GOVERNMENT STRUCTURE BRIEF General Masaharu Homa decreed the dissolution of
INTRODUCTION the Commonwealth of the Philippines and released
The Constitution is the fundamental law of the land.
There
had been five Constitutions.) all ratified by the
Filipino People.
namely:
Malolos Constitution
1935 Constitution
1943 Constitution(effective during the Japanese
occupation)
1973 Constitution, and
the 1987 Constitution.
The 1935 Constitution was signed by then
United States President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
The 1986 Freedom Constitution was considered as a
Provisional Constitution
-Proclamation No. 3 by President Corazon C.
Aquino
-after the People Power Revolution was not
ratified.
A constitutional commission was created that drafted
the 1986 Constitution and
upon ratificațion in a plebiscite held on February 2,
1987 it became
the 1987 Constitution which defined the present
political structure
of the Philippines.
The ratification was proclaimed on February 11,1987.
The 1987 Constitution provides that the Philippines is
a ratified the draft constitution
democratic and republican state where sovereignty
resides in the
people and all govern ment authority emanates from
them.
(Art.Sec. 1)
The government structure differs as one goes
through
history of the Philippines, which may be categorized
as follows:
(-Spanish; (b) Spanish Period, (c) American Period:
(d) Japanese
Period; (e) Republic; and () Martial Law Period.
JAPANESE PERIOD
The invasion of the Japanese forces when Clark
Field,
an American military airbase in Pampanga, was
bombed on December 8, 1941 which marked the
start of the Japanese period.
The bombing in Clark happened 10 hours after the
attack on Pearl Harbor.
Japanese military authorities immediately began
organizing a new government structure in the
Philippines and organized a council of state through
which they directed civil affairs until
October 1943 when they declared the Philippines an
independent republic.
an order to establish the Philippine Executive
Commission.
Jeorge Vargas was appointed as head of Philippine
Executive Commission on January 1942.
Japan continued to draft a government that would
obliterate anddemolish, any trace of American power
in the Philippines and so, with proclamation number
109,the Kalibapi was formed on December 4,1942
and was released to the public on December 8,1942
and became the Constitution of the Philippines.
The 1943 Constitution was ratified by a special
national convention of the Kapisanan sa Paglilingkod
ng Bagong Pilipinas, also known as Kalibapi.
Philippines for the Filipinos is the slogan of Kalibapi.
Here are the notable members of Kalibapi
Benigno Aquino,Sr.,
Teo Duran and Benigno Ramos.
Here are some of the contributions of Kalibapi.
First, it established a preparatory
commission for Philippine independence.
Second to its contribution is the ratification of 1943
Constitution.
The ratification of the 1943 Constitution was signed
on September 4, 1943 and ratified by General
Assembly three days later.
117 members of the Kalibapi General Assembly
Then it became an instrument to the appointment of
President Jose P. Laurel
as the Philippine President and Jose Yulo as Chief
Justice of the Supreme Court.
The appointment of these Filipino officials is the
way of the Japanese to prove that they were
sincere in giving independence to the Philippines
in order to earn the Filipinos' trust.
The 1943 Constitution and all laws, statutes ceased
to
be recognized or became ineffective after the war.
The 102 Supreme Court decisions during this period
were
recognized and were found in the Philippine reports.
The Japanese period was considered a military rule
by the Japanese Imperial Army which lasted
for three years and ended in 1944 with the defeat of
the Japanese forces.