Readings in Philippine History November 2022

c. 1935 Constitution
d.1943 Constitution (Second Republic)
SOCIAL, POLITICAL, ECONOMIC, AND CULTURAL ISSUES

READINGS IN PHILIPPINE HISTORY

OBJECTIVES/ LEARNING OUTCOMES:

At the end of the period, the students will be able to:

1. Explain the importance of a constitution in a country;
2. Trace the Development of the Philippine constitution
throughout the country’s history; and
3. Discuss the significant features and provisions
incorporated in the Philippine Constitution.
c. 1935 Constitution
d.1943 Constitution (Second Republic)
SOCIAL, POLITICAL, ECONOMIC, AND CULTURAL ISSUES

READINGS IN PHILIPPINE HISTORY

 PHILIPPINE CONSTITUTION

1935 Constitution

READINGS IN PHILIPPINE HISTORY 2022

1935 CONSTITUTION
On July 10, 1934, 202 delegates were elected to write the constitution. The
convention opened on July 30. The draft was finished by January 31, 1935.
The constitution was approved by US President Franklin Roosevelt on March
23, 1935. The Filipinos ratified the constitution on May 14, 1935.
The constitution was amended twice; it was on October 24, 1939, when the
Filipino people ratified an amendment to the Ordinance appended to the
constitution.
The amendment was made because of the changes in the economic
Readjustment Act that was enacted by the United States Congress on
August 7, 1939; second, it was in 1940 when three amendments were ratified
by the people in the plebiscite held on June 18, 1940.
1935 CONSTITUTION
The amendments are the following :
(1) change in the term of the office of the President and
Vice President
(2) the establishment of the bicameral legislature namely,
Senate and House of Representatives
(3) the creation of the Commission on Election, General
Auditing Office, and Civil Service.
Salient Features of the 1935 Constitution
The government was divided into three co-equal branches-
legislative, executive and judiciary. Executive power was vested
in the President of the Philippines elected through popular suffrage
that will serve for a term of four years. Legislative power was
vested in a bicameral legislature called Senate and House of
Representatives who were directly elected by the people while
judicial power resides in Supreme Court and other lower courts. It
has a clear enumeration of rights of citizens. On the other hand,
suffrage can only be exercised by males, females are not
allowed.
 Preamble
“The Filipino people, imploring the aid of Divine Providence,
in order to establish a government that shall embody their
ideals, conserve, and develop the patrimony of the nation,
promote the general welfare, and secure to themselves and
their posterity the blessings of independence under the
regime of justice, liberty and democracy, do ordain and
promulgate this constitution.”
 National Territory
“The Philippines comprises all the territory ceded to the United States
by the treaty of Paris concluded between the United States and Spain
on the tenth day of December, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, the
limits of which are set forth in Article III of said treaty, together with all
the islands embraced in the treaty conclude at Washington, between
the United States and Spain on the seventh day of November,
nineteen hundred, and in the treaty concluded between the United
States and Great Britain on the second day of January, nineteen
hundred and thirty, and all territory over which the present
Government of the Philippines Islands exercises jurisdiction.
State Principles
The 1935 Constitution has the following state principles:
1. The Philippines as republican state.
2. Defense of the state as prime duty of the
government
3. Renunciation of war
4. Natural rights and duty of parents in rearing of the
youth Promotion of social justice
Who are the citizens of the Philippines?
Article IV of the 1935 Constitution provides that the following are
citizens of the Philippines:
(1) those who are citizens of the Philippine Islands at the time of the
adaptation of this Constitution;
(2) those born in Philippine Islands of foreign parents who, before
the adaptation of this Constitution, had been elected to the public
office in the Philippine islands;
(3) those whose fathers are citizens of the Philippines;
(4) those whose mothers are citizens of the Philippines and, upon
reaching the age of majority elect Philippine citizenship; and
(5) those who are naturalize in accordance with law.
Suffrage
Suffrage may be exercised by male citizens of the Philippines not
otherwise disqualified by law, who are twenty-one years of age or
over and are able to read and write, and who shall have resided in
the Philippines for one year and in the municipality wherein they
propose to vote for at least six months preceding the election. The
National Assembly shall extend the right of suffrage to women, if in
a plebiscite which shall be held for that purpose within two years
after the adoption of this Constitution, not less than three hundred
thousand women possessing the necessary qualifications shall vote
affirmatively on the question.
 Power of the Three Branches of the
Government under 1935 Constitution
Legislative
-Power of Taxation
-Power to declare war
-Confirmation power
-Power to override the veto of the President
-Power to define, prescribe, and apportion the
jurisdiction of the various courts
-Power to repeal, alter, or supplement the rules
concerning pleading, practice and procedure the
admission to the practice of the law in the Philippines
Executive
-Control power
-Military power
a. Commander-in-Chief of the AFP
b. Declare martial law
c. Suspend the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus
Call armed forces to prevent or suppress lawless violence,
invasion, insurrection, or rebellion, imminent danger.
-Power of appointment
Executive
-Veto power
-Pardoning power
a. Grant reprieves
-b. Grant communication of sentence
c. Grant Pardon
d. Remit fines and forfeitures
-Diplomatic power/Treatymaking power
 Judicial
-Original jurisdiction over cases affecting ambassadors,
other public ministers, and consuls, nor of its jurisdiction to
review, revise, reverse, modify, or affirm on appeal,
certiorari, or writ of error, as the law of the rules of court
may provide, final judgments and decrees of
inferior courts in –
(1) All cases in which the constitutionality or validity of
any treaty, law, ordinance, or executive order or regulation
is question
 Judicial
-(2) All cases involving the legality of any tax, impost,
assessment, or toll, or any penalty imposed in relation
thereto.
-(3) All cases in which the jurisdiction of any trial
courts is in issue.
All criminal cases in which the penalty imposed is death
or life imprisonment All cases in which an error or
question of law is involved.
 Judicial
-Power to determine the constitutionality of treaty or
law
-Power to promulgate
rules concerning pleading, practice, and procedure in
all courts, and the admission to the practice of law.
-Power to appoint judge of a particular district or
designate or transfer a judge to another district.
Amendments
Article XV provides “The Congress in joint session assembled,
by a vote of three-fourths of all members of the Senate and
House of representatives, voting separately”, may propose
amendments to the constitution or call a convention for that
purpose. Such amendments shall be valid as part of the
constitution when approve by a majority of the votes cast at
an election at which the amendments are submitted to the
people for their ratification.
 Some observation to the 1935 Constitution
1. Preamble is very short.
2. No state policies.
3. Impartial trial.
4. Congress has the power to declare war.
5. President can serve for straight six consecutive years.
6. No specified number of days in the declaration martial law
7. President to declare martial law for “unlimited” number of
days.
 PHILIPPINE CONSTITUTION

1943 Constitution
(Second Republic)

READINGS IN PHILIPPINE HISTORY 2022

 1943 Constitution (Second Republic)

-The Commonwealth Government was interrupted by the

Second World War and the Japanese Occupation of the
Philippines. The Commonwealth under President Manuel
Quezon went into exile in the United States. As part of
their policy of attraction in their Greater East Asia Co-
Prosperity Sphere program, the Japanese offered to grant
the Philippines its independence.
 1943 Constitution (Second Republic)
- Acting on the orders of the Japanese military, the Kapisanan ng
Paglilingkod sa Bagong Pilipinas or KALIBAPI, a Filipino political
party that served as the political party during the Japanese
occupation, convened and elected a Philippine Commission for
Philippine Independence (PCPI) to write a new constitution. This
was finished and signed on September 4, 1943 in a public ceremony
and ratified by the KALIBAPI a few days later. On October 14, 1943, as
provided for in the new constitution, the Second Philippine Republic
was inaugurated with Jose P. Laurel as President.
 1943 Constitution (Second Republic)

The 1943 Constitution was basically a condensed version of the

1935 Constitution consisting only of a preamble and 12 articles. It
was transitory in nature as it was only effective during the duration
of the war. It created a Republic with three offices (executive,
legislative, and judicial) but owing to the war, no legislature was
convened. Instead, the powers of government were concentrated
with the President. The Bill of Rights basically enumerated the
citizen's duties and obligations rather than their constitutional
rights and Tagalog was declared the national language.
 1943 Constitution (Second Republic)

-The 1943 Constitution was recognized as legitimate and

binding only in Japanese-controlled areas of the Philippines
but was ignored by the United States government and the
Philippine Commonwealth government in-exile. It was
abolished eventually along with the Second Republic upon
the liberation of the Philippines by American forces in 1945
and the re-establishment of the Commonwealth in the
Philippines.
 Summary
-The US approved a ten-year transition plan in 1934 and drafted a new
constitution in 1935. 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.
Summary
-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.
 REVIEW!

READINGS N PHILIPPINE HISTORY 2022

c. 1935 Constitution
d.1943 Constitution (Second Republic)
SOCIAL, POLITICAL, ECONOMIC, AND CULTURAL ISSUES

READINGS IN PHILIPPINE HISTORY

 Thankyou
for
Listening!

ARIANE JOY REYES 2022