Philosophy of Law The civil law operates in areas such as family relations, property, succession,
contract and criminal law, while statutes and principles of common law origin are
The Philippine Political and Legal System
Group 6
I. History of the Philippine Legal System
A. Introduction
The Philippines is an archipelago composed of 7107 islands, divided into 3 island
groups: Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. While there are 87 official dialects in the
country, the official languages are English and Filipino. English is the language of
instruction in higher education.
The Philippines is a unitary presidential constitutional republic, with the President of
the Philippines acting as both the head of state and the head of government.
B. Constitutional Provision
Article 2 Section 1 of the 1987 Constitution provides that:
The Philippines is a democratic and republican State. Sovereignty resides in the
people and all government authority emanates from them.
A republic by definition is a form of government where governing the country is a
matter of public interest instead of the private concern of a ruling dynasty that
inherits its political power from their ancestors (monarchs). People in power get
there through a system that is meant to include the interests of every citizen.
A democracy is a type of government where all the citizens of the country have a
say in the governance of the country — typically by majority vote to elect
representatives who have their best interests in mind.
C. Philippine Legal System
The Philippine legal system is a mixture of customary usage, Roman (civil law) and
Anglo-American (common law) systems, and Islamic law. The legal system is the
result of the immigration of Muslim Malays in the fourteenth century and the
subsequent colonization of the islands by Spain and the United States.
evident in such areas as constitutional law, procedure, corporations law, taxation,
insurance, labor relations, banking and currency.
D. Philippine Legal System Timeline
a. Pre-Spanish Period (pre 1521)
Early Filipinos lived in numerous independent communities called barangays under
various native rules which were largely customary and unwritten. Evidence points to
the existence of two codes, namely, the Maragtas Code issued by Datu Sumakwel of
Panay Island and the Penal Code of Kalantiao issued by a datu of that name. These
customary laws dealt with subjects such as family relations, inheritance, divorce,
usury, partnerships, loans, property rights, barter and sale, and crime and
punishment.
The penal law distinguished between felonies and misdemeanors, recognized a
distinction between principal and accomplice in matters of criminal liability, and had
an idea of the existence of qualifying and mitigating circumstances, as well as
recidivism as an aggravating circumstance. Like many ancient societies, trial by
ordeal was practiced in the barangay.
b. Spanish Regime (1521- 1898)
The arrival of Ferdinand Magellan in the Philippines on 16 March 1521 presaged a
new era in the history of Philippine law.
Spanish laws and codes were extended to the Philippines either expressly by royal
decrees or by implication through the issuance of special laws for the islands. The
most
prominent of these laws and codes were the Fuero Juzgo, Fuero Real, Las Siete
Partidas,
Las Leyes de Toros, Nueva Recopilacion de Las Leyes de Indias, which contained
all the
laws then in force in the Spanish colonies and the Novisima Recopilacion, which
comprised all the laws from the fifteenth century up to 1805
c. Philippine Republic of 1898
 By 1872, the Filipinos had revolted against Spain because of the abuses committed
by the Spanish authorities and friars. The revolution spread so rapidly that on 12
June 1898, the independence of the Philippines was proclaimed by General Emilio
Aguinaldo. A Revolutionary Congress was convened on 15 September 1898, and on
20 January 1899, the Malolos Constitution was approved.
This Constitution proclaimed popular sovereignty and enumerated the fundamental
civil and political rights of the individual. At the time of its proclamation, the
Republic exercised, albeit briefly, de facto authority, although this came to an end
upon the coming of the Americans.
d. American Regime and the Commonwealth Era (1989-1946)
The end of the Spanish-American War, which was followed by the signing of the
Treaty of Paris on 10 December 1898, paved the way for the cession of the
Philippines to the United States.
Upon the establishment of American sovereignty, the political laws of the
Philippines were totally abrogated and Spanish laws, customs and rights of property
inconsistent with the US Constitution and with American principles and institutions
were superseded.
Pursuant to the Tydings-MacDuffie Law, a Commonwealth government was to be
established for a transitional period of ten years before independence could be
granted.
Likewise, it granted to the Filipinos a right to formulate their own Constitution. In
due course, a constitution was approved on February 8, .1935 which was signed by
US President Franklin D Roosevelt on March 23, 1935 and ratified at a plebiscite
held on May 14, 1935, voters went to the polls to elect the first set of executive and
legislative officials led by President Manuel L. Quezon and Vice-President Sergio
Osmeña.
e. Japanese Occupation (1941-1944)
On 08 December 1941, the Philippines was invaded by Japanese forces and was
occupied until 1944. during the three-year military rule, a 1943 Constitution was
drafted and ratified by a special national convention of the Kapisanan sa
Paglilingkod ng Bagong Pilipinas (KALIBAPI), which led to the establishment of
the short-lived Japanese-sponsored republic headed by President Jose P Laurel.
During the Japanese occupation, the Commonwealth, then in exile, functioned in
Washington DC from May 13, 1942 to October 3, 1944 until its re-establishment in
Manila on February 28, 1945 by President Sergio Osmeña.
f. Period of the Republic (1946- 1972)
The inauguration of the Philippine Republic on July 4, 1946 marked the culmination
of the Filipinos‘ 300 years of struggle for freedom. The 1935 Constitution served as
the
fundamental law with the executive power being vested in the President, the
legislative power in the bicameral Congress of the Philippines and the judicial power
in the Supreme Court and inferior courts established by law.
The Constitutional Convention met on June 1, 1971 and it took its members 17
months to draft a new Constitution. While the Convention was in session, President
Ferdinand E Marcos, acting in accordance with the provisions of the 1935
Constitution, placed the entire Philippines under Martial Law. On November
29,1972, the Constitutional Convention completed its work. The draft of the new
Constitution was submitted to the Filipino people through citizens‘ assemblies and
was ratified on January 17, 1973. Proclamation No 110410 was issued on the same
day declaring the continuation of martial law.
g. Martial Law Period (1972- 1986)
The 1973 Constitution established a parliamentary form of government and
introduced the merger of executive and legislative powers. The Chief Executive, the
Prime Minister, was elected by a majority of all the members of the National
Assembly from amongst themselves and could be dismissed by electing a successor
Prime Minister. On the other hand, the Prime Minister had the power to advise the
President to dissolve the National Assembly and call for a general election. The
President was reduced to being a symbolic head of state. However, the role of the
President and the Prime Minister were vested on Marcos.
Under Amendment No 6, the President was also empowered to continue to exercise
legislative powers until martial law ‗shall have been lifted‘. If in his judgment,
‗there exists a grave emergency or threat or imminence thereof, or whenever the
Interim Batasang Pambansa or the regular National Assembly fails or is unable to
act adequately on any matter for any reason that in his judgment requires immediate
action, he may, in order to meet the exigency, issue the necessary decrees, orders or
letters of instructions which shall form part of the law of the land‘.
The 1981 Amendments introduced a modified form of presidential/parliamentary
system. The people directly elected the President, who was the head of state and
chief executive of the Republic, for a term of six years. There was a Prime Minister
who was elected by a majority of the Batasang Pambansa upon nomination of the
President. He was head of the Cabinet and had supervision of all ministries.
Together with the Cabinet, he was responsible to the Batasang Pambansa for the
programme of the government, approved by the President. The Batasan could
 withdraw its confidence from the Prime Minister and the latter could seek a popular
vote of confidence on fundamental issues and request the President to dissolve the
legislature.
Martial Law was lifted on January 17, 1981, and military tribunals were abolished
by Proclamation No 2045.
A presidential election was held on June 16,1981 and President Marcos was again
reelected. In his inaugural address on June 30, 1981, he proclaimed the birth of the
Fourth Republic under the New Constitution, as amended.
The assassination of former Senator Benigno S Aquino, on August 21, 1983,
triggered mass demonstrations and an economic crisis which paved the way to
another set of amendments to the 1973 Constitution. The 1984 Amendments
consisted of the following:
(1) the establishment of a different mode of presidential succession with the creation
of the Office of the Vice-President and the abolition of the Executive Committee;
(2) the apportionment of representation in the Batasang Pambansa by province, city,
and by districts in Metropolitan Manila, instead of by region;
(3) the grant, as an additional mode for the acquisition of public lands and that the
agrarian reform programme may include the grant or distribution of alienable public
lands to qualified tenants, farmers and other landless citizens; and
(4) making the State undertake an urban land reform and social housing programme
for the homeless, landless, and the low-income resident citizens.
An impeachment resolution was filed by 57 members of the opposition against
President Marcos but this was dismissed by the Batasan Committee on Justice for
not being sufficient in form and substance to warrant further consideration.
On November 3, 1985, President Marcos announced the calling of a special
presidential election and for which the Batasang Pambansa set 7 February 1986 as
the date of the so-called ‗snap election‘. Corazon Aquino ran against Marcos.
Marcos was declared the winner despite the fact that Aquino had at least a million
votes higher. Subsequent events led to an Armed Forces mutiny and the four-day
‗people-power revolution‘, which resulted in the ousting of President Marcos from
the Philippines on February 25, 1986.
h. Continuation of the Republic
When Corazon C Aquino took her oath of office as President on 25 February 1986,
Proclamation No 130 was issued wherein she declared that she and her Vice-
President were ‗taking power in the name and by the will of the Filipino people‘ on
the basis of the clear sovereign will of the people expressed in the election of
February 7, 1986. The new government came into power not in accordance with the
procedure outlined in the 1973 Constitution but as explicitly stated in the preamble
to Proclamation No 3 which stated that ‗the new government was installed through a
direct exercise of the power of the Filipino people assisted by units of the New
Armed Forces of the Philippines‘ and that this ‗heroic action of the people was done
in defiance of the provisions of the 1973 Constitution, as amended‘.
Pursuant to Article V of the Provisional Constitution, the Constitutional
Commission was constituted under Proclamation No 936 composed of 48 members
with the task of drafting a Constitution in ‗as short a period as may be consistent
with the need to hasten the return of normal constitutional government‘. After 133
days of work by a vote of 45 to 2, the proposed new Constitution, consisting of a
preamble, 18 articles and 321 sections, was submitted to the President on October
15, 1986. It was ratified by the people in a plebiscite held on February 2, 1987.
E. Sources of Philippine Law
a. Constitution
The Constitution is considered the fundamental and supreme law of the land. Its
authority is of the highest order, which no other authority can prevail. This means
that if there is inconsistency between a law and a constitutional provision, the latter
shall prevail.
b. Statutes
This includes acts of Congress, municipal charters, municipal legislation, court
rules, administrative rules and orders, legislative rules and presidential issuances. It
is intended to provide rules and regulations which will govern the conduct of people
in a certain state.
c. Treaties and Convention
These have the same force of authority as statutes. They are considered contracts
made by 2 or more independent states for the benefit of all citizens of the states
included in the treaty or convention.
d. Judicial Decisions
Art 8 of the Civil Code provides that ‗judicial decisions applying to or interpreting
the laws or the Constitution shall form a part of the legal system of the Philippines‘.
Only decisions of its Supreme Court establish jurisprudence and are binding on all
other courts.
e. Customs

To some extent, customary law also forms part of the Filipino legal system. Article
14 Section 17 of the Constitution provides that:
The State shall recognize, respect, and protect the rights of indigenous cultural
communities to preserve and develop their cultures, traditions, and institutions. It
shall consider these rights in the formulation of national plans and policies.
The primary sources of Muslim law / Shariah are the
Quran, Sunnaqh, Ijma and Qiyas.
F. The 3 Branches of Government
One basic corollary in a presidential system of government is the principle of
separation of powers wherein legislation belongs to Congress, execution to the
Executive, and settlement of legal controversies to the Judiciary.
A. Legislative Department
The Legislative Branch enacts legislation, confirms or rejects Presidential
appointments, and has the authority to declare war. This branch includes Congress
(the Senate and House of Representatives) and several agencies that provide support
services to Congress.
 Senate – The Senate shall be composed of twenty-four Senators who shall be
elected at large by the qualified voters of the Philippines, as may be provided by
law.
 House of Representatives – The House of Representatives shall be composed of not
more than two hundred and fifty members, unless otherwise fixed by law, who shall
be elected from legislative districts apportioned among the provinces, cities, and the
Metropolitan Manila area in accordance with the number of their respective
inhabitants, and on the basis of a uniform and progressive ratio, and those who, as
provided by law, shall be elected through a party-list system of registered national,
regional, and sectoral parties or organizations.
B. Executive Department
The executive branch carries out and enforces laws. It includes the President, Vice
President, the Cabinet, executive departments, independent agencies, and other
boards, commissions, and committees.
Key roles of the executive branch include:
 President – The President leads the country. He/she is the head of state, leader of the
national government, and Commander in Chief of all armed forces of the
Philippines. The President serves a six-year term and cannot be re-elected.
 Vice President – The Vice President supports the President. If the President is
unable to serve, the Vice President becomes President. He/she serves a six-year
term.
 The Cabinet – Cabinet members serve as advisors to the President. They include the
Vice President and the heads of executive departments. Cabinet members are
nominated by the President and must be confirmed by the Commission of
Appointments.
C. Judicial Department
The judicial branch interprets the meaning of laws, applies laws to individual cases,
and decides if laws violate the Constitution. The judicial power shall be vested in
one Supreme Court and in such lower courts as may be established by law.
Judicial power includes the duty of the courts of justice to settle actual controversies
involving rights which are legally demandable and enforceable, and to determine
whether or not there has been a grave abuse of discretion amounting to lack or
excess of jurisdiction on the part of any branch or instrumentality of the
Government. The judicial branch interprets the meaning of laws, applies laws to
individual cases, and decides if laws violate the Constitution.
II. Philippine Legal System
Philippine laws have generally been adopted from Western legal systems. Our civil
and criminal codes were derived from codified Hispanic and Roman laws. Our
family Code was influenced by Canon Law. Our political constitution was inspired
by the American and French liberal constitutions. Our commercial laws were
wholesale copies of American mercantile laws. Jurisprudence and remedial rules on
evidence were based on Western empirical and inductive theories. Labor law was
partly a concession to socialist elements inspired by Marx‘s ideology. Meanwhile,
international law trends continue to be dominated by Western legal currents.
It is said that Westernization, like globalization, is inevitable for most of Asia. After
centuries of arresting and obliteration the development of the legal processes and
philosophies of colonized countries such as the Philippines, the alternative is to
adopt the developed and accustomed systems of the West as it may be too late to
risk untested waters. On one hand, countries may be risking their sovereignty by
 accepting hook, line, and sinker the ―legal imperialism‖ of the West such as by
wholesale adoption of foreign and international law as source or part of the law of
the land.
A. Government and the State
The Philippine Constitution is described as ‗pro-life, pro-people, pro-poor, pro-
Filipino and anti-dictatorship‘.
B. PRO-LIFE
It is ‗pro-life‘ because it bans nuclear weapons, protects the unborn from the
moment of conception, abolishes the death penalty except in extreme cases when the
Congress may reimpose it, and protects the family as a basic autonomous social
institution.
The Philippines, consistent with the national interest, adopts and pursues a policy of
freedom from nuclear weapons in its territory. (Sec. 8, Art. II, 1987 Constitution)
The State recognizes the sanctity of human life and shall protect and strengthen the
family a basic autonomous social institution. It shall equally protect the life of the
mother and the life of the unborn from conception. (Sec. 12, Art II, 1987
Constitution)
C. PRO-PEOPLE
It is considered ‗pro-people‘ because it includes policies to promote people‘s
welfare, i.e. a just and humane social order, adequate social services, protection for
the right to health and to a balanced and healthy ecology and gives priority to
education; it allows greater participation by the people in government through the
free and open party system, sectoral representation, people‘s organizations, and the
institution of the processes of initiative and referendum in law-making and
constitutional amendment.
The maintenance of peace and order, the protection of life, liberty and property, and
the promotion of the general welfare are essential for the enjoyment by all the
people of the blessings of democracy. (sec. 5, Art. II, 1987 Constitution)
The State values the dignity of every human person and guarantees full respect for
human rights. (sec. 11, Art II, 1987 Constitution)
The State shall protect and promote the right to health of the people and instill
health consciousness among them. (Sec. 15, Art. II, 1987 Constitution)
D. PRO-POOR
It is ‗pro-poor‘ because there are socio-economic policies that alleviate the plight of
the under-privileged, and promote social justice.
The State shall promote a just and dynamic social order that will ensure the
prosperity and independence of the nation and free the people from poverty through
policies that provide adequate social services, promote full employment, a rising
standard of living, and an improved quality of life for all. (Sec. 9, Art. II, 1987
Constitution)
The State shall promote social justice in all phases of national development. (Sec.
10, Art. II, 1987 Constitution)
E. PRO-FILIPINO
It is pro-Filipino because there are provisions for Filipino control of the economy,
educational institutions, mass media and advertising and public utilities; reservation
of certain areas of investments for Filipinos if it is in the national interest, and in the
practice of all professions; a Filipino national language and the preservation of a
Filipino national culture.
The goals of the national economy are a more equitable distribution of
opportunities, income, and wealth; a sustained increase in the amount of goods and
services produced by the nation for the benefit of the people; and an expanding
productivity as the key to raising the quality of life for all, especially the
underprivileged.
The State shall promote industrialization and full employment based on sound
agricultural development and agrarian reform, through industries that make full
and efficient use of human and natural resources, and which are competitive in both
domestic and foreign markets. However, the State shall protect Filipino enterprises
against unfair foreign competition and trade practices. (Sec.1, Art XII, 1987
Constitution)
F. ANTI-DICTATORSHIP
It is ‗anti-dictatorship‘ because it puts limitations on the powers of the President and
strengthens the powers of the Congress and the Judiciary, thus, preventing the
consolidation of powers in any one person or branch of government.
The Supreme Court may review, in an appropriate proceeding filed by any citizen,
the sufficiency of the factual basis of the proclamation of martial law or the
suspension of the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus or the extension thereof, and
must promulgate its decision thereon within thirty days from its filing. (Sec. 18, Art.
VII, 1987 Constitution)
III. Rizal on understandting the cancer of Philippine
“Does your Excellency know the spirit of (my) country? xxx My spirit is "twisted"
because I have been reared among injustices and abuses which I saw everywhere
xxx The product of that constant vision of the moral ideal that succumbs before the
powerful reality of abuses, arbitrariness, hypocrisies, farces, violence, perfidies and
other base passions.”
- Jose Rizal. ―Letter to Barrantes on the Noli‖, La Solidaridad, 15 February
1890
Jose Rizal, the Filipino national hero taught the need to rediscover and prune
Filipino values from centuries of deconstruction and corrupt conditioning. The
original traditions, customs and laws of early Filipinos were displaced and
propagandistically trampled as mediocre and inferior, and was replaced with foreign
practices to impose a new world order under Spain; which lead to the loosening of
our sense of identity and recollection. In Rizal‘s book ―The Philippines A Century
Hence‖, he lamented:
“Then began a new era for the Filipinos; little by little they lost their old traditions,
the mementos of their past; they gave up their writing, their songs, their poems, their
laws in order to learn by rote mother doctrines which they did not understand,
another morality, another aesthetics different from those inspired by their climate
and their manner of thinking. Then they declined, degrading themselves in their own
eyes; they became ashamed of was their own; they began to admire and praise
whatever was foreign and incomprehensible; their spirit was dismayed and it
surrendered.”
In two (2) of the most famous novels of Jose Rizal which is the “Noli Me Tangere
and El Filibusterismo” and which was inspired by “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”, a novel of
Harriet Beacher on the sufferings of American Negro slaves, Rizal exposed the
injustices of the Spaniards in their 300-year occupation in the Philippines. In the
present day, Rizal‘s beliefs and observations on the sickness of the society are still
applicable today.
One of Rizal‘s observations is that the Philippines, given its tropical climate and
distance from Spain, became the best location to penalize and exile the most ignoble
friars, notorious criminals, corrupt officers and immoral citizens, who took over the
country like gods and increased its number in the society. In ―Tears and Laughter‖
which was written by Rizal, he stated that the country received ―the worst left-overs
in Spain, like rascals, the dissolute, the hypocrites, the lazy, the ignorant, and the
hungry.‖
Since the Spaniards occupied the Philippines, the Filipinos were prevented from
learning about the rising revolutions and reforms in Europe (French Revolution:
1789- 1799) and US (American Revolution: 1775- 1783); as well as new scientific
discoveries and the principles of enlightenment. They were not educated and was
prohibited from learning to read, write, and speak; but was given novenaries,
religious tracts, and the lives of saints. Catholic Friars transferred to the Philippines
after their missions lost influence in Europe and were deposed from their position.
Here they controlled over all institutions which also includes education and turned
the country into a ―frailocratic state”; and religion was used as a tool to control and
exact total compliance of the people. And as the friars became more powerful, the
number of abuses to the Filipinos increased. Such as outright land grabbing and
foreclosure of mortgages which caused the majority of the lands to be owned by
friars.
One of the strategies for subjugation was ―divide and conquer‖. In the ―Truth for
All‖, an essay written by Rizal, he witnessed many officers assigned in the country
―no more knowledge nor more mischief than to create divisions and enmities in the
towns, favoring this or that party, demoralizing them‖.
Filipino‘s ―hospitality‖ to foreigners and predilections for their interests were
identified as the remnants of an ingrained subservience. Filipino principales or the
noble class in the Spanish-colonial era, were the ancestors of present political
families and were considered as ―blind tools, cowardly adherent, humble and
complacent with the whims of their superiors, deaf and tyrannical towards their
inferiors and the poor people whose destinies are in their hands‖
During Rizal‘s time, most Filipino could only hope to migrate and become a citizen
of another land. Rizal sadly stated;
―That our mothers x x x weep and weep a thousand times for not
being able to give us any other thing except the unfortunate country where we were
born. Were it possible, they would have given birth in other countries where the
words humanity, justice, and equality are not empty words, where rights and duties
are common to all, where the law does not have two balances; for bribery was the
means for political ascent.
Since then, the illness of the Philippine society was not the Spanish occupation.
Rather, it was the human nature of the Filipino people which embraced what is not
theirs; forgetting the tradition and culture of their ancestors. Just like what Jose Rizal
said, it was a new era for Filipinos; an era where the country is composed of the
Spaniards, Filipinos aspiring to be Spaniards and the poor Filipinos who are
oppressed by the two. That the plan of subjugation among the Filipino people was a
success because of the hate of the people with each other and their idea of someday
becoming Spanish citizens themselves; believing that becoming one will uplift their
current situation.
IV. Duty, Interiority, and Community
With our forgotten customary laws, we can only state too much about ―Filipino
philosophy‖. We can only generalize since Filipinos are multicultural and have no
singular unified thought system other than what we now inherited from the West.
Globalization, immigration, and new ways of living have also overtaken long- held
traditions. Instead, we can point to patterns or tendencies of thought that characterize
the way we live and the ways we make or break rules in the not- so- distant past.
Leonardo Mercado, in his book entitled the Elements of Filipino Philosophy,
observed that an essential difference between Westerners and Filipinos, particularly
from the rural and indigenous areas, is the Filipino value for duties or katungkulan,
while Westerners stress on rights. For instance, peace pacts between minorities carry
strict sanctions for bilateral duties and obligation.
While American- based provisions from the 1935 to the present Constitution
emphasized rights and liberties, the Kartilya ng Katipunan by Emilio Jacinto and the
New Decalogue by Apolinario Mabini were duties- based, worded with ―thou
shalts‖ and ―thou shall nots‖.
Responsibility too can be a personal call, even if there is no written contract or
external law. Filipinos have a concept of interiority, or innate goodness or morality
of the person as springboard for rules, expectations and proper conduct. The debt of
volition or utang na loob is an example. According to Mercado, some tribes such as
the Tirurays (traditional hill people from the Southwestern Mindanao) do not even
have a body of laws, but only a wreath of traditions and customs that serve as
sources of norms. The Malay concept of customary law or adat refers to rules in
accordance with social relationships such as the family, ancestry, religion, and
group.
Whereas Westerners are individualistic, Filipinos tend to be social and communal,
seeking harmony or pakikisama with others and with nature, to the point that private
interest, private property, and private affairs can be alien concepts. People from the
barrio usually hold feasts and celebrations where everyone must be welcome.
Money and property must be available for lending and borrowing. Filipinos today
find social networking very appealing given our sociable and extrovert orientation.
In fact, the Philippines ranked as the top 1 nation where people spend most time on
social media, according to gulfbussiness.com.
Before the concept of land titles was introduced, land ownership was also
communal. Mother Nature or inang kalikasan is given an personality as the unseen
hand and guardian of the land and forests. One can own what is grown from the
land, but not the land itself. The endemic problems of squatting and sidewalk
vending on vacant land are due to the rural mentality that one owns what one in the
meantime can occupy, cultivate and use.
Mercado noted that Filipinos have a concept of reference group or sakop. Honor or
shame, success and failure, are shared by group where one is identified. Punishment
must be repaid by another member of the sakop, or as pambayad- utang. The sakop
stretches, especially for the Ifugaos, to departed loved ones and to future unborn
children.
Loyalties are strong, and dynasties remain, because electorates consider themselves
part of the sakop of a traditional bet, with whom they have established identity and
sympathies. The local leader is the modern- day chieftain or datu. In as much as
chieftains can pass their rule to their children, so do modern politicians have been
similarly entitled, thus, the continued rule of political families.
The barker, the policeman, and the government officer also consider their office or
jurisdiction as their temporary domains, and their relation to subjects is a relational
(non- professional) debt, which entitles them to the “tong” or personal tax, or to tip
or “lagay.”
Cosmic justice is our version of natural law. The concept of retribution and
punishment is to even out the status of the offended and the offender, for the purpose
of being patas. Due to the inadequacies of the legal system, people sometimes leave
it to ―gabâ” or “karma” to punish the offender in its own time and by the same
measure. Some deliberately resort to ritualistic curses or sumpa, or to sorcery or
magic such as mananambal or mangkukulam by calling on unseen forces of spirits
of nature. Jose Rizal in his La Curacion de los Hechizados specified the different
crafts of sorcerers as real. However, he subscribed their power not to the
supernatural but to their ability to implant an idea and expectation of suffering into
the victim‘s mind through forms of hypnotism, alteration of consciousness, and
mental suggestion; using the power of the subconscious and psychological
transference.
To resolve disputes, mediation is a preferred mode of reconciliation, since it saves
time and money from protracted litigation and avoids legal technicalities. This is the
reason why we have a barangay conciliation law, where amicable settlement of
disputes is generally mandatory before going to courts.
Jim Lopez in The Law on Alternative Dispute Resolution noted that Filipinos tend to
avoid hostile exchanges by being open to requests or pakiusap and companionship
or pakikisama. However, once suits are commenced, settlement may be difficult
since self- respect or amor propio, one- upmanship or pasiklaban, and retaliation or
gantihan may prevent a party trying to save face or to give a lesson to the opponent
from entering into a compromise. On one hand, the sense of shame or hiya,
recognition of debt or utang na loob, pity or awa, and propriety or delicadeza from a
suit may also hasten settlement.
For Mercado, Filipino thinking is also non- dualist and non- scientific, thus, the
penchant for superstitions, herbal healing, metaphysical explanations, poetic
intuition, and beliefs in Bathala na or Bahala na, or fatalism. Many Filipinos are
animistic and live in a spirit world, whether with pagan spirits or with Christian
angels and saints. The Filipino calendar is marked with religious holidays and feasts.
Filipinos can be very sensitive, spontaneous, emotional, or personal since
enculturation has not been geared to being logical or rational. By being non- dualist,
Mercado explained that Filipinos find it difficult to separate affairs of the worldly
and the eternal, Church and State, body and soul, reason and faith. These are
considered part of a holistic dynamics that cannot be segregated.
V. The Filipino Family
Sticking with your family is what makes it a family
―There is no claim of gratitude that can excuse, there is not enough power in the
world to justify the offenses against x x x the sanctity of the home x x x There is no
divinity that can proclaim the sacrifice of our dearest affections, the sacrifice of the
family x x x‖ –Rizal in his ―The Philippines A Century Hence‖
Influences why the Philippines remains to be the only country without a divorces
law, or which still nulls contraception, and where there is hardly any move to
legalize same-sex marriage:
 Catholicism (religious influence)
 Agricultural and Rural Eastern culture (which encourages large
intact families, stable marriages, and alliance of tribes, clans and
families sealed by birth)
 A. Definition:
Our Constitution also devotes an article on family rights out of the Philippine
experience from Ferdinand Marcos‘ draconian population control policies.
Filipinos are fond of children, and almost every Catholic dwelling has the image of
the Sto. Niño or the Infant Jesus.
Our forefathers already recognize the humanity of the unborn in that a pregnant
woman is called ―nagdadalang-tao‖ (Constitutional Commissioner Bernardo
Villegas used this as argument in proposing the protection of the life of the unborn
from conception as having the indigenous origin).
In the Philippines, as well as in neighboring Asian cultures, family ties tend to be
strong, extending to nuclear families, in a man-woman-children setting. It is a duty
to care for the elderly, while pregnant women and children are given special
treatment.
Muslim, Buddhist and Confucianist influences passed a family ethic and structure
that Westerners might see as patriarchal and docile. Our terms for ate (eldest sister),
ditse (second sister), sanse (third sister), kuya (eldest brother), diko (second brother),
and sangko (third brother) were derived from Chinese.
The influx of Hindu traders, too, like Catholicism, strengthened the view that
marriage is indissoluble and a samkra (sacrament), where the allowed method of
family planning is brahhmacharya or sexual continence (―pagkokontrol”).
For Philippine culture, courtship, marriage, pregnancy, and the rearing of children
are not private affairs but occasions to solidify alliances and to perpetuate
community values.
Family and marriage are not private contracts; thus, the Philippine Constitution
declares that the family is ―the foundation of the nation,‖ and marriage ―an
inviolable social institution.
The State has the duty to preserve not any family but the ideal family, which to most
Filipinos means a home with a father, mother and child. So it goes for the only
country that enshrined in its Constitutional preamble – along with truth, justice,
freedom, equality, and peace.
It is a proverbial truth for many Filipinos that charity begins at home, but
unfortunately at times, also ends there.
VI. DEMOCRACY
Government of the people, by the people, for the people. (Gettysburg Address - U.S.
President Abraham Lincoln, 1809-1865)
It is a type of political system where a constitution guarantees basic personal and
political rights, fair and free elections, and independent courts of law.
B. Key Elements:
1. Guarantee of basic Human rights, Religious liberty and Freedom of
opinion to every individual person as well as any social groups and other
persons.
2. Separation of Powers between the institutions of the state:
3. President - Executive Power
4. Congress - Legislative Power and
5. Courts of Law - Judicial Power
6. General and equal right to vote;
 7. Good Governance. 4. It makes for a responsible and stable administration.
5. It brings a feeling of obligation towards the citizens.
C. Types:
Disadvantages:
1. DIRECT
1. It instigates corruption.
Direct democracy places all power in the hands of the individual. When political 2. It risks the wrong choice of public servants.
decisions must be made, all members of a polity gather together and individuals cast 3. It allows not exercising the right to vote.
a vote.
VII. REPUBLIC
Subcomponent:
A. Definition
a. Mixed Regimes
A system of government in which the people hold sovereign power and elect
It is a form of government that combines elements representatives who exercise that power.
of democracy (polity), aristocracy, and monarchy, making impossible their
respective degenerations (conceived as anarchy - mob rule, oligarchy and tyranny). In the Philippine setting, it is a republic with a presidential form of government
wherein power is equally divided among its three branches: executive, legislative,
REPRESENTATIVE and judicial. With the principle of separation of powers, legislation belongs to
Congress (Article VI, 1987 Constitution), execution to the Executive (Article VII,
This political arrangement establishes an intermediary political actor between the 1987 Constitution), and settlement of legal controversies to the Judiciary (Art. VIII,
individual and the policy outputs of the state. Through the electoral process, one 1987 Constitution). The President and the members of Congress are directly elected
person or a group of people are elected and assigned with the task of making by the people, while the members of the Supreme Court are appointed by the
decisions on behalf of the group of citizens that they represent. President from a list formed by the Judicial and Bar Council.

Subcomponent: The following provisions further display the essence of a Republic State of the
Philippines, to wit:
a. PRESIDENTIAL SYSTEM
a. Section 1, Article II of the 1987 Constitution: The Philippines is a
It is a system, which concentrates power in the executive branch, tend to be less democratic and republican State. Sovereignty resides in the people
representative and more stable. and all government authority emanates from them.
b. Section 2(1), E.O. No. 292 (Administrative Code of 2987):
b. PARLIAMENTARY SYSTEM Government of the Republic of the Philippines refers to the corporate
governmental entity through which the functions of government are
This institutional configuration involves voters selecting parliamentary exercised throughout the Philippines, including, save as the contrary
representatives. The party that wins the largest number of congressional seats then appears from the context, the various arms through which political
selects the head of government also known as the Prime Minister, Chancellor, or authority is made effective in the Philippines, whether pertaining to
Premier. the autonomous regions, the provincial, city, municipal or barangay
subdivisions or other forms of local government.
c. Section 1, Article V of the 1987 Constitution: Suffrage may be
Advantages: exercised by all citizens of the Philippines not otherwise disqualified
by law, who are at least 18 years of age, and who shall have resided
1. It protects the interest of citizens. in the Philippines for at least 1 year and, in the place wherein they
2. It prevents monopoly of authority. propose to vote for at least 6 months immediately preceding the
3. It promotes equality.
 election. No literacy, property, or other substantive requirement shall
be imposed on the exercise of suffrage.
B. Characteristics of a Republican State
 The existence of a bill of rights (Art. III, 1987 Constitution);
 The observance of the rule of majority;
 The observance of the principle that ours is a government of laws, and not
of men;
 The presence of elections through popular will (Omnibus Election Code);
 The observance of the principle of separation of powers and the system of
checks and balances;
 The observance of the law on public officers (Sec. 1, Art. XI, 1987
Constitution; Administrative Code of 1987); and
 The observance of the principle that the State cannot be sued without its
consent (Sec. 3, Art. XVI, 1987 Constitution; Republic v. NLRC, G.R. No.
120385, October 17, 1996).
C. Advantages of a Republican State
1. It is Constitutional
Everything that is done within the state is done according to the tenets of the
constitution. Under the 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.
2. Representative
Officials are elected directly by the people and represent them as their
constituencies. They are expected to take decisions that inure to the benefit of the
people they represent.
• The regular election for President and Vice-President of the Philippines
shall be held on the 1st Monday of May 1987 and on the same day every 6
years thereafter. The President-elect and the Vice-President-elect shall
assume office at 12 noon on the 30th day of June next following the
election and shall end at noon of the same date, 6 years thereafter when the
term of his successor shall begin (Sec. 13, Art. II, Omnibus Election
Code).
• The regular election of the Members of the Batasang Pambansa shall be
held on the 2nd Monday of May 1990, and on the same day every 6 years
thereafter (Sec. 21, Art. III, Omnibus Election Code).
• The election of provincial, city and municipal officials whose positions are
provided for by the Local Government Code shall be held throughout the
Philippines in the manner herein prescribed on the 1st Monday of May,
1986 and on the same day every 6 years thereafter (Par. 1, Sec. 29, Art. IV,
Omnibus Election Code).
3. Power in the hands of the people
The ultimate power resides with the people. However, they will relinquish that
power to a group of people they call leaders, to exercise on their behalf for a specific
number of years (Sec. 1, Art. II, 1987 Constitution).
4. Leader is not imposed
The Head of State in a republic is not imposed upon the people, but the
latter are responsible for putting a leader or effecting a change of
leadership all by themselves in a general election
• The President and the Vice-President shall be elected by direct vote of the
people for a term of 6 years which shall begin at noon on the 30th day of
June next following the day of the election and shall end at noon of the
same date 6 years thereafter. The President shall not be eligible for any
reelection. No person who has succeeded as President and has served as
such for more than four years shall be qualified for election to the same
office at any time (Sec. 4, Art. VII, 1987 Constitution).
• The regular election for President and Vice-President of the Philippines
shall be held on the 1st Monday of May 1987 and on the same day every 6
years thereafter. The President-elect and the Vice-President-elect shall
assume office at 12 noon on the 30th day of June next following the
election and shall end at noon of the same date, 6 years thereafter when the
term of his successor shall begin (Sec. 13, Art. II, Omnibus Election
Code).
5. Democratic
Political authority is conferred on the citizens through election. Any form of
government in which the rulers have to be elected into office in a general election is
deemed to be democratic.

D. Disadvantages of a Republican State
1. Expensive to operate
People must be elected to rule on behalf of the others. Elections are the means by
which can be expensive and requires a lot of resources (R.A. No. 8436, An Act
Authorizing the Use of Automated Election System; Roque v. COMELEC, G.R. No.
188456, September 10, 2009).
2. Time consuming
Laws made in Congress must pass through certain laid down processes without
which it could not become law. Conforming to the dictates of the constitution can
therefore be time consuming (Section 26 (2) & 27, Art. VI, 1987 Constitution).
3. It can be a competition
There are many political parties contending for the control of the higher echelons of
political power. This can sometimes degenerate into serious contentions where they
compete with each other to gain political advantage.
• Election campaign or partisan political activity outside campaign period. -
It shall be unlawful for any person, whether or not a voter or candidate, or
for any party, or association of persons, to engage in an election campaign
or partisan political activity except during the campaign period: Provided,
That political parties may hold political conventions or meetings to
nominate their official candidates within thirty days before the
commencement of the campaign period and forty-five days for
Presidential and Vice-Presidential election (Sec. 80, Art. X, Omnibus
Election Code).
• Limitations upon expenses of political parties. - A duly accredited political
party may spend for the election of its candidates in the constituency or
constituencies where it has official candidates an aggregate amount not
exceeding the equivalent of one peso and fifty centavos for every voter
currently registered therein. Expenses incurred by branches, chapters, or
committees of such political party shall be included in the computation of
the total expenditures of the political party (Sec. 101, Art. XI, Omnibus
Election Code).
4. Parochial Interest
Politicians may only represent their own personal interest and neglect the interests of
the people who elected them into office
• Every bill passed by the Congress shall embrace only one subject which
shall be expressed in the title thereof.
No bill passed by either House shall become a law unless it has passed
three readings on separate days, and printed copies thereof in its final form
have been distributed to its Members three days before its passage, except
when the President certifies to the necessity of its immediate enactment to
meet a public calamity or emergency. Upon the last reading of a bill, no
amendment thereto shall be allowed, and the vote thereon shall be taken
immediately thereafter, and the yeas and nays entered in the Journal
(Section 26, Art. II, 1987 Constitution).
• Logrolling of bills is the practice of exchanging favors, especially in
politics by reciprocal voting for each other's proposed legislation.
• The aim of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act is for curtailing and
minimizing the opportunities for official corruption and maintain a
standard of honesty in the public service. It was intended to further
promote morality in public administration. A public office is indeed a
public trust (Morfe Morfe v. Mutuc, G.R. No. L-20387, January 31, 1968;
R.A. No. 3019, Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act).
• Any public officer who shall agree to perform an act constituting a crime,
in connection with the performance of this official duties, in consideration
of any offer, promise, gift or present received by such officer, personally
or through the mediation of another, shall suffer the penalty of prision
mayor in its medium and maximum periods and a fine [of not less than the
value of the gift and] not less than three times the value of the gift in
addition to the penalty corresponding to the crime agreed upon, if the same
shall have been committed (Art. 210 on Direct Bribery, Revised Penal
Code).
5.Politicians may be manipulated and be deceitful
Some politicians can be twisted by some powerful people behind the scene. Having
been so manipulated, the politicians no longer serve the interests of the people that
elected them but rather the interest of those powerful interest groups (R.A. No. 3019,
Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act).
DEMOCRACY REPUBLIC
The people‘s A form of
system as per government in
rule of majority. which the
people choose
 representatives
to represent
them as per
rule of law.

In a democracy, It has a written

an individual, constitution
and any group that protects
of individuals the minority
composing any from being
minority, have unrepresented
no protection or overridden
against the by the
unlimited power majority.
of the majority.

In theory, all In theory, all

citizens have an citizens have
equal say and an equal say
are treated and are treated
equally. equally by the
However, it government,
often allows for and there is a
the tyranny of constitutional
the majority prohibition on
over the government
minority. discrimination.

Sovereignty Sovereignty
rests with the rests with the
whole people as
population. individuals.

The Philippines is a Democratic Republic which is a republic type of government

and believes in Democracy. In the view of the 1987 Constitution, the Philippines is
not only a representative or republican state but also shares some aspects of direct
democracy such as ―initiative and referendum‖ (R.A. No. 6735, An Act Providing for
System of Initiative and Referendum).