Name: Tricia Mae G. Lucero Professor: Mr.

Richard Talento
Course/Program: Accountancy Date: 24/02/2021

The Philippine Constitutions

1899 Constitution

It started when Spanish rule over the Philippines. The revolutionary couldn’t just sit and watch what was
happening so they form a functioning government and fought back for freedom but it was never
implemented. It goes for years until the war between Spanish and Philippine revolutionary army pact
agreement of Biak-na-bato in 1987. In 1899, Aguinaldo gathered the educated Filipinos and other
Ilustrados that made up the Malolos Congress. This start of the First Republic of the Philippines with
Aguinaldo as president. Filipino leaders proceeded to inaugurate the first Filipino Republic on January 23,
1899. It was the Malolos constitution, the first important Filipino document ever produced by the people's
representatives. It created a Filipino state whose government was "popular, representative and
responsible" with three distinct branches -- the executive, the legislative and the judicial. The constitution
specifically provided for safeguards against abuses, and enumerated the national and individual rights not
only of the Filipinos and of the aliens. It was product of that time to stop the brutality and provide a fair and
justified government with peace and freedom. It is 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 about the Republic,
Government, Religion, and the Filipinos and their national and individual rights which is not present at that
time and still struggling about the system of the Philippines.

1935 Constitution

On November 15, 1935, the Filipino people took the penultimate step to independence with the
inauguration of the Commonwealth of the Philippines later on September 16 a million Filipinos had  trooped
to the polls to elect their two highest officials—the President and Vice President. This was the first time in
the history of the nation that a Filipino would finally sit as Chief Executive and hold office in Malacañang
Palace. That time Senate President Manuel L. Quezon and his running mate Senate President pro tempore
Sergio Osmeña were elected as President and Vice President. The Commonwealth was the culmination of
efforts to secure a definitive timetable for the withdrawal of American sovereignty over the Philippines. It
was not until the Jones Law of 1916 that the pledge of eventual independence—once Filipinos were ready
for self-governance—was made. Independence Missions from 1919 onwards were periodically sent to the
U.S. Congress and the White House to lobby for and negotiate independence. In 1931, the OsRox Mission
successfully lobbied for the enactment of the Hare-Hawes-Cutting Act, which was passed over President
Herbert Hoover’s veto in 1932.But it was rejected. The convention finished its work on February 8, 1935
and submitted it to the President of the United States for certification that its provisions complied with the
Philippine Independence Act. It was certified on March 25, 1935 and it was subsequently ratified by the
Filipino people in a plebiscite on May 14, 1935. The Constitution of the Commonwealth of the
Philippines provided for a presidential system of government with a unicameral legislature. It had the power
to enact laws for the Philippines, known as Commonwealth Acts, through the National Assembly.

It was the product of that time because the Philippine Institution still doesn’t have its power and
independency to govern its country with its own liberty of Republic officials and not depending to the US
government. The 1935 Constitution is to provide the legal basis of the Commonwealth Government which
was considered a transition government before the granting of the Philippine independence with American-
inspired constitution; the Philippine government would eventually pattern its government system after
American government.

1973 Constitution

The 1973 Constitution, is composed of a preamble and 17 articles, provides for the shift from presidential to
parliamentary system of government. The Constitution vests the legislative power in the National Assembly.
A Prime Minister is elected from among the members of the National Assembly and serves as the head of
government and commander-in-chief of the Philippine Armed Forces. A President is elected from among
the members of the National Assembly and serves as the symbolic head of state with a six-year term. The
judicial power is vested in the Supreme Court, composed of a Chief Justice and 14 Justices. The National
Assembly exercises the power to define, prescribe and apportion the jurisdiction of the lower courts. All
justices of the Supreme Court and judges of the lower courts are appointed by the Prime Minister.
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 parliamentary republic as the form of government.

1987 Constitution
The 1987 Constitution is approved in 1986 Constitutional Commission on October 12, 1986, the 1987
Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines was presented to President Corazon C. Aquino on October
15, 1986. It was ratified on February 2, 1987 by a plebiscite. It was proclaimed in force on February
11, 1987
It was when Aquino began her term by repealing many of the Marcos-era regulations that had repressed
the people for so long. In March, she issued a unilateral proclamation establishing a provisional
constitution. This constitution gave the President broad powers and great authority, but Aquino promised to
use them only to restore democracy under a new constitution. This new constitution was drafted in 133
days by an appointed Constitutional Commission of 48 members and ratified by the people in a plebiscite
held on February 2, 1987. It was largely modelled on the American Constitution which had so greatly
influenced the 1935 Constitution, but it also incorporated Roman, Spanish, and Anglo law.

The 1987 Constitution established a representative democracy with power divided among three separate
and independent branches of government: the Executive, a bicameral Legislature, and the Judiciary. There
were three independent constitutional commissions as well: the Commission on Audit, the Civil Service
Commission, and the Commission on Elections. Integrated into the Constitution was a full Bill of Rights,
which guaranteed fundamental civil and and political rights, and it provided for free, fair, and periodic
elections. In comparison with the weak document that had given Marcos a legal fiction behind which to
hide, this Constitution seemed ideal to many Filipinos emerging from 20 years of political repression and
oppression.