ARAULLO UNIVERSITY POLITICAL SCIENCE STUDENT ORGANIZATION

Prepared by Simone Paula Oliveros

Constitutional Law, Part I

Constitution
- A constitution is a written instrument by which the fundamental powers of government
are established, limited and defined, and by which the powers are distributed among
several department for their safe and useful exercise for the benefit of the people.
- Supreme law of the land

Types of Constitution
● Written Constitution (Compiled)
- provisions are all contained in a single document.
- Ex. 1987 PH Constitution
● Unwritten Constitution (Uncompiled)
- the provisions are not contained in a single document but rather in different
documents which are considered as part of the fundamental law of the land.
- Ex. UK Constitution
● Conventional Constitution or Enacted Constitution
- formulated by a constitutional convention that is call to draft the constitution.
- Ex. PH Constitution
● Cumulative or Evolved Constitution
- not drafted by a positive act of the state but it developed as a part of the history
of the nation.
- Ex. United Kingdom
● Rigid or inelastic Constitution
- cannot be easily amended unless such amendment is provided for by the
constitution itself.
- PH Constitution
● Flexible or elastic Constitution
- can easily be changed anytime.

Parts of Philippine Constitution

1. Constitution of Government – those provisions which set up the governmental
structure.
● ARTICLE 2, SEC. 1
● ARTICLE VI Legislative Department
● ARTICLE VII Executive Department
● ARTICLE VIII Judicial Department
● ARTICLE IX Constitutional Commissions
● ARTICLE X Local Government
2. Constitution of Liberty – the provisions which guarantee individual fundamental
liberties against governmental abuse.
● ARTICLE III Bill of Rights
 ARAULLO UNIVERSITY POLITICAL SCIENCE STUDENT ORGANIZATION

Prepared by Simone Paula Oliveros

● ARTICLE IV Citizenship
● 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
3. Constitution of Sovereignty – those provisions which outline the process whereby the
sovereign people may change the constitution.
- Plebiscite - Congress will propose and the final say will come from the citizens.
● ARTICLE II, SEC. 1
● ARTICLE V Suffrage
● ARTICLE XI Accountability of Public Officers
● ARTICLE XVII Amendments or Revisions

Essential Qualities of the Constitution

● Broad
● Embody the political history of the nation
● Brief
● Definite

Self-Executing Provisions
- A provision which is complete in itself and becomes operative without the aid of
supplementary or enabling legislation
- In case of doubt, the Constitution should be considered self-executing rather than
non-self-executing

Non-Self Executing Provisions

- Their provisions command the legislature to enact laws and carry out the purposes of the
framers who merely establish an outline of government.

Doctrine of Constitutional Supremacy

- Constitution - all other laws must conform and to which all persons, including the highest
officials of the land must defer.
- If a law or contract violates any norm of the constitution that law or contract whether
promulgated by the legislative or by the executive branch or entered into by private
persons for private purposes is null and void and without any force and effect.
- It is deemed written in every statute and contract.

Effectivity of 1987 PH Constitution

- Took effect on February 2, 1987, the date of the plebiscite for its ratification.
 ARAULLO UNIVERSITY POLITICAL SCIENCE STUDENT ORGANIZATION

Prepared by Simone Paula Oliveros

Constitutional Law, Part II

State
Four Elements
● People - the inhabitants of the state
● Territory - fixed portion inhabited by the people
● Government - the great body of inhabitants render habitual obedience
● Sovereignty - Independent of external control

Government
- Latin Word: Gubernare - steer a ship/vessel
- body, entity, invested with the power to manage a political unit, organization or more
often, a State

Parliamentary Government
- The legislature has the power to terminate the tenure of the executive
- The Cabinet ministry is immediately and legally responsible to the legislature and
politically responsible to the electorate.
Presidential Government
- Executive is independent of the legislative as to tenure, policies and acts.
- the president and the members of the legislative department are directly elected by
people.

De Jure Government
- A functioning government that is legally established.

De Facto Government
- is founded not on existing constitutional laws of the State but it has the support of the
majority of the people.
- 3 kinds of De Facto
● the government that gets possession and control of by force or by the Voice of
majority
● an independent government by the inhabitants who are against their parent state
● established and maintained by military forces who invade and occupy a territory
of the enemy in the course of war (2nd republic of the Philippines, Puppet
Government)
Corazon Aquino - De Jure Government

Sovereignty
- Supreme power of the state to enforce its will on its member within its jurisdictionand to
have freedom from foreign control.
 ARAULLO UNIVERSITY POLITICAL SCIENCE STUDENT ORGANIZATION

Prepared by Simone Paula Oliveros

Is Sovereignty Absolute?
- It is subject to restrictions and limitations voluntarily agreed by the Philippines, expressly
or impliedly, as member of the family of nation.

Doctrine of Incorporation
- The country is bound by generally accepted principles of international law, which are
considered to be automatically part of our own laws.

Pacta Sunt Servanda

- One of the oldest and most fundamental rules in international law
- international agreements must be performed in good faith.

Principle of State Continuity

- The state continues as a juristic being notwithstanding changes in its circumstance
provided only that changes do not result in the loss of any of its essential elements.

State Immunity
- The state may not be sued without its consent (Section 3, Article XVI)
- The States’ consent may be given either expressly (by law) or impliedly (if it enters into a
contract and the state commences litigation, thus opening itself to a counterclaim).

Reason of Immunity
● With the well-known propensity on the part of our people to go to court, at the least
provocation,
● The loss of time and energy required to defend against lawsuit,
● In the absence of a basic principle

The Royal Prerogative of Dishonesty

- grants the state the prerogative to defeat any legitimate claim against it by simply
invoking its non-suability.

The suit is deemed against the state when:

● The republic is sued by its name
● The suit is against an unincorporated government agency
● The suit is on its face against a government officer (the ultimate liability will belong to the
government)

Limited government
- A government that is legally restricted in its use of power.

Separation of Powers
- Each department of government has exclusive cognizance of matters within its
jurisdiction, and is supreme within its own sphere
 ARAULLO UNIVERSITY POLITICAL SCIENCE STUDENT ORGANIZATION

Prepared by Simone Paula Oliveros

- Fundamental principle in our system of government

- The legislative branch enacts law, the executive branch implements the law, and the
judiciary construes the law.

Violation of Separation of Powers

- One branch of the government unduly encroaches on the domain of another.
- Impermissible:
a. Interference with and/or
b. Assumption of another department's function

Checks and Balances

- To secure coordination in workings of the various departments of the government.
- This check-and-balance mechanism was installed in the 1987 constitution precisely to
prevent potential abuses of these executive prerogatives.
- Three powers are to be kept separate and distinct
● Legislative, makes laws and pass it to the president, President (Executive) can
veto those laws
● Legislative makes laws, but the judicial branch can declare it as unconstitutional
● Congress may check the appointments of the President - Commission on
Appointment

Blending of Powers
- There is a sharing of two or more departments in the performance of a given
constitutional task.
- One department acts in a manner complementary or supplementary to another.
● Congress enacts the bills, President approves it
● President prepares a budget, Congress enacts an appropriation law
● Supreme Court may declare a treaty international or executive agreement, or law,
declare invalid any act done ny other departments

Delegation of Powers
- This doctrine is based on the ethical principle that such delegated power constitutes not
only a right but a duty to be performed by the delegate through the instrumentality of his
own judgment and not through the intervening mind of another.
- Through delegation, Congress may devote more time to address other pressing matters.
- "protestas delegate non delegari potest," which means “what has been delegated,
cannot be delegated”.

Types of Delegation
● Contingent legislation – congress undertakes contingent legislation when it delegates
to another body the power to ascertain facts necessary to bring the law into actual
operation.
 ARAULLO UNIVERSITY POLITICAL SCIENCE STUDENT ORGANIZATION

Prepared by Simone Paula Oliveros

● Subordinate legislation - delegating administrative bodies the power to “fill in” the
details of statute.

Exceptions to the Delegation of Powers

● Article VI, Section 1 - Legislative power reserved to the people
● Article VI, Section 23 - Executive, Emergency powers
● Taxing
● Administrative agency
● Local Government Unit - legislate on purely local matters

Test for Valid Delegation

- Both tests are intended to prevent a total transference of legislative authority to the
delegate
- to determine the validity of delegation of legislative power
● Completeness Test
the law must be complete in all its terms and conditions when it leaves the
legislature such that when it reaches the delegate the only thing he will have to
do is enforce it.
● Sufficient Standard Test
there should be adequate guidelines or limitations in the law to determine the
boundaries of the delegate’s authority, and announce the legislative policy and
identify
the conditions under which it is to be implemented