PHILIPPINE CONSTITUTION (Reviewer) State community of persons, more or less numerous, permanently occupying a fixed territory and possessed

d of an independent government organized for political ends to which the great body of inhabitants render habitual obedience. 1. People inhabitants living within the state. No requirements as to the number of people. Its neither too small or too large; small enough to be governed and large enough to be self-sufficing. 2. Territory not only the fixed portion of the land (territorial domain), but also the rivers and lakes, certain area of the sea upon the coasts (fluvial and maritime domain) and space above the land and waters (aerial domain). Terrestrial, Fluvial, Maritime and Aerial. 3. Government agent of the state. It is the agency or instrumentality through which the will of the State is formulated, expressed and realized. Administration person or aggregate of those persons whose hand are placed for the time being the function of political control. FORMS OF GOVERNMENT: As to number of person exercising sovereign power: a. Monarchy powers of government are vested in a single person, usually under the governance of Kings or Monarchs. (England) b. Aristocracy political power is exercised by few privileged class known as aristocracy or oligarchy. c. Democracy political power is exercise by majority of the people. Democratic government are further classified into: 1. Direct and pure will of the state is formulated or expressed directly and immediately through people in a mass meeting or primary assembly. 2. Indirect representative or republican democracy will of the state is formulated and expressed through the agency of a relatively small and select body of persons chosen by the people to act as their representative. As to extent powers exercised by the central or national government: Unitary government control of national and local affairs is exercised by central or national government.

Federal government power of the government are divided between 2 sets of organs, one for national affairs and the other for local affairs, each organ being supreme within its own sphere. (USA) As to relationship between the executive and the legislative branches of the government: Parliamentary government the state confers upon the legislature the power to terminate the tenure of office of the real executive (prime minister) or otherwise known as vote of no confidence by the parliament. Presidential government the state makes the executive constitutionally independent of the legislature or otherwise known as separation of powers between the legislative and executive. As to legality or constitutionality: De Jure Government government of right; a government established according to the constitution of a given state but which is actually cut off from power or control. True, legitimate, rightful and lawful government. De Facto Government government which unlawfully gets the possession and control of the rightful and legal government and maintain itself there, by force, and arms against the will of the rightful legal government and claim to exercise the power thereof. Government of fact. 4. Sovereignty supreme power of the state to command and enforce obedience to its will from the people within its jurisdiction and corollarily, to have freedom from foreign control. *A state may, by its consent, express or implied, submit to a restriction of its sovereign rights which in effect is a curtailment of sovereignty that is otherwise plenary, complete and illimitable competence. Auto-limitation doctrine where the Philippines adhere to principles of international law as a limitation to the exercise of its sovereignty. Distinction between State and Nation: State political concept Nation ethnic concept, a group of people bound together by certain characteristics such as common social origin, language, customs, tradition.

Distinction between State from Government: Government only the agency through which the state articulates its will. Government is the agent and the State is the principal. Government may change its form but the state as long as essential elements are present, remains the same. State is entire community of inhabitants whereas the government includes only the functionaries of the state occupying only a small portion of the population. 3 INHERENT POWER OF THE STATE: 1. The police power power of the state to enact and enforce laws and to regulate property and liberty in the promotion of the general welfare of the people. Power to regulate the behavior or conduct of its citizen in the interest of common good within the limits of the states laws. Confines not only its citizens but also foreigners temporarily staying within the state. Law of Overruling Necessity power promoting public welfare by restraining and regulating the use of liberty and property. BASIS OF POLICE POWER: Public necessity and right of state and of the public to self-protection and selfpreservation. Salus Populi Est Suprema Lex the welfare of the people is the supreme law Sic Utere Tuo Ut Alienum Non Laedas so use your property do as not to injure the property of others. BASIC PURPOSES OF POLICE POWER: To serve the general welfare comfort and convenience of the people. Promote and preserve public health. To promote and protect public safety. To maintain and safe guard public safety. To maintain and safe guard public order. To protect public morals. To promote the economic security of people. EXERCISE OF POLICE POWER: Taxing power may be used as an implement of police power.

Eminent domain may be used as an implement to attain the police objective. Police power cannot be bargained through medium of a treaty of a contract. Law enacted in the exercise of police power to regulate or govern certain activities or transactions could be given retroactive effect and may reasonably impair vested rights or contracts. Non-impairment of contracts or vested rights clauses will have to yield to the superior and legitimate exercise by the state of the police power. * Police power is lodge primarily in the national legislature, delegated by the legislature to the president, Administrative board, law-making bodies on all Municipal Boards. *The exercise of police power lies in the discretion of the legislative department. VALID EXERCISE OF POLICE POWER: Lawful Subject as long as the object is the public welfare and the subject of regulation may be properly related thereto. Lawful Means means employed must be reasonably necessary for the accomplishment of the purpose and not unduly oppressive upon the individuals. ASPECT OF THE POLICE POWER: Public Morals punishing public scandal, vagrancy and prostitution, illegal gambling. General Welfare and Convenience penalizing the turning loose of large cattle or permitting then to run loose in the streets, plazas, municipalities. Public Safety those requiring a license to drive motor vehicles, authorizing the demolition of buildings or improvements which constitute a fire hazard. Public Health providing paternity and maternity leave for working men and women respectively 2. The power of eminent domain power of the state as a sovereign, to take of expropriate property for public use upon payment of just compensation. Enables the state to take private property for public use upon payment of just compensation. Also known as Power of Expropriation is the highest and most exact idea of property remaining in the government

that may be acquired for some public purpose through a method. WHO MAY EXERCISE THE POWER OF EMINENT DOMAIN: Congress President Local legislative bodies Certain public corporation (Land Registration Office, National Housing Authority) Certain Quasi-public corporations like the PNR BASIS OF EXERCISE: Necessity when the power is exercised by the legislature, the question of necessity is generally a political question, but when exercised by a delegate, the determination of whether there is a genuine necessity for the exercise is a justicable question. Private Property all private property capable of ownership may be appropriated, except money (because payment of just compensation is usually also in money) and chose in action (because it is a personal right not reduce into possession but revocable by a suit at law) Taking does not only mean physical dispossession of owner but also includes trespass without actual eviction of the owner. There is taking when: a. Owner is actually deprived or dispossessed of his property b. There us practical destruction c. Owner is deprived of ordinary use of his property Requisites of taking: a. Expropriator must enter a private property b. Entry must be more than a momentary period c. Entry must under a warrant or color of authority d. Property must be devoted to public use or otherwise informally appropriated or injuriously affected e. Utilization of the property must be in a such way to oust the owner and deprive him of beneficial enjoyment of the property

Public Use include not only uses directly available to the public but also those redound to their indirect benefit. Just Compensation full and fair equivalent of the property taken; fair market value of the property 3. The power of taxation power of the state to impose and collect revenues for the operation of the government. Taxes enforced proportional contribution from persons and property, levied by the state by virtue of its sovereignty for the support of the government and for all public needs. Payment of taxes obligation based on law, and not on contract. A duty imposed upon the individual by the mere fact of his membership in the body politic and his enjoyment of the benefits available from such membership. Purpose of taxation: to raise revenues of funds to support the government to protect the people and extend then benefits in the form of public projects and services. Taxation is also utilized as a tool to carry out the national objective or social and economic development. Importance of taxation derives from the unavoidable obligation of the government to protect the people and extend them benefits in the form of public projects and services. NATURE OF TAXATION: The power of taxation is inherent in sovereignty being indispensable in the exercise of the government. It is inherent because it exists without the necessity of any specific grant and the power by the constitution. It is essentially a legislative function. CONSTITUTIONAL LIMITATIONS OF TAXATION: Inherent Limitation a. Levy of taxes must be for public purpose b. Territoriality or situs of taxation which require that the person or property taxed must be subjected to the jurisdiction of the taxing state. c. International comity under which the property of a foreign state may not be taxed by another. d. Exemption of governmental agencies performing governmental function e. Prohibition against the delegation of legislative power

under the principle potestas delegate non delegare potest f. Levy of taxes must be for public purpose Constitutional Limitation a. Due process of law b. Equal protection clause c. Uniformity d. Non-impairment of contract e. Non-imprisonment for nonpayment of poll tax Theory of taxation proceeds from the theory that without funds, the government cannot meet the various essential expenses it has incur to enable it to exist and function effectively. Scope of taxation power of taxation is regarded as supreme, unlimited and comprehensive. Its so pervasive that it reaches even the citizens abroad and his income from source outside. IMPORTANT CHARACTERISTICS OF TAXES: It is enforced proportional contribution. It is generally payable in the form of money. It is laid by some rule of apportionment. It is levied on person or property and also on acts, transactions, rights or privileges. It is levied on the state, which has jurisdiction over the person or property. It is levied by the law-making body of the state. It is levied for public purpose. BASIC PRINCIPLE OF A SOUND TAX SYSTEM: a. Fiscal Adequacy sources of revenue should be efficient to meet the demands of public expenditures. b. Equality or Theoretical Justice tax burden should be proportionate to the tax payers ability to pay. (ability to pay principle) c. Administrative Feasibility tax laws should be capable of convenient, just and effective administration.

CONSTITUTION body of rules and principles in accordance with which the power of sovereignty are regularly exercised. Fundamental, paramount and supreme law of the nation. Constitution of the Philippines written instrument by which the fundamental powers of the government are established, limited and defined and which by these powers are distributed among several departments or branches for their safe and useful exercise for the benefit of the people. Doctrine of Constitutional Supremacy 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. Not self-executing provision which lays down a general principle such as those found in Article II of the 1987 Constitution. Self-executing provision which is complete in itself and becomes operative without the aid of supplementary or enabling legislation, or that which supplies sufficient rule by means of which the right it grants may be enjoyed or protected. *Unless it is expressly provided that a legislative act is necessary to enforce a constitutional mandate, the presumption now is that all provisions are selfexecuting. Article II of the Constitution declaration of principles and state policies are not intended to be self-executing principles ready for enforcement through the courts. Article II and some sections of Article XII not selfexecuting because they o not embody judicially enforceable constitutional rights but guidelines for legislation. NATURE AND PURPOSE OR FUNCTION OF THE CONSTITUTION: a. Serves as a supreme or fundamental law: binding on all individual citizens and all organs of the government occupies the highest level in the hierarchy of laws all private parts must be determined and all public authority administered test of the legality of all governmental actions b. Establishes basic framework and underlying principles of government prescribe the permanent framework of the system of government assigned to the different departments or branches, their respective powers and duties

designed to preserve and protect the rights of individuals not to legislate in detail but to set limits on the otherwise unlimited power of the legislature KINDS OF CONSTITUTION: A. As to their origin and history: Conventional or enacted enacted by constituent assembly or granted by monarch to his subjects like the constitution of Japan in 1889 Cumulative or evolved product of growth or a long period of development originating in custom, traditions rather that from a deliberate and formal enactment. Constitution of England. B. As to their form: Written given definite written form at a particular time, usually by a specially constituted authority called constitutional convention Unwritten entirely a product of political evolution, consisting a largely of a mass of customs, usages and judicial decisions with a smaller body of enactments of a fundamental character C. As to manner of amending them: Rigid or inelastic document of special sanctity which cannot be amended or altered except by some special machinery more cumbrous than the ordinary legislative process Flexible or elastic possesses no higher legal authority than ordinary laws and which may be altered in the same way as other laws Note: The Philippine constitution may be classified as conventional or enacted, written and rigid or elastic. Drafted by an appointive body called Constitutional Commission ADVANTAGES OF WRITTEN CONSTITUTION: has the advantage of clearness and definiteness because it is prepared with great care and deliberation protects people from frequent and violent fluctuations of public opinion gives strong feeling of right and powerful impetus to action to have the written law clearly on one side serves as a guide and bases of the people when their rights and liberties are invalid or endangered

DISADVANTAGES OF WRITTEN CONSTITUTION: establishes iron-clad rules which are difficult to change even if found inconvenient or oppressive often constructed on technical principles rather than in the light of great principles likely to invade the domain of ordinary legislation Requisites of a good written constitution: A. As to form, a good written constitution should be: Brief must confine itself to the basic principles to be implemented to change and easier to amend Broad statement of the powers and functions of government, and relatives between the government body and the governed, that is to be as comprehensive as possible. Definite to prevent ambiguity in its provisions B. As to contents, it should contain at least 3 sets of provisions: Constitution of government collective term used to refer to the group of provision that deals with the structure or framework of the government, power and function to be performed and fixes definite and clear limitations Constitution of liberty group of provisions enumerating the basic rights of the people, also set forth the limitations on the power of the government Constitution of sovereignty mode of introducing amendments to the fundamental law as well as pointing out the procedure of revising it Article XIV, Sec. 3 legal basis for studying the 1987 constitution Brief history of Philippine Constitution: The 1987 Philippine Constitution April 23, 1986 Pres. Corazon Aquino issued Proclamation No. 9, the law governing the constitutional commission of 1986. October 12, 1986 constitutional commission approved the proposed new constitution after 233 days of work with 44 voting in favor, while 2 voted against it October 15, 1986 constitutional commission held its final session to sign the 109-page draft constitution.

February 2, 1987 proposed constitution was ratified in a plebiscite. Preamble from the Latin word preambulare which means to walk before Preamble forms no integral part of our constitution. Cannot be invoked as a source of private right OBJECT AND VALUE OF PREAMBLE: Set down origin and purposes of the constitution a. tells us who are the author of the constitution and for whom it was promulgated b. states the general purposes which are intended to be achieved by the constitution and government May serve as an aid in its interpretation a. has a value for the purposes of construction b. statement of general purposes may be resorted as an aid in determining the meaning of vague or ambiguous provisions of the constitution SOURCE OF THE CONSTITUTIONS AUTHORITY: The Filipino people supreme law of the land, signify their oneness and solidarity. A sovereign people to stress that Filipino people in ordaining and promulgating the constitution.