Constitutional Law I Reviewer

I. Preliminary Considerations and Basic Concepts

a. Nature of the Constitution
 Consitution, defined: body of rules and maxims in accordance with which the powers of
the sovereignty are habitually exercised.
 Purpose: to prescribe the permanent framework of a system of government, to assign
to several departments their respective powers and duties, and to establish certain first
principles on which the government is founded.
 Classifications:
A. (1) Rigid - is one that can be amended only by a formal and usually difficult process;
(2) Flexible - is one that can be changed by ordinary legislation.
B. (1) Written - is one whose precepts are embodied in one document or set of
documents
(2) Unwritten - consists of rules which have not been integrated into a single,
concrete form but are scattered in various sources, such as statues of a
fundamental character, judicial decisions, commentaries of publicists, customs
and traditions, and certain common law principles.
C. (1) Evolved - is the result of political evolution, not inaugurated at any specific
time but changing by accretion rather than by systematic method
(2) Enacted - constitution is enacted, formally struck off at a definitive time and
place following a conscious or deliberate effort taken by a constituent body or
ruler
D. (1) Normative- adjusts to norms
(2) Nominal –not yet fully operational
(3) Semantic-perpetuation of power
The Constitution of the Philippines is written, conventional and rigid.
 Constitutionalism - refers to the position or practice that government be limited by a
constitution.
 Doctrine of Constitutional Supremacy - If a law violates any norm of the constitution,
that law is null and void; it has no effect.
 Republicanism - essence of republicanism is representation and renovation, the
selection by the citizenry of a corps of public functionaries who derive their mandate
from the people and act on their behalf, serving for a limited period only, after which
they are replaced or retained at the option of their principal.

Case: Manila Prince Hotel vs GSIS, 267 SCRA 408 (1997)

Supremacy of the Constitution: Self executing VS Non self-executing provisions.

Self-Executing - A constitutional provision is self-executing when it can be given effect without
the aid of legislation, and there is nothing to indicate that legislation is intended to make it
operative. For example, a constitutional provision that any municipality by vote of four-sevenths
of its qualified electors may issue and sell revenue bonds in order to pay for the cost of purchasing
a municipally owned public utility is self-executing and effective without a legislative enactment.
Non self executing- Constitutional provisions are not self-executing if they merely set forth a line
of policy or principles without supplying the means by which they are to be effectuated, or if the
language of the constitution is directed to the legislature. As a result, a constitutional provision
that the legislature shall direct by law in what manner and in what court suits may be brought
against the state is not self-executing.

b. Changing the Constitution

Revision VS Amendment

Case: Lambino VS Comelec GR 74153, 2006

 Amendment – adds, reduces, deletes without altering the basic principle.

- an alteration of one or few specific and separable provisions.
Amendments can be proposed through:
 People's Initiative - Vote by three-quarters of all its members
- at least 12 percent of the total number of registered voters, with
each legislative district represented by at least three percent of the
registered voters therein.
 Congress acting as Constituent Assembly
a. Called into existence by Congress, with a vote of two-thirds of all
its Members
b. Majority vote of all of the Members of Congress, submitting to
the electorate the question of calling such a convention.
 Constitutional Convention - comprising of delegates elected for the
specific purpose of convening to draft proposals for the Constitution)
c. Philippines as State
1. Element of a State (North Cotabato VS The government of the republic
of the Philippines peace panel on ancestral domain - GR 183591)
State as a Legal Concept
 Definition of a State - A state refers to a community of persons, more or less numerous,
permanently occupying a definite portion of territory, independent of external control,
and possessing an organized government to which the great body of inhabitants render
habitual obedience.
  Elements of a State
1. People - A community of persons sufficient in number and capable of maintaining the
continued existence of the community and held together by a common bond of law.
Different Meanings of “People” as used in the Constitution:
1. Inhabitants
2. Electors
3. Citizens
4. Sovereign - The people organized collectively as a legal association is the state which
sovereignty resides.
2. Territory - Territory is the fixed portion of the surface of the earth inhabited by the people of
the state. Territory as an element of a state means an area over which a state has effective
control.
3. Sovereignty - The supreme and uncontrollable power inherent in a State by which that State
is governed.
b. Kinds:
1. Legal
2. Political
3. Internal
4. External
 Legal Sovereignty. (Cruz) Legal sovereignty is the authority which has the power to issue
final commands. In our country, the Congress is the legal sovereign.
4. Government - That institution or aggregate of institutions by which an independent society
makes and carries out those rules of action which are necessary to enable men to live in a social
state, or which are impose upon the people forming that society by those who possess the power
or authority of prescribing them.
 Functions of Government

1. Constituent - are the compulsory functions which constitute the very bonds of society.
2. Ministerial - optional functions of the government for achieving a better life for the
community.
 Doctrine of Parens Patriae - Literally, “parent of the people.” One of the important
tasks of the government is to act for the State as parens patriae, or guardian of the
rights of the people.

De Jure VS De Facto
1. De Jure Government. One established by authority of the legitimate sovereign.
2. De Facto Government. One established in defiance of the legitimate sovereign. It actually
exercises power or control without legal title.
 d. National Territory (A1)
 Territory is the fixed portion of the surface of the earth inhabited by the people of the
state. Territory as an element of a state means an area over which a state has effective
control.
 Territory includes land, maritime areas, airspace and outer space

 Archipelago - is a body of water studded with islands.

 Archipelagic Doctrine - It is the principle whereby the body of water studded with islands,
or the islands surrounded with water, is viewed as a unity of islands and waters together
forming one integrated unit. For this purpose, it requires that baselines be drawn by
connecting the appropriate points of the “outermost islands to encircle the islands within
the archipelago.
e. DECLARATION OF PRINCIPLES AND STATE POLICIES
 This portion of the Constitution (Article II) is called the basic political creed of the nation.
- SECTION 1: Republicanism
 Principles are binding rules which must be observed in the conduct of the government.
 Policies are guidelines for the orientation of the state
 Republican state is a state wherein all government authority emanates from the people
and is exercised by representatives chosen by the people.
 Manifestations of Republicanism
1. Ours is a government of laws and not of men.
2. Rule of Majority (Plurality in elections)
3. Accountability of public officials
4. Bill of Rights
5. Legislature cannot pass irrepealable laws
6. Separation of powers.

- SECTION 2: Renunciation of War/ Incorporation Clause

 The Philippines only renounces AGGRESSIVE war as an instrument of national policy. It
does not renounce defensive war