1899

CONSTITUTION OF THE
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES
(MALOLOS CONVENTION)

The President of the Council,

Apolinario Mabini.

PREAMBLE

We, the Representatives of the Filipino people, lawfully covened, in order to establish justice,
provide for common defense, promote the general welfare, and insure the benefits of liberty,
imploring the aid of the Sovereign Legislator of the Universe for the attainment of these ends, have
voted, decreed, and sanctioned the following:

POLITICAL CONSTITUTION

TITLE I
THE REPUBLIC

Article 1. The political association of all Filipinos constitutes a nation, whose state shall be known as
the Philippine Republic

Article 2. The Philippine Republic is free and independent

Article 3. Sovereignty resides exclusively in the people.

TITLE II
THE GOVERNMENT

Article 4. The Government of the Republic is popular, representative, alternative, and responsible,
and shall exercise three distinct powers: namely, the legislative, the executive, and the judicial. Any
two or more of these three powers shall never be united in one person or cooperation, nor the
legislative power vested in one single individual.
 TITLE III
RELIGION

Article 5. The State recognizes the freedom and equality of all religions, as well as the separation of
the Church and the State.

TITLE IV
THE FILIPINOS AND THEIR NATIONAL
AND INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS

Article 6. The following are Filipinos:

1. All persons born in the Philippine territory. A vessel of Philippine registry is considered, for
this purpose, as part of Philippine territory.
2. Children of a Filipino father or mother, although born outside of the Philippines.
3. Foreigners who have obtained certification of naturalization.
4. Those who, without such certificate, have acquired a domicile in any town within Philippine
territory.

It is understood that domicile is acquired by uninterrupted residence for two years in any locality
within Philippine territory, with an open abode and known occupation, and contributing to all the
taxes imposed by the Nation.

The condition of being a Filipino is lost in accordance with law.

Article 7. No Filipino or foreigner shall be detained nor imprisoned except for the commission of a
crime and in accordance with law.

Article 8. All persons detained shall be discharged or delivered to the judicial authority within 24
hours following the act of detention. All detentions shall be without legal effect, unless the arrested
person is duly prosecuted within 72 hours after delivery to a competent court. The accused shall be
duly notified of such proceeding within the same period.

Article 9. No Filipino shall be imprisoned except by virtue of an order by a competent court. The
order of imprisonment shall be ratified or confirmed within 72 hours following the said order, after the
accused has been heard.

Article 10. No one shall enter the dwelling house of any Filipino or a foreigner residing in the
Philippines without his consent except in urgent cases of fire, inundation, earthquake or similar
dangers, or by reason of unlawful aggression from within, or in order to assist a person therein who
cries for help. Outside of these cases, the entry into the dwelling house of any Filipino or foreign
resident in the Philippines or the search of his papers and effects can only be decreed by a
competent court and executed only in the daytime. The search of papers and effects shall be made
always in the presence of the person searched or of a member of his family and, in their absence, of
two witnesses resident of the same place. However, when a criminal caught in fraganti should take
refuge in his dwelling house, the authorities in pursuit may enter into it, only for the purpose of
making an arrest. If a criminal should take refuge in the dwelling house of a foreigner, the consent of
a latter must first be obtained.

Article 11. No Filipino shall be compelled to change his residence or domicile except by virtue of a
final judgment.

Article 12. In no case may correspondence confided to the post office be detained or opened by
government authorities, nor any telegraphic or telephonic message detained. However, by virtue of a
competent court, correspondence may be detained and opened in the presence of the sender.

Article 13. All orders of imprisonment, of search of a dwelling house, or detention of written

correspondence, telegraph or telephone, must be justified. When an order lacks this requisite, or
when the grounds on which the act was founded is proven in court to be unlawful or manifestly
insufficient, the person to be detained or whose imprisonment has not been ratified within the period
prescribed in Art. 9, or whose correspondence has been detained, shall have the right to recover
damages.

Article 14. No Filipino shall be prosecuted or sentenced, except by a judge or court of proper
jurisdiction and according to the procedure prescribed by law.

Article 15. Exept in the cases provided by the Constitution, all persons detained or imprisoned not in
accordance with legal formalities shall be released upon his own petition or upon petition of another
person. The law shall determine the manner of proceeding summarily in this instance, as well as the
personal and pecuniary penalties which shall be imposed upon the person who ordered, executed or
to be executed the illegal detention or imprisonment.

Article 16. No one shall be temporarily or permanently deprived of rights or dstured in his enjoyment
thereof, except by virtue of judicial sentence. The officials who, under any pretext whatsoever,
should violate this provision, shall be personally liable for the damages caused.

Article 17. No one shall be deprived of his property by expropriation except on grounds of public
necessity and benefit, previously declared and justified by proper authorities, and indemnifying the
owner thereof prior to expropriation.

Article 18. No one shall be obliged to pay any public tax which had not been approved by the
National Assembly or by local popular governments legally so authorized, and which is not in the
manner prescribed by the law.

Article 19. No Filipino who is in full enjoyment of his civil or political rights, shall be impeded in the
free exercise of said rights.

Article 20. Neither shall any Filipino be deprived:

1. Of the right to freely express his ideas or opinions, orally or in writing, through the use of the
press or other similar means.
2. Of the right of association for purposes of human life and which are not contrary to public
morals; and lastly
3. Of the right to send petitions to the authorities, individually or collectively.
The right of petition shall not be exercised through any kind of armed force.

Article 21. The exercise of the rights provided for in the preceding article shall be subject to general
provisions regulating the same.

Article 22. Crimes committed on the occasion of the exercise of rights provided for in this title, shall
be punished by the courts in accordance with the laws.

Article 23. Any Filipino may establish and maintain institutions of learning, in accordance with the
laws authorizing them. Public education shall be free and obligatory in all schools of the nation.

Article 24. Foreigners may freely reside in Philippine territory, subject to legal dispositions regulating
the matter; may engage in any occupation or profession for the exercise of which no special license
is required by law to be issued by the national authorities.

Article 25. No Filipino who is in full enjoyment of his political and civil rights shall be impeded in his
right to travel freely abroad or in his right to transfer his residence or possessions to another country,
except as to his obligations to contribute to military service or the maintenance of public taxes.

Article 26. No foreigner who has not been naturalized may exercise in the Philippines any office
which carries with it any authority or jurisdictional powers.

Article 27. All Filipinos are obliged to defend his country with arms when called upon by law, and to
contribute to the expenses of the State in proportion to his means.

Article 28. The enumeration of the rights provided for in this title does not imply the denial of other
rights not mentioned.

Article 29. The prior authorization to prosecute a public official in the ordinary courts is not
necessary, whatever may be the crime committed.

A superior order shall not exempt a public official from liability in the cases which constitute apparent
and clear violations of constitutional precepts. In others, the agents of the law shall only be
exempted if they did not exercise the authority.

Article 30. The guarantees provided for in Articles 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11 and paragraphs 1 and 2 of
Article 20 shall not be suspended, partially or wholly, in any part of the Republic, except temporarily
and by authority of law, when the security of the State in extraordinary circumstances so demands.

When promulgated in any territory where the suspension applies, there shall be a special law which
shall govern during the period of the suspension, according to the circumstances prevailing.

The law of suspension as well as the special law to govern shall be approved by the National
Assembly, and in case the latter is in recess, the Government shall have the power to decree the
same jointly with the Permanent Commission, without prejudice to convoking the Assembly without
the least delay and report to it what had been done.

However, any suspension made shall not affect more rights than those mentioned in the first
paragraph of this Article nor authorize the Government to banish or deport from the Philippines any
Filipino.
Article 31. In the Republic of the Philippines, no one shall be judged by a special law nor by special
tribunals. No person or corporation may enjoy privileges or emoluments which are not in
compensation for public service rendered and authorized by law. War and marine laws shall apply
only for crimes and delicts which have intimate relation to military or naval discipline.

Article 32. No Filipino shall establish laws on primogeniture, nor institutions restrictive of property
rights, nor accept honors, decorations, or honorific titles or nobility from foreign nations without the
consent of the Government. Neither shall the Government establish in the Republic institutions
mentioned in the preceding paragraph, nor confer honors, decorations, or honorific titles of nobility to
any Filipino.

The Nation, however, may reward by special law approved by the Assembly, conspicuous services
rendered by citizens of the country.

TITLE V
THE LEGISLATIVE POWER

Article 33. Legislative power shall be exercised by an Assembly of Representatives of the Nation.

This Assembly shall be organized in the form and manner determined by law.

Article 34. The Members of the Assembly shall represent the who nation and not exclusively the
electors who elected them.

Article 35. No representative shall receive from his electors any imperative mandate whatsoever.

Article 36. The Assembly shall meet every year. The President of the Republic has the right to
convoke it, suspend and close its sessions, and dissolve the same, within the periods prescribed by
law enacted by the Assembly or by the Permanent Commission.

Article 37. The Assembly shall be open at least three months each year, without including in this
period the time spent in its organization.

The President of the Republic shall convoke the Assembly, not later than the 15th day of April.

Article 38. In extraordinary cases, he may convoke the Assembly outside of the period fixed by law,
as determined by the Permanent Commission, and prolong its law-making, provided the extended
period does not exceed one month and provided further that such extensions do not take place more
than twice during the same legislative term.

Article 39. The National Assembly, jointly with the special Representatives, shall organize
committees for the organization of the Assembly and for the election of the new President of the
Republic, which shall be formed at least one month before the expiration of the term of office of the
Representatives.

In case of death or resignation of the President of the Republic, the Assembly shall meet in session
by its own right or by initiative of the President or of the Permanent Commission.
Article 40. In the meantime that the new President has not been chosen, his functions shall be
exercised by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court whose office shall be taken over by one of the
Justices of the Court, in accordance with law.

Article 41. Any session of the Assembly held outside the period of ordinary legislature shall be
unlawful and void. The case provided in Article 30 and in which the Assembly has constituted itself
into a Tribunal of Justice shall be excepted, but in the latter case no other functions shall be
exercised except that pertaining to judicial functions.

Article 42. The sessions of the Assembly shall be public. However, sessions may be held in secret
upon petition of a certain number of its members fixed by the Rules, deciding afterwards by an
absolute majority of votes of the members present if the discussion on the same subject has to
continue in public.

Article 43. The President of the Republic shall communicate with the Assembly by means of
messages, which shall be read by a Department Secretary.

The Department Secretaries shall have the right to be heard in the Assembly, upon their request,
and they may be represented in the discussion of certain bills by Commissioners appointed by
decrees of the President of the Republic.

Article 44. The Assembly may constitute itself into a Tribunal of Justice to hear and determine
crimes committed against the security of the State by the President of the Republic and members of
the Council of Government, by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, and by the Solicitor General
of the Nation, by means of a decree promulgating it, or by the Permanent Commission, or by the
President of the Republic upon petition of the Solicitor General or Council of Government.

The law shall determine the mode and manner of the accusation, instruction, and disposition of the
proceedings.

Article 45. No member of the Assembly shall be prosecuted nor held accountable for the opinions
expressed by him, nor by the vote taken by him in the discharge of his office.

Article 46. No member of the Assembly shall be prosecuted criminally without authority of the
Assembly or of the Permanent Commission to which an immediate report of the facts shall be made,
for its proper action.

The imprisonment, detention, or apprehension of a member of the Assembly shall not be carried out
without the prior authority of the same or by the Permanent Commission. The moment the Assembly
is notified of the order of imprisonment, it shall incur liability if, within two days following the
notification, it does not authorize the imprisonment or give sufficient reason upon which the refusal is
based.

Article 47. The National Assembly shall have the following additional powers:

1. To approve Rules for its internal government.

2. To examine the legality of the elections and the legal qualifications of the elected members.
3. To elect its President, Vice-Presidents, and Secretaries.

Until the Assembly has been dissolved, the President, Vice-Presidents, and Secretaries shall
continue to exercise their office for the period of four legislative terms; and
 4. To accept the resignations of its members and grant privileges in accordance with the Rules.

Article 48. No bill shall become law without having been voted on by the Assembly. To approve a
bill, the presence in the Assembly of at least one-fourth of the total number of the members whose
elections have been duly approved and taken the oath of office shall be necessary.

Article 49. No bill shall be approved by the Assembly until after it has been voted upon as a whole
and subsequently article by article.

Article 50. The Assembly shall have the right of censure, and each of the members the right of
interpellation.

Article 51. The initiative in the presentation of bills belongs to the President of the Republic and to
the Assembly.

Article 52. Any member of the Assembly who accepts from the Government any pension,
employment, or office with salary, is understood to have renounced his membership. From this shall
be excepted the employment as Secretary of the Government of the Republic and other offices
provided for by special laws.

Article 53. The office of Representatives shall be for a term of four years, and shall be compensated
by a sum fixed by law, according to the circumstances.

Those who absent themselves during the entire period of the legislative sessions shall not be
entitled to any compensation; but they may be allowed to recover the right to compensation should
they attend subsequently.

TITLE VI
THE PERMANENT COMMISSION

Article 54. The Assembly, before adjournment, shall elect seven of its members to form the
Permanent Commission during the period of adjournment, which shall designate at its first session,
the President and the Secretary.

Article 55. The Permanent Commission, during the adjournment of the Assembly, shall have the
following attributes:

1. Declare if there is sufficient cause to proceed against the President of the Republic, the
Representatives, Department secretaries, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, and the
Solicitor-General in the cases provided by this Constitution.
2. Convoke the Assembly to a special session in the cases where the latter should constitute
itself into a Tribunal of Justice.
3. To act upon pending matters which require proper action.
4. Convoke the Assembly in special sessions when the exigencies of the situation so demand.
5. Supplement the powers of the Assembly in accordance with the Constitution, excepting the
act of voting and approving laws.
The Permanent Commission shall meet in session whenever convoked by the presiding officer, in
accordance with this Constitution.

TITLE VII
THE EXECUTIVE POWER

Article 56. The Executive Power shall be vested in the President of the Republic, who shall exercise
it through his Department Secretaries.

Article 57. The administration of the particular interests of towns, provinces, and of the State shall
correspond, respectively, to the Popular Assembles, the Provincial Assemblies, and to the
Administration in power, in accordance with the laws, and observing the most liberal policy of
decentralization and administrative autonomy.

TITLE VIII
THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC

Article 58. The President of the Republic shall be elected by absolute majority of votes by the
Assembly and by the special Representatives, convened in chamber assembles. His term of office
shall be four years, and may be reelected.

Article 59. The President of the Republic shall have the right to initiate the introduction of bills
equally with the members of the Assembly, and promulgate the laws when duly voted and approved
by the latter, and shall see to it that the same are duly executed.

Article 60. The power to execute the laws shall extend to all cases conducive to the preservation of
internal public order and to the external security of the State.

Article 61. The President shall promulgate the laws duly approved by him within 20 days following
their transmittal to him by the Assembly.

Article 62. If within this period, the President should fail to promulgate them, he shall return them to
the Assembly with his reasons for the return, in which case the Assembly may reconsider same, and
it shall be presumed by a vote of at least two-thirds of the members of the Assembly present in a
quorum. If repassed in the manner indicated, the Government shall promulgate same within ten
days, with a manifestation of its non-conformity. The obligation is imposed upon the Government if it
allows twenty days to elapse without returning the bill to the Assembly.

Article 63. When the promulgation of a law has been declared urgent by express will of an absolute
majority of votes of the Assembly, the President of the Republic may require the Assembly to re-
approve same which cannot be refused, and if the same bill is repassed, the President shall
promulgate it within the legal period, without prejudice to his making of record his non-conformity
with the bill.
Article 64. The promulgation of laws shall be made by publishing them in the official gazette of the
Republic, and shall have the force of law thirty days following such publication.

Article 65. The President of the Republic shall have at his disposal the army and the navy, and may
declare war and make and ratify treaties with the prior consent of the Assembly.

Article 66. Treaties of peace shall not take effect until voted upon by the Assembly.

Article 67. The President of the Republic, in addition to his duty to execute the laws, shall:

1. Supervise civil and military employees in accordance with the laws.

2. Appoint the Secretaries of the Government.
3. Direct the diplomatic and commercial relations with foreign powers.
4. See to it that justice is duly and promptly administered throughout the Philippines.
5. Grant pardon to convicted criminals in accordance with the laws, except any special
provision relating to the Secretaries of the Government.
6. Preside over all national functions and receive ambassadors and accredited representatives
of foreign powers.

Article 68. The President of the Republic may be authorized by special law:

1. To alienate, transfer or exchange any portion of Philippine territory.

2. To incorporate any other territory to the Philippine territory.
3. To admit the stationing of foreign troops in Philippine territory.
4. To ratify of alliance, defensive as well as offensive, special treaties of commerce, those
which stipulate to grant subsidies to a foreign power, and those which may compel Filipinos
to render personal service.

Secret treaties in no case may prevail over the provisions of open treaties or treaties made
publicly.

5. To grant general amnesties and pardons.

6. To coin money.

Article 69. To the President belongs the power to issue regulations for the compliance and
application of the laws in accordance with the requisites prescribed in said laws.

Article 70. The President of the Philippines, with the prior approval by majority vote of the
Representatives, may dissolve the Assembly before the expiration of its legislation term. In this case,
new elections shall be called within three months.

Article 71. The President of the Republic may be held liable only for cases of high treason.

Article 72. The salary of the President of the Republic shall be fixed by special law which may not
be changed except after the presidential term has expired.
 TITLE IX
THE SECRETARIES OF GOVERNMENT

Article 73. The Council of Government is composed of one President and seven secretaries, each
of whom shall have under his charge the portfolios of Foreign Relations, Interior, Finance, War and
Marine, Public Education, Communications and Public Works, and Agriculture, Industry, and
Commerce.

Article 74. All the acts done by the President of the Republic in the discharge of his duties shall be
signed by the corresponding Secretary. No public official shall give official recognition to any act
unless this requisite is complied with.

Article 75. The Secretaries of Government are jointly responsible to the Assembly for the general
administration of the Government, and individually for their respective personal acts.

Article 76. In order to exempt them from responsibility, when held guilty by the Assembly, a petition
to this effect approved by absolute majority of the Representatives is necessary.

TITLE X
THE JUDICIAL POWER

Article 77. To the Court corresponds exclusively the power to apply the laws, in the name of the
Nation, in all civil and criminal trials. The same codes of laws shall be applied throughout the
Republic, without prejudice to certain variations according to circumstances as determined by law. In
all trials, civil, criminal, and administrative, all citizens shall be governed by one code of laws and
procedure.

Article 78. The courts of justice shall not apply general local regulations, except when they conform
to the laws.

Article 79. The exercise of judicial power shall be vested in one Supreme Court and in other courts
established by law. Their composition, organization, and other attributes shall be determined by the
laws creating them.

Article 80. The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and the Solicitor-General shall be chosen by the
National Assembly in concurrence with the President of the Republic and the Secretaries of the
Government, and shall be absolutely independent of the Legislative and Executive Powers.

Article 81. Any citizen may file suit against any member exercising the Judicial Power for any crime
committed by them in the discharge of their office.

TITLE XI
PROVINCIAL AND POPULAR ASSEMBLIES
Article 82. The organization and attributes of provincial and popular assemblies shall be governed
by their respective laws. These laws shall conform to the following principles:

1. The government and management of the particular interests of the province or town shall be
discharged by their respective corporations, the principle of direct and popular elections
being the basis underlying each of them.
2. Publicity of their sessions, within the limits provided by law.
3. Publication of all appropriations, accounts, and agreements affecting same.
4. Government interference and, in the absence thereof, by the National Assembly, to prevent
provinces and municipalities exceeding their powers and attributes to the prejudice of the
interest of individuals and of the Nation at large.
5. Power of taxation shall be exercised to the end that provincial and municipal taxation do not
come into conflict with the power of taxation of the State.

TITLE XII
ADMINISTRATION OF THE STATE

Article 83. The Government shall submit every year to the Assembly a budget of expenditures and
income, indicating the changes made from those of the preceding year, accompanying the same
with a balance sheet as of the end of the year, in accordance with law. This budget shall be
submitted to the Assembly within ten days following the commencement of its session.

Article 85. The Government, in order to dispose of the property and effects of the State, and to
borrow money secured by mortgage or credit of the Nation, must be authorized by special law.

Article 86. Public debts contracted by the Government of the Republic, in accordance with the
provisions of this Constitution, shall be under the special guarantee of the Nation.

No debt shall be contracted unless the means of paying the same are voted upon.

Article 87. All laws relating to income, public expenses, or public credits shall be considered as part
of the appropriation and shall be published as such.

Article 88. The Assembly shall determine every year, upon the recommendation  of the President of
the Republic, the military forces by land and sea.

TITLE XIII
AMENDMENT OF THE CONSTITUTION

Article 89. The Assembly, on its own initiative or that of the President of the Republic, may propose
amendments to the Constitution, indicating what Article or Articles are to be amended.

Article 90. This proposal having been made, the President of the Republic shall dissolve the
Assembly, and shall convoke a Constituent Assembly which shall meet within three months. In the
decree convoking the Constituent Assembly, the resolution mentioned in the preceding Article shall
be inserted.

TITLE XIV
CONSTITUTIONAL OBSERVANCE,
OATH, AND LANGUAGE

Article 91. The President of the Republic, the Government, the Assembly, and all Filipino citizens
shall faithfully observe the provisions of the Constitution; and the Legislative Power, upon approval
of the Appropriations Act, shall examine if the Constitution has been strictly complied with and
whether violations, if any, have been duly corrected and those responsible for the violations held
liable.

Article 92. The President of the Republic and all other officials of the Nation shall not enter into the
discharge of their office without having taken the prescribed oath. The oath of the President of the
Republic shall be taken before the National Assembly. The other officials of the Nation shall take
their oath before the authorities determined by law.

Article 93. The use of languages spoken in the Philippines shall be optional. Their use cannot be
regulated except by virtue of law, and solely for acts of public authority and in the courts. For these
acts the Spanish language may be used in the meantime.

TRANSITORY PROVISIONS

Article 94. Meanwhile and without prejudice to the provisions of Article 48 and to the acts of the
commissions designated by the Assembly to translate and submit to the same the organic laws in
the development and application of the rights granted to Filipino citizens and for the government of
public powers therein mentioned, the laws of the Republic shall be considered those found existing
in these islands before the emancipation of the same.

The provisions of the Civil Code relating to marriage and civil registry, suspended by the Governor
General of these islands; the Instructions of April 26, 1888 to carry into effect Articles 77, 78, 79, and
82 of said Code; the law on civil registry of June 17, 1870 which refers to Article 332 of the same,
and the Regulation of December 13 following for the enforcement of this law, without prejudice to the
Chiefs of towns continuing to be in charge of inscriptions in the civil registry and intervening in the
celebration of marriage between Catholics, shall also be deemed in force and effect.

Article 95. In the meantime that the laws referred to in the preceding Article have not been approved
or enforced, the Spanish laws which said article allows to be enforced provisionally may be
amended by special law.

Article 96. Once the laws approved by the Assembly have been promulgated in accordance with
Article 94, the Article 94, the Government of the Republic shall have the power to issue decrees and
regulations necessary for the immediate organization of the various organs of the State.

Article 97. The present President of the Revolutionary Government shall assume later the title of
President of the Republic and shall discharge the duties of this office until the Assembly when
convoked proceeds to the election of one who shall definitely exercise the duties of the office.
Article 98. The present Congress, composed of members by suffrage or by decree, shall last for
four years, or for the duration of the present legislative term commencing on the 15th of April of next
year.

Article 99. Notwithstanding the general rule established in part 2 of Article 4, in the meantime that
the country is fighting for its independence, the Government is empowered to resolve during the
closure of the Congress all questions and difficulties not provided for in the laws, which give rise to
unforeseen events, of which the Permanent Commission shall be duly apprised as well as the
Assembly when it meets in accordance with this Constitution.

Article 100. The execution of Article 5, Title III shall be suspended until the constituent Assembly
meets in session. In the meantime, municipalities which require spiritual ministry of a Filipino priest
may provide for his necessary maintenance.

Article 101. Notwithstanding the provisions of Articles 62 and 63, bills returned by the President of
the Republic to the Congress may not be repassed except in the legislature of the following year,
this suspension being under the responsibility of the President and his Council of Government.
When these conditions have been fulfilled, the promulgation of said laws shall be obligatory within
ten days, without prejudice to the President making of record his non-conformity. If the reapproval is
made in subsequent legislative terms, it shall be deemed law approved for the first time.

ADDITIONAL ARTICLE

All the estates, edifices, and other property possessed by the religious corporations in these islands
shall be deemed restored to the Philippine State as of May 24, 1898 when the Dictatorial
Government has been constituted in Cavite.

BARASOAIN, the twentieth of January, 1899.

The President of the Congress

PEDRO A. PATERNO

The Secretaries
PABLO TECSON
PABLO OCAMPO

Ambrosio Rianzares
Aguedo Velarde Alberto Barretto
Bautista
Antonio Luna Antonio Feliciano Arcadio del Rosario
Ariston Bautista Ariston Gella Arsenio Cruz-Herrera
Basilio Teodoro Benito Legarda Ceferino de Leon
Domingo Samson Esteban de la Rama Felipe Buencamino
Felipe Calderon Felix Bautista Felix Ferrer Pascual
Fernando Cañon Graciano Cordero Gregorio Aguilera
Gregorio Aglipay Higinio Benitez Hipolito Magsalin
Hugo Ilagan Ignacio Villamor Isidro Torres
Javier Gonzales
Isidro Paredes Joaquin Gonzales
Salvador
Joaquin Luna Jose Basa Jose Salamanca
Jose R. Infante Jose F. Oliveros Jose Tuason
 Jose Santiago Jose M. de la Vina Jose M. Lerma
Jose Albert Jose Coronel Jose Alejandrino
Jose Fernandez Jose Luna Juan Nepomuceno
Juan Manday Juan Tuason Justo Lucban
Leon Apacible Leon Guerrero Lorenzo del Rosario
Lucas Gonzales
Manuel Xerex Burgos Manuel Gomez Martinez
Maninang
Manuel Calleja Marciano V. del Rosario Mariano Abella
Mariano Lopez Mariano Crisostomo Martin Garcia
Mateo Gutierrez Ubaldo Mateo del Rosario Melecio Figueroa
Narciso Hidalgo
Mena Crisologo Miguel Zaragoza
Resurreccion
Pablo Ocampo Pablo Tecson Roque Patricio Bailon
Pedro A. Paterno Perfecto Gabriel Pio del Pilar
Raymundo Alindada Ricardo Paras Salvador V. del Rosario
Santiago Barcelona Santiago Icasiano Sebastian de Castro
Simplicio del Rosario Sofio Alandi Sotero Laurel
Telesforo Chuidian Teodoro Sandico Teodoro Gonzales
Trinidad H. Pardo de
Tomas Arejola Tomas G. del Rosario
Tavera
Vicente Guzman
Vicente Foz Vicente Somoza
Pagulayan
Vito Belarmino

Presidency of the Revolutionary Government of the Philippines. D. Emilio Aguinaldo y Famy,

President of the Revolutionary Government of the Philippines and Captain General and
Commander-in-Chief of its Army. Know all Filipino citizens: That the Assembly of Representatives of
the nation, by virtue of its sovereign power, has decreed and I have sanctioned the political
Constitution of the state.

Therefore:

I command all the authorities, civil as well as military, of whatever class or rank, to keep it and cause
it to be kept, complied with and executed in all its parts, because it is the sovereign will of the Filipino
people.

Done at Malolos, on the twenty-first of January in the year eighteen hundred and ninety-nine. 

EMILIO AGUINALDO

1935 CONSTITUTION OF THE REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES 

PREAMBLE

The Filipino people, imploring the aid of Divine Providence, in order to establish a government that
shall embody their ideals, conserve and develop the patrimony of the nation, promote the general
welfare, and secure to themselves and their posterity the blessings of independence under a regime
of justice, liberty, and democracy, do ordain and promulgate this Constitution.
 ARTICLE I
THE NATIONAL TERRITORY

Section 1. The Philippines comprises all the territory ceded to the United States by the Treaty of
Paris concluded between the United States and Spain on the tenth day of December, eighteen
hundred and ninety-eight, the limits which are set forth in Article III of said treaty, together with all the
islands embraced in the treaty concluded at Washington between the United States and Spain on
the seventh day of November, nineteen hundred, and the treaty concluded between the United
States and Great Britain on the second day of January, nineteen hundred and thirty, and all territory
over which the present Government of the Philippine Islands exercises jurisdiction.

ARTICLE II
DECLARATION OF PRINCIPLES

Section 1. The Philippines, is a republican state. Sovereignty resides in the people and all
government authority emanates from them.

Section 2. The defense of the State is a prime duty of government, and in the fulfillment of this duty
all citizens may be required by law to render personal military or civil service.

Section 3. The Philippines renounces war as an instrument of national policy, and adopts the
generally accepted principles of international law as part of the law of the Nation.

Section 4. The natural right and duty of parents in the rearing of the youth for civic efficiency should
receive the aid and support of the government.

Section 5. The promotion of social justice to insure the well-being and economic security of all the
people should be the concern of the State.

ARTICLE III
BILL OF RIGHTS

Section 1.

1. No person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law, nor shall
any person be denied the equal protection of the laws.
2. Private property shall not be taken for public use without just compensation.
3. The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects against
unreasonable searches and seizures shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue but
 upon probable cause, to be determined by the judge after examination under oath or
affirmation of the complainant and the witnesses he may produce, and particularly describing
the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
4. The liberty of abode and of changing the same within the limits prescribed by law shall not
be impaired.
5. The privacy of communication and correspondence shall be inviolable except upon lawful
order of the court or when public safety and order require otherwise.
6. The right to form associations or societies for purposes not contrary to law shall not be
abridged.
7. No law shall be made respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise
thereof, and the free exercise and enjoyment of religious profession and worship, without
discrimination or preference, shall forever be allowed. No religious test shall be required for
the exercise of civil or political rights.
8. No law shall be passed abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the
people peaceably to assemble and petition the Government for redress of grievances.
9. No law granting a title of nobility shall be enacted, and no person holding any office of profit
shall, without the consent of the Congress of the Philippines, accept any present,
emolument, office, or title of any kind whatever from any foreign state.
10. No law impairing the obligation of contracts shall be passed.
11. No ex post facto law or bill of attainder shall be enacted.
12. No person shall be imprisoned for debt or non-payment of a poll tax.
13. No involuntary servitude in any form shall exist except as a punishment for crime whereof the
party shall during such period the necessity for such suspension shall exist.
14. No person shall be held to answer for a criminal offense without due process of law.
15. All persons shall before conviction be bailable by sufficient sureties, except those charged
with capital offenses when evidence of guilt is strong. Excessive bail shall not be required.
16. In all criminal prosecutions the accused shall be presumed to be innocent until the contrary is
proved, and shall enjoy the right to be heard by himself and counsel, to be informed of the
nature and cause of the accusation against him, to have a speedy and public trial, to meet
the witnesses face to face, and to have compulsory process to secure the attendance of
witnesses in his behalf.
17. No person shall be compelled to be a witness against himself.
18. Excessive fines shall not be imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishment inflicted.
19. No person shall be twice put in jeopardy of punishment for the same offense. If an act is
punished by a law and an ordinance, conviction or acquittal under either shall constitute a
bar to another prosecution for the same act.
20. Free access to the courts shall not be denied to any person by reason of poverty.

ARTICLE IV
CITIZENSHIP

Section 1. The following are citizens of the Philippines:

1. Those who are citizens of the Philippine Islands at the time of the adoption of this
Constitution.
2. Those born in the Philippine Islands of foreign parents who, before the adoption of this
Constitution, had been elected to public office in the Philippine Islands.
3. Those whose fathers are citizens of the Philippines.
 4. Those whose mothers are citizens of the Philippines and, upon reaching the age of majority,
elect Philippine citizenship.
5. Those who are naturalized in accordance with law.

Section 2. Philippine citizenship may be lost or reacquired in the manner provided by law.

ARTICLE V
SUFFRAGE

Section 1. Suffrage may be exercised by male citizens of the Philippines not otherwise disqualified
by law, who are twenty-one years of age or over and are able to read and write, and who shall have
resided in the Philippines for one year and in the municipality wherein they propose to vote for at
least six months preceding the election. The National Assembly shall extend the right of suffrage to
women, if in a plebiscite which shall be held for that purpose within two years after the adoption of
this Constitution, not less than three hundred thousand women possessing the necessary
qualifications shall vote affirmatively on the question.

ARTICLE VI
LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT

Section 1. The Legislative power shall be vested in a Congress of the Philippines, which shall
consist of a Senate and a House of Representatives.

Section 2. The Senate shall be composed of twenty-four Senators who shall be chosen at large by
the qualified electors of the Philippines, as may be provided by law.

Section 3. The term of office of Senators shall be six years and shall begin on the thirtieth day of
December next following their election. The first Senators elected under this Constitution shall, in the
manner provided by law, be divided equally into three groups, the Senators of the first group, to
serve for a term of six years; those of the second group, for four years; and those of the third group,
for two years.

Section 4. No person shall be a Senator unless he be a natural born citizen of the Philippines and,
at the time of his election, is at least thirty-five years of age, a qualified elector, and a resident of the
Philippines for not less than two years immediately prior to his election.

Section 5. The House of Representatives shall be composed of not more than one hundred and
twenty Members who shall be apportioned among the several provinces as nearly as may be
accorded to the number of their respective inhabitants, but each province shall have at least one
Member. The Congress shall by law make an apportionment within three years after the return of
every enumeration, and not otherwise. Until such apportionment shall have been made, the House
of Representatives shall have the same number of Members as that fixed by law for the National
Assembly, who shall be elected by the qualified electors from the present Assembly districts. Each
representative district shall comprise, as far as practicable, contiguous and compact territory.

Section 6. The term of office of the Members of the House of Representatives shall be four years
and shall begin on the thirtieth day of December next following their election.

Section 7. No person shall be a Member of the House of Representatives unless he be a natural
born citizen of the Philippines, and, at the time of his election, is at least twenty-five years of age, a
qualified elector, and a resident of the province in which he is chosen for not less than one year
immediately prior to his election.

Section 8.

1. Elections for Senators and Members of the House of Representatives shall be held in the
manner and on the dates fixed by law.
2. In case of vacancy in the Senate or in the House of Representatives, a special election may
be called to fill such vacancy in the manner prescribed by law, but the Senator or Member of
the House of Representatives thus elected shall serve only for the unexpired term.

Section 9. The Congress shall convene in regular session once every year on the fourth Monday of
January, unless a different date is fixed by law. It may be called in special session at any time by the
President to consider general legislation or only such subjects as he may designate. No special
session shall continue longer than thirty days and no regular session longer than one hundred days,
exclusive of Sundays.

Section 10.

1. The Senate shall elect its President and the House of Representatives its Speaker.

Each House shall choose such other officers as may be required.

2. A majority of each House shall constitute a quorum to do business, but a smaller number
may adjourn from day to day and may compel the attendance of absent Members in such
manner and under such penalties as such House may provide.
3. Each House may determine the rule of its proceedings, punish its Members for disorderly
behavior, and, with the concurrence of two-thirds of all its Members, expel a Member.
4. Each House shall keep a Journal of its proceedings, and from time to time publish the same,
excepting such parts as may in its judgment requires secrecy; and the yeas and nays on any
question shall, at the request of one-fifth of the Members present, be entered into the
Journal.
5. Neither House during the sessions of the Congress shall, without the consent of the other,
adjourn for more than three days, nor to any other place than that in which the two Houses
shall be sitting.

Section 11. The Senate and the House of Representatives shall have an Electoral Tribunal which
shall be the sole judge of all contests relating to the election, returns, and qualifications of their
respective Members. Each Electoral Tribunal shall be composed of nine Members, three of whom
shall be Justices of the Supreme Court to be designated by the Chief Justice, and the remaining six
shall be Members of the Senate or the House of Representatives, as the case may be, who shall be
chosen by each House, three upon nomination of the party having the largest number of votes and
three of the party having the second largest numbers of votes therein. The senior Justice in each
Electoral Tribunal shall be its Chairman.

Section 12. There shall be a Commission on Appointments consisting of twelve Senators and

twelve Members of the House of Representatives, elected by each House, respectively, on the basis
of proportional representation of the political parties therein. The president of the Senate shall be the
Chairman ex officio of the Commission, but shall not vote except in case of tie.

Section 13. The Electoral Tribunal and the Commission on Appointments shall be constituted within
thirty days after the Senate and the House of Representatives shall have been organized with the
election of their President and Speaker, respectively. The Commission on Appointments shall meet
only while the Congress is in session, at the call of its Chairman or a majority of its Members, to
discharge such powers and functions as are herein conferred upon it.

Section 14. The Senators and the Members of the House of Representatives shall, unless otherwise
provided by law, receive an annual compensation of seven thousand two hundred pesos each,
including per diems and other emoluments or allowances and exclusive only of traveling expenses to
and from their respective districts in the case of Members of the House of Representatives, and to
an from their places of residence in the case of Senators, when attending sessions of the Congress.
No increase in said compensation shall take effect until after the expiration of the full term of all the
Members of the Senate and of the House of Representatives approving such increase. Until
otherwise provided by law, the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of
Representatives shall each receive an annual compensation of sixteen thousand pesos.

Section 15. The Senators and Members of the House of Representatives shall in all cases except
treason, felony, and breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest during their attendance at the
session of the Congress, and in going to and returning from the same; and for any speech or debate
therein, they shall not be questioned in any other place.

Section 16. No Senator or Member of the House of Representatives may hold any other office or
employment in the government without forfeiting his seat, nor shall any Senator or Member of the
House of Representatives, during the time for which he was elected, be appointed to any civil office
which may have been created or the emoluments whereof shall have been increased while he was a
Member of the Congress.

Section 17. No Senator or Member of the House of Representatives shall directly or indirectly be
financially interested in any contract with the government or any subdivision or instrumentality
thereof, or in any franchise or special privilege granted by the Congress during his term of office. He
shall not appear as counsel before the Electoral Tribunals or before any court in any civil case
wherein the Government or any subdivision or instrumentality thereof is the adverse party, or in any
criminal case wherein an officer or employee of the government is accused of an offense committed
in relation to his office, or collect any fee for his appearance in any administrative proceedings; or
accept employment to intervene in any cause or matter where he may be called upon to act on
account of his office. No Member of the Commission on Appointments shall appear as counsel
before any court inferior to a collegiate court of appellate jurisdiction.

Section 18. All appropriation, revenue or tariff bills, bills authorizing increase of the public debt, bills
of local application, and private bills, shall originate exclusively in the House of Representatives, but
the Senate may propose or concur with amendments.

Section 19.
 1. The President shall submit within fifteen days of the opening of each regular session of the
Congress a budget of receipts and expenditures, which shall be the basis of the general
appropriations bill. The Congress may not increase the appropriations recommended by the
President for the operation of the Government as specified in the Budget, except the
appropriations for the Congress and the Judicial Department. The form of the Budget and
the information that it should contain shall be prescribed by law.
2. No provision or enactment shall be embraced in the general appropriations bill unless it
relates specifically to some particular appropriation therein; and any such provision or
enactment shall be limited in its operation to such appropriation.

Section 20.

1. Every bill passed by the Congress shall, before it becomes a law, be presented to the
President. If he approves the same, he shall sign it; but if not, he shall return it with his
objections to the House where it originated, which shall enter the objections at large on its
Journal and proceed to reconsider it. If, after such reconsideration, two-thirds of all the
Members of such House shall agree to pass the bill, it shall be sent together, with the
objections, to the House by which it shall likewise be reconsidered, and if approved by two-
thirds of all the Members of that House, it shall become a law. In all such cases, the votes of
each House shall be determined by yeas and nays, and the names of the Members voting
for and against shall be entered on its Journal. If any bill shall not be returned by the
President as herein provided within twenty days (Sundays excepted) after it shall have been
presented to him, the same shall become a law in like manner as if he had signed it, unless
the Congress by adjournment prevent its return, in which case it shall become a law unless
vetoed by the President within thirty days after adjournment.
2. The President shall have the power to veto any particular item or items of an appropriation
bill, but the veto shall not affect the item or items to which he does not object. When a
provision of an appropriation bill affects one or more items of the same, the President cannot
veto the provision without at the same time, vetoing the particular item or items to which it
relates. The item or items objected to shall not take effect except in the manner heretofore
provided as to bills returned to the Congress without the approval of the President. If the veto
refers to a bill or any item of an appropriation bill which appropriates a sum in excess of ten
per centum of the total amount voted in the appropriation bill for the general expenses of the
Government for the preceding year, or if it should refer to a bill authorizing an increase of the
public debt, the same shall not become a law unless approved by three-fourths of all the
Members of each House.
3. The President shall have the power to veto any separate item or items in a revenue of tariff
bill, and the item or items shall not take effect except in the manner provided as to bills
vetoed by the President.

Section 21.

1. No bill which may be enacted into law shall embrace more than one subject which shall be
expressed in the title of the bill.
2. No bill shall be passed by either House unless it shall have been printed and copies thereof
in its final form furnished its Members at least three calendar days prior to its passage,
except when the President shall have certified to the necessity of its immediate enactment.
Upon the last reading of a bill no amendment thereof shall be allowed, and the question
upon its passage shall be taken immediately thereafter, and the yeas and nays entered on
the Journal.

Section 22.
 1. The rule of taxation shall be uniform.
2. The Congress may by law authorize the President, subject to such limitations and restrictions
as it may impose, to fix, within specified limits, tariff rates, import or export quotas, and
tonnage and wharfage dues.
3. Cemeteries, churches, and parsonages or convents appurtenant thereto, and all lands,
buildings, and improvements used exclusively for religious, charitable, or educational
purposes shall be exempt from taxation.

Section 23.

1. All money collected on any tax levied for a special purpose shall be treated as a special fund
and paid out for such purpose only. If the purpose for which a special fund was crated has
been fulfilled or abandoned, the balance, if any, shall be transferred to the general funds of
the Government.
2. No money shall be paid out of Treasury except in pursuance of an appropriation made by
law.
3. No public money, or property shall ever be appropriated, applied, or used, directly or
indirectly, for the use, benefit, or support of any sect, church, denomination, sectarian
institution or system of religion, for the use, benefit, or support of any priest, preacher,
ministers, or other religious teacher or dignitary as such except when such priest, preacher,
minister, or dignitary is assigned to the armed forces or to any penal institution, orphanage or
leprosarium.

Section 24. The heads of departments upon their own initiative or upon the request of either House
may appear before and be heard by such House on any matter pertaining to their departments,
unless the public interest shall require otherwise and the President shall so state in writing.

Section 25. The Congress, shall, with the concurrence of two-thirds of all the Members of each
House, have the sole power to declare war.

Section 26. In times of war and other national emergency the Congress may by law authorize the
President, for a limited period, and subject to such restrictions as it may prescribe, to promulgate
rules and regulations to carry out a declared national policy.

ARTICLE VII
EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT

Section 1. The executive power shall be vested in a President of the Philippines.

Section 2. The President shall hold his office during a term of four years and together with the Vice-
President chosen for the same term, shall be elected by direct vote of the people. The returns of
every election for President and Vice-President, duly certified by the board of canvassers of each
province or city, shall be transmitted to the seat of the National Government, directed to the
President of the Senate, who shall, in the presence of the Senate and the House of Representatives,
open all the certificates, and the votes shall then be counted. The person respectively having the
highest number of votes for President and Vice-President shall be declared elected, but in case two
or more shall have an equal and the highest number of votes for their office, one of them shall be
chosen President or Vice-President, as the case may be, by a majority vote of the Members of the
Congress in joint session assembled.

Section 3. No person may be elected to the office of the President or Vice-President unless he is a
natural born citizen of the Philippines, a qualified voter, forty years of age or over, and has been a
resident of the Philippines for at least ten years immediately preceding the election.

Section 4. Elections for President and Vice-President shall be held once every four years on a date
to be fixed by law.

The terms of the President and Vice-President shall end at noon on the thirtieth day of December
following the expiration of four years after their election, and the terms of their successors shall
begin from such time.

Section 5. No person shall serve as President for more than eight consecutive years. The period of
such service shall be counted from the date he shall have commenced to act as President. Voluntary
renunciation of the office for any length of time shall not be considered as an interruption in the
continuity of the service of the incumbent for the full term for which he was elected.

Section 6. If, at the time fixed for the beginning of the term of the President, the President-elect shall
have died, the Vice-President-elect shall become President. If a President shall not have been
chosen before the time fixed for the beginning of his term or if the President shall have failed to
qualify, then the Vice-President shall act as President until a President shall have qualified, and the
Congress may by law provide for the case wherein neither a President-elect nor a Vice-President-
elect shall have qualified, declaring who shall then act as President, or the manner in which one who
is to act shall be selected, and such person shall act accordingly until a President or Vice-President
shall have qualified.

Section 7. Before he enters on the execution of his office, the President shall take the following oath
or affirmation :

"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully and conscientiously fulfill my duties as President
of the Philippines, preserve and defend its Constitution, execute its laws, do justice to every man,
and consecrate myself to the service of the Nation. So help me God." (In case of affirmation, last
sentence will be omitted)

Section 8. In the event of the removal of the President from office, or his death, resignation, or
inability to discharge the powers and duties of the said office, the same shall devolve on the Vice-
President, and the Congress shall by law provide for the case of removal, death, resignation, or
inability, both of the President and Vice-President, declaring what officer shall then act as President,
and such officer shall act accordingly, until the disability be removed, or a President shall be elected.

Section 9. The President shall have an official residence and receive a compensation to be
ascertained by law which shall be neither increased nor diminished during the period of which he
shall have been elected, and he shall not receive within the period any other emolument from the
Government or any of its subdivisions or instrumentalities. Until the Congress shall provide
otherwise, the President shall receive an annual salary of thirty thousand pesos. The Vice-President,
when not acting as President, shall receive an annual compensation of fifteen thousand pesos until
otherwise provided by law.

Section 10.
 1. The President shall have control of all executive departments, bureaus or offices, exercise
general provision over all local governments as may be provided by law, and take care that
the laws be faithfully executed.
2. The President shall be commander-in-chief of all armed forces of the Philippines, and,
whenever it becomes necessary, he may call out such armed forces to prevent or suppress
lawless violence, invasion, insurrection, or rebellion. In case of invasion, insurrection, or
rebellion or imminent danger thereof, when the public safety requires it, he may suspend the
privilege of the writ of habeas corpus, or place the Philippines or any part thereof under
Martial Law.
3. The President shall nominate and with the consent of the Commission on Appointments,
shall appoint the heads of the executive departments and bureaus, officers of the Army from
the rank of colonel, of the Navy and Air Forces from the rank of captain or commander, and
all other officers of the Government whose appointments are not herein otherwise provided
for, and those whom he may be authorized by law to appoint; but the Congress may by law
vest the appointment of inferior officers, in the President alone, in the courts, or in the heads
of departments.
4. The President shall have the power to make appointments during the recess of the
Congress, but such appointments shall be effective only until disapproval by the Commission
on Appointments or until the next adjournment of the Congress.
5. The President shall from time to time give to the Congress information on the state of the
Nation, and recommend to its consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and
expedient.
6. The President shall have the power to grant reprieves, commutations, and pardons, and
remit fines and forfeitures, after conviction, for all expenses except in case of impeachment,
upon such conditions and with such restrictions and limitations as he may deem proper to
impose. He shall have the power to grant amnesty with the concurrence of the Congress.
7. The President shall have the power, with the concurrence of two-thirds of all the Members of
the Senate to make treaties, and with the consent of the Commission on Appointments, he
shall appoint ambassadors, other public ministers, and consuls. He shall receive
ambassadors and other public ministers duly accredited to the Government of the
Philippines.

Section 11.

1. The executive departments of the present Government of the Philippine Islands shall
continue as now authorized by law until the Congress shall provide otherwise.
2. The heads of the departments and chiefs of bureaus or offices and their assistants shall not,
during their continuance in office, engage in the practice of any profession, or intervene,
directly or indirectly, in the management or control of any private enterprise which in any way
may be affected by the functions of their office; nor shall they, directly or indirectly, be
financially interested in any contract with the Government, or any subdivision or
instrumentality thereof.
3. The President may appoint the Vice-President as a member of his Cabinet and also as head
of an executive department.

ARTICLE VIII
JUDICIAL DEPARTMENT
Section 1. The judicial power shall be vested in one Supreme Court and in such inferior courts as
may be established by law.

Section 2. The Congress shall have the power to define, prescribe and apportion the jurisdiction of
various courts, but may not deprive the Supreme Court of its original jurisdiction over cases affecting
ambassadors, other public ministers, and consuls, nor of its jurisdiction to review, revise, reverse,
modify, or affirm on appeal, certiorari, or writ of error, as the law or the rules of court may provide,
final judgments and decrees of inferior courts in:

1. All cases in which the constitutionality or validity of any treaty, law, ordinance, or executive
order or regulation is in question.
2. All cases involving the legality of any tax, impost, assessment, or toll, or any penalty imposed
in relation thereto.
3. All cases in which the jurisdiction of any trial court is in issue.
4. All criminal cases in which the penalty imposed is death or life imprisonment.
5. All cases in which an error or question of law is involved.

Section 3. Until the Congress shall provide otherwise the Supreme Court shall have such original
and appellate jurisdiction as may be possessed and exercised by the Supreme Court of the
Philippine Islands at the time of the adoption of this Constitution. The original jurisdiction of the
Supreme Court shall include all cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers, and consuls.

Section 4. The Supreme Court shall be composed of a Chief Justice and ten Associate Justices and
may sit either en banc or in two divisions unless otherwise provided by law.

Section 5. The Members of the Supreme Court and all judges of inferior courts shall be appointed
by the President with the consent of the Commission on Appointments.

Section 6. No person may be appointed Member of the Supreme Court unless he has been five
years a citizen of the Philippines, is at least forty years of age, and hasfor ten years or more been a
judge of a court of record or engaged in the practice of law in the Philippines.

Section 7. No judge appointed for a particular district shall be designated or transferred to another
district without the approval of the Supreme Court. The Congress shall by law determine the
residence of judges of inferior courts.

Section 8. The Congress shall prescribe the qualifications of judges of inferior courts, but no person
may be appointed judge of any such courts unless he is a citizen of the Philippines and has been
admitted to the practice of law in the Philippines.

Section 9. The Members of the Supreme Court and all judges of inferior courts shall hold office
during good behavior, until they reach the age of seventy years, or become incapacitated to
discharge the duties of their office. They shall receive such compensation as may be fixed by law,
which shall not be diminished during their continuance in office. Until the Congress shall provide
otherwise, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court shall receive an annual compensation of sixteen
thousand pesos, and each Associate Justice, fifteen thousand pesos.

Section 10. All cases involving the constitutionality of a treaty or law shall be heard and decided by
the Supreme Court en banc, and no treaty or law may be declared unconstitutional without the
concurrence of two-thirds of all the Members of the Court.
Section 11. The conclusions of the Supreme Court in any case submitted to it for decision shall be
reached in consultation before the case is assigned to a Justice for a writing of the opinion of the
Court. Any Justice dissenting from a decision shall state the reasons for his dissent.

Section 12. No decision shall be rendered by any court of record without expressing therein clearly
and distinctly the facts and the law on which it is based.

Section 13. The Supreme Court shall have the power to promulgate rules concerning pleading,
practice, and procedure in all courts, and the admission to the practice of law. Said rules shall be
uniform for all courts of the same grade and shall not diminish, increase, or modify substantive
rights. The existing laws on pleading, practice, and procedure are hereby repealed as statutes, and
are declared Rules of Courts, subject to the power of the Supreme Court to alter and modify the
same. The Congress shall have the power to repeal, alter or supplement the rules concerning
pleading, practice, and procedure, and the admission to the practice of law in the Philippines.

ARTICLE IX
IMPEACHMENT

Section 1. The President, the Vice-President, the Justices of the Supreme Court, and the Auditor
General, shall be removed from office on impeachment for any conviction of, culpable violation of the
Constitution, treason, bribery, or other high crimes.

Section 2. The House of Representatives by a vote of two-thirds of all its Members, shall have the
sole power of impeachment.

Section 3. The Senate shall have the sole power to try all impeachment. When sitting for that
purpose, the Senators shall be on oath or affirmation. When the President of the Philippines is on
trial, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court shall preside. No person shall be convicted without the
concurrence of three-fourths of all the Members of the Senate.

Section 4. Judgment in cases of impeachment shall not extend further than to removal from office
and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust, or profit under the Government of the
Philippines, but the party convicted shall nevertheless be liable and subject to prosecution, trial, and
punishment, according to law.

ARTICLE X
COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS

Section 1. There shall be an independent Commission on Elections composed of a Chairman and

two other Members to be appointed by the President with the consent of the Commission on
Appointments, who shall hold office for a term of nine years and may not be reappointed. Of the
Members of the Commission first appointed, one shall hold office for nine years, another for six
years, and the third for three years. The Chairman and the other Members of the Commission on
Elections may be removed from office only by impeachment in the manner provided in this
Constitution.

Until the Congress shall provide otherwise the Chairman of the Commission shall receive an annual
salary of twelve thousand pesos, and the other Members, ten thousand pesos each. Their salaries
shall be neither increased nor diminished during their term of office.

Section 2. The Commission on Elections shall have exclusive charge of the enforcement and
administration of all laws relative to the conduct of elections and shall exercise all other functions
which may be conferred upon it by law. It shall decide, save those involving the right to vote, all
administrative questions affecting elections, including the determination of the number and location
of polling places, and the appointment of election inspectors and of other election officials. All law
enforcement agencies and instrumentalities of the Government, when so required by the
Commission, shall act as its deputies for the purpose of insuring free, orderly, and honest election.
The decisions, orders, and rulings of the Commission shall be subject to review by the Supreme
Court.

No pardon, parole, or suspension of sentence for the violation of any election law may be granted
without the favorable recommendation of the Commission.

Section 3. The Chairman and Members of the Commission on Elections shall not, during their
continuance in office, engage in the practice of any profession, or intervene, directly or indirectly, in
the management or control of any private enterprise which in any way may be affected by the
functions of their office; nor shall they, directly or indirectly, be financially interested in any contract
with the Government or any subdivision or instrumentality thereof.

Section 4. The Commission on Elections shall submit to the President and the Congress, following
each election, a report on the manner in which such election was conducted.

ARTICLE XI
GENERAL AUDITING OFFICE

Section 1. There shall be a General Auditing Office under the direction and control of an Auditor
General, who shall hold office for a term of ten years and may not be reappointed. The Auditor
General shall be appointed by the President with the consent of the Commission on Appointments,
and shall receive an annual compensation to be fixed by law which shall not be diminished during
his continuance in office. Until the Congress shall provide otherwise, the Auditor General shall
receive an annual compensation of twelve thousand pesos.

Section 2. The Auditor General shall examine, audit, and settle all accounts pertaining to the
revenues and receipts from whatever source, including trust funds derived from bond issues; and
audit, in accordance with law and administrative regulations, all expenditures of funds or property
pertaining or held in trust by the Government or the provinces or municipalities thereof. He shall
keep the general accounts of the Government and preserve the vouchers pertaining thereto. It shall
be the duty of the Auditor General to bring the attention of the proper administrative officer
expenditures of funds or property which, in his opinion, are irregular, unnecessary, excessive, or
extravagant. He shall also perform such other functions as may be prescribed by law.
Section 3. The decisions of the Auditor General shall be rendered within the time fixed by law, and
the same may be appealed to the President whose action shall be final. When the aggrieved party is
a private person or entity, an appeal from the decision of the Auditor General may be taken directly
to a court of record in the manner provided by law.

Section 4. The Auditor General shall submit to the President and the Congress an annual report
covering the financial condition and operations of the Government, and such other reports as may
be required.

ARTICLE XII
CIVIL SERVICE

Section 1. A Civil Service embracing all branches and subdivision of the Government shall be
provided by law. Appointments in the Civil Service, except as to those which are policy-determining,
primarily confidential or highly technical in nature, shall be made only according to merit and fitness,
to be determined as far as practicable by competitive examination.

Section 2. Officers and employees in the Civil Service, including members of the armed forces, shall
not engage directly or indirectly in partisan political activities or take part in any election except to
vote.

Section 3. No officer or employee of the government shall receive additional or double
compensation unless specifically authorized by law.

Section 4. No officer or employee in the Civil Service shall be removed or suspended except for
cause as provided by law.

ARTICLE XIII
CONSERVATION AND UTILIZATION OF NATURAL RESOURCES

Section 1. All agricultural timber, and mineral lands of the public domain, waters, minerals, coal,
petroleum, and other mineral oils, all forces of potential energy and other natural resources of the
Philippines belong to the State, and their disposition, exploitation, development, or utilization shall be
limited to citizens of the Philippines or to corporations or associations at least sixty per centum of the
capital of which is owned by such citizens, subject to any existing right, grant, lease, or concession
at the time of the inauguration of the Government established under this Constitution. Natural
resources, with the exception of public agricultural land, shall not be alienated, and no license,
concession, or lease for the exploitation, development, or utilization of any of the natural resources
shall be granted for a period exceeding twenty-five years, renewable for another twenty-five years,
except as to water rights for irrigation, water supply, fisheries, or industrial uses other than the
development of water power, in which cases beneficial use may be the measure and limit of the
grant.
Section 2. No private corporation or association may acquire, lease, or hold public agricultural lands
in excess of one thousand and twenty four hectares, nor may any individual acquire such lands by
purchase in excess of one hundred and forty four hectares, or by lease in excess of one thousand
and twenty four hectares, or by homestead in excess of twenty-four hectares. Lands adapted to
grazing, not exceeding two thousand hectares, may be leased to an individual, private corporation,
or association.

Section 3. The Congress may determine by law the size of private agricultural land which
individuals, corporations, or associations may acquire and hold, subject to rights existing prior to the
enactment of such law.

Section 4. The Congress may authorize, upon payment of just compensation, the expropriation of
lands to be subdivided into small lots and conveyed at cost to individuals.

Section 5. Save in cases of hereditary succession, no private agricultural land shall be transferred
or assigned except to individuals, corporations, or associations qualified to acquire or hold lands of
the public domain in the Philippines.

Section 6. The State may, in the interest of national welfare and defense, establish and operate
industries and means of transportation and communication, and upon payment of just compensation,
transfer to public ownership utilities and other private enterprise to be operated by the Government.

ARTICLE XIV
GENERAL PROVISIONS

Section 1. The flag of the Philippines shall be red, white, and blue, with a sun and three stars, as
consecrated and honored by the people and recognized by law.

Section 2. All public officers and members of the armed forces shall take an oath to support and
defend the Constitution.

Section 3. The Congress shall take steps toward the development and adoption of a common
national language based on one of the existing native languages. Until otherwise provided by law,
English and Spanish shall continue as official languages.

Section 4. The State shall promote scientific research and invention. Arts and letters shall be under
its patronage. The exclusive right to writings and inventions shall be secured to authors and
inventors for a limited period.

Section 5. All educational institutions shall be under the supervision of and subject to regulation by
the State. The Government shall establish and maintain a complete and adequate system of public
education, and shall provide at least free public primary instruction, and citizenship training to adult
citizens. All schools shall aim to develop moral character, personal discipline, civic conscience, and
vocational efficiency, and to teach the duties of citizenship. Optional religious instruction shall be
maintained in the public schools as now authorized by law. Universities established by the State
shall enjoy academic freedom. The State shall create scholarships in arts, science, and letters for
specially gifted citizens.
Section 6. The State shall afford protection to labor, especially to working women, and minors, and
shall regulate the relations between the landowner and tenant, and between labor and capital in
industry and in agriculture. The State may provide for compulsory arbitration.

Section 7. The Congress shall not, except by general law, provide for the formation, organization, or
regulation of private corporations, unless such corporations are owned and controlled by the
Government or any subdivision or instrumentality thereof.

Section 8. No franchise, certificate, or any other form of authorization for the operation of a public
utility shall be granted except to citizens of the Philippines or to corporations or other entities
organized under the laws of the Philippines sixty per centum of the capital of which is owned by
citizens of the Philippines, nor shall such franchise, certificate, or authorization be exclusive in
character or for a longer period than fifty years. No franchise or right shall be granted to any
individual, firm, or corporation, except under the condition that it shall be subject to amendment,
alteration, or repeal by the Congress when the public interest so requires.

Section 9. The Government shall organize and maintain a national police force to preserve public
order and enforce the law.

Section 10. This Constitution shall be officially promulgated in English and Spanish, but in case of
conflict the English text shall prevail.

ARTICLE XV
AMENDMENTS

Section 1. The Congress in joint session assembled, by a vote of three-fourths of all the Members of
the Senate and of the House of Representatives voting separately, may propose amendments to this
Constitution or call a convention for that purpose. Such amendments shall be valid as part of this
Constitution when approved by a majority of the votes cast at an election at which the amendments
are submitted to the people for their ratification.

ARTICLE XVI
TRANSITORY PROVISIONS

Section 1. The first election of the officers provided in this Constitution and the inauguration of the
Government of the Commonwealth of the Philippines shall take place as provided in Public Act
Numbered One hundred and twenty-seven of the Congress of the United States, approved March
twenty-four, nineteen hundred and thirty four.

Section 2. All laws of the Philippine Islands shall continue in force until the inauguration of the
Commonwealth of the Philippines; thereafter, such laws shall remain operative, unless inconsistent
with this Constitution, until amended, altered, modified, or repealed by the Congress of the
Philippines, and all references in such laws to the Government or officials of the Philippine Islands
shall be construed, insofar as applicable, to refer to the government and corresponding officials
under this Constitution.

Section 3. All courts existing at the time of the adoption of this Constitution shall continue and
exercise their jurisdiction, until otherwise provided by law in accordance with this Constitution, and
all cases, civil and criminal, pending in said courts, shall be heard, tried, and determined under the
laws then in force.

Section 4. All officers and employees in the existing Government of the Philippine Islands shall
continue in office until the Congress shall provide otherwise, but all officers whose appointments are
by this Constitution vested in the President shall, vacate their respective offices upon the
appointment and qualification of their successors, if such appointment is made within a period of one
year from the date of the inauguration of the Commonwealth of the Philippines.

Section 5. The Members of the House of Representatives for the Mountain Province shall be
elected as may be provided by law. The voters of municipalities and municipal districts formerly
belonging to a special province and now forming part of regular provinces shall vote in the election
for Members of the House of Representatives in such districts as may be provided by law.

Section 6. The provisions of this Constitution, except those contained in this article and in Article V,
and those which refer to the election and qualifications of officers to be elected under this
Constitution, shall not take effect until the inauguration of the Commonwealth of the Philippines.

ARTICLE XVII
SPECIAL PROVISIONS
EFFECTIVE UPON THE PROCLAMATION OF THE
INDEPENDENCE OF THE PHILIPPINES

Section 1. Upon the proclamation of the President of the United States recognizing the
independence of the Philippines:

1. The property rights of the United States and the Philippines shall be promptly adjusted and
settled, and all existing property rights of citizens or corporations of the United States shall
be acknowledged, respected, and safeguarded to the same extent as property rights of the
Philippines.
2. The officials elected and serving under this Constitution shall be constitutional officers of the
free and independent Government of the Philippines and qualified to function in all respects
as if elected directly under such Government, and shall serve their full terms of office as
prescribed in this Constitution.
3. The debts and liabilities of the Philippines, its provinces, cities, municipalities, and
instrumentalities, which shall be valid and subsisting at the time of the final and complete
withdrawal of the sovereignty of the United States, shall be assumed by the free and
independent Government of the Philippines; and where bonds have been issued under
authority of an Act of Congress of the United States by the Philippine Islands, or any
province, city or municipality therein, the Government of the Philippines will make adequate
provision for the necessary funds for the payment of interest and principal, and such
obligations shall be a first lien on all taxes collected.
 4. The Government of the Philippines will assume all continuing obligations of the United States
under the Treaty of Peace with Spain ceding the Philippine Islands to the United States.
5. The Government of the Philippines will embody the foregoing provisions of this article
(except subsection (2)) in a treaty with the United States.

ARTICLE XVIII
THE COMMONWEALTH AND THE REPUBLIC

Section 1. The government established by this Constitution shall be known as the Commonwealth
of the Philippines. Upon the final and complete withdrawal of the sovereignty of the United States
and the proclamation of Philippine independence, the Commonwealth of the Philippines shall
thenceforth be known as the Republic of the Philippines.

ORDINANCE APPENDED TO THE 1935 CONSTITUTION

Notwithstanding the provisions of Section one, Article Thirteen, and section eight, Article Fourteen,
of the foregoing Constitution, during the effectivity of the Executive Agreement entered into by the
President of the Philippines with the President of the United States on the fourth of July, nineteen
hundred and forty-six, pursuant to the provisions of Commonwealth Act Numbered Seven hundred
and thirty-three, but in no case to extend beyond the third of July, nineteen hundred and seventy-
four, the disposition, exploitation, development, and utilization of all agricultural, timber, and mineral
lands of the public domain, waters, minerals, coal, petroleum, and other mineral oils, all forces of
potential energy, and other natural resources of the Philippines, and the operation of public utilities, if
open to any person, be open to citizens of the United States and to all forms of business enterprises
owned or controlled, directly or indirectly, by citizens of the United States in the same manner as to,
and under the same conditions imposed upon, citizens of the Philippines or corporations or
associations owned or controlled by citizens of the Philippines.

[The 1935 Constitution was ratified on May 14, 1935  ]

1973 CONSTITUTION OF THE REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES

PREAMBLE

We, the sovereign Filipino people, imploring the aid of Divine Providence, in order to establish a
government that shall embody our ideals, promote the general welfare, conserve and develop the
patrimony of our Nation, and secure to ourselves and our posterity the blessings of democracy under
a regime of justice, peace, liberty, and equality, do ordain and promulgate this Constitution.
 ARTICLE I
NATIONAL TERRITORY

Section 1. The national territory comprises the Philippine archipelago, with all the islands and
waters embraced therein, and all the other territories belonging to the Philippines by historic or legal
title, including the territorial sea, the air space, the subsoil, the sea-bed, the insular shelves, and the
submarine areas over which the Philippines has sovereignty or jurisdiction. The waters around,
between, and connecting the islands of the archipelago, irrespective of their breadth and
dimensions, form part of the internal waters of the Philippines.

ARTICLE II
DECLARATION OF PRINCIPLES AND STATE POLICIES

Section 1. The Philippines is a republican state. Sovereignty resides in the people and all
government authority emanates from them.

Section 2. The defense of the State is the prime duty of government, and in the fulfillment of this
duty all citizens may be required by law to render personal military or civil service.

Section 3. The Philippines renounces war as an instrument of national policy, adopts the generally
accepted principles of international law as part of the law of the land, and adheres to the policy of
peace, equality, justice, freedom, cooperation, and amity with all nations.

Section 4. The State shall strengthen the family as a basic social institution. The natural right and
duty of parents in the rearing of the youth for civic efficiency and the development of moral character
shall receive the aid and support of the government.

Section 5. The State recognizes the vital role of the youth in nation-building and shall promote their
physical, intellectual and social well-being.

Section 6. The State shall promote social justice to ensure the dignity, welfare, and security of all
the people. Towards this end, the State shall regulate the acquisition, ownership, use, enjoyment,
and disposition of private property, and equitably diffuse property ownership and profits.

Section 7. The State shall establish, maintain, and ensure adequate social services in the field of
education, health, housing, employment, welfare, and social security to guarantee the enjoyment of
the people of a decent standard of living.

Section 8. Civilian authority is at all times supreme over the military.

Section 9. The State shall afford protection to labor, promote full employment and equality in
employment, ensure equal work opportunities regardless of sex, race, or creed, and regulate the
relation between workers and employers. The State shall assure the rights of workers to self-
organization, collective bargaining, security of tenure, and just and humane conditions of work. The
State may provide for compulsory arbitration.

Section 10. The State shall guarantee and promote the autonomy of local government units,
especially the barrio, to ensure their fullest development as self-reliant communities.

ARTICLE III
CITIZENS

Section 1. The following are citizens of the Philippines:

1. Those who are citizens of the Philippines at the time of the adoption of this Constitution.
2. Those whose fathers and mothers are citizens of the Philippines.
3. Those who elect Philippine citizenship pursuant to the provisions of the Constitution of
nineteen hundred and thirty-five.
4. Those who are naturalized in accordance with law.

Section 2. A female citizen of the Philippines who marries an alien retains her Philippine citizenship,
unless by her act or omission she is deemed, under the law, to have renounced her citizenship.

Section 3. Philippine citizenship may be lost or reacquired in the manner provided by law.

Section 4. A natural-born citizen is one who is a citizen of the Philippines from birth without having
to perform any act to acquire or perfect his Philippine citizenship.

ARTICLE IV
BILL OF RIGHTS

Section 1. No person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law, nor
shall any person be denied the equal protection of the laws.

Section 2. Private property shall not be taken for public use without just compensation.

Section 3. The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects against
unreasonable searches and seizures of whatever nature and whatever purpose shall not be violated,
and no search warrant or warrant of arrest shall issue except upon probable cause to be determined
by the judge, or such other responsible officer as maybe authorized by law, after examination under
oath or affirmation of the complainant and the witnesses he may produce, and particularly describing
the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Section 4.
 1. The privacy of communication and correspondence shall be inviolable except upon lawful
order of the court, or when public safety and order require otherwise.
2. Any evidence obtained in violation of this or the preceding Section shall be inadmissible for
any purpose in any proceeding.

Section 5. The liberty of abode and of travel shall not be impaired except upon lawful order of the
court, or when necessary in the interest of national security, public safety, or public health.

Section 6. The right of the people to information on matters of public concern shall be recognized.
Access to official records, and to documents and papers pertaining to official acts, transactions, or
decisions, shall be afforded the citizen subject to such limitations as may be provided by law.

Section 7. The right to form associations or societies for purposes not contrary to the law shall not
be abridged.

Section 8. No law shall be made respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free
exercise thereof. The free exercise and enjoyment of religious profession and worship, without
discrimination or preference, shall forever be allowed. No religious test shall be required for the
exercise of civil or political rights.

Section 9. No law shall be passed abridging the freedom of speech, or the press, or the right of the
people peaceably to assemble and petition the government for redress of grievances.

Section 10. No law granting a title of royalty or nobility shall be enacted.

Section 11. No law impairing the obligation of contracts shall be passed.

Section 12. No ex post facto law or bill of attainder shall be enacted.

Section 13. No person shall be imprisoned for debt or non-payment of a poll tax.

Section 14. No involuntary servitude in any form shall exist except as a punishment for a crime
whereof the party shall have been duly convicted.

Section 15. The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended except in cases of
invasion, insurrection, or rebellion, or imminent danger thereof, when the public safety requires it.

Section 16. All persons, shall have the right to a speedy disposition of their cases in all judicial,
quasi-judicial, or administrative bodies.

Section 17. No person shall be held to answer for a criminal offense without due process of law.

Section 18. All persons, except those charged with capital offenses when evidence of guilt is strong
shall, before conviction, be bailable by sufficient sureties. Excessive bail shall not be required.

Section 19. In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall be presumed innocent until the contrary is
proved, and shall enjoy the right to be heard by himself and counsel, to be informed of the nature
and cause of the accusation against him, to have a speedy, impartial, and public trial, to meet the
witnesses face to face, and to have compulsory process to secure the attendance of witnesses and
the production of evidence in his behalf. However, after arraignment, trial may proceed
notwithstanding the absence of the accused provided that he has been duly notified and his failure to
appear is unjustified.

Section 20. No person shall be compelled to be a witness against himself. Any person under
investigation for the commission of an offense shall have the right to remain silent and to counsel,
and to be informed of such right. No force, violence, threat, intimidation, or any other means which
vitiates the free will shall be used against him. Any confession obtained in violation of this section
shall be inadmissible in evidence.

Section 21. Excessive fines shall not be imposed nor cruel or unusual punishment inflicted.

Section 22. No person shall be twice put in jeopardy of punishment for the same offense. If an act is
punished by a law and an ordinance, conviction or acquittal under either shall constitute a bar to
another prosecution for the same act.

Section 23. Free access to the courts shall not be denied to any person by reason of poverty.

ARTICLE V
DUTIES AND OBLIGATIONS OF CITIZENS

Section 1. It shall be the duty of the citizen to be loyal to the Republic and to honor the Philippine
flag, to defend the State and contribute to its development and welfare, to uphold the Constitution
and obey the laws, and to cooperate with the duly constituted authorities in the attainment and
preservation of a just and orderly society.

Section 2. The rights of the individual impose upon him the correlative duty to exercise them
responsibly and with due regard for the rights of others.

Section 3. It shall be the duty of every citizen to engage in gainful work to assure himself and his
family a life worthy of human dignity.

Section 4. It shall be the obligation of every citizen qualified to vote to register and cast his vote.

ARTICLE VI
SUFFRAGE

Section 1. Suffrage shall be exercised by citizens of the Philippines not otherwise disqualified by
law, who are eighteen years of age or over and who shall have resided in the Philippines for at least
one year and in the place wherein they propose to vote for at least six months preceding the
election. No literacy, property or other substantive requirement shall be imposed on the exercise of,
suffrage. The Batasang Pambansa shall provide a system for the purpose of securing the secrecy
and sanctity of the vote.
 ARTICLE VII
THE PRESIDENT AND VICE-PRESIDENT

Section 1. The President shall be the head of state and chief executive of the Republic of the
Philippines.

Section 2. There shall be a Vice-President who shall have the same qualifications and term of office
as the President and may be removed from office in the same manner as the President as provided
in Article XIII, Section 2 of this Constitution.

The Vice-President may be appointed as a member of the Cabinet and may be nominated and
elected as Prime Minister.

The Vice-President shall be elected with and in the same manner as the President.

The President shall be elected from among the Members of the National Assembly by a majority
vote of all its Members for a term of six years from the date he takes his oath of office, which shall
not be later than three days after the proclamation of the National Assembly, nor in any case earlier
than the expiration of the term of his predecessor. Upon taking his oath of office, the President shall
cease to be a Member of the National Assembly and of any political party. He shall be ineligible to
hold any other elective office during his term.

Section 3. No person may be elected President unless he is at least fifty years of age at the day of
his election as President, and a resident of the Philippines for at least ten years immediately
preceding his election. However, if no Member of the National Assembly is qualified or none of those
qualified is a candidate for President, any Member thereof may be elected President.

Section 4.

1. The President shall have an official residence and shall receive a compensation to be fixed
by law, which shall not be increased or decreased during his term of office. He shall not
receive during his tenure any other emolument from the government or any other source.
Until the National Assembly shall provide otherwise, the President shall receive an annual
salary of one hundred thousand pesos.
2. The President shall not during his tenure, hold any appointive office, practice any profession,
participate directly or indirectly in the management of any business, or be financially
interested directly or indirectly in any contract with, or in any franchise or special privilege
granted by, the government or any subdivision, agency, or instrumentality thereof, including
government-owned or controlled corporations.

Section 5. In case of permanent disability, death, removal from office, or resignation of the
President, the Speaker of the National Assembly shall act as President until a successor has been
elected for the unexpired portion of the term of the President.

Section 6. The President shall have the following duties and functions:

1. Address the National Assembly at the opening of its regular session.

 2. Proclaim the election of the Prime Minister.
3. Dissolve the National Assembly and call for a general election as provided herein.
4. Accept the resignation of the Cabinet as provided herein.
5. Attest to the appointment or cessation from office of Members of the Cabinet, and of other
officers as may be provided by law.
6. Appoint all officers and employees in his office in accordance with the Civil Service Law.
7. Perform such other duties and functions of State as may be provided by law.

Section 7. The President shall be immune from suit during his tenure.

ARTICLE VIII
THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY

Section 1. The Legislative power shall be vested in a National Assembly.

Section 2. The National Assembly shall be composed of as many Members as may be provided by
law to be appointed among the provinces, representative districts, and cities in accordance with the
number of their respective inhabitants and on the basis of a uniform and progressive ratio. Each
district shall comprise, as far as practicable, contiguous, compact, and adjacent territory.
Representative districts or provinces already created or existing at the time of the ratification of this
Constitution shall have at least one Member each.

Section 3.

1. The Members of the National Assembly shall be elected by the qualified electors in their
respective districts for a term of six years which shall begin, unless otherwise provided by
law, at noon on the thirtieth day of June next following their election.
2. In case the National Assembly is dissolved, the newly elected Members shall serve the
unexpired portion of the term from the time the Prime Minister convenes the Assembly,
which shall not be later than thirty days immediately following the elections.

Section 4. No person shall be a Member of the National Assembly unless he is a natural-born
citizen of the Philippines and, on the day of the election, is at least twenty-five years of age, able to
read and write, a registered voter in the district in which he shall be elected, and a resident thereon
for a period of not less than one year immediately preceding the day of the election.

Section 5.

1. Unless otherwise provided by law, the regular election of Members of the National Assembly
shall be held on the second Monday of May every six years thereafter.
2. In case a vacancy arises in the National Assembly one year or more before a regular
election, the Commission on Elections shall call a special election to be held within sixty days
after the vacancy occurs.

Section 6. The National Assembly shall convene once every year on the fourth Monday of July for
its regular session, unless a different date is fixed by law, and shall continue to be in session until
thirty days before the opening of its next regular session, exclusive of Saturdays, Sundays, and legal
holidays. It may recess for periods not exceeding thirty days each, and not more than ninety days
during the year. However, it may be called to session at any time by the Prime Minister to consider
such subjects or legislation as he may designate.

Section 7.

1. The National Assembly, shall, by a majority vote of all its Members, elect its Speaker from
the Members thereof. It shall choose such other officers as it may deem necessary.

The election of the President and the Prime Minister shall precede all other business
following the election of the Speaker.

2. A majority of the National Assembly shall constitute a quorum to do business, but a smaller
number may adjourn from day to day and may compel the attendance of absent Members in
such manner, and under such penalties, as the National Assembly may provide.
3. The National Assembly may determine the rules of its proceedings, punish its Members for
disorderly behavior, and with concurrence of two-thirds of all its Members, suspend or expel
a Member, but if the penalty is suspension, this shall not exceed sixty days.
4. The National Assembly shall keep a Journal of its proceedings, and from time to time publish
the same, excepting such parts as may, in its judgment, affect national security; and the yeas
and nays on any question shall, at the request of one-fifth of the Members present, be
entered in the Journal.

Section 8.

1. Unless otherwise provided by law, each Member of the National Assembly shall receive an
annual salary of sixty thousand pesos. The Speaker of the National Assembly shall receive
an annual salary of seventy-five thousand pesos. No increase in salary shall take effect until
after the expiration of the term of the Members of the National Assembly approving such
increase.
2. The records and books of accounts of the National Assembly shall be open to the public in
accordance with law, and such books shall be audited by the Commission on Audit which
shall publish annually the itemized expenditures for each Member.

Section 9. A Member of the National Assembly shall, in all offenses punishable by not more than six
years imprisonment, be privileged from arrest during his attendance at its sessions, and in going to
and returning from the same; but the National Assembly shall surrender the Member involved to the
custody of the law within twenty-four hours after its adjournment for a recess or its next session,
otherwise such privilege shall cease upon its failure to do so. A Member shall not be questioned or
held liable in any other place for any speech or debate in the Assembly or in any committee thereof.

Section 10. A Member of the National Assembly shall not hold any other office or employment in the
government, or any subdivision, agency, or instrumentality thereof, including government-owned or
controlled corporations during his tenure except that of Prime Minister or Member of the Cabinet.
Neither shall he be appointed to any civil office which may have been created or the emoluments
thereof increased while he was a Member of the National Assembly.

Section 11. No Member of the National Assembly shall appear as counsel before any court inferior
to a court with appellate jurisdiction, before any court in any civil case wherein the government, or
any subdivision, agency, or instrumentality thereof is the adverse party, or before any administrative
body. Neither shall he, directly or indirectly, be interested financially in any contract with, or in any
franchise or special privilege granted by, the government, or any subdivision, agency, or
instrumentality thereof, including any government-owned or controlled corporation, during his term of
office. He shall not intervene in any matter before any office of the government for his pecuniary
benefit.

Section 12.

1. There shall be a question hour at least once a month or as often as the rules of the National
Assembly may provide, which shall be included in its agenda, during which the Prime
Minister or any Minister may be required to appear and answer questions and interpellations
by Members of the National Assembly. Written questions shall be submitted to the Speaker
at least three days before a scheduled question hour. Interpellations shall not be limited to
the written questions, but may cover matters related thereto. The agenda shall specify the
subjects of the question hour. When the security of the State so requires and the Prime
Minister so states in writing, the question hour shall be conducted in executive session.
2. The National Assembly or any of its committees may conduct inquiries in aid of legislation in
accordance with its duly published rules of procedure. The rights of persons appearing in
such inquiries shall be respected.

Section 13.

1. The National Assembly may withdraw its confidence from the Prime Minister only by electing
a successor by a majority vote of all its Members. No motion for the election of such
successor shall be debated and voted upon until after the lapse of three days from the
submittal of such motion.
2. The Prime Minister may advise the President in writing to dissolve the National Assembly
whenever the need arises for a popular vote of confidence on fundamental issues, but not on
a matter involving his own personal integrity. Whereupon, the President shall dissolve the
National Assembly not earlier than five days nor later than ten days from his receipt of the
advice, and call for an election on a date set by the Prime Minister which shall not be earlier
than forty-five days nor later than sixty days from the date of such dissolution. However, no
dissolution of the National Assembly shall take place within nine months immediately
preceding a regular election or within nine months immediately following any general
election.
3. In case of dissolution of the National Assembly or the termination of its regular term, the
incumbent Prime Minister and the Cabinet shall continue to conduct the affairs of
government until the new National Assembly is convoked and a Prime Minister is elected
and has qualified.

Section. 14.

1. Except as otherwise provided in this Constitution, no treaty shall be valid and effective unless
concurred in by a majority of all the Members of the National Assembly.
2. The National Assembly, by a vote of two-thirds of all its Members, shall have the sole power
to declare the existence of a state of war.

Section 15. In times of war or other national emergency, the National Assembly may by law
authorize the Prime Minister, for a limited period and subject to such restrictions as it may prescribe,
to exercise powers necessary and proper to carry out a declared national policy. Unless sooner
withdrawn by resolution of the National Assembly, such powers shall cease upon its next
adjournment.

Section 16.
 1. The Prime Minister shall submit to the National Assembly within thirty days from the opening
of each regular session, as the basis of the general appropriations bill, a budget of receipts
based on existing and proposed revenue measures, and of expenditures. The form, content,
and manner of preparation of the budget shall be prescribed by law.
2. No provision or enactment shall be embraced in the general appropriations bill unless it
relates specifically to some particular appropriation therein. Any such provision or enactment
shall be limited in its operation to the appropriation to which it relates.
3. The procedure in approving appropriations for the National Assembly shall strictly follow the
procedure for approving appropriations for other departments and agencies.
4. A special appropriations bill shall specify the purpose for which it is intended, and shall be
supported by funds actually available as certified to by the National Treasurer, or to be
raised by a corresponding revenue proposal included therein.
5. No law shall be passed authorizing any transfer of appropriations; however, the Prime
Minister, the Speaker, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, and the heads of
Constitutional Commissions may by law be authorized to augment any item in the general
appropriations law for their respective offices from saving in other items of their respective
appropriations.
6. If, by the end of the fiscal year, the National Assembly shall have failed to pass the general
appropriations bill for the ensuing fiscal year, the general appropriations law for the
preceding fiscal year shall be deemed re-enacted and shall remain in force and effect until
the general appropriations bill is passed by the National Assembly.

Section 17.

1. The rule of taxation shall be uniform and equitable. The National Assembly shall evolve a
progressive system of taxation.
2. The National Assembly may by law authorize the Prime Minister to fix within specified limits,
and subject to such limitations and restrictions as it may impose, tariff rates, import and
export quotas, tonnage and wharfage dues, and other duties or imposts.
3. Charitable institutions, churches, personages or convents appurtenant thereto, mosques and
non-profit cemeteries, and all lands, buildings and improvements actually, directly, and
exclusively used for religious or charitable purposes shall be exempt from taxation.
4. No law granting any tax exemption shall be passed without the concurrence of a majority of
all the Members of the National Assembly.

Section 18.

1. No money shall be paid out of the Treasury except in pursuance of an appropriation made by
law.
2. No public money or property shall ever be appropriated, applied, paid, or used, directly or
indirectly, for the use, benefit, or support of any sect, church, denomination, sectarian
institution, or system of religion or for the use, benefit, or support of any priest, preacher,
minister, or other religious teacher or dignitary as such, except when such priest, preacher,
minister, or dignitary is assigned to the armed forces, or to any penal institution, or
government orphanage or leprosarium.

Section 19.

1. Every bill 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 the Members three days
before its passage, except when the Prime Minister 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.
2. No bill except those of local application shall be calendared without the prior
recommendation of the Cabinet.

Section 20.

1. Every bill passed by the national Assembly shall, before it becomes a law, be presented to
the Prime Minister. If he approves the same he shall sign it; otherwise, he shall veto it and
return the same with his objections to the National Assembly. The bill may be reconsidered
by the National Assembly and, if approved by two-thirds of all its Members, shall become a
law. The Prime Minister shall act on every bill passed by the National Assembly within thirty
days after the date of receipt thereof; otherwise, it shall become a law as if he had signed it.
2. The Prime Minister shall have the power to veto any particular item or items in appropriation,
revenue, or tariff bill, but the veto shall not affect the item or items to which he does not
object.

ARTICLE IX
THE PRIME MINISTER AND THE CABINET

Section 1. The Executive power shall be exercised by the Prime Minister with the assistance of the
Cabinet. The Cabinet, headed by the Prime Minister, shall consist of the heads of ministries as
provided by law. The Prime Minister shall be the head of the government.

Section 2. The Prime Minister and the cabinet shall be responsible to the National Assembly for the
program of government and shall determine the guidelines of national policy.

Section 3. The Prime Minister shall be elected by a majority of all the Members of the National
Assembly from among themselves.

Section 4. The Prime Minister shall appoint the members of the Cabinet who shall be the heads of
ministries at least a majority of whom shall come from the National Assembly. Members of the
Cabinet may be removed at the discretion of the Prime Minister.

Section 5.

1. The Prime Minister shall appoint the Deputy Prime Minister from among the Members of the
National Assembly. The Deputy Prime Minister shall head a ministry and shall perform such
other functions as may be assigned to him by the Prime Minister.
2. The Prime Minister shall also appoint the Deputy Ministers who shall perform such functions
as may be assigned to them by law or by the respective heads of ministries.

Section 6. The Prime Ministers and the Members of the Cabinet, on assuming office, shall take the
following oath or affirmation :

"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully and conscientiously fulfill my duties as (name of
position) of the Philippines, preserve and defend its Constitution, execute its laws, do justice to every
man and consecrate myself to the service of the Nation. So help me God." (In case of affirmation,
the last sentence will be omitted)
Section 7. The salaries and emoluments of the Prime Minister and the Members of the Cabinet shall
be fixed by law which shall not be increased or decreased during their tenure of office. Until
otherwise provided by law, the Prime Minister shall receive the same salary as that of the President.

Section 8. The Prime Minister and the Members of the cabinet shall be subject to the provisions of
sections ten and eleven of Article Eight hereof and may not appear as counsel before any court or
administrative body, or participate in the management of any business, or practice any profession.

Section 9. The Prime Minister or any Member of the Cabinet may resign for any cause without
vacating his seat in the National Assembly.

Section 10. The Prime Minister shall, at the beginning of each regular session of the National
Assembly, and from time to time thereafter, present the program of government and recommend for
the consideration of the National Assembly such measures as he may deem necessary and proper.

Section 11. The Prime Minister shall have control of all ministries.

Section 12. The Prime Minister shall be commander-in-chief of all armed forces of the Philippines,
and whenever it becomes necessary, he may call out such armed forces to prevent or suppress
lawless violence, invasion, insurrection, or rebellion. In case of invasion, or rebellion, or imminent
danger thereof when the public safety requires, it he may suspend the privilege of the writ of habeas
corpus, or place the Philippines or any part thereof under martial law.

Section 13. The Prime Minister shall appoint the heads of bureaus and offices, the officers of the
armed forces of the Philippines from the rank of brigadier general or commodore, and all other
officers of the Government whose appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and those
whom he may be authorized by law to appoint. However, the National Assembly may by law vest in
members of the cabinet, courts, heads of agencies, commissions, and boards the power to appoint
inferior officers in their respective offices.

Section 14. The Prime Minister may, except in cases of impeachment grant reprieves,
commutations, and pardons, remit fines and forfeitures after final conviction, and with the
concurrence of the National Assembly, grant amnesty.

Section 15. The Prime Minister may contract and guarantee foreign and domestic loans on behalf of
the Republic of the Philippines, subject to such limitations as may be provided by law.

Section 16. All powers vested in the President of the Philippines under nineteen hundred and thirty-
five Constitution and the laws of the land which are not herein provided for or conferred upon any
official shall be deemed, and are hereby, vested in the Prime Minister, unless the National Assembly
provides otherwise.

ARTICLE X
THE JUDICIARY

Section 1. The Judicial power shall be vested in one Supreme Court and in such inferior courts as
may be established by law. The Batasang Pambansa shall have the power to define, prescribe and
apportion the jurisdiction of the various courts, but may not deprive the Supreme Court of its
jurisdiction over cases enumerated in Section five thereof.

Section 2.

1. The Supreme Court shall be composed of a Chief Justice and fourteen Associate Justices. It
may sit en banc or in two divisions.
2. All cases involving the constitutionality of a treaty, executive agreement, or law shall be
heard and decided by the Supreme Court en banc, and no treaty, executive agreement, or
law may be declared unconstitutional without the concurrence of at least ten Members. All
other cases, which under its rules are required to be heard en banc, shall be decided with
the concurrence of at least eight Members.
3. Cases heard by a division shall be decided with the concurrence of at least five Members,
but if such required number is not obtained, the case shall be decided en banc: Provided,
that no doctrine or principle of law laid down by the Court in a decision rendered en banc or
in a division may be modified or reversed except by the Court sitting en banc.

Section 3.

1. No person shall be appointed Member of the Supreme Court unless he is a natural born
citizen of the Philippines, at least forty years of age, and has for ten years or more been a
judge of a court of record or engaged in the practice of law in the Philippines.
2. The Batasang Pambansa shall prescribe the qualifications of judges of inferior courts, but no
person may be appointed judge thereof unless he is a natural-born citizen of the Philippines
and a member of the Philippine Bar.

Section 4. The Members of the Supreme Court and judges of inferior courts shall be appointed by
the President.

Section 5. The Supreme Court shall have the following powers:

1. Exercise original jurisdiction over cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers and
consuls, and over petitions for certiorari, prohibition, mandamus, quo warranto, and habeas
corpus.
2. Review and revise, reverse, modify, or affirm on appeal or certiorari, as the law or the rules
of court may provide, final judgments and decrees of inferior courts in:
a. All cases in which the constitutionality or validity of any treaty, executive agreement,
law, ordinance, or executive order or regulation is in question.
b. All cases involving the legality of any tax, impost, assessment, or toll, or any penalty
imposed in relation thereto.
c. All cases in which the jurisdiction of any inferior court is in issue.
d. All criminal cases in which the penalty imposed is death or life imprisonment.
e. All cases in which only an error or question of law is involved.
3. Assign temporarily judges of inferior courts to other stations as public interest may require.
Such temporary assignment shall not last longer than six months without the consent of the
judge concerned.
4. Order a change of venue or place of trial to avoid a miscarriage of justice.
5. Promulgate rules concerning pleading, practice, and procedure in all courts, the admission to
the practice of law, and the integration of the bar, which, however, may be repealed, altered
or supplemented by the Batasang Pambansa. Such rules shall provide a simplified and
inexpensive procedure for the speedy disposition of cases, shall be uniform for all courts of
the same grade, and shall not diminish, increase, or modify substantive rights.
 6. Appoint its officials and employees in accordance with the Civil Service Law.

Section 6. The Supreme Court shall have administrative supervision over all courts and the
personnel thereof.

Section 7. The Members of the Supreme Court and judges of inferior courts shall hold office during
good behavior until they reach the age of seventy years or become incapacitated to discharge the
duties of their office. The Supreme Court shall have the power to discipline judges of inferior courts
and, by a vote of at least eight Members, order their dismissal.

Section 8. The conclusions of the Supreme Court in any case submitted to it for decision en banc or
in division shall be reached in consultation before the case is assigned to a Member for the writing of
opinion of the Court. Any Member dissenting from a decision shall state the reasons for his dissent.
The same requirement shall be observed by all inferior collegiate courts.

Section 9. Every decision of a court of record shall clearly and distinctly state the facts and the law
on which it is based. The Rules of Court shall govern the promulgation of minute resolutions.

Section 10. The salary of the Chief Justice and of the Associate Justices of the Supreme Court, and
of judges of inferior courts shall be fixed by law, which shall not be decreased during their
continuance in office. Until the Batasang Pambansa shall provide otherwise, the Chief Justice shall
receive an annual salary of seventy-five thousand pesos, and each Associate Justice, sixty thousand
pesos.

Section 11.

1. Upon the effectivity of this Constitution, the maximum period within which a case or matter
shall be decided or resolved from the date of its submission, shall be eighteen months for the
Supreme Court, unless reduced by the Supreme Court, twelve months for all inferior
collegiate courts, and three months for all other inferior courts.
2. With respect to the Supreme Court and other collegiate appellate courts, when the
applicable maximum period shall have lapsed without the rendition of the corresponding
decision or resolution, because the necessary vote cannot be had, the judgment, order, or
resolution appealed from shall be deemed affirmed except in those cases where a qualified
majority is required and in appeals from judgments of conviction in criminal cases, and in
original special civil actions and proceedings for habeas corpus, the petition in such cases
shall be deemed dismissed, and a certification to this effect signed by the Chief Magistrate of
the court shall be issued and a copy thereof attached to the record of the case.

Section 12. The Supreme Court shall, within thirty days from the opening of each regular session of
the Batasang Pambansa, submit to the President, the Prime Minister, and the Batasang Pambansa
an annual report on the operations and activities of the Judiciary.

ARTICLE XI
LOCAL GOVERNMENT
Section 1. The territorial and political subdivisions of the Philippines are the provinces, cities,
municipalities, and barrios.

Section 2. The Batasang Pambansa shall enact a local government code which may not be
thereafter amended except by a majority vote of all its Members, defining a more responsive and
accountable local government structure with an effective system of recall, allocating among the
different local government units their powers, responsibilities, and resources, and providing for the
qualifications, election and removal, term, salaries, powers, functions, and duties of local officials,
and all other matters relating to the organization and operation of the local units. However, any
change in the existing form of local government shall not take effect until ratified by a majority of the
votes cast in a plebiscite called for the purpose.

Section 3. No province, city, municipality, or barrio may be created, divided, merged, abolished, or
its boundary substantially altered except in accordance with the criteria established in the local
government code, and subject to the approval by a majority of the votes cast in a plebiscite in the
unit or units affected.

Section 4.

1. Provinces with respect to component cities and municipalities with respect to component
barrios, shall ensure that the acts of their component units are within the scope of their
assigned powers and functions. Highly urbanized cities, as determined by standards
established in the local government code shall be independent of the province.
2. Local government units may group themselves, or consolidate or coordinate their efforts,
services, and resources for purposes commonly beneficial to them.

Section 5. Each local government unit shall have the power to create its own sources of revenue
and to levy taxes, subject to limitations as may be provided by law.

ARTICLE XII
THE CONSTITUTIONAL COMMISSIONS

A. Common Provisions

Section 1. The Constitutional Commissions shall be the Civil Service Commission, the Commission
on Elections, and the Commission on Audit.

Section 2. Unless otherwise provided by law, the Chairman and each Commissioner of a
Constitutional Commission shall receive an annual salary of sixty thousand pesos, and fifty thousand
pesos, respectively, which shall not be decreased during their continuance in office.

Section 3. No Member of the Constitutional Commission shall, during his tenure in office, engage in
the practice of any profession or in the management of any business, or be financially interested
directly or indirectly in any contract with, or in any franchise or privilege granted by, the government,
or any subdivision, agency, or instrumentality, thereof, including government- owned or controlled
corporations.
Section 4. The Constitutional Commissions shall appoint their officials and employees in
accordance with the Civil Service Law.

B. The Civil Service Commission

Section 1.

1. The Civil Service embraces every branch, agency, subdivision, and instrumentality of the
government, including every government- owned or controlled corporation. It shall be
administered by an independent Civil Service Commission composed of a Chairman and two
Commissioners who shall be natural-born citizens of the Philippines, and at the time of their
appointment, are at least thirty-five years of age and holders of a college degree, and must
not have been candidates for any elective position in the election immediately preceding
their appointment. The Chairman and the Commissioners shall be appointed by the Prime
Minister for a term of seven years without reappointment. Of the Commissioners first
appointed, one shall hold office for seven years, another for five years, and the third for three
years. Appointment to any vacancy shall be only for the unexpired portion of the term of the
predecessor.
2. The Commissioner shall, subject to such limitations as may be provided by law, established
a career service and adopt measures to promote morale, efficiency, and integrity in the Civil
Service.

Section 2. Appointments in the Civil Service, except as to those which are policy-
determining, primarily confidential, or highly technical in nature, shall be made only
according to merit and fitness, to be determined as far as practicable by competitive
examination.

Section 3. No officer or employee in the Civil Service shall be suspended or dismissed except for
cause provided by law.

Section 4.

1. No elective official shall be eligible for appointment to any office or position during his term of
office.
2. No candidate who lost an election shall be eligible for appointment or reappointment to any
office in the government, or in any government-owned or controlled corporation, within one
year following such election.

Section 5. No officer or employee in the Civil Service, including members of the armed forces, shall
engage directly or indirectly in any partisan political activity or take part in any election, except to
vote.

Section 6. The National Assembly shall provide for the standardization of compensation of
government officials and employees, including those in government-owned and controlled
corporations, taking into account the nature of the responsibilities pertaining to, and the qualifications
required for, the positions concerned.

C. The Commission on Elections

Section 1.
 1. There shall be an independent Commission on Elections composed of a Chairman and eight
Commissioners who shall be natural-born citizens of the Philippines and, at the time of their
appointment, at least thirty-five years of age and holders of college degree. However, a
majority thereof, including the Chairman, shall be Members of the Philippine Bar who have
been engaged in the practice of law for at least ten years.
2. The Chairman and the Commissioners shall be appointed by the Prime Minister for a term of
seven years without reappointment. Of the Commissioners first appointed, three shall hold
office for seven years, three for five years, and the last three for three years. Appointments to
any vacancy shall be only for the unexpired portion of the term of the predecessor.

Section 2. The Commission on Elections shall have the following powers and functions:

1. Enforce and administer all laws relative to the conduct of elections.

2. Be the sole judge of all contests relating to the elections, returns, and qualifications of all
Members of the National Assembly and elective provincial and city officials. provincial and
city officials.
3. Decide, save those involving the right to vote, administrative questions affecting elections,
including the determination of the number and location of polling places, the appointment of
election officials and inspectors, and the registration of voters.
4. Deputize, with the consent or at the instance of the Prime Minister, law enforcement
agencies and instrumentalities of the Government, including the Armed Forces of the
Philippines, for the purpose of ensuring free, orderly, and honest elections.
5. Register and accredit political parties subject to the provisions of Section Eight hereof.
6. Recommend to the National Assembly effective measures to minimize election expenses
and prohibit all forms of election frauds and malpractices, political opportunism, guest or
nuisance candidacy, or other similar acts.
7. Submit to the President, Prime Minister, and the National Assembly a report on the conduct
and manner of each election.
8. Perform such other functions as may be provided by law.

Section 3. The Commission on Elections may sit en banc or in three divisions. All election cases
may be heard and decided by divisions, except contests involving Members of the National
Assembly, which shall be heard and decided en banc. Unless otherwise provided by law, all election
cases shall be decided within ninety days from the date of their submission for decision.

Section 4. The Commission may recommend to the Prime Minister the removal of, or any other
disciplinary action against, any officer or employee it has deputized, for violation or disregard of, or
disobedience to its decision, order, or directive.

Section 5. The enjoyment or utilization of all franchises or permits for the operation of transportation
and other public utilities, media of communication, all grants, special privileges, or concessions
granted by the government, or any subdivision, agency or instrumentality thereof, including any
government-owned or controlled corporation, may be supervised or regulated by the Commission
during the election period for the purpose of ensuring free, orderly, and honest elections.

Section 6. Unless otherwise fixed by the Commission in special cases, the election period shall
commence ninety days before the day of election and shall end thirty days thereafter.

Section 7. No pardon, parole, or suspension of sentence for violation of the law or rules and
regulations concerning elections be granted without the recommendation of the Commission.
Section 8. A political party shall be entitled to accreditation by the Commission if, in the immediately
preceding election, such party has obtained at least the third highest number of votes cast in the
constituency to which it seeks accreditation. No religious sect shall be registered as a political party
and no political party which seeks to achieve its goals through violence or subversion shall be
entitled to accreditation.

Section 9.

1. Bona fide candidates for any public office shall be free from any form of harassment and
discrimination.
2. No party or candidate shall have membership in the registration board, board of election
inspectors, board of canvassers, or other similar bodies.

Section 10. No elective public officer may change his political party affiliation during his term of
office and no candidate for any elective public office may change his political party affiliation within
six months immediately preceding or following an election.

Section 11. Any decision, order, or ruling of the Commission may be brought to the Supreme Court
on certiorari by the aggrieved party within thirty days from his receipt of a copy thereof.

D. Commission on Audit

Section 1.

1. There shall be an independent Commission on Audit composed of a Chairman and two

Commissioners who shall be natural-born citizens of the Philippines and, at the time of their
appointment, at least forty years of age and certified public accountants or members of the
Philippine Bar for at least ten years.
2. The Chairman and the Commissioners shall be appointed by the Prime Minister for a term of
seven years without reappointment. Of the Commissioners first appointed, one shall hold
office for seven years, another for five years, and the third for three years. Appointment to
any vacancy shall be only for the unexpired portion of the term of the predecessor.

Section 2. The Commission on Audit shall have the following powers and functions:

1. Examine, audit, and settle, in accordance with law and regulations, all accounts pertaining to
the revenues and receipts of, and expenditures or uses of funds and property, owned or held
in trust by, or pertaining to, the Government, or any of its subdivisions, agencies, or
instrumentalities, including government-owned and controlled corporations; keep the general
accounts of the government and, for such period as may be provided by law, preserve the
vouchers pertaining thereto; and promulgate accounting and auditing rules and regulations
including those for the prevention of irregular, unnecessary, excessive, or extravagant
expenditures or use of funds and property.
2. Decide any case brought before it within sixty days from the date of its submission for
resolution. Unless otherwise provided by law, any decision, order, or ruling of the
Commission may be brought to the Supreme Court on certiorari by the aggrieved party within
days from his receipt of a copy thereof.
3. Submit to the President, the Prime Minister, and the National Assembly, within the time fixed
by law, an annual financial report of the government, its subdivisions, agencies, and
instrumentalities, including government-owned and controlled corporations, and recommend
measures necessary to improve their efficiency and effectiveness. It shall submit such other
reports as may be required by law.
 4. Perform such other duties and functions as may be prescribed by law.

ARTICLE XIII
ACCOUNTABILITY OF PUBLIC OFFICERS

Section 1. Public office is a public trust. Public officers and employees shall serve with the highest
degree of responsibility, integrity, loyalty, and efficiency, and shall remain accountable to the people.

Section 2. The President, the Justices of the Supreme Court, and the Members of the Constitutional
Commissions shall be removed from office on impeachment for, and conviction of, culpable violation
of the Constitution, treason, bribery, other high crimes, or graft and corruption.

Section 3. The National Assembly shall have the exclusive power to initiate, try, decide all cases of
impeachment. Upon the filing of a verified complaint, the National Assembly may initiate
impeachment by a vote of at least one-fifth of all its Members. No official shall be convicted without
the concurrence of at least two-thirds of all the members thereof. When the National Assembly sits in
impeachment cases, its Members shall be on oath or affirmation.

Section 4. Judgment in cases of impeachment shall be limited to removal from office and
disqualification to hold any office of honor, trust, or profit under the Republic of the Philippines, but
the party convicted shall nevertheless be liable and subject to prosecution, trial, and punishment, in
accordance with law.

Section 5. The National Assembly shall create a special court, to be known as Sandiganbayan,
which shall have jurisdiction over criminal and civil cases involving graft and corrupt practices and
such other offenses committed by public officers and employees, including those in government-
owned or controlled corporations, in relation to their office as may be determined by law.

Section 6. The National Assembly shall create an office of the Ombudsman, to be known as
Tanodbayan, which shall receive and investigate complaints relative to public office, including those
in government-owned or controlled corporations, make appropriate recommendations, and in case of
failure of justice as defined by law, file and prosecute the corresponding criminal, civil, or
administrative case before the proper court or body.

ARTICLE XIV
THE NATIONAL ECONOMY AND THE PATRIMONY OF THE NATION

Section 1. The National Assembly shall establish a National Economic and Development Authority,
to be headed by the Prime Minister, which shall recommend to the National Assembly, after
consultation with the private sector, local government units, and other appropriate public agencies,
continuing, coordinated, and fully integrated social and economic plans and programs.
Section 2. The State shall regulate or prohibit private monopolies when the public interest so
requires. No combinations in restraint of trade or unfair competition shall be allowed.

Section 3. The National Assembly shall, upon recommendation of the National Economic and
Development Authority, reserve to citizens of the Philippines or to corporations or associations
wholly owned by such citizens, certain traditional areas of investments when the national interest so
dictates.

Section 4. The National Assembly shall not, except by general law, provide for the formation,
organization, or regulation of private corporations, unless such corporations are owned or controlled
by the government or any subdivision or instrumentality thereof.

Section 5. No franchise, certificate, or any other form of authorization for the operation of a public
utility shall be granted except to citizens of the Philippines at least sixty per centum of the capital of
which is owned by such citizens, nor shall such franchise, certificate, or authorization be exclusive in
character or for a longer period then fifty years. Neither shall any such franchise or right be granted
except under the condition that it shall be subject to amendment, alteration, or repeal by the National
Assembly when the public interest so requires. The State shall encourage equity participation in
public utilities by the general public. The participation of foreign investors in the governing body of
any public utility enterprise shall be limited to their proportionate share in the capital thereof.

Section 6. The State may, in the interest of the national welfare or defense, establish and operate
industries and means of transportation and communication, and, upon payment of just
compensation, transfer to public ownership utilities and other private enterprises to be operated by
the government.

Section 7. In times of national emergency when the public interest so requires, the State may
temporarily take over or direct the operation of any privately owned public utility or business affected
with public interest.

Section 8. All lands of public domain, waters, minerals, coal, petroleum and other mineral oils, all
forces of potential energy, fisheries, wildlife, and other natural resources of the Philippines belong to
the State. With the exception of agricultural, industrial or commercial, residential, or resettlement
lands of the public domain, natural resources shall not be alienated, and no license, concession, or
lease for the exploration, or utilization of any of the natural resources shall be granted for a period
exceeding twenty-five years, except as to water rights for irrigation, water supply, fisheries, or
industrial uses other than development of water power, in which cases, beneficial use may by the
measure and the limit of the grant.

Section 9. The disposition, exploration, development, exploitation, or utilization of any of the natural
resources of the Philippines shall be limited to citizens of the Philippines, or to corporations or
associations at least sixty per centum of the capital which is owned by such citizens. The National
Assembly, in the national interest, may allow such citizens, corporations or associations to enter into
service contracts for financial, technical, management, or other forms of assistance with any foreign
person or entity for the exploration, or utilization of any of the natural resources. Existing valid and
binding service contracts for financial, technical, management, or other forms of assistance are
hereby recognized as such.

Section 10. Lands of the public domain are classified into agricultural, industrial, or commercial,
residential, resettlement, mineral, timber or forest, and grazing lands, and such other classes as may
be provided by law.
Section 11. The National Assembly taking into account conservation, ecological, and developmental
requirements of the natural resources shall determine by law the size of lands of the public domain
which may be developed, held or acquired by, or leased to, any qualified individual, corporation or
association, and the conditions therefor. No private corporation or association may hold alienable
lands of the public domain except by lease not to exceed one thousand hectares in area; nor may
any citizen hold such lands by lease in excess of five hundred hectares or acquire by purchase or
homestead in excess of twenty-four hectares. No private corporation or association may hold by
lease, concession, license, or permit timber or forest lands and other timber or forest resources in
excess of one hundred thousand hectares; however, such area may be increased by the National
Assembly upon recommendation of the National Economic and Development Authority.

Section 12. The State shall formulate and implement an agrarian reform program aimed at
emancipating the tenant from the bondage of the soil and achieving the goals enunciated in this
Constitution.

Section 13. The National Assembly may authorize, upon payment of just compensation, the
expropriation of public lands to be subdivided into small lots and conveyed at cost to deserving
citizens.

Section 14. Save in cases of hereditary succession, no private land shall be transferred or conveyed
except to individuals, corporations, or associations qualified to acquire or hold lands of the public
domain.

Section 15. Any provision of paragraph one, Section 14, Article VIII and of this Article
notwithstanding, the Prime Minister may enter into international treaties or agreement as the national
welfare and interest may require.

ARTICLE XV
GENERAL PROVISIONS

Section 1. The flag of the Philippines shall be red, white, and blue, with a sun and three stars, as
consecrated and honored by the people and recognized by law.

Section 2. The Interim National Assembly may by law adopt a new name for the country, a national
anthem, and a national seal, which shall all be truly reflective and symbolic of ideas, history, and
traditions of the people. Thereafter the national name, anthem, and seal so adopted shall not be
subject to change except by constitutional amendment.

Section 3.

1. This Constitution shall be officially promulgated in English and in Pilipino, and translated into
each dialect spoken by over fifty thousand people, and into Spanish and Arabic. In case of
conflict, the English text shall prevail.
2. The National Assembly shall take steps towards the development and formal adoption of a
common national language to be known as Filipino.
3. Until otherwise provided by law, English and Pilipino shall be the official languages.
Section 4. All public officers and employees and members of the armed forces shall take an oath to
support and defend the Constitution.

Section 5. No elective or appointive public officer or employee shall receive additional or double
compensation unless specifically authorized by law, nor accept, without the consent of the National
Assembly, any present, emolument, office or title of any kind from any foreign state.

Section 6.No salary or any form of emolument of any public officer or employee, including
constitutional officers, shall be exempt from payment of income tax.

Section 7.

1. The ownership and management of mass media shall be limited to citizens of the Philippines
or corporations or associations wholly owned and managed by such citizens.
2. The governing body of every entity engaged in commercial telecommunications shall i all
cases be controlled by citizens of the Philippines.

Section 8.

1. All educational institutions shall be under the supervision of and subject to regulation by the
State. The State shall establish and maintain a complete, adequate, and integrated system
of education relevant to goals of national development.
2. All institutions of higher learning shall enjoy academic freedom.
3. The study of the Constitution shall be part of the curricula in all schools.
4. All educational institutions shall aim to inculcate love of country, teach the duties of
citizenship, and develop moral character, personal discipline, and scientific, technological,
and vocational efficiency.
5. The State shall maintain a system of free public elementary education and, in areas where
finances permit, establish and maintain a system of free public education at least up to the
secondary level.
6. The State shall provide citizenship and vocational training to adult citizens and out-of-school
youth, and create and maintain scholarships for poor and deserving students.
7. Educational institutions, other than those established by religious orders, mission boards,
and charitable organizations, shall be owned solely by citizens of the Philippines, or
corporations or associations sixty per centum of the capita;l of which is owned by such
citizens. The control and administration of educational institutions shall be vested in citizens
of the Philippines. No education institution shall be established exclusively for aliens, and no
group of aliens shall comprise more than one-third of the enrollment of any school. The
provisions of this subsection shall not apply to schools established for foreign diplomatic
personnel and their dependents and, unless otherwise provided by law, for other foreign
temporary resident.
8. At the option expressed in writing by the parents or guardians, and without cost to them and
the government, religion shall be taught to their children or wards in public elementary and
high schools as may be provided by law.

Section 9.

1. The State shall promote scientific research and invention. The advancement of science and
technology shall have priority in the national development.
2. Filipino culture shall be preserved and developed for national identity. Arts and letters shall
be under the patronage of the State.
 3. The exclusive right to inventions, writings, and artistic creations shall be secured to investors,
authors and artists for a limited period. Scholarships, grants-in-aid, or other forms of
incentives shall be provided for specially gifted children.

Section 10. It shall be the responsibility of the State to achieve and maintain population levels most
conducive to the national welfare.

Section 11. The State shall consider the customs, traditions, beliefs, and interests of national
cultural communities in the formulation and implementation of State policies.

Section 12. The State shall establish and maintain an integrated national police force whose
organization, administration, and operation, shall be provided by law.

Section 13.

1. The armed forces of the Philippines shall include a citizen army composed of all able-bodied
citizens of the Philippines who shall undergo military training as may be provided by law. It
shall keep a regular force necessary for the security of the State.
2. The citizen army shall have a corps of trained officers and men in active duty status as may
be necessary to train, service, and keep it in reasonable preparedness at all times.

Section 14. The National Assembly shall establish a central monetary authority which shall provide
policy direction in the areas of money, banking, and credit to achieve national economic objectives. It
shall have supervisory authority over the operation of banks and exercise such regulatory authority
as may be provided by law over the operations of finance companies and other institutions
performing similar functions. Until the National Assembly shall otherwise provide, the Central Bank
of the Philippines, operating under existing laws, shall function as the central monetary authority.

Section 15. The separation of the church and the State shall be inviolable.

Section 16. The State may not be sued without its consent.

ARTICLE XVI
AMENDMENTS

Section 1.

1. Any amendment to, or revision of, this Constitution may be proposed by the National
Assembly upon a vote of three-fourths of all its Members, or by a constitutional convention.
2. The National Assembly may, by a vote of two-thirds of all its Members, call a constitutional
convention, or by a majority vote of all its Members, submit the question of calling such a
convention to the electorate in an election.

Section 2. Any amendment to or revision of this Constitution shall be valid when ratified by a
majority of the votes cast in the plebiscite which shall be held not later than three months after the
approval of such amendment or revision.
 ARTICLE XVII
TRANSITORY PROVISIONS

Section 1. There shall be an Interim National Assembly which shall exist immediately upon the
ratification of this Constitution and shall continue until the Members of the regular National Assembly
shall have been elected and shall have assumed office following an election called for the purpose
by the Interim National Assembly. Except as otherwise provided in this Constitution, the Interim
National Assembly shall have the same powers and its Members shall have the same functions,
responsibilities, rights, privileges, and disqualifications as the regular National Assembly and the
Members thereof.

Section 2. The Members of the Interim National Assembly shall be the incumbent President and
Vice-President of the Philippines, those who served as President of the nineteen hundred and
seventy-one Constitutional Convention, those Members of the Senate and the House of
Representatives who shall express in writing to the Commission on Elections within thirty days after
the ratification of this Constitution their option to serve therein, and those Delegates to the nineteen
hundred and seventy-one Constitutional Convention who have opted to serve therein by voting
affirmatively for this Article. They may take their oath of office before any officer authorized to
administer oaths and who qualify thereto, after the ratification of this Constitution.

Section 3.

1. The incumbent President of the Philippines shall initially convene the Interim National
Assembly and shall preside over its sessions until the interim Speaker shall have been
elected. He shall continue to exercise his powers and prerogatives under the nineteen
hundred and thirty-five Constitution and the powers vested in the President and the Prime
Minister under this Constitution until he calls upon the Interim National Assembly to elect the
interim President and interim Prime Minister who shall then exercise their respective powers
vested by this Constitution.
2. All proclamations, orders, decrees, instructions, and acts promulgated, issued, or done by
the incumbent President shall be part of the law of the land, and shall remain valid, legal,
binding, and effective even after the lifting of the Martial Law or the ratification of this
Constitution unless modified, revoked, or superseded by subsequent proclamations, orders,
decrees, instructions, or unless expressly or implicitly modified or repealed by the regular
National Assembly.

Section 4. The interim Prime Minister and his Cabinet shall exercise all the powers and functions,
and discharge the responsibilities of the regular Prime Minister and his Cabinet, and shall be subject
to the same disqualifications provided in this Constitution.

Section 5. The Interim National Assembly shall give priority to measures for the orderly transition
from the Presidential to the Parliamentary system, the reorganization of the government, the
eradication of graft and corruption, programs for the effective maintenance of peace and order, the
implementation of declared agrarian reforms, the standardization of compensation of government
employees, and such other measures as shall bridge the gap between the rich and the poor.

Section 6. The Interim National Assembly shall reapportion the Assembly seats in accordance with
Article Eight, Section two, of this Constitution.
Section 7. All existing laws not inconsistent with this Constitution shall remain operative until
amended, modified, or repealed by the National Assembly.

Section 8. All courts existing at the time of the ratification of this Constitution shall continue and
exercise their jurisdiction, until otherwise provided by law in accordance with this Constitution, and
all cases pending in said courts shall be held, tried, and determined under the laws then in force.
The provisions of the existing Rules of Court not inconsistent with this Constitution shall remain
operative unless amended, modified, or repealed by the Supreme Court or the National Assembly.

Section 9. All officials and employees in the existing government of the Republic of the Philippines
shall continue in office until otherwise provided by law or decreed by the incumbent President of the
Philippines, but all officials whose appointments are by this Constitution vested in the Prime Minister
shall vacate their respective offices upon the appointment and qualification of their successors.

Section 10. The incumbent Members of the Judiciary may continue in office until they reach the age
of seventy years, unless sooner replaced in accordance with the preceding section hereof.

Section 11. The rights and privileges granted to citizens of the United States or to corporations or
associations owned or controlled by such citizens under the ordinance appended to the nineteen
hundred and thirty-five Constitution shall automatically terminate on the third day of July, nineteen
hundred and seventy-four. Titles to private lands acquired by such persons before such date shall be
valid as against other private persons only.

Section 12. All treaties, executive agreements, and contracts entered into by the government or any
subdivision, agency, or instrumentality thereof, including government-owned or controlled
corporations are hereby recognized as legal, valid and binding. When the national interest so
requires, the incumbent President of the Republic or the interim Prime Minister may review all
contracts, concessions, permits, or other forms of privileges for the exploration, exploitation,
development, or utilization of natural resources entered into, granted, issued, or acquired before the
ratification of this Constitution.

Section 13. Any public officer or employee separated from the service as a result of the
reorganization effected under this Constitution shall, if entitled under the laws then in force, receive
the retirement and other benefits accruing thereunder.

Section 14. All records, equipment, buildings, facilities, and other properties of any office or body
abolished or reorganized under this Constitution shall be transferred to the office or body to which its
powers, functions, and responsibilities substantially pertain.

Section 15. The Interim National Assembly, upon special call by the interim Prime Minister may, by
a majority vote of all its Members propose amendments to this Constitution. Such amendment shall
take effect when ratified in accordance with Article Sixteen hereof.

Section 16. This Constitution shall take effect immediately upon its ratification by a majority of the
votes cast in a plebiscite called for the purpose and, except as herein provided, shall supersede the
Constitution of nineteen hundred and thirty-five and all amendments thereto.

[The 1973 Constitution was ratified on January 17, 1973 in accordance with Presidential
Proclamation No. 1102 issued by President Ferdinand E. Marcos]. 

1987 CONSTITUTION OF THE REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES

 PREAMBLE

We, the sovereign Filipino people, imploring the aid of Almighty God, in order to build a just and
humane society, and establish a Government that shall embody our ideals and aspirations, promote
the common good, conserve and develop our patrimony, and secure to ourselves and our posterity,
the blessings of independence and democracy under the rule of law and a regime of truth, justice,
freedom, love, equality, and peace, do ordain and promulgate this Constitution.

ARTICLE I
NATIONAL TERRITORY

The national territory comprises the Philippine archipelago, with all the islands and waters embraced
therein, and all other territories over which the Philippines has sovereignty or jurisdiction, consisting
of its terrestrial, fluvial and aerial domains, including its territorial sea, the seabed, the subsoil, the
insular shelves, and other submarine areas. The waters around, between, and connecting the
islands of the archipelago, regardless of their breadth and dimensions, form part of the internal
waters of the Philippines.

ARTICLE II
DECLARATION OF PRINCIPLES AND STATE POLICIES PRINCIPLES

Section 1. The Philippines is a democratic and republican State. Sovereignty resides in the people
and all government authority emanates from them.

Section 2. The Philippines renounces war as an instrument of national policy, adopts the generally
accepted principles of international law as part of the law of the land and adheres to the policy of
peace, equality, justice, freedom, cooperation, and amity with all nations.

Section 3. Civilian authority is, at all times, supreme over the military. The Armed Forces of the
Philippines is the protector of the people and the State. Its goal is to secure the sovereignty of the
State and the integrity of the national territory.

Section 4. The prime duty of the Government is to serve and protect the people. The Government
may call upon the people to defend the State and, in the fulfillment thereof, all citizens may be
required, under conditions provided by law, to render personal, military or civil service.

Section 5. The maintenance of peace and order, the protection of life, liberty, and property, and
promotion of the general welfare are essential for the enjoyment by all the people of the blessings of
democracy.

Section 6. The separation of Church and State shall be inviolable.

 STATE POLICIES

Section 7. The State shall pursue an independent foreign policy. In its relations with other states,
the paramount consideration shall be national sovereignty, territorial integrity, national interest, and
the right to self-determination.

Section 8. The Philippines, consistent with the national interest, adopts and pursues a policy of
freedom from nuclear weapons in its territory.

Section 9. 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.

Section 10. The State shall promote social justice in all phases of national development.

Section 11. The State values the dignity of every human person and guarantees full respect for
human rights.

Section 12. The State recognizes the sanctity of family life and shall protect and strengthen the
family as a basic autonomous social institution. It shall equally protect the life of the mother and the
life of the unborn from conception. The natural and primary right and duty of parents in the rearing of
the youth for civic efficiency and the development of moral character shall receive the support of the
Government.

Section 13. The State recognizes the vital role of the youth in nation-building and shall promote and
protect their physical, moral, spiritual, intellectual, and social well-being. It shall inculcate in the youth
patriotism and nationalism, and encourage their involvement in public and civic affairs.

Section 14. The State recognizes the role of women in nation-building, and shall ensure the
fundamental equality before the law of women and men.

Section 15. The State shall protect and promote the right to health of the people and instill health
consciousness among them.

Section 16. The State shall protect and advance the right of the people to a balanced and healthful
ecology in accord with the rhythm and harmony of nature.

Section 17. The State shall give priority to education, science and technology, arts, culture, and
sports to foster patriotism and nationalism, accelerate social progress, and promote total human
liberation and development.

Section 18. The State affirms labor as a primary social economic force. It shall protect the rights of
workers and promote their welfare.

Section 19. The State shall develop a self-reliant and independent national economy effectively
controlled by Filipinos.

Section 20. The State recognizes the indispensable role of the private sector, encourages private
enterprise, and provides incentives to needed investments.
Section 21. The State shall promote comprehensive rural development and agrarian reform.

Section 22. The State recognizes and promotes the rights of indigenous cultural communities within
the framework of national unity and development.

Section 23. The State shall encourage non-governmental, community-based, or sectoral

organizations that promote the welfare of the nation.

Section 24. The State recognizes the vital role of communication and information in nation-building.

Section 25. The State shall ensure the autonomy of local governments.

Section 26. The State shall guarantee equal access to opportunities for public service and prohibit
political dynasties as may be defined by law.

Section 27. The State shall maintain honesty and integrity in the public service and take positive
and effective measures against graft and corruption.

Section 28. Subject to reasonable conditions prescribed by law, the State adopts and implements a
policy of full public disclosure of all its transactions involving public interest.

ARTICLE III
BILL OF RIGHTS

Section 1. No person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law, nor
shall any person be denied the equal protection of the laws.

Section 2. The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects against
unreasonable searches and seizures of whatever nature and for any purpose shall be inviolable, and
no search warrant or warrant of arrest shall issue except upon probable cause to be determined
personally by the judge after examination under oath or affirmation of the complainant and the
witnesses he may produce, and particularly describing the place to be searched and the persons or
things to be seized. 
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Section 3.

1. The privacy of communication and correspondence shall be inviolable except upon lawful
order of the court, or when public safety or order requires otherwise, as prescribed by law.
2. Any evidence obtained in violation of this or the preceding section shall be inadmissible for
any purpose in any proceeding.

Section 4. No law shall be passed abridging the freedom of speech, of expression, or of the press,
or the right of the people peaceably to assemble and petition the government for redress of
grievances.
Section 5. No law shall be made respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free
exercise thereof. The free exercise and enjoyment of religious profession and worship, without
discrimination or preference, shall forever be allowed. No religious test shall be required for the
exercise of civil or political rights.

Section 6. The liberty of abode and of changing the same within the limits prescribed by law shall
not be impaired except upon lawful order of the court. Neither shall the right to travel be impaired
except in the interest of national security, public safety, or public health, as may be provided by law.

Section 7. The right of the people to information on matters of public concern shall be recognized.
Access to official records, and to documents and papers pertaining to official acts, transactions, or
decisions, as well as to government research data used as basis for policy development, shall be
afforded the citizen, subject to such limitations as may be provided by law.

Section 8. The right of the people, including those employed in the public and private sectors, to
form unions, associations, or societies for purposes not contrary to law shall not be abridged.

Section 9. Private property shall not be taken for public use without just compensation.

Section 10. No law impairing the obligation of contracts shall be passed.

Section 11. Free access to the courts and quasi-judicial bodies and adequate legal assistance shall
not be denied to any person by reason of poverty.

Section 12.

1. Any person under investigation for the commission of an offense shall have the right to be
informed of his right to remain silent and to have competent and independent counsel
preferably of his own choice. If the person cannot afford the services of counsel, he must be
provided with one. These rights cannot be waived except in writing and in the presence of
counsel.
2. No torture, force, violence, threat, intimidation, or any other means which vitiate the free will
shall be used against him. Secret detention places, solitary, incommunicado, or other similar
forms of detention are prohibited.
3. Any confession or admission obtained in violation of this or Section 17 hereof shall be
inadmissible in evidence against him.
4. The law shall provide for penal and civil sanctions for violations of this Section as well as
compensation to the rehabilitation of victims of torture or similar practices, and their families.

Section 13. All persons, except those charged with offenses punishable by reclusion perpetua when
evidence of guilt is strong, shall, before conviction, be bailable by sufficient sureties, or be released
on recognizance as may be provided by law. The right to bail shall not be impaired even when the
privilege of the writ of habeas corpus is suspended. Excessive bail shall not be required.

Section 14.

1. No person shall be held to answer for a criminal offense without due process of law.
2. In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall be presumed innocent until the contrary is
proved, and shall enjoy the right to be heard by himself and counsel, to be informed of the
nature and cause of the accusation against him, to have a speedy, impartial, and public trial,
to meet the witnesses face to face, and to have compulsory process to secure the
 attendance of witnesses and the production of evidence in his behalf. However, after
arraignment, trial may proceed notwithstanding the absence of the accused: Provided, that
he has been duly notified and his failure to appear is unjustifiable.

Section 15. The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended except in cases of
invasion or rebellion, when the public safety requires it.

Section 16. All persons shall have the right to a speedy disposition of their cases before all judicial,
quasi-judicial, or administrative bodies.

Section 17. No person shall be compelled to be a witness against himself.

Section 18.

1. No person shall be detained solely by reason of his political beliefs and aspirations.
2. No involuntary servitude in any form shall exist except as a punishment for a crime whereof
the party shall have been duly convicted.

Section 19.

1. Excessive fines shall not be imposed, nor cruel, degrading or inhuman punishment inflicted.
Neither shall death penalty be imposed, unless, for compelling reasons involving heinous
crimes, the Congress hereafter provides for it. Any death penalty already imposed shall be
reduced to reclusion perpetua.
2. The employment of physical, psychological, or degrading punishment against any prisoner or
detainee or the use of substandard or inadequate penal facilities under subhuman conditions
shall be dealt with by law.

Section 20. No person shall be imprisoned for debt or non-payment of a poll tax.

Section 21. No person shall be twice put in jeopardy of punishment for the same offense. If an act is
punished by a law and an ordinance, conviction or acquittal under either shall constitute a bar to
another prosecution for the same act.

Section 22. No ex post facto law or bill of attainder shall be enacted.

ARTICLE IV
CITIZENSHIP

Section 1. The following are citizens of the Philippines:

1. Those who are citizens of the Philippines at the time of the adoption of this Constitution;
2. Those whose fathers or mothers are citizens of the Philippines;
3. Those born before January 17, 1973, of Filipino mothers, who elect Philippine Citizenship
upon reaching the age of majority; and
4. Those who are naturalized in the accordance with law.
Section 2. Natural-born citizens are those who are citizens of the Philippines from birth without
having to perform any act to acquire or perfect their Philippine citizenship. Those who elect
Philippine citizenship in accordance with paragraph (3), Section 1 hereof shall be deemed natural-
born citizens.

Section 3. Philippine citizenship may be lost or reacquired in the manner provided by law.

Section 4. Citizens of the Philippines who marry aliens shall retain their citizenship, unless by their
act or omission they are deemed, under the law to have renounced it.

Section 5. Dual allegiance of citizens is inimical to the national interest and shall be dealt with by
law.

ARTICLE V
SUFFRAGE

Section 1. Suffrage may be exercised by all citizens of the Philippines, not otherwise disqualified by
law, who are at least eighteen years of age, and who shall have resided in the Philippines for at least
one year and in the place wherein they propose to vote, for at least six months immediately
preceding the election. No literacy, property, or other substantive requirement shall be imposed on
the exercise of suffrage.

Section 2. The Congress shall provide a system for securing the secrecy and sanctity of the ballot
as well as a system for absentee voting by qualified Filipinos abroad.

The Congress shall also design a procedure for the disabled and the illiterates to vote without the
assistance of other persons. Until then, they shall be allowed to vote under existing laws and such
rules as the Commission on Elections may promulgate to protect the secrecy of the ballot.

ARTICLE VI
THE LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT

Section 1. The legislative power shall be vested in the Congress of the Philippines which shall
consist of a Senate and a House of Representatives, except to the extent reserved to the people by
the provision on initiative and referendum.

Section 2. 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.

Section 3. No person shall be a Senator unless he is a natural-born citizen of the Philippines and,
on the day of the election, is at least thirty-five years of age, able to read and write, a registered
voter, and a resident of the Philippines for not less than two years immediately preceding the day of
the election.
Section 4. The term of office of the Senators shall be six years and shall commence, unless
otherwise provided by law, at noon on the thirtieth day of June next following their election. No
Senator shall serve for more than two consecutive terms. Voluntary renunciation of the office for any
length of time shall not be considered as an interruption in the continuity of his service for the full
term of which he was elected.

Section 5.

1. 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.
2. The party-list representatives shall constitute twenty per centum of the total number of
representatives including those under the party list. For three consecutive terms after the
ratification of this Constitution, one-half of the seats allocated to party-list representatives
shall be filled, as provided by law, by selection or election from the labor, peasant, urban
poor, indigenous cultural communities, women, youth, and such other sectors as may be
provided by law, except the religious sector.
3. Each legislative district shall comprise, as far as practicable, contiguous, compact, and
adjacent territory. Each city with a population of at least two hundred fifty thousand, or each
province, shall have at least one representative.
4. Within three years following the return of every census, the Congress shall make a
reapportionment of legislative districts based on the standards provided in this section.

Section 6. No person shall be a Member of the House of Representatives unless he is a natural-
born citizen of the Philippines and, on the day of the election, is at least twenty-five years of age,
able to read and write, and, except the party-list representatives, a registered voter in the district in
which he shall be elected, and a resident thereof for a period of not less than one year immediately
preceding the day of the election.

Section 7. The Members of the House of Representatives shall be elected for a term of three years
which shall begin, unless otherwise provided by law, at noon on the thirtieth day of June next
following their election. No Member of the House of Representatives shall serve for more than three
consecutive terms. Voluntary renunciation of the office for any length of time shall not be considered
as an interruption in the continuity of his service for the full term for which he was elected.

Section 8. Unless otherwise provided by law, the regular election of the Senators and the Members
of the House of Representatives shall be held on the second Monday of May.

Section 9. In case of vacancy in the Senate or in the House of Representatives, a special election
may be called to fill such vacancy in the manner prescribed by law, but the Senator or Member of
the House of Representatives thus elected shall serve only for the unexpired term.

Section 10. The salaries of Senators and Members of the House of Representatives shall be
determined by law. No increase in said compensation shall take effect until after the expiration of the
full term of all the Members of the Senate and the House of Representatives approving such
increase.

Section 11. A Senator or Member of the House of Representatives shall, in all offenses punishable
by not more than six years imprisonment, be privileged from arrest while the Congress is in session.
No Member shall be questioned nor be held liable in any other place for any speech or debate in the
Congress or in any committee thereof.

Section 12. All Members of the Senate and the House of Representatives shall, upon assumption of
office, make a full disclosure of their financial and business interests. They shall notify the House
concerned of a potential conflict of interest that may arise from the filing of a proposed legislation of
which they are authors.

Section 13. No Senator or Member of the House of Representatives may hold any other office or
employment in the Government, or any subdivision, agency, or instrumentality thereof, including
government-owned or controlled corporations or their subsidiaries, during his term without forfeiting
his seat. Neither shall he be appointed to any office which may have been created or the
emoluments thereof increased during the term for which he was elected.

Section 14. No Senator or Member of the House of Representatives may personally appear as
counsel before any court of justice or before the Electoral Tribunals, or quasi-judicial and other
administrative bodies. Neither shall he, directly or indirectly, be interested financially in any contract
with, or in any franchise or special privilege granted by the Government, or any subdivision, agency,
or instrumentality thereof, including any government-owned or controlled corporation, or its
subsidiary, during his term of office. He shall not intervene in any matter before any office of the
Government for his pecuniary benefit or where he may be called upon to act on account of his office.

Section 15. The Congress shall convene once every year on the fourth Monday of July for its
regular session, unless a different date is fixed by law, and shall continue to be in session for such
number of days as it may determine until thirty days before the opening of its next regular session,
exclusive of Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays. The President may call a special session at
any time.

Section 16.

1. The Senate shall elect its President and the House of Representatives, its Speaker, by a
majority vote of all its respective Members. Each House shall choose such other officers as it
may deem necessary.
2. A majority of each House shall constitute a quorum to do business, but a smaller number
may adjourn from day to day and may compel the attendance of absent Members in such
manner, and under such penalties, as such House may provide.
3. Each House may determine the rules of its proceedings, punish its Members for disorderly
behavior, and, with the concurrence of two-thirds of all its Members, suspend or expel a
Member. A penalty of suspension, when imposed, shall not exceed sixty days.
4. Each House shall keep a Journal of its proceedings, and from time to time publish the same,
excepting such parts as may, in its judgment, affect national security; and the yeas and nays
on any question shall, at the request of one-fifth of the Members present, be entered in the
Journal. Each House shall also keep a Record of its proceedings.
5. Neither House during the sessions of the Congress shall, without the consent of the other,
adjourn for more than three days, nor to any other place than that in which the two Houses
shall be sitting.

Section 17. The Senate and the House of Representatives shall each have an Electoral Tribunal
which shall be the sole judge of all contests relating to the election, returns, and qualifications of their
respective Members. Each Electoral Tribunal shall be composed of nine Members, three of whom
shall be Justices of the Supreme Court to be designated by the Chief Justice, and the remaining six
shall be Members of the Senate or the House of Representatives, as the case may be, who shall be
chosen on the basis of proportional representation from the political parties and the parties or
organizations registered under the party-list system represented therein. The senior Justice in the
Electoral Tribunal shall be its Chairman.

Section 18. There shall be a Commission on Appointments consisting of the President of the

Senate, as ex officio Chairman, twelve Senators, and twelve Members of the House of
Representatives, elected by each House on the basis of proportional representation from the political
parties and parties or organizations registered under the party-list system represented therein. The
chairman of the Commission shall not vote, except in case of a tie. The Commission shall act on all
appointments submitted to it within thirty session days of the Congress from their submission. The
Commission shall rule by a majority vote of all the Members.

Section 19. The Electoral Tribunals and the Commission on Appointments shall be constituted
within thirty days after the Senate and the House of Representatives shall have been organized with
the election of the President and the Speaker. The Commission on Appointments shall meet only
while the Congress is in session, at the call of its Chairman or a majority of all its Members, to
discharge such powers and functions as are herein conferred upon it.

Section 20. The records and books of accounts of the Congress shall be preserved and be open to
the public in accordance with law, and such books shall be audited by the Commission on Audit
which shall publish annually an itemized list of amounts paid to and expenses for each Member.

Section 21. The Senate or the House of Representatives or any of its respective committees may
conduct inquiries in aid of legislation in accordance with its duly published rules of procedure. The
rights of persons appearing in, or affected by, such inquiries shall be respected.

Section 22. The heads of departments may, upon their own initiative, with the consent of the
President, or upon the request of either House, as the rules of each House shall provide, appear
before and be heard by such House on any matter pertaining to their departments. Written questions
shall be submitted to the President of the Senate or the Speaker of the House of Representatives at
least three days before their scheduled appearance. Interpellations shall not be limited to written
questions, but may cover matters related thereto. When the security of the State or the public
interest so requires and the President so states in writing, the appearance shall be conducted in
executive session.

Section 23.

1. The Congress, by a vote of two-thirds of both Houses in joint session assembled, voting
separately, shall have the sole power to declare the existence of a state of war.
2. In times of war or other national emergency, the Congress may, by law, authorize the
President, for a limited period and subject to such restrictions as it may prescribe, to exercise
powers necessary and proper to carry out a declared national policy. Unless sooner
withdrawn by resolution of the Congress, such powers shall cease upon the next
adjournment thereof.

Section 24. All appropriation, revenue or tariff bills, bills authorizing increase of the public debt, bills
of local application, and private bills, shall originate exclusively in the House of Representatives, but
the Senate may propose or concur with amendments.

Section 25.
 1. The Congress may not increase the appropriations recommended by the President for the
operation of the Government as specified in the budget. The form, content, and manner of
preparation of the budget shall be prescribed by law.
2. No provision or enactment shall be embraced in the general appropriations bill unless it
relates specifically to some particular appropriation therein. Any such provision or enactment
shall be limited in its operation to the appropriation to which it relates.
3. The procedure in approving appropriations for the Congress shall strictly follow the
procedure for approving appropriations for other departments and agencies.
4. A special appropriations bill shall specify the purpose for which it is intended, and shall be
supported by funds actually available as certified by the National Treasurer, or to be raised
by a corresponding revenue proposal therein.
5. No law shall be passed authorizing any transfer of appropriations; however, the President,
the President of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Chief Justice
of the Supreme Court, and the heads of Constitutional Commissions may, by law, be
authorized to augment any item in the general appropriations law for their respective offices
from savings in other items of their respective appropriations.
6. Discretionary funds appropriated for particular officials shall be disbursed only for public
purposes to be supported by appropriate vouchers and subject to such guidelines as may be
prescribed by law.
7. If, by the end of any fiscal year, the Congress shall have failed to pass the general
appropriations bill for the ensuing fiscal year, the general appropriations law for the
preceding fiscal year shall be deemed re-enacted and shall remain in force and effect until
the general appropriations bill is passed by the Congress.

Section 26.

1. Every bill passed by the Congress shall embrace only one subject which shall be expressed
in the title thereof.
2. 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 27.

1. Every bill passed by the Congress shall, before it becomes a law, be presented to the
President. If he approves the same he shall sign it; otherwise, he shall veto it and return the
same with his objections to the House where it originated, which shall enter the objections at
large in its Journal and proceed to reconsider it. If, after such reconsideration, two-thirds of
all the Members of such House shall agree to pass the bill, it shall be sent, together with the
objections, to the other House by which it shall likewise be reconsidered, and if approved by
two-thirds of all the Members of that House, it shall become a law. In all such cases, the
votes of each House shall be determined by yeas or nays, and the names of the Members
voting for or against shall be entered in its Journal. The President shall communicate his veto
of any bill to the House where it originated within thirty days after the date of receipt thereof,
otherwise, it shall become a law as if he had signed it.
2. The President shall have the power to veto any particular item or items in an appropriation,
revenue, or tariff bill, but the veto shall not affect the item or items to which he does not
object.
Section 28.

1. The rule of taxation shall be uniform and equitable. The Congress shall evolve a progressive
system of taxation.
2. The Congress may, by law, authorize the President to fix within specified limits, and subject
to such limitations and restrictions as it may impose, tariff rates, import and export quotas,
tonnage and wharfage dues, and other duties or imposts within the framework of the national
development program of the Government.
3. Charitable institutions, churches and personages or convents appurtenant thereto, mosques,
non-profit cemeteries, and all lands, buildings, and improvements, actually, directly, and
exclusively used for religious, charitable, or educational purposes shall be exempt from
taxation.
4. No law granting any tax exemption shall be passed without the concurrence of a majority of
all the Members of the Congress.

Section 29.

1. No money shall be paid out of the Treasury except in pursuance of an appropriation made by
law.
2. No public money or property shall be appropriated, applied, paid, or employed, directly or
indirectly, for the use, benefit, or support of any sect, church, denomination, sectarian
institution, or system of religion, or of any priest, preacher, minister, other religious teacher,
or dignitary as such, except when such priest, preacher, minister, or dignitary is assigned to
the armed forces, or to any penal institution, or government orphanage or leprosarium.
3. All money collected on any tax levied for a special purpose shall be treated as a special fund
and paid out for such purpose only. If the purpose for which a special fund was created has
been fulfilled or abandoned, the balance, if any, shall be transferred to the general funds of
the Government.

Section 30. No law shall be passed increasing the appellate jurisdiction of the Supreme Court as
provided in this Constitution without its advice and concurrence.

Section 31. No law granting a title of royalty or nobility shall be enacted.

Section 32. The Congress shall, as early as possible, provide for a system of initiative and
referendum, and the exceptions therefrom, whereby the people can directly propose and enact laws
or approve or reject any act or law or part thereof passed by the Congress or local legislative body
after the registration of a petition therefor signed by at least ten per centum of the total number of
registered voters, of which every legislative district must be represented by at least three per centum
of the registered voters thereof.

ARTICLE VII
EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT

Section 1. The executive power shall be vested in the President of the Philippines.
Section 2. No person may be elected President unless he is a natural-born citizen of the Philippines,
a registered voter, able to read and write, at least forty years of age on the day of the election, and a
resident of the Philippines for at least ten years immediately preceding such election.

Section 3. There shall be a Vice-President who shall have the same qualifications and term of office
and be elected with, and in the same manner, as the President. He may be removed from office in
the same manner as the President.

The Vice-President may be appointed as a Member of the Cabinet. Such appointment requires no
confirmation.

Section 4. The President and the Vice-President shall be elected by direct vote of the people for a
term of six years which shall begin at noon on the thirtieth day of June next following the day of the
election and shall end at noon of the same date, six years thereafter. The President shall not be
eligible for any re-election. 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.

No Vice-President shall serve for more than two successive terms. Voluntary renunciation of the
office for any length of time shall not be considered as an interruption in the continuity of the service
for the full term for which he was elected.

Unless otherwise provided by law, the regular election for President and Vice-President shall be held
on the second Monday of May.

The returns of every election for President and Vice-President, duly certified by the board of
canvassers of each province or city, shall be transmitted to the Congress, directed to the President
of the Senate. Upon receipt of the certificates of canvass, the President of the Senate shall, not later
than thirty days after the day of the election, open all the certificates in the presence of the Senate
and the House of Representatives in joint public session, and the Congress, upon determination of
the authenticity and due execution thereof in the manner provided by law, canvass the votes.

The person having the highest number of votes shall be proclaimed elected, but in case two or more
shall have an equal and highest number of votes, one of them shall forthwith be chosen by the vote
of a majority of all the Members of both Houses of the Congress, voting separately.

The Congress shall promulgate its rules for the canvassing of the certificates.

The Supreme Court, sitting en banc, shall be the sole judge of all contests relating to the election,
returns, and qualifications of the President or Vice-President, and may promulgate its rules for the
purpose.

Section 5. Before they enter on the execution of their office, the President, the Vice-President, or
the Acting President shall take the following oath or affirmation:

"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully and conscientiously fulfill my duties as President
(or Vice-President or Acting President) of the Philippines, preserve and defend its Constitution,
execute its laws, do justice to every man, and consecrate myself to the service of the Nation. So
help me God." (In case of affirmation, last sentence will be omitted.)

Section 6. The President shall have an official residence. The salaries of the President and Vice-
President shall be determined by law and shall not be decreased during their tenure. No increase in
said compensation shall take effect until after the expiration of the term of the incumbent during
which such increase was approved. They shall not receive during their tenure any other emolument
from the Government or any other source.

Section 7. The President-elect and the Vice President-elect shall assume office at the beginning of
their terms.

If the President-elect fails to qualify, the Vice President-elect shall act as President until the
President-elect shall have qualified.

If a President shall not have been chosen, the Vice President-elect shall act as President until a
President shall have been chosen and qualified.

If at the beginning of the term of the President, the President-elect shall have died or shall have
become permanently disabled, the Vice President-elect shall become President.

Where no President and Vice-President shall have been chosen or shall have qualified, or where
both shall have died or become permanently disabled, the President of the Senate or, in case of his
inability, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, shall act as President until a President or a
Vice-President shall have been chosen and qualified.

The Congress shall, by law, provide for the manner in which one who is to act as President shall be
selected until a President or a Vice-President shall have qualified, in case of death, permanent
disability, or inability of the officials mentioned in the next preceding paragraph.

Section 8. In case of death, permanent disability, removal from office, or resignation of the
President, the Vice-President shall become the President to serve the unexpired term. In case of
death, permanent disability, removal from office, or resignation of both the President and Vice-
President, the President of the Senate or, in case of his inability, the Speaker of the House of
Representatives, shall then act as President until the President or Vice-President shall have been
elected and qualified.

The Congress shall, by law, provide who shall serve as President in case of death, permanent
disability, or resignation of the Acting President. He shall serve until the President or the Vice-
President shall have been elected and qualified, and be subject to the same restrictions of powers
and disqualifications as the Acting President.

Section 9. Whenever there is a vacancy in the Office of the Vice-President during the term for which
he was elected, the President shall nominate a Vice-President from among the Members of the
Senate and the House of Representatives who shall assume office upon confirmation by a majority
vote of all the Members of both Houses of the Congress, voting separately.

Section 10. The Congress shall, at ten o'clock in the morning of the third day after the vacancy in
the offices of the President and Vice-President occurs, convene in accordance with its rules without
need of a call and within seven days, enact a law calling for a special election to elect a President
and a Vice-President to be held not earlier than forty-five days nor later than sixty days from the time
of such call. The bill calling such special election shall be deemed certified under paragraph 2,
Section 26, Article V1 of this Constitution and shall become law upon its approval on third reading by
the Congress. Appropriations for the special election shall be charged against any current
appropriations and shall be exempt from the requirements of paragraph 4, Section 25, Article V1 of
this Constitution. The convening of the Congress cannot be suspended nor the special election
postponed. No special election shall be called if the vacancy occurs within eighteen months before
the date of the next presidential election.

Section 11. Whenever the President transmits to the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the
House of Representatives his written declaration that he is unable to discharge the powers and
duties of his office, and until he transmits to them a written declaration to the contrary, such powers
and duties shall be discharged by the Vice-President as Acting President.

Whenever a majority of all the Members of the Cabinet transmit to the President of the Senate and
to the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable
to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice-President shall immediately assume the
powers and duties of the office as Acting President.

Thereafter, when the President transmits to the President of the Senate and to the Speaker of the
House of Representatives his written declaration that no inability exists, he shall reassume the
powers and duties of his office. Meanwhile, should a majority of all the Members of the Cabinet
transmit within five days to the President of the Senate and to the Speaker of the House of
Representatives, their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and
duties of his office, the Congress shall decide the issue. For that purpose, the Congress shall
convene, if it is not in session, within forty-eight hours, in accordance with its rules and without need
of call.

If the Congress, within ten days after receipt of the last written declaration, or, if not in session, within
twelve days after it is required to assemble, determines by a two-thirds vote of both Houses, voting
separately, that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice-
President shall act as President; otherwise, the President shall continue exercising the powers and
duties of his office.

Section 12. In case of serious illness of the President, the public shall be informed of the state of his
health. The members of the Cabinet in charge of national security and foreign relations and the Chief
of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, shall not be denied access to the President during
such illness.

Section 13. The President, Vice-President, the Members of the Cabinet, and their deputies or
assistants shall not, unless otherwise provided in this Constitution, hold any other office or
employment during their tenure. They shall not, during said tenure, directly or indirectly, practice any
other profession, participate in any business, or be financially interested in any contract with, or in
any franchise, or special privilege granted by the Government or any subdivision, agency, or
instrumentality thereof, including government-owned or controlled corporations or their subsidiaries.
They shall strictly avoid conflict of interest in the conduct of their office.

The spouse and relatives by consanguinity or affinity within the fourth civil degree of the President
shall not, during his tenure, be appointed as Members of the Constitutional Commissions, or the
Office of the Ombudsman, or as Secretaries, Undersecretaries, chairmen or heads of bureaus or
offices, including government-owned or controlled corporations and their subsidiaries.

Section 14. Appointments extended by an Acting President shall remain effective, unless revoked
by the elected President, within ninety days from his assumption or reassumption of office.

Section 15. Two months immediately before the next presidential elections and up to the end of his
term, a President or Acting President shall not make appointments, except temporary appointments
to executive positions when continued vacancies therein will prejudice public service or endanger
public safety.

Section 16. The President shall nominate and, with the consent of the Commission on
Appointments, appoint the heads of the executive departments, ambassadors, other public ministers
and consuls, or officers of the armed forces from the rank of colonel or naval captain, and other
officers whose appointments are vested in him in this Constitution. He shall also appoint all other
officers of the Government whose appointments are not otherwise provided for by law, and those
whom he may be authorized by law to appoint. The Congress may, by law, vest the appointment of
other officers lower in rank in the President alone, in the courts, or in the heads of departments,
agencies, commissions, or boards.

The President shall have the power to make appointments during the recess of the Congress,
whether voluntary or compulsory, but such appointments shall be effective only until disapproved by
the Commission on Appointments or until the next adjournment of the Congress.

Section 17. The President shall have control of all the executive departments, bureaus, and offices.
He shall ensure that the laws be faithfully executed.

Section 18. The President shall be the Commander-in-Chief of all armed forces of the Philippines
and whenever it becomes necessary, he may call out such armed forces to prevent or suppress
lawless violence, invasion or rebellion. In case of invasion or rebellion, when the public safety
requires it, he may, for a period not exceeding sixty days, suspend the privilege of the writ of habeas
corpus or place the Philippines or any part thereof under martial law. Within forty-eight hours from
the proclamation of martial law or the suspension of the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus, the
President shall submit a report in person or in writing to the Congress. The Congress, voting jointly,
by a vote of at least a majority of all its Members in regular or special session, may revoke such
proclamation or suspension, which revocation shall not be set aside by the President. Upon the
initiative of the President, the Congress may, in the same manner, extend such proclamation or
suspension for a period to be determined by the Congress, if the invasion or rebellion shall persist
and public safety requires it.

The Congress, if not in session, shall, within twenty-four hours following such proclamation or
suspension, convene in accordance with its rules without need of a call.

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 or
the extension thereof, and must promulgate its decision thereon within thirty days from its filing.

A state of martial law does not suspend the operation of the Constitution, nor supplant the
functioning of the civil courts or legislative assemblies, nor authorize the conferment of jurisdiction on
military courts and agencies over civilians where civil courts are able to function, nor automatically
suspend the privilege of the writ.

The suspension of the privilege of the writ shall apply only to persons judicially charged for rebellion
or offenses inherent in or directly connected with invasion.

During the suspension of the privilege of the writ, any person thus arrested or detained shall be
judicially charged within three days, otherwise he shall be released.
Section 19. Except in cases of impeachment, or as otherwise provided in this Constitution, the
President may grant reprieves, commutations, and pardons, and remit fines and forfeitures, after
conviction by final judgment.

He shall also have the power to grant amnesty with the concurrence of a majority of all the Members
of the Congress.

Section 20. The President may contract or guarantee foreign loans on behalf of the Republic of the
Philippines with the prior concurrence of the Monetary Board, and subject to such limitations as may
be provided by law. The Monetary Board shall, within thirty days from the end of every quarter of the
calendar year, submit to the Congress a complete report of its decision on applications for loans to
be contracted or guaranteed by the Government or government-owned and controlled corporations
which would have the effect of increasing the foreign debt, and containing other matters as may be
provided by law.

Section 21. No treaty or international agreement shall be valid and effective unless concurred in by
at least two-thirds of all the Members of the Senate.

Section 22. The President shall submit to the Congress, within thirty days from the opening of every
regular session as the basis of the general appropriations bill, a budget of expenditures and sources
of financing, including receipts from existing and proposed revenue measures.

Section 23. The President shall address the Congress at the opening of its regular session. He may
also appear before it at any other time.

ARTICLE VIII
JUDICIAL DEPARTMENT

Section 1. 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.

Section 2. The Congress shall have the power to define, prescribe, and apportion the jurisdiction of
the various courts but may not deprive the Supreme Court of its jurisdiction over cases enumerated
in Section 5 hereof.

No law shall be passed reorganizing the Judiciary when it undermines the security of tenure of its
Members.

Section 3. The Judiciary shall enjoy fiscal autonomy. Appropriations for the Judiciary may not be
reduced by the legislature below the amount appropriated for the previous year and, after approval,
shall be automatically and regularly released.
Section 4.

1. The Supreme Court shall be composed of a Chief Justice and fourteen Associate Justices. It
may sit en banc or in its discretion, in division of three, five, or seven Members. Any vacancy
shall be filled within ninety days from the occurrence thereof.
2. All cases involving the constitutionality of a treaty, international or executive agreement, or
law, which shall be heard by the Supreme Court en banc, and all other cases which under
the Rules of Court are required to be heard en banc, including those involving the
constitutionality, application, or operation of presidential decrees, proclamations, orders,
instructions, ordinances, and other regulations, shall be decided with the concurrence of a
majority of the Members who actually took part in the deliberations on the issues in the case
and voted thereon.
3. Cases or matters heard by a division shall be decided or resolved with the concurrence of a
majority of the Members who actually took part in the deliberations on the issues in the case
and voted thereon, and in no case without the concurrence of at least three of such
Members. When the required number is not obtained, the case shall be decided en banc:
Provided, that no doctrine or principle of law laid down by the court in a decision rendered en
banc or in division may be modified or reversed except by the court sitting en banc.

Section 5. The Supreme Court shall have the following powers:

1. Exercise original jurisdiction over cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers and
consuls, and over petitions for certiorari, prohibition, mandamus, quo warranto, and habeas
corpus.
2. Review, revise, reverse, modify, or affirm on appeal or certiorari, as the law or the Rules of
Court may provide, final judgments and orders of lower courts in:
a. All cases in which the constitutionality or validity of any treaty, international or
executive agreement, law, presidential decree, proclamation, order, instruction,
ordinance, or regulation is in question.
b. All cases involving the legality of any tax, impost, assessment, or toll, or any penalty
imposed in relation thereto.
c. All cases in which the jurisdiction of any lower court is in issue.
d. All criminal cases in which the penalty imposed is reclusion perpetua or higher.
e. All cases in which only an error or question of law is involved.
3. Assign temporarily judges of lower courts to other stations as public interest may require.
Such temporary assignment shall not exceed six months without the consent of the judge
concerned.
4. Order a change of venue or place of trial to avoid a miscarriage of justice.
5. Promulgate rules concerning the protection and enforcement of constitutional rights,
pleading, practice, and procedure in all courts, the admission to the practice of law, the
integrated bar, and legal assistance to the under-privileged. Such rules shall provide a
simplified and inexpensive procedure for the speedy disposition of cases, shall be uniform
for all courts of the same grade, and shall not diminish, increase, or modify substantive
rights. Rules of procedure of special courts and quasi-judicial bodies shall remain effective
unless disapproved by the Supreme Court.
6. Appoint all officials and employees of the Judiciary in accordance with the Civil Service Law.

Section 6. The Supreme Court shall have administrative supervision over all courts and the
personnel thereof.

Section 7.
 1. No person shall be appointed Member of the Supreme Court or any lower collegiate court
unless he is a natural-born citizen of the Philippines. A Member of the Supreme Court must
be at least forty years of age, and must have been for fifteen years or more, a judge of a
lower court or engaged in the practice of law in the Philippines.
2. The Congress shall prescribe the qualifications of judges of lower courts, but no person may
be appointed judge thereof unless he is a citizen of the Philippines and a member of the
Philippine Bar.
3. A Member of the Judiciary must be a person of proven competence, integrity, probity, and
independence.

Section 8.

1. A Judicial and Bar Council is hereby created under the supervision of the Supreme Court
composed of the Chief Justice as ex officio Chairman, the Secretary of Justice, and a
representative of the Congress as ex officio Members, a representative of the Integrated Bar,
a professor of law, a retired Member of the Supreme Court, and a representative of the
private sector.
2. The regular members of the Council shall be appointed by the President for a term of four
years with the consent of the Commission on Appointments. Of the Members first appointed,
the representative of the Integrated Bar shall serve for four years, the professor of law for
three years, the retired Justice for two years, and the representative of the private sector for
one year.
3. The Clerk of the Supreme Court shall be the Secretary ex officio of the Council and shall
keep a record of its proceedings.
4. The regular Members of the Council shall receive such emoluments as may be determined
by the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court shall provide in its annual budget the
appropriations for the Council.
5. The Council shall have the principal function of recommending appointees to the judiciary. It
may exercise such other functions and duties as the Supreme Court may assign to it.

Section 9. The Members of the Supreme Court and judges of lower courts shall be appointed by the
President from a list of at least three nominees preferred by the Judicial and Bar Council for every
vacancy. Such appointments need no confirmation.

For the lower courts, the President shall issued the appointment within ninety days from the
submission of the list.

Section 10. The salary of the Chief Justice and of the Associate Justices of the Supreme Court, and
of judges of lower courts shall be fixed by law. During the continuance in office, their salary shall not
be decreased.

Section 11. The Members of the Supreme Court and judges of the lower court shall hold office
during good behavior until they reach the age of seventy years or become incapacitated to discharge
the duties of their office. The Supreme Court en banc shall have the power to discipline judges of
lower courts, or order their dismissal by a vote of majority of the Members who actually took part in
the deliberations on the issues in the case and voted in thereon.

Section 12. The Members of the Supreme Court and of other courts established by law shall not be
designated to any agency performing quasi-judicial or administrative function.

Section 13. The conclusions of the Supreme Court in any case submitted to it for the decision en
banc or in division shall be reached in consultation before the case the case assigned to a Member
for the writing of the opinion of the Court. A certification to this effect signed by the Chief Justice
shall be issued and a copy thereof attached to the record of the case and served upon the parties.
Any Member who took no part, or dissented, or abstained from a decision or resolution must state
the reason therefor. The same requirements shall be observed by all lower collegiate court.

Section 14. No decision shall be rendered by any court without expressing therein clearly and
distinctly the facts and the law on which it is based.

No petition for review or motion for reconsideration of a decision of the court shall be refused due
course or denied without stating the legal basis therefor.

Section 15.

1. All cases or matters filed after the effectivity of this Constitution must be decided or resolved
within twenty-four months from date of submission for the Supreme Court, and, unless
reduced by the Supreme Court, twelve months for all lower collegiate courts, and three
months for all other lower courts.
2. A case or matter shall be deemed submitted for decision or resolution upon the filing of the
last pleading, brief, or memorandum required by the Rules of Court or by the court itself.
3. Upon the expiration of the corresponding period, a certification to this effect signed by the
Chief Justice or the presiding judge shall forthwith be issued and a copy thereof attached to
the record of the case or matter, and served upon the parties. The certification shall state
why a decision or resolution has not been rendered or issued within said period.
4. Despite the expiration of the applicable mandatory period, the court, without prejudice to
such responsibility as may have been incurred in consequence thereof, shall decide or
resolve the case or matter submitted thereto for determination, without further delay.

Section 16. The Supreme Court shall, within thirty days from the opening of each regular session of
the Congress, submit to the President and the Congress an annual report on the operations and
activities of the Judiciary.

ARTICLE IX
CONSTITUTIONAL COMMISSION

A. COMMON PROVISIONS

Section 1. The Constitutional Commissions, which shall be independent, are the Civil Service
Commission, the Commission on Elections, and the Commission on Audit.

Section 2. No member of a Constitutional Commission shall, during his tenure, hold any other office
or employment. Neither shall he engage in the practice of any profession or in the active
management or control of any business which, in any way, may be affected by the functions of his
office, nor shall he be financially interested, directly or indirectly, in any contract with, or in any
franchise or privilege granted by the Government, any of its subdivisions, agencies, or
instrumentalities, including government-owned or controlled corporations or their subsidiaries.
Section 3. The salary of the Chairman and the Commissioners shall be fixed by law and shall not be
decreased during their tenure.

Section 4. The Constitutional Commissions shall appoint their officials and employees in
accordance with law.

Section 5. The Commission shall enjoy fiscal autonomy. Their approved annual appropriations shall
be automatically and regularly released.

Section 6. Each Commission en banc may promulgate its own rules concerning pleadings and
practice before it or before any of its offices. Such rules, however, shall not diminish, increase, or
modify substantive rights.

Section 7. Each Commission shall decide by a majority vote of all its Members, any case or matter
brought before it within sixty days from the date of its submission for decision or resolution. A case
or matter is deemed submitted for decision or resolution upon the filing of the last pleading, brief, or
memorandum required by the rules of the Commission or by the Commission itself. Unless
otherwise provided by this Constitution or by law, any decision, order, or ruling of each Commission
may be brought to the Supreme Court on certiorari by the aggrieved party within thirty days from
receipt of a copy thereof.

Section 8. Each Commission shall perform such other functions as may be provided by law. 

B. THE CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION

Section 1.

1. The civil service shall be administered by the Civil Service Commission composed of a
Chairman and two Commissioners who shall be natural-born citizens of the Philippines and,
at the time of their appointment, at least thirty-five years of age, with proven capacity for
public administration, and must not have been candidates for any elective position in the
elections immediately preceding their appointment.
2. The Chairman and the Commissioners shall be appointed by the President with the consent
of the Commission on Appointments for a term of seven years without reappointment. Of
those first appointed, the Chairman shall hold office for seven years, a Commissioner for five
years, and another Commissioner for three years, without reappointment. Appointment to
any vacancy shall be only for the unexpired term of the predecessor. In no case shall any
Member be appointed or designated in a temporary or acting capacity.

Section 2.

1. The civil service embraces all branches, subdivisions, instrumentalities, and agencies of the
Government, including government-owned or controlled corporations with original charters.
2. Appointments in the civil service shall be made only according to merit and fitness to be
determined, as far as practicable, and, except to positions which are policy-determining,
primarily confidential, or highly technical, by competitive examination.
3. No officer or employee of the civil service shall be removed or suspended except for cause
provided by law.
4. No officer or employee in the civil service shall engage, directly or indirectly, in any
electioneering or partisan political campaign.
5. The right to self-organization shall not be denied to government employees.
 6. Temporary employees of the Government shall be given such protection as may be provided
by law.

Section 3. The Civil Service Commission, as the central personnel agency of the Government, shall
establish a career service and adopt measures to promote morale, efficiency, integrity,
responsiveness, progressiveness, and courtesy in the civil service. It shall strengthen the merit and
rewards system, integrate all human resources development programs for all levels and ranks, and
institutionalize a management climate conducive to public accountability. It shall submit to the
President and the Congress an annual report on its personnel programs.

Section 4. All public officers and employees shall take an oath or affirmation to uphold and defend
this Constitution.

Section 5. The Congress shall provide for the standardization of compensation of government
officials and employees, including those in government-owned or controlled corporations with
original charters, taking into account the nature of the responsibilities pertaining to, and the
qualifications required for, their positions.

Section 6. No candidate who has lost in any election, shall within one year after such election, be
appointed to any office in the Government or any Government-owned or controlled corporations or in
any of their subsidiaries.

Section 7. No elective official shall be eligible for appointment or designation in any capacity to any
public office or position during his tenure.

Unless otherwise allowed by law or by the primary functions of his position, no appointive official
shall hold any other office or employment in the Government or any subdivision, agency or
instrumentality thereof, including Government-owned or controlled corporations or their subsidiaries.

Section 8. No elective or appointive public officer or employee shall receive additional, double, or
indirect compensation, unless specifically authorized by law, nor accept without the consent of the
Congress, any present, emolument, office, or title of any kind from any foreign government.

Pensions or gratuities shall not be considered as additional, double, or indirect compensation.

C. THE COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS

Section 1.

1. There shall be a Commission on Elections composed of a Chairman and six Commissioners

who shall be natural-born citizens of the Philippines and, at the time of their appointment, at
least thirty-five years of age, holders of a college degree, and must not have been
candidates for any elective positions in the immediately preceding elections. However, a
majority thereof, including the Chairman, shall be members of the Philippine Bar who have
been engaged in the practice of law for at least ten years.
2. The Chairman and the Commissioners shall be appointed by the President with the consent
of the Commission on Appointments for a term of seven years without reappointment. Of
those first appointed, three Members shall hold office for seven years, two Members for five
years, and the last Members for three years, without reappointment. Appointment to any
vacancy shall be only for the unexpired term of the predecessor. In no case shall any
Member be appointed or designated in a temporary or acting capacity.
Section 2. The Commission on Elections shall exercise the following powers and functions:

1. Enforce and administer all laws and regulations relative to the conduct of an election,
plebiscite, initiative, referendum, and recall.
2. Exercise exclusive original jurisdiction over all contests relating to the elections, returns, and
qualifications of all elective regional, provincial, and city officials, and appellate jurisdiction
over all contests involving elective municipal officials decided by trial courts of general
jurisdiction, or involving elective barangay officials decided by trial courts of limited
jurisdiction.

Decisions, final orders, or rulings of the Commission on election contests involving elective
municipal and barangay offices shall be final, executory, and not appealable.

3. Decide, except those involving the right to vote, all questions affecting elections, including
determination of the number and location of polling places, appointment of election officials
and inspectors, and registration of voters.
4. Deputize, with the concurrence of the President, law enforcement agencies and
instrumentalities of the Government, including the Armed Forces of the Philippines, for the
exclusive purpose of ensuring free, orderly, honest, peaceful, and credible elections.
5. Register, after sufficient publication, political parties, organizations, or coalitions which, in
addition to other requirements, must present their platform or program of government; and
accredit citizens' arms of the Commission on Elections. Religious denominations and sects
shall not be registered. Those which seek to achieve their goals through violence or unlawful
means, or refuse to uphold and adhere to this Constitution, or which are supported by any
foreign government shall likewise be refused registration.

Financial contributions from foreign governments and their agencies to political parties,
organizations, coalitions, or candidates related to elections, constitute interference in
national affairs, and, when accepted, shall be an additional ground for the cancellation of
their registration with the Commission, in addition to other penalties that may be prescribed
by law.

6. File, upon a verified complaint, or on its own initiative, petitions in court for inclusion or
exclusion of voters; investigate and, where appropriate, prosecute cases of violations of
election laws, including acts or omissions constituting election frauds, offenses, and
malpractices.
7. Recommend to the Congress effective measures to minimize election spending, including
limitation of places where propaganda materials shall be posted, and to prevent and penalize
all forms of election frauds, offenses, malpractices, and nuisance candidacies.
8. Recommend to the President the removal of any officer or employee it has deputized, or the
imposition of any other disciplinary action, for violation or disregard of, or disobedience to, its
directive, order, or decision.
9. Submit to the President and the Congress, a comprehensive report on the conduct of each
election, plebiscite, initiative, referendum, or recall.

Section 3. The Commission on Elections may sit en banc or in two divisions, and shall promulgate
its rules of procedure in order to expedite disposition of election cases, including pre- proclamation
controversies. All such election cases shall be heard and decided in division, provided that motions
for reconsideration of decisions shall be decided by the Commission en banc.

Section 4. The Commission may, during the election period, supervise or regulate the enjoyment or
utilization of all franchises or permits for the operation of transportation and other public utilities,
media of communication or information, all grants, special privileges, or concessions granted by the
Government or any subdivision, agency, or instrumentality thereof, including any government-owned
or controlled corporation or its subsidiary. Such supervision or regulation shall aim to ensure equal
opportunity, time, and space ,and the right to reply, including reasonable, equal rates therefor, for
public information campaigns and forums among candidates in connection with the objective of
holding free, orderly, honest, peaceful, and credible elections.

Section 5. No pardon, amnesty, parole, or suspension of sentence for violation of election laws,
rules, and regulations shall be granted by the President without the favorable recommendation of the
Commission.

Section 6. A free and open party system shall be allowed to evolve according to the free choice of
the people, subject to the provisions of this Article.

Section 7. No votes cast in favor of a political party, organization, or coalition shall be valid, except
for those registered under the party-list system as provided in this Constitution.

Section 8. Political parties, or organizations or coalitions registered under the party-list system, shall
not be represented in the voters' registration boards, boards of election inspectors, boards of
canvassers, or other similar bodies. However, they shall be entitled to appoint poll watchers in
accordance with law.

Section 9. Unless otherwise fixed by the Commission in special cases, the election period shall
commence ninety days before the day of election and shall end thirty days thereafter.

Section 10. Bona fide candidates for any public office shall be free from any form of harassment and
discrimination.

Section 11. Funds certified by the Commission as necessary to defray the expenses for holding
regular and special elections, plebiscites, initiatives, referenda, and recalls, shall be provided in the
regular or special appropriations and, once approved, shall be released automatically upon
certification by the Chairman of the Commission

D. THE COMMISSION ON AUDIT

Section 1.

1. There shall be a Commission on Audit composed of a Chairman and two Commissioners,

who shall be natural-born citizens of the Philippines and, at the time of their appointment, at
least thirty-five years of age, Certified Public Accountants with not less than ten years of
auditing experience, or members of the Philippine Bar who have been engaged in the
practice of law for at least ten years, and must not have been candidates for any elective
position in the elections immediately preceding their appointment. At no time shall all
Members of the Commission belong to the same profession.
2. The Chairman and the Commissioners shall be appointed by the President with the consent
of the Commission on Appointments for a term of seven years without reappointment. Of
those first appointed, the Chairman shall hold office for seven years, one Commissioner for
five years, and the other Commissioner for three years, without reappointment. Appointment
to any vacancy shall be only for the unexpired portion of the term of the predecessor. In no
case shall any Member be appointed or designated in a temporary or acting capacity.
Section 2.

1. The Commission on Audit shall have the power, authority, and duty to examine, audit, and
settle all accounts pertaining to the revenue and receipts of, and expenditures or uses of
funds and property, owned or held in trust by, or pertaining to, the Government, or any of its
subdivisions, agencies, or instrumentalities, including government-owned or controlled
corporations with original charters, and on a post- audit basis:
a. constitutional bodies, commissions and offices that have been granted fiscal
autonomy under this Constitution;
b. autonomous state colleges and universities;
c. other government-owned or controlled corporations and their subsidiaries; and
d. such non-governmental entities receiving subsidy or equity, directly or indirectly, from
or through the Government, which are required by law or the granting institution to
submit to such audit as a condition of subsidy or equity. However, where the internal
control system of the audited agencies is inadequate, the Commission may adopt
such measures, including temporary or special pre-audit, as are necessary and
appropriate to correct the deficiencies. It shall keep the general accounts of the
Government and, for such period as may be provided by law, preserve the vouchers
and other supporting papers pertaining thereto.
2. The Commission shall have exclusive authority, subject to the limitations in this Article, to
define the scope of its audit and examination, establish the techniques and methods required
therefor, and promulgate accounting and auditing rules and regulations, including those for
the prevention and disallowance of irregular, unnecessary, excessive, extravagant, or
unconscionable expenditures or uses of government funds and properties.

Section 3. No law shall be passed exempting any entity of the Government or its subsidiaries in any
guise whatever, or any investment of public funds, from the jurisdiction of the Commission on Audit.

Section 4. The Commission shall submit to the President and the Congress, within the time fixed by
law, an annual report covering the financial condition and operation of the Government, its
subdivisions, agencies, and instrumentalities, including government-owned or controlled
corporations, and non-governmental entities subject to its audit, and recommend measures
necessary to improve their effectiveness and efficiency. It shall submit such other reports as may be
required by law.

ARTICLE X
LOCAL GOVERNMENT

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Section 1. The territorial and political subdivisions of the Republic of the Philippines are the
provinces, cities, municipalities, and barangays. There shall be autonomous regions in Muslim
Mindanao and the Cordilleras as hereinafter provided.

Section 2. The territorial and political subdivisions shall enjoy local autonomy.
Section 3. The Congress shall enact a local government code which shall provide for a more
responsive and accountable local government structure instituted through a system of
decentralization with effective mechanisms of recall, initiative, and referendum, allocate among the
different local government units their powers, responsibilities, and resources, and provide for the
qualifications, election, appointment and removal, term, salaries, powers and functions and duties of
local officials, and all other matters relating to the organization and operation of the local units.

Section 4. The President of the Philippines shall exercise general supervision over local
governments. Provinces with respect to component cities and municipalities, and cities and
municipalities with respect to component barangays, shall ensure that the acts of their component
units are within the scope of their prescribed powers and functions.

Section 5. Each local government unit shall have the power to create its own sources of revenues
and to levy taxes, fees and charges subject to such guidelines and limitations as the Congress may
provide, consistent with the basic policy of local autonomy. Such taxes, fees, and charges shall
accrue exclusively to the local governments.

Section 6. Local government units shall have a just share, as determined by law, in the national
taxes which shall be automatically released to them.

Section 7. Local governments shall be entitled to an equitable share in the proceeds of the
utilization and development of the national wealth within their respective areas, in the manner
provided by law, including sharing the same with the inhabitants by way of direct benefits.

Section 8. The term of office of elective local officials, except barangay officials, which shall be
determined by law, shall be three years and no such official shall serve for more than three
consecutive terms. Voluntary renunciation of the office for any length of time shall not be considered
as an interruption in the continuity of his service for the full term for which he was elected.

Section 9. Legislative bodies of local governments shall have sectoral representation as may be
prescribed by law.

Section 10. No province, city, municipality, or barangay may be created, divided, merged,
abolished, or its boundary substantially altered, except in accordance with the criteria established in
the local government code and subject to approval by a majority of the votes cast in a plebiscite in
the political units directly affected.

Section 11. The Congress may, by law, create special metropolitan political subdivisions, subject to
a plebiscite as set forth in Section 10 hereof. The component cities and municipalities shall retain
their basic autonomy and shall be entitled to their own local executive and legislative assemblies.
The jurisdiction of the metropolitan authority that will thereby be created shall be limited to basic
services requiring coordination.

Section 12. Cities that are highly urbanized, as determined by law, and component cities whose
charters prohibit their voters from voting for provincial elective officials, shall be independent of the
province. The voters of component cities within a province, whose charters contain no such
prohibition, shall not be deprived of their right to vote for elective provincial officials.

Section 13. Local government units may group themselves, consolidate or coordinate their efforts,
services, and resources for purposes commonly beneficial to them in accordance with law.
Section 14. The President shall provide for regional development councils or other similar bodies
composed of local government officials, regional heads of departments and other government
offices, and representatives from non-governmental organizations within the regions for purposes of
administrative decentralization to strengthen the autonomy of the units therein and to accelerate the
economic and social growth and development of the units in the region.

AUTONOMOUS REGIONS

Section 15. There shall be created autonomous regions in Muslim Mindanao and in the Cordilleras
consisting of provinces, cities, municipalities, and geographical areas sharing common and
distinctive historical and cultural heritage, economic and social structures, and other relevant
characteristics within the framework of this Constitution and the national sovereignty as well as
territorial integrity of the Republic of the Philippines.

Section 16. The President shall exercise general supervision over autonomous regions to ensure
that laws are faithfully executed.

Section 17. All powers, functions, and responsibilities not granted by this Constitution or by law to
the autonomous regions shall be vested in the National Government.

Section 18. The Congress shall enact an organic act for each autonomous region with the
assistance and participation of the regional consultative commission composed of representatives
appointed by the President from a list of nominees from multi-sectoral bodies. The organic act shall
define the basic structure of government for the region consisting of the executive department and
legislative assembly, both of which shall be elective and representative of the constituent political
units. The organic acts shall likewise provide for special courts with personal, family, and property
law jurisdiction consistent with the provisions of this Constitution and national laws.

The creation of the autonomous region shall be effective when approved by majority of the votes
cast by the constituent units in a plebiscite called for the purpose, provided that only provinces,
cities, and geographic areas voting favorably in such plebiscite shall be included in the autonomous
region.

Section 19. The first Congress elected under this Constitution shall, within eighteen months from the
time of organization of both Houses, pass the organic acts for the autonomous regions in Muslim
Mindanao and the Cordilleras.

Section 20. Within its territorial jurisdiction and subject to the provisions of this Constitution and
national laws, the organic act of autonomous regions shall provide for legislative powers over: 

1. Administrative organization;
2. Creation of sources of revenues;
3. Ancestral domain and natural resources;
4. Personal, family, and property relations;
5. Regional urban and rural planning development;
6. Economic, social, and tourism development;
7. Educational policies;
8. Preservation and development of the cultural heritage; and
9. Such other matters as may be authorized by law for the promotion of the general welfare of
the people of the region.
Section 21. The preservation of peace and order within the regions shall be the responsibility of the
local police agencies which shall be organized, maintained, supervised, and utilized in accordance
with applicable laws. The defense and security of the regions shall be the responsibility of the
National Government.

ARTICLE XI
ACCOUNTABILITY OF PUBLIC OFFICERS

Section 1. Public office is a public trust. Public officers and employees must, at all times, be
accountable to the people, serve them with utmost responsibility, integrity, loyalty, and efficiency; act
with patriotism and justice, and lead modest lives.

Section 2. The President, the Vice-President, the Members of the Supreme Court, the Members of
the Constitutional Commissions, and the Ombudsman may be removed from office on impeachment
for, and conviction of, culpable violation of the Constitution, treason, bribery, graft and corruption,
other high crimes, or betrayal of public trust. All other public officers and employees may be
removed from office as provided by law, but not by impeachment.

Section 3.

1. The House of Representatives shall have the exclusive power to initiate all cases of
impeachment.
2. A verified complaint for impeachment may be filed by any Member of the House of
Representatives or by any citizen upon a resolution or endorsement by any Member thereof,
which shall be included in the Order of Business within ten session days, and referred to the
proper Committee within three session days thereafter. The Committee, after hearing, and by
a majority vote of all its Members, shall submit its report to the House within sixty session
days from such referral, together with the corresponding resolution. The resolution shall be
calendared for consideration by the House within ten session days from receipt thereof.
3. A vote of at least one-third of all the Members of the House shall be necessary either to
affirm a favorable resolution with the Articles of Impeachment of the Committee, or override
its contrary resolution. The vote of each Member shall be recorded.
4. In case the verified complaint or resolution of impeachment is filed by at least one-third of all
the Members of the House, the same shall constitute the Articles of Impeachment, and trial
by the Senate shall forthwith proceed.
5. No impeachment proceedings shall be initiated against the same official more than once
within a period of one year.
6. The Senate shall have the sole power to try and decide all cases of impeachment. When
sitting for that purpose, the Senators shall be on oath or affirmation. When the President of
the Philippines is on trial, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court shall preside, but shall not
vote. No person shall be convicted without the concurrence of two-thirds of all the Members
of the Senate.
7. Judgment in cases of impeachment shall not extend further than removal from office and
disqualification to hold any office under the Republic of the Philippines, but the party
convicted shall nevertheless be liable and subject to prosecution, trial, and punishment,
according to law.
8. The Congress shall promulgate its rules on impeachment to effectively carry out the purpose
of this section.
Section 4. The present anti-graft court known as the Sandiganbayan shall continue to function and
exercise its jurisdiction as now or hereafter may be provided by law.

Section 5. There is hereby created the independent Office of the Ombudsman, composed of the
Ombudsman to be known as Tanodbayan, one overall Deputy and at least one Deputy each for
Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. A separate Deputy for the military establishment may likewise be
appointed.

Section 6. The officials and employees of the Office of the Ombudsman, other than the Deputies,
shall be appointed by the Ombudsman, according to the Civil Service Law.

Section 7. The existing Tanodbayan shall hereafter be known as the Office of the Special
Prosecutor. It shall continue to function and exercise its powers as now or hereafter may be provided
by law, except those conferred on the Office of the Ombudsman created under this Constitution.

Section 8. The Ombudsman and his Deputies shall be natural-born citizens of the Philippines, and
at the time of their appointment, at least forty years old, of recognized probity and independence,
and members of the Philippine Bar, and must not have been candidates for any elective office in the
immediately preceding election. The Ombudsman must have, for ten years or more, been a judge or
engaged in the practice of law in the Philippines.

During their tenure, they shall be subject to the same disqualifications and prohibitions as provided
for in Section 2 of Article 1X-A of this Constitution.

Section 9. The Ombudsman and his Deputies shall be appointed by the President from a list of at
least six nominees prepared by the Judicial and Bar Council, and from a list of three nominees for
every vacancy thereafter. Such appointments shall require no confirmation. All vacancies shall be
filled within three months after they occur.

Section 10. The Ombudsman and his Deputies shall have the rank of Chairman and Members,
respectively, of the Constitutional Commissions, and they shall receive the same salary which shall
not be decreased during their term of office.

Section 11. The Ombudsman and his Deputies shall serve for a term of seven years without
reappointment. They shall not be qualified to run for any office in the election immediately
succeeding their cessation from office.

Section 12. The Ombudsman and his Deputies, as protectors of the people, shall act promptly on
complaints filed in any form or manner against public officials or employees of the Government, or
any subdivision, agency or instrumentality thereof, including government-owned or controlled
corporations, and shall, in appropriate cases, notify the complainants of the action taken and the
result thereof.

Section 13. The Office of the Ombudsman shall have the following powers, functions, and duties:

1. Investigate on its own, or on complaint by any person, any act or omission of any public
official, employee, office or agency, when such act or omission appears to be illegal, unjust,
improper, or inefficient.
2. Direct, upon complaint or at its own instance, any public official or employee of the
Government, or any subdivision, agency or instrumentality thereof, as well as of any
government-owned or controlled corporation with original charter, to perform and expedite
 any act or duty required by law, or to stop, prevent, and correct any abuse or impropriety in
the performance of duties.
3. Direct the officer concerned to take appropriate action against a public official or employee at
fault, and recommend his removal, suspension, demotion, fine, censure, or prosecution, and
ensure compliance therewith.
4. Direct the officer concerned, in any appropriate case, and subject to such limitations as may
be provided by law, to furnish it with copies of documents relating to contracts or transactions
entered into by his office involving the disbursement or use of public funds or properties, and
report any irregularity to the Commission on Audit for appropriate action.
5. Request any government agency for assistance and information necessary in the discharge
of its responsibilities, and to examine, if necessary, pertinent records and documents.
6. Publicize matters covered by its investigation when circumstances so warrant and with due
prudence.
7. Determine the causes of inefficiency, red tape, mismanagement, fraud, and corruption in the
Government and make recommendations for their elimination and the observance of high
standards of ethics and efficiency.
8. Promulgate its rules of procedure and exercise such other powers or perform such functions
or duties as may be provided by law.

Section 14. The Office of the Ombudsman shall enjoy fiscal autonomy. Its approved annual
appropriations shall be automatically and regularly released.

Section 15. The right of the State to recover properties unlawfully acquired by public officials or
employees, from them or from their nominees or transferees, shall not be barred by prescription,
laches, or estoppel.

Section 16. No loan, guaranty, or other form of financial accommodation for any business purpose
may be granted, directly or indirectly, by any government-owned or controlled bank or financial
institution to the President, the Vice-President, the Members of the Cabinet, the Congress, the
Supreme Court, and the Constitutional Commissions, the Ombudsman, or to any firm or entity in
which they have controlling interest, during their tenure.

Section 17. A public officer or employee shall, upon assumption of office and as often thereafter as
may be required by law, submit a declaration under oath of his assets, liabilities, and net worth. In
the case of the President, the Vice-President, the Members of the Cabinet, the Congress, the
Supreme Court, the Constitutional Commissions and other constitutional offices, and officers of the
armed forces with general or flag rank, the declaration shall be disclosed to the public in the manner
provided by law.

Section 18. Public officers and employees owe the State and this Constitution allegiance at all times
and any public officer or employee who seeks to change his citizenship or acquire the status of an
immigrant of another country during his tenure shall be dealt with by law.

ARTICLE XII
NATIONAL ECONOMY AND PATRIMONY

Section 1. 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 of 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.

In the pursuit of these goals, all sectors of the economy and all region s of the country shall be given
optimum opportunity to develop. Private enterprises, including corporations, cooperatives, and
similar collective organizations, shall be encouraged to broaden the base of their ownership.

Section 2. All lands of the public domain, waters, minerals, coal, petroleum, and other mineral oils,
all forces of potential energy, fisheries, forests or timber, wildlife, flora and fauna, and other natural
resources are owned by the State. With the exception of agricultural lands, all other natural
resources shall not be alienated. The exploration, development, and utilization of natural resources
shall be under the full control and supervision of the State. The State may directly undertake such
activities, or it may enter into co-production, joint venture, or production-sharing agreements with
Filipino citizens, or corporations or associations at least 60 per centum of whose capital is owned by
such citizens. Such agreements may be for a period not exceeding twenty-five years, renewable for
not more than twenty-five years, and under such terms and conditions as may provided by law. In
cases of water rights for irrigation, water supply, fisheries, or industrial uses other than the
development of waterpower, beneficial use may be the measure and limit of the grant.

The State shall protect the nations marine wealth in its archipelagic waters, territorial sea, and
exclusive economic zone, and reserve its use and enjoyment exclusively to Filipino citizens.

The Congress may, by law, allow small-scale utilization of natural resources by Filipino citizens, as
well as cooperative fish farming, with priority to subsistence fishermen and fish workers in rivers,
lakes, bays, and lagoons.

The President may enter into agreements with foreign-owned corporations involving either technical
or financial assistance for large-scale exploration, development, and utilization of minerals,
petroleum, and other mineral oils according to the general terms and conditions provided by law,
based on real contributions to the economic growth and general welfare of the country. In such
agreements, the State shall promote the development and use of local scientific and technical
resources.

The President shall notify the Congress of every contract entered into in accordance with this
provision, within thirty days from its execution.

Section 3. Lands of the public domain are classified into agricultural, forest or timber, mineral lands
and national parks. Agricultural lands of the public domain may be further classified by law according
to the uses to which they may be devoted. Alienable lands of the public domain shall be limited to
agricultural lands. Private corporations or associations may not hold such alienable lands of the
public domain except by lease, for a period not exceeding twenty-five years, renewable for not more
than twenty-five years, and not to exceed one thousand hectares in area. Citizens of the Philippines
may lease not more than five hundred hectares, or acquire not more than twelve hectares thereof,
by purchase, homestead, or grant.
Taking into account the requirements of conservation, ecology, and development, and subject to the
requirements of agrarian reform, the Congress shall determine, by law, the size of lands of the public
domain which may be acquired, developed, held, or leased and the conditions therefor.

Section 4. The Congress shall, as soon as possible, determine, by law, the specific limits of forest
lands and national parks, marking clearly their boundaries on the ground. Thereafter, such forest
lands and national parks shall be conserved and may not be increased nor diminished, except by
law. The Congress shall provide for such period as it may determine, measures to prohibit logging in
endangered forests and watershed areas.

Section 5. The State, subject to the provisions of this Constitution and national development policies
and programs, shall protect the rights of indigenous cultural communities to their ancestral lands to
ensure their economic, social, and cultural well-being.

The Congress may provide for the applicability of customary laws governing property rights or
relations in determining the ownership and extent of ancestral domain.

Section 6. The use of property bears a social function, and all economic agents shall contribute to
the common good. Individuals and private groups, including corporations, cooperatives, and similar
collective organizations, shall have the right to own, establish, and operate economic enterprises,
subject to the duty of the State to promote distributive justice and to intervene when the common
good so demands.

Section 7. Save in cases of hereditary succession, no private lands shall be transferred or conveyed
except to individuals, corporations, or associations qualified to acquire or hold lands of the public
domain.

Section 8. Notwithstanding the provisions of Section 7 of this Article, a natural-born citizen of the
Philippines who has lost his Philippine citizenship may be a transferee of private lands, subject to
limitations provided by law.

Section 9. The Congress may establish an independent economic and planning agency headed by
the President, which shall, after consultations with the appropriate public agencies, various private
sectors, and local government units, recommend to Congress, and implement continuing integrated
and coordinated programs and policies for national development.

Until the Congress provides otherwise, the National Economic and Development Authority shall
function as the independent planning agency of the government.

Section 10. The Congress shall, upon recommendation of the economic and planning agency, when
the national interest dictates, reserve to citizens of the Philippines or to corporations or associations
at least sixty per centum of whose capital is owned by such citizens, or such higher percentage as
Congress may prescribe, certain areas of investments. The Congress shall enact measures that will
encourage the formation and operation of enterprises whose capital is wholly owned by Filipinos.

In the grant of rights, privileges, and concessions covering the national economy and patrimony, the
State shall give preference to qualified Filipinos.

The State shall regulate and exercise authority over foreign investments within its national
jurisdiction and in accordance with its national goals and priorities.
Section 11. No franchise, certificate, or any other form of authorization for the operation of a public
utility shall be granted except to citizens of the Philippines or to corporations or associations
organized under the laws of the Philippines, at least sixty per centum of whose capital is owned by
such citizens; nor shall such franchise, certificate, or authorization be exclusive in character or for a
longer period than fifty years. Neither shall any such franchise or right be granted except under the
condition that it shall be subject to amendment, alteration, or repeal by the Congress when the
common good so requires. The State shall encourage equity participation in public utilities by the
general public. The participation of foreign investors in the governing body of any public utility
enterprise shall be limited to their proportionate share in its capital, and all the executive and
managing officers of such corporation or association must be citizens of the Philippines.

Section 12. The State shall promote the preferential use of Filipino labor, domestic materials and
locally produced goods, and adopt measures that help make them competitive.

Section 13. The State shall pursue a trade policy that serves the general welfare and utilizes all
forms and arrangements of exchange on the basis of equality and reciprocity.

Section 14. The sustained development of a reservoir of national talents consisting of Filipino

scientists, entrepreneurs, professionals, managers, high-level technical manpower and skilled
workers and craftsmen in all fields shall be promoted by the State. The State shall encourage
appropriate technology and regulate its transfer for the national benefit. The practice of all
professions in the Philippines shall be limited to Filipino citizens, save in cases prescribed by law.

Section 15. The Congress shall create an agency to promote the viability and growth of
cooperatives as instruments for social justice and economic development.

Section 16. The Congress shall not, except by general law, provide for the formation, organization,
or regulation of private corporations. Government-owned or controlled corporations may be created
or established by special charters in the interest of the common good and subject to the test of
economic viability.

Section 17. In times of national emergency, when the public interest so requires, the State may,
during the emergency and under reasonable terms prescribed by it, temporarily take over or direct
the operation of any privately-owned public utility or business affected with public interest.

Section 18. The State may, in the interest of national welfare or defense, establish and operate vital
industries and, upon payment of just compensation, transfer to public ownership utilities and other
private enterprises to be operated by the Government.

Section 19. The State shall regulate or prohibit monopolies when the public interest so requires. No
combinations in restraint of trade or unfair competition shall be allowed.

Section 20. The Congress shall establish an independent central monetary authority, the members
of whose governing board must be natural-born Filipino citizens, of known probity, integrity, and
patriotism, the majority of whom shall come from the private sector. They shall also be subject to
such other qualifications and disabilities as may be prescribed by law. The authority shall provide
policy direction in the areas of money, banking, and credit. It shall have supervision over the
operations of banks and exercise such regulatory powers as may be provided by law over the
operations of finance companies and other institutions performing similar functions.
Until the Congress otherwise provides, the Central Bank of the Philippines operating under existing
laws, shall function as the central monetary authority.

Section 21. Foreign loans may only be incurred in accordance with law and the regulation of the
monetary authority. Information on foreign loans obtained or guaranteed by the Government shall be
made available to the public.

Section 22. Acts which circumvent or negate any of the provisions of this Article shall be considered
inimical to the national interest and subject to criminal and civil sanctions, as may be provided by
law.

ARTICLE XIII
SOCIAL JUSTICE AND HUMAN RIGHTS

Section 1. The Congress shall give highest priority to the enactment of measures that protect and
enhance the right of all the people to human dignity, reduce social, economic, and political
inequalities, and remove cultural inequities by equitably diffusing wealth and political power for the
common good.

To this end, the State shall regulate the acquisition, ownership, use, and disposition of property and
its increments.

Section 2. The promotion of social justice shall include the commitment to create economic
opportunities based on freedom of initiative and self-reliance.

LABOR

Section 3. The State shall afford full protection to labor, local and overseas, organized and
unorganized, and promote full employment and equality of employment opportunities for all.

It shall guarantee the rights of all workers to self-organization, collective bargaining and negotiations,
and peaceful concerted activities, including the right to strike in accordance with law. They shall be
entitled to security of tenure, humane conditions of work, and a living wage. They shall also
participate in policy and decision-making processes affecting their rights and benefits as may be
provided by law.

The State shall promote the principle of shared responsibility between workers and employers and
the preferential use of voluntary modes in settling disputes, including conciliation, and shall enforce
their mutual compliance therewith to foster industrial peace.

The State shall regulate the relations between workers and employers, recognizing the right of labor
to its just share in the fruits of production and the right of enterprises to reasonable returns to
investments, and to expansion and growth.

AGRARIAN AND NATURAL RESOURCES REFORM

Section 4. The State shall, by law, undertake an agrarian reform program founded on the right of
farmers and regular farmworkers who are landless, to own directly or collectively the lands they till
or, in the case of other farmworkers, to receive a just share of the fruits thereof. To this end, the
State shall encourage and undertake the just distribution of all agricultural lands, subject to such
priorities and reasonable retention limits as the Congress may prescribe, taking into account
ecological, developmental, or equity considerations, and subject to the payment of just
compensation. In determining retention limits, the State shall respect the right of small landowners.
The State shall further provide incentives for voluntary land-sharing.

Section 5. The State shall recognize the right of farmers, farmworkers, and landowners, as well as
cooperatives, and other independent farmers' organizations to participate in the planning,
organization, and management of the program, and shall provide support to agriculture through
appropriate technology and research, and adequate financial, production, marketing, and other
support services.

Section 6. The State shall apply the principles of agrarian reform or stewardship, whenever
applicable in accordance with law, in the disposition or utilization of other natural resources,
including lands of the public domain under lease or concession suitable to agriculture, subject to
prior rights, homestead rights of small settlers, and the rights of indigenous communities to their
ancestral lands. The State may resettle landless farmers and farmworkers in its own agricultural
estates which shall be distributed to them in the manner provided by law.

Section 7. The State shall protect the rights of subsistence fishermen, especially of local
communities, to the preferential use of the communal marine and fishing resources, both inland and
offshore. It shall provide support to such fishermen through appropriate technology and research,
adequate financial, production, and marketing assistance, and other services. The State shall also
protect, develop, and conserve such resources. The protection shall extend to offshore fishing
grounds of subsistence fishermen against foreign intrusion. Fishworkers shall receive a just share
from their labor in the utilization of marine and fishing resources.

Section 8. The State shall provide incentives to landowners to invest the proceeds of the agrarian
reform program to promote industrialization, employment creation, and privatization of public sector
enterprises. Financial instruments used as payment for their lands shall be honored as equity in
enterprises of their choice.

URBAN LAND REFORM AND HOUSING

Section 9. The State shall, by law, and for the common good, undertake, in cooperation with the
private sector, a continuing program of urban land reform and housing which will make available at
affordable cost, decent housing and basic services to under-privileged and homeless citizens in
urban centers and resettlement areas. It shall also promote adequate employment opportunities to
such citizens. In the implementation of such program the State shall respect the rights of small
property owners.

Section 10. Urban or rural poor dwellers shall not be evicted nor their dwelling demolished, except
in accordance with law and in a just and humane manner.

No resettlement of urban or rural dwellers shall be undertaken without adequate consultation with
them and the communities where they are to be relocated.

HEALTH
Section 11. The State shall adopt an integrated and comprehensive approach to health
development which shall endeavor to make essential goods, health and other social services
available to all the people at affordable cost. There shall be priority for the needs of the under-
privileged, sick, elderly, disabled, women, and children. The State shall endeavor to provide free
medical care to paupers.

Section 12. The State shall establish and maintain an effective food and drug regulatory system and
undertake appropriate health, manpower development, and research, responsive to the country's
health needs and problems.

Section 13. The State shall establish a special agency for disabled person for their rehabilitation,
self-development, and self-reliance, and their integration into the mainstream of society.

WOMEN

Section 14. The State shall protect working women by providing safe and healthful working
conditions, taking into account their maternal functions, and such facilities and opportunities that will
enhance their welfare and enable them to realize their full potential in the service of the nation.

ROLE AND RIGHTS OF PEOPLE'S ORGANIZATIONS

Section 15. The State shall respect the role of independent people's organizations to enable the
people to pursue and protect, within the democratic framework, their legitimate and collective
interests and aspirations through peaceful and lawful means.

People's organizations are bona fide associations of citizens with demonstrated capacity to promote
the public interest and with identifiable leadership, membership, and structure.

Section 16. The right of the people and their organizations to effective and reasonable participation
at all levels of social, political, and economic decision-making shall not be abridged. The State shall,
by law, facilitate the establishment of adequate consultation mechanisms.

HUMAN RIGHTS

Section 17.

1. There is hereby created an independent office called the Commission on Human Rights.
2. The Commission shall be composed of a Chairman and four Members who must be natural-
born citizens of the Philippines and a majority of whom shall be members of the Bar. The
term of office and other qualifications and disabilities of the Members of the Commission
shall be provided by law.
3. Until this Commission is constituted, the existing Presidential Committee on Human Rights
shall continue to exercise its present functions and powers.
4. The approved annual appropriations of the Commission shall be automatically and regularly
released.

Section 18. The Commission on Human Rights shall have the following powers and functions:

1. Investigate, on its own or on complaint by any party, all forms of human rights violations
involving civil and political rights;
 2. Adopt its operational guidelines and rules of procedure, and cite for contempt for violations
thereof in accordance with the Rules of Court;
3. Provide appropriate legal measures for the protection of human rights of all persons within
the Philippines, as well as Filipinos residing abroad, and provide for preventive measures
and legal aid services to the under-privileged whose human rights have been violated or
need protection;
4. Exercise visitorial powers over jails, prisons, or detention facilities;
5. Establish a continuing program of research, education, and information to enhance respect
for the primacy of human rights;
6. Recommend to Congress effective measures to promote human rights and to provide for
compensation to victims of violations of human rights, or their families;
7. Monitor the Philippine Government's compliance with international treaty obligations on
human rights;
8. Grant immunity from prosecution to any person whose testimony or whose possession of
documents or other evidence is necessary or convenient to determine the truth in any
investigation conducted by it or under its authority;
9. Request the assistance of any department, bureau, office, or agency in the performance of
its functions;
10. Appoint its officers and employees in accordance with law; and
11. Perform such other duties and functions as may be provided by law.

Section 19. The Congress may provide for other cases of violations of human rights that should fall
within the authority of the Commission, taking into account its recommendations.

ARTICLE XIV
EDUCATION, SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, ARTS, CULTURE AND SPORTS

EDUCATION

Section 1. The State shall protect and promote the right of all citizens to quality education at all
levels, and shall take appropriate steps to make such education accessible to all.

Section 2. The State shall:

1. Establish, maintain, and support a complete, adequate, and integrated system of education
relevant to the needs of the people and society;
2. Establish and maintain, a system of free public education in the elementary and high school
levels. Without limiting the natural rights of parents to rear their children, elementary
education is compulsory for all children of school age;
3. Establish and maintain a system of scholarship grants, student loan programs, subsidies,
and other incentives which shall be available to deserving students in both public and private
schools, especially to the under-privileged;
4. Encourage non-formal, informal, and indigenous learning systems, as well as self-learning,
independent, and out-of-school study programs particularly those that respond to community
needs; and
 5. Provide adult citizens, the disabled, and out-of-school youth with training in civics, vocational
efficiency, and other skills.

Section 3.

1. All educational institutions shall include the study of the Constitution as part of the curricula.
2. They shall inculcate patriotism and nationalism, foster love of humanity, respect for human
rights, appreciation of the role of national heroes in the historical development of the country,
teach the rights and duties of citizenship, strengthen ethical and spiritual values, develop
moral character and personal discipline, encourage critical and creative thinking, broaden
scientific and technological knowledge, and promote vocational efficiency.
3. At the option expressed in writing by the parents or guardians, religion shall be allowed to be
taught to their children or wards in public elementary and high schools within the regular
class hours by instructors designated or approved by the religious authorities of the religion
to which the children or wards belong, without additional cost to the Government.

Section 4.

1. The State recognizes the complementary roles of public and private institutions in the
educational system and shall exercise reasonable supervision and regulation of all
educational institutions.
2. Educational institutions, other than those established by religious groups and mission
boards, shall be owned solely by citizens of the Philippines or corporations or associations at
least sixty per centum of the capital of which is owned by such citizens. The Congress may,
however, require increased Filipino equity participation in all educational institutions. The
control and administration of educational institutions shall be vested in citizens of the
Philippines.

No educational institution shall be established exclusively for aliens and no group of aliens
shall comprise more than one-third of the enrollment in any school. The provisions of this sub
section shall not apply to schools established for foreign diplomatic personnel and their
dependents and, unless otherwise provided by law, for other foreign temporary residents.

3. All revenues and assets of non-stock, non-profit educational institutions used actually,
directly, and exclusively for educational purposes shall be exempt from taxes and duties.
Upon the dissolution or cessation of the corporate existence of such institutions, their assets
shall be disposed of in the manner provided by law.

Proprietary educational institutions, including those cooperatively owned, may likewise be

entitled to such exemptions, subject to the limitations provided by law, including restrictions
on dividends and provisions for reinvestment.

4. Subject to conditions prescribed by law, all grants, endowments, donations, or contributions

used actually, directly, and exclusively for educational purposes shall be exempt from tax.

Section 5.

1. the State shall take into account regional and sectoral needs and conditions and shall
encourage local planning in the development of educational policies and programs.
2. Academic freedom shall be enjoyed in all institutions of higher learning.
 3. Every citizen has a right to select a profession or course of study, subject to fair, reasonable,
and equitable admission and academic requirements.
4. The State shall enhance the right of teachers to professional advancement. Non-teaching
academic and non-academic personnel shall enjoy the protection of the State.
5. The State shall assign the highest budgetary priority to education and ensure that teaching
will attract and retain its rightful share of the best available talents through adequate
remuneration and other means of job satisfaction and fulfillment.

LANGUAGE

Section 6. The national language of the Philippines is Filipino. As it evolves, it shall be further
developed and enriched on the basis of existing Philippine and other languages.

Subject to provisions of law and as the Congress may deem appropriate, the Government shall take
steps to initiate and sustain the use of Filipino as a medium of official communication and as
language of instruction in the educational system.

Section 7. For purposes of communication and instruction, the official languages of the Philippines
are Filipino and, until otherwise provided by law, English.

The regional languages are the auxiliary official languages in the regions and shall serve as auxiliary
media of instruction therein.

Spanish and Arabic shall be promoted on a voluntary and optional basis.

Section 8. This Constitution shall be promulgated in Filipino and English and shall be translated into
major regional languages, Arabic, and Spanish.

Section 9. The Congress shall establish a national language commission composed of

representatives of various regions and disciplines which shall undertake, coordinate, and promote
researches for the development, propagation, and preservation of Filipino and other languages.

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Section 10. Science and technology are essential for national development and progress. The State
shall give priority to research and development, invention, innovation, and their utilization; and to
science and technology education, training, and services. It shall support indigenous, appropriate,
and self-reliant scientific and technological capabilities, and their application to the country's
productive systems and national life.

Section 11. The Congress may provide for incentives, including tax deductions, to encourage
private participation in programs of basic and applied scientific research. Scholarships, grants-in-aid,
or other forms of incentives shall be provided to deserving science students, researchers, scientists,
inventors, technologists, and specially gifted citizens.

Section 12. The State shall regulate the transfer and promote the adaptation of technology from all
sources for the national benefit. It shall encourage the widest participation of private groups, local
governments, and community-based organizations in the generation and utilization of science and
technology.
Section 13. The State shall protect and secure the exclusive rights of scientists, inventors, artists,
and other gifted citizens to their intellectual property and creations, particularly when beneficial to the
people, for such period as may be provided by law.

ARTS AND CULTURE

Section 14. The State shall foster the preservation, enrichment, and dynamic evolution of a Filipino
national culture based on the principle of unity in diversity in a climate of free artistic and intellectual
expression.

Section 15. Arts and letters shall enjoy the patronage of the State. The State shall conserve,
promote, and popularize the nation's historical and cultural heritage and resources, as well as artistic
creations.

Section 16. All the country's artistic and historic wealth constitutes the cultural treasure of the nation
and shall be under the protection of the State which may regulate its disposition.

Section 17. 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.

Section 18.

1. The State shall ensure equal access to cultural opportunities through the educational
system, public or private cultural entities, scholarships, grants and other incentives, and
community cultural centers, and other public venues.
2. The State shall encourage and support researches and studies on the arts and culture.

SPORTS

Section 19.

1. The State shall promote physical education and encourage sports programs, league
competitions, and amateur sports, including training for international competitions, to foster
self-discipline, teamwork, and excellence for the development of a healthy and alert citizenry.
2. All educational institutions shall undertake regular sports activities throughout the country in
cooperation with athletic clubs and other sectors.

ARTICLE XV
THE FAMILY

Section 1. The State recognizes the Filipino family as the foundation of the nation. Accordingly, it
shall strengthen its solidarity and actively promote its total development.

Section 2. Marriage, as an inviolable social institution, is the foundation of the family and shall be
protected by the State.
Section 3. The State shall defend:

1. The right of spouses to found a family in accordance with their religious convictions and the
demands of responsible parenthood;
2. The right of children to assistance, including proper care and nutrition, and special protection
from all forms of neglect, abuse, cruelty, exploitation and other conditions prejudicial to their
development;

The right of the family to a family living wage and income; and

3. The right of families or family associations to participate in the planning and implementation
of policies and programs that affect them.

Section 4. The family has the duty to care for its elderly members but the State may also do so
through just programs of social security.

ARTICLE XVI
GENERAL PROVISIONS

Section 1. The flag of the Philippines shall be red, white, and blue, with a sun and three stars, as
consecrated and honored by the people and recognized by law.

Section 2. The Congress may, by law, adopt a new name for the country, a national anthem, or a
national seal, which shall all be truly reflective and symbolic of the ideals, history, and traditions of
the people. Such law shall take effect only upon its ratification by the people in a national
referendum.

Section 3. The State may not be sued without its consent.

Section 4. The Armed Forces of the Philippines shall be composed of a citizen armed force which
shall undergo military training and serve as may be provided by law. It shall keep a regular force
necessary for the security of the State.

Section 5.

1. All members of the armed forces shall take an oath or affirmation to uphold and defend this
Constitution.
2. The State shall strengthen the patriotic spirit and nationalist consciousness of the military,
and respect for people's rights in the performance of their duty.
3. Professionalism in the armed forces and adequate remuneration and benefits of its members
shall be a prime concern of the State. The armed forces shall be insulated from partisan
politics. No member of the military shall engage, directly or indirectly, in any partisan political
activity, except to vote.
4. No member of the armed forces in the active service shall, at any time, be appointed or
designated in any capacity to a civilian position in the Government, including government-
owned or controlled corporations or any of their subsidiaries.
5. Laws on retirement of military officers shall not allow extension of their service.
 6. The officers and men of the regular force of the armed forces shall be recruited
proportionately from all provinces and cities as far as practicable.
7. The tour of duty of the Chief of Staff of the armed forces shall not exceed three years.
However, in times of war or other national emergency declared by the Congress, the
President may extend such tour of duty.

Section 6. The State shall establish and maintain one police force, which shall be national in scope
and civilian in character, to be administered and controlled by a national police commission. The
authority of local executives over the police units in their jurisdiction shall be provided by law.

Section 7. The State shall provide immediate and adequate care, benefits, and other forms of
assistance to war veterans and veterans of military campaigns, their surviving spouses and orphans.
Funds shall be provided therefor and due consideration shall be given them in the disposition of
agricultural lands of the public domain and, in appropriate cases, in the utilization of natural
resources.

Section 8. The State shall, from time to time, review to increase the pensions and other benefits due
to retirees of both the government and the private sectors.

Section 9. The State shall protect consumers from trade malpractices and from substandard or
hazardous products.

Section 10. The State shall provide the policy environment for the full development of Filipino
capability and the emergence of communication structures suitable to the needs and aspirations of
the nation and the balanced flow of information into, out of, and across the country, in accordance
with a policy that respects the freedom of speech and of the press.

Section 11.

1. The ownership and management of mass media shall be limited to citizens of the
Philippines, or to corporations, cooperatives or associations, wholly-owned and managed by
such citizens.

The Congress shall regulate or prohibit monopolies in commercial mass media when the
public interest so requires. No combinations in restraint of trade or unfair competition therein
shall be allowed.

2. The advertising industry is impressed with public interest, and shall be regulated by law for
the protection of consumers and the promotion of the general welfare.

Only Filipino citizens or corporations or associations at least seventy per centum of the
capital of which is owned by such citizens shall be allowed to engage in the advertising
industry.

The participation of foreign investors in the governing body of entities in such industry shall
be limited to their proportionate share in the capital thereof, and all the executive and
managing officers of such entities must be citizens of the Philippines.

Section 12. The Congress may create a consultative body to advise the President on policies
affecting indigenous cultural communities, the majority of the members of which shall come from
such communities.
 ARTICLE XVII
AMENDMENTS OR REVISIONS

Section 1. Any amendment to, or revision of, this Constitution may be proposed by:

1. The Congress, upon a vote of three-fourths of all its Members; or

2. A constitutional convention.

Section 2. Amendments to this Constitution may likewise be directly proposed by the people
through initiative upon a petition of at least twelve per centum of the total number of registered
voters, of which every legislative district must be represented by at least three per centum of the
registered voters therein. No amendment under this section shall be authorized within five years
following the ratification of this Constitution nor oftener than once every five years thereafter.

The Congress shall provide for the implementation of the exercise of this right.

Section 3. The Congress may, by a vote of two-thirds of all its Members, call a constitutional
convention, or by a majority vote of all its Members, submit to the electorate the question of calling
such a convention.

Section 4.Any amendment to, or revision of, this Constitution under Section 1 hereof shall be valid
when ratified by a majority of the votes cast in a plebiscite which shall be held not earlier than sixty
days nor later than ninety days after the approval of such amendment or revision.

Any amendment under Section 2 hereof shall be valid when ratified by a majority of the votes cast in
a plebiscite which shall be held not earlier than sixty days nor later than ninety days after the
certification by the Commission on Elections of the sufficiency of the petition.

ARTICLE XVIII
TRANSITORY PROVISIONS

Section 1. The first elections of Members of the Congress under this Constitution shall be held on
the second Monday of May, 1987.

The first local elections shall be held on a date to be determined by the President, which may be
simultaneous with the election of the Members of the Congress. It shall include the election of all
Members of the city or municipal councils in the Metropolitan Manila area.

Section 2. The Senators, Members of the House of Representatives, and the local officials first
elected under this Constitution shall serve until noon of June 30, 1992.

Of the Senators elected in the elections in 1992, the first twelve obtaining the highest number of
votes shall serve for six years and the remaining twelve for three years.
Section 3. All existing laws, decrees, executive orders, proclamations, letters of instructions, and
other executive issuances not inconsistent with this Constitution shall remain operative until
amended, repealed, or revoked.

Section 4. All existing treaties or international agreements which have not been ratified shall not be
renewed or extended without the concurrence of at least two-thirds of all the Members of the Senate.

Section 5. The six-year term of the incumbent President and Vice-President elected in the February
7, 1986 election is, for purposes of synchronization of elections, hereby extended to noon of June
30, 1992.

The first regular elections for the President and Vice-President under this Constitution shall be held
on the second Monday of May, 1992.

Section 6. The incumbent President shall continue to exercise legislative powers until the first
Congress is convened.

Section 7. Until a law is passed, the President may fill by appointment from a list of nominees by the
respective sectors, the seats reserved for sectoral representation in paragraph (2), Section 5 of
Article V1 of this Constitution.

Section 8. Until otherwise provided by the Congress, the President may constitute the Metropolitan
Manila Authority to be composed of the heads of all local government units comprising the
Metropolitan Manila area.

Section 9. A sub-province shall continue to exist and operate until it is converted into a regular
province or until its component municipalities are reverted to the mother province.

Section 10. All courts existing at the time of the ratification of this Constitution shall continue to
exercise their jurisdiction, until otherwise provided by law. The provisions of the existing Rules of
Court, judiciary acts, and procedural laws not inconsistent with this Constitution shall remain
operative unless amended or repealed by the Supreme Court or the Congress.

Section 11. The incumbent Members of the Judiciary shall continue in office until they reach the age
of seventy years or become incapacitated to discharge the duties of their office or are removed for
cause.

Section 12. The Supreme Court shall, within one year after the ratification of this Constitution, adopt
a systematic plan to expedite the decision or resolution of cases or matters pending in the Supreme
Court or the lower courts prior to the effectivity of this Constitution. A similar plan shall be adopted
for all special courts and quasi-judicial bodies.

Section 13. The legal effect of the lapse, before the ratification of this Constitution, of the applicable
period for the decision or resolution of the cases or matters submitted for adjudication by the courts,
shall be determined by the Supreme Court as soon as practicable.

Section 14. The provisions of paragraphs (3) and (4), Section 15 of Article VIII of this Constitution
shall apply to cases or matters filed before the ratification of this Constitution, when the applicable
period lapses after such ratification.
Section 15. The incumbent Members of the Civil Service Commission, the Commission on
Elections, and the Commission on Audit shall continue in office for one year after the ratification of
this Constitution, unless they are sooner removed for cause or become incapacitated to discharge
the duties of their office or appointed to a new term thereunder. In no case shall any Member serve
longer than seven years including service before the ratification of this Constitution.

Section 16. Career civil service employees separated from the service not for cause but as a result
of the reorganization pursuant to Proclamation No. 3 dated March 25, 1986 and the reorganization
following the ratification of this Constitution shall be entitled to appropriate separation pay and to
retirement and other benefits accruing to them under the laws of general application in force at the
time of their separation. In lieu thereof, at the option of the employees, they may be considered for
employment in the Government or in any of its subdivisions, instrumentalities, or agencies, including
government-owned or controlled corporations and their subsidiaries. This provision also applies to
career officers whose resignation, tendered in line with the existing policy, had been accepted.

Section 17. Until the Congress provides otherwise, the President shall receive an annual salary of
three hundred thousand pesos; the Vice-President, the President of the Senate, the Speaker of the
House of Representatives, and the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, two hundred forty thousand
pesos each; the Senators, the Members of the House of Representatives, the Associate Justices of
the Supreme Court, and the Chairmen of the Constitutional Commissions, two hundred four
thousand pesos each; and the Members of the Constitutional Commissions, one hundred eighty
thousand pesos each.

Section 18. At the earliest possible time, the Government shall increase the salary scales of the
other officials and employees of the National Government.

Section 19. All properties, records, equipment, buildings, facilities, and other assets of any office or
body abolished or reorganized under Proclamation No. 3 dated March 25, 1986 or this Constitution
shall be transferred to the office or body to which its powers, functions, and responsibilities
substantially pertain.

Section 20. The first Congress shall give priority to the determination of the period for the full
implementation of free public secondary education.

Section 21. The Congress shall provide efficacious procedures and adequate remedies for the
reversion to the State of all lands of the public domain and real rights connected therewith which
were acquired in violation of the Constitution or the public land laws, or through corrupt practices. No
transfer or disposition of such lands or real rights shall be allowed until after the lapse of one year
from the ratification of this Constitution.

Section 22. At the earliest possible time, the Government shall expropriate idle or abandoned
agricultural lands as may be defined by law, for distribution to the beneficiaries of the agrarian reform
program.

Section 23. Advertising entities affected by paragraph (2), Section 11 of Article XV1 of this
Constitution shall have five years from its ratification to comply on a graduated and proportionate
basis with the minimum Filipino ownership requirement therein.

Section 24. Private armies and other armed groups not recognized by duly constituted authority
shall be dismantled. All paramilitary forces including Civilian Home Defense Forces not consistent
with the citizen armed force established in this Constitution, shall be dissolved or, where appropriate,
converted into the regular force.
Section 25. After the expiration in 1991 of the Agreement between the Republic of the Philippines
and the United States of America concerning military bases, foreign military bases, troops, or
facilities shall not be allowed in the Philippines except under a treaty duly concurred in by the Senate
and, when the Congress so requires, ratified by a majority of the votes cast by the people in a
national referendum held for that purpose, and recognized as a treaty by the other contracting State.

Section 26. The authority to issue sequestration or freeze orders under Proclamation No. 3 dated
March 25, 1986 in relation to the recovery of ill-gotten wealth shall remain operative for not more
than eighteen months after the ratification of this Constitution. However, in the national interest, as
certified by the President, the Congress may extend such period.

A sequestration or freeze order shall be issued only upon showing of a prima facie case. The order
and the list of the sequestered or frozen properties shall forthwith be registered with the proper court.
For orders issued before the ratification of this Constitution, the corresponding judicial action or
proceeding shall be filed within six months from its ratification. For those issued after such
ratification, the judicial action or proceeding shall be commenced within six months from the
issuance thereof.

The sequestration or freeze order is deemed automatically lifted if no judicial action or proceeding is
commenced as herein provided.

Section 27. This Constitution shall take effect immediately upon its ratification by a majority of the
votes cast in a plebiscite held for the purpose and shall supersede all previous Constitutions.

The foregoing proposed Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines was approved by the
Constitutional Commission of 1986 on the twelfth day of October, Nineteen hundred and eighty-six,
and accordingly signed on the fifteenth day of October, Nineteen hundred and eighty-six at the
Plenary Hall, National Government Center, Quezon City, by the Commissioners whose signatures
are hereunder affixed.

Adopted:

President : Cecilia Munoz Palma

Vice-
: Ambrosio B. Padilla
President
Floor
: Napoleon G. Rama
Leader
Assistant
: Ahmad Domocao
Floor
Alonto
Leaders
: Jose D. Calderon

Yusuf R. Abubakar Felicitas S. Aquino

Adolfo S. Azcuna
Jose F. S. Bengzon, Jr.
Joaquin G. Bernas
Crispino M. de Castro
Roberto R. Concepcion
Vicente B. Foz
Jose Luis Martin C. Gascon
Teodoro C. Bacani
Ponciano L. Bennagen
Florangel Rosario Braid
Jose C. Colayco
Hilario G. Davide, Jr.
Edmundo G. Garcia
Serafin V.C. Guingona
Alberto M. K. Jamir
Eulogio R. Lerum
Christian S. Monsod
Ma. Teresa F. Nieva
Blas F. Ople
Florenz D. Regalado
Cirilo A. Rigos
Ricardo J. Romulo
Rene V. Sarmiento
Lorenzo M. Sumulong
Christine O. Tan
Efrain B. Trenas
Wilfrido V. Villacorta
Jose B. Laurel, Jr.
Regalado E. Maambong
Teodulo C. Natividad
Jose N. Nolledo
Minda Luz M. Quesada
Rustico F. de los Reyes, Jr.
Francisco A. Rodrigo
Decoroso R. Rosales
Jose E. Suarez
Jaime S. L. Tadeo
Gregorio J. Tingson
Lugum L. Uka
Bernardo M. Villegas

Attested by : 

Flerida Ruth P. Romero

Secretary-General

ORDINANCE 
APPORTIONING THE SEATS OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
OF THE CONGRESS OF THE PHILIPPINES TO THE DIFFERENT LEGISLATIVE DISTRICTS
IN PROVINCES AND CITIES AND THE METROPOLITAN MANILA AREA

Section 1. For purposes of the election of Members of the House of Representatives of the First
Congress of the Philippines under the Constitution proposed by the 1986 Constitutional Commission
and subsequent elections, and until otherwise provided by law, the Members thereof shall be elected
from legislative districts apportioned among the provinces, cities, and the Metropolitan Manila Area
as follows:

Metropolitan Manila Area

MANILA, six (6) -

First District: Barangays Nos.1-146,

o N-City Boundary between Manila and Caloocan;

o E - From Estero de Sunog Apog going South to Estero de Vitas up to the bridge
spanning Juan Luna Street, eastward to Tayuman Street up to the Railroad Tracks
along Dagupan Street,thence southward to Claro M. Recto Avenue;
o SE - From point Claro M. Recto Avenue extending westward to Manila Bay;
o W - Manila Bay northward to City boundary between Manila and Caloocan.

Second District: Barangays Nos. 147-267,

o N - City boundary between Manila and Caloocan;

 o E - From end of Rizal Avenue Extension extending southward to Railroad Tracks at
Antipolo Street; from corner Antipolo Street and Rizal Avenue on southern side of
Railroad Tracks extending westward to Estero de San Lazaro, southward along
Estero de San Lazaro up to corner of C. M. Recto Avenue westward to bridge
spanning Claro M. Recto at Estero de la Reina;
o W - Estero de la Reina to Estero de Vitas to Estero Sunog Apog to City boundary
between Manila and Caloocan;

Third District: Barangays Nos. 268-394,

o N - City boundary between Manila and Caloocan;

o E - A. Bonifacio Street extending southward to Dimasalang, to Anda-lucia, Claro M.
Recto Avenue eastward to Estero de San Miguel ending at Pasig River;
o S - Mouth of Estero de San Miguel at Pasig River, westward to Del Pan Bridge,
thence to Del Pan Street;
o W - Del Pan Street northward up to Claro M. Recto Extension to Estero de San
Lazaro, northward to Antipolo Street, eastward to Rizal Avenue Extension, northward
to boundary between Manila and Caloocan;

Fourth District: Barangays Nos. 395 - 586,

o SW - Estero de San Miguel up to Mendiola Bridge, thence to C. M. Recto Avenue to

Quezon Boulevard;
o W - Quezon Boulevard, Andalucia, Dimasalang up to boundary between Manila and
Quezon City;
o NE - City boundary between Manila and Quezon City up to Ramon Magsaysay
Boulevard; SE - Ramon Magsaysay Boulevard up to V. Mapa Street;
o S - Ramon Magsaysay Boulevard up to point Estero de San Miguel where Ramon
Magsaysay Boulevard spans Estero de San Miguel;

Fifth District: Barangays Nos. 649-828,

o N - Mouth of Pasig River inland to point Paz M. Guanzon Street extending to Estero
de Pandacan;
o NE - Estero de Pandacan up to Pedro Gil Street to Tejeron Street up to boundary of
Manila and Makati;
o SE - City boundary between Manila and Makati up to Estero de Tripa de Gallina;
o S - City boundary between Pasay and Manila down to Roxas Boulevard up to edge
of reclaimed areas westward to Manila Bay;
o W - Manila Bay up to mouth of Pasig River,

Sixth District: Barangays Nos. 587-648; and 829-905

o N - Starting from point which is mouth of Estero de San Miguel going eastward to
Mendiola Bridge, following line along Estero de San Miguel up to point where Ramon
Magsaysay Boulevard eastward to City boundary between Manila and Quezon Cityl;
o NE - City boundary up to point city boundary of Manila, San Juan and Quezon City;
o E - Manila-San Juan-Mandaluyong-Makati boundaries up to Tejeron Street;
o SE - Tejeron Street to Pedro Gil Street up to bridge spanning Estero de Pandacan;
 o SW & W - Estero de Pandacan going northward to Paz M. Guanzon Street, then
northward on Paz M. Guazon Street up to Pasig River to mouth of Estero de San
Miguel on Pasig River.

QUEZON CITY, four (4)

First District :

o Barangays Del Monte,

o Paltok,
o Bungad,
o San Antonio,
o Katipunan,
o Veterans Village,
o Talayan,
o Damayan,
o Mariblo,
o Paraiso,
o Sta. Cruz,
o Nayong Kanluran,
o Philam,
o West Triangle,
o N.S. Amoranto,
o San Isidro Labrador,
o Sta. Teresita,
o Salvacion,
o Maharlika,
o St. Peter,
o Lourdes,
o Sto. Domingo,
o Sienna,
o San Jose,
o Manresa,
o Pag-ibig sa Nayon,
o Balingasa,
o Masambong,
o Damar,
o Bahay Toro,
o St. Cristo,
o Ramon Magsaysay,
o Project 6,
o Vasra, Alicia,
o and Bagong Pag-asa;

Second District:

o Barangays Fairview,
o New Era,
o Holy Spirit,
 o Batasan Hills,
o Commonwealth,
o Payatas,
o Bagong Silangan,
o Sauyo,
o Talipapa,
o Bagbag,
o San Bartolome,
o Sta. Lucia,
o Gulod,
o Novaliches Proper,
o San Agustin,
o Nagkaisang Nayon,
o Sta. Monica,
o Kaligayahan,
o Pasong Putik,
o Apolonio Samson,
o Unang Sigaw,
o Tandang Sora,
o Pasong Tamo,
o Culiat,
o Baesa,
o Capri,
o Balumbato, and
o Sangandaan:

Third District :

o Barangays E. Rodriguez,
o Silangan,
o Quirino 3-A,
o Duyan-Duyan,
o Quirino 3-B,
o Amihan,
o Socorro,
o San Roque,
o Manga,
o Zobel Dioquino,
o Tagumpay,
o Aguinaldo, Escopa 1,
o Escopa 2,
o Escopa 3,
o Escopa 4,
o West Kamias,
o East Kamias,
o Quirino 2 A,
o Quririno 2 B,
o Quirino 2 C,
o Ugong Norte,
 o Bagumbayan, Libis,
o Villa Maria Clara,
o Masagana,
o Milagrosa,
o Marilag,
o Bagumbayan,
o Loyola Heights,
o Pansol, and
o Matandang Balara;

Fourth District:

o Barangays Bagong Lipunan,

o Kaunlaran,
o San Martin,
o Immaculate Concepcion,
o South Triangle,
o Sacred Heart,
o Laging Handa,
o Paligsahan,
o Obrero,
o Roxas, Kamuning,
o Kanluran,
o Kamuning Silangan,
o Tatalon,
o Don Manuel,
o Dona Josefa,
o San Isidro,
o Dona Aurora,
o Santo Nino,
o Santol,
o Dona Imelda,
o Kristong Hari,
o Kalusugan,
o Damayang Lagi,
o Mariana,
o Valencia,
o Horseshoe,
o Pinagkaisahan,
o San Vicente,
o U.P. Campus,
o Krus Na Ligas,
o Central,
o Old Capital Site,
o U.P. Village,
o Teacher's East,
o Teacher's West,
o Sikatuna,
o Malaya,
 o Pinahan, and
o Botocan

CALOOCAN CITY, two (2) -

First District : 70 Barangays;

o All of Caloocan North EDSA;

Second District: 118 Barangays;

o All of Caloocan South EDSA.

PASAY CITY, one (1)

MALABON and NAVOTAS, one (1)

SAN JUAN and MANDALUYONG, one (1)

MARIKINA, one (1)

MAKATI, one (1)

PASIG, one (1) PARANAQUE, one (1)

LAS PINAS and MUNTINGLUPA, one (1)

PATEROS and TAGUIG, one (1)

VALENZUELA, one (1)

MEMBERS OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL COMMISSION [CON COM]

WHICH DRAFTED THE
1987 CONSTITUTION OF THE PHILIPPINES

President : Cecilia Munoz Palma

Vice-
: Ambrosio B. Padilla
President
Floor
: Napoleon G. Rama
Leader
Assistant
: Ahmad Domocao
Floor
Alonto
Leaders
: Jose D. Calderon
Yusuf R. Abubakar Felicitas S. Aquino
Adolfo S. Azcuna Teodoro C. Bacani
Jose F. S. Bengzon, Jr. Ponciano L. Bennagen
Joaquin G. Bernas Florangel Rosario Braid
Crispino M. de Castro Jose C. Colayco
Roberto R. Concepcion Hilario G. Davide, Jr.
Vicente B. Foz Edmundo G. Garcia
Jose Luis Martin C. Gascon Serafin V.C. Guingona
Alberto M. K. Jamir Jose B. Laurel, Jr.
Eulogio R. Lerum Regalado E. Maambong
Christian S. Monsod Teodulo C. Natividad
Ma. Teresa F. Nieva Jose N. Nolledo
Blas F. Ople Minda Luz M. Quesada
Florenz D. Regalado Rustico F. de los Reyes, Jr.
Cirilo A. Rigos Francisco A. Rodrigo
Ricardo J. Romulo Decoroso R. Rosales
Rene V. Sarmiento Jose E. Suarez
Lorenzo M. Sumulong Jaime S. L. Tadeo
Christine O. Tan Gregorio J. Tingson
Efrain B. Trenas Lugum L. Uka
Wilfrido V. Villacorta Bernardo M. Villegas

Attested by : 

Flerida Ruth P. Romero

Secretary-General