooperation
Financing Administration (ACCFA) to aid farmers in
availing from government low interest loans
Built the Ma. Cristina and Ambuklao Dam Projects
Established the Boy’s Town of the Philippines
Downfall: Most damaging was the scam on the US War Surplus
Property.
RAMON MAGSAYSAY (1953-1957)
MAGSAYSAY’S ACCOMPLISHMENTS:
 ▪ Revitalized the Philippine Armed Forces by boosting the
morale of the soldiers.
▪ His policy of attraction among the masses through
personal touch restored people’s faith in government
▪ First president who conducted visits to the barrios
▪ Upliftment of barrio life as his focus
▪ First time for Philippine president in his inauguration to
wear the barong Tagalog.
▪ Philippines entered into a treaty with US, France,
Britain, Australia, New Zealand and Pakistan to prevent
communist expansion in Southeast Asia
▪ Establishment of Southeast Treaty Organization (SEATO)
in Manila on September 1954
▪ Malacañang opened its gates and was declared as a
“house of the people”
March 17, 1957
▪ Magsaysay was killed in a plane crash
GARCIA ADMINISTRATION
CARLOS P. GARCIA (1957-1961)
GARCIA’S ACHIEVEMENTS:
▪ National Economic Council passed the Resolution No.
204 upon his endorsement
▪ Promulgated “Filipino First” Policy on August 28, 1958
▪ Austerity program was adopted to encourage budget
savings on the part of the government.
MACAPAGAL ADMINISTRATION
DIOSDADO MACAPAGAL (1961-1965)
MACAPAGAL’S ACHIEVEMENTS:
▪ Took his post December 30, 1961
▪ Promised about a “New Era” of peace and prosperity to
Filipino people.
▪ Lifted economic controls.
▪ Under the Decontrol program, licenses for imports were
lifted and peso was devaluated.
▪ Agricultural Land Reform Law was enacted by congress
on August 8, 1963
▪ Philippine officially filed its claim to Sabah on June 22,
1962
▪ Responsible for transferring the celebration of
Philippine Independence Day from July 4 to June 12
MARCOS ADMINISTRATION
FERDINAND E. MARCOS (1965-1986)
MARCO’S FIRST TERM (1965-1969)
• Took his office on December 30, 1965
• Began his administration with a mountain of serious
problems inherited from the past administration.
MARCOS’ ACCOMPLISHMENT
▪ Stabilization of government finances
▪ Greater rice production
▪ Building of more roads and bridges, schoolhouses, and
other public works
▪ Philippine National Railways improved
▪ Intensive operations against smuggling, crime
syndicates and the NPA
▪ Holding of Manila Summit Conference on October 24-
25, 1966
RE-ELECTION OF MARCOS
▪ Marcos was the only president of the republic to be re-
elected for a second term.
 ▪ Was the first Philippine president to take his oath of
office in the native language.
ECONOMIC PROBLEMS
▪ Rising oil prices
▪ Prices of prime commodities spiraled skyward.
▪ Overspending in 1969 elections that led to higher
inflation and floating peso.
▪ Frequent visits of natural calamities
WEEK 5: THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF PHILIPPINE
GOVERNMENT
A. FERDINAND E. MARCOS ADMINISTRATION (1965 – 1986)
• From 1946 to 1947 Marcos was a technical assistant to
Manuel Roxas, the first president of the independent
Philippine republic. He was a member of the House of
Representatives (1949–59) and of the Senate (1959–65),
serving as Senate president (1963–65).
• In 1965, Marcos, who was a prominent member of the
Liberal Party founded by Roxas, broke with it after
failing to get his party’s nomination for president. He
then ran as the Nationalist Party candidate for president
against the Liberal president, Diosdado Macapagal. The
campaign was expensive and bitter.
• Marcos won and was inaugurated as president on
December 30, 1965. In 1969 he was reelected,
becoming the first Philippine president to serve a
second term.
• During his first term he had made progress in
agriculture, industry, and education.
• Yet his administration was troubled by increasing
student demonstrations and violent urban guerrilla
activities.
• On September 21, 1972, Marcos imposed martial law in
the Philippines.
• Holding that communist and subversive forces had
precipitated the crisis, he acted swiftly; opposition
politicians were jailed, and the armed forces became an
arm of the regime.
• Opposed by political leaders—notably Benigno Aquino,
Jr., who was jailed and held in detention for almost
eight years—Marcos was also criticized by church
leaders and others.
• In the provinces Maoist communists (New People’s
Army) and Muslim separatists (notably of the Moro
National Liberation Front) undertook guerrilla activities
intended to bring down the central government.
• Under martial law the president assumed extraordinary
powers, including the ability to suspend the writ of
habeas corpus.
• Marcos announced the end of martial law in January
1981, but he continued to rule in an authoritarian
fashion under various constitutional formats. He won
election to the newly created post of president against
token opposition in June 1981.
• Marcos’s later years in power were marred by rampant
government corruption, economic stagnation, the
steady widening of economic inequalities between the
rich and the poor, and the steady growth of a
 communist guerrilla insurgency active in the rural areas
of the Philippines’ innumerable islands.
• By 1983 Marcos’s health was beginning to fail, and
opposition to his rule was growing.
• Hoping to present an alternative to both Marcos and
the increasingly powerful New People’s Army, Benigno
Aquino, Jr., returned to Manila on August 21, 1983, only
to be shot dead as he stepped off the airplane. The
assassination was seen as the work of the government
and touched off massive anti-government protests.
• An independent commission appointed by Marcos
concluded in 1984 that high military officers were
responsible for Aquino’s assassination.
• To reassert his mandate, Marcos called for presidential
elections to be held in 1986.
• But a formidable political opponent soon emerged in
Aquino’s widow, Corazon Aquino, who became the
presidential candidate of the opposition.
• It was widely asserted that Marcos managed to defeat
Aquino and retain the presidency in the election of
February 7, 1986, only through massive voting fraud on
the part of his supporters.
• Deeply discredited at home and abroad by his dubious
electoral victory, Marcos held fast to his presidency as
the Philippine military split between supporters of his
and of Aquino’s legitimate right to the presidency.
• A tense standoff that ensued between the two sides
ended only when Marcos fled the country on February
25, 1986, at U.S. urging. He went into exile in Hawaii,
where he remained until his death.
• Evidence emerged that during his years in power
Marcos, his family, and his close associates had looted
the Philippines’ economy of billions of dollars through
embezzlements and other corrupt practices.
• Marcos and his wife, Imelda Romualdez-Marcos, were
subsequently indicted by the U.S. government on
racketeering charges, but in 1990 (after Marcos’s death)
Imelda was acquitted of all charges by a federal court.
She was allowed to return to the Philippines in 1991,
and in 1993 a Philippine court found her guilty of
corruption (the conviction was overturned in 1998).
B. CORAZON COJUANGCO-AQUINO ADMINISTRATION (1986 –
1992)
• Corazon Aquino, in full Maria Corazon Aquino, née
Maria Corazon Cojuangco, (born January 25, 1933,
Tarlac province, Philippines—died August 1, 2009,
Makati), Philippine political leader who served as the
first female president (1986–92) of the Philippines,
restoring democratic rule in that country after the long
dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos.
• Corazon Cojuangco was born into a wealthy, politically
prominent family based in Tarlac province, north of
Manila. She graduated from Mount St. Vincent College
in New York City in 1954 but abandoned further studies
in 1955 to marry Benigno Simeon Aquino, Jr., who was
then a promising young politician. Corazon remained in
the background during her husband’s subsequent
career, rearing their five children at home.
• Her husband, who had become a prominent opposition
politician, was jailed by Marcos for eight years (1972–
 80), and Corazon accompanied him into exile in the
United States in 1980. Benigno was assassinated upon
his return to the Philippines in August 1983. This event
galvanized opposition to the Marcos government.
• When Ferdinand E. Marcos unexpectedly called for
presidential elections in February 1986, Corazon Aquino
became the unified opposition’s presidential candidate.
Though she was officially reported to have lost the
election to Marcos, Aquino and her supporters
challenged the results, charging widespread voting
fraud.
• High officials in the Philippine military soon publicly
renounced Marcos’s continued rule and proclaimed
Aquino the Philippines’ rightful president. On February
25, 1986, both Aquino and Marcos were inaugurated as
president by their respective supporters, but that same
day Marcos fled the country.
• In March 1986 Aquino proclaimed a provisional
constitution and soon thereafter appointed a
commission to write a new constitution. The resulting
document, which restored the bicameral Congress
abolished by Marcos in 1973, was ratified by a landslide
popular vote in February 1987. Aquino held elections to
the new Congress and broke up the monopolies held by
Marcos’s allies over the economy, which experienced
steady growth for several years.
• But she failed to undertake fundamental economic or
social reforms, and her popularity steadily declined as
she faced continual outcries over economic injustice
and political corruption.
• These problems were exacerbated by persistent warfare
between the communist insurgency and a military
whose loyalties to Aquino were uncertain. In general,
her economic policies were criticized for being mixed or
faltering in the face of mass poverty.
D. COMPARISON OF PHILIPPINE CONSTITUTIONS
What is a constitution?
- A Constitution is a body of fundamental rules and
maxims by which the powers of government are defined
by the sovereign and in accordance with which those
powers are habitually exercised.
- It is the supreme, fundamental law of the land.
- The fundamental law establishes the character of a
government: by defining the basic principles to which a
society must conform; by describing the organization of
the government and regulation, distribution, and
limitations on the functions of different government
departments; and by prescribing the extent and manner
of the exercise of its sovereign powers.
THE EVOLUTION AND HISTORY OF THE PHILIPPINE
CONSTITUTION:
- The fundamental law establishes the character of a
government: by defining the basic principles to which a
society must conform; by describing the organization of
the government and regulation, distribution, and
limitations on the functions of different government
departments; and by prescribing the extent and manner
of the exercise of its sovereign powers.
- Philippine constitutional law experts recognize three
other previous constitutions as having effectively
 governed the country: (1) the 1935 Commonwealth
Constitution, (2) the 1973 Constitution, and (3) the 1986
Freedom Constitution. Constitutions for the Philippines
were also drafted and adopted during the short-lived
governments of Presidents Emilio Aguinaldo (1898) and
José P. Laurel (1943).
CONSTITUTION OF BIAK NA BATO (1897)
• The Katipunan revolution led to the Tejeros Convention
where, at San Francisco de Malabón, Cavite, on 22
March 1897, the first presidential and vice presidential
elections in Philippine history were held—although only
the Katipuneros (members of the Katipunan) were able
to take part, and not the general populace.
• A later meeting of the revolutionary government
established there, held on 1 November 1897 at Biak-na-
Bato in the town of San Miguel de Mayumo in Bulacán,
established the Republic of Biak-na-Bato. The republic
had a constitution drafted by Isabelo Artacho and Félix
Ferrer and based on the first Cuban Constitution. It is
known as the "Constitución Provisional de la República
de Filipinas", and was originally written in and
promulgated in the Spanish and Tagalog languages.
MALOLOS CONSTITUTION (1988)
• The Malolos Constitution was the first republican
constitution in Asia. It declared that sovereignty resides
exclusively in the people, stated basic civil rights,
separated the church and state, and called for the
creation of an Assembly of Representatives to act as the
legislative body. It also called for a Presidential form of
government with the president elected for a term of
four years by a majority of the Assembly.
• It was titled "Constitución política", and was written in
Spanish following the declaration of independence from
Spain, proclaimed on January 20, 1899, and was
enacted and ratified by the Malolos Congress, a
Congress held in Malolos, Bulacan.
COMMONWEALTH AND THIRD REPUBLIC (1935)
• The 1935 Constitution was written in 1934, approved
and adopted by the Commonwealth of the Philippines
(1935–1946) and later used by the Third Republic of the
Philippines (1946–1972). It was written with an eye to
meeting the approval of the United States Government
as well, so as to ensure that the U.S. would live up to its
promise to grant the Philippines independence and not
have a premise to hold onto its "possession" on the
grounds that it was too politically immature and hence
unready for full, real independence.
• The 1935 Constitution was written in 1934, approved
and adopted by the Commonwealth of the Philippines
(1935–1946) and later used by the Third Republic of the
Philippines (1946–1972). It was written with an eye to
meeting the approval of the United States Government
as well, so as to ensure that the U.S. would live up to its
promise to grant the Philippines independence and not
have a premise to hold onto its "possession" on the
grounds that it was too politically immature and hence
unready for full, real independence.
• A Constitutional Convention was held in 1971 to rewrite
the 1935 Constitution. The convention was stained with
 manifest bribery and corruption. Possibly the most
controversial issue was removing the presidential term
limit so that Ferdinand E. Marcos could seek election for
THE NEW SOCIETY AND FOURTH REPUBLIC (1973)
a third term, which many felt was the true reason for
which the convention was called. In any case, the 1935
Constitution was suspended in 1972 with Marcos'
proclamation of martial law, the rampant corruption of
the constitutional process providing him with one of his
major premises for doing so.
SECOND REPUBLIC (1943)
• The 1943 Constitution was drafted by a committee
appointed by the Philippine Executive Commission, the
body established by the Japanese to administer the
Philippines in lieu of the Commonwealth of the
Philippines which had established a government-in-
exile. In mid-1942 Japanese Premier Hideki Tojo had
promised the Filipinos "the honor of independence"
which meant that the commission would be supplanted
by a formal republic.
• The 1943 Constitution remained in force in Japanese-
controlled areas of the Philippines, but was never
recognized as legitimate or binding by the governments
of the United States or of the Commonwealth of the
Philippines and guerrilla organizations loyal to them.
• In late 1944, President Laurel declared a state of war
existed with the United States and the British Empire
and proclaimed martial law, essentially ruling by decree.
His government in turn went into exile in December,
1944, first to Taiwan and then Japan.
• After the announcement of Japan's surrender, Laurel
formally proclaimed the Second Republic as dissolved.
• The 1973 Constitution, promulgated after Marcos'
declaration of martial law, was supposed to introduce a
parliamentary-style government. Legislative power was
vested in a National Assembly whose members were
elected for six-year terms. The President was ideally
supposed to be elected as the symbolic and purely
ceremonial head of state from the Members of the
National Assembly for a six-year term and could be re-
elected to an unlimited number of terms. Upon
election, the President ceased to be a member of the
National Assembly.
• During his term, the President was not allowed to be a
member of a political party or hold any other office.
Executive power was meant to be exercised by the
Prime Minister who was also elected from the Members
of the National Assembly. The Prime Minister was the
head of government and Commander-in-Chief of the
armed forces. This constitution was subsequently
amended four times (arguably five depending on how
one considers Proclamation No. 3 of 1986).
• On 16–17 October 1976, A Majority Of Barangay
Voters (Citizen Assemblies) Approved That Martial Law
Should Be Continued And Ratified The Amendments To
The Constitution Proposed By President Marcos.
• The 1976 amendments were:
 o (1) an Interim Batasang Pambansa (IBP)
substituting for the Interim National Assembly
o (2) the President would also become the Prime
Minister and he would continue to exercise
legislative powers until martial law should have
been lifted.
THE SIXTH AMENDENT AUTHORIZED THE PRESIDENT TO
LEGISLATE:
• Whenever in the judgment of the President there exists
a grave emergency or a threat or imminence thereof, or
whenever the Interim Batasang Pambansa or the
regular National Assembly fails or is unable to act
adequately on any matter for any reason that in his
judgment requires immediate action, he may, in order
to meet the exigency, issue the necessary decrees,
orders or letters of instructions, which shall form part of
the law of the land.
• The 1973 constitution was further amended in 1980 and
1981. In the 1980 amendment, the retirement age of
the members of the judiciary was extended to 70 years.
In the 1981 amendments, the false parliamentary
system was formally modified into a French-style semi-
presidential system:
• Executive power was restored to the President;
• Direct election of the President was restored;
• An Executive Committee composed of the Prime
Minister and not more than fourteen 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.
• Further, the amendments instituted electoral reforms
and provided that a natural born citizen of the
Philippines who has lost his citizenship may be a
transferee of private land for use by him as his
residence.
• The last amendments in 1984 abolished the Executive
Committee and restored the position of Vice-President
(which did not exist in the original, unamended 1973
Constitution).
• In actual practice, while the 1973 Constitution was
ideally supposed to set up a true parliamentary system,
the late President Marcos had made use of subterfuge
and manipulation in order to keep executive power for
himself, rather than devolving executive powers to the
Parliament, as headed by the Prime Minister.
• The end result was that the 1973 Constitution - due to
all amendments and subtle manipulations - was merely
the abolition of the Senate and a series of cosmetic text-
changes where the old American-derived terminologies
such House of Representatives became known as the
"Batasang Pambansa" (National Assembly),
Departments became known as "Ministries", cabinet
secretaries became known as "cabinet ministers", and
the President's assistant - the Executive Secretary -
became known as the "Prime Minister."
• Ultimately, Marcos' so-called "Parliamentary System"
therefore functioned as an authoritarian-run
Presidential System due to the series of amendments
 and other modifications put in place after the 1973
Constitution was ratified.
THE 1986 FREEDOM CONSTITUTION
• Following the EDSA People Power Revolution that
removed President Ferdinand E. Marcos from office, the
new President, Corazon C. Aquino issued Proclamation
No. 3 as a provisional constitution. It adopted certain
provisions from the 1973 constitution and granted the
President broad powers to reorganize this government
and remove officials from office, and mandated that the
president would appoint a commission to draft a new
constitution.
• Following the EDSA People Power Revolution that
removed President Ferdinand E. Marcos from office, the
new President, Corazon C. Aquino issued Proclamation
No. 3 as a provisional constitution. It adopted certain
provisions from the 1973 constitution and granted the
President broad powers to reorganize this government
and remove officials from office, and mandated that the
president would appoint a commission to draft a new
constitution.
SIGNIFICANT FEATURES OF THE 1987 CONSTITUTION
• The Constitution establishes the Philippines as a
"democratic and republican State", where "sovereignty
resides in the people and all government authority
emanates from them" (Section 1, Article II).
• Consistent with the doctrine of separation of powers,
the powers of the national government are exercised in
main by three branches — the Executive branch headed
by the President, the Legislative branch composed of
Congress and the Judicial branch with the Supreme
Court occupying the highest tier of the judiciary.
• The President and the members of Congress are directly
elected by the people, while the members of the
Supreme Court are appointed by the President from a
list formed by the Judicial and Bar Council.
• As with the American system of government, it is
Congress which enacts the laws, subject to the veto
power of the President which may nonetheless be
overturned by a two-thirds vote of Congress (Section
27(1), Article VI).
• The President has the constitutional duty to ensure the
faithful execution of the laws (Section 17, Article VII),
while the courts are expressly granted the power of
judicial review (Section 1, Article VIII), including the
power to nullify or interpret laws. The President is also
recognized as the commander-in-chief of the armed
forces (Section 18, Article VII).
• The Constitution also establishes limited political
autonomy to the local government units that act as the
municipal governments for provinces, cities,
municipalities, and barangays. (Section 1, Article X)
Local governments are generally considered as falling
under the executive branch, yet local legislation
requires enactment by duly elected local legislative
bodies. The Constitution (Section 3, Article X) mandated
that the Congress would enact a Local Government
Code. The Congress duly enacted Republic Act No. 7160,
The Local Government Code of 1991, which became
effective on 1 January 1992.
• The Supreme Court has noted that the Bill of Rights
"occupies a position of primacy in the fundamental
law". The Bill of Rights, contained in Article III,
enumerates the specific protections against State
power. Many of these guarantees are similar to those
provided in the American constitution and other
democratic constitutions, including the due process and
equal protection clause, the right against unwarranted
searches and seizures, the right to free speech and the
free exercise of religion, the right against self-
incrimination, and the right to habeas corpus. The scope
and limitations to these rights have largely been
determined by Philippine Supreme Court decisions.