The Constitution of the Philippines is the fundamental law of the Republic of the Philippines , also referred to as the 1987 Constitution, approved by the Constitutional Commission of the Philippines on October 12, 1986; ratified and entered into force on February 11, 1987.
The text of the constitution has 18 parts. The constitution states that the Philippines is a democratic state, a republic in which the president exercises executive power. The constitution establishes the separation of powers and the secular nature of the state.
Content
Adoption of the 1987 Constitution
After the overthrow of the regime of F. Marcos in 1986 and the coming to power of President Corazon Aquino , one of her first steps was the proclamation of the need to adopt a new constitution for the country, which should replace the 1973 constitution [1] . By order of C. Aquino, a constitutional commission of 50 members was created, which included several former parliamentarians, former President of the Philippines Supreme Court Roberto Concepcion, Bishop Teodoro Bakani and film director Lino Brocca . Akino also introduced five people from the entourage of former President Marcos, in particular, former Labor Minister Blas Ople, to the constitutional commission. Cecilia Munoz-Palma was elected Chairman of the Constitutional Commission who has been a member of the Supreme Court of the Philippines since 1973.
The commission prepared a draft of the new Constitution within four months; on October 12, 1986, it completed work and presented the draft Constitution to President Aquino on October 15. Many of the provisions of the new Constitution caused fierce debate during the discussion - such as, for example, questions about the abolition of the death penalty , the status of US military bases Clark and Subic Bay , as well as the inclusion in the text of the Constitution of economic policy issues. Due to disagreements, L. Brock left the commission before the completion of its work, and two other members of the commission disagreed with the final text of the draft.
The new constitution was adopted at a national referendum on February 2, 1987. 76.37% of those who voted (17 059 495 votes) supported the adoption of the Constitution, 22.65% (5 058 714 votes) were against. On February 11, 1987, the new Constitution was ratified and put into effect, public servants swore allegiance to President K. Aquino on the same day [2] .
Structure of the 1987 Constitution
The constitution consists of a preamble and 18 parts.
Preamble
We, the sovereign people of the Philippines, crying out a prayer for help to Almighty God, setting a great goal to build a just and humane society, establish a government that embodies our ideals and aspirations, helps to strengthen the common good, preserve and enhance our heritage, and preserve for present and future generations, the blessing of independence and democracy within the framework of the law and the legal regime based on truth, justice, freedom, love, equality and peace, we legislatively accept and hereby invites this Constitution.
- Part I - National Territory
- Part II - Declarations of Principles and Public Policy
- Part III - Bill of Rights
- Part IV - Citizenship
- Part V - Suffrage
- Part VI - The Legislative Department
- Part VII - Executive Department
- Part VIII - Judicial Department
- Part IX - Constitutional Commission
- Part X - Local Government
- Part XI - Accountability of Public Servants
- Part XII - National Economics and Heritage
- Part XIII - Social Justice and Human Rights
- Part XIV - Education, science and technology, art, culture and sport
- Part XV - The Family
- Part XVI - General Provisions
- Part XVII - Amendment and Constitution Amendment
- Part XVIII - Transitional Provisions.
Notes
- ↑ 1986 Provisional "Freedom" Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines (Link unavailable) (March 25, 1986). Date of treatment April 3, 2008. Archived June 12, 2008.
- ↑ Manila Standard - Google News Archive Search