First Philippine Republic

Overview of the Malolos Congress

The First Philippine Republic was formed after the Philippine Declaration of
Independence and the events of the collapse of the Spanish rule over the Philippines. It
adopted the Constitucion Politica de la Republica Filipina drawn up by the Philippine
Constitutional Convention in the Barasoain Church in Malolos in 1899 to replace the
dictatorial government set up by the pact of Biak-na-Bato in July 7, 1897. It was
approved by Aguinaldo and ten delegates to the Assembly of Representatives on
January 21, 1899. The convention earlier elected Aguinaldo as president on January 1,
1899, leading to his inauguration on January 23 on the same year. Apolinario Mabini
was elected as a prime minister. The other cabinet secretaries were: Teodoro Sandico,
interior; Baldomero Aguinaldo, war; Gen. Mariano Trias, finance & war; Apolinario
Mabini, foreign affairs; Gracio Gonzaga for welfare, Aguedo Velarde, public instruction;
Maximo Paterno, public works & communication; and Leon María Guerrero for
agriculture, trade & commerce.
To make the event more memorable, Aguinaldo issued a decree granting pardon
to all Spanish prisoners of war who were not members of the Spanish regular army and
at the same time, granting to Spaniards and other aliens the right to engage in business
within the limits of the Republic.
Among the achievements of the Malolos Congress were (1) the ratification of the
Philippine independence; (2) the floating of domestic loans of Php 20,000,000,
redeemable in 40 years after the date of issue; and (3) the promulgation of the Malolos
Constitution.

Malolos Constitution

A committee headed by Felipe Calderon and aided by Cayetano Arellano, the

constitution was drafted, for the first time by representatives of the Filipino people and it
is the first republican constitution in Asia. The constitution was inspired by the
constitutions of Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Brazil, Belgium and France. After some
minor revisions (mainly due to the objections of Apolinario Mabini), the final draft of the
constitution was presented to Aguinaldo. It established a democratic, republication
government with three branches - the Executive, Legislative and the Judicial branches.
It called for the separation of church and state. The executive powers were to be
exercise by the president of the republic with the help of his cabinet. Judicial powers
were given to the Supreme Court and other lower courts to be created by law. The Chief
justice of the Supreme Court was to be elected by the legislature with the concurrence
of the President and his Cabinet.
 First Commonwealth in the Philippines

Overview

The Commonwealth era is the 10 year transitional period in Philippine history

from 1935 to 1945 in preparation for independence from the United States as provided
for under the Philippine Independence Act or more popularly known as the Tydings-
McDuffie Law. The Commonwealth era was interrupted when the Japanese occupied
the Philippines in January 2, 1942. On November 15, 1935, Manuel L. Quezon took his
oath as the first President of the Commonwealth of the Philippines, giving control of the
executive branch of government to the Filipinos. It was also in this era that the Supreme
Court of the Philippines was completely Filipinized. By virtue of the 1935 Constitution,
the bicameral Philippine legislature was merged to form the unicameral National
Assembly. Manuel L. Quezon and Sergio S. Osmena went into exile in the US, Quezon
died of tuberculosis while in exile and Osmena took over as president. At the same
time, the Japanese forces installed a puppet government in Manila headed by Jose P.
Laurel as president. This government is known as the Second Philippine Republic. On
October 20, 1944, the Allied forces led by Gen. Douglas MacArthur landed on the island
of Leyte to liberate the Philippines from the Japanese. Japan finally surrendered in
September 2, 1945.

Two elections were held under the Commonwealth. The first, in 1935, elected the
President of the Philippines as well as members of the National Assembly; the second,
in 1939, elected only members of the National Assembly. The National Assembly would
be retained until 1941, when a new structure for the legislature was introduced through
a constitutional amendment.

1935 Constitution

The 1935 Constitution was one of the noblest documents written by the Filipinos.
It embodied the ideals of liberty and democracy which Filipinos had inspired for: an
American type of government which they have trained in. The Tydings-McDuffie Law,
also known as the Philippine Independence Act, was passed by the United States
Congress that provided authority and defined mechanisms for the establishment of a
formal constitution by a constitutional convention. The Constitution created the
Commonwealth of the Philippines. It originally ptovided for a unicameral National
Assembly with a president and vice president elected to a six-year term without re-
election. It was amended in 1940 to have a bicameral Congress composed of a Senate
and a House of Representatives, as well as the creation of an independent electoral
commission, and limited the term of office of the president and vice president to 4 years
with one re-election. The draft of the constitution was approved by the convention on
February 8, 1935 and ratified by then US President Franklin B. Roosevelt on March 25,
1935.

The Second Republic

Overview

The Second Philippine Republic, officially known as the Republic of the

Philippines.

President Manuel L. Quezon declared Manila, the capital, an "open city" and left
it under the rule of Jorge B. Vargas, as mayor. The Japanese entered the city on
January 2, 1942 and established it as the capital. Japan fully captured the Philippines
on May 6, 1942, after the Battle of Corregidor.

General Masaharu Homma dissolved the Commonwealth of the Philippines and

established the Philippine Executive Commission, a caretaker government, with Vargas
as its first chairman. All political parties were banned and replaced by the non-partisan
KALIBAPI – Kapisanan sa Paglilingkod sa Bagong Pilipinas ( "Organization in the
Service of the New Philippines"). KALIBAPI's director-general was Benigno S. Aquino.

A constitution was formed by the Preparatory Commission for Independence,

consisting of 20 members from the KALIBAPI.[1] The Preparatory Commission, led by
José P. Laurel,[2] presented its draft Constitution on September 4, 1943 and three days
later, the KALIBAPI general assembly ratified the draft Constitution.

By September 20, 1943, the KALIBAPI's representative groups in the country's

provinces and cities elected from among themselves fifty-four members of the Philippine
National Assembly, the legislature of the country, with fifty-four governors and city
mayors as ex-officio members.

Three days after establishing the National Assembly, its inaugural session was
held at the pre-war Legislative Building and it elected by majority Benigno S. Aquino as
its first Speaker and José P. Laurel as President of the Republic of the Philippines, who
was inaugurated on October 15, 1943 at the foundation of the Republic. This
government followed the newly crafted 1943 Constitution, and reverted the legislature
back to a unicameral National Assembly. The National Assembly of the Second
Republic would remain in existence until the arrival of the Allied forces in 1944, which
liberated the Philippines from the Imperial Japanese forces.

1943 Constitution

The 1943 Constitution was drafted by a committee appointed by the Philippine

Executive Commission, the body established by the Japanese to administer the
Philippines in lieu of the Commonwealth of Philippines which had established a
government in exile. The preparatory Committee for Philippines Independence tasked
with drafting a new constitution was composed in large part, of members of the pre-war
National Assembly and of individuals with experience with delegates to the convention
that had drafted the 1935 Constitution. Upon approval of the draft by the Committee, the
new charter was ratified in 1943 by an assembly of appointed, provincial
representatives of the KALIBAPI, the organization established by the Japanese to
succeed all previous political parties. Upon ratification by the KALIBAPI assembly, the
Second Republic was formally proclaimed.

The 1943 Constitution provided for strong executive powers. The Legislature
consisted of a unicameral National Assembly and only those considered to be anti-US
could stand for election, although in practice most legislators were appointed rather than
elected.

Restoration of the Philippine Commonwealth

Overview

From August to October 1944, the tide of war decidedly turned in favor of the
United States, as American planes began to bomb targets in the Philippines. On
October 20, 1944, the main attack force of 174,000 American troops, ferried by an
armada of 700 warships, landed at Leyte. After the first wave of Marine troops had
made a beachhead, General McArthur waded ashore, at Red Beach, near Palo, Leyte,
accompanied by President Osmena, General Carlos P. Romulo and General Basilio
Valdez. On October 23, the Commonwealth Government was declared restored, with
Tacloban as temporary capital.

The national election was set on April 23, 1946. Senate President Roxas and his
friends defected from Nacionalista Party and formed their own party named Liberal
Party. The election resulted in the triumph of the Liberal Party. Then President Osmena,
on hearing the news of his political defeat, accepted the verdict of the people and
congratulated the victor.

On the sunny morning of May 26, 1946, Roxas was inaugurated amidst
impressive ceremonies as the last President of the Philippine Commonwealth. The
inaugural ceremonies were held on the grounds of the ruined, shell blasted Legislative
Building and were witnessed by a crowd of 200,000 people. The climax of the inaugural
ceremonies was the inaugural address of President Roxas as the third and last
President of the Philippine Commonwealth.

The Third Republic

Overview

The United States withdrew its sovereignty over the Philippines on July 4, 1946,
as scheduled. During the Roxas administration, a general amnesty was granted for
those who had worked together with the Japanese while at the same time the
Hukbalahap (Huks) were declared illegal. His administration ended prematurely when
he died of heart attack on April 15, 1948 while at the US Air Force Base in Pampanga.
Vice President Elpidio Quirino was sworn in as President. He then ran for election in
November 1949 against Jose P. Laurel and won his own four-year term. The huge task
of reconstructing the war torn country was complicated by the activities in central Luzon
of the Communist-dominated Huks, who resorted to terror and violence in their to attain
land reform and gain political power. By the time Ramon Magsaysay was president of
the country, he had promised sweeping economic changes, and he did make progress
in land reform, opening new settlements outside crowded Luzon Island. His death in an
airplane crash March 1957, was a serious blow to national morale. Vice President
Carlos P. Garcia succeeded him and won a full term as president in the elections of
November 1957.

Philippine opposition to Garcia on issues of government corruption and anti-

Americanism led, in June 1959, to the union of the Liberal and Progressive parties, led
by Vice President Diosdado Macapagal, who succeeded Garcia as president in the
1961 elections. Macapagal’s administration was marked by efforts to combat the
mounting rise that had plagued argument with Britain over North Borneo, which
Macapagal claimed had been leased and not sold to the British North Borneo Company
in 1878.
 Martial Law and the Fourth Republic

Overview

On September 23, 1972 President Ferdinand E. Marcos issued Presidential

Proclamation No. 1081, placing the entire country under Martial Law. This coincided
with the closing of the sessions of both chambers of Congress. Days before the
scheduled reopening of the Senate and the House of Representatives, Marcos
promulgated the 1973 Constitution, which effectively abolished the bicameral legislature
and replaced it with a unicameral legislature. Opposition legislators reported to the
Legislative Building on January 22, 1973, but found the building padlocked and under
an armed guard.

Under martial rule, Marcos created the Batasang Bayan in 1976, by virtue of
Presidential Decree No. 995, to serve as a legislative advisory council—a quasi-
legislative machinery to normalize the legislative process for the eventual actualization
of the 1973 Constitution. The Batasang Bayan would hold office in the Philippine
International Convention Center (a modernist structure designed by National Artist for
Architecture Leandro Locsin, within the Cultural Center of the Philippines Complex—a
pet project of First Lady Imelda R. Marcos). The consultative body would serve until
1978.

The Batasang Bayan would be replaced in 1978 by an elected unicameral body: the
Interim Batasang Pambansa (IBP), a parliamentary legislature, as provided for in the
1973 Constitution. On April 7, 1978, elections for were held. Those elected to the IBP
would be called Mambabatas Pambansa (Assemblymen) who would be elected per
region, via a bloc-voting system. The IBP opened on Independence Day 1984 in the
Batasan Pambansa in Quezon City.

Members of the Regular Batasang Pambansa (RBP) were elected in 1984, this time at-
large and per province. The RBP held its inaugural session on July 23, 1984.

In 1986, President Marcos succumbed to international pressure and called for a snap
presidential election. Though Marcos and his running mate former Senator and
Assemblyman Arturo Tolentino were proclaimed by the Batasang Pambansa as the
winners of the election, a popular revolt installed opposition leaders Corazon C. Aquino
and Salvador H. Laurel as President and Vice President, respectively.

For both the IBP and RBP, the laws passed would be called “Batas Pambansa,” which
did not continue the previous numbering of Republic Acts.
1973 Constitution

The Constitution was supposed to introduce a parliamentary-style government,

where legislative power was vested in a unicameral National Assembly, with members
being elected to a six-year term. The president was to be elected as the symbolic and
ceremonial head of state chosen from the members of the National Assembly. The
president would serve a six-year term and could be re-elected to an unlimited number of
terms.

President Marcos issued PD No. 73 setting the date of the plebiscite to ratify or
reject the proposed Constitution. However, instead of a plebiscite, Citizen Assemblies
(CA) were held, where the citizens came together to vote. On January 17, 1973, Marcos
issued a proclamation announcing that the proposed constitution had been ratified b an
overwhelming vote of the members of the highly irregular Citizen Assemblies. In 1976,
CA once again decided to allow the continuation of Martial Law, as well as approved its
amendments.

After all the amendments, the 1973 Constitution was merely a way for the
President to keep executive powers, abolish the Senate, and by any means, never
acted as a parliamentary system, instead functioned as an authoritarian presidential
system, with all the real power concentrated in the hands of the president, with the
backing of the constitution.

Fifth Republic (1986-Present)

Overview

The world’s eye was on the Philippines after it successfully toppled down almost
a decade of dictatorship rule through a peaceful demonstration tagged as the EDSA
People’s Power Revolution. After the widowed wife of former Senator Benigno "Ninoy"
Aquino, Sr. was elected into office, President Corazon Cojuangco-Aquino faced both
economic and political problems of the country. Her rule as president began on
February 25, 1986 after taking oath at the Club Filipino in San Juan, Metro Manila. She
was the 11th president of the Philippines and the first woman to become president of
the country. She was tasked to put together a nation devastated by the rule of her
predecessor Ferdinand E. Marcos. It was not an easy task since the country’s economic
condition was in its worse state since 1982.
 President Corazon Aquino’s government had three options regarding the
constitution: revert to the 1935 Constitution, retain the 1973 Constitution and be granted
the power to make reforms, or start anew and break from a dictatorial leadership. They
decided to make a new constitution that, according to the president herself, should be
“truly reflective of the aspirations and ideals of the Filipino people.”
1987 Constitution

The Convention drew up a permanent constitution, largely restoring the setup

abolished by Marcos in 1972. The new constitution was officially adopted on February
2, 1987. The constitution begins with a preamble and eighteen self-contained articles. It
established Philippines as a “democratic republican State” where “sovereignty resides in
the people and all government authority emanates from them”. It allocates
governmental powers among the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of the
government. The constitution also established three independent Constitutional
Commissions, namely Civil Service Commission, Commission on Elections, and the
Commission on Audit. To further promote the ethical and lawful conduct of the
government, the Office of the Ombudsman was created to investigate complaints that
pertain to public corruption, unlawful behavior of public officials, and other public
misconduct. The Ombudsman can then charge public officials before the
Sandiganbayan, a special court created for this purpose.

References/Reading Materials:

https://www.philippine-history.org/malolos-congress.htm

http://msc.edu.ph/centennial/republic.html

https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/the-commonwealth-of-the-philippines/

https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/constitutions/the-1935-constitution/

http://malacanang.gov.ph/5237-dr-jose-p-laurel-as-president-of-the-second-philippine-
republic/

http://www.watawat.net/the_second_republic_of_the_philippines.html

https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/constitutions/the-1943-constitution/

https://military.wikia.org/wiki/Commonwealth_of_the_Philippines
https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/about/gov/the-legislative-branch/

https://www.philippine-history.org/philippines-5th-republic.htm

https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Constitution_of_the_Philippines#/The_1943_Constitution