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PAMANTASAN NG LUNGSOD NG MAYNILA

University of the City of Manila
Intramuros, Manila


College of Law












Dean Ernesto P. Maceda Jr.



Dean Ernesto P. Maceda Jr.




Report in Constitutional
Law 1
1987 Constitution: Article XIII
Social Justice and Human
Rights
First Year Block 1
Group 4
Aragon, Josefa Reina
Borbon, Ma. Jennifer
Lo, Francis Jonel
Presnedi, Jeffrey
Reyes, Chemist
Villegas, Jan Alistair
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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.

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.
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In another case the Court said: . . . We are of the considered opinion that the secondary forces to which
the ordinary rules of procedure and evidence 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 redress 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 States 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 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.

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
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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 ones 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--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 their 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
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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 third party, after hearing each side, assist the 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.
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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.
1. The foundation of Agrarian Land Reform.

- 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.

- 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.

o 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.
o 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
o 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.

- 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.

- Farmers and regular farm workers, who are landless. The beneficiaries are classified into
farmers and farm workers.
o Farmers are those who have a tenancy relationship with the landowners, which
relationship may be present or historical.
o 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

- 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.

- The scope of ownership of an agrarian reform beneficiary can be made just to limitations.

o Congress has the right to limit the beneficiarys right to sell, dispose, or even
mortgage the property.
o Congress may also take measures to prevent fragmentation resulting in
uneconomical or unproductive size.
o Even the rights of the beneficiarys heirs can be effectively limited.
o Economic family-size farm as embodied in past land reform laws, notably R.A. No.
3844

- 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 his right.
o The ownership by beneficiaries can be either individual or collective.
o But does every kind of collective ownership 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 constitutional mandate.

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3. Priorities and reasonable retention limits.

- All agricultural lands

- Subject to such priorities and reasonable retention limits as Congress may prescribe, taking
into account ecological, developmental or equity considerations.

- Priorities refer to various factors which can affect the pace and scope of implementation
and which can make implementation more manageable.
o Big landholdings
o Ill-gotten lands
o Idle or abandoned lands
- Priorities could also refer to crops or to the location of the land.

- Retention Limits
o Size of land an individual owner will be allowed to keep, whether he is a cultivator
or not, the general guideline is that these should be reasonable.

- 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.

- Reference to small landowners does not necessarily mean that they should be owner-
cultivators.

- 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.

- 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 respondent DAR.

- Agricultural Lands are only those lands which are arable and suitable agricultural lands
And do not include commercial, industrial and residential lands.

- CARP statute also requires a notice of coverage to be furnished and sent to the landowner.
o Notice is part of the constitutional right to due process of law.
It informs the landowner of the States 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 laws requirement.

4. Just Compensation

- 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.

- 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.

- R.A. No. 3844: the just compensation depends on the farmers ability to pay and not on the
standard of fair market value.

- 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.

o 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

- 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

- 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.
o The discretion to determine which lands to take for early distribution is something
that is given to the wisdom 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

- This section extends the principles of agrarian reform to the disposition of other natural
resources.
- 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.
o Nations Principal natural resource is land of, two basic kinds: alienable and
unalienable.
o 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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o 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 give 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.

- The second paragraph of Section 6 owes its existence to the advocacy of Commissioner Ople
that resettlement in the governments 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.
o 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 countrys 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 nations marine wealth in its archipelagic 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 agrarian 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.

- 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.

- Commissioner Villegas added: housing programs in the country address different kinds of
markets.

o Open market housing program is addressed to those of the higher income sector
who can afford to choose the kind of houses they want.
o Economic market housing program addresses the lower income bracket that are in
search of affordable housing.
o Social housing program addresses those who cannot afford even low cost housing
and therefore need some form of subsidy.
- 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.

- Urban land reform and housing are to be undertaken in cooperation with the private
sector. What is needed is not just regulation of urban land use but urban land reform

- Important elements of the program therefore should be basic services and adequate
employment opportunities.

o The use of word basic is deliberately chosen as a signal that the program does not
call for unnecessary amenities.
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- Section 9 adds the final caution: 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.

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 observed. 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 States resolution to ensure that its citizens receive
affordable medicines.



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.

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 countrys 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 socio-
economic factors notably income, levels of living, and in particular, nutrition. Health and education are
closely interdependent. A childs ability to take full advantage of the schooling provided he depends on
his health, and the adults ability to use the knowledge and skills he has acquired depends on his mental
and physical fitness.
17

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 underprivileged sick, disabled, woman and children;
b.) Endeavor to provide free medical care 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 countrys
health needs and problems; and
e.) Establish a special body for disabled persons for their rehabilitation, self-development and self-
reliance and their integration to the 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 DOLEs 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
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.


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 peoples 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 of 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 peoples organizations.
In a democratic and republican 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 peoples organizations, which proliferated during a former regime
pressing for reforms, paved the way for the birth of people power.
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2.) Responsiveness of the government to peoples 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, peoples 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 peoples 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 peoples 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 peoples 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 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.
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 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 officers 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, 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.

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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. [Cario 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.
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 (Cario v CHR).