EVOLUTION OF THE PHILIPPINE CONSTITUTION

            A constitution is an aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. There are reliable records for four main periods of Philippine history: Spanish rule (1521–1898), American rule (1898–1946), Japanese occupation (1941–1946) and Philippine self rule (1946–present). The Philippines has had a total of six constitutions since the Proclamation of Independence on June 12, 1898. 

                HISTORICAL ANALYSIS OF THE PHILIPPINE CONSTITUTION

SPANISH RULE

·         1897 Biac-na-Bato Constitution - 34 articles 

·         1899 Malolos Constitution -101 articles 

AMERICAN RULE

·         1935 Constitution – 18 articles 

 

JAPANESE RULE

·         1943 Constitution – 12 articles 

 

PHILIPPINE SELF-RULE

·         1973 Constitution -17 articles 

·         Provisional Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines - 7 articles

·         1987 Constitution – 18 articles

SPANISH RULE

A revolution was launched against Spain and the revolutionaries declared Philippine independence in Kawit, Cavite on June 12, 1898. What became known as the Malolos Congress was convened on September 15, 1898 and the first Philippine Constitution, called the Malolos Constitution, was approved on January 20, 1899, ushering what is called the First Philippine Republic.

·         The 1897 Constitution of Biak-na-Bato

The Katipunan's revolution led to the Tejeros convention where, at San Francisco de Malabon, Cavite on March 22, 1897, the first presidential and vice presidential elections in Philippine history were held—although only Katipuneros were able to take part, and not the general populace. A later meeting of the revolutionary government established there, held on November 1, 1897 at Biak-na-Bato in the town of San MIguel de Mayumo in Bulacan, established the Republic of Biak-na-Bato. The republic had a constitution drafted by Isabelo Artacho and Félix Ferrer and was 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.

The organs of the government under the Constitution consisted of three (3) divisions: (1) the Supreme Council, (2) the Consejo Supremo de Garcia Y Justicia, and (3) the Asamblea de Representantes.

The Constitution of Biak-na-Bato was never fully implemented, and was overtaken by the Pact of Biak-na-Bato between the Spanish and the Philippine Revolutionary Army. 

·         The 1899 Malolos Constitution

    The Filipino revolutionary leaders accepted a payment from Spain and went to exile in Hong Kong. The Americans defeated the Spanish in the Battle of Manila Bay and Aguinaldo was transferred to the Philippines by the United States Navy. The newly reformed Philippine revolutionary forces returned to the control of Aguinaldo and the Philippine Declaration of Independence was issued on June 12, 1898. On September 17, 1898, the Malolos Congress was elected, which was composed of wealthy and educated men.

    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. The Malolos Constitution, namely, the Kartilya and the Sanggunian-Hukuman, the charter of laws and morals of the Katipunan written by Emilio Jacinto in 1896; the Biak-na-Bato Constitution of 1897 planned by Isabelo Artacho; Mabini's Constitutional Program of the Philippine Republic of 1898; the provisional constitution of Mariano Ponce in 1898 that followed the Spanish constitutions; and the autonomy projects of Paterno in 1898.

    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 parliamentary republic as the form of government. The president was 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.

The 1899 Malolos Constitution was never enforced due to the on-going war. The Philippines was effectively a territory of the United States upon signing of the treaty of Paris between Spain and United States, transferring sovereignty of the Philippines on December 10, 1898.

AMERICAN RULE

In the Spanish-American War of 1898, the revolutionaries sided with the Americans, hoping that, with the defeat of Spain, independence would be granted by the US to the Philippines. This, however, did not happen. After Spain ceded (or sold) the islands to the United States in the Treaty of Paris, the US immediately proceeded to brutally suppress the Philippine independence movement.

In 1916, the US passed the Jones Act which specified that independence would only be granted upon the formation of a stable democratic government modelled on the American model, not the French model as the previous constitution had been. The US approved a ten-year transition plan in 1934 and drafted a new constitution in 1935. 

·         The 1935 Constitution

    The 1935 Constitution was written, approved and adopted in 1934 by the Commonwealth of the Philippines (1935–1946) and later used by the Third Republic (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 Commonwealth Constitution was ratified to prepare the country for its independence. This constitution was dominantly influenced by the Americans, but possesses the traces of the Malolos Constitution, the German, Spanish, and Mexican Constitution, constitutions of several South American countries, and the unwritten English Constitution.

    It originally provided for a unicameral legislature composed of a president and vice president elected for a six-year term without re-election. It was amended in 1940 to provide for a bicameral legislature composed of a Senate and a House of Representatives. The President is to be elected to a four-year term, together with the Vice-President, with one re-election; the right of suffrage for male citizens of the Philippines who are twenty-one years of age or over and are able to read and write were protected; this protection, later on, extended to the right of suffrage for women two years after the adoption of the constitution.

    The draft of the constitution was approved by the convention on February 8, 1935 and was ratified by President Roosevelt in Washington D.C. on March 25, 1935. Elections were held on September 16, 1935 and Manuel L. Quezon was elected as the first President of the Commonwealth of the Philippines.

The commonwealth was briefly interrupted by the events of the World War II, with the Japanese occupying the Philippines. Afterward, upon liberation, the Philippines were declared to be an independent republic on July 04, 1946. 

JAPANESE RULE

World War II and the Japanese invasion on December 8, 1941, however, interrupted that plan. After heroic Filipino resistance against overwhelming odds finally ended with the fall of Bataan and Corregidor in 1942, a Japanese “republic” was established, in reality, a period of military rule by the Japanese Imperial Army. A new constitution was ratified in 1943 by Filipino collaborators who were called the Kapisanan sa Paglilingkod ng Bagong Pilipinas (Kalibapi). An active guerilla movement continued to resist the Japanese occupation. The Japanese forces were finally defeated by the Allies in 1944 and this sorry chapter came to a close.

·         The 1943 Constitution

    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 Hideke Tojo promised the Filipinos "the honor of independence" which meant that the commission would be supplanted by a formal republic.

    The Preparatory Committee for Philippine Independence tasked with drafting a new constitution was composed, in large part, of members of the prewar National Assembly and of individuals with experience as delegates to the convention that had drafted the 1935 Constitution. Their draft for the republic to be established under the Japanese occupation, however, would be limited in duration, provide for indirect, instead of direct, legislative elections, and an even stronger executive branch.

    Upon the approval of the draft by the Committee, the new charter was ratified in 1943 by an assembly of appointed, provincial representatives of the Kalibapi, the organization established by the Japanese to supplant all previous political parties. Upon the ratification by the Kalibapi assembly, the Second Republic was formally proclaimed (1943–1945). Jose P. Laurel was elected President by the National Assembly and sworn into office on October 14, 1943. Laurel was highly regarded by the Japanese for having openly criticized the U.S. for the way that they governed the Philippines and because he had a degree from the Tokyo International University.

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, the Commonwealth of the Philippines, or the guerrilla organizations loyal to them. In late 1944, President Laurel declared war on 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 dissolved the Second Republic.

PHILIPPINE RULE

Philippine independence was eventually achieved on July 4, 1946. The 1935 Constitution, which featured a political system virtually identical to the American one, became operative. The system called for a President to be elected at large for a 4-year term (subject to one re-election), a bicameral Congress, and an independent Judiciary.

·         The 1973 Constitution

The 1973 Constitution, promulgated after Marcos' declaration of martial law, was supposed to introduce a parliamentary-style government. Legislative power was vested in a unicameral National Assembly whose members were elected for six-year terms. The President was ideally elected as the symbolic and purely ceremonial head of state chosen from amongst 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 among the sitting Assemblymen. The Prime Minister was to be the head of government and commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces. This constitution was subsequently amended four times. 

·         The 1986 Freedom Constitution

Immediately following the 1986 People Power Revolution that ousted 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 reorganize government and remove officials, as well as mandating the president to appoint a commission to draft a new, more formal Constitution. This document, described above, supplanted the "Freedom Constitution" upon its ratification in 1987. This is the transitional constitution that lasted a year and came before the permanent constitution. It maintained many provisions of the 1973 Constitution, including in rewritten form the presidential right to rule by decree. The Convention composed of 48 members appointed by the President.

·         The 1987 Constitution

    Aquino began her term by repealing many of the Marcos-era regulations that had repressed the people for so long. In March, she issued a unilateral proclamation establishing a provisional constitution. This constitution gave the President broad powers and great authority, but Aquino promised to use them only to restore democracy under a new constitution. This new constitution was drafted in 133 days by an appointed Constitutional Commission of 48 members and ratified by the people in a plebiscite held on February 2, 1987. It was largely modelled on the American Constitution which had so greatly influenced the 1935 Constitution, but it also incorporated Roman, Spanish, and Anglo law.

    The 1987 Constitution established a representative democracy with power divided among three separate and independent branches of government: the Executive, a bicameral Legislature, and the Judiciary. There were three independent constitutional commissions as well: the Commission on Audit, the Civil Service Commission, and the Commission on Elections. Integrated into the Constitution was a full Bill of Rights, which guaranteed fundamental civil and and political rights, and it provided for free, fair, and periodic elections. In comparison with the weak document that had given Marcos a legal fiction behind which to hide, this Constitution seemed ideal to many Filipinos emerging from 20 years of political repression and oppression.

References:

Biong, Ryan D. and Evelyn J. Grey (2017). Readings in Philippine History. Iloilo City: Malones Printing Press & Publishing House.

Candelaria, John Lee P. and Alporha, Veronica C. (2018). Reading in Philippine History. Sta.Mesa Heights, Quezon City: Rex Printing Company, Inc.

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