PAMANTASAN NG LUNGSOD NG MAYNILA University of the City of Manila
Intramuros, Manila
College of Law
Report in Constitutional Constitutional Law 1
First Year – Year – Block Block 1 Group 4
Dean Ernesto P. Maceda Aragon, Josefa ReinaJr.
Borbon, Ma. Jennifer
Lo, Francis Jonel
Presnedi, Jeffrey
Reyes, Chemist
Villegas, Jan Alistair
Dean Ernesto P. Maceda Jr.
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Article Arti cle XII XIII: I: Soci S ocial al Just Justice ice and Huma Human n Rights Ri ghts
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. 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.
Social Justice simply means “protecting the poor”, it also includes social political justice. It is the duty of
the congress, as a lawmaker, to protect its people and reduce inequality in all aspects for common good. As Bernas stated that “people who are less in life should have more in law. Xxx. An interpretation (of law) that favors the underprivileged must be favored. Also as the principle always been applied in penal statutes, retroactivity, though conflicts with the provisions of the Civil Code, can be applied if it favors the accused . The provision, though it favors underprivileged, does not tolerate such act or behavior
which is contrary to law. The State commanded to attend two principal activities in order to achieve the goals of social justice. They are (1) creation of more economic opportunities and more wealth and (2) closer regulation of the acquisition, ownership, use, and disposition of property in order to achieve a more equitable distribution of wealth and political power. The matter of promoting the goals of social justice is of the highest priority because the very survival of the Republic could depend on the attainment of these goals. The most serious problems plaguing the nation can be traced to a long-standing history of injustice to the underprivileged. The boldest example of social justice in action under earlier constitutions have been the effort of the government to alter the contractual relations between landlord and farm tenant and the increased effort to redistribute private lands through expropriation and rescale. The import of “social justice” that has developed in various decisions is than when the law is clear and
valid, it simply must be applied; but when the law can be interpreted in more ways than one, an interpretation that favors the underprivileged must be favored. Thus, in National Federation of Sugar Workers v. Ovejera, G.R. No. 59741, May 31, 1982, the Court, against the strong plea for social justice
made by Chief Justice Fernando, interpreted the 13th month pay requirement under P.D. 851 as not applicable to company already giving the equivalent in the form of Christmas, milling, and amelioration bonuses because that was the clear reading of the existing law. 2
In another case the Court said: “. . . We are of the considered opinion that the secondary forces to which
the ordinary rules of procedure and ev idence have been relegated by the aforementioned agrarian court laws do not oblige us to be unjust and unfair to employers. After all, in the eyes of all fair-minded men, injustice to the more affluent and fortunate sectors of society cannot be less condemnable and reprehensible, and should be avoided as much as injustice to labor and the poor. It is divinely compassionate no doubt to afford more in law to those who have less in life, but clear injustice to anyone amounts definitely injustice to everyone, and all hope for judicial redre ss for wrongdoings would vanish, if the even hand of the law, justice and equity were to be made to favor anyone or any group or level of society, whoever they may be. . .” Federation of Free Farmers v. Court of Appeals, 107 SCRA 352, 362-3 (September 10, 1981). Moreover, these provisions on social justice do not legalized squatting. The State is committed to promote social justice and to maintain adequate social services in the field of housing. Article II, Sections 6 and 7 (1973). But the State’s solicitude for the destitute and the have -nots does
not mean it should tolerate usurpations of property, public or private. Astudillo v. Board of Directors, PHHC, L-28066, September 22, 1976.
LABOR Section 3. The State shall afford full protection to labor, local and overseas, organized and unorganized, and promote full employment employment and equality of employment opportunities 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.
Protection to labor.
The above declaration is broad enough to cover all kinds of protection to labor, local, and overseas, organized and unorganized. It is common knowledge that many Filipino workers abroad have been cheated and/ or subjected to abuse or maltreatment by government personnel, labor recruiters, and foreign employers. Even 3
disregarding the fact that their earnings account for a sizeable portion of our total foreign exchange, It is the duty of the government to extend protection to them. 1.) Right to one’s labor deemed property. – The right to labor is constitutional as well as a statutory right. Every man has a natural right to the fruits of his own industry. A man who has been employed to undertake certain labor and has put into it his time and effort is entitled to be protected. The right of a person to his labor is deemed to be a property within the meaning of constitutional guarantees. That is his means of livelihood. He cannot be deprived of his labor or work without due process of law. 2.) Labor, a primary social economic force. – The constitutional policy of social justice has been made more real when it imposes upon the State the duty to give protection to labor. It recognizes the basic fact that human labor is not merely an article of commerce or a factor of production to be similarly treated as lands, tools, or machinery. It is a primary social economic force by reason of which the State is under obligation to give more concern to the protection of the rights of workers and the promotion of their welfare vis-à-vis the non-human factors of productions. Promotion of full employment and equal work opportunities.
The right to full employment and equality of employment through equal work opportunities is not merely statutory but is elevated into a constitutional right. 1.) Creation of employment opportunities imperative. – Lack of employment is one cause of social tension, individual level, unemployment lead to distortion of personality and a life without color and texture. It is a waste of manpower. Social services in the field of employment are, therefore, imperative. They may partly take the form of vocational guidance, personnel management, placement services, and labor organization. Full employment will enable the citizens to lift their level of life and thus, contribute their share in the task of nation-building. 2.) State has duty to eliminate discriminatory practices. – The State is mandated to adopt measures to the end that all persons who are capable of working may be provided with employment (not necessarily by the Government) and that job opportunities may be open to all – man or woman, citizen or alien, Christian or non-Christian. The Constitution takes into account discriminatory practices in both public and private employment relative wages and employment still often based on such factors as nationality, sex, kinship, or other non-relevant factors. 3.) Useful labor essential to persona dignity and development. – By useful labor, man is enabled to acquire the materials goods necessary for his growth and improvement. If work is denied him, he becomes dependent upon the charity of others – a situation that is not conducive to self — respect or personal development. For this reason, it is an obligation of the government to see, insofar as it is able with all the means at its disposal, that an economic environment is created within which the members of society may obtain employment suitable to t heir capabilities. 4.) Duty of every citizen to engage in gainful work. – Everyone who can work and is willing to work should be able to fins one commensurate with his educational attainment, skills, or training and 4
personal circumstances. But while the right is decent work of every citizen is recognized, it is also his duty to exert efforts “to engage in gainful work to assure himself and his family a life worthy of human dignity”. Work is both a right and a duty on the part of every citizen. Right of workers
In relations between workers and employers, the following rights shall be assured by the State: 1.) Right to self-organization 2.) Right to collective bargaining 3.) Right to collective negotiation 4.) Right to peaceful and concerted activities including the right to strike 5.) Right to security of tenure 6.) Right to just and humane conditions of work 7.) Right to a living wage Principle of shared responsibility.
Labor conflicts through strike and lockouts result in tremendous losses in terms of interruption of production, disrupt public peace and order, sometimes cause loss of life and destruction of property, and effect adversely the economy of the nation as a whole. There must be a well-balanced a.) duty of management and labor and; b.) duty of the State. Methods for resolving labor disputes. 1.) Principal methods. – They are: a.) Collective bargaining b.) Arbitration b.1) Voluntary b.2) Compulsory 2.) Supplementary methods. – These two methods are supplemented by the techniques of conciliation and mediation by a disinterested third party, usually an agency of the government concerned with labor disputes. a.) By the first, the t hird party, after hearing each side, assist th e parties in reaching an agreement. b.) By the second, the third party, after failure of negotiation and studying the respective positions of both sides, makes proposals or suggestions designed to settle the dispute. Reciprocal rights of labor and enterprises.
1.) Rights of workers and employers under a wage system. a.
Wages for services and profits for risk-taking
b. Right to higher wage scale c.
Right to reasonable return on capital
d. Profit-sharing scheme 2.) Reconciliation of their conflicting rights. 5
AGRARIAN AND AND NATURAL RESOURCES RESOURCES REFORM 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 f or voluntary land-sharing.
1. The foundation of Agrarian Land Reform.
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The various aspects of Land Reform are discussed and, in separate provisions, Agricultural Land, Urban Land, and other Natural Resources (other lands of the public domain) are singled out for treatment as being all subject to the general sweep of regulations governing “Acquisition, ownership, use, and disposition.”
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“The right of farmers and regular farm workers, who are landless, to own directly or collectively the lands they till or, in the case of other farmer workers, to receive a just share of the fruits thereof.”
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Commissioner Bacani saw no necessary and self-evident bond of ownership between the tiller and the exact same piece of land he tills. His own suggestion was to found the right of ownership upon the exigencies of the common good in the concrete circumstances of the nation.
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Commissioner Villegas. He warned, that we cannot constitutionalize certain provisions which are requirements of the common good today which may not be exigency of the common good in the year 2000”
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The adjective “basic” was discarded. Commissioner Aquino put it thus: “the polar
star-when we expound the principle of land reform- is that the farmer has a right to the land he tills, but this is not an immutable right. His claim of ownership does not automatically pertain or correspond to the same land that he is actually and physically tilling.
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Subjection to land reform does not depend on the form of ownership. The laws on agrarian reform simply speak of the “landowner” without qualification as to under what title the land
is held or what rights to the land the landowner may exercise. There is no distinction made whether the landowner holds “naked title” only or can exercise all the rights of ownership.
P.D. No. 27 and R.A. No. 6657.
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2. Holders of the right to own land through agrarian land reform.
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regular farm workers, who are landless.” The beneficiaries are classified into “Farmers and regular
farmers and farm workers. o
Farmers are those who have a tenancy relationship with the landowners, which relationship may be present or historical.
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Commissioner Aquino. “basic principle of all land reform codes presently in effect” – “that the tenancy relationship be abolished” Indeed, it might be true that there can be a “beneficial tenancy”
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Farm workers are sub-classified into “regular” and “other”. This is recognition of the substantial differences in the situations of the various farm workers. The right to claim the lands they till is recognized only in the regular farm worker, and only the right to a just share in the fruits of production is conceded to the non-regulars.
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The scope of ownership of an agrarian reform bene ficiary can be made just to limitations.
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Congress has the right to limit the beneficiary’s right to sell, dispose, or even
mortgage the property. o
Congress may also take measures to prevent fragmentation resulting in uneconomical or unproductive size.
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Even the rights of the beneficiary’s heirs can be effectively limited.
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“Economic family-size farm” as embodied in past land reform laws, notably R.A. No.
3844
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Can the right of the farmers and farm worker be waived? o
Commissioner Aquino: “the element of compulsion works against the landowner,
but not against the farmer or the intended beneficiary of the program. The right to waive is not recognized when it amounts to a waiver in favor of another. Surely, we will recognize the freedom of choice pertaining to the worker, on whether or not he is willing to assume the obligation.” o
Commissioner Lerum: “my understanding is that the provision does not
contemplate a waiver but that the tenant may not want to exercise exerc ise his right.” o
The ownership by beneficiaries can be either individual or collective.
o
But does every kind of collective o wnership satisfy the constitutional mandate?
Agrarian reform program is based on the right of farmers and regular farm workers to own the lands they till. Essentially a land-to-the-tiller program.
Collective ownership is mentioned by the Constitution, it is submitted that only that kind of collective ownership which preserves control of the tiller over that land he tills satisfies the c onstitutional mandate.
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3. Priorities and reasonable retention limits.
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“All agricultural lands”
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“Subject to such priorities and reasonable retention limits as Congress may prescribe, taking into account ecological, developmental or equity considerations.”
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Priorities refer to various factors which can affect the pace and scope of implementation and which can make implementation more manageable. o
Big landholdings
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Ill-gotten lands
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Idle or abandoned lands
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Priorities could also refer to crops or to the location of the land.
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Retention Limits o
Size of land an individual owner will be allowed to keep, whether he is a cultivator or not, the gene ral guideline is that these should be “reasonable.”
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“Small landowners” jurisprudentially refers to “teachers, clerks, nurse and other
hardworking and frugal people who, in a lifetime of sacrifice, gathered their pitiful little savings and purchased small farms to supplement the inadequate pension from the Government Service Insurance System or the Social Security System.”
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“Reference to small landowners does not necessarily mean that they should be owner cultivators.”
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Important Constitutional consideration in all this is that Congress is given discretion to set priorities and retention limits. The over-riding guideline for Congress is that flexible concept “reasonableness.”
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If Congress sets neither priorities nor retention limits? o
It should be noted that the mandate to implement an agrarian land reform program is addressed to the State – an entity larger than Congress. And the parameters for an agrarian land reform are set down in the Constitution for the State to flow. Thus, absent priorities and retention limits set by Congress, but provided that the money has been appropriated for a program, the executive department can proceed with implementation either in cooperation with landowners voluntarily participating in the program or through judicial expropriation.
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Lands not devoted to agricultural activity are outside the coverage of Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law (CARL). These include lands previously converted to non-agricultural uses prior to the effectively of CARL by government agencies other than r espondent DAR.
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Agricultural Lands are only those lands which are “arable and suitable agricultural lands” And “do not include commercial, industrial and residential lands.”
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CARP statute also requires a notice of coverage to be furnished and sent to t he landowner. o
Notice is part of the c onstitutional right to due process of law.
It informs the landowner of the State’s intention to acquire a private land
upon payment of just compensation and gives him the opportunity to present evidence that his landholding is not covered or is otherwise excused from the agrarian law.
However, one who claims to be landowner is such in virtue of a void sale which was entered into to avoid expropriation; notice to the real owner satisfies the law’s requirement.
4. Just Compensation
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The agrarian reform program mandated by the Constitution is not a land confiscation program. The government acquisition of land, whether voluntary or forced, for distribution to agrarian reform beneficiaries, there is need to compensate landowners justly.
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“Just Compensation” is a concept that has become the subject of extensive jurisprudence
under the Bill of Rights. Measurement devised by President Marcos in Presidential Decree No. 76, the measure of just compensation is the assessed value of the land or the value declared by the owner in his tax-declaration, whichever is lower.
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R.A. No. 3844: the just compensation depends on the farmer’s ability to pay and not on the
standard of fair market value.
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Just Compensation clearly applies in agrarian reform. Sec. 4, Art. XIII of the 1987 Constitution mandates that the redistribution of agricultural lands shall be “subject to the payment of just compensation.” The landowners right to just compensation should be
balanced with agrarian reform. It is the duty of the court to protect the weak and the underprivileged, but this duty should not be carried out to such an extent as to deny justice to the landowner whenever truth and justice happen to be on his side.
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The concept of just compensation, embraces not only the correct determination of the amount to be paid to the owners of the land, but also payment within a reasonable time from its taking.
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Without prompt payment, compensation cannot be considered “JUST” inasmuch as
the property owner is made to suffer the consequences of being immediately deprived of his land while being made to wait for a decade or more before actually receiving the compensation. o
While prompt payment of just compensation requires the immediate deposit and release to the landowner of the provisional compensation as determined by the DAR. It also encompasses the payment in full of the just compensation to the landholders as finally determined by the courts.
5. Voluntary Land Sharing
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The state must offer incentives such, for instance, as tax incentives. However, in no way should voluntary land sharing be allowed to become a mode of circumventing agrarian reform.
6. The Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law: R.A. No 6657
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Implements the agrarian reform provisions of the constitution. Some of its key provisions were immediately challenged as an unconstitutional form of expropriation of private lands. o
The taking of private lands for redistribution is an exercise of the power of eminent domain revolutionary in character in that it “affects all private agricultural lands
wherever found and of whatever kind as long as they are in excess of the maximum retention limits allowed their owners.
This kind of expropriation is intended for the benefit not only of particular community or of a small segment of the population but of the entire Filipino Nation, from all levels of our society, from the impoverished farmer to the land-glutted owner.
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The discretion to determine which lands to take for early distribution is something that is given to the w isdom of the Congress.
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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.
The right to participate in the management of program, more than just the right to be consulted, in the planning, organization, and management of an agrarian reform should be emphasized. Beyond redistribution of land, the State must ensure that redistributed land will be efficiently beneficial for all concerned.
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.
1. Agrarian Reform and Natural Resources
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This section extends the principles of agrarian reform to the disposition of other natural resources.
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At the heart of agrarian reform is the principle capsulated in the phrase “land to the tiller.” o
This must be applied, mutatis mutandis, to the utilization of natural resources. Thus one may speak of “natural resources reform.”
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Nations Principal natural resource is land of, two basic kinds: alienable and unalienable.
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Section 6 refers to utilization of lands of the public domain.
Commissioner Monsod: in the case of other natural resources, forestry or mining, the intent of this provision is merely to say that in applying the principle of agrarian reform, the chief beneficiaries should be the people in the area.
The people may be entrusted with the land but these lands need not be given to them by title. It can be the same kind of concession or rights that are now given under the law.
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Stewardship
Commissioner Romulo: “the individual would have free use or free
occupancy but he would not be given a legal title to the land. That is what we call in law of usufructuary.”
Commissioner Nieva added: “the State shall be g ive them all the support
and assistance that they would need to be successful in their utilization of these natural resources.” o
Briefly Section 6 goes back to the scope of land reform.
Commissioner Tadeo always had recourse to the broad definition of lands articulated by Dr. Mahar Mangahas: “In principle, the term ‘lands’ would
include all forms of natural resources, including mineral, forests and water resources, whether public or private, whether titled or untitled, whether presently controlled by Filipinos or non-Filipinos, over which there is social conflict induced by an unjust distribution.”
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The second paragraph of Section 6 owes its existence to the advocacy of Commissioner Ople “that resettlement in the government’s agricultural estates was the preeminent form of
agrarian reform under the Magsaysay Administration and was used in other nations as well. o
Farmers and Farm workers are not to be considered as agricultural employees of the state, but rather as resettlers and eventual owner of the land once these estates are dissolved.
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Farm workers, includes laid-off industrial workers who might want to return to the provinces and engage in farming.
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.
According to Fr. Bernas, this is a first in Philippine constitution-making as this section makes specific reference to the rights of small fishermen; understandably so as the country’s archipelagic nature and apparent challenges to reach far-flung areas of the country have put these small fishermen in the center of livelihood in these areas.
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Fr. Bernas also stated that the provision was formulated and sponsored principally against the background of problems created by the privatization of large portions of the Laguna de Bay area and the problem of foreign fishing vessels allowed by treaty to conduct trawl fishing within seven kilometres from the Philippine shores, both of which effective deprive subsistence fishermen of their livelihood. This is the reason why government authorities like the Laguna Lake Development Authority, etc. was established – to educate fishermen into forming cooperatives for their betterment. A perusal of the records upon the drafting of the Constitution sheds light that the right given to subsistence fishermen is preferential but not exclusive use of communal marine fishing resources, both inland and offshore. An attempt to have the entire marine and fishing resources communal, however, municipal fishing grounds are considered propios of the municipality, thus they exercise their proprietary rights over these fishing grounds. Also excluded from such provision are fishponds outside of lakes and rivers as these are considered private. This section also specifies protection against foreign intrusion in offshore fishing grounds, which should be read in conjunction with Article XII, Section 2, whose second paragraph reads: “The State shall protect the nation’s marine wealth in its archipel agic waters, territorial sea, and exclusive economic zone, and reserve its use and enjoyment exclusively to Filipino citizens.”
Lastly, fish workers are also assured the right to a just share from their labor in the use of marine and fishing resources, which admittedly, are not anywhere classified by existing labor laws as sponsored by Commissioner Delos Reyes. Their remuneration is then in the form of a share in the catch such that if there is no catch, they earn nothing.
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.
Bernas starts of his commentary stating that Article XII, Section 1 dictates the need to establish a dynamic relationship between agricultural development and industrialization. This section sees agrarian reform as a unique instrument for releasing capital locked up in land for use in industrialization and economic development. This is why the government must create an atmosphere favourable to investment such as: a.
Providing landowners with incentives to investment
b. Placing usable capital in the hands of landowners subjected to agrar ian reform
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Reeling from the memory of the Land Bank bonds used in the agrarian reform program of Marcos, the last sentence places a constitutional guarantee on both the value and negotiability of government bonds with the government and government financial institutions.
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.
1. Program of Urban Land Reform and Housing.
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Commissioner Nieva: “We are an ill -housed nation with a high percentage of our urban population estimated at five million squatters living in subhuman conditions.”
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Commissioner Villegas added: “housing programs in the country address different kinds of markets.”
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Open market housing program is addressed to those of the higher income sector who can afford to choose the kind of houses they want.
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Economic market housing program addresses the lower income bracket that are in search of affordable housing.
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Social housing program addresses those who cannot afford even low cost housing and therefore need some form of subsidy.
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The objects of concern of this Section are not just the underprivileged in general but the “underprivileged and homeless” because there are underprivileged people who enjoy
inherited homes.
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Urban land reform and housing are to be undertaken “in cooperation with the private sector.” What is needed is not just not just regulation of “urban land use” but urban land “reform”
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Important elements of the program therefore should be “basic services” and adequate employment opportunities.”
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The use of word “basic” is deliberately chosen as a signal that the program does n ot
call for unnecessary amenities. 14
- Section 9 adds the final caution: “In the implementation of such program the State shall respect the rights of small property owner s.”
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.
The phrase “urban or rural poor dwellers” refers principally to the squatters. The intent of the provision
is to prevent the recurrence of past abuses when law enforcement agents would move in, bulldoze dwellings, and even inflict violence on persons. The protection given by the provision extends to both those who have valid claims to stay on the land and to those who do not. But evictions there must be, these must be conducted “in accordance with law and in just a humane manner.” Due process must be obser ved. But due process does not necessarily mean judicial due process. In every case the law must be carried out “in a just and humane manner.”
Even violators of the law are entitled to humane treatment. The second paragraph commands that every relocation process must be preceded by consultation with the dwellers to be relocated and also with the communities where they are to be relocated. This, however, does not mean that the validity or legality of the demolition or eviction is hinged on the existence of a resettlement area designated or earmarked by the government. Rather, it means that the person to be evicted be accorded due process or an opportunity to controvert the allegation that his or her occupation or possession of the property involved is unlawful or against the will of the landowner; that should the illegal or unlawful occupation be proven, the occupant be sufficiently notified before actual eviction or demolition is done; and there be no loss of lives, physical injuries or unnecessary loss or damage to properties. (Bernas)
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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.
Sections 11, 12, and 13 have to be taken in conjunction with each other. As seen under Article II, Section 15, the State recognizes the right to health as we are party to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Alma Conference Declaration of 1978. Health is defined as the state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. “Integrated and comprehensive” and “affordable” are the operative words in of these provisions, thus
Congress endeavours to continually improve and pass legislation to address this provision. Thus, the passing of the Cheaper Medicines Bill showed the State’s resolution to ensure that its citizens receive
affordable medicines.
Section 12. The State shall establish and maintain an effective food a nd drug regulatory system and undertake appropriate health, manpower development, and research, responsive to the country's health needs and problems.
Health is essential to the exercise of other rights. We are not to say that in our country, if you are poor and you get sick, you die, because of the high cost of medicines and hospitalization. Aside from the question of ethics or of moral obligation, our country’s leaders must recognize the political impact of poverty and public health issues. A country that has no healthcare system is a “vulnerable and destabilized country.” Mental health is crucial dimension of overall health. Just as we care for our
physical health, we must endeavor to maintain and improve our mental health, as well as that of our families. Protection and promotion of the right to health.
1.) Importance of health. – Health is a pre requisite to happiness and well-being. It affects socioeconomic factors notably income, levels of living, and in particular, nutrition. Health and education are closely interdependent. A child’s ability to take full advantage of the schooling provided he depends on his health, and the adult’s ability to use the knowledge and skills he has acquired depends on his mental
and physical fitness.
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Health is intimately enmeshed with national development. By ensuring the health of our people, our human resources will be made productive and available in the service of our country. 2.) Duty of the State. – It is mandatory duty of the State to protect and promote the right to health of every Filipino by making quality and adequate health care available and accessible to everybody, especially the poor and the disadvantaged. In the fulfillment of this duty, the Stat shall: a.) Adopt in integrated and comprehensive approach to health development that will make essential goods, health services and other social services available to all the people at affordable cost, giving priority for the needs of the t he underprivileged sick, disabled, woman and children; b.) Endeavor to provide free medical c are to paupers or the poor; c.) Establish and maintain an effective food and drug regulatory system; d.) Undertake appropriate health manpower development and research responsive to the country’s health needs and problems; and e.) Establish a special body for disabled persons for their rehabilitation, self-development and selfreliance and their integration to t he mainstream of society. 3.) An integral and comprehensive approach to health development. – The phrase “integrated and comprehensive approach to health development” implies that the State must exert efforts to unify the
national health care delivery systems – all government instrumentalities and personnel concerned with health and the private sector which includes hospitals. Private practitioners, medical association, etc., and even private business – to make medical services available through our country. 4.) An effective food and drug regulatory system. – The third constitutional mandate seeks to rationalize the law on food and drugs to protect the public from harmful and useless but costly food and drugs. It shall be the duty of the State to adopt measures and policies that would eliminate harmful and useless medicines, increase domestic production of essential drugs, encourage locally applied drug research, and institute effective drug quality control supply and delivery systems as well as program fro dissemination of drug information to educate the people on the rational use of drugs. 5.) A special agency for disabled persons. – The body to be created by the State for disabled persons shall coordinate and supervise all existing governmental and non-governmental agencies concerned with the rehabilitation and education of these persons. Its principal duty shall be to help physically and mentally disabled individuals become responsible and useful members of our society. For nothing can be more demeaning and more hurtful to the dignity of a human being than having to beg his subsistence and becoming totally dependent on others.
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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.
A law was passed to give credence to this provision which entitled as REPUBLIC ACT NO. 7277- AN ACT PROVIDING FOR THE REHABILITATION, SELF-DEVELOPMENT AND SELF-RELIANCE OF DISABLED PERSONS AND THEIR INTEGRATION INTO THE MAINSTREAM OF SOCIETY AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES or "Magna Carta for Disabled Person". The duty of the State is also to protect and to guide those persons who have
disabilities. These persons, though not the same as the normal person also has contribution in our country, some actually give us honor. Their disabilities do not bar them to give and share their other abilities. The same as those indicated in the preceding article, right to health and other benefits shall be enjoyed by all. The State may establish agencies that will give assistance to the need and other concerns of disabled. These concepts also include those who have no source of livelihood or those who live a hand-to-mouth existence (Bernas).
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.
This section implicitly acknowledges that between women and men, there are distinctions which make for real differences. Thus, the DOLE’s Bureau of Working Conditions aims to ensure that workplaces
provide areas for breastfeeding, Magna Carta for Women, Single Parent Act etc. are targeted towards working women.
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ROLE AND RIGHTS OF PEOPLE'S ORGANIZATIONS 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 interest and with identifiable leadership, membership, and structure. structure.
This section talks about the function/position or responsibility of a person who belongs to a certain group wherein they are safe secured and free or they are self-governed in terms of legal and justifiable rights or privileges in reaching their objectives or goals through diplomatic and legal ways and means. The State must ensure that people’s rights protected not only from public but also from private interference. The duty of the state must maintain the freedom wherein it talks about the process of interaction of individuals and groups with the environment when the society is changing or a person makes some changes so that there appear more opportunities of choice and realization of important purposes and values. There is also the presence of liberty of movement that has indispensable condition for the free development of a person and interacts with several other rights enshrined with good covenant and to be permissible, restrictions must be provided by law, must be necessary in a democratic society for the protection o f these purposes and must be consistent with all other rights.
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.
Role and right of people’s organizations.
In a democratic and republican re publican State, sovereignty resides in the people and all the government authority emanates from them. 1.) Birth of “people power.” – The recent historic events in our country which saw the installation of a new government “through the direct exercise of the power of the Filipino people” have
given concrete expression for exercising popular sovereignty emerged. – “People power”. Cause-oriented groups or people’s organizations, which proliferated during a former regime pressing for reforms, paved the way for t he birth of “people power.”
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2.) Responsiveness of the government to people’s needs and well-being. – They continue to compete in articulating the interests and aspirations of the people particularly various sectors they represents. This is beneficial to both the people and the government. For it is quite true that a government that listens to the voice of the people and considers their views and sentiments in the decisions-making process is an effective and stable government because it becomes responsive to their needs and well-being. Thus, people’s organizations help to make the government one truly based on the consent of the governed. Obligations imposed on the State.
In recognition of the important role of the people’s organizations in reflecting the popular will and as “catalyst of change”, the Constitution mandates the State to listen to the citizen and their
organizations, more specifically: 1.) To 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 though peaceful and lawful means. 2.) Not to abridge the right of the people and their organizations to effective and reasonable participation at all levels of social, political and economic decision-making 3.) By law, to facilitate the establishment of adequate consultation mechanisms between the people and the government. The Constitution defined what the people’s organizations are. Aliens cannot be members of such organizations because the rights given are political in nature.
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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 naturalborn 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.
Composition of the independent office called the Commission on Human Rights: a. Chairman b. 4 Members Qualifications: a. Natural-born citizens of the Philippines b. Majority must be members of the Bar c. Other qualifications and disabilities as provided by law Term of office: shall be provided by law - Until this Commission is constituted, the existing Presidential Committee on Human Rights shall continue to exercise its present functions and powers. Powers and Functions
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 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;
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(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 its officers and and employees in accordance with law; and (11) Perform such other duties and functions as may be provided by law.
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, o r detention facilities; (5) Establish a continuing program of research, education, and information to enhance respect for the primacy of human 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.
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Only the first of the enumerated powers and functions bears any resemblance to adjudication or adjudgment. The Constitution clearly and categorically grants to the Commission the power to investigate all forms of human rights violations involving civil and political rights. But it cannot try and decide cases or hear and determine causes as courts of justice, or even quasi-judicial bodies do. To
investigate is not to adjudicate or adjudge. Whether in the popular or the technical sense, these terms have well understood and quite distinct meanings. [Cariño v. CHR (1991) ]
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. recommendations.
The Commission on Human Rights was created which concerns are the matters affecting human rights and its function is limited only on investigation, it cannot issue any writ or subpoena to any offender. The Department of Justice which has full control to prosecute such issues. “The most that may be
conceded to the Commission in the way of adjudicative power is that it may investigate, i.e., receive evidence and make findings of facts as regards claimed human rights violations involving civil and political rights. The proposition is made clear by the constitutional provision specifying the powers of the Commission on Human Rights” (Cariño (Cariño v CHR).
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