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OVERVIEW OF THE PHILIPPINE POLITICAL SYSTEM
I. THE PHILIPPINE CONSTITUTION
A. Definition
The body of fundamental laws, customs, norms, standards and principles
according to which the Government operates and their relations with the citizen
are defined.
The basic and paramount law to which all other laws must conform and to which
all the persons, including the highest officials of the land, must defer.
B. History
THE CONSTITUTION OF 1987 is the fourth fundamental law to govern the
Philippines since it became independent on July 4, 1946. The first was the
Commonwealth Constitution, adopted in 1935, which continued by its provisions to
be operative after the proclamation of the Republic of the Philippines. The second was
the Constitution of 1973, which was enforced during the Marcos regime following its
dubious approval and ratification at a time when the country was already under
martial law. On February 25, 1986, as a result of the people power upheaval that
deposed President Marcos, the new President proclaimed a Freedom Constitution, to
be effective pending the adoption of a permanent Constitution aimed at correcting the
shortcomings of the previous constitutions and specifically eliminating all the
iniquitous vestiges of the past regime. Toward this end, President Corazon C. Aquino,
in Proclamation No. 9, created a Constitutional Commission composed of fifty
members appointed by her and charged it to frame a new charter not later than
September 2, 1986. All but one of those appointed accepted and immediately
undertook their mission under the presidency of Justice Cecilia Munoz-Palma,
formerly of the Supreme Court. The members came from various sectors and
represented diverse persuasions, which is probably one reason why they could not
meet their deadline and were able to approve the final draft of their handiwork only
on October 15, 1986. By resolution of the Commission, it was recommended to the
President that the plebiscite on the proposed Constitution be scheduled, not within
sixty days as originally provided, but within three months, to give the people more
opportunity to study it. Accordingly, the plebiscite was scheduled and held on
February 2, 1987. The campaign for the ratification of the proposed Constitution was
led by President Aquino herself, whose main argument was that it would restrict the
powers of the Presidency as provided for in the Freedom Constitution. Opposition to
the draft, while spirited, was largely disorganized and consequently ineffective. Man
people, while doubtful about some of its provisions and especially of its length, which
made it seem like a codification, nevertheless approved the proposed Constitution in
the end because they felt it would provide the stability the country sorely needed at
the time. When the votes were tallied, it appeared that 76.29% of the electorate had
voted to ratify, with only 22.74% against.
C. Classications
1. As to the origin
a. Conventional/Enacted – framed by a constituent body called the
Constitutional convention
b. Cumulative/Evolved – undergoes development and growth by
accumulation of fundamental laws and by evolution of usages or
customs through time
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2. As to the form
a. Written – codified in a single document
b. Unwritten – not codified in a single document
3. As to the manner of its amendment
a. Rigid/Inelastic – difficult to amend
b. Flexible/Elastic – easily amendable
D. Characteristics
1. Broad and Comprehensive
2. Brief or Concise
3. Clear and Definite
E. Contents (referring to written Constitution)
1. Preamble
2. Organization, form, and distribution of powers and functions of the
government
3. Bill of Rights
4. Amendatory Process
F. Functions
1. Instrument of the government in exercising their political authority
2. Instrument to promote social and economic welfare
3. Symbol of unity and values of the people
II. PHILIPPINE STATE
A. Definition
THE STATE is a community of persons, more or less numerous, permanently
occupying a fixed territory, and possessed of an independent government
organized for political ends to which the great body of inhabitants render habitual
obedience.
B. Elements
1. People – inhabitants of the State
2. Territory – fixed portion of the surfaced of the earth inhabited by the people of
the State
3. Government – the agency or instrumentality to which the will of the State of
formulated, expressed and realized
4. Sovereignty – supreme and uncontrollable power inherent in a State by which
that State is governed
a. Legal – authority which has the power to issue final commands
b. Political – power behind the legal sovereign or the sum of influences
that operates upon it
c. Internal – power of the State to control its domestic affairs
d. External – power of the State to direct its relation with other States,
also known as independence
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III. PHILIPPINE GOVERNMENT
A. Classifications
1. As to the number of person exercising sovereign powers
a. Monarchy
b. Aristocracy
c. Democracy – derived from the Greek words demos (people) and kratia
or kratos (rule) which means people’s rule or a government by the
people, of the people and for the people
2. As to relationship between the executive and legislative branches of
government
a. Presidential – the three branches of government are independent from
each other thus the principle of separation of powers is exercise
b. Parliamentary – (there is a fusion of executive and legislative branches
of government)
3. As to extent of powers exercised by the central or national government
a. Unitary – concentrates the governmental powers in one organ or unit
b. Federal – (there is a devolution of governmental powers from the
central government to its local government unit)
B. Branches
1. Legislative (Philippine Congress – House of Senate(24)/Upper House and
House of Representaives/Lower House(1/district) or Bicameral System; 6
years (2 terms)) – make laws and may alter or repeal the same
2. Executive (President, Vice President and Cabinet members; 6 years (1 term
only)) – enforce the laws enacted by Congress
3. Judiciary (Chief Justice, Associate Justices, Judges from MTC, RTC and CA
as well as the BAR council) – interpret the laws and settle disputes or conflicts
4. Local Government Unit
a. BARMM and CAR – Regional Governor and Regional Vice Governor
a. Province – Governor and Vice Governor
b. City/Municipality/Town – Mayor and Vice Mayor; Sangguniang
Bayan (Municipal council)/Sangguniang Panglungsod (City council)
c. Barangay – Punong Barangay (Barangay Chairman); Kagawad
(Barangay council) – SK Chairman; SK kagawad
IV. PHILIPPINE NATIONAL TERRITORY
A. Definition
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.
B. Components
1. Terrestrial domain – landmass
2. Fluvial/Maritime domain – inland and external waters
3. Aerial domain – airspace above the land and waters
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C. Archipelagic Doctrine – connects the outermost part of the archipelago with straight
baselines and consider all water enclosed thereby as internal waters and that after 12
nautical miles is the territorial sea which we has the State’s sovereignty over it and
after 24 nautical miles is the contiguous zone and after 200 nautical miles is the
exclusive economic zone which the State exercises its sovereign rights.
V. NATIONAL SYMBOLS
A. National Flag - The Philippines national flag, as defined by the National Historical
Commission of the Philippines, is made of silk, had a white equilateral triangle at the
left containing a sunburst of eight rays at the center, a five-pointed star at each angle
of the triangle, an upper stripe of blue and a lower stripe of red. The sun stands for
liberty; the sunburst of eight rays for the first eight provinces to take up arms against
Spain; and the three stars for the three island groups of the Philippines – Luzon,
Visayas and Mindanao. The white triangle signifies Filipino hope for equality; the
upper blue stripe stands for peace, truth and justice; while the lower red stripe stands
for patriotism and valor.
