The Constitution of the Philippines (Filipino: Saligang Batas ng Pilipinas) is the supreme law of the

Philippines. The Constitution currently in effect was enacted in 1987, during the administration of
President Corazon C. Aquino, and is popularly known as the "1987 Constitution".[1] Philippine
constitutional law experts recognise three other previous constitutions as having effectively governed
the country — the 1935 Commonwealth Constitution, the 1973 Constitution, and the 1986 Freedom
Constitution.[2][3] Constitutions for the Philippines were also drafted and adopted during the short-lived
governments of Presidents Emilio Aguinaldo (1898) and José P. Laurel (1943).

Background of the 1987 Constitution

In 1986, following the People Power Revolution which ousted Ferdinand E. Marcos as president,
and following on her own inauguration, Corazon C. Aquino issued Proclamation No. 3, declaring
a national policy to implement the reforms mandated by the people, protecting their basic rights,
adopting a provisional constitution, and providing for an orderly transition to a government
under a new constitution.[4] President Aquino later issued Proclamation No. 9, creating a
Constitutional Commission (popularly abbreviated "Con Com" in the Philippines) to frame a
new constitution to replace the 1973 Constitution which took effect during the Marcos martial
law regime. Aquino appointed 50 members to the Commission. The members of the Commission
were drawn from varied backgrounds, including several former congressmen, a former Supreme
Court Chief Justice (Roberto Concepción), a Catholic bishop (Teodoro Bacani) and film director
(Lino Brocka). Aquino also deliberately appointed 5 members, including former Labor Minister
Blas Ople, who had been allied with Marcos until the latter's ouster. After the Commission had
convened, it elected as its president Cecilia Muñoz-Palma, who had emerged as a leading figure
in the anti-Marcos opposition following her retirement as the first female Associate Justice of the
Supreme Court.

The Commission finished the draft charter within four months after it was convened. Several
issues were heatedly debated during the sessions, including on the form of government to adopt,
the abolition of the death penalty, the continued retention of the Clark and Subic American
military bases, and the integration of economic policies into the Constitution. Brocka would walk
out of the Commission before its completion, and two other delegates would dissent from the
final draft. The ConCom completed their task on 12 October 1986 and presented the draft
constitution to President Aquino on October 15, 1986. After a period of nationwide information
campaign, a plebiscite for its ratification was held on February 2, 1987. More than three-fourths
of all votes cast, 76.37% (or 17,059,495 voters) favored ratification as against 22.65% (or
5,058,714 voters) who voted against ratification. On February 11, 1987, the new constitution was
proclaimed ratified and took effect. On that same day, Aquino, the other government officials,
and the Armed Forces of the Philippines pledged allegiance to the Constitution.[5]
Significant features of the 1987 Constitution
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Constitution of the Philippines (1987)

The Constitution establishes the Philippines as a "democratic and republican State", where
"sovereignty resides in the people and all government authority emanates from them". (Section 1,
Article II) Consistent with the doctrine of separation of powers, the powers of the national
government are exercised in main by three branches — the executive branch headed by the
President, the legislative branch composed of Congress and the judicial branch with the Supreme
Court occupying the highest tier of the judiciary. The President and the members of Congress are
directly elected by the people, while the members of the Supreme Court are appointed by the
President from a list formed by the Judicial and Bar Council. As with the American system of
government, it is Congress which enacts the laws, subject to the veto power of the President
which may nonetheless be overturned by a two-thirds vote of Congress (Section 27(1), Article
VI). The President has the constitutional duty to ensure the faithful execution of the laws
(Section 17, Article VII), while the courts are expressly granted the power of judicial review
(Section 1, Article VIII), including the power to nullify or interpret laws. The President is also
recognized as the commander-in-chief of the armed forces (Section 18, Article VII).

The Constitution also establishes limited political autonomy to the local government units that
act as the municipal governments for provinces, cities, municipalities, and barangays. (Section 1,
Article X) Local governments are generally considered as falling under the executive branch, yet
local legislation requires enactment by duly elected local legislative bodies. The Constitution
(Section 3, Article X) mandated that the Congress would enact a Local Government Code. The
Congress duly enacted Republic Act No. 7160, The Local Government Code of 1991, which
became effective on 1 January 1992.[6] The Supreme Court has noted that the Bill of Rights
"occupies a position of primacy in the fundamental law".[7] The Bill of Rights, contained in
Article III, enumerates the specific protections against State power. Many of these guarantees are
similar to those provided in the American constitution and other democratic constitutions,
including the due process and equal protection clause, the right against unwarranted searches and
seizures, the right to free speech and the free exercise of religion, the right against self-
incrimination, and the right to habeas corpus. The scope and limitations to these rights have
largely been determined by Philippine Supreme Court decisions.

Outside of the Bill of Rights, the Constitution also contains several other provisions enumerating
various state policies including, i.e., the affirmation of labor "as a primary social economic
force" (Section 14, Article II); the equal protection of "the life of the mother and the life of the
unborn from conception" (Section 12, Article II); the "Filipino family as the foundation of the
nation" (Article XV, Section 1); the recognition of Filipino as "the national language of the
Philippines" (Section 6, Article XVI), and even a requirement that "all educational institutions
shall undertake regular sports activities throughout the country in cooperation with athletic clubs
and other sectors." (Section 19.1, Article XIV) Whether these provisions may, by themselves, be
the source of enforceable rights without accompanying legislation has been the subject of
considerable debate in the legal sphere and within the Supreme Court. The Court, for example,
has ruled that a provision requiring that the State "guarantee equal access to opportunities to
public service" could not be enforced without accompanying legislation, and thus could not bar
the disallowance of so-called "nuisance candidates" in presidential elections.[8] But in another
case, the Court held that a provision requiring that the State "protect and advance the right of the
people to a balanced and healthful ecology" did not require implementing legislation to become
the source of operative rights.[9]

Preamble of the 1987 Constitution

The Preamble reads:

“
Preamble

We, the sovereign Filipino people, imploring the aid of Almighty God, in order to build a
just and humane society, and establish a Government that shall embody our ideals and
aspirations, promote the common good, conserve and develop our patrimony, and secure to
ourselves and our posterity, the blessings of independence and democracy under the rule of
law and a regime of truth, justice, freedom, love, equality, and peace, do ordain and
promulgate this Constitution.[1]

Malolos Constitution (1899)

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Constitution of the Philippines (1899)

The Malolos Constitution was the first republican constitution in Asia.[12] 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 Presidential form of government with the president elected for a term of four
years by a majority of the Assembly.[13] It was titled "Constitución política", and was written in
Spanish following the declaration of independence from Spain,[14] proclaimed on January 20,
1899, and was enacted and ratified by the Malolos Congress, a Congress held in Malolos,
Bulacan.[15][16]

The Preamble reads:

 "Nosotros los Representantes del Pueblo Filipino, convocados legítimamente para
“ establecer la justicia, proveer a la defensa común, promover el bien general y asegurar los
beneficios de la libertad, implorando el auxilio del Soberano Legislador del Universo para
alcanzar estos fines, hemos votado, decretado y sancionado la siguiente"
”
(We, the Representatives of the Filipino people, lawfully convened, in order to establish justice,
provide for common defense, promote the general welfare, and insure the benefits of liberty,
imploring the aid of the Sovereign Legislator of the Universe for the attainment of these ends,
have voted, decreed, and sanctioned the following)