EVOLUTION OF THE

PHILIPPINE CONSTITUTION

PREPARED BY: PROF. MARY RUTH V. DATARIO, JD, MPA

Constitution
It is the body of rules and maxims in accordance with which the
powers of sovereignty are habitually exercised. It is a written
instrument a written instrument enacted by the direct action of
the people by which the fundamental powers of the powers of
the government are es government are established, limi
tablished, limited, and defined, ted, and defined, and by which
those powers are distributed among the several departments for
their safe and useful exercise for the benefit of the body politics.
 Purpose of the Constitution
To prescribe the permanent framework of a system of
government, to assign to the several departments their
respective powers and duties, and to establish certain
first principles on which the government is founded.

Effectivity of the Constitution

The Present Philippine Constitution took effect on
February 2, 1987, which is the date of its ratification in
the plebiscite held on that same date and not on the date
its ratification was proclaimed.
The 1897 Biak-na-Bato Constitution
The Constitution of Biak-na-Bato was
the provisionary Constitution of the Philippine
Republic during the Philippine Revolution, and
was promulgated by the Philippine
Revolutionary Government on 1 November
1897. The constitution, borrowed from Cuba,
was written by Isabelo Artacho and Félix
Ferrer in Spanish, and later on, translated into
Tagalog.
The organs of the government under the Constitution were:
(1) the Supreme Council, which was vested with the power of the
Republic, headed by the president and four department secretaries:
the interior, foreign affairs, treasury, and war;
(2) the Consejo Supremo de Gracia Y Justicia (Supreme Council of
Grace and Justice), which was given the authority to make
decisions and affirm or disprove the sentences rendered by other
courts and to dictate rules for the administration of justice; and
(3) the Asamblea de Representantes (Assembly of Representatives),
which was to be convened after the revolution to create a new
Constitution and to elect a new Council of Government and
Representatives of the people.
This Constitution was patterned or copied after the Cuban
Constitution immediately after the transfer of government from
Cavite to Bulacan.This Constitution was known as the
“Constitucion Provisional de la Republica de Filipinas”
(Provisional Constitution of the Philippines). It was originally
written in and promulgated in the Spanish and Tagalog
language.Filipino revolutionaries adopted this Constitution to
cater the needs of the present time.
The Constitution of Biak-na-Bato was never fully implemented,
since a truce, the Pact of Biak-na-Bato, was signed between the
Spanish and the Philippine Revolutionary Army.
The 1899 Malolos Constitution
(1899-1901)
On January 20, 1899 at Barasoain
Church in Malolos, Bulacan, Malolos
Congress proclaimed, enacted and ratified
“Constitucion politica” ( Political
Constitution). This document was written
in Spanish.
The constitution has 39 articles
divided into 14 titles, with eight articles
of transitory provisions, and a final
additional article. The document was
patterned after the Spanish
Constitution of 1812, with influences
from the charters of Belgium, Mexico,
Brazil, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and
Guatemala, and the French
Constitution of 1793.
According to Felipe Calderon, main author of the constitution, these
countries were studied because they shared similar social, political,
ethnological, and governance conditions with the Philippines. Prior
constitutional projects in the Philippines also influenced the Malolos
Constitution, namely:
1.) the Kartilya and the Sanggunian Hukuman, the charter of laws and
morals of the Katipunan written by Emilio Jacinto in 1896;
2.) the Biak-na-Bato Constitution of 1897 planned by Isabelo Artacho;
3.) Mabini's Constitutional Program of the Philippine Republic of 1898;
4.)the provisional constitution of Mariano Ponce in 1898 that followed
the Spanish constitutions; and
5.) the autonomy projects of Paterno in 1898.
 The Malolos Constitution was the first
republican constitution in Asia written by People’s
Representative.
a.It declared that sovereignty resides exclusively in
the people.
b.It stated basic civil rights.
c.It separated the church and state.
d.It called for a creation of an Assembly of
Representatives to act as the legislative body.
e.It called for a parliamentary republic as the form of
government. The president was elected for a term of
four (4) years by a majority of the assembly.
Some powers not legislative in nature were also given to the body, such
as the right to select its own officers, right of censure and interpellation,
and the right of impeaching the president, cabinet members, the chief
justice of the Supreme Court, and the solicitor-general.
The president will serve a term of four years without re-election. There
was no vice president, and in case of a vacancy, a president was to be
selected by the constituent assembly.

The 1899 Malolos Constitution was never enforced due to the ongoing
war. The Philippines was effectively a territory of the United States upon
the signing of the Treaty of Paris between Spain and the United States,
transferring sovereignty of the Philippines on 10 December 1898.
 The 1935 Constitution
(1935-1943, 1945-1973)
and

The 1935 Constitution was written in 1934,

approved adopted by the
Commonwealth of the Philippines and later
used by the Third Republic. It was written
with an eye to meeting the approval of the
United States Government as well, so as to
ensure that 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 original 1935 Constitution provided for unicameral
National Assembly and the President was elected to a six-
year term without re-election. It was amended in 1940 to
have a bicameral Congress composed of a Senate and House
of Representatives, as well the creation of an independent
electoral commission. The Constitution now granted the
President a four-year term with a maximum of two
consecutive terms in office.

This is considered to be a preparatory step in granting

complete and absolute independence of the Philippine in July
4, 1946.
The 1973 Constitution (1973-1986)
In 1965, Ferdinand E. Marcos was elected president,
and in 1967, Philippine Congress passed a resolution
calling for a constitutional convention to change the
1935 Constitution.

Elections of the delegates to the constitutional

convention were held and the convention began
formally on 1 June 1971, with former President Carlos
P. Garcia being elected as convention president.
Unfortunately, he died, and was succeeded by
another former president, Diosdado Macapagal.
Before the convention finished its work, Martial
Law was declared. Marcos cited a growing
communist insurgency as reason for the Martial
Law, which was provided for in the 1935
Constitution.
The constitution was supposed to introduce a
parliamentary-style government, where legislative power
was vested in a unicameral National Assembly, with
members being elected to a six-year term. The President
was ideally elected as the symbolic and purely ceremonial
head of state chosen from among the Members of the
National Assembly for a six-year term and could be 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.
The 1973 Constitution was further amended in 1980 and 1981. In the 1980
amendment, the retirement age of the members of judiciary was extended to 70
years. In the 1981 amendments, the false parliamentary system was formally
modified into a French-style semi-presidential system:
a.executive power was restored to the President;
b.direct election of the President was restored;
c.an Executive Committee composed of the Prime Minister and not more than 14
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 prescribed:” and the Prime
Minister was a mere head of the Cabinet.

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).
While the 1973 Constitution ideally provided for a true parliamentary system, in
practice, Marcos had made use of subterfuge and manipulation in order to keep
executive powers for himself, rather than developing these to the Assembly and
the cabinet headed by the Prime Minister. The end result was the final form of
the 1973 Constitution after all Amendments and subtle manipulations-was
merely the abolition of the Senate and a series of cosmetic rewordings The old
American-derived terminology was replaced by names more associated with
parliamentary government: for example, The House of Representatives became
known as the “Batasang Pambansa” (National Assembly), Department became
“Ministries,” and their cabinet secretaries became known as “cabinet ministries,”
with the President’s assistant-the Executive Secretary-now being styled the
“Prime Minister.” Marcos supported parliamentary system in practice
functioned as an authoritarian presidential system, with all real power
concentrated in the hands of the President but with the premise that such was
now constitutional.
The 1986 Freedom Constitution
(1986-1987)
Immediately following the 1986 People
Power Revolution that ousted Ferdinand E.
Marcos, President Corazon C. Aquino issued
Proclamation No. 3 as a provisional
constitution. It adopted certain provisions
from the 1973 Constitution while abolishing
others. It granted the President broad powers
to recognize government and remove officials,
as well as mandating the president to appoint
a commission to draft a new, more formal
Constitution. Often called the “Freedom
Constitution,” this constitution was only
intended as a temporary constitution to
ensure the freedom of the people and the
return to democratic rule. A constitutional
commission was soon called to draft a new
constitution for the country.
THE 1987 CONSTITUTION (1987-
PRESENT)
This is the present Constitution of the
Philippines, wherein the branches of the
government are divided into three main
departments: (a) The Executive, (b) The Legislative,
and (c) The Judiciary. The primordial principles
adopted under this Constitution are the principle of
checks and balances and separation of powers with
the introduction of the three Constitutional
Commissions. The constitution was ratified by a
nationwide plebiscite on February 8, 1987.
The Constitution contains a preamble and
eighteen self-contained articles with a section
numbering that resets for every article.
Contents of the Constitution:

Preamble
The preamble introduces the constitution and the source of
sovereignty, the people. It follows the pattern in past constitutions,
including an appeal to God.

Article l – National Territory

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 the
archipelago, regardless of their breadth and dimensions, form part of
the internal waters of the Philippines.
Article II - Declaration of Principles and the State
Article II lays out the basic social and political creed of the Philippines, particularly
the implementation of the constitution and sets forth the objectives of the government.
Article III – Bill of Rights
Article III enumerates specific protections against the abuse of state power, most of
which are similar to the provisions of the U.S. Constitution.
Article IV – Citizenship
Article IV defines the citizenship of Filipinos. It enumerates two kinds of citizens:
natural-born citizens and naturalizes citizens. Natural-born citizens are those who are
citizens from birth without having to perform any act to acquire or protect Philippine
citizenship. The Philippines follows a jus sanguinis system where citizenship is mainly
acquired through blood relationship with Filipino citizens.
Natural- born citizenship forms an important part of the political system as only
natural-born Filipinos are eligible to hold high offices, including all elective offices
beginning with a representative in the House of representatives up to the President.
Article V – Suffrage
Article V mandates various age and residence qualifications to vote and a system of secret
ballots and absentee voting. It also mandates a procedure for overseas and disabled and illiterate
Filipinos to vote.
Article VI – Legislative Department
Article VI for a bicameral legislature called the Congress composed of the Senate and House
of representatives. It vests upon Congress, among others, the power of investigation and inquiry
in aid of legislation, the power to declare the existence of a state of war, the power of the purse,
the power of taxation, and the power of eminent domain.
Article VII – Executive Department
Article VII provides for a presidential form of government where the executive power is
vested on the President. It provides for the qualification, terms of office, election, and power
and functions of the President. It also provides for a Vice-President and for presidential line of
succession.
Article VIII – Judicial Department
Article VIII vests the judicial power upon the Supreme Court and
other lower courts as may be established by law (by Congress). While
the power to appoint justices and judges still reside with the President,
The President may only appoint nominees pre selected by the Judicial
and Bar Council, a body composed of the Chief Justice of the Supreme
Court, the Secretary of Justice, the Chairs of the Senate and House
Committees on Justice, and representatives from the legal profession.
Article IX – Constitutional Commission
Article IX establishes three constitutional commissions: the Civil
Service Commission, the Commission on Elections, and the Commission
onAudit.
Article X – Local Government
Article X pursues for local autonomy and mandates Congress to
enact a law for the local government, now currently the Local
Government Code.
Article XI – Accountability of Public Officers
Article XI establishes the Office of Ombudsman which is responsible
for investigating and prosecuting government officials. It also vests upon
the Congress the power to impeach the President, the Vice-president,
members of the Supreme Court, and the Ombudsman.

Article XII – National Economy and Patrimony

Article XIII – Social Justice and Human Rights
Article XIV – Education, Science and Technology, Arts, Culture and Sports
Article XV – The Family
Article XVI – General Provisions
Article XVII – Amendments or Revisions
Article XVIII – Transitory Provisions
 The Executive branch is headed by the president and his
cabinet, whom he appoints. The president is the head of the
state and the chief executive, but his power is limited by
significant checks from the two other co-equal branches of
government, especially during times of emergency. This is put
in place to safeguard the country from the experience of martial
law despotism during the presidency of Marcos. In cases of
national emergency, the president may still declare martial law,
but not longer than a period of sixty days. Congress, through a
majority vote, can revoke this decision, or extend it for a period
that they determine. The Supreme Court may also review the
declaration of martial law and decide if there were sufficient
justifying facts for the act.
The legislative power resides in a Congress divided into two Houses: the
Senate and the House of Representatives. The 24 senators are elected at
large by popular vote, and can serve no more than two consecutive six year
terms. The House is composed of district representatives representing a
particular geographic area and makes up around 80% of the total number of
representatives. There are 234 legislative districts in the Philippines that
elect their representatives to serve three-year terms. The 1987 Constitution
created a party-list system to provide spaces for the participation of under
represented community sectors or groups. Party-list representatives may
fill up not more than 20% of the seats in the House.
Congress may also declare war, through a two-thirds vote in both upper and
lower houses. The power of legislation, however, is also subject to an
executive check, as the president retains the power to veto or stop a bill
from becoming a law. Congress may only override this power with a two-
thirds vote in both houses.
The Philippine Court system is vested with the power of the
judiciary, and is composed of a Supreme Court and lower courts as
created by law. The Supreme Court is a 15-member court
appointed by the president without the need to be confirmed by
Congress.
The Supreme Court Justices may hear, on appeal, any cases
dealing with the constitutionality of any law, treaty, or decree of
the government, cases where questions of jurisdiction or judicial
error are concerned, or cases where the penalty is sufficiently
grave.
Constitutional Commissions
The Constitution also established three independent
Constitutional Commissions, namely, the Civil Service
Commission, a central agency in charge of government
personnel; the Commission on Elections, mandated to
enforce and administer all election laws and regulations;
and the Commission on Audit, which examines all funds,
transactions, and property accounts of the government
and its agencies.
To further promote the ethical and
lawful conduct of the
government, the Office of the
Ombudsman was created to
investigate complaints that
pertain to public corruption,
unlawful behavior of public
officials, and other public
misconduct. The Ombudsman can
charge public officials before the
Sandiganbayan, a special court
created for this purpose.
Changing the Constitution is a perennial issue that crops up, and terms such as
"Cha-Cha," "Con-Ass," and "Con-Con" are regularly thrown around. Article XVII
of the 1987 Constitution provides for three ways by which the Constitution can
be changed.

1. Congress as Constitutional Assembly acting upon a vote of ¾ of all its

members.
2. Constitutional Convention called for such purpose by a 2/3 vote of all the
members of the Congress or by majority vote of all its members, Congress may
submit to the electorate the question of calling such a convention.
3. People’s Initiative applies only to an amendment, not a revision, of the
Constitution. A people’s initiative can only propose amendments to the
Constitution, inasmuch as the Constitution itself limits initiatives to
amendments, as shown by the deliberations of the Constitutional Commission.
 Attempts to Amend or Change the 1987
Constitution
1995
-Then Secretary of National Security Council Jose Almonte drafted a
constitution, but it was exposed to the media and it never prospered.
1997
-When a group called PIRMA hoped to gather signatures from voters
to change the constitution through a people's initiative. Many were
against this, including then Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago, who
brought the issue to court and won-with the Supreme Court judging
that a people's initiative cannot push through without an enabling
law.
 Estrada Administration
-Joseph Ejercito Estrada, formed a study commission to investigate
the issues surrounding charter change focusing on the economic
and judiciary provisions of the constitution. This effort was also
blocked by different entities.
Arroyo Administration
-Then House Speaker Jose de Venecia endorsed constitutional
change through a Constituent Assembly, which entails a two-thirds
vote of the House to propose amendments or revision to the
Constitution. This initiative was also not successful since the term
of President Arroyo was mired in controversy and scandal,
including the possibility of Arroyo extending her term as president,
which the Constitution does not allow.
 Aquino III Administration
-President Benigno Aquino III had no marked interest in
charter change, except those emanating from different
members of Congress, including the Speaker of the House,
Feliciano Belmonte Jr., who attempted to introduce
amendments to the Constitution that concern economic
provisions that aim toward liberalization. This effort did not
see the light of day.
Duterte Administration
-Federalism in the Philippines was supported by President
Duterte in the 2016 presidential elections, saying that it will
evenly distribute wealth in the Philippines instead of
concentrating it in Manila, the capital of the country.
Federalism
As a form of government, a central governing authority and constituent
political units constitutionally share sovereignty.
The country will be broken into autonomous regions. Each region will be
further divided into local government units.
The regions will have the primary responsibility of industry development,
public safety and instruction, education, healthcare, transportation, and
many more.
Each region will also take charge of their own finances, plans for
development, and laws exclusive to their area.
The national government, on the other hand, will only handle matters of
national interest such as foreign policy and defense, among others.
In this system, it is possible for the central government and the regions to share
certain powers.
Pros of Federalism

Each region may custom fit solutions to problems brought about by their distinct
geographic, cultural, social, and economic contexts.
Regions also have more power over their finances.They can choose to directly
fund their own development projects without asking for the national
government's go signal.
Promote specialization, regional governments can take care of administrative
issues.
It may be a solution to the conflict in Mindanao, since a separate Bangsamoro
region could be established for Muslim Mindanao.
It could address the inequality in wealth distribution and lessen the dependence
to Metro Manila, since regions can proceed with what they have to do without
needing to consider the situation in the capital.
Cons of Federalism
It creates competition among regions, it could also be a challenge to
achieving unity in the country.
There might be regions which are not ready to govern themselves, or
have lesser resources, which could mire them deeper in poverty and
make development uneven in the country.
There could be issues regarding overlaps in jurisdiction, since
ambiguities may arise where national ends and regional begins, or
vice versa.
It would cost billions to dismantle the current system and would take
a long time before the system normalizes and irons out its kinks.