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POLITICS & GOVERNANCE WITH PHILIPPINE CONSTITUTION

Copyright 2005-2006 A. C. Articulo. This is a copyrighted material. Reproduction of this material, in any
form, without the authors permission is an infringement of Philippine Copyright Law. This copy is NOT
FOR SALE, strictly for evaluation purposes only. For the exclusive use of Cagayan State Univesity.

POLITICS &
GOVERNANCE
With Philippine Constitution
_____

A TEACHER & STUDENTS GUIDEBOOK


ARCHIMEDES CARAG ARTICULO
MA in Political Philosophy, University of the Philippines,
Diliman (2004);
AB Philosophy, Cum Laude, University of the Philippines,
Diliman (1999);
Philosophy and Political Science Instructor; Coordinator,
Political Science Program, College of Arts and Sciences
Cagayan State University;
Author, Values and Work Ethics. 2002. Trinitas Publishing,
Inc.; Moral Philosphy: A Practical Introduction. 2005.
Greatbooks Publishing; Foundations of Education: A
Selection of Texts on Educational Theories From Plato to Alvin
Toffler. 2005. Greatbooks Publishing; Logic: The Practice of
Critical Thinking. 2005. and The Experience of Philosophy,
2006, REX Publishing, Inc..

POLITICS & GOVERNANCE WITH PHILIPPINE CONSTITUTION


Copyright 2005-2006 A. C. Articulo. This is a copyrighted material. Reproduction of this material, in any
form, without the authors permission is an infringement of Philippine Copyright Law. This copy is NOT
FOR SALE, strictly for evaluation purposes only. For the exclusive use of Cagayan State Univesity.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER 1:
THE NATURE OF POLITICS

CHAPER 2:
THE STUDY OF POLITICS AS A SCIENCE

CHAPTER 3:
ON THE CONCEPT & NATURE OF STATE

CHAPTER 4:
THE CONCEPTS OF GOVERMENT AND GOVERNANCE

CHAPTER 5:
FORMS & STRUCTURES OF GOVERNMENT

CHAPTER 6:
POLITICAL & ECONOMIC IDEOLOGIES

CHAPTER 7:
THE PHILIPPINE GOVERNMENT SYSTEM

CHAPTER 8:
PHILIPPINE POLITICS & GOVERNANCE: ISSUES & CHALLENGES

CHAPTER 9:
CONSTITUTION

CHAPTER 10:
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE 1987 CONSTITUTION

BIBLIOGRAPHY

POLITICS & GOVERNANCE WITH PHILIPPINE CONSTITUTION


Copyright 2005-2006 A. C. Articulo. This is a copyrighted material. Reproduction of this material, in any
form, without the authors permission is an infringement of Philippine Copyright Law. This copy is NOT
FOR SALE, strictly for evaluation purposes only. For the exclusive use of Cagayan State Univesity.

CHAPTER 1:
THE NATURE OF POLITICS
Before we delve on some specific issues concerning Politics and Governance, it
would be much better if we begin first with a brief review of the most basic ideas
of Politics.
Defining Politics
Politics, in the most essential sense, is a means of organizing collective
human activity.
In daily life, it refers to any collective decision making process.
As a discipline, it focuses on conflict and conflict resolution.
Seeking and using the power of the State to make allocations of
scarce resources throughout a given polity.
For Harold Lasswell, politics is the study of who gets what, when and
how.
For Aristotle, Politics is both a royal art and a royal science. Because
unlike other fields of human inquiry, it attempts to understand the
political nature of a subject that is considered to be the only rational
and free physical entity in the world.
The Historical Role of Politics
According to Marx, there are five stages or levels of societal development, and
each of these stages demonstrate the evolution of the uses or roles of politics:
1. Primitive Communal Society- characterized by the common ownership of
the means of production; non-existence of class divisions and the value of
the product produced is determined by labor. The role of politics is for the
collective actions of man to confront resistance or challenges to common
survival in the primitive state.
2. Feudal society- characterized by the first emergence of private property
ownership and introduction of social classes. The means of production in
this stage is land. Here, landowners, tenants, artisans, merchants etc.
emerged. The main and conflicting classes are landowners (those who
own lands) and the tenants (persons who are used by landowners to till
their vast lands). Politics n this stage is geared towards the protection of
the interest of the dominant class (i.e. land owners ). Great armies are
formed to enforce order and to ensure the continuous control of the
dominant class over the means of production. The modern concept of a
State emerged during this period.

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3. Capitalist society - a previously insignificant segment of the society (the


merchants) have developed as a major political and economic player.
Driven by profit, these lowly businessmen gradually became very wealthy
that soon they were able to finance the formation of new and more
powerful armies that ultimately brought them into power. Emerging from
centuries of political insignificance, it successfully revolutionized the
existing social order. At this stage, the means of production is no longer
the land but big factories. After the industrial revolution, the political
influence of these profit-seeking tradesmen became unprecedented. Two
major classes emerged, the Capitalist (those who control the means of
production) and the Proletariat (laborers or the working class). The role of
politics in this stage is the protection of the interest of the dominant class.
Politics also ensures the favorable condition for the production not only of
profit but also of ideas that will help the preservation of the new status
quo. Politics also maintain social division of labor (e.g. the capitalist as the
provider of Capital and the proletariat as the provider of labor) and the
international division of labor (e.g. the developed or the Capitalist states
produce the finished products and the Third World States as the
consumer).
4. Socialist Society - The unlimited and undying quest for bigger profit will
itself spell the decline and the bloody end of Capitalist order. After the
predicted success of the Proletarian revolution around the world, a new
social and world order will emerge. Classless societies will be formed from
the ashes of Capitalism. The means of production, which the Capitalists
once enjoyed, will become a common property. Seizing the high
technologies developed during the Capitalist state will make the
distribution of goods based on abilities (this is the Socialists Theory of
Justice) to become possible. A highly centralized government exists and
assumes the role of a vanguard which will bring about the realization of
the highest state of societal development. At this stage, the role of Politics
is to ensure the extinction of Capitalism as a way of life. Politics is also
expected to promote the spirit of communality and not of profit and
individualism. Politics will ensure the realization of Communism, or the
highest level of societal development.
5. Communist State- the final stage of societal development characterized by
the abolition of states (This is because Marx believes the states are
basically Capitalists tool of preserving the interest of the ruling class) and
abolition of social and world classes. Politics in this final synthesis will
therefore be in consonance to the desired future of a global
communality.
The Significance of the Study of Politics

There is a widespread agreement that only through the politicization


of the people, the process by which public policies are made, in a
democracy, can receive systematic and meaningful treatment.
4

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Many study Political Science (the systematic study of politics)


because they believe that it provides a good training ground for those
who will pursue Law
Still others pursue the formal study of Politics as a preparatory
course for the rugged world of real-life political arenas (Ferdinand E.
Marcos took up AB Political Science and fell in-love with Machiavelli
before taking up Law at the University of the Philippines. There is this
anecdote that once Ferdinands professor has asked the clean-cut
freshman why he is studying Political Science and why he is in U.P.,
the lean-bodied Ferdinand answered bluntly: Well, because I want to
be the next President of the Philippines. Years later, the innocent
looking boy indeed took the presidency and raped the country
beyond the wildest imagination of his professor).
There are, however, a few who study politics because they believe
with Aristotle: Politics is the most sovereign of the Arts and the
Sciences, a discipline concerned with the highest good of manjustice and not necessarily as the art that should be understood in
terms of struggle for power.

Approaches to the study of Political Science


It is very important to remember that there are two general approaches to the
study of politics:
1.
Political Philosophy- concerns itself with institutions and
behavior, it focuses on normative judgements and attempts to
derive principles from objective facts with as much qualification
as the evidence will allow. It is more on prescriptive ( the
shoulds and oughts of politics ).
2.

Political Science- seeks to establish by observation, and if


possible by measurements the existence of uniformities in
political behavior and to draw correct inference from these data.
It is more on observation or/ and description of facts. It aims to
be objective and value-free on its measurement and description.

The Ideals of the Study of Politics


Ideally, the study of politics should contribute to the general progress and
development of humanity and not to perpetuate the greed for power of few
individuals, which from time immemorial, has been the root cause of mans
inhumanity towards each other. Students of Politics should use the knowledge
they acquire from their study to educate people, assuming of course that by
dealing with the study of politics they have already educated themselves, for
better citizenship. Students of Politics, in short, should help equip people with
intellectual resources that will catapult them to greater heights of human
resources and which will make their existence more meaningful and satisfying.
5

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CHAPER 2:
THE STUDY OF POLITICS AS A
SCIENCE
The theoretical and practical study of the state and of politics dates back at least
to the Ancient Greeks (about 500 to 300 B.C.)
EARLY TRENDS IN THE STUDY OF POLITICS
Plato ( 427-347 B.C. ) may be considered the father of Political Philosophy, and
Aristotle, the Father of Political Science. But both viewed the state from the
perspective of the Philosopher to whom all knowledge was an integrated whole.
The legacy of the Ancient Rome to Political Science consisted chiefly of
contributions in the fields of law, jurisprudence and public administration, all of
which bore the imprint of Stoic notions of human equality, the brotherhood of all
men, the Fatherhood of God, and the unique value of the individual, who,
however lowly, had within him spark of the divine reason animating the universe.
The philosophy of democracy, with its assumptions of human rationality, morality
and equality and its concepts of natural law and natural rights, owes much to
Stoicism and to Cicero, who incorporated Stoic philosophy into Western Political
Thought.
During the Middle Ages, the state was less important than the Church, which
indeed, came to assert its power to crown and dispose princess and to dictate
public policy. Political Philosophy was little more than a subordinate branch of
theology, political controversies were resolved by appeals to authority. The
medieval age left a legacy of concepts that are still vital parts of modern political
thought, such as the ideal world unity and a body of ethico-religious restraints
upon political action, including what Christian philosophers called the peace of
God , the fair wage, the just price, and the idea of a higher law, that was
necessarily superior to the commands of a ruler or the state. The Middle Ages
was far more consistent with Platonic tradition (philosophy) than with Aristotelian
(science ). Was it merely coincidental that the Christian church itself bore some
remarkable resemblance to Platos ideal a state philosopher-king (pope) who
was the embodiment of absolute truth ( Gods revealed law), and who presided
over the rigid hierarchy and guardians who live without family and private
property, and who in turn supervised the activities of the laboring classes. The
eighteenth century with such concepts as the separation of governmental powers
and checks the balances represented an attempt to apply mechanical principles

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to the structure to the governmental politics led to greater use of the empirical
method observing actual human institutions and processes in order to discover
fundamental political laws.
In the mid-nineteenth century, Darwins theory of evolution and natural selection
began to exert a powerful influence upon Political Science; biology came to
reinforce history in the study of the political institutions, which were seen as the
product of especially after the nineteenth century, prompted political scientists to
give more attention to the impact on government of social forces not defined with
references to the institutional outlines of the state.
METHODOLOGY OF POLITICAL SCIENCE
Observational or Empirical Method
The scientific attitude toward government has made the empirical method an
essential way of observing actual political institutions are laboratories of
empirically oriented political scientists where they experiment the workings of
these political institutions. Every change in their operation and structure, every
method in the formulation and determination of their laws and policies, and every
new system of administration in a state has great significance. The empirical or
observational method may best be employed, also, in determining the voting
behavior of the electorate in which election statistics and opinion polls are
measures used to predict the election winner. By these devices, the students of
Political Science have much to learn about voters motivations and how votes are
influenced by political issues and political candidates.
Historical Method
The historical method enlightens the students of politics on the origin and
evolution of the state and institutions, by seeking to explain what they are and
what they will be. The historical approach will make the students interested in
knowing not only the origin of the state, its government and practices, but also
the forces and factors influence its growth and development. In other words,
students should depend much upon the evidence of past experiences of the state
in order to be able to explain the present and future development of its
institutions.
Comparative Method
The comparative method in the study of Political science brings into focus
contemporary political institutions and practices of various countries at different
periods of history. From this focus, students can draw similarities and differences
in the structures and systems of the governments of these countries, in their laws
and constitutions, in their judicial system, in their Local Government Units, in their

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electoral processes, political parties, and even in the culture and customs of their
peoples.
The employment of the comparative approach has been very helpful to political
scientist in prescribing solutions to certain political problems. It presents to
students of politics and to government leaders the different processes of political
institutions and their various aspects, and gives them the opportunity to select
the best that can be adopted and suited to present conditions.
Analytical Method
Another approach to the study of Political science is the analytical method. This
field of endeavor is aimed at discovering the significant or essential elements of
political institutions in an attempt to analyze and examine their worth and value
on how they work.
The analytical method when used by the Political scientists would force him to
make a detailed study of these political institutions, evaluating their interrelations
in the exercise of their powers and performance of their functions for maximizing
government in their relations with other functional groups in society.
Therefore, a large part of the analytical study of these institutions is devoted to
understanding the mechanics and operation of institutional systems and how
they are belated to the policy within which they function.
RELATIONSHIP OF POLITICAL SCIENCE TO OTHER STUDIES
Political Science & History
The study of a state and its political institutions depend on history in knowing its
origin, its growth and development, and its institutions. An analysis of the causes
and factors that influence the states growth and development makes it
necessary for political writers to rely on historical facts. Thus, knowledge of
historical foundations of the state will help political thinkers in analyzing and
describing present political phenomena, and consequently enables them to
provide, through the lessons of the past, direction to and meaning for the future.
It can be stressed that all political institutions can be better understood in their
structure, organization and operation, in their laws and constitution by employing
the historical approach.
Political Science & Economics
Economics is a social science or branch or a study that concerns itself with the
problem of allocating scarce resources so as to attain the optimum satisfaction of
societys to unlimited wants. It is in this essence that the Political Science
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receives energy from economics. By employing the economic approach, a


student of Political science gains an insight into the economic conditions of the
state. He learns how the government shapes and determines economic policies
on the use of resources in order to achieve the best of national goals-the
economic welfare of the people.
Political Science and Sociology
Sociology is the study of the society as a whole. It is a Social Science course that
enriches Political science by its contributions to the study of social problems
which are also problems of the government. The sociologists investigations and
inquiries on crime, marital relations problems, juvenile delinquency, housing
problems are data available to Political Scientists to evaluate, and which may
later become interesting and basic subjects of legislation.
Political Science and Psychology
It has been said by some political writers that Psychology is the foundation of
Political Science. This is through the study of mens political behavior. The close
relationship of Political Science to psychology may also be understood in the
study of political dynamics where students learn a lot about the operation of
political parties to achieve their main goal of controlling the government.
Psychologys contribution to Political science can also be appreciated in the
study of public opinion which is influenced by two factors: propaganda and
pressure groups.
Political Science and Anthropology
There is also a close association of Political science with anthropology. Students
of politics are benefited by the anthropological theory of the state.
Anthropologists believe that the state evolved from the family, and from the clan
into bigger or more extensive groupings ( i.e. tribe ) and finally the nation, bound
by common ties and goals.

Political Science and Geography


The knowledge of geography is very useful in the study of Political science,
especially those aspects related to external political problems, frontiers or
boundaries, national power, and trade relations, which have led to the
galvanization of regional arrangements or associations

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CHAPTER 3
ON THE CONCEPT & NATURE OF
STATE
If there is one thing we should take note concerning the concept of a State, it is
this: State is a political entity, formed by men and women, based upon a definite
territory free from external control, with a government of their own, and alterable
(i.e. could be changed) by the ones who formed it.
Based from this definition, we have the following elements of States, which could
also be considered as requisites for its existence:

ELEMENTS OF THE STATE


1.
2.
3.
4.

People (the population residing within the state territory)


Territory (a finite, if not elastic boundaries, beyond which lie other states)
Government (the aggregate of authorities which rule the state)
Independence (freedom from external control, which presupposes
recognition from other States)
5. Sovereignty (refers to the right of the state for self determination, or to put it
simply: the right of the State to manage or decide its own domestic affairs
we shall discuss this later)

STATE DISTINGUISHED FROM NATION


The State, as a political entity must be differentiated from the concept of nation,
which is an anthropological/ psychological concept.
Nation refers essentially to the people to their commonness, and not
necessarily bound with the concept of territories or other physical attributes.
State is a legal concept as we have claimed previously, its existence requires
recognition from the international community of States. Nation, on the other
hand, is a racial or ethnic concept. Nation being an anthropological entity is used
to denote a group of people with shared characteristics like a shared language,
a shared system of beliefs (e.g. religious beliefs, a common sense of history and
a common culture). This sense of commonness is the basis of nationhood and
forms the basic premises of nationalism as a political philosophy.

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Nation-State is therefore different from State. Nation-State refers to a


community of men and women who share a common sense of history and
culture, living in a definite territory, who has a government of their own, and free
from external control.
Considering all these, we could therefore reasonably say that:
1. Before a State could exist, the existence of a nation (within the territory of
the State) must be presupposed (at least one nation of men and women).
2. There can be a nation even without a state (e.g. the case of the Moros in
Mindanao, the case of Quebec in Canada, the East Timorese in Indonesia
prior to their independence, the Jews prior to WWII, the Palestinians prior
to early 2000, etc.).

STATE DISTINGUISHED FROM GOVERNMENT


We already know that government is one among the elements of the State (and
hence, not really the same with it). However, for purposes of clarity, let us spell
out the difference between the two:
1. Government changes, the State lingers through.
In the Philippines, the government changes every six years, or every
time people overthrow it during EDSAs (we have two (in 1986 and
2000), plus another two (in 2001 and 2006) if you simply count the
incidence of people going to the Edsa Shrine shouting chants God-onlyknows-what). However, amidst these changes, the Philippines, as a
state, remains as a State - that is, as an entity that is both sovereign
and Independent.
It is also correct to point out that we could change the form of
government (i.e. from Presidential to Parliamentary), even the structure
of government (i.e. from Unitary to Federal) or even the system of
governance (from Democratic to Communistic), but these do not
change the existence of a State.
It is important therefore to take note, that States are abolished not by
abolishing the government but by abolishing all its features (its people
abandoning their own State by becoming a citizen of another States, by
abolishing its territory in an invasion

2. There cannot be a State without a government; but there can be a


government without a State.

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In the 70s there was no Palestinian State yet (but the Palestinian people,
through the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), seek this, and their
struggle against Israel has caused a lot of troubles in the region then).
However, even with the absence of a Palestinian State, the Palestinian
liberation Organization (PLO) was afforded by the United Nations a seat in
the General assembly, which for many observers, is tantamount to
recognizing a government but not a State.

3. The state is an ideal person (i.e. self-sufficient) while the government is just
one of its mere instruments.

THE BASES OF STATE

THE PHYSICAL BASIS OF STATE


There are two: Territory and People.
Territory includes lands and all inland bodies of water and the sea within the
three (3) mile limit of its shores. Territory of States can decrease or increase
through: Discovery (As in the case of Spain with the Philippines), Conquest (As
in the case of US to Mexicos California), Accretion, Prescription and or cession
thru gift (as in the case of Great Britain to Chinas Hong Kong); exchange or
purchase (As in the Case of Spain selling the Philippines to US for 20,000,000
dollars).
People There is no required number of people necessary to make up a state.
However, it should be enough to ensure the maintenance of the State and for the
State to carryout its domestic and international obligation.

THEORETICAL BASIS OF THE STATE

Divine Right Theory


This is the theory which claims that state has been divinely designed for the
benefit of the people. The state is considered to be of divine origin. It is usually
equated to the political theory of absolute monarchism and the Divine right of
Kings.

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The Social Contract Theory


It puts forward the idea that the state is a product of social compact or agreement
among people originally living in a state of nature. Hobbes, Locke and Rousseau
are the pioneers of this state theory.
Thomas Hobbes, The Leviathan: Men are forced to enter into a social contract
because there was a need for power and for security in the State of Nature. The
mutual transferring of rights is called contract. In a state of nature, man is in a
condition of war. Life in the state of nature is short, nasty, and brutish and this
forces men to look for the Leviathan or the absolute ruler who will help them
transcend the state of nature. The leviathan is the origin of governments which
makes States possible.
John Locke: Two Treatises of Government: Unlike Hobbes, Locke claimed a
more peaceful state of nature. According to this theory, man in the state of nature
is already rational and understands the laws of nature. But since there are no
bodies of person who can decide whenever conflicts arise, or no one has the
right to formulate a common law that is binding to all men, people existing in the
state of nature are predisposed to form governments to address this
inconvenience. But the government rules not without limits but to live its purpose
to protect mens persons and properties. This acts leads to the development of
the state.
Jean Jacque Rousseau, The Social Contract: In a state of nature the human
race would perish. Since men cannot engender new forces to confront the
challenges or the resistance as imposed by nature to the existence of man, man
by act of rationality will unite existing ones. In place of individual personality is a,
moral and collective body called the State or Body politic. The moment man
forms the State, he leaves the natural state and lives in a civil state. Here, he
loses his possessions and receives his properties, he loses his natural rights but
assumes civil rights. Man thus, becomes a part of a greater body: the State.

The Patriarchal and Matriarchal Theories


This collection of theories shares a common claim that the State is the
extension of family that is, it originated in the gradual transformation and
development of the original family. The family, through time, has developed into
primitive communities which in turn developed into the first modern state.

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Instinctive Theory
This theory claims that political institutions are but the objective expressions of
the instinct of men for association.
Aristotle, in his book The Politics, claimed that it is natural for men to join or to
form association because man by nature is a social animal. Mans nature is the
force behind the creation of the first families, which later developed into
communities, then into the city-states, and finally, to the modern States.
However, It is important to take note that for Aristotle, theres another instinctive
basis for the formation of human associations: self-sufficiency, or the instinct of
man to satisfy his needs which, without other people, he cannot possibly meet.
The city-state already satisfies the requirement of self-sufficiency, hence, he
does not originally contemplated the necessity of forming large units of
association like our modern States today.
Following the Aristotelian tradition, St. Aquinas claimed that men are not only
social animals but also political animals who naturally play politics. The state is
therefore natural, since it is a product of mans instinct for association.

The Necessity and Force theory


This theory asserts that states are products of conquest or wars, and hence, the
state is a product of mans desire for self-protection.
The basis of authority to rule is strength.
Examples include the ancient wars of the Western and Eastern world, the
conquest of Alexander the Great, the rise and fall of the Roman Empire, the rise
and fall of the Spanish and Portuguese empires, etc. all of which have created
States, and more States when the products of these conquests fell because of
succeeding invasions and conquests by other States. More contemporary
examples include the rise and fall of Hitlers Germany and Hirohitos Imperial
Japan in WWII, the rise and fall of the British empire in Asia in post WWII (which,
among others, created India and Pakistan).
The Economic Theory
The state is product of mens multifarious needs. Plato was considered the
pioneer of this theory. In his book The Republic, Plato argues that men needs a
lot of thing which he cannot provided all by himself. Men naturally need the help

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of other men and this predisposes them to form associations. These associations
will later develop into states.
Aristotles idea of self-sufficiency should also be recalled here.
The Historical Or Evolution Theory
The State is a product of long history of development. As compared to theoretical
theories, historical theory is the only theory that can be validated by facts; hard
evidence such as historical records and other artifacts support the development
of primitive societies to the modern day state.
However, this theory has its limitations. It cannot, for instance, account for the
first-ever coming together of men and women to form the very first stage of
State development. What it could only discuss is when this event has already
taken place. What made the first wondering men and women finally decided to
stay in just one place and form the first State? The answer to this question falls in
the realm of speculative theories.
Noting this, we now discuss in detail the Historical Basis of the Modern States
THE HISTORICAL BASIS OF THE MODERN STATES

There are five (5) different kinds of states. They are presented below according
to the order of their development:
The Primitive state
The first state formed by primitive men. It first developed in the orient (Asia).
States characterized by:
(i.)
The presence of centralized organization under one military supreme
ruler.
(ii.)
The absolute rule of the authorities, there being no political freedom
and no citizenship in the modern sense of the terms.
The City-State

Made its first appearance in the Balkan and Italian peninsula (e.g. Athens,
Sparta, etc.) these are states in small units. In the city-state of Rome, it already
posses a three Fold division of government:
(i.)
The King
(ii.)
The council (i.e. comitis curiatia)
(iii.) The Senate

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The Roman City-state, because of its more complex and effective organization,
has proved to be more powerful than the Greek City-states. It is also important to
take note that the contribution of Rome to the modern political Thought is more
on its legal institution rather than its political theories.
The Roman Imperial State

The Roman City-State has grown to become one of the leading military
superpower. Through its impressive and many successful military conquests, the
Roman City-state gradually became an empire.
Because of its huge territory (covering almost all of Europe and a part of Africa
and Middle East) and because of its growing population, the empire necessarily
required a system that could assure Unity, Organization and Law and Order.
The Romans had been successful in developing efficient system of governance
and it maintained this for many centuries. The Empire lasted for 500 years (5
centuries) in the west and for 1,500 years (15 centuries) in the East.
When the Romans Empire fell, out from its ashes arose the feudal states of
medieval Europe.
The Feudal States
After the Teutonic Tribes defeated the Romans and became the uncontested
lords of Europe, they introduced a new Political innovation based on the
combination of the Teutonic concept of the relation of the individual to the local
chief and the Romans concept of control over a definite portion of the territory.
Later on, these political units became under heavy influence of Papal authority.
This political concept became the foundation of Feudalism.
The modern State
The first appearance of the modern States could generally be traced back to the
Peace of Westphalia of 1648.
The old system crumbled and a new system is born. The former as the subject of
Papal authority and the latter as an independent political entity and accepts no
higher authority than themselves. States are now in control of their own destinies.
Thus, modern states are built on the concept of nationalism and state
sovereignty. The following are the concepts of Westphalian international law:

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(i.)
(ii.)
(iii.)

Legitimacy All states have the right to exist.


Sovereignty No authority higher than the state exists.
Duties States must observe certain rules of behavior in their
interactions with other state, respecting, among many other things, the
sovereignty of other States.

These concepts were widely accepted and paved the way for the first
proliferation on Nation-States.
Colonies adopted these concepts and broke away from the traditional empires
(e.g. the case of America, formerly known as the New World, from Great
Britain) and small territorial units were also transformed into Nations-States. The
growing consciousness of men about Self-Determination further accelerated the
growth of new nation-states.
The second proliferation of states occurred after World War II when European
states gradually granted the independence of their former colonial territories. It is
important to take note that the 3rd World countries, which include the Philippines,
are former colonial territories. Thus, it is not only Nationalism but also
Colonialism that led to the proliferation of States.
POLITICAL BASIS OF STATE
The most important concept here is Sovereignty. Sovereignty refers to the full
and exclusive power of the state to determine the course of its destiny. It also
refers to the right of states for self-determination, the supreme power of the state
to enforce obedience among its people.
Its external manifestation is States Independence.
Two Types of Sovereignty
Sovereignty is of two types:
(a.) Legal sovereignty refers t6o the power of the state to enact laws.
(b.) Political Sovereignty refers to the supreme power of the people to
determine or to elect the persons who will be in power.
Essentials of Sovereignty
The following are the essentials of Sovereignty:
(a.) Perpetuity it claims that sovereignty is inherent in state sovereignty
last as the state last.

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(b.) Comprehensiveness it claims the inclusion of all elements within the


jurisdiction of states.
(c.) Exclusiveness it claims that sovereignty is enjoyable only by a state it
is something which cannot be shared. In short, sovereignty is
monopolized only by a single state.
(d.) Absoluteness the sovereignty or the supreme power or authority is
totally assumed by state. Sovereignty follows the principle of all or Non
Principle all of sovereignty or none of it.
(e.) Inalienability it claims that sovereignty cannot be transferred.
(f.) Unity it claims that sovereignty is characterized by only one will. This
one or general will of the people as expressed by the State.
Acquisition of Sovereignty
There are two important things that we need to consider when a state receives or
acquire sovereignty:
(1.) Sovereignty is not a gift. It is not something which other state gives and
can
Retrieve whenever they desire. Sovereignty starts to exist the moment a
state is born. Thus, sovereignty is not given or can be taken away by
other states.
(2.) When people declares war for independence, sovereignty starts not on
the moment of revolutionary success but on the moment of declaration.
Once people resist foreign control or colonial authority and declare the
birth of a new state, sovereignty starts to exist until their victory or up to
the moment they are subdued.

Location of Sovereignty

Most political Scientists usually claim that political sovereignty rest in the people
while Legal Sovereignty rest in the government specifically in the legislature. But
it is more correct to consider the nature of ideology which a state holds before we
can address the problem of locating sovereignty. In a Totalitarian Regimes like
that of former USSR and dictatorial regime like the Peoples Republic of China,
political and legal Sovereignty rest entirely in the government. But in a
Democratic States like the United States of America, Political Sovereignty rests
in the People and legal Sovereignty rest in the government. But since the people
elect their representatives in their government (in a democratic states of course)
and can participate directly in law making processes, we can say that in the final
analysis sovereignty, be it legal or political, entirely rest in the people.

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THE RIGHTS OF STATES


Modern State is cloaked with the following rights, which as we have previously
noted somewhere, began in the Westphalian international law.
(i.)
(ii.)
(iii.)

(iv.)

(v.)
(vi.)

Right of Existence
Right of Independence
Right of Equality (that nation states are presumed to have equal
status, and thus expects equal treatment in the community of
nations)
Right of Property (that states is a legal entity that has a right to
own particular things within its territories, if such ownership
further the reasons for it existence)
Right of Jurisdiction (that states has the right to exercise its
authority within its territories)
Right of Intercourse (that states has the right to initiate
diplomatic communications with other states)

TYPES OF STATES
There are 2 general types of state.
(i.)

Dynastic Different nationalities, which remain, assimilated or


unassimilated.

(ii.)

National Different races acquired a community of cultural and


economic interest.

THE WORLD STATE


It is also called International Governmental Organization (IGO). It is Organization
creates by two or more sovereign states Although this organization is not and
should not properly called World State (basing from the strict definition of the
phrase World State), it provide us with the preview of the form of the World
State may take in the future.
There are several purposes of IGOs
(i.)
(ii.)
(iii.)

As forum for communications among states (e.g. UNs General


Assembly)
As regulator of certain activities or undertakings which involve two or
more states (e.g. World Trade Organization, etc.)
As regulator of scarce financial resources (e.g. IMF, etc.)

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(iv.)
(v.)

As a means for collective Security (e.g. North Atlantic Treaty


Organization NATO).
As a peacekeeper (United Nations).

Thus, the World State was established to provide mechanism for international
cooperation and for the protection of National Sovereignty of individual States.
The World State promises a better way of settling international disputes and the
avoidance of a new and probably the last World war.

RECOGNITION OF STATES
Recognition is an act by the family of nations giving States an international
status. It is an act by the people of a particular territory giving their government
the legitimacy of governance or their polity or association (the state) the right to
exist.
Some Differences Between Recognizing a State and a Government
Recognition of States refers to recognition of all the essential elements of state
for its existence (e.g. People. Territory, Government, sovereignty,
independence). Once a state is recognized, recognizing states can no longer
withdraw such recognition.
Recognition of Government, on the other hand, refers to a recognition given to
the government of the recognized state.
Unlike Recognition of States,
Recognition of Government can be withdrawn by recognizing states. But
withdrawal of such recognition will not hinder the continuity of statehood.
Two General Types of States Based on Recognition
(1) De Facto States Refers to all the requirements of statehood
except recognition from the international family of nations.
(2) De Jure States Refers to all states possessing all the
requirements of
statehood including recognition from the
international family of nations. Thus, a de facto state becomes a
de jure state once it is recognized by the family of nations.
The term de facto means by fact and the terms de jure means by
law. De facto recognition is less formal or an indirect recognition
while de jure recognition is formal and direct or recognition done with
he power of a law, which means binding to all concerned nations or
recognizing states.
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The Family of Nations


The Family of Nations refers to an international community composed by
different nation-states interacting with each other following a set of rules or is
regulated by known and accepted set of international laws.
Originally, the Family of Nations is composed by European nation-states. But
gradually, after some colonial territories declared their independence (and won
their independence) like the case of the United States of America, the Family of
Nations started to accept non-European States. The Family of Nations can be
traced in the Peace of Westphalia. After World War I, the Family of Nations was
known as the League of Nations and after the Second World War, it was known
as the United Nations.
Importance of Recognition
Recognition is important because of the following:
(1.) Trade and commerce
(2.) Information exchange in terms of Research and Development, Science and
Technology.
(3.) Industrialization and Modernization of States.
(4.) Security and protection.

Circumstances under which Recognition is Sought


(1.)De facto state long before recognition by other states.(e.g. China which is
a de facto state long before its recognition in 1907).
(2.) Recognition carved out by other state(s) either:
(a.) Peacefully e.g. US recognition to Philippines after WW II (1946)
(b.) Forcefully e.g. USA war for independence against Great Britain in
1776.
(3.)Recognition given to states formed by the union of two or more states
already members of the family of nations.(e.g. the formation of the German
Empire in 1871).
(4.)Recognition given to two or more states separating to become a separate
entities.(e.g. the separation of Norway and Sweden, the separation and
division of Germany after WW II becoming the East and west Germany,
etc.)

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Recognition of revolting Territories


Recognition of revolting territories is delicate case. Nation-States go to war once
a State recognition of revolting territory is prematurely given. One of the classic
examples to prove this assertion is the war between Great Britain and France
after the latter prematurely recognized USA in 1778.
Thus, the question is when must recognizing states give their recognition to a
revolting territory which claims statehood.
(1.) The conflict between the parent sate is practically decided or
established as a matter of fact.
(2.) When it is at the interest of the recognizing party to recognize the
revolting territory.
(3.) Necessity of recognition because of humanitarian reasons. (e.g. the
International Community recognizing East Timor as an independent
state from Indonesia.)
After considering all these, the question now becomes, Who recognize State?
For most scholars of politics, the formal answer is the Chief Executive in behalf of
the people of the recognizing sate.

Number of recognizing States


There is no prescribed numbers of recognizing state for recognition to take
place. But recognition may be:
(a)
General, or a collective act of the family of nations (e.g. a resolution
passed and adopted in the UN General Assembly recognizing the
existence of a particular State).
(b)

Provided or given by at least one leading or super power (e.g United


State of America, Russia, etc.)

(c)

Provided or given by the sate which the neophyte sate is planning to


have some dealings.

Legal Right or Duty of Recognition


Is there such a thing as a legal right or duty of recognition? The answer, as
shown in the following, depends on many factors:
(1.) There is no legal Right of de facto state to be recognized.

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(2.) There is no legal duty to recognize de facto state.


However,
(3.) There is a moral right of a de facto state to be recognized.
(4.) There is a moral duty to recognize de facto sate.
The question thus becomes: in international law do moral prescriptions have
the force of a law?
Methods of Recognizing States
There are two (2) general method of recognition:
(1.) Formal When recognition is made by or through a treaty, Proclamation
or official declaration by recognizing state.
(2.) Informal When recognition is implied (e.g. reception, Sending of
Diplomatic agents, or official salute of the flag.

Effects Of Recognition
Once a state is recognized, it implies recognition of its essential elements (i.e.
the people, its government, sovereignty and independence). It gives the
recognized state the right and duties equally enjoyed by other state before the
International law.

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CHAPTER 4
THE CONCEPTS OF GOVERMENT
AND GOVERNANCE
Government refers to the body of people and institutions that make and enforce
laws for a society. It has been said that there are no societies of man without
governments and different societies necessarily require different forms of
government. But although these governments vary from one form to another,
they share some characteristics.
These characteristics are best seen once government is compared to other
social organizations.
A. GOVERNMENT AND OTHER SOCIAL ORGANIZATIONS: A COMPARISON
IN TERMS OF COMPREHENSIVE AUTHORITY
Government

Other Social Organizations

Authority over the entire society which Authority applicable only to members of
includes social organizations together the organization
with their members.
IN TERMS OF INVOLUNTARY MEMBERSHIP
Government
Membership to the state most of the
time, without deliberate choice the
same with subjection to the
government.

Other Social Organizations


Membership is voluntary
Withdrawal from the organization is
easy.

Membership or withdrawal
Is very difficult and complicated, and in
some cases impossible.
IN TERMS OF AUTHORITATIVE RULE
Government
Authority is directly binding to all
members of the society.

Other Social Organizations


Authority over members is weak

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The rules of the government (i.e. laws)


are above any rules of social
organizations.

Rules of one social organization may


conflict with that of other social
organization

Although Social Organizations may


influence governmental processes, the
government can declare an
organization unconstitutional or illegal

There is no accepted hierarchy among


organizations.

IN TERMS OF LEGITIMATE MONOPOLY OF OVERWHELMING FORCE


Government
It legitimately utilizes a highly
organized, specially trained, and
adequately armed police and military
forces.

Other Social Organizations


It provides sanctions and can even
expel members from the organization.
Expulsion as its ultimate legitimate
weapon.
It does not have its own police force or
armed forces, nor has the power to
punish erring members with death.

IN TERMS OF THE DEGREE OF STAKES IT PURSUES


Government
Objectives cover the fate of the entire
nation, and for the superpowers, the
survival or demise of the entire
humanity (e.g. USA and USSR in cold
war era, etc.)

Other Social Organizations


It only tries to advance the interest of
the organization
Goals are limited and narrow.

It is important to take note that the uniqueness of States (and their governments)
lies on the concept of sovereignty and independence.
However, the recent actual and theoretical challenges to the concept of State
sovereignty (by International Governmental organizations, like the United Nations
and the European Union) and independence (from Multinational Corporations like
the Philip Morris International, Toyota, and Ford Motors and other world
organizations like the IMF and the World Bank) have caused the diminishing
importance of States as actors in international politics.

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B. BASIC TASKS AND TOOLS OF GOVERNMENT


(1.) State Security and Defense
The primary interest of the State is to defend its independence against
internal and external enemies. Its integrity and survival includes the use of
whatever means necessary to keep domestic conflicts from becoming a
national threat.
Here, it is important to dichotomize between the State and the government
as two different entities: The State is an aggregation of attributes which
include the government (aside from its people, its territory, sovereignty and
independence). The government is an instrumentality which State uses to
maintain its well-being (the independence of its people and the integrity of
its territory). As such, the threat to the survival of the government is not
necessarily a threat to the survival of the State. The government, in short, is
different from the State.
(2.) Interest Articulation
Interest Articulation is a process of forming and expressing demands by
political interest groups and transmitting demands to government and
authorities.
(3.) Interest Aggregation
It is the process of combining the demands of different interest groups into
public policies. It involves the art of compromise dealing with various
groups having various interest and demands. The process ensures that no
group will be ignored in the formulation of the policy.

(4.) Coercion and Compromise


The objective of the government here is to get compliance. To get this
compliance, the government threats or actually imposes force and other
form of sanctions.
However, the government may offer a compromise with interested
parties where it tries to satisfy a part of their demands to minimize cost,
or when it tries to limit lost (as imposed by the deal).

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CHAPTER 5
FORMS & STRUCTURES OF
GOVERNMENT
The existence of governments is a fact which is universally true to all societies of
man. This means that whenever there is a society there exists at least one form
of governance (be it primitive or modern).
Governments exist for it is better equipped to administer for the public welfare
than any private individual or groups of individuals.

THE PRINCIPAL FORMS

Primary governments
Most Scholars believed that it was Aristotle who first systemized the study of
governments (which the term constitution was used to refer to forms of
governance. For this reason, the government he used in his comparative study
is considered the primary forms of governments:
RIGHT
CONSTITUTIONS

PERVERTED
CONSTITUTIONS

Interest of the subjects


are prioritized; Ruling is
based on virtues to rule

Selfish Interest of the


Ruler is prioritized; ruling
is based on wealth; and
sheer number

One

Kingship

Tyranny

Few

Aristocracy

Oligarchy

Many

Polity (the rule of the Democracy (rule of the


middle class)
poor/ mob)

RULER/
INTEREST OF
RULING

The best form of Government according to Aristotle is the Polity, or the rule of the
middle class, because: Where the middle class is large there is least likely to be
factions and dissensions. The idea behind this is largely based on his
Nichomachean Ethics: The mean of both extremes is good: Many things are
best in the mean.

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For our purpose, let us consider some other important ideas of Aristotle about
politics and governance.

Citizen and Citizenship

According to Aristotle, he who has the power to take part in the deliberative or
judicial administration of any State is the citizen of that State; Citizens differ
under each form of Constitution (Note: Constitution here is different from our
modern idea of Constitution as the fundamental law of the land, for the Greeks
Constitution simply means the form of government or simply the government)
However, the common business of all citizens is the salvation and preservation of
the commonwealth.

Good man and Good citizen

There is a distinction between good man and good citizen, good man is he who
posses the moral virtue, committed to the eternal and unchanging ideals of good
and justice, while the good citizen is he who posses civil virtues, who respects
and obeys the law.
Hence, a good man is not necessarily a good citizen and vice versa: the good
man could be a bad citizen since he may resist to obey the law of the ruler which
he may perceive as contrary to good and justice, like wise, the good citizen may
become a bad man if he obeys the law that is contrary to moral good.
Note therefore that for Aristotle, the virtue of the good man and the good citizen
may coincide only if the ruler is good and a wise man.

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Hereditary Government
Monarchy is a government which the supreme and final authority is in the hands
of a single person without regards to the source of his election or the nature and
duration of his tenure. There are two (2) general classification of Monarchy:
Absolute monarchy one in which the rulers rules by divine right. The State
is identical with the ruling individual whose word is law. Thus, the ruler is the
law and above the law.
Limited Monarchy one in which the ruler rules in accordance with a
Constitution. Thus, the powers of the ruler are provided by a constitution and
are limited by a constitution.(e.g. the present queen of Great Britain)

Representative Government
Democratic government is a government which the political power is exercised
by a majority of the People (i.e. Citizens). It is a political system which
opportunity for participation in decision making is widely shared by or among all
adult citizens (Dahl, 1995). There are two (2) general classification of
Democracy:
1) Direct or Pure Democracy one in which the will of the state is formulated
or Expressed directly and immediately through the people in a primary
assembly. This classification of Democracy could be exemplified when
one considers the Athenian experience of Democracy. Athenians
assemble in public places whenever issues arise and call for their
informed decisions. (e.g. declaration of wars, establishment of an
economic relations with other city-states, etc.) In his book The Apology,
Plato described how the Athenians assembled and decided the fate of
Socrates.
2) Representative, Indirect, or Republican Democracy one in which the will
of the State is formulated or expressed through the body of person chosen
by the people to act as their representatives. The peoples representatives
decide in their (people) behalf.

Under representative, Indirect or Republican Democracy, we have to distinguish


three major types: Presidential, Parliamentary and Mixed forms Republican
Democracy. We shall consider them in turn in the following pages.

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Presidential Form of Republican Democracy


Presidential form of government is usually employed to refer to the American
System of government. According to professor Agcaoili, it refers to a political
system which the executive is independent from the legislature. This system
focuses on the separation of powers. The presidential model centralizes both
political power and symbolic authority in one individual, the president.
At this point, we have to digress a little bit further to take into account the notion
of Checks and balances. We can appreciate better the study of the different
branches of government if we consider or focus our attention on the Presidential
Form of Government. Here, the three branches are clearly divided and their
respective powers are clearly separated.

THE GOVERNMENT
EXECUTIVE
Vetoes Bills

LEGISLATIVE
Overrides Vetoes

JUDICIARY
Determines
Constitutionality of laws.

Suggest Legislations
Calls Special Sessions

Impeaches and Removes Sets up lower Courts.


Official
including
the
President
Grants Pardons for Federal
Regulates types of appeals
offenses
Sets up Agencies and
Programs
Enters into treatises
Approves or denies
Interprets
Laws
and
Treaties.
treaties.
Appoints Judges.
Impeaches and removes
Declares
actions
of
Judges.
President and Congress
unconstitutional
Fixes number of Justice
who sits on Supreme court.
Approves and rejects
Presidential Appointments.

The notion that centralized power is dangerous, thus power must be distributed
and checked, reached maturity in the eighteenth century, and its first full-scale
application was to be found in the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in
1787. There, delegates to the Federal Convention continuously cited the
celebrated Montesquieu, John Locke, Thomas Hobbes and other support of the
idea that political power, in order to be safe, had to be divided. The legislature
needs to have a check on the executive, the executive on the legislature, and so
on. Many of Johns Locke ideas were adopted and can be found in The Federalist

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(especially no.47), among other places, and expressed the philosophy that the
executive force had to be kept separate from the legislative force. For example,
the president can veto work of the Congress, and Congress can refuse to pass
the legislative request of the president, but neither can force the other to do
anything.
A pure presidential regime or system, or Presidentialism, in a democracy is a
system of mutual independence (Stepan & Skatch, 1993):
1. The legislative power has a fixed electoral mandate that is its own
source of legitimacy.
2. The chief executive power has a fixed electoral mandate that is its own
source of legitimacy.
Presidentialism has been a popular choice amongst many new democracies in
the last decade, especially in Asia, Eastern Europe and Latin America (Mahler,
1995; Lawson, 1992). While the influence of the United States, the world's best
known presidential system, is probably partly responsible for this trend, recent
experience has also highlighted a number of advantages of presidentialism:
A directly elected president is identifiable and accountable to voters
to a high degree. The office of the president can be held directly
accountable for decisions taken because, in contrast to parliamentary
systems, the chief executive is directly chosen by popular vote. It is thus
easier for the electorate to reward or retrospectively punish a president (by
voting him or her out of office) than is the case with parliamentary systems
(Mahler, 1995; Lawson, 1992; Healey and Tordoff, 1995; Hyden, 1992).
Ability of a president to act as a unifying national figure, standing
above the fray of sectarian disputes. A president enjoying broad public
support can represent the nation to itself, becoming a unifying symbol
between rival political groupings. To play this role, however, it is important
that the rules used to elect the president are tailored so as to achieve this
type of broad support.
In a presidential system, there is a higher degree of choice. The fact that
presidential systems typically give voters a dual choice - one vote for the
president and one vote for the legislature - means that voters can be
presented with a broader range of choice under presidential systems than
parliamentary ones.
Closely linked to this is the presidential systems stability of the office
and continuity in terms of public policy. Unlike parliamentary
governments, a president and his or her administration normally remains
relatively constant throughout their term, which can give greater stability in
office and predictability in policy-making than some alternatives. This
leads, in theory at least, to more efficient and decisive governance,
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making it attractive for those cases where governments change frequently


because of weak parties or shifting parliamentary coalitions, or where hard
political decisions, such as contentious economic reforms, need to be
taken (Lijphart, 1992).
Now, the problems of this system.
The presidential system has the propensity to be captured by one
faction, party or social group. This can create particular difficulties in
multi-ethnic societies, where the president can easily be perceived as the
representative of one group only, with limited interest in the needs or votes
of others (Ibid.). This is what we are dealing with in the difficult and bloody
problem concerning the Moro rebellion in Mindanao; or in Indonesia which
lead to the successful independence of East Timor and the on-going
rebellion in the archipelago (Dejillas & Mamaclay, 1995); or in the case of
Afghanistan, where a number of relatively coherent groups are present;
and Iraq, which is torn by three large ethic groups.
Other disadvantages include the absence of real checks on the
executive. This becomes even truer when there is a concordance
between the president's party and the majority party in congress. In this
case (typified, for many years, by the Philippines and Mexico) the
congress has almost no real checks on the executive and can become
more of a glorified debating chamber than a legitimate house of review.
This problem can be exacerbated by the fact that a president, unlike a
parliamentary prime minister, can become virtually inviolable during his or
her term of office, with no mechanism for dismissing unpopular
incumbents except through the difficult process of impeachment (in the
Philippines, this difficulty has already lead to two EDSA revolutions, in
1986 and in 2001).
The presidential system lacks genuine flexibility. While impeachment
of the president by the legislature is a device built into many presidential
systems, it remains the case that the presidency is a much less flexible
office than the major alternatives. Salvador Allende's election as president
of Chile in 1970, for example, gave him control of the executive with only
36 per cent of the vote, and in opposition to the centre and rightdominated legislature (Mahler, 1995). Some analysts have argued that
Chile's 1973 military coup can be traced back to the system that placed an
unpopular president in a position of considerable long-term power. In
short, the presidential system has contributed to the mergence of
militaristic and undemocratic system.

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Parliamentary Form of Republican Democracy


The Parliamentary model is a split-leadership model. split leadership or split
executive means that there are two Heads or leaders of the political system:
1. The Head of Government (or the leader vested with executive power) is
the Prime Minister. Elected by the members of the parliament themselves.
2. The Head of State (or the leader with ceremonial or symbolic powers) can
be a monarch or a president.
Head of State
Monarch
Receive Ambassadors, hosts reception
and perform other ceremonial tasks of
government.
The Head of state is the Voice of the
People, the symbol or personification of
the State prestige.

Chief executive
Prime Minister
A full-time politician, Chief Diplomat
Chief Economist, Commander in Chief
Chief Legislator and usually, the Chief
of the Party

According to Alfred Stepan and Cindy Skatch (1993), A pure parliamentary


system or regime in a democracy is a system of mutual dependence: the chief
executive power must be supported by a majority in the legislature and can fall if
it receives a vote of no confidence, and the executive power (normally in
conjunction with the head of state) has the capacity to dissolve the legislature
and call for elections.
The following are the countries possessing a Parliamentary form of government
Country
Australia
Canada
Israel
Japan
United Kingdom
Germany
Russia (1991present)

Form
Parliamentary
Parliamentary
Parliamentary
Parliamentary
Parliamentary
Parliamentary
Parliamentary

Head of State
Governor General
Governor general
President
Emperor
Queen
President
President

Chief Executive
Prime Minister
Prime Minister
Prime Minister
Prime Minister
Prime Minister
Chancellor
Prime Minister

What follows are its advantages in terms of the general context of government
accountability.
A parliamentary system has the ability to facilitate the inclusion of all
groups within the legislature and the executive. Because cabinets in
parliamentary systems are usually drawn from members of the elected

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legislature, parliamentary government enables the inclusion of all political


elements represented in the legislature (including minorities) in the
executive. Cabinets comprising a coalition of several different parties are
a typical feature of many well-established parliamentary democracies. In
societies deeply divided by ethnic or other cleavages, this principle of
inclusion can be vital (Lijphart, 1992).
Parliamentary systems also have flexibility and capacity to adapt to
changing circumstances. Because governments in most parliamentary
systems can change on the floor of the legislature without recourse to a
general election, advocates of parliamentarism point to its flexibility and
capacity to adapt to changing circumstances as a strong benefit. A
discredited government can be dismissed from office by the parliament
itself, in contrast to the fixed terms common to presidential systems.
The parliamentary system is said to foster greater accountability on
the part of the government of the day towards the people's representatives
because it promotes "Checks and balances" by making the executive
dependent, at least in theory, upon the confidence of the legislature.
Proponents argue that this means that there is not only greater public
control over the policy-making process, but also greater transparency in
the way decisions are made (Mahler, 1995; Lawson, 1992; Healey and
Tordoff, 1995; Hyden, 1992).

However, the parliamentary system is not all together free from any
disadvantages.
First, it exhibits a tendency towards ponderous or immobile decisionmaking. The inclusiveness that typifies coalition governments can easily
turn into executive deadlocks caused by the inability of the various parties
to agree upon key issues. This was typified by the "immobilism" that
affected Fourth Republic France and that was partly responsible for
General de Gaulle's assumption of presidential power (Mahler, 1995).

The Parliamentary system may also lead to some problems


concerning accountability and discipline. Critics argue that
parliamentary systems are inherently less accountable than presidential
ones, as responsibility for decisions is taken by the collective cabinet
rather than a single figure (hence, it is difficult to pin point whos
accountable). This is especially problematic when diverse coalitions form
the executive, as it can be difficult for electors to establish who is
responsible for a particular decision and make a retrospective judgement
as to the performance of the government (Healey and Tordoff, 1995;
Hyden, 1992).
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It also shows propensity towards weak or fragmented government.


Some parliamentary systems are typified by shifting coalitions of many
different political parties, rather than by a strong and disciplined party
system. Under such circumstances, executive government is often weak
and unstable, leading to a lack of continuity and direction in public policy
(Ibid.).
COMPARING PRESIDENTIAL AND
PARLIAMENTARY POLITICAL SYSTEMS
PRESIDENTIAL
Mandate

PARLIAMENTARY

Direct

Indirect

The President is directly


responsible to the people who
directly elected him/her

The Prime Minister is directly


responsible not to the people,
but to the Parliament which
has selected him/her

High

Low

Executive: Veto
Legislative: Impeachment
Judiciary: Judicial Review

The Executive and Legislative


are fused in one body

Slow

High

High incidence of gridlock

The executive and legislative


are dependent to one another

Stability

Stable
Fixed Term

Unstable
Prime Minister could be
dismissed any time e.g. vote
of no confidence

Tendency towards
authoritarianism

High
Studies show that
presidentialism has fallen into
authoritarianism in every
country it has been attempted,
except the United States.

Low

Impediments to leadership
change

High

Low

Impeachment is usually
difficult and protracted; may
result to ultra-legal and or
extra-constitutional means.

Unpopular leader could be


removed by a vote of no
confidence, a device which is
a "pressure release valve" for
political tension.

Separation of powers

Speed and decisiveness

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Responsibility and
Accountability

Low

High

It reduces accountability by
allowing the president and the
legislature to shift blame to
each other.

Semi-presidential Form of Republican Democracy

The third executive type is sometimes called "semi-presidentialism". Under this


model, a parliamentary system and a prime minister with some executive powers
is combined with a president, who also has executive powers. The ministry is
drawn from and subject to the confidence of the legislature. This is a relatively
unusual model - found today in France, Portugal, Finland, Sri Lanka and one or
two other countries - but nonetheless is sometimes advocated as a desirable
executive formulation for fragile democracies (Mahler, 1995; Lawson, 1992;
Healey and Tordoff, 1995; Hyden, 1992).
The primary advantages of this system lie on its appeal and ability to
combine advantages of presidentialism and parliamentarism: the
benefits of a directly elected president with a prime minister who must
command an absolute majority in the legislature. A move to semipresidentialism has been recommended as a good "half way house" for
some countries that want to combine the benefits of both presidential and
parliamentary systems. The semi-presidential system also satisfies the
so-called mutual consensus requirement. Proponents of semipresidentialism focus on the capacity of semi-presidentialism to increase
the accountability and "identifiability" of the executive, while also building
in a system of mutual checks and balances and the need for consensus
between the two executive wings of government. This mutual consensus
requirement can be particularly important for divided societies, as it
requires a president to come to an agreement with the legislature on
important issues, and thus to be a force for the "middle ground" rather
than the extremes.
However, neither this form or system of government is perfect.
There is, and there remains, the propensity for deadlock between and
within the executive arms of government. Because a government's
powers are effectively divided between the prime minister and the
president - for example, foreign affairs powers being the preserve of the
president while the prime minister and the cabinet decides domestic policy
- a structural tension exists within the government as a whole. This can
lead to deadlock and immobilism, particularly if, as occurs relatively often,
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the prime minister and the president come from opposing political parties.
Closely related to this problem is the observation that the benefits of
compromise and moderation can degenerate into a stand-off (Mahler,
1995). This is especially the case when the division of responsibility
between the two offices is not always clear (e.g., foreign policy in the
French system), and where the timing and sequencing of elections
between the houses differs (Ibid.).

STRUCTURES OF GOVERNMENT

This form of government is based on the extent of powers exercised by the


central or national Government:

There are two (2) classifications of this form of governments:


(1.) Unitary Government one in which the control of national and local affairs
is exercised by the central or national government. Examples: Philippines,
France, Japan, etc.
(2.) Federal Government one in which the power of government are divided
between two sets of organs, one for national affairs, and the other for State
affairs. Each organ being supreme within its own sphere. In the case of the
United State of America, individual states (e.g. Chicago, Los Angeles, etc.)
has the right to make their own local laws (e.g. taxation, etc.) but they
cannot possibly conclude treaties with other foreign states, declare war
against other foreign states or recognize other states. These functions are
the functions of the federal government. Examples: Germany, United States
of America, Malaysia, etc.
In the US, the State police (LADP, N.Y.D.P, etc.) has no jurisdiction over
crimes which are federal or interstate in nature, in cases like these the
Federal Bureau of Investigation will have the jurisdiction.

Federal Structure
National Govt: 10%
State Government: 90%

Unitary Structure
National Govt: 90%
Local Government: 10%

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THE DIVISION OF FUNCTIONS BETWEEN THE NATIONAL & STATE


GOVERNMENTS IN A FEDERAL STRUCTURE OF GOVERNMENT

According to many observers, federalism improves governance through a new


division and specialization of government functions. There is usually a broad
devolution of power, authority, and the needed revenues and resources from
the national government to the States. Local governments are also closer to
the people and have greater impact on their lives.
The Federal Government
The Federal Government shall be responsible only for:
1. National security and defense,
2. Foreign relations,
3. Currency and monetary policy,
4. Citizenship,
5. Civil, political and other human rights,
6. Immigration,
7. Customs, the Supreme Court,
8. The Constitutional Tribunal, and the Court of Appeals, and
9. Other functions of federal governments.
The States
Most other government functions and services that impact directly on
the lives of the people shall be the main responsibility of States or
regional governments and their local governments. These include
1. Peace and justice;
2. Agriculture and fisheries;
3. Energy, environment & natural resources;
4. Trade, industry and tourism;
5. Labor and employment;
6. Public works, transportation and communication;
7. Health and Basic education,
8. Science and technology;
9. Culture (language, culture and the arts);
10. Social welfare and development; and
11. Public safety and police.

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OTHER ADVANTAGES OF THE FEDERAL SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT


1. A federal republic will bring about peace and unity in ethnic, religious and
cultural diversity. This is especially true in Mindanao where for
generations, the Christian settlers have not found just and lasting peace
with Muslim residents. The traditional policy of assimilation and
subordination has failed. On the other hand, responsive federalism will
lead to accommodation within the Republic and discourage secessionism.
2. Federalism will empower state and local leaders and citizens throughout
the country. With policies, programs, and decisions made outside the
national capital, local leaders will assume greater responsibility for
leadership and service delivery. People will be more involved and will
demand better performance and accountability. As a consequence, they
will be more willing to pay taxes to finance government programs for their
own direct benefit.
3. Federalism will hasten the countrys development. Since planning and
policy decision making will be given to the States, there will be less
bureaucratic obstacles to the implementation of economic programs and
projects. There will also be inter-state and regional competition in
attracting domestic and foreign investments and industries. Resources will
be better distributed among the provinces/regions since government
revenues will be devolved. States will have more funds for infrastructure
and other economic projects. Federal grants and equalization funding from
the federal government and the more prosperous states will help support
the less endowed and developed regions, and the poor and the needy
across the land. This will result in more equitable development.
4. Federalism will enhance democracy. The citizens will have more
opportunities to participate in state affairs beyond voting.

ON TOTALITARIAN AND DICTATORIAL FORM OF GOVERNMENT

Dictatorship is a political System in which the opportunity to participate in


decision making is restricted to a few. Political scientists coined the term
Totalitarianism to refer to Dictatorships Modern Version. Totalitarianism was first
experienced in the Stalinist USSR.
For our purposes, totalitarian form of government refers to a political system in
which the government absolutely dominates every aspect of the lives of its
people.

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Six (6) Distinct qualities of Totalitarianism


(1.) An elaborate ideology that covers each and every phase of an
individuals life.
(2.) A single party (political party) that typically led by an individual.
(3.) Widespread system of terror against external and internal enemy of the
regime.
(4.) Total control of the Mass Communication.
(5.) Monopoly over the weaponry and the Armed Forces.
(6.) Control over the direction of the entire Economy.

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CHAPTER 6:
POLITICAL & ECONOMIC
IDEOLOGIES
It is common for political thinkers and writers, especially in comparative politics,
to claim that one of the easiest ways of differentiating the nature of governments
is to identify the nature or type of the ideologies they adopted, that is, the
differences in the nature of governments in the world are usually associated with
the differences in their ideologies. For example, the former USSR, CHINA,
VIETNAM, CUBA and NORTH KOREA adhere to Socialism and Communism as
having a different political system as compared to US, GREAT BRITAIN,
FRANCE, CANADA, and the PHILIPPINES because of their adherence to
Democracy and Capitalism.
In this Chapter we will study the nature, the function and structure of major
political and economic ideologies.

Defining Ideologies
Heywood defines Ideology as a coherent set of ideas that provides the basis for
organized political action, where this is intended to Preserve, modify, or
overthrow the existing system of power.
This definition provides us with three important ideas that applies to all sorts of
ideology:
1. Ideology is a coherent set of ideas not just a mere collection of
statements or philosophical articulations.
2. Ideology provides a basis for political action put in other way, ideologies
is action oriented, it primarily arouse people who hold them into a
purposeful action. And this political action is geared to:
3. Ideology is used to Preserve, modify, or overthrow the existing system of
power.
As such, we can say that all or any ideology:
1. Situates people within a particular social environment.
2. Is both idea and action oriented.
3. Offers an account of the existing order.
4. Provides the model of a designed future.
5. Explains how political change can be best achieved.

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In the next sections we shall look into these claims much closer, focusing on the
structure and function of political and economic ideologies. Then towards the
concluding section, we will consider some major types of ideologies which helped
form the world as we know it today.

STRUCTURAL COMPONENTS OF IDEOLOGY


There are three major structural elements of Ideology: section, Philosophy,
Program and Propaganda.
Philosophy: What is to be desired.
The philosophical component of Ideology enables Ideologies to formulate
desirable goals based on some Philosophical notions. As such, Ideology is not
Philosophy - rather it makes an open or hidden appeal to Philosophy. Ideology
takes side on the issues that have divided philosophers over the centuries it
presents those that best serve its overall Intention. Philosophy is thus employed
to provide a rational basis for those things that are proposed to be achieved. The
Philosophical component of ideology involves evaluation of the present system of
things, whether it is desirable or not. The following are examples of philosophical
questions which interests ideology:
a) What is justice, and what is a just society? (For Marx, justice follows
the maxim each according to Ability, each according to Needs. For
Smith, each according to his contribution)
b) Does history have a meaning, or is it a vast mass of separate events?
(For Marx it does)
c) Does God exist? (For Lenin it does not, God is just an opium of the
people)
Is the world material or Spiritual (For Marx its material)
However, Ideology seldom employ Philosophical notions completely, neither it
uses them clearly and carefully. The reason for this is simple the complexity
and technicality of Philosophical concepts will bore most of the audience away an
ideology is suppose to reach. To be politically effective, an ideology must
unavoidably abridge, simplify, translate, and thus transform the relevant
philosophical notions.
Program: What is to be done
Whereas Philosophical component vaguely suggests desirable goals, the
Program must spell out more specifically the things that must be done. Whereas
Philosophical component evaluates if something is desirable or undesirable,
Program judges if something should be preserved or changed.

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The Program component effectively serves as the connecting link between the
Philosophical component and the highly concrete imagery of the propaganda
component.
Propaganda: How to provoke Action
Of the three structural component of Ideology, Propaganda is the most elusive. It
is directly linked to the mobilization function (i.e. arousing people to political
action). The concept of Propaganda could either be perceived as traditional or
modern:
a) Traditional Propaganda Propaganda referring both to a process
and means to modify ideas, to change adherence to a doctrine, to
lead people to a choice, or to transform opinion.
b) Modern Propaganda Propaganda as a means to provoke action,
to make individual cling irrationally to a process of action, to loosen
reflexes of people, to arouse in people an active and mythical
belief.
Propaganda is usually done by employing any or all of the following means:
a) Rational and Intellectual Discourse;
b) Exaggerations and Crude oversimplifications;
c) Hypercharged Rhetorics; and
d) Mythic Themes

FUNCTIONAL COMPONENTS OF IDEOLOGY


We now try to look closely at what ideologies actually do in political life.
Ideology has three major Functions: interpretation, legitimization and
mobilization.
Interpretation
Ideology functions as a set of guides or standard by which people interpret or
give meaning to the political world. It helps people to see some political objects
more clearly than they might otherwise. However, what a person can see and
appreciate in the political world depends on what ideology he believes in.
Ideology helps us appreciate some objects and obscure others. As different
ideologies understandably provide their own peculiar insights and blind spots.
Ideologies are like eye glasses: the right prescription can improve our vision
considerably, where as the wrong lenses can reduce us to near blindness (Ibid.
p.8).
Legitimization
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Another function of Ideology is the legitimization of political regimes. Ideology


provides rational basis as to why people should support a particular regime or
why laws, rules and regulations should be followed. It justifies the existence and
explains the rightfulness of a particular system of power. Though legitimization or
legitimation is only one of the many ways to command obedience, for instance
other ways may include the use of brute force, legitimization is perceived to be
the most effective and the most comfortable means in ensuring the cooperation
of the people. According to Gaetano Mosca (1958: p.52):
No political class, however constituted, ever admits
that it commands for the sole reason that it is
composed of elements which are or have been to
that historical point fittest to govern. It always finds
justification of its power in an abstract principle, in a
formula
Mosca called this formula Political Formula. Political formula serves both to
explain and justify the rule of the ruling class, the change in the political formula
indicates the change in the actual composition of the ruling class. However, it
should be pointed out that the political formula is not above the ruling class,
rather the ruling class adopts the political formula that is most useful to it.
Mobilization
The third function of Ideology is Mobilization. Generally, Mobilization refers to the
process of inspiring people into action or making people act in ways it is
expected or intended for the achievement of something. We noted that
mobilization function is directly linked with propaganda. As such, ideology has a
mobilizing force that works both in elite and mass level. There are two classes of
people which Ideology can mobilize.
a) Intellectual Elites the intellectuals who feel alienated to the status
quo. They are the principled people who are prone to think of
themselves as the custodian of moral, social and religious values,
which the existing system and its ideology are perceived to be
violating.
b) The Masses the man in the street who are deeply frustrated
because of their unachieved aspirations and the state of their material
condition. The frustrated Masses do not want complex analyses or
sophisticated diagnoses of their plight , they want simple answers to
what is wrong as well as short-order solutions to their woes
(Haggopian: 1993, p.10). Ideologies mobilize the masses by fanning
this discontent into full conflagrations.

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SITUATING POLITICAL & ECONOMIC IDEOLOGIES


The most familiar model in studying ideologies is the Linear Spectrum. It locates
political beliefs at some point between two extremes, the far left and the far right.
Terms such as left wing or right wing are widely used to sum up a persons
political beliefs or position, and groups of people are referred to collectively as
the left, the right, and indeed the center.

Left

Center

Communism

Socialism

Liberalism

Right
Conservatism

Fascism

The linear spectrum is commonly understood to reflect different political values or


contrasting views about economic policy. Below is the summary of the political
values and economic views that are commonly expressed by Left and Right
Ideologies and ideologues:
POLITICAL VALUES
LEFT
RIGHT
Committed to Equality
Reject Equality
Equality is desirable and
Equality is undesirable
possible to achieve
and impossible
Revolutionary
Reactionary
Change the system
Preserve the status quo

ECONOMIC VIEWS
LEFT
State
regulated/
Economy

RIGHT
planned Free-market economy

Abolition of Private property

Protection of
private property

Right

to

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The linear spectrum also locates the position of the ideologues (i.e. believers of a
particular ideology) as to their proximity to the center, to the extreme Right and
extreme Left of the spectrum. Each of these classes of people manifests certain
values.
Left
Radical

Right
Liberal

Moderate

Conservatives

Reactionary

Radical Associated with violence; characterized by an extreme political and


social dissatisfaction; Progressive; It favors drastic and immediate change; it
believes that man are capable of changing the present system and new system
will be much better than that which is desired to be overthrown.
Liberals Dissatisfied and desires change and reform but not through violence;
It believes that humans are capable of changing social institutions; it believes in
Human Rationality; it is committed to equality.
Moderate Satisfied in the existing order of things but open to possibility of
change; it believes that if change is to be done, it should be gradual and slow so
as not to disrupt social order.
Conservative Satisfied in the existing order of things and closed to the
possibility of change; It doubts human rationality and capability to devise and
construct better alternative to the existing order; It believes that man is selfish.
Reactionary Associated with violence; characterized by an extreme political
and social dissatisfaction with existing order of things; Retrogressive; It desires
the return of the former or old value systems.

Some Notes on the Linear Spectrum


The single most important weakness of Linear Spectrum is its attempt to reduce
politics to a single dimension, and suggests that political views can be classified
according to only one criterion. This explains for most of its inconsistencies.
Fascist regimes, for instance, practices state control and economic management,
hence it should be placed in the far left, but Fascist regimes are reactionary,
hence it should be placed in the far right. In cases as this, where should such a
regime be placed? Linear spectrum does not provide an answer.

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MAJOR TYPES OF POLITICAL & ECONOMIC IDEOLOGIES

DEMOCRACY
Democracy is a form of government in which a substantial proportion of the
citizenry directly or indirectly participates in ruling the state. It is thus distinct from
governments controlled by a particular social class or group or by a single
person. In a direct democracy citizens vote on laws in an assembly, as they did
in ancient Greek city-states. In an indirect democracy citizens elect officials to
represent them in government; representation is typical of most modern
democracies. Today the essential features of democracy, as understood in the
Western world, are that citizens be sufficiently free in speech and assembly, for
example to form competing political parties and that voters be able to choose
among the candidates of these parties in regularly held elections.
Origins Of Democracy
The term democracy is derived from the Greek words demos ("the people") and
kratia ("rule"). The first democratic forms of government developed in the Greek
city-states during the 6th century BC. Although demos is sometimes said to
mean just "the poor," Aristotle's Constitution of Athens shows that in Athens all
citizens, rich and poor, participated fully in government; minors, women, slaves,
and foreigners, however perhaps 90 percent of the population were not citizens.
The Following are its primary Characteristics:
a) Representation: Government as a representative body that is, a body elected
by the entire adult population on the basis of one person, one vote;
b) Popular Sovereignty: John Locke, articulated a theory of government that was
to be seminal in democratic development i.e. end of government and right to
rebel (See Chapter 4, Section 4.8.2) Lockes idea of popular sovereignty was
taken a step further by Jean Jacques Rousseau who argued that the only
legitimate state was one based on the "general will" of the people;
c) The Ideal of Justice: Democracy has attracted support from the time of ancient
Greece until today because it represents an ideal of justice as well as a form
of government. The ideal is the belief that freedom and equality are good in
themselves and that democratic participation in ruling enhances human
dignity. Political participation encourages the fair treatment of a minority;
d) Freedom and Faction: The vote itself is not enough to guarantee that
oppression will be eliminated. For participation to be an effective method or a
feasible ideal, it must be accompanied by political liberty. As James Madison
wrote in The Federalist, "Liberty is to faction as air is to fire." The freedoms

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that promote faction are important, not only as high moral ideals, but also as a
method of realizing democracy.
Difficulties Of Democracy
Democracies are not easy to establish or to maintain. Because two sets of rulers
are required, one to govern and the other to take over when the first set loses an
election, democracy is expensive. Some societies seem too poor to afford the
luxury of leaders-in-reserve. In the modern world, moreover, democracy requires
almost universal literacy, which is also expensive. The worst defect of democracy
is that politicians are under constant pressure from the lobbyists of specialinterest groups to support particular public policies. Because their future depends
on winning elections, and because elections are won by attracting marginal
voters, politicians seek the support of marginal voters who belong to such groups
by promising to vote for legislation they favor. This weights the legislative
process in favor of interest groups, especially the well organized and well funded.
The sum of the benefits granted to these groups may be more than the society
can afford. These kinds of expenses have contributed to the downfall of
democratic governments as has happened in various regions in the second half
of the 20th century.

Democracy & Capitalism


Capitalism is an economic system that usually goes with Democracy (but this is
not a necessary relationship Capitalism, as demonstrated years before WWII,
could flourish in Fascist and Nazist regimes) in which the means of production
are privately owned. Business organizations produce goods for a market guided
by the forces of supply and demand. Capitalism requires a financial system that
enables business firms to borrow large sums of money, or capital, to maintain
and expand production. Underlying capitalism is the presumption that private
enterprise is the most efficient way to organize economic activity. Adam Smith
expressed this idea in his Wealth of Nations (1776), extolling the free market in
which the businessman is "led by an invisible hand to promote an end which was
no part of his intention." The marketplace is the center of the capitalist system. It
determines what will be produced, who will produce it, and how the rewards of
the economic process will be distributed. From a political standpoint, the market
system has two distinct advantages over other ways of organizing the economy:
(a) no person or combination of persons can control the marketplace, which
means that power is diffuse and cannot be monopolized by a party or a clique;
(b) the market system tends to reward efficiency with profits and to punish
inefficiency with losses. Economists often speak of capitalism as a free-market
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system ruled by competition. But capitalism in this ideal sense cannot be found
anywhere in the world. The economic systems operating in Western countries
today are mixtures of free competition and governmental control.

COMMUNISM
The term communism is generally applied to the Marxist-Leninist political and
socioeconomic doctrines. This system, associated with the collective ownership
of the means of production, central economic planning, and rule by a single
political party. We will include in this section the basic idea of Maoism.

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Marxism
Marxism is a body of social, political, and economic thought derived from the
writings of Karl Marx and his collaborator, Friedrich Engels. At the center of
Marx's work is his analysis of capitalism: how it arose, how it works (for whom it
works better and for whom worse), and where it is likely to lead. Concentrating
on the social and economic relations in which people earn their livings, Marx saw
behind capitalism's legal facade a struggle of two main classes: the capitalists,
who own the productive resources, and the workers, or proletariat, who must
work for wages in order to survive. The main theories that make up this analysis
is the theory of alienation, the labor theory of value, and the materialist
conception of history must all be understood with this focus in mind. Even Marx's
vision of socialism emerges from his study of capitalism, for socialism is the
unrealized potential inherent in capitalism itself for a more rational and egalitarian
social order in which people can develop more fully their distinctively human
qualities.
On Alienation: Marx's theories about capitalism are best understood as answers
to his pointed questions about its nature, effects, and development. How do the
ways and conditions in which people earn their living affect their bodies, minds,
and daily lives? In the theory of alienation Marx gives his answer. The people
who do the work in capitalism own none of the means (machines and raw
materials, for example) that they use in their work. These are owned by the
capitalists, to whom workers must sell their "labor power,"or ability to do work, in
return for a wage. This system of labor displays four relations that lie at the core
of Marx's theory of alienation. The worker is alienated from his or her productive
activity, playing no part in deciding what to do or how to do it. The worker is
alienated from the product of that activity, having no control over what is made or
what becomes of it. The worker is alienated from other human beings, with
competition and mutual indifference replacing most forms of cooperation. Finally,
the worker is alienated from the distinctive potential inherent in the notion of
human being.

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On the Theory of Value: It is primarily concerned with the more basic problem
of why goods have prices at all. The slave owner takes by force what slaves
produce. The feudal lord claims as a right some part of what is produced by the
serfs. Only in capitalism is the distribution of what is produced a function of
markets and prices. Marx's explanation of this anomaly concentrates on the
separation of the worker from his or her means of production and the sale of his
or her labor power that this separation makes necessary. As a result of this
separation, all the things that workers produce become available for exchange,
indeed are produced with this exchange in mind. "Value" is the general social
form taken by all the products of alienated labor (labor to which the four relations
of alienated labor apply). Such products could only sell (have "exchange values")
and serve (have "use values") in ways that express and contribute to this
alienation. Surplus value, the third aspect of value, is the difference between the
amount of exchange and use value created by workers and the amount of value
returned to them as wages. The capitalist's control over this surplus is the basis
of their power over the workers and the rest of society. Marx's labor theory of
value also provides a detailed account of the struggle between capitalists and
workers over the size of the surplus value. Because of competition among
capitalists, workers are constantly being replaced by machinery, enabling and
requiring capitalists to extract ever-greater amounts of surplus value from
workers remaining. Paradoxically, the amount of surplus value is also the source
of capitalism's greatest weakness. Because only part of their product is returned
to them as wages, the workers, as consumers, cannot buy a large portion of what
they produce. Under pressure from the constant growth of the total product, the
capitalists periodically fail to find new markets to take up the slack. This leads to
crises of "overproduction," capitalism's classic contradiction, in which people are
forced to live on too little because they have produced too much.
On Materialistic Conception of History: The actual course of history is
determined by class struggle. According to Marx, each class is defined chiefly by
its relation to the productive process and has objective interests rooted in that
relation. The capitalists' interests lie in securing their power and expanding
profits. Workers, on the other hand, have interests in higher wages, safer working
conditions, shorter hours, job security, and because it is required to realize other
interests a new distribution of power. The class struggle involves everything that
these two major classes do to promote their incompatible interests at each
other's expense. In this battle, which rages throughout society, the capitalists are
aided by their wealth, their control of the state, and their domination over other
institutions schools, media, churches that guide and distort people's thinking. On
the workers' side are their sheer numbers, their experience of cooperation
however alienated while at work, trade unions, working-class political parties
(where they exist), and the growing contradictions within capitalism that make
present conditions increasingly irrational. Marx believed that once most workers
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recognized their interests and became "class conscious," the overthrow of


capitalism would proceed as quickly and democratically as the nature of capitalist
opposition allowed. The socialist society that would emerge out of the revolution
would develop the full productive potential inherited from capitalism through
democratic planning on behalf of social needs. The final goal, toward which
socialist society would constantly build, is the human one of abolishing alienation.
Marx called the attainment of this goal communism.
Leninism
Lenin was not only a revolutionist but a prolific writer who made important
additions to the theory of Marxism and created a doctrine for professional
revolutionists that gained considerable influence in the economically backward
areas of the world. In his pamphlet What Is to Be Done? (1902) he called for an
elitist, disciplined party of professional revolutionists to lead the working class
toward communism. The principles of "the leading role of the party" and
"democratic centralism" meaning an almost military organizational discipline
within the party were supposed to be practiced by all Communist parties. Lenin
also preached flexibility in strategy and tactics, by which he meant a willingness
to adapt party programs so as to enlist the support of the peasantry and
oppressed national minorities without giving up the goal of communism.
Maoism
Although the Chinese Communist party gave lip service to the doctrines of Lenin
and Stalin, its Marxism was shaped by its own unique experience and blended
with the ideas of Mao. Mao saw humans as engaged in a permanent struggle
against nature. Society was driven by contradictions between classes
(antagonistic
contradictions)
and
between
groups
(nonantagonistic
contradictions). The antagonistic contradictions could be solved by revolution, but
after the revolution it was necessary to work out the nonantagonistic
contradictions that existed among the people and even within the party. Mao also
believed that the revolution did not end when the Communists came to power; it
had to be waged continually against vestiges of the old culture and against
bureaucratic habits. Under Mao, China was subjected to startling shifts in policy
that began with the elite and were carried downward through all parts of society.
Communism & Socialism
The term socialism is commonly used to refer both to an ideology: a
comprehensive set of beliefs or ideas about the nature of human society and its
future desirable state and to a state of society based on that ideology. Socialists
have always claimed to stand above all for the values of equality, social justice,
cooperation, progress, and individual freedom and happiness, and they have
generally sought to realize these values by the abolition of the private-enterprise
economy and its replacement by "public ownership," a system of social or state
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control over production and distribution. Methods of transformation advocated by


socialists range from constitutional change to violent revolution. Some scholars
believe that the basic principles of socialism were derived from the philosophy of
Plato, the teachings of the Hebrew prophets, and some parts of the New
Testament (the Sermon on the Mount, for example). Modern socialist ideology,
however, is essentially a joint product of the 1789 French Revolution and the
Industrial Revolution in England (i.e. the word socialist first occurred in an
English journal in 1827).
Varieties Of Socialism
The following are forms of Socialism:
a) Marxism: Developed by the German thinkers Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels
and has been generally regarded as the most sophisticated and influential
doctrine of socialism. Marx, who was influenced in his youth by German
idealist philosophy and the humanism of Ludwig Andreas Feuerbach,
believed that human beings, and particularly workers, were "alienated" in
modern capitalist society
b) Moderate Socialism (a.k.a. social democracy, Fabianism): These moderates
sought to achieve socialism by parliamentary means and by appealing
deliberately to the middle class. It did not, like Marxism, look toward the
complete abolition of private property and the disappearance of the state but
instead envisaged socialism more as a form of society in which full
democratic control would be exercised over wealth, and production would be
controlled by a group of responsible experts working in the interests of the
whole community;
c) Christian Socialism: Christian Socialist in the main supported moderate social
democracy, emphasizing what they understood as the central message of the
church in social ethics, notably the values of cooperation, brotherhood,
simplicity of tastes, and the spirit of self-sacrifice; d) Radical Socialism: Under
this category is Anarchism: whose immediate aim is the abolition of the State.
Anarchists, influenced mainly by the ideas of the Frenchman Pierre Joseph
Proudhon and later of the Russian Mikhail Bakunin were intent on
immediately overthrowing the capitalist state and replacing it with small
independent communities. Unlike the Marxists, whom they bitterly criticized,
anarchists were against the formation of socialist parties, and they repudiated
parliamentary politics as well as the idea of revolutionary dictatorship.

ANARCHISM
Anarchism is an ideology that regards abolition of government as the necessary
precondition for a free and just society. The term itself comes from the Greek
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words meaning "without a ruler." Anarchism rejects all forms of hierarchical


authority, social and economic as well as political. What distinguishes it from
other ideologies, however, is the central importance it attaches to the state. To
anarchists, the state is a wholly artificial and illegitimate institution, the bastion of
privilege and exploitation in the modern world. The immediate objective of
Anarchism is the annihilation of the state and of all authority imposed "from
above downward." Once liberated from political oppression, society would
spontaneously rebuild itself "from below upward." A multitude of grass-roots
organizations would spring up to produce and distribute economic goods and to
satisfy other social needs.
The state, with its impersonal laws and coercive bureaucracies, would be
supplanted by a dense web of self-governing associations and free federations.
Anarchists had an enduring faith in the natural solidarity and social harmony of
human beings. They believed that the creation of the future society should be
entrusted to the free play of popular instincts, and any attempt by anarchists
themselves to offer more than technical assistance would impose a new form of
authority. They tended to concentrate, therefore, on the task of demolishing the
existing state order rather than on social blueprints of the future. While battling
the established order, anarchists also battled the alternatives proposed by
liberalism and socialism. Like Marxism, anarchism was anticapitalist and scorned
liberalism's dedication to political liberty on the grounds that only the propertied
classes could afford to enjoy it. Anarchists rejected with equal vehemence,
however, the Marxist "dictatorship of the proletariat," the idea of capturing and
using the capitalist state to achieve a classless society. Political institutions were
inherently corrupting, they believed, and therefore even the most selfless
revolutionaries would therefore inevitably succumb to the joys of power and
privilege. Instead of the state "withering away," as the Marxists anticipated, it
would simply perpetuate a new bureaucratic elite.
Because anarchism regarded doctrinal and organizational discipline as
contradictions of its principles, it gave rise to a wide variety of interpretations:
a) Anarchist-communists: shared many of the collectivist principles of socialism
but sought to realize them in autonomous local communities;
b) Anarcho-syndicalism: was an adaptation of anarchist ideas to modern
industrial conditions. It advocated the running of factories by the workers
themselves rather than by owners or managers, with trade unions (in French,
syndicats) forming the building blocks of a regenerated society;
c) Christian anarchism: formulated by the novelist Count Leo Tolstoi which
rejected the state on religious grounds, and
d) Anarchist-individualists: who proclaimed the sovereignty of the individual
personality.Contrary to widespread belief, terrorism was never an integral part
of anarchist theory or practice. Some anarchists, however, did engage in what
they called "propaganda by the deed," acts of terror and assassination
against state officials and property owners.
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CHAPTER 7:
THE PHILIPPINE POLITICAL
SYSTEM
Section 1, Article II of the Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines declares
that the country is a democratic and republican state and that all government
authority emanates from the people.
A republic is a representative government where public officials derive their
mandate from the people, act on their behalf, and are at all times accountable to
them on the principle that their office is a public trust. Three equal branches of
government existexecutive, legislative, and judicialand operate under the
doctrine of separation of powers and a system of checks and balances.
Executive power is vested in the president. Legislative power is vested in a
bicameral Congress that consists of the House of Representatives and the
Senate. Judicial power is vested in the Supreme Court and such lower courts as
may be created by law. The branches of government are examined in the
following sections. Constitutional commissions, and local governments and
autonomous regions are also included for us to better understand the system of
accountability which is already in place as provided by the 1987 constitution.

THE EXECUTIVE BRANCH


Executive power is the power to execute laws and rule the country as chief
executive, administering the affairs of government (Nolledo, 1996). The president
heads the executive branch. The vice-president replaces the president when the
latter dies, is permanently disabled, or is removed from office or resigns. The
president and vice-president are elected by a direct vote of the people and may
only be removed by impeachment. The former is limited to one 6-year term, while
the latter is prohibited from serving for more than two successive 6-year terms.
The heads of executive departments comprise the Cabinet. They are nominated
and, with the consent of the Commission on Appointments, appointed by the
president, who has full control of all executive departments, bureaus, and offices.
The vice-president may be appointed to the Cabinet without any need for such
appointment to be confirmed by the Commission on Appointments. Two of the
four vice-presidents who served in the post-Marcos period held the foreign affairs
portfolio. At the opening of every regular session of Congress, the president
delivers the State of the Nation Address that principally discusses current political
and socioeconomic conditions and outlines the administrations policy and

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program targets for the year, including its legislative agenda. Within 30 days
thereafter, the president has a duty to submit to Congress a budget message and
a proposed national budget consisting of a budget of expenditures and sources
of financing and revenues that will serve as the basis for the annual general
appropriations bill. The president also has the power to contract or guarantee
foreign loans on behalf of the country, with the prior concurrence of the Monetary
Board, and to enter into treaties or international agreements that become
effective only with the concurrence of the Senate.
The president is also the commander-in-chief of the armed forces. The president
may suspend the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus and place the country or
any part thereof under martial law, under limited conditions prescribed by the
Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines that also include mechanisms for
congressional revocation and Supreme Court review of the factual basis thereof.
A state of martial law does not suspend the operation of the Constitution of the
Republic of the Philippines or supplant civil courts and legislative assemblies.

LEGISLATIVE BRANCH

The present Congress of the Philippines, created under the 1987 Constitution of
the Republic of the Philippines, represents a return to bicameralism after almost
a decade of experimenting with the unicameral Batasang Pambansa (National
Legislature) that was mandated by the 1973 Constitution of the Republic of the
Philippines.
When President Aquino assumed office through what is now known as the EDSA
Revolution or People Power Revolution, she declared the 1973 Constitution of
the Republic of the Philippines without force and effect by virtue of her exercise
of revolutionary powers. Exercising the same powers, she promulgated the
Freedom Constitution, which was in effect until the ratification of a new
constitution (i.e. the 1987 Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines). The
1987 Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines, crafted by some 50
delegates appointed by President Aquino through the exercise of revolutionary
powers under the Freedom Constitution restored the presidential system of
government together with a bicameral Congress of the Philippines, which
consists of the House of Representatives and Senate. Upon its restoration, the
Congress of the Philippines proceeded to its 8th Congress (19871992), taking
up where it left off during the 7th Congress, when Martial Law was declared.
Presently, the Congress of the Philippines is in its 13th Congress (2004 2007).
The Senate is composed of 24 senators elected at-large (Section 2, Article VI, of
the Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines). To qualify for election as
senator, one must be a natural-born citizen and, on the day of the election, 35
years of age or older and able to read and write; a registered voter; and a
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Philippine resident for not less than 2 years preceding the day of the election.(
Section 3, Article VI, of the Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines).
Senators each serve a 6-year term and can only be elected to two consecutive
terms. After two consecutive terms, senators are barred from running for another
consecutive term. However, after 6 years from the end of a senators two
consecutive 6-year terms, a former senator can run for a senate post again.
Voluntary renunciation of the office for any length of time shall not be considered
as an interruption in the continuity of service for the full term for which a senator
is elected (Section 4, Article VI, of the Constitution of the Republic of the
Philippines).
The House of Representatives is composed of district representatives and partylist representatives. The former are elected directly by qualified constituencies of
specific political and territorial units. The latter are elected at-large and indirectly,
through the parties they represent, which are qualified to participate in party-list
elections and are able to garner the requisite percentage of votes (Section 5,
Article VI, of the Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines) as provided in
RA 7941 (Party List Law). Congress can increase the number of districts
nationwide and thus the number of district representatives. Party-list
representatives, by constitutional mandate, should constitute 20% of the total
membership of the House (including the total number of party-list
representatives). To date, in the 13th Congress (20042007), 212 district
representatives and 24 party-list representatives constitute the total membership
of the House. To qualify for election as a member of the House of
Representatives, one must be a natural born citizen who is at least 25 years of
age on the day of the election and able to read and write, a registered voter in
the district in which he or she would be elected (except party-list
representatives), and a resident therein for at least 1 year immediately preceding
the day of the election. Representatives each serve a term of 3 years (Section 6
and Section 7, Article VI, of the Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines)
and can only be elected to serve three consecutive terms. After the third
consecutive 3-year term, a representative cannot be elected for another
consecutive term. Individuals seeking reelection must wait 3 years from the day
their three consecutive 3-year terms ended before running for election again as
representatives of their districts. Like senators, voluntary renunciation of their
office for any length of time shall not interrupt the continuity of service for the full
term for which they were elected.
A vacancy created by the death or permanent incapacity of a senator or
representative may be filled through a special election. Anyone elected through
such special election shall serve only the unexpired term of his or her
predecessor. Salaries of legislators are determined by law. Any increase in their
compensation can take effect only after the expiration of the term of the
legislators approving such an increase. This limitation does not include
allowances and other emoluments. The Constitution of the Republic of the
Philippines also mandates that records and books of accounts of Congress be
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open to public scrutiny. COA, empowered to audit such books, is tasked to


publish annually an itemized list of amounts paid to and expenditures of every
member of Congress. Records and books of accounts of Congress are not,
however, readily accessible even to members of Congress. Recently, some
members of the House demanded transparency in the management of the
accounts of the House, specifically regarding the matter of additional supervisory
or management-level appointments. Their call for opening the books was not
favorably acted upon by the Committee on Accounts. Annual publication of
itemized expenditures of Congress members, however, was faithfully complied
with.
Members of Congress, while Congress is in session, enjoy the privilege of
immunity from arrest. This privilege covers civil arrests and arrests for criminal
offenses punishable by not more than 6 years of imprisonment, and the privilege
of speech and debate that shields a legislator from being made to account in any
place other than Congress for remarks made while the legislature is in session or
in connection with legislative duties. Slanderous remarks in a private
conversation with another person are not covered by this immunity, and a
member may be called to account for these remarks by his colleagues and
punished for disorderly behavior, when warranted. Upon assumption of office,
members of Congress are required to make a full disclosure of their financial and
business interests, and they must notify the chamber to which they belong of
potential conflicts of interest that may arise from their authorship and filing of
proposed legislation (Section 12, Article VI, of the Constitution of the Republic of
the Philippines) to prevent members from using their positions for ulterior
purposes and dispel suspicions of impropriety in the performance of their
functions.
Members of Congress cannot hold any other offices or be employed in or by the
Government or any government subdivision, agency, or instrumentality (including
government-owned or controlled corporations or their subsidiaries) during their
term without forfeiting their seats. Any such other office that is held is known as
incompatible office. Furthermore, members of Congress cannot hold any office
that may have been created or the emoluments of which were increased during
the term for which they were elected. These offices are known as forbidden
office. Holding another office is not prohibited, but simultaneously holding
another office and a seat in Congress is prohibited. Legislators may hold other
government offices, but they must forfeit their seats in Congress (Section 13,
Article VI, of the Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines; Adaza vs.
Pacana (135 SCRA 431). This forestalls the possibility of a legislator owing
loyalty to another branch of government, which could prejudice the independence
of Congress and infringe upon the doctrine of separation of powers. Holding
offices that are considered extensions of legislative positions or are in aid of
legislative duties are, however, allowed. Membership in the electoral tribunals is
allowed by the Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines. As to forbidden
office, the intent is to prevent legislators from using their position to secure their
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future in government by creating lucrative positions and ensuring their


appointment thereto during their incumbency.
Congress members are also prohibited from personally appearing as counsels
before courts of justice or before electoral tribunals or quasi-judicial and
administrative bodies, to prevent members from exerting undue influence on the
tribunals or bodies before which they appear (Section 14, Article VI, of the
Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines). This issue was raised in the
celebrated Vizconde Massacre trial, which involved the appearance therein of
Senator Renato Cayetano as private counsel for the plaintiff. Personal
appearance alone is proscribed by the Constitution of the Republic of the
Philippines. Lawyer-legislators can engage in their profession and provide legal
services to anyone with a pending case before any judicial or administrative
body, but they cannot personally appear in trials and/or hearings related thereto.
That the undue influence of legislators on judicial proceedings can be prevented
simply by inhibiting their personal appearance before judicial and administrative
bodies is, however, doubtful.
Legislators are similarly prohibited from having financial interests in any contract
with the Government or any subdivision, agency, or instrumentality thereof
(including government-owned or -controlled corporations) or any franchise or
special privilege granted by any of these during legislators terms in office.
Legislators are also prohibited from intervening in any matter before any office of
the Government for pecuniary benefit. These prohibitions are intended to prevent
legislators from taking advantage of their position to amass financial gain or profit
from government service (Section 14, Article VI, of the Constitution of the
Republic of the Philippines).
Under Article VI, Section 16 (3), of the Constitution of the Republic of the
Philippines, the Senate and the House have the power to determine the rules of
their proceedings; punish their members for disorderly behavior; and, with the
concurrence of two thirds of all members, suspend (for a period not exceeding 60
days) or expel a member. Congress alone can determine what constitutes
disorderly behavior, and its determination cannot be judicially reviewed. The
senate and house committees on ethics and privileges have jurisdiction over all
matters relating to the discipline of members, and only upon their
recommendation would a chamber vote be held to determine whether or not to
impose disciplinary action on any member. Finding members guilty of and
punishing them for disorderly behavior depends on the ability of complainants to
secure enough votes in the committee and in plenary to adopt such a finding and
approve the imposition of disciplinary action. Without a consensus of the minority
and majority, members generally avoid disciplining their colleagues accused of
disorderly behavior.

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Powers of Congress
Congress exercises legislative and nonlegislative powers (Cruz, 1998).
Legislative power includes lawmaking, appropriation, and taxation. The power of
investigation and oversight are inherent to the power of lawmaking.
Nonlegislative power includes the power to canvass presidential elections,
declare war, concur with treaties and amnesties, propose constitutional
amendments, and impeach officials (Section 4, Article VII; Section 23, Article VI;
Section 21, Article VII; Section 1, Section 2, and Section 3, Article XVII; and
Section 3, Article XI, of the Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines). From
express powers granted by the Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines,
Congress derives its implied powers, such as the power to punish for contempt in
legislative investigations.

Legislative Power
Legislative power is the power to enact laws and is exercised through the
approval of a bill that, upon such approval, becomes a law or statute. The power
to make laws includes the power to amend and repeal them. The legislative
process, briefly, is as follows:
Bills are introduced or filed by members of the House or Senate in
respective chambers (According to Section 24, Article VI, of the
Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines, a bill may be introduced
either in the House or in the Senate. Bills concerning the same subject
may also be filed simultaneously and separately in the House and
Senate. Bills concerning appropriation, revenue, or tariffs; bills
authorizing increases in the public debt; bills of local application; and bills
that are private must originate exclusively in the House of
Representatives. The Senate, however, may propose or concur with
amendments.). Each bill must relate to only one subject, and this subject
should be expressed in the title (Section 26 (1), Article VI, of the
Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines). Bills then undergo first
readings in plenary, where their numbers and titles and the names of the
authors are read. The speaker or senate president thereafter refers bills
to the appropriate committees for study. Bills may be tabled or
dispatched in committees or recommended for approval, with or without
amendments or in consolidation with other bills of the same nature
and/or purpose. In the latter case, bills are reported through committee
reports (A committee prepares a report on a bill only if a committee
decides to recommend a bill for approval by the House) and are
deliberated upon by the Committee on Rules, which decides whether or
not bills should be calendared for second readings. On second reading,
a bill is read in its entirety, on the floor by the chair of the sponsoring
committee and its authors, and subjected to debate and amendments as
warranted. Amendments may be submitted by the committee or by
individual members. Thereafter, the bill is subjected to voting on second

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reading. When approved on second reading, the bill is printed in its final
form, and copies are distributed to the members at least 3 days before
the same can be calendared for third reading. A bill can be recommitted
to the committee of origin any time before its approval on third reading
(According to Section 26 (2), Article VI, of the Constitution of the
Republic of the Philippines, a bill must undergo three readings, on three
separate days, except when the president certifies that bill as urgent to
meet a public calamity or emergency). On third reading, no further
debate or amendment is allowed. Members register their vote and may
explain their votes in such manner as allowed by the rules of each
chamber. After approval on third reading, the bill is transmitted to the
other chamber, where it undergoes the same process (If a chamber has
a counterpart bill to a bill passed by the other chamber and these bills
have conflicting provisions, a bicameral conference committee
composed of representatives from each chamber is formed to harmonize
the conflicting provisions. Thereafter, a conference committee report is
prepared for ratification or approval by both chambers). If approved by
the other chamber, the bill is enrolled and printed as finally approved by
Congress and transmitted to the president for final approval. The
president may sign the bill into law or veto it. Should the president fail to
act on a bill within 30 days of receiving it, that bill is deemed to have
lapsed into law. If the bill is vetoed, the bill may still become a law if
Congress decides to override the veto by a two-thirds vote of all its
members.

The power of legislative investigation


This power, as provided in Section 21, Article VI, of the Constitution of the
Republic of the Philippines is inherent in the legislative power and an essential
and appropriate auxiliary to the legislative function (Watkins vs. United States,
354 S 178 [1957]) with its exercise coextensive with the range of legislative
power (McGrain vs. Doherty [273 US 135]). Legislative power includes
lawmaking, representation, consensus building, legitimizing, policy clarification,
and legislative oversight (Davidson et al. 1987). Lawmaking is the traditional task
of deliberating the actual content of policies; representation is the process of
articulating the demands or interests of various constituencies; consensus
building is a bargaining process through which various constituency demands are
aggregated in such a way that no significant constituency is severely or
permanently disadvantaged; legitimizing is the ratification of a measure or policy
in a way that is appropriate, acceptable, and authoritative; policy clarification
involves the identification, publicizing, or ventilation of policy concerns and
issues; and legislative oversight is the review of the implementation of laws or
legislative policies to either alter fundamental policies or introduce equity in their
application (Davidson et al. 1987).
The purposes of congressional investigations are roughly classified into three
categories: (i) those whose purpose is obtaining information bearing upon
legislation; (ii) those that examine the operations of the executive and
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administrative branches with a view to determining their efficiency; and (iii) those
that seek primarily to inform and mold public opinion (Rivera 1962).
Each chamber has rules governing inquiries in aid of legislation. Anyone who
fails or refuses to attend a legislative investigation upon proper summons may be
punished for contempt of court (Arnault vs. Nazareno, 87 Phil 29, [1950]).
Questions that may be raised in a legislative inquiry need not be relevant to any
pending measure. They need only be germane to the subject matter of the
investigation, as the proceedings may result in a proposed legislation based on
the findings of the investigating committee. In effect, virtually nothing is immune
from legislative investigation. Under the Rules of the House governing Inquiries
in Aid of Legislation, not even the filing or pendency of a case before any court,
tribunal, or quasi-judicial or administrative body can stop or abate any inquiry.
Legislative power also embraces the power to summon heads of executive
departments to appear and be questioned before Congress in plenary sessions
on any matter pertaining to their departments, through the conduct of a question
hour (Section 22, Article VI, of the Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines).
Like the power of investigation, this power strengthens legislative oversight or
congressional watchfulness over an executive department to ensure that laws
are effectively implemented and enable the legislature to formulate remedial
measures, should laws fail to respond to the needs they were intended to
address.
Power of Appropriation
According to Section 25, Article VI, of the Constitution of the Republic of the
Philippines, Congress may not increase the budget recommended by the
president for the operation of the Government. Congress can, however, reduce
the same, provided that the budget of the Judiciary will not be reduced to a level
lower than the preceding years appropriations (Section 3, Article VIII, of the
Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines). Moreover, to be valid, an
appropriation must be for a public purpose and not for the benefit of any private
individual or interest. The sum authorized to be released must be determinate or
determinable. Even discretionary funds should be disbursed for public purposes
only and supported by appropriate vouchers. According to the Constitution of the
Republic of the Philippines, however, the president, the president of the Senate,
the speaker of the House of Representatives, the chief justice of the Supreme
Court, and the heads of constitutional commissions may, by law, be authorized to
augment any item in the general appropriations law for their respective offices
from savings in other items of their respective appropriations. But any transfer of
funds from one branch or department to another by the president subverts the
doctrine of separation of powers and the will of the Legislature that enacted the
measure. The president does not have the power to appropriate or to change the
appropriations approved by Congress through a general appropriations act. Only
Congress can make such transfers through an appropriations law.
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Power of Taxation
Congress alone exercises the power of taxation. Members decide what to tax,
how to tax, and how much tax will be imposed. The president only exercises
such tax powers as may be delegated by Congress. Without legislative
authorization, the president cannot increase or reduce taxes or diminish or
expand the coverage of tax laws. The power of taxation is circumscribed by
constitutional mandates stating that taxation shall be uniform, equitable, and
progressive (Section 28 (1), Article VI, of the Constitution of the Republic of the
Philippines). Uniformity in taxation means that people or things belonging to the
same class shall be taxed at the same rate. Equality in taxation means that the
tax imposed should be determined on the basis of the value of the property
taxed. To be equitable means that the tax burden should be imposed on the
basis of a taxpayers capacity to pay. A progressive system of taxation is
essentially an equitable system of taxation and is suited to the economic
conditions of the people.
War Power and Power of Concurrence
Congress, by a vote of two thirds of both houses, in joint session assembled,
voting separately, has the sole power to declare the existence of a state of war
(Section 23 (1), Article VI, of the Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines).
The war power of Congress proceeds from a recognition that war has already
begun or has been provoked by the enemy, and Congress is only affirming its
existence. Any amnesty granted by the president and any treaty or international
agreement the president entered into in behalf of the Government becomes valid
and effective only upon concurrence of at least two thirds of all the members of
the Senate (Section 19 and Section 21, Article VI, of the Constitution of the
Republic of the Philippines). The Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines
does not distinguish between a treaty and an international agreement. Both are
subject to the power of concurrence of Congress through the Senate. This
underlies controversies on the validity of the Mutual Logistics and Support
Agreement between the United States and the Philippines. Billed as an executive
agreement, it is, nonetheless, an international agreement that, under the
Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines, requires Senate concurrence to
be valid.
Impeachment Power
Cruz (1998) writes that impeachment is a method of national inquest into the
conduct of public men. In reality, however, except where there is a strong public
outcry against the respondent the decision to impeach is usually blocked by a
protective majority on the basis of partisan or pragmatic considerations. As noted
earlier, it is a fact of Philippine political history that no single President, or VicePresident has ever been impeached. Politics may also provoke the impeachment
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of an official who has incurred the hostility of the party in power, or even a
hyperactive minority.
In the Philippines, the impeachable officers are the president, vice-president,
members of the Supreme Court, members of constitutional commissions, and the
ombudsman (Section 2, Article XI, of the Constitution of the Republic of the
Philippines). The list is exclusive and may not be increased or reduced by
legislative enactment. The grounds for impeachment are culpable violation of the
Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines, treason, bribery, other high
crimes, graft and corruption, or betrayal of public trust. Culpable violation of the
Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines is the willful, wrongful, and
intentional disregard of the same. Treason is committed by any person who,
owing allegiance to the Philippine Government, levies war against it or adheres
to its enemies, giving them aid and comfort (Article 114 of the Revised Penal
Code (Republic of the Philippines 1938). Bribery is committed by a public officer
who agrees to perform any act, whether or not constituting a crime; refrains from
performing an act that he or she is officially required to perform, in consideration
of any offer, promise, gift, or present received by him or her, personally or
through the mediation of another; or accepts gifts offered to him or her by reason
of his or her office (Article 210 and Article 211 of the Revised Penal Code
(Republic of the Philippines 1938). The term other high crimes refers to
offenses that are of so serious and enormous a nature as to strike at the very life
of the orderly workings of the Government. Graft and corruption are understood
in the context of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act in force at the time of
the adoption of the Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines. Betrayal of
public trust is a new ground for impeachment intended as a catch-all provision to
cover all offenses unbecoming a public functionary that are not punishable under
criminal statutes, such as inexcusable negligence of duty, tyrannical abuse of
authority, cronyism, favoritism, and obstruction of justice (Volume 2, p.272 of the
Records of the Constitutional Convention).
The House of Representatives has the sole power to initiate impeachment by a
vote of at least one third of its members. Under the House Impeachment Rules
following the Supreme Court ruling in the case of Francisco, et al. vs. the House
of Representatives (General Record [GR] No. 160261,10 November 2003),
impeachment is initiated when the complaint is filed and referred to the
Committee on Justice. Within 1 year from the time impeachment is initiated, no
impeachment complaint can prosper against the same official. An impeachment
complaint may be filed through a verified complaint of a member of the House or
through a verified complaint of any citizen that is endorsed via a resolution by a
member of the House. These complaints are processed by the Committee on
Justice, which determines the sufficiency in form and substance of such
complaints. If it is found sufficient in form and substance, the impeachment
complaint is endorsed by the House through the articles of impeachment that the
House then transmits to the Senate, which has the power to try and decide the
impeachment case. For an impeachment complaint to be directly transmitted to
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the Senate, serving already as the articles of impeachment, the complaint must
be subscribed to and signed by at least one third of the members of the House
upon its filing.47 In the impeachment trial, the House, through a committee of 11
members (selected from among those who voted in favor of the impeachment),
acts as the sole prosecutor in the impeachment case (The impeachment
complaint against President Joseph Estrada, which was directly transmitted as
articles of impeachment to the Senate through the action of then Speaker Manuel
Villar, was not subscribed to and signed by one third of the total members at the
time it was filed, as required by the House Impeachment Rules. Said complaint
was appropriately filed as a complaint accompanied by a resolution of
endorsement of a House member, which requires a finding of sufficiency in form
and substance by the Committee on Justice, and approval by the House in
plenary before it could be transmitted, together with the articles of impeachment,
to the Senate). When the president is on trial, the chief justice of the Supreme
Court presides but shall not vote. A conviction requires the concurrence of two
thirds of all members of the Senate.
Impeachment proceedings are judicial and penal in character. Thus, the rights of
the accused to due process and against self-incrimination must be respected.
The Rules of Court, while not strictly applicable, are, nonetheless, observed. As
in ordinary criminal actions, proof beyond reasonable doubt is necessary for
conviction (Cruz 1998). A judgment of conviction is not subject to judicial review.
The official so convicted is not subject to the pardoning power of the president.
Power to Amend the Constitution. Amendments to or revision of the
Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines may be proposed by Congress by
a vote of three fourths of all its members. By a vote of two thirds of all its
members, Congress can call a constitutional convention, or by a majority vote of
all its members, submit to the electorate the question of calling such a
convention. Amendments refer to piecemeal changes, while revision entails a
wholesale rewriting of the document. Any amendment or revision must be ratified
by a majority of votes cast in a plebiscite, which shall be held not earlier than 60
days or later than 90 days after the approval of such amendment or revision.
THE JUDICIAL BRANCH
Judicial power is vested in the Supreme Court and in lower courts as may be
established by law. Section 1, Article VII, of the Constitution of the Republic of
the Philippines states that judicial power includes the duty of the courts of justice
to settle actual controversies involving rights that are legally demandable and
enforceable and the power of judicial review to determine whether or not an
abuse of discretion occurred that amounted to a lack or excess of jurisdiction on
the part of any branch or instrumentality of government. The Supreme Court is
composed of a chief justice and 14 associate justices. The members of the
Supreme Court and judges of lower courts are appointed by the president without
need for confirmation and hold office during good behavior until they are 70 years
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of age or cannot discharge their duties due to incapacitation. Judges are chosen
from a list of nominees prepared by the Judicial and Bar Council, whose principal
function is to recommend appointees.
The Supreme Court exercises original jurisdiction over cases affecting
ambassadors and other public ministers and consuls and petitions for certiorari,
prohibition, mandamus, quo warranto, and habeas corpus. The Supreme Court
has appellate jurisdiction over final judgments and orders of lower courts in such
cases as are enumerated in the Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines. It
promulgates rules on pleading, practice, and procedure in all courts and
admission to the practice of law. Moreover, the Supreme Court exercises
administrative supervision over all courts and their personnel. The Constitution of
the Republic of the Philippines also vests the Judiciary with fiscal autonomy.
According to Section 2 and Section 3, Article VII, of the Constitution of the
Republic of the Philippines, appropriations for the Judiciary may not be reduced
by Congress below the amount appropriated for the previous years and, after
approval thereof, shall be automatically and regularly released. These sections
also state that no law can be passed to reorganize the Judiciary when it
undermines the security of tenure of its members.
CONSTITUTIONAL COMMISSIONS
The constitutional commissions, namely the Civil Service Commission,
Commission on Audit, and Commission on Elections, are empowered to appoint
their own personnel in accordance with law, exercise fiscal autonomy, and
promulgate their own rules concerning pleadings and practices before them or
before any of their offices.
The Civil Service Commission, headed by a chairperson and two commissioners,
is the Governments central personnel agency and is tasked with establishing a
career service, strengthening the merit and rewards system, integrating all
human resource development programs, and institutionalizing a management
climate conducive to public accountability in the bureaucracy. The Commission
on Audit, headed by a chairperson and two commissioners, examines, audits,
and settles all accounts pertaining to the revenue and receipts of, and
expenditures or uses of, funds and property owned and held in trust by the
Government. The Commission on Elections, headed by a chairperson and six
commissioners, enforces and administers all laws and regulations relative to the
conduct of elections, plebiscites, initiatives, referenda, and recalls. The
Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines provides for the evolution of a free
and open party system according to the free choice of the people.
The respective chairs and commissioners of constitutional commissions serve for
terms of 7 years without reappointment.

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LOCAL GOVERNMENTS &


AUTONOMOUS REGIONS
The territorial and political subdivisions of the country are barangays (smallest
local government units). The barangay is the basic political unit. A group of
barangays forms a municipality or a city. A city may be classified as a component
or a highly urbanized city, depending on its population and income level. A group
or cluster of contiguous municipalities or municipalities and component cities
comprises a province. At present, there are 41,943 barangays, 1,495
municipalities, 115 cities, and 79 provinces.
Barangays are created by
ordinances passed by city or municipal sanggunians (councils). Laws enacted by
Congress create municipalities, cities, and provinces. The creation of a local
government or its conversion to another type is based on three criteria: income,
population, and land area.
Under the 1991 Local Government Code, barangays serve as the primary
planning and implementing units of government policies and forums where
collective views may be expressed and disputes amicably settled. The
municipality and the city are general-purpose governments that coordinate and
deliver basic, regular, and direct services to their inhabitants. A province is a
political and corporate government unit providing a mechanism for development
processes and effective governance. Local government powers are vested in
officials who are elected to serve 3-year terms. Chief executives are the punong
barangay (barangay chairman), municipal mayors, city mayors, and provincial
governors. The legislative bodies are the sangguniang barangay (barangay
council), sangguniang bayan (municipal council), sangguniang panglungsod (city
council), and sangguniang panlalawigan (provincial board).
Local governments enjoy local autonomy, with the president exercising general
supervision over them. Provinces, with respect to component cities and
municipalities, and cities and municipalities, with respect to component
barangays, also exercise general supervision over their component local
governments and ensure that the acts of the latter are within the scope of
prescribed powers and functions.
Autonomous regions in Mindanao and the Cordilleras also exist. These regions
consist of provinces, cities, municipalities, and geographical areas that share
common and distinctive historical and cultural heritage and economic and social
structures. The organic acts that govern these regions provide that they exist and
function within the framework of the Constitution of the Republic of the
Philippines and that they uphold national sovereignty and preserve national
territorial integrity. The president also exercises general supervision over the
autonomous regions to ensure that laws are faithfully executed.

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Here are the summary of other information you may want to know about Local
Governments in the Philippines (for a more specific discussion of the following,
consult the Local Government Code of 1991):
ELEMENTS OF A LOCAL GOVERNMENT
(1) Defined area
(2) Population
(3) Continuing Organization.
(4) Authority to undertake and power to carry out public activities.

MUNICIPAL CORPORATION
It refers to a public corporation created by the government for political purposes
and having subordinate and local powers of legislation. It consist of six (6)
elements:
(1) Legal creation or incorporation.
(2) Corporate name
(3) Inhabitants
(4) Place or Territory
(5) Charter
(6) Legislative Power
FIVE LEVELS OF LOCAL GOVERNMENTS IN THE PHILIPPINES
(1) Barnggay
(2) Municipality
(3) City
(4) Province
(5) Region
GENERAL POWERS OF THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT
There are five(5) general powers of the Local Government, namely:
(1) Corporate powers
(a) To have continuous succession in the corporate name
(b) To sue and be sued
(c) To have and use a corporate seal
(d) To acquire and convey real or personal property
(e) To enter into contracts
(f) To exercise such powers as granted to corporations.
(2) Governmental Powers
(a) Promotion of health and safety
(b) Improvement of poverty
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(c) Improvement of morals


(d) Maintenance of peace and order
(e) Preservation of the comfort and convenience of the inhabitants.
(f) Exercise the right of eminent domain (See discussion on Art. III
Sec. 9 on the general powers of the government).
(g) Has the power to create its own sources of revenue and to levy
taxes.
4. Legislative Powers
(a) Has the power to make laws
(Sangguniang
Pambaranggay
for
Baranggay
ordinances;
Sangguniang Panlalawigan for Povincial ordinances; Sanggunian
Panlunsod for city ordinances; Sanggunian Bayan for municipal
ordinances) legislature also takes the form of resolutions, and
excecutive orders from the different levels of the Local Government.
(b) Directional Powers
Refers to the power to establish fiscal policy through the local budget;
makes plans for capital improvement; adjustment of departmental
organizations; establishment of personnel policies, etc.
(c) Executive Powers (in the Legisltative Powers)
Refers to the power to confirm or reject the mayor or governors
appointment to the position of department heads.
(d) Administrative Powers
Refers to the power to:
(1) review ordinances, resolutions,
appropriations.
(2) Grant franchise
(3) Conduct committee activities

executive

orders

(e) Public Relations Functions


1. Executive Powers
(a) Sending executive notes to the Sanggunian
(b) Using the veto power
(c) Appointing and removing subordinates
(d) Preparing the budget
(e) Issuance of directives, licenses and permits
(f) Conduct of meeting and conference which require
reports
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(g) Conduct of investigation


2. Administrative Powers
(a) Departmentalization of the local administrative
mechanism to simplify administrative processes. This
is according to:
(i) by purpose
(ii) by process
(iii) by area clientele

THE ROLE OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT AT VARIOUS LEVELS


(a) The Baranggay
Task: To broaden the base of citizen participation in the
democratic process and to afford ample opportunity for the citizenry
to express their view on important national issue.
Role: To constitute the base for citizen participation in
governmental affairs and the collective views of the people in the
Baranggay shall be considered in the formulation of national
policies and programs and, whenever practicable, shall be
translated into concrete and specific decisions. (PD No.86, 1972;
PD No.86-A1973)
(b) The Municipality
Serves as the general purpose for the coordination and delivery of
basic, regular, and direct services within its jurisdiction.
(c) The City
Also serves as the general purpose like the municipality, the city
provides all basic services to its constituents. The city is more able
to operate and develop the area on its own resources. The city is
meant to concentrate all its resources on urban problems.
(d) The Province
To serve as an effective mechanism in the development process
and assume basically area-wide functions, roles and activities.
(e) The Region

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Establish as an intermediary political tier between the national and


the local units.

CENTRAL LOCAL GOVERNMENT RELATIONSHIP


In a unitary system of government like in the Philippines there is no intermediary
level of authority established between the national government and the LGs. The
national government exercises general supervision over the LGs. Therefore,
local authorities are directly responsible to the national government.

Central-Local government relationship may be examined in terms of


decentralization and distribution of government powers, central government
supervision over local governments and relationship of national field offices with
local governments.

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CHAPTER 8:
PHILIPPINE POLITICS &
GOVERNANCE: ISSUES &
CHALLENGES
Improving government performance is the battle cry of every political
administration. The absence of good governance is the reason why many
countriesespecially in the third world continue to fail in their efforts at poverty
reduction and in their quest for economic and human development.
Accountability plays a very crucial role in good governance (Healey & Tordoff ,
1995).
Our bid for good governance stretched back since we gained our independence
as a nation. The later part of 1990s witnessed the most recent attempt with the
Ramos administrations plan to reengineer the bureaucracy and set the guiding
principles for reorganizing and improving government operations (World Bank &
Asian Development Bank, 2002). Then came the Estrada administrations
creation of the Presidential Commission on Effective Governance (PCEG) (which
was created through Executive Order (EO) No. 165, dated 19 October 1999), to
formulate an institutional strengthening and streamlining program for the
executive branch, including GOCCs and state universities and colleges. Then the
reform bid of the Macapagal-Arroyo administration, the blue print of which was
laid down in her MTPDP aiming to reorient the government bureaucracy,
minimize overlaps in public programs and projects, check the expansion of
government activities, and stress the importance of building strong institutions
capable of implementing good policies and delivering responsive essential
services.
Sadly, none of the names mentioned above successfully made the Philippine
government comes nearer to the ideals of a good or accountable government.
The constitutional and legal frameworks in the Philippines may provide the
foundations for good governance, but with the absence of a serious system of
making political leaders accountable, many policies fail to command respect and
compliance. Lack of accountability has resulted to extensive graft and corruption
in the country which undermines and subverts the rule of law.
We shall here consider some of the many perennial problems of governance in
the Philippines.

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THE PHILIPPINE ELECTORAL PROCESS


In the Philippines, problems concerning accountability in all its aspects have
its genesis in the very beginning of a supposedly democratic process: elections.
Cheating is a well-developed art in Philippine elections. Local politicians are
adept at manipulating the process from beginning to end. Cheating begins during
the registration process when politicians work to remove supporters of
competitors and pad the voters list with "flying voters" (those who vote more than
once in several precincts). During the campaign "guns, goons, and gold" are
used extensively to intimidate competitors' supporters, and to literally buy
support. Cheating does not end at the time of the actual election. Election return
canvassers, often public school teachers are bribed to manipulate the results. If
cheating before and during the election is "retail" cheating, at the canvassing
stage it is "wholesale" cheating which occurs. Now, if a public official wins by
cheating his mandate to lead, how could one expect him to lead with full sense
of accountability?
Another problem is electoral finance. If in the past patron-client ties limiting
effective participation by the electorate was the most serious problem corrupting
democratic representation, today rapidly growing election campaign expenses is
the key problem (Rocamora, 1998). To win Philippine elections, candidates have
to spend thrice: once to get nominated (that is, to gain the support of lower level
leaders in support of his/her nomination by the party), second to garner votes
(that is, to organize the campaign), third to get his votes counted, (that is, to
organize and pay for poll watchers). The higher up the ladder, culminating in the
presidential candidate, the more you have to spend. Running election campaigns
have become so expensive that only rich people or those dependent on rich
financiers can run. Qualified, popular candidates without money and without
financial backers cannot win. Even when relatively honest people do win, they
have to spend so much money to campaign that they invariably become corrupt
in order to recover their expenses or to return the favor of financial backers. For
these official who spent so much (for too little salary), accountability is the least
word they would care for.
Our political parties are also makeshift coalitions that are useful only for
elections. Traditionally, they are formed around landed clans who control votes in
the countryside. The evolution of Philippine political parties mirrors the history of
class relations in our country. The landed oligarchy and natural resources
concessionaire, and later, the industrial elite and Filipino-Chinese businessmen
continue to set and control the political and policy agenda, often delaying or
mangling legislation designed to facilitate social change. Through the years the
primary purpose of political parties has been to control local and national offices
and to protect and enhance their political leaders and patrons wealth and power.

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This vicious cycle of elite democracy, money politics and poor governance
prevails today more than ever. It has distorted public policies and weakened
public institutions by undermining its decision-making and continuously
threatening its integrity and autonomy.
Election education and information campaign are weak and have repeatedly
failed to improve the quality of citizen involvement in the electoral processes,
and/or to ensure the election of quality leaders.

THE PROBLEM WITH IMPEACHMENT

When the highest officials of the government are accused of graft and corruption,
they can be removed from office through impeachment. The Constitution lists the
following impeachable officials: the President, the Vice President, justices of the
Supreme Court, officials of the Constitutional Commissions and the Ombudsman.
The following are among the grounds for impeachment:

1.
2.
3.
4.

Culpable violation of the Constitution


Bribery
Graft and corruption
Betrayal of public trust

The impeachment filed against former president Joseph Estrada proved to be an


informative and educational experience for Filipinos. They learned about the
previously untested process of removing from office high-ranking officials
charged with wrongdoing.
The 1987 Constitution gives the House of Representatives the sole power to
initiate impeachment proceedings, which start with a verified complaint that may
be filed by a congressman or any citizen. An appropriate committee hears the
case and reports its recommendation through a resolution that must be affirmed
by at least one-third of the House membership. In Estradas case, the House
took the other option: the verified complaint was signed by one-third of the
Houses members, an act which amounted to automatic approval and
constitution of the Articles of Impeachment. The Articles were then sent to the
Senate, which has the exclusive power to investigate and decide impeachment
cases. Its members acted as judges and the chamber was presided over by the
chief justice of the Supreme Court. While the impeachment complaint against
Gloria Macapagal Arroyo was nipped in the bud by majority of the members of
the lower house, mostly of whom belong to the majority block.
Ironically, the other officials against whom impeachment proceedings have been
initiated are the chief anti-corruption official himself, Obudsman Aniano Desierto
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and COMELEC Commissioner Luzviminda Tancangco. Three impeachment


complaints have been filed against Desierto during his seven year term, the last
two in his last years in office and within months of each other. These complaints,
however, were still within bounds of the Constitutional provision that limits
impeachment complaints to only one per year. The second impeachment
complaint against Desierto was filed in late 2001, the third in early 2002.
In all these few cases, Congress has been criticized for its failure to use its
power of impeachment. These made the public think that the House has no
moral and political will to exact accountability from erring public officials.
The intricacies of filing and initiating impeachment proceedings do not have
public appreciation. Technical requirement that must be fulfilled is perceived by
most people to render the whole process unreal. Without a resolution of
endorsement from a house member, a verified complaint for impeachment
cannot be filed, as in the case of the impeachment complaint of Linda Montayre
and the Peoples Coalition against President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Even
when impeachment complaints are properly filed, requisite formal procedures
must be complied with to make the process legitimate and effective. Moreover,
Congress is a political, not a judicial, body. Therefore, partisan, political, or
pragmatic considerations come into play. The ruling party or coalition may be
protective of a member or a leader of its political fraternity, or initiating
impeachment proceedings against a particular official may not be politically
expedient. This political pragmatism has resulted to lack of accountability, hence,
lack of governments credibility to reform itself.
CONGRESSIONAL ETHICS COMMITTEE
The public is powerless against the abuse of the powers that lawmakers have at
their disposal. The publics only recourse would be the Ethics Committees of both
the Senate and the House of Representatives the two of a handful bodies
tasked in implementing the public policy on the code of conduct of people who
manage the well being of the country. The House and Senate have exclusive
power to discipline their respective members.
The hearings of this Committee are triggered by resolutions seeking
investigations into reports of wrongdoing by the legislators colleagues. History
shows, however, that this Committee, whether in the Senate or the House,
repeatedly failed to act on lawmakers misdeeds.
One of the more controversial cases to go before the House Ethics Committee
was that of Nueva Ecija Rep. Nicanor de Guzman in the 1990s. He was accused
of smuggling into the country from the United States hundreds of firearms which
were hidden inside a balikbayan box. The public outcry forced the committee to
summon de Guzman for an inquiry. But the lawmaker jumped the gun on the
committee by resigning his seat. The courts later found de Guzman guilty and

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sentenced him to life imprisonment for gun running. He served time, but was
released years later due to failing health.
As a rule, the house, through the Ethics Committee, glosses over its members
misdeeds or launches token investigations of them, but hardly metes out any
sanctions or penalties. Twice in the past, the Committee has failed to investigate
allegations of bribe taking.
In 1996, Quezon City Rep. Michael Defensor claimed to have received a
P200,000 bribe from Benpres Holdings, the parent company of First Philippine
Holdings, which was vying for a contract to rehabilitate the North Luzon
Expressway. The house Ethics Committee investigated the allegation, but the
inquiry turned into a investigation of Defensor himself, who backed down from his
allegations, saying he could not go against a giant like Benpres, which also owns
the broadcast network ABS-CBN and the utilities firm Meralco.
In 2000, party-list representatives Renato Magtubo and Etta Rosales accused
the House leadership of giving each congressman bribes amounting to as much
as P500,00 in exchange for approval of the Omnibus Power Bill. Both lawmakers
sought an independent investigation of their allegations and refused to recognize
the Authority of the House Ethics Committee, saying that the majority of the 25member committee were likely recipients of the payola. No independent
investigation of the matter was ever conducted.
In November 2001, the House Ethics Committee investigated five congressmen
who had been named in a news report as alleged recipients of P2 million each
from telecommunications companies Globe and Smart, which were then being
probed by the House Committee on Transportation and Communication for their
plan to reduce the number of tree messages allowed to subscribers.
Instead of interrogating the lawmakers, the committee picked on the writer of the
story, journalist Tita Valderrama, and forced and forced her to divulge her
sources. Worse, instead of inhibiting themselves from the hearing, three of the
five lawmakers took turns interrogating Valderrama and forcing her to reveal her
sources. Even while the hearings were in progress, one of them filed a libel suit
against Valderrama and her paper, The Journal. Valderrama, whose editors
initially refused to allow her to appear for fear she would only be ridiculed and
who have to be subpoenaed themselves to appear before the committee, refused
to respond to the lawmakers questions. They invoked their right against selfincrimination in light of the libel suit. Since the investigation was getting nowhere,
the House Ethics Committee decided to end it, but not the filing of the libel suit.
At the Senate, the Ethics Committee failed to investigate Senators John Osmena
and Tessie Aquino-Oreta who publicly admitted to having received a P1 million
each as their share in former President Estradas winnings from a high-stakes
game of mahjong with cronies. The two lawmakers claimed they gave their
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balato to charity, and made a show of giving the money back. Reacting to a
public outcry that the two lawmakers be investigated, the Senate Ethics
Committee said it was looking into the possibility of an inquiry to the balato
fiasco. It never did conduct an investigation.
In late 2001, the Senate Ethics Committee cleared Senator Rene Cayetano of
the allegation that he had profited from the sale of stocks of BW Resources at a
time when the Senate was already investigating the firm for alleged insider
trading. Dante Tan, a crony of former president Joseph Estrada, headed BW
Resources at the time. During Estradas impeachment trial, Cayetano himself
admitted having invested in BW and having raked in profits of P60 to P70 million
pesos. The Senate ethics Committee launched an investigation into Cayetanos
impropriety, but it eventually dropped it and cleared the Senator, purportedly
because the Committee could not get Tan to appear and substantiate the
allegation.
These actions rendered Congress vulnerable to public condemnation as a socalled old boys club that will not punish or exact accountability from one of their
own and as an enclave of the powerful who can ignore the law.

The Blue Ribbon Committee


Oversight power of the legislature is intended to ensure effective implementation
of laws and enable Congress to adopt appropriate remedial measures should
laws fail to address the needs and concerns they are intended to address.
Oversight power embraces the power of investigation and the power of requiring
department heads to appear before Congress and answer queries on matters
concerning their departments through the conduct of the question hour.
Legislative oversight, thus, can facilitate early discovery and institution of
remedial measures against fraud, graft, corruption, inefficiency, and
mismanagement. It guarantees that accountability in implementing policies of the
government and or the use of public funds are observed as honestly and
responsibly as expected from people who are tasked to implement the purposes
of governance.
The power of legislative investigation provided in Section 21, Article VI, of the
Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines is inherent in the legislative power
and an essential and appropriate auxiliary to the legislative function with its
exercise coextensive with the range of legislative power. The purposes of
congressional investigations are roughly classified into three categories: (i) those
whose purpose is obtaining information bearing upon legislation; (ii) those that
examine the operations of the executive and administrative branches with a view
to determining their efficiency; and (iii) those that seek primarily to inform and
mold public opinion (Rivera 1962).

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Its hearings, however, have been branded as inquisitorial, with committee


members accused of playing up to the media and abusing their powers, rather
than trying to get to the bottom of the issues. Public perception is that legislative
investigations are conducted for purposes other than exacting from government
officials and agencies concerned, accountability in the performance of their
duties and in the use of public resources. Solons are seen as using
investigations for grandstanding, to get back at those who earned their
displeasure, or to wangle concessions, financial or otherwise, from parties
subjected to investigation. And this public perception is not without scientific
basis. Of the 991 resolutions filed in the 11th Congress seeking legislative
inquiry, only 70 were reported out. This means that of the total number of
investigations conducted, a mere 7% thereof were completed or resulted in
specific findings relative to the subject of the inquiry. Of the 70 reports, 22 were
archived, which means that Congress is not pursuing any legislative action on
the matters investigated. These findings indicate that most legislative
investigations do not result in concrete legislative action or policy
recommendations on the concerns and issues investigated.
Over the years, the Blue Ribbon Committee has shamed many public servants or
private individuals whom it summoned to testify. Former Senator Rene Saguisag
once said of the body: The Constitution really authorizes investigation in aid of
legislation. However, I have been the most vocal senator about the way we use,
or misuse, this power. Id have thought we would be more sparing in our use of
it. And we would be more prepared when we summon people for questioning.
But we seem to be merely badgering the people we invite.
And the perceived usurpation by the legislature of powers constitutionally vested
in the executive or judiciary branches (through its oversight function) has resulted
to the recent issuance of Executive Order 464 that forbids cabinet members and
other officials under the Executive from appearing before Congress and testifying
without the approval of the President. This has incensed Congress that claims
the right to exercise oversight and claims that a necessary entailment of this
right is the right to secure the compulsory attendance even of members of the
Cabinet to answer questions of Congress. It is an issue the Philippine Supreme
Court must still resolve whether or not under the present constitution and
government mechanisms, Cabinet members can be summoned by Congress and
made to respond to queries.

Legislature and the National Purse


Congress has at its disposal a number of tools with which to check on graft and
corruption in the executive branch. An example is the budget process, which in
theory gives lawmakers an opportunity to review how a particular government
agency seeking approval for funding spent the previous years fund, and whether
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it deserves next years fund. In reality, however, lawmakers use the budget
process for their own purposes. An example would be the Budget Law of 1989, in
which lawmakers allowed the appropriation of funds for the vaguely worded
miscellaneous and extraordinary expenses a clear sign of their intention to
breach their duty to observe fiscal accountability.
Much of the decision making that goes into crafting the national budget comes
from Congress, specifically the House of Representatives where the President
first submits his or her budget for approval. The Constitution states: All
appropriation, revenue or tariff bills shall originate exclusively in the House of
Representatives, but the Senate may propose or concur with amendments.
Although the final word on the budget belongs to the President, disagreements
between Congress and the Chief Executive have not been difficult to iron out.
Overtime, Congress has repeatedly displayed its immense powers over the
national purse, especially the lawmakers power to allocate public funds for
themselves. The PCIJ book Pork and Other Perks tells the story of the budget
deliberations for the year 1998, when the country was reeling from the
devastation caused by the 1997 financial crisis. Finance officials had proposed
an austere budget that would enable government to save P1 billion. After
passing through Congress, government ended up bracing for a deficit because
the law-makers had given themselves an almost 200-percent increase in pork
barrel funds.
The power to make congressional insertions has allowed lawmakers to get away
with such abuses. In 1996, news reports revealed how the House committee on
appropriation, the committee in charge of budget deliberations, gave itself huge
cuts from the budget labeled as Congressional Initiative Allocations, supposedly
a fund intended for projects to benefit the lawmakers constituents. That year, the
committee chairperson allocated P3 billion for himself.
The Commission on Appointments
Another tool that is misused by the legislature is its power to scrutinize and to
approve or reject persons named by the President to key positions in government
a power that could have been used to guarantee accountability by people
appointed in sensitive posts in the executive branch. This is done through the
Commission on Appointments or CA, which is composed of 25 members 13
from the Senate and 12 from the House of Representatives. It reviews the
nominations of Cabinet appointees, as well as colonels and higher-ranking
military officials, and the top brass of the Department of Foreign Affairs. During
its confirmation hearings, the CA entertains objections and criticisms from the
public of officials under scrutiny and then votes to either confirm or reject them.
Presidential nominees, in ensuring proper accountability, are supposed to submit
to the CA a variety of documents detailing, among others, their personal
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background, educational attainment, and statements of assets and liabilities.


The CAs Appointments Review and Investigation Division, or ARID, also
prepares a report on the nominee for the CA members perusal. But a PCIJ
investigation found that CA members hardly bother to read documents pertaining
to a candidate and shows interest in a presidential nominee only when they need
favors from him or her. The fate of a presidential nominee is usually determined,
not by the Commission on Appointments itself, but by whoever is president, with
the help of members of the ruling party in the CA.
LEGISLATING BEYOND THE WILL OF THE LEGISLATURE
One other way in which accountability is lost in the legislative chambers is when
the final form of bills is determined through conference committees to smooth
out interchamber policy differences.
The priorities of the two chambers generally differ as they tackle common
legislative agenda. Different sets of measures from the common agenda are
given priority by the Senate and the House. In many instances, instead of simply
proposing amendments to house bills received, senators file their own
counterpart bills, thus, further protracting the process. Gaining credit for the
authorship of bills may be causing these maneuvers, especially when the bills at
issue are popular and would generate substantial public impact and voter
support.
The Senate has also been exercising a virtual veto on many local bills (bills
affecting specific localities or local interests only), as most of those transmitted to
the Senate end up not being acted upon. Indeed, the Senate may approve or
reject local bills, but it should officially act on every local bill transmitted to it, to
enable proponents in the House to undertake remedial action, since the interests
of local constituencies are at stake. Bicameral conference committees harmonize
conflicting provisions of bills on the same subject matter approved by the Senate
and the House. As in the Absentee Voting Bill, policy dissonances can be very
pronounced.
That compromises are eventually forged affirms the viability of conference
committees as tools to smooth out interchamber policy differences. However, in
many instances, conference committees introduce into the final version of a bill
such provisions that were never contemplated or contained in the original bills.
And most of the time this final version of the bill gets approved. Thus,
conference committees have been tagged as virtual third chambers legislating
beyond the will of the Senate and the House.

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CORRUPTION IN THE JUDICIARY


Members of the judiciary are not exempt from charges of graft and corruption.
Like men in uniform, they are expected to adhere to strict standards of ethics as
dispensers of justice.
Section 6, Article VIII, of the Constitution gives the Supreme Court
Administrative supervision over all courts and the personnel thereof. The
Supreme Court sitting en banc exercise disciplinary authority over judges in the
lower courts, including those in the regular courts, special courts, the Court of
Appeals, and the Sandiganbayan.
Investigations against these judges are private and confidential although a
recent amendment to rule 140 of the Rules of Court, which defies disciplinary
action against judges, allows a copy of the decision or resolution of the court to
be made part of the judges record at the Office of the Court Administrator.
Citizens may file complaints against judges for offenses ranging from serious,
to less serious or light.
Under serious charges fall bribery, dishonesty, and violations of R.A. 3019 or
the Anti-graft and Corrupt Practices Act, and violations of the Code of Judicial
Conduct. Serious offenses come with penalties ranging from suspension without
pay, to fines, to dismissal from the service, and disqualification from public office.
Less serious charges include receiving additional or double compensation not
authorized by law or the unauthorized practice of law, for which the respondent
maybe suspended without pay for no more than three months, or fined not more
than P20,000.
Fraternizing by judges, with lawyers, or litigants who have pending cases before
their courts is considered a light offense punishable with a fine of not more than
P10,000 or a censure, reprimand, or warning.
The Supreme Court may initiate its own investigation of an erring judge, or act on
a verified complaint that comes with the required affidavits. The high tribunal may
also conduct investigations based on anonymous complaints, as long as
supporting documents are provided.
Once filed, a complaint may be referred to the Office of the Court Administrator
for evaluation, or to a retired Supreme Court justice, a judge of the Court of
Appeals, the Sandiganbayan, or a Regional Trial Court judge, depending on the
respondents rank. The judge hearing the case has given 90 days to complete his
investigation.

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The Supreme Court, however, dismisses many cases against judges because
these are viewed as flimsy and frivolous, says Ismael Khan, public information
officer of the Supreme Court. The high court does not discount the possibility that
charges against judges are filed by litigants who, unhappy with the judges
rulings, accuse them of ignorance of the law.
THREATS TO JUDICIAL INDEPENDENCE
The executive and legislative branches of the Government considerably influence
administrative and operational facets of the judicial system. The president has
the power to appoint justices and judges. Through the Department of Budget and
Management (DBM), the president determines financial resources available to
the Judiciary through budgetary allocation and release, and Congress
determines the number of courts and their jurisdiction, the permanent assignment
of judges, and the Judiciarys annual budget. A senator and house representative
sit as members of the Judicial and Bar Council, the body tasked to select and
nominate prospective appointees to the bench. Under these conditions, political
influence and patronage impinging on the processes of selection and
appointment of judicial officials is the biggest threat to judicial independence.
Accusations have been rife in the media that the presidential power to appoint
Supreme Court justices has been exercised for political ends and to benefit
political allies. The quality of judicial appointments, especially in lower courts, has
also been put to question due to alleged interference of Congress members and
local government executives in the choice of appointees. Despite clear
constitutional fiat, judicial fiscal autonomy remains illusory, as automatic release
of its budgetary allocations and full control over their disbursements have not
been implemented. The president, through DBM, treats the Judiciary like any
other executive department or agency and retains control of the Judiciarys
budget through obligation, cash, programming, and releasing controls. DBM also
approves the realignment of funds, use of savings, and use of funds for specific
purposes. Limited fiscal autonomy impacts on judicial independence, as it places
the Judiciary and its operations under the control and influence of another branch
of the Government.
Without a strong and genuinely independent Judiciary, government accountability
in the Philippines remains an unreachable goal and any statements concerning
its attainment, a mere rhetoric.

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THE COST OF ABANDONING


GOOD GOVERNANCE

Lack of accountability has contributed to, or perhaps the main cause of


corruption in Philippine government. Corruption is an important crosscutting
theme that impedes service delivery and undermines the countrys ability to
pursue its development objectives. Understandably, the failure of the Philippines
to control corruption negatively affected the countrys well-being. There are
economic, institutional, and social costs of corruption. Corruption pulls down the
economy as it distorts and deters trade and investments, reduces revenues,
increases costs, and propagates wasteful allocation and use of scarce resources.
Corruption also has negative consequences to institutions. It distorts public
policies, since it tends to favor vested or selfish interests that, more often than
not, are detrimental to serving the public interest. Corruption leads to poor quality
of programs, services, and projects; breeds mediocrity; and renders
administrations inefficient and ineffective. It further undermines merit and fitness
in public personnel administration and inhibits civil servant motivation. Moreover,
corruption weakens implementation, encourages tolerance of negative
bureaucratic behavior, and ruins public trust and confidence in the Government.
The social costs of corruption include undermining the rule of law and political
legitimacy. Corruption diverts relief from the poor, deprives them of fair treatment,
and increases poverty. Corruption also increases risks to national security and
peace and order. Furthermore, corruption threatens the welfare of the people.
Increasing public demands for more accountability in government is one of the
crucial factors to combat corruption (Martinez 1999), which, in the present form of
government, has seemed to meet its dead-end.
After presenting a handful of problems concerning government
accountability in the Philippines, it is instructive to reflect on the points raised by
Juan Linz (1994) concerning the breakdown of democratic regimes in Latin
America and the alleged crisis of governability of weak democracies. In
Presidential or Paliamentary Democracy: Does It Make a Difference? He pointed
out that Presidentialism, in combination with permissive electoral systems and
weakly institutionalized political parties produce divided governments, deadlocks,
institutional paralysis and, ultimately, the breakdown of democratic institutions.
With the threat of a coup, or of a rebellion, the important question now becomes,
are we tracking the path to a political breakdown?

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CHAPTER 9
CONSTITUTION & CONSTITUTION
MAKING
According to Mahler, it may be useful to think of constitutions as power maps
for political systems. That is, it is often the constitution of a nation that shows us
the political lay of the land and that describes the manner in which power is
distributed among the many actors in the political movement, or in the political
environment in general. We look to the constitution for an explanation of who has
the power to do what, what the limitations on power are in a given state, and
what the relationship are between and among the many political actors we may
find in a given state.
The idea of a constitution as a fundamental expression of the power relationships
in a political regime dates back to the time of the Greek and Roman republics;
constitutions were the focus for comparison in Aristotles major studies of political
systems.

TYPES OF CONSTITUTION
Constitutions can be classified according to:
(1.) Genesis or development
(a.) Conventional or Enacted the conventional constitution is crafted
and promulgated by the people through their representatives in a
constitutional conventions.
(b.) Cumulative or Evolved one which is product of growth or a long
period of development originating in customs, traditions, judicial
decisions, rather than from a deliberate and formal enactment.
(2.) Form
(a.) Written one which has been given definite written form at a
particular time, usually by a specially constituted authority called a
constitutional convention
(b.) Unwritten one which is entirely the product of political evolution,
constituted by a large mass of customs, usages and judicial

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decisions together with a smaller body of statutory enactments of a


fundamental character.
(3.) Manner of Amending
(a.) Rigid or Inelastic one regarded as a document of special sanctity
which cannot be amended or altered except by some special
machinery more cumbrous than the ordinary legislative process.
(b.) Flexible or Elastic one which possess no higher legal authority
than ordinary laws and which may be altered in the same way as
other laws.
Considering all these, we can therefore say the Philippines constitution is a
conventional (or enacted), written, rigid, (or inelastic).

CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT

Constitutional government can be best described as limited government. That is,


there are certain things that the government may not do, whether it wants to or
not; there are certain parameters beyond which the government may not go.
There is an explicit limitation upon the powers of the government to act in a
specific field of interest.
But remember that governments with constitutions are not necessarily
constitutional governments. The fact is, we can find governments without
written constitutions that can be appropriately called constitutional regimes, and
conversely, we can find governments that do have written constitutions but do
not properly fit within the behavioral parameters we have set for a regime to be
called constitutional government.
To cite examples, Scholars agree that Great Britain does posses a constitutional
government. There are limits beyond which the British government may not goyet Britain does not have a single, written document that can be called a written
constitution. On the othetr hand, althought the Soviet Union (the former USSR)
had a constitution that was highly detailed and specific, many argued that the
Soviet regime should not have been called a constitutional regime or
constitutional government. Why? There were, until the very final days of the
regime, no effective limitations on Soviet governmental power. Rights were
conditional and the rights in question can be denied.
Basing from the discussion above we can propose two (2) general types of
constitutions in relation to Human Rights:

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(a.) Constitutions that gives right it implies that the government had also
the powers to take away these rights.
(b.) Constitutions that recognizes rights rights are not given; they are
recognized, by limiting the things the government can do. Rights appear
to be existing and these belong to the people, and the constitution
recognizes this fact by forbidding the congress to limit them.

FUNCTION OF THE CONSTITUTION


The following are the functions of a constitution:
(1.)Constitution serves as an expression of ideology and Philosophy.
(2.)Constitution serves as expression of the basic laws of the regime.
(3.) Constitution provides organizational framework for governments.
(4.)Constitutions usually say something about the levels of government of
the political System. They discuss how many levels of government
there will be, and describe what powers fall within the jurisdiction of the
national government and what powers do not belong the national
government.
(5.)Constitution provides means and direction for their own modifications
to guarantee changes once change is necessary. This prevents the
collapse of the entire political system for want of mechanism of
change.

CONSTITUTIONS AND STATUTES


It is important It is important to discuss the difference between a constitution
and a statute, this will give us a better understanding on the nature of
constitutions. Constitution and statute is different in terms of:
(1.) Source of Origin
Constitution
Originates from the people

Statutes
Originates
from
the
peoples
representatives as they interpret the
constitution

Expresses the general will of The


people. A constitution is the power or
supreme or fundamental law of the
state

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(2.) Nature and Purposes


Constitution
Provides the general framework for
the formulation of statutes. It merely
states the general framework of the
law and governments
It is general and forward looking.
Intended not merely to meet existing
condition but to govern the future

Statutes
Explains in detail the subject matter
of the Constitution. Statute provides
the details of the subject of which it
treats.
It tries to primarily to meet existing
conditions only, that is, it address the
present conditions but It always
adheres with constitutions.

REQUIREMENT OF A GOOD CONSTITUTION


(1.) Form constitution must posses a form that is:
(a.) Brief concise and basic.
(b.) Broad comprehensive and it must cover the entire or whole
area of
government.
(c.) Definite precise and not ambiguous and vague.
(2.) Contents constitution must contain:
(a.) Constitution of government which discusses governmental
structure and function, and how power will be distributed and
shared. See Art. VI, VII, VIII, IX, X.
(b.) Constitution of Liberty which will provide and covers the basis
and recognition of the right of the people. Remember that a
good constitution does not give but recognize the rights of the
people, and the constitution of liberty tries to provide this
requirement. See Art. III, XIII.
(c.) Constitution of Sovereignty which provides the absolute
power of the state to determine the course of its own future
and the mode of introducing amendments to the fundamental
law. See Art. XVIII.

METHODS OF AMENDING THE CONSTITUTION


There are many different ways of amending constitution and this differs from one
system of governance to another. In Great Britain for example, amending their
constitution may simply require an act of the parliament. But in the case of the
Philippines, changing our constitution may happen in two ways. First, is through
Amendments and Second, through the process called Revision. Amendment
is a change effected in some part or parts of constitution without considering the
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whole document, Revision on the other hand is a rewriting or substantial


changing in the constitution viewed in its entirety.
Below are the methods by which amendments or revision may be done to the
1987 constitution:
Constitutional Convention
A Constitutional Convention is a body established by law to frame a new
Constitution or revise an existing one. It requires the direct election of the
delegates by the people. How many delegates are elected will be determined by
Congress.
Constitutional Convention may be called for in two (2) ways, namely:
1)
Congress by two-thirds o9f all its members may call a constitutional
convention, or
2)
Congress by a majority vote of all its members( in case neither the
nor 2/3 vote can be mustered) may toss the question to call a constitutional
convention to the electorate in election. The question shall be decided by the
majority of the votes cast in the corresponding plebiscite.
A constitutional convention is a body assembled for the expressed purpose of
framing a constitution, or revising the existing Constitution, or formulating
amendments to it for the approval of the electorate. Being the direct
representative of the people vested with the authority to draw the fundamental
law of the state, its members have to be elected by the qualified voters.
The Constitutional Commission of 1986, by nature of its function, was no different
from a constitutional convention with elected members, and it, therefore,
possessed the same status and powers (De Leon, 2000, Bernas, 2001).
Problem: One of the problems is the cost involved in this mode. One estimate is
8 billion pesos needed to support a body that will be twice the size of Congress.

Constituent Assembly
As a Constituent Assembly, the Senate and House of Representatives become a
constituent body exercising special power to formulate a new constitution or
propose amendments to the constitution.
It is to be noted that the vote requirements is more stringent if the amendments
are proposed by Congress itself. This is to ensure more deliberations and deeper
study and consideration of the merits of the proposed changes to the
fundamental law.
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Problem: One of the problems in the 1987 constitution is that it is not clear on
whether the two houses will vote jointly or separately.
Peoples Initiative
The people may directly propose amendments to the Constitution provided that
there is a petition of at least 12% of all registered voters, and provided that every
legislative district is represented by at least 3% of its registered voters.
Requirement for Peoples Initiative
(a.) There must be a petition of at least 12% of the total number of registered
voters.
(b.) Every legislative district must be represented by at least 3% of the registered
voters thereof.
(c.) The amendment through initiative is not made within 5 years following the
ratification of the present constitution or oftener than once every five (5)
years thereafter.
Problem: In 1997, the Supreme Court ruled that this mode cannot be used
without implementing legislation by Congress. Just recently, Rep. Imee Marcos
has introduced the required enabling bill.
SOME NOTES ON CHARTER CHANGE
To have five constitutions since we regained our independence in 1946, a period of
some 60 years, does not only reflect our inability to consolidate our constitutional
democracy, but also reflects our general sentiment to put in place a more reliable and
desirable system of political accountability. The lack of a more accountable system of
governance contributes largely to our continuing political instability as a nation-state. In
1986, we restored our adversarial separation of powers in a presidential system that
continually creates conflict and gridlock between the President and Congress. Our
outmoded form of government and dysfunctional political parties sustain our politics of
personality, patronage, cronyism, and corruption and without transparency and public
accountability. Despite its many positive features that are worth preserving, the 1987
Constitution has not enabled us to rebuild our various institutions for good governance.
As many Filipino political scientists have noted, we have a counter-productive system
with its powers, authority and resources centralized in the national government, with a
problematic system of accountability, at the expense of local governments, leaders,
citizens, and entrepreneurs and countrywide development. The call for changing certain
parts of the 1987 Constitution to improve governance and empower our people should
not be dismissed without due consideration. Our system of governmental accountability
must be strengthened for in this way we will enable our government, our private sector
and our citizens to respond more effectively to our continuing problems, challenges and
goals as a nation.

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CHAPTER 10
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE 1987
CONSTITUION
DECLARATION OF PRINCIPLES AND STATE POLICY
The following are the Principles and Policies of the Philippines:
1. The Philippines is a democratic and Republican State (Sec.1)
Manifestation of a Democratic and republican State:
(d.) The existence of a bill of rights.
(See discussion on Article III)
(e.) The observance of the rule of the majority.
(f.) The observance of the principle that ours is a government of
laws, and not of man.
(g.) Suffrage as expression of the popular will.
(h.) The observance of the principle of separation of powers and
the system of check and balances.
(i.) The observance of the principle that legislature cannot pass
irrepealable laws.
2. Sovereignty of the people (Art. II, Sec. 1)
Sovereignty implies the supreme authority to govern. The government
governs through the sovereignty of the Filipino people, As such, they
have the right to constitute their own government, to change it, and to
define its jurisdiction and powers.
The Philippines is a democratic and republican State. Sovereignty resides in the people
and all government authority emanates from them.

3. Maintenance of peace and order, the protection of life, liberty, and


property, and the promotion of the general welfare as the raison d etre
of the Philippine State (Art. II, Sec. 5)
The maintenance of peace and order, the protection of life, liberty, and property, and
the promotion of the general welfare are essential for the enjoyment by all the people of
the blessings of democracy.

And thus:

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Goal to promote a Just and dynamic social order (Art. II, Sec.9);
Promotion of Social justice (Art. II, Sec 10); respect for human Rights (Art.
II, Sec.11); the right of the people to health (Art. II, Sec. 15); recognition of
the right of the people to a balanced and healthful ecology (Art.II, Sec.
16); priority to education, science and technology, arts, culture and sports
(Art.II, Sec.17); promotion of a comprehensive rural development and
agrarian reform (Art II, Sec. 21); etc.
Art. II, Sec. 9; The state shall promote a just and dynamic social order that will ensure
the prosperity and independence of the nation and free the people from poverty through
policies that provide adequate services, promote full employment, a rising standard of
living and an improved quality of life for all
Art. II, Sec.11: The state values the dignity of every human person and guarantees full
respect for human rights.

4. Adherence to the Policy of peace with all nations.(Art. II, Sec.2)


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

5. Supremacy of civilian authority over the military.(Art.II, Sec.3)


Civilian authorities are, at all times, supreme over the military. The Armed forces of the
Philippines is the protector of the people and the state. Its goal is to secure the
sovereignty of the state and the Integrity of the national territory.

Manifestations:
A civilian president is the commander in chief of all armed forces of the
Philippines. This arrangement is considered an important safeguard against
the rise of military dictatorship.
The subordination of the military to the civilian even in times of war.
6. Principle of separation of the Church and state.(Art. II, Sec.6)
The separation of church and State shall be inviolable.
Manifestation:
The state has no official religion.
The state cannot set up its own religion nor aid one religion, aid all
religions, or prefer one religion over another.
Every person is free to profess belief or disbelief in any religion.
Every religion or religious ministry is free to practice his/her calling.
The state cannot punish a person for entertaining or professing religious
beliefs or disbeliefs.

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7. Independent Foreign policy (Art.II, Sec.7) requires fulfillment of of a


self-reliant and independent national economy.(Art.II, Sec 19)
8. Recognition of labor as a primary social economic force (Art.II,
Sec.18) difficult to reconcile with Recognition of the role of the
private sector in the economy.(Art.II, sec. 20)
Art. II, Sec 18: The state affirms labor as a primary social economic force. It shall
protect the rights of workers and promote their welfare.
Art. II, Sec 20; The state recognizes the indispensable role of the private sector,
encourages private enterprise, and provides incentives to needed investments.

9. Guarantee of an equal access to the opportunities for public service


(Art.II, Sec. 26)
ARTICLE III : BILL OF RIGHTS
A bill of rights may be defined as a declaration and enumeration of the individual
rights and privileges by which the constitution is designed to protect against
violation by the government, or by individual or groups of individual (De Leon,
2000). The basis of the bill of Rights is founded on the belief that every human
being has intrinsic dignity and worth which must be respected and safeguarded.
CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS OF THE ACCUSED IN CRIMINAL CASES
1) The right to adequate legal assistance.
2) The to be informed of his right to remain silent and to have counsel.
3) The right against the use of torture, force, violence, threat, intimidation or
any means which vitiates the free will.
4) The right against being held in secret.
5) The right to bail and against excessive bail.
6) The right to due process of law.
7) The right to presumption of innocence.
8) The right to be heard by himself and counsel.
9) The right to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusations
against him.
10) The right to have a speedy trial, impartial and public trial.
11) The right to meet the witnesses face to face.
12) The right to have compulsory process to secure the attendance of
witnesses and the production of evidence in his behalf.
13) The right against self-incrimination.
14) The right against detention by reason of political beliefs and aspirations.
15) The right against excessive fines.
16) The right against cruel, degrading or inhuman punishment.
17) The right against infliction of death penalty except for heinous crimes.
18) The right against jeopardy.

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REASONS FOR A CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT TO BE ACCUSED


A criminal case is a contest between an individual and the government. It is of
necessity an unequal contest between an individual and the government
because the parties are of unequal strength the government is very powerful,
and the risk of injustice is very high.
Since criminal case is a very serious matter, where an individual is criminally
accused, it may bring troubles (e.g. losing of ones job, suspended, tec.) unless
an individual is protected.
For more comprehensive discussions on the Philippine constitution, see Hector
S. DE Leons Textbook on the Philippine constitution.

ON LIFE, LIBERTY & PROPERTY

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

Due Process : Action done under the authority of law that is valid, and after
compliance with the regular methods of procedure prescribed by law). Due
process in judicial proceedings requires:
(a.) An impartial court clothed by law with authority to hear and determine
the matter before it.
(b.) Jurisdiction lawfully acquired over the person of the defendant or
property, which is the subject matter of the proceedings.
(c.) Opportunity to be heard given the defendant.
(d.) Judgment to be rendered after lawful hearings.

Aspect of Due Process


(a.) Procedural due Process refers to the method of manner by which the
law is enforced.
(b.) Substantive Due process requires that law itself not merely the
procedures by which the law would be enforced, is fair, reasonable,
and just.

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Persons Protected
The term persons in this provision refers to all persons within the territorial
jurisdiction of the Philippines without regard to any difference of race, color, or
nationality, including aliens (De Leon,1994).
Meaning of Life
Life, as protected by due process of law, means something more than mere
animal existence. It extends to all limbs and faculties by which it is enjoyed.
Meaning of Liberty
Liberty is not licensed or unlimited freedom. It is the right of man to exercise his
will to act as long as it does not violate the right of other individual.
Meaning of Property
Property refers to right over the thing.
Equal Protection of the Laws
It means that all persons subject to legislation should be treated alike, under like
circumstances and conditions both in the privileges conferred and liabilities
imposed.
ON SEARCH, SEIZURE & ARREST
Section 2
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects
against unreasonable searches and seizures of whatever nature and for any purpose
shall be inviolable, and no search warrant or warrant of arrest shall issue except upon
probable cause to be determined personally by the judge after examination under oath
or affirmation of the complainant and the witness he may produce, and particularly
describing the place to be searched and the persons or things to be seized.

Search Warrant
It is an order in writing, issued in the name of the people, signed by a judge and
directed to a peace officer, commanding in him to search for personal property
and bring it before the court.
Warrant of Arrest

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It is order in writing, issued in the name of the people commanding a peace


officer (after it is signed by a judge) to arrest a person designated.
Scope of Protection
(1.) Persons
(2.) Houses
(3.) Papers and effect
Meaning of probable Cause
Probable cause means that facts and circumstances antecedent to the issuance
of a warrant sufficient in themselves to induce a cautious man to rely upon them
and act in pursuance thereof

Sufficiency of description in a search or arrest warrant


(1.) Place
(2.) Person
(3.) Property
It is important to take note that arrests or searches could be done even without a
legal warrant, that is, when circumstances call for the said actions.
Warrantless Arrest:
(1.)When, in his presence, the person to be arrested has committed, is actually
committing, or is attempting to commit an offense.
(2.)When an offense has infact just been committed and he has personal
knowledge of facts indicating that the person to be arrested has committed
it:
(3.)When the person to be arrested is a prisoner who has escaped from the
penal establishment or place where he is serving final judgment or
temporarily confined while his case is pending or has escaped while being
transferred from one confinement to another.
Warrant less Search and Seizures:

Where there is consent or waiver.


Where search is an incident to a lawful arrest.
Where in the case of contraband or forfeited goods being
transported by ship automobile, or other vehicle where the
officer making it has reasonable causes for believing that the

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form, without the authors permission is an infringement of Philippine Copyright Law. This copy is NOT
FOR SALE, strictly for evaluation purposes only. For the exclusive use of Cagayan State Univesity.

latter contains them, in view of the difficulty attendant to


securing a search warrant.
(4.) Where, without a search, the possession of articles prohibited by law is
disclosed to plain view or is open to eye and hand.
(5.)As an incident of inspection, supervision and regulation in the exercise of
police power such inspection of restaurants by health officers, of factories
by labor inspectors, etc.
(6.)Voluntary searches usually made at the border or at ports of entry in the
interest of national security and for the proper enforcement of customs and
immigration laws.
Sec. 3.(1.) The privacy of communication and correspondence shall be inviolable
except upon lawful order of the court, or when public safety or order requires otherwise
as prescribed by law.
(2.) Any evidence obtained in violation of this or the proceeding sectionshall be in
admissible for any purpose in any proceedings.

Meaning of Right to Privacy


The right of a person to be free from unwarranted publicity, and as the right to
live without unwarranted interference by the public in which the public is not
necessarily concerned (De Leon, 1994).
Limitation on the Right of Privacy: 1) Upon lawful order of the court, and 2) When
public safety requires o order requires otherwise as prescribed by law.
On Evidence illegally obtained:
Inadmissible unacceptable for any legal proceedings, judicial or administrative
(the reason for this is to enforce constitutional guarantees). Any action against
erring officers (their criminal punishment) do not always afford sufficient
protection against their invasion).
Right of Owner Since the evidence obtained illegally (obtained in violation of
this and other related constitutional provisions), the owner has a right that the
articles seized be returned, unless they are in themselves prohibited or forbidden
by law such as illegal drugs, unlicensed firearms, etc. (De Leon, 1994)
Section 4.: No law shall be passed abridging the freedom of speech, of expression, or
of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble and petition the
government for redress of grievances.

Freedom of Expression: This concept covers freedom of speech and


expression, and the right or freedom of the press. It implies the right to

96

POLITICS & GOVERNANCE WITH PHILIPPINE CONSTITUTION


Copyright 2005-2006 A. C. Articulo. This is a copyrighted material. Reproduction of this material, in any
form, without the authors permission is an infringement of Philippine Copyright Law. This copy is NOT
FOR SALE, strictly for evaluation purposes only. For the exclusive use of Cagayan State Univesity.

freely utter and published whatever one pleases without previous restraint,
and to be protected against any responsibility for so doing.
Limitation of the Freedom of Expression: It shall be protected by law as long
as it does not violate the law, or injure someones character, reputation or
business.
Meaning of right of Assembly and right of Petition.
Right of Assembly refers to the right on the part of the citizens to meet
peaceably for consultation in respect to public affairs.
Right of Petition refers to the right of any person or group of persons to apply,
without fear of penalty, to the appropriate branch or office of the government of
grievances.
Sec. 5: No law shall be passed respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting
the free exercise thereof. The free exercise and enjoyment of religious preference, shall
be forever be allowed. No religious test shall be required for the exercise of civil or
political rights.

Meaning of Religious Freedom: It means the freedom to worship God


without any interference from the state, from any individual, or from any
religious institutions.
Sec. 8: The right of the people, including those employed in the public and private
sectors, to form unions associations, or societies for purpose not contrary to law shall
not be abridged.

Limitations
This right is limited to peaceful associations and it does not cover the right
(if there is any) of people to form associations that create imminent danger
to public safety, public peace, public morals and public order.
Sec. 9: Private property shall not be taken for public use without just compensation.

The totality of governmental power is contained in three great powers, namely:


(a) Power of eminent domain the right of the state or of those whom the
power has been lawfully delegated to take private property for public use
upon paying to the owner a just compensation to be ascertained according
to law.

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POLITICS & GOVERNANCE WITH PHILIPPINE CONSTITUTION


Copyright 2005-2006 A. C. Articulo. This is a copyrighted material. Reproduction of this material, in any
form, without the authors permission is an infringement of Philippine Copyright Law. This copy is NOT
FOR SALE, strictly for evaluation purposes only. For the exclusive use of Cagayan State Univesity.

(b) Power of police power police power has been referred to as the power of
the state to such laws or regulations in relation to persons and property as
may promote public health, public morals, public safety, and the general
welfare and convenience of the people.
(c) Power of taxation refers to the power of the state to impose charge or
burden upon persons, property rights, for the use and support of the
government and to enable it to discharge its functions.
The reason for the theoretical basis of the state taking private property for public
use is two, namely:
(1) The welfare of the people is the supreme law; salus populi supreme
est lex Meaning, if the act is necessary to promote the welfare of the
people or the public, it overrides the right (but not necessarily the
welfare) of the individual.
(2) Every citizen of every community must bear certain burdens imposed
for the good of all. This maxim provides also the basis of taxation.

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Copyright 2005-2006 A. C. Articulo. This is a copyrighted material. Reproduction of this material, in any
form, without the authors permission is an infringement of Philippine Copyright Law. This copy is NOT
FOR SALE, strictly for evaluation purposes only. For the exclusive use of Cagayan State Univesity.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Aruego, et.al. Principles of Political Science. Manila., 1980.

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Mahler, Gregory. Comparative Politics: A Comparative Approach. New Jersey,


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De Guzman, Raul P., Reforma Mila, Elena Panganiban. Local Government.


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Linz, Juan J. 1994. Presidential or Paliamentary Democracy: Does It Make a


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POLITICS & GOVERNANCE WITH PHILIPPINE CONSTITUTION


Copyright 2005-2006 A. C. Articulo. This is a copyrighted material. Reproduction of this material, in any
form, without the authors permission is an infringement of Philippine Copyright Law. This copy is NOT
FOR SALE, strictly for evaluation purposes only. For the exclusive use of Cagayan State Univesity.

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