CHAPTER 1 GENERAL CONSIDERATION POLITICAL LAW that branch of public law which deals with the organization and

operation of the governmental organs of the State and defines the relations of the State with the inhabitants of its territory. CONSTITUTIONAL LAW 1 a study of the structure and powers of the Government of the Republic of the Philippines. It also deals with certain basic concepts of Political Law, such as the nature of the State, the supremacy of the Constitution, the separation of powers, and the rule of the majority. NECESSITY FOR THE STUDY every citizen should understand the mechanics and motivations of his government. This must so because sovereignty resides in the people and all government authority emanates from them. It is upon the active involvement in public affairs of every Filipino that the success of the Republic of the Philippines will depend. BASIS OF THE STUDY February 22, 1987. principal basis is the present Constitution of the Philippines as adopted on

The Constitutions of 1935 and 1973, which served as its working drafts, are an integral part of this study Constitution of the United States, along with relevant rulings of its Supreme Court, in connection with the parts of that document, like the Bill of Rights, that have been incorporated in the present Constitution of the Philippines. The reason is that imported provisions of law are, as a general rule, interpreted in the light of their understanding in the country of origin.

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

CHAPTER 2 THE CONSTITUTION OF THE PHILIPPINES

CHAPTER 3 THE CONCEPT OF THE STATE STATE - a community of persons, more or less numerous, permanently occupying a fixed territory, and possessed of an independent government organized for political ends to which the great body of inhabitants render habitual obedience ELEMENTS 1. PEOPLE refers to the inhabitants of the State. - They must be numerous enough to be self-sufficing and to defend themselves and small enough to be easily administered and sustained.

Malcolm defines a nation as a people bound together by common attractions and repulsions into a living organism possessed of a common pulse, a common intelligence and inspiration, and destined apparently to have a common history and a common fate.

2. TERRITORY the fixed portion of the surface of the earth inhabited by the people of the State. - Article I of the Constitution provides as follows: The national territory comprises the Philippine archipelago, with all the islands and waters embraced therein, and all other territories over which the Philippines has sovereignty or jurisdiction, consisting of its terrestrial, fluvial and aerial domains, including its territorial sea, the seabed, the subsoil, the insular shelves, and other submarine areas. The waters around, between, and connecting the islands of the archipelago, regardless of their breadth and dimensions, form part of the internal waters of the Philippines. - The definition in Article I now covers the following territories: 1. Those ceded to the United States by virtue of the Treaty of Paris of December 10, 1898. 2. Those defined in the treaty concluded between the United States and Spain on November 7, 1900, which were not defined in the Treaty of Paris, specifically the islands of Cagayan, Sulu and Sibuto. 3. Those defined in the treaty concluded on January 2, 1930, between the United States and Great Britain, specifically the Turtle and Mangsee islands. 4. The island of Batanes, which was covered under a general statement in the 1935 Constitution. 5. Those contemplated in the phrase belonging to the Philippines by historic right or legal title in the 1973 Constitution. 3. GOVERNMENT The agency or instrumentality, through which the will of the State is formulated, expressed and realized. A. FUNCTIONS 1. CONSTITUENT constitute the very bonds of society and are therefore compulsory. Among the constituent functions are the following: (1) The keeping of order and providing for the protection of persons and property from violence and robbery; (2) The fixing of the legal relations between husband and wife and between parents and children; (3) The regulation of the holding, transmission and interchange of property, and the determination of its liabilities for debt or for crime; (4) The determination of contractual rights between individuals; (5) The definition and punishment of crimes; (6) The administration of justice in civil cases; (7) The administration of political duties, privileges and relations of citizens; and

(8) The dealings of the State with foreign powers; the preservation of the State from external danger or encroachment and the advancement of its international interests. 2. MINISTRANT those undertaken to advance the general interests of society, such as public works, public charity, and regulation of trade and industry. These functions are merely optional. B. DOCTRINE OF ParensPatriae One of the important tasks of the government is to act for the State as parenspatriae, guardian of the rights of the people. C. De Jure and De Facto Governments De Jure Government has rightful title but no power or control, either because this has been withdrawn from it or because it has not yet actually entered into the exercise thereof. De Facto Government a government of fact, that is, it actually exercises power or control but without legal title. Three kinds of de facto government are as follows: (1) The government that gets possession and control of, or usurps, by force or by voice of the majority, the rightful legal government and maintains itself against the will of the latter. (2) That established as an independent government by the inhabitants of a country who rise in insurrection against the parent state. (3) That which is established and maintained by military forces who invade and occupy a territory of the enemy in the course of war, and which is denominated as a government of paramount force It has been held in a number of cases that the Second Republic of the Philippines was a de facto government of paramount force, having been established by the Japanese belligerent during the occupation of the Philippines in World War II. The characteristics of this kind of de facto government are: (1) Its existence is maintained by active military power within the territories, and against the rightful authority of an established and lawful government. (2) During its existence, it must necessarily by obeyed in civil matters by private citizens who, by acts of obedience rendered in submission to such force, do not become responsible, as wrongdoers, for those acts, though not warranted by the laws of the rightful government. D. GOVERNMENT OF THE PHILIPPINES GOVERNMENT OF THE PHILIPPINES the corporate governmental entity through which the functions of the government are exercised throughout the Philippines, including, save as the contrary appears from the context, the various arms through which political authority is made effective in the Philippines, whether pertaining to the autonomous

regions, the provincial, city, municipal or barangay subdivisions or other form of local government. E. ADMINISTRATION ADMINISTRATION the group of persons in whose hands the reins of the government are for the time being. Administration is transitional whereas the government is permanent 4. SOVEREIGNTY SOVEREIGNTY the supreme and uncontrollable power inherent in a State by which that State is governed.

Two kinds of sovereignty: 1. Legal sovereignty the authority which has the power to issue final commands. 2. Political sovereignty the power behind the legal sovereign, or the sum of the influences that operate upon it.

Sovereignty may also be: a. Internal the power of the State to control its domestic affairs. b. External the power of the State to direct its relations with other States. Also known as independence. ACT OF STATE an act done by the sovereign power of a country, or by its delegate, within the limits of the power vested in him. With particular reference to Political law, an act of State is an act done by political departments of the government and not subject to judicial review.

CHAPTER 18 AMENDMENT OR REVISION OF THE CONSTITUTION KINDS OF CONSTITUTION 1. WRITTEN 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 from. These rules may include statutes of a fundamental character, judicial decisions, customs and traditions, and certain common law principles. 3. CONVENTIONAL an enacted constitution, formally struck off at a definite time and place following a conscious effort taken by a constituent body. 4. CUMMULATIVE the result of political evolution not inaugurated at any specific time but changing by accretion rather than by any systematic method. 5. RIGID one that can be amended only by a formal and usually difficult process

6. FLEXIBLE one that can be changed by ordinary legislation. The Constitution of the Philippines is written, conventional and rigid. AMENDMENT OR REVISION AMENDMENT - refers to isolated or piecemeal change only REVISION a revamp or rewriting of the whole instrument.