SUAREZ REVIEW CENTER

PHILIPPINE GOVERNMENT AND

CONSTITUTION
POLITICS - Derived from the greek word polis ("city-state"), which
means a political system consisting of an independent city having
sovereignty over contiguous territory and serving as a centre and leader
of political, economic, and cultural life.

- Is the set of activities that are associated with making

decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals.

- The activities associated with the governance of a country or

other area, especially the debate or conflict among individuals or parties
having or hoping to achieve power.
Political science – is a branch of Social Science that
deals with the study of politics and power from
domestic, international, and comparative perspectives.
It entails understanding political ideas, ideologies,
institutions, policies, processes, and behavior, as well
as groups, classes, government, diplomacy, law,
strategy, and war.
 WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN
A NATION AND A STATE?

NATION
A nation is a group of people
with a common language,
history, culture, and (usually)
geographic territory.
STATE
A state is an association of people
characterized by formal institutions
of government, including laws;
permanent territorial boundaries;
and sovereignty (political
independence).
 Concept of State
• PEOPLE/POPULATION The state is a form of human
association distinguished from other
social groups by its purpose, the
• TERRITORY establishment of order and security, its
methods, the laws and their
enforcement, its territory, the area of
• GOVERNMENT jurisdiction or geographic boundaries,
and finally by its sovereignty.
• SOVEREIGNTY
1. PEOPLE/POPULATION
- State is a community of persons. It is a human political institution. Without a
population there can be no State. Population can be more or less but it has to be
there. There are States with very small populations like Switzerland, Canada and
others, and there are States like China, India and others, with very large
populations.

- The people living in the State are the citizens of the State. They enjoy rights and
freedom as citizens as well as perform several duties towards the State. When
citizens of another State are living in the territory of the State, they are called
aliens. All the persons, citizens as well as aliens, who are living in the territory of
the State are duty bound to obey the state laws and policies. The State exercises
supreme authority over them through its government.
 2. TERRITORY
Territory is the second essential element of the State. State is a territorial unit. Definite
territory is its essential component. A State cannot exist in the air or at sea. It is
essentially a territorial State. The size of the territory of a State can be big or small;
nevertheless it has to be a definite, well-marked portion of territory.

The whole territory of the state is under the sovereignty or supreme power of the State.
All persons, organizations, associations, institutions and places located within its
territory are under the sovereign jurisdiction of the State.

Further, it must be noted that the territory of the state includes not only the land but
also, rivers, lakes, canals inland seas if any, a portion of coastal sea - territorial waters
or maritime belt, continental shelf, mountains, hills and all other land features along
with the air space above the territory.
There is no definite limit for the size of population essential for a
State. However, it is recognized that the population should be neither
too large nor very small. It has to be within a reasonable limit. It
should be determined on the basis of the size of the territory of the
State, the available resources, the standard of living expected and
needs of defense, production of goods and supplies.
 KINDS OF TERRITORY
1. TERRISTRIAL DOMAIN - Refers to the land, this could be
agricultural, residential, and industrial lands. Moreover, this also includes the
park, forest. and mineral areas of the Philippines.

2. Fluvial Domain - Refers to the water, this could be seas, rivers, oceans, lakes,
canals, ports and harbor, Internal or National Water. Include rivers, lakes, canals,
ports, harbors, gulfs and bays and waters around, between and connecting the
islands of the archipelago.

3. Aerial Domain - Refers to the air. the constitutional provision on aerial domain is
an affirmation of the generally accepted principle of international law found in the
international convention of civil aviation 34hicagoconvention5 which says that, stated
have complete and exclusive sovereignty over the air space above its territory.
Thus, state aircrafts are not allowed to fly over the territory of
another state or land there of without authorization by special
agreement or otherwise and in accordance with the terms thereof. In
orbiting satellite owned by a state which is directly above the
territory of another but is in outer space does not offend the
territorial integrity of the latter state. So if a satellite is positioned in
outer space directly pointing to the Philippine territory is acceptable
as long as, the information taken will not be used to destroy or
endanger the life of the any species.
 3. GOVERNMENT
Government is the organization or machinery or agency or magistracy of the State
which makes, implements, enforces and adjudicates the laws of the state.
Government is the third essential element of the State. The state exercises its
sovereign power through its government.

This sometimes creates the impression that there is no difference between the
State and Government. However it must be clearly noted that government is just
one element of the State. It is the agent or the working agency of the State.
Sovereignty belongs to the State; the government only uses it on behalf of the
State.
Government is an essential element of State. However it keeps on changing after
regular intervals. Further, Government can be of any form - Monarchy or
Aristocracy or Dictatorship or Democracy. It can be either Parliamentary or
Presidential or both. It can be Unitary or Federal or of mixture of these two in its
organization and working. In contemporary times every civilized State has a
democratic representative, responsible transparent and accountable government.
GOVERNMENT OF THE PHILIPPINES
The Philippines is a democratic and republican State. The Philippines is a republic
with a presidential form of government wherein power is equally divided among its
three branches: executive, legislative, and judicial.
One basic corollary in a presidential system of government is the principle of
separation of powers wherein legislation belongs to Congress, execution to the
Executive, and settlement of legal controversies to the Judiciary.
 BRANCHES OF GOVERNMENT
LEGISLATIVE
The Legislative branch is authorized to make laws, alter, and repeal them
through the power vested in the Philippines Congress. This institution is divided
into the Senate and the House of Representatives.

UPPER HOUSE - composed of 24 Senators and headed by Senate President.

LOWER HOUSE - 253 of these are district representatives, and 63 are

party-list representatives, headed by House Speaker.
EXECUTIVE
The Executive branch is composed of the President and the Vice President who are
elected by direct popular vote and serve a term of six years. The Constitution grants
the President authority to appoint his Cabinet. These departments form a large portion
of the country’s bureaucracy.
JUDICIAL
The Judicial branch holds the power to settle controversies involving rights that are
legally demandable and enforceable. This branch determines whether or not there has
been a grave abuse of discretion amounting to lack or excess of jurisdiction on the
part and instrumentality of the government. It is made up of a Supreme Court and
lower courts.
The Constitution expressly grants the Supreme Court the power of Judicial Review as
the power to declare a treaty, international or executive agreement, law, presidential
decree, proclamation, order, instruction, ordinance or regulation unconstitutional.
 SOVEREIGNTY
Supreme power or authority,
freedom from external
control.

Internal Sovereignty External Sovereignty

It refers to the supreme It refers to the equal power every
authority or exercising state posses to exercise their
supreme control within a authority within a territory without
boundary of the state. any external interference.
 INHERENT POWERS OF THE STATE
POLICE POWER
The most powerful tool of the
state in regulating liberty is
police power. Generally, police
power is that inherent and
plenary power in the State
which enables it to prohibit all
things hurtful to the comfort,
safety and welfare of society.
Example:
food and drug regulations,
environmental preservation
laws, and workplace safety
laws.
POWER OF TAXATION
The ability of a government
to impose and collect taxes.
Example:
Sales taxes on goods
produced, bought, and sold
entirely within a state are
one example of taxation
authority that is reserved to
the states.
POWER OF EMINENT
DOMAIN
The inherent power of a nation or
a sovereign state to take, or
sanction the taking of, private
property for a public use without
the owner's consent, conditioned
upon payment of just
compensation.
Example: Highways, dams,
reservoirs, national parks,
stadiums, housing, or even
shopping centers and factories, if
public economic benefits can be
attributed to these uses.