Social, Political, Economic and Cultural Issues in Philippine History

Evolution of the Philippine Constitution

Constitution - a set of fundamental principles to which a state or other organization is governed

➢ 1897: Constitution of Biak-na-Bato

• The provisionary Constitution during the Philippine Revolution
• Promulgated by the Philippine Revolutionary Government on 1 November 1897
• Written by Isabelo Artacho and Felix Ferrer in Spanish, and later on, translated into Tagalog

The organs of the government under the Constitution were:

1. The Supreme Council
2. The Consejo Supremo de Gracia Y Justicia (Supreme Council of Grace and Justice)
3. The Asemblea de Representantes (Assembly of Representatives)

The Constitution of Biak-na-Bato was never fully implemented, since a truce, the Pact of Biak-na-Bato, was signed
between the Spanish and the Philippine Revolutionary Army.

➢ 1899: Malolos Constitution

• After the declaration of Philippine Independence, the Malolos Congress was elected – which selected a
commission to draw up a draft constitution on 17 September 1898, which was composed of wealthy and
educated men.
• The document they came up with, approved by the Congress on 29 November 1898, and promulgated by
Aguinaldo on 21 January 1899, was titled “The Political Constitution of 1899” and written in Spanish.
• It has 39 articles, divided into 14 titles, 8 articles of transitory provisions, and a final article.
• The 1899 Malolos Constitution was never enforced due to the ongoing war.
• The Philippines was effectively a territory of the US upon the signing of the Treaty of Paris between Spain and
the US, transferring sovereignty of the Philippines on 10 December 1898.

➢ 1935: The Commonwealth Constitution

• Two acts of the US Congress were passed that may be considered to have qualities of constitutionality: First was
the Philippine Organic Act of 1902, the first organic law for the Philippine Islands that provided for the creation
of a popularly elected Philippine Assembly.
• The act specified legislative power would be vested in a bicameral legislature (Philippine Commission as the
upper house and the Philippine Assembly as the lower house)
• The Second act that functioned as a constitution was the Philippine Autonomy Act of 1916, commonly
referred to as “Jones Law”, which modified the structure of the Philippine government through the removal of
the Philippine Commission, replacing it with a Senate that served as the upper house and its members elected
by the Filipino voters, the first truly elected national legislature.
• In 1932, with the efforts of the Filipino independence commission led by Sergio Osmena and Manuel Roxas, the
US Congress passed the Hare-Hawes-Cutting Act with the promise of granting Filipinos’ independence.
• The bill was opposed by then Senate President Manuel L. Quezon and consequently, rejected by the Philippine
Senate.
• In 1934, the Tydings-McDuffie Act, a.k.a the Philippine Independence Act, was passed by the US Congress that
provided authority and defined mechanisms for the establishment of a formal constitution by a constitutional
convention.
• The members of the convention were elected and held their first meeting on 30 July 1934, with Claro M. Recto
unanimously elected as president.
• The constitution created the Commonwealth of the Philippines, an administrative body that governed the
Philippines from 1935 to 1946.
• Originally provided for a unicameral National Assembly (with a Pres. And VP elected to 6 year term without re-
election)
 • It was amended in 1940 to have a bicameral Congress composed of a Senate and a House of Representatives
• The draft of the constitution was approved by the constitutional convention on 8 February 1935, and ratified
by then US President Franklin B. Roosevelt on 25 March 1935.
• Elections were held in September 1935 and Manuel L. Quezon was elected President of the Commonwealth.
• The Commonwealth was briefly interrupted by the events of the World War II, with the Japanese occupying the
Philippines. Afterward, upon liberation, the Philippines was declared independent republic on 4 July 1946.

➢ 1973: Constitutional Authoritarianism

• In 1965, Ferdinand E. Marcos was elected president
• In 1967, Philippine Congress passed a resolution calling for a constitutional convention to change the 1935
Constitution.
• Before the convention finished its work, Martial Law was declared.
• Marcos cited a growing communist insurgency as a reason for the Martial Law
• Marcos dictated some provisions of the constitution, manipulating the document to be able to hold on to
power as long as he could.
• On 29 November 1972, the convention approved its proposed constitution.
• Legislative power was vested in a unicameral National Assembly, with member being elected to a six-year term
• President would serve a six-year term & could be re-elected to an unlimited number of terms.
• Executive power was relegated to the Prime Minister, who was also the head of government and Commander-in-
Chief of the Armed Forces
• The President, on 17 January 1973, issued a proclamation announcing that proposed constitution had been
ratified by an overwhelming vote of the member of the highly irregular Citizen Assemblies.
• The situation in the 1980s had been very turbulent. Under pressure from the US, who used to support Marcos
and his Martial Law, the Marcos family fled into exile.
• His opponent in the snap election, Corazon Aquino, was installed as president on 25 February 1986.

➢ 1987: Constitution After Martial Law

• In March 1986, President Aquino proclaimed a transitional constitution, called the Freedom Constitution, to last
for a year while a Constitutional Commission drafted a permanent constitution.
• The new constitution was officially adopted on 2 February 1987
• The Constitution begins with a preamble and eighteen articles.
• It established the Philippines as a “democratic republican State” where “sovereignty resides in the people and
all government authority emanates from them.”
• It allocates governmental powers among the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of the government.
• The Executive branch is headed by the President and his cabinet, whom he appoints. The President and the VP
are elected serving a single six-year term.
• The Legislative power resides in Congress divided into two Houses: The Senate and The House of Representatives
• The Judicial branch is vested in the Philippine Supreme Court
• The Constitution also established three independent Constitutional Commissions:
- Civil Service Commission (CSC) – a central agency in charge of government personnel;
- Commission on Elections (COMELEC) – mandated to enforce and administer all election laws and regulations;
- Commission on Audit (COA) – examines all funds, transactions, and property accounts of the government and
its agencies.

Federalism
• Federalism in the Philippines was supported by President Duterte in the 2016 presidential elections, saying that it
will evenly distribute wealth in the Philippines instead of concentrating in Manila.
• A central governing authority and constituent political units constitutionally share sovereignty.
• The country will be broken down into autonomous regions. Each regions will be further divided into local
government units.
Pros
• Each region may custom fit solutions to problems brought about by their distinct geographic, cultural, social, and
economic contexts.
• Regions will have more power over their finances
• They can choose to directly fund their own development projects without asking for the national government’s
go signal
• Can also promote specialization
Cons
• A challenge to achieving unity in the country
• There might be regions which are not yet ready to govern themselves or have lesser resources
• There could be issues regarding overlaps in jurisdiction.

Three methods to change the Constitution:

Constituent Assembly (Con-Ass); Constitutional Convention (Con-Con); People’s Initiative (PI)

PREAMBLE
The term “preamble” is derived from the Latin word “preambulare” which means, “to walk before”. It is the
prologue of the Constitution and it introduces the main subject. It confers no right nor imposes any obligation. It cannot
be invoked as a source of right. However, majority of the Constitution all over the world contains a preamble.
What are the Objectives and Importance of the Preamble?
1. It sets down origin and purposes.
a. It tells us who are the authors of the Constitution and for whom it has been promulgated; and
b. It states the general purposes, which are intended to be achieved by the Constitution, and the Government
established under it, and certain basic principles underlying the fundamental charter.
2. May serve as an aid in interpretation.

Policies on Agrarian Reform

Agrarian Reform is centered on the relationship between production and the distribution of land among farmers. It is
also focused on the political and economic class character of the relations of production and distribution in farming and
related enterprises, and how these connect to the wider class structure.

Landownership in the Philippines under Spain

• When the Spaniards colonized the country, they brought with them a system of pueblo agriculture
• Families were not allowed to own their land – the King of Spain owned the land, and Filipinos were assigned to
these lands to cultivate them, and paid their colonial tributes to the Spanish authorities in the form of
agricultural products.
• Through the Law of Indies, the Spanish crown awarded tract of land to:
1. Religious orders;
2. Repartamientos for Spanish military as reward for their service
3. Spanish encomenderos, those mandated to manage the encomienda or the lands given to them, where
Filipinos worked and paid their tributes to the encomendero.
• The encomienda system was an unfair and abusisve system as “compras y vandalas” became the norm of the
Filipino farmers working the land – they were made to sell their products at a very low price or surrender their
products to the encomenderos, who resold this at a profit.
• Filipinos were also required to render services to their encomenderos that were unrelated to farming.
• Hacienda system was implemented to fast track the entry of the colony into the capitalist world.
• In 1860s, Spain enacted a law ordering landholders to register their landholdings
• Lands were claimed and registered in other people’s names, and many peasant families who were ‘assigned’ to
the land in the earlier days of colonization were driven out or forced to come under the power of these people
who claimed rights to the land because they held a title.
Landownership in the Philippines under the Americans
• The Philippine Bill of 1902 provided regulations on the disposal of public lands
• A private individual may own 16 hectares (ha) of land while corporate landholders may have 1,024 ha.
• Americans were also given rights to own agricultural lands in the country.
• In 1903, the homestead program was introduced, allowing a tenant to enter into agricultural business by
acquiring a farm of at least 16 ha.
• Landownership did not improve during the American period; in fact, it even worsened, because there was no
limit to the size of landholdings people could possess and the accessibility of possession was limited to those
who could afford to buy, register, and acquire fixed property titles.
• President Quezon laid down a social justice program focused on the purchase of haciendas, which were divided
and sold to tenants.
• He also created the National Rice and Corn Administration (NARIC) to assign public defenders to assist
peasants in court battles for their rights to own a land.

Post-War Interventions Toward Agrarian Reform

• President Roxas passed the Republic Act No. 34 to establish 70-30 sharing arrangement between tenant and
landlord, respectively, which reduced the interest of landowners’ loans to tenants at six percent or less.
• President Elpidio Quirino established the Land Settlement Development Corporation (LASEDECO) to accelerate
and expand the resettlement program for peasants.
• LASEDECO became National Resettlement and Rehabilitation Administration (NARRA) under President Ramon
Magsaysay.
• NARRA accelerated the government’s resettlement program and distribution of agricultural lands to landless
tenants and farmers.
• It also aimed to convince members of the Huks, a movement of rebels in Central Luzon, to resettle in areas
where they could restart their lives as peaceful citizens
• President Diosdado Macapagal declared RA No. 3844 or Agricultural Land Reform Code
• This Code abolished share tenancy in the Philippines and prescribed a program to convert tenant-farmers to
lessees and later on owner-cultivators.

Agrarian Reform Efforts under Marcos

• Presidential Decree No. 27 (October 21, 1972)
- This shall apply to tenant farmers of private agricultural lands under a system of sharecrop or lease-tenancy;
- The tenant farmer shall be considered owner of a portion constituting a family-sized farm of five ha if not
irrigated and three ha if irrigated
- The landowner may retain an area of not more than seven ha if such landowner is cultivating such area or will
now cultivate it

• Under the rice self-sufficiency program “Masagana ‘99”, farmers were able to borrow from banks and purchase
three-hectare plots of lands and agricultural inputs.
• However, only restricted to rice lands, some landlords needed to change crops like coconut and sugar, so the
landed elite only had to evict their tenants and hired workers instead.
• Landlessness increased, elites find their way to maintain their land which worsened by the corruption of Marcos.

Post-1986 Agrarian Reform

• In 1988, the Congress passed RA No. 6657 or the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law, which introduced the
program Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program or CARP
- It enabled the redistribution of agricultural lands to tenant-farmers from landowners, who were paid in
exchange by the government through just compensation and allowed them to retain not more than 5 ha.
• CARP was limited because it accomplished very little, only 22.5% of land distribution in six years.
• Under President Ramos, CARP implementation was speeded in order to meet the ten-year time frame. By 1996,
DAR (Department of Agrarian Reform) distributed 58.25% of the total area target
• Ramos signed RA No. 8532 to amend CARL and extend the program to another ten years.
*CARPER and the Future of Agrarian Reform in the Philippines
• In 2009, President Arroyo signed RA No. 9700 or the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program Extension with
Reforms (CARPER), the amendatory law that extended the deadline to five more years.
• Form 2009-2014, CARPER has distributed a total of 1 M ha of land to 900,000 farmer beneficiaries.
• The DAR & DENR (Department of Environment and Natural Resources) are mandated to fulfill CARP & CARPER
• Problems in implementation: The powerful landed elite & The ineffectual bureaucracy of the Philippine gov’t
• Until these two challenges are surmounted, genuine agrarian reform remains but a dream to Filipino farmers
who have been fighting for their right to landownership for centuries.

Evolution of the Philippine Taxation

Taxation in Spanish Philippines

• The Spaniards imposed the payment of tributos (tributes)
• The purpose is to generate resources to finance the maintenance of the islands, such as salaries of government
officials and expenses of clergy.
• Exempted from payment of tributos were the principals: alcades, gobernadores, cabezas de barangay, soldiers,
members of the civil guard, government officials,and vagrants.
• In 1884, the payment of tribute was replaced by a certification of identification called the cedula personal.
• This is required from every resident and must be carried while traveling.
• Unlike the tribute, the payment of cedulas is by person, not by family.
• Payment of cedula is progressive and according to income categories.
• Chinese in the Philippines pay their discriminatory cedula which was bigger than what the Filipinos paid.
• Two direct taxes were added in 1878:
- Urbana is a tax on the annual rental value of an urban real estate
- Industria is a tax on salaries, dividends, and profits
• The colonial government gained income from monopolies but the biggest monopoly estate was tobacco.
• Forced labor was required from the Filipinos.
• The polo system, males Filipinos were obliged to serve. However, led to population decrease in 17th century
• Males were required to provide labor for 40 days a year (reduced to 15 days per year in 1884). They may be
opt out by paying the fallas of three pesos per annum
• Taxation during the Spanish colonial period was characterized by the heavy burden on the Filipinos, and the
corruption of the principales.
• The principals who were given positions such as cabezas de barangay or alcaldes were able to enrich themselves
by pocketing tributos and/or fallas, while the peasants were left to be abused.

Taxation under the Americans

• Urbana was replaced by tax on real estate, which became known as the land tax.
• The problem with land tax was that land tilting in the rural area was very disorderly and tax evasion was
prevalent, especially among the elites.
• The Internal Revenue Law of 1904 was passed as a reaction to the problems of collecting land tax.
• 1914 – income tax was introduced
• 1919 – inheritance tax was created
• 1932 – national lottery was established to create more revenue for the government

Taxation during the Commonwealth Period

• Income tax rates were increased in 1936, adding a surtax rate on individual net incomes in excess of 10,000
• Cedula tax was abolished on 1937
• National International Revenue Code (1939)
• Residence tax was imposed on every citizen aged 18 years old and on every corporation (1940)
• As World War II reached the Philippines, economic activity was put to a stop.
• The Japanese continued the system of tax collection introduced during the commonwealth, but exempted the
articles belonging to the Japanese armed forces.
Fiscal Policy from 1946 to Present
• President Quirino – implementation of import and exchange controls
• Magsaysay, Garcia, and Macapagal – promised to study the tax structure and policy of the country. However,
Congress did not pass any tax legislation despite important changes in the economy
– Collection of taxes remained poor; tax structure was still problematic, and much of public funds were lost to
corruption
• Under Marcos, the tax system remained regressive and unresponsive. Taxes grew at an average annual rate of
15%and generated a low tax yield.
• Aquino introduced the value-added tax (VAT)
- VAT law was signed on 1986 and put to effect on 1988
- Restructuring of the Department of Finance and Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) through Executive Order 127.
• Ramos introduced its own tax reform program in 1997 through the Comprehensive Tax Reform Program
• Estrada’s term was too short to constitute any change
• Arroyo signed the Expanded Value-Added Tax or E-VAT (RA 9337) (energy products such as coal and petroleum
products and electricity generation)
• Benigno Aquino III introduced the Sin Tax Reform which adjusted the excise tax on liquor and cigarettes
• President Duterte lowered the income tax rates. The present income tax is the second highest in Southeast
Asia. The tax reforms limit VAT exemptions and increase excise taxes on petroleum products and automobiles.

Doing History: A Guide for Students

5.1 Doing Historical Research Online

- The first tool that any student nowadays would use to research--- the Internet.
- It has increasingly become the primary means by which anyone would find any information that they need. With
a single click, students are able to access tons and tons of available information.

CYBERSPACE- is a great resource for research if you know how to use it properly. Remember that just because
information is available does not mean you just get it and use it right away—appropriating something, such as an idea, as
yours is considered PLAGIARISM, which is one of the worst crimes in the academe.

- A simple skill that will get you far in doing historical research online is knowing WHERE TO LOOK and HOW TO
LOOK.
- Search engine websites such as Yahoo! (www. yahoo.com) or Google (www. google.com) could lead you to a lot
of sources with the right search strings.

Search string- it is a combination of words that you use to come up with the relevant results and lead you to what you
are looking for. The more refined your research string is, the more definite and refined the results will be.

- Google also provides its own customized platform for scholarly research, called Google Scholar (www.
scholar.google.com). You may use it to find electronic journal articles, materials from institutional repositories,
and book chapters from many different sources.
- Google Books (www. books. Google.com) also provides sources for scanned books, where you may be able to
read some chapters for free.
- Wikipedia is the biggest open source encyclopedia in the whole of cyberspace.
o In 2017, it has 40 million articles in 293 languages.
o Being an open source encyclopedia, anyone could contribute or edit articles in the site, which makes
some of the information in the site unreliable.
- There are websites that you may use to legally download scanned copies of books and other materials
for free, especially those books with expired copyrights and are in public domain. These are the
following:
 1. Project Gutenberg (www. Gutenberg.org)- it is the oldest digital library in the world, founded in 1971.
- it has more than 50,000 items in its collection, which include many works concerning the Philippines, such
as:
a. the Doctrina Cristiana (the first published book in the Philippines).
b. the publishes travelogues of foreigners who visited the Philippines such as Jagor, de Comyn,
Virchow, Foreman, and Worcester
2. Internet Archive (www. archive.org)- it is an online library that originally sought to archive web history,
but grew later on to provide digital versions of other works. The archive contains 279 billion web pages,
11 million books and texts, 4 million audio recordings, 3 million videos, 1 million images and 100,000
software programs.
3. Philippine Government websites (www. gov.ph)

DOING HISTORICAL RESEARCH IN LIBRARIES AND ARCHIVES

- Research in libraries and archives is necessary in the study of history as these are repositories of primary and
secondary sources that allow us to create narratives of the past through accepted methods of historical
scholarship.
- It is imperative upon students to be able to develop an aptitude toward doing research in these venues so as to
further develop their skills in historical research.
- Libraries and archives still provide more variety of sources in different formats such as books, journal articles,
newspapers, magazines, photographs, and even audio and video recordings. But shifting through all the
materials available might prove to be a daunting task for the unacquainted.
Online Public Access Catalog (OPAC)- an antiquated card cataloging system, using digital version to catalog their
holdings.
o In this system, instead of going through each entry on physical index cards, a simple search will yield the
holdings of the library related to what you are searching for.
o Searching by subject will give you a list of sources, primary and secondary, to aid you in creating
preliminary biography that you may later on access physically in the holdings of the library.
- The National Library of the Philippines in Ermita, Manila provides a rich treasure trove of materials for the
student-researcher interested in Philippine history, especially in their Filipiniana section.
- The National Archives of the Philippines, also in Manila, is an agency of the government mandated to collect,
store, preserve, and make available records of the government and other primary sources pertaining to the
history and development of the Philippines.
- The libraries in the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City have holdings that could also be useful in
research. Such as, the Filipiniana Section, serials, theses, and dissertations.
- The Atene de Manila University in Quezon City holds the American Historical Collection, a rich source for the
American period in the Philippines.
- The University of Santo Tomas in Espana, Manila also has collections from the 16th century, owing to the fact
that it is the oldest Catholic university in the country and is a historic site itself.

DOING LIFE HISTORIES AND BIOGRAPHICAL RESEARCH

- Studying history is always focused on history of nations and different collectives.
- Studying the life of an individual is often incidental to a greater event that has been significant to the life of a
larger unit that he or she happened to contribute to.
- Life-history is an often-neglected sub discipline of history because it is seen as trivial to larger narratives of
nations, societies, and civilizations.
- However, students of history should realize that the individual is a significant contributor to various historical
breakthroughs across periods of time. Individuals make up societies and individual actions can cause large-scale
social change.
- Individuals’ influence can span centuries and generations.
- Individuals can also influence large spaces and many places.
 - For example, Jesus Christ as an individual, influenced the whole world. The faith and religion that He started also
launched wars, created civilizations, lasted for many centuries, and persist up to the present.
- Jose Rizal, on the other hand, influenced many generations of Filipinos. His novels inspired radical Filipinos to
fight the colonizers, and his death was seen as the tipping point of the revolution.
(See book, for more detailed example of the Life history of Rizal)

DOING LOCAL AND ORAL HISTORY

- Local History is the study of the history of a particular community or smaller unit of geography.
- Local historians study the history of local institutions like churches. They also study the local economies, local
heroes, and local events.
- Thus, it is also a broad and dynamic field of inquiry that aims to have an in-depth understanding of a certain
locale.
- Local history can serve as a balancer by showing the peculiarities in certain locales in a particular nation, region,
or continent.
- Studying local history can provide new and alternative interpretations on the different aspects of a nation’s
history.
- Local history also facilitates a historical narrative emanating from the people called- History from below.
- One important historical methodology to local history is oral history.
- Oral History is important in the midst of scarcity in written sources, historical documents, and other material
evidences. This method used oral accounts of historical subjects, witnesses, members of the communities, and
the like.
- Oral History primarily relies on memory.
o The subject or the informant will recount his experiences to the researcher as he remembers it.
o In other instances, the informant will relay what he learned from his ancestors or older members in the
community to the historian.

INTERACTING WITH HISTORY THROUGH HISTORICAL SHRINES AND MUSEUMS

- While research is a valuable tool to learn more about the experiences of the nation and our history, there exists
venues where we can experience history, and these are through historical shrines and museums.
- These venues for living history provide us a certain level of authority and trustworthiness that could impact the
way we view the past.
- Through interacting with artifacts such as World War II rifle or the clothes of a Filipino hero, we can better
imagine the past beyond the mere letter and words we read and painstakingly memorize.
- These tangible objects are reconstructions of the past; experiencing these artifacts directly is the next best thing
to actually being there when a particular event happened or when a historical personality lived. These firsthand
experiences make historical events more real for us; and research shows that learning by experiencing aids with
retention of the learning later in life.
- Historical Shrines and museums serve as portals to the past.