What Are Social Rights?

WHAT ARE SOCIAL RIGHTS?
- Social rights are those rights deemed necessary for full

participation in society whilst ensuring equality and fairness for
all.
- From a theorist viewpoint, social rights were borne from the

social contract theory, in contrast to natural rights which arise
from the natural law, but before the establishment of legal rights
by positive law.
- Simply put, social rights would be those rights that allow you to
live a life in full harmony with society without any prejudice
whatsoever. It includes the right to be treated equally and not to
be discriminated against on the grounds of caste, class, religion,
sex, place of birth, etc.
- Depending on the situation, Social Rights usually overlap with

rights that are Cultural, Economic, and Political in nature.
Examples of Social Rights:
The Right to Education - enabling all persons to participate

effectively in a free society and is directed to the full
development of the human personality.
The Right to Food - guaranteeing freedom from hunger and

access to safe and nutritious food.
The Right to Health - ensuring the highest attainable

standard of physical and mental health including access to
care, nutrition, and clean water and air.
The Right to Housing - ensuring access to a safe, secure,

habitable, and affordable home with freedom from forced
eviction.
The Right to Social Security - guaranteeing that everyone

regardless of age or ability to work has the means necessary
to procure basic needs and services.
Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law

Topic: Social Rights
Professor: Atty. Vanessa Encabo Page 1
The Right to Work - guaranteeing the opportunity to have
fulfilling and dignified work under safe and healthy conditions
with fair wages
What are the basic characteristics of social rights?
Given that social rights are directly descended from rights human
in nature, its characteristics are similar, mainly:
1. Inherent are not granted by any person

or authority. These do not have to be bought, earned or inherited;
they belong to people simply because they are human.
2. Fundamental - without them, the life and dignity of man will

be meaningless.
3. Inalienable - cannot be taken away; no one has the right to

deprive another person of them for any reason. These are available
even when the laws of their countries do not recognize them, or
when they violate them.
4. Imprescriptible - do not prescribe and cannot be lost even if

man fails to use or assert them, even by a long passage of time.
5. Indivisible - cannot be denied even when other rights have

already been enjoyed.
6. Universal - are universal in application and they apply

irrespective of ones origin, status, or condition or place where one
lives.
7. Interdependent - are interdependent because

the fulfillment or exercise of one cannot be had without the
realization of the other.
Categorization
Opponents of the indivisibility of human rights argue that economic,

social and cultural rights are fundamentally different from civil and
political rights and require completely different approaches. Economic,
social and cultural rights are argued to be:
o positive, meaning that they require active provision of

entitlements by the state (as opposed to the state being
required only to prevent the breach of rights)

o resource-intensive, meaning that they are expensive and
difficult to provide
o progressive, meaning that they will take significant time
to implement
o vague, meaning they cannot be quantitatively measured,

and whether they are adequately provided or not is difficult
to judge
o ideologically divisive/political, meaning that there is no

consensus on what should and shouldn't be provided as a
right
o socialist, as opposed to capitalist
o non-justiciable, meaning that their provision, or the

breach of them, cannot be judged in a court of law
o aspirations or goals, as opposed to real 'legal' rights
BRIEF HISTORY OF SOCIAL RIGHTS IN THE PHILIPPINES
From a formal viewpoint, it would be prudent to say that any proper

discussion on social rights in the Philippines must begin at the earliest
onset of a civilized form of governance, specifically the Spanish
colonization.
In hindsight, the enjoyment of all types of rights, socio-cultural or

civil, during this period was primarily determined by which social group,
class or category one belonged to. Spanish colonial bureaucracy
divided the populace into three main groups based on race and religion.
For example, those native indios or Christianized natives were allowed
certain status and rights, below the Spaniards, but above the Moros
and Infieles who were considered the lowest and were afforded only
the most basic of rights, and not even always
The end of the Spanish colonial era on 1898, by virtue of the Treaty
of Paris shifted the reins over to the Americans. Under them, the
populace were finally and justly afforded rights.
However, the American hold would not last long. The persistent
calls and uprising of the people to establish a Philippine government of
their own, independent from any foreign influence, would prevail.

Eventually, we would establish our own government and constitution
of the Republic of the Philippines which, in turn, afforded all citizens
equal protection and rights, nonexistent before.
SOCIAL JUSTICE IN RELATION TO SOCIAL RIGHTS
It is important to go back to the definition of both Social Justice and

Social Rights in order to better understand how both correlate and are
synonymous with one another. The Congress must enact laws that
implement the goals laid out by the Constitution. The social justice
provisions thus serves as mere guidelines to Congress, which bears
the burden of enacting laws that shall concretized them.
Thus, social rights are those (rights) which are necessary for a
person to fully participate in society without being discriminated against
due to race, religion, gender, class, etc. On the other hand, social
justice is "the way in which human rights are manifested in the
everyday lives of people at every level of society".
By the above definitions, it is clear that Social Justice works to

uphold and maintain the Social Rights afforded to us by law. In addition
to this, Social Justice works through various advocacies and reform
agendas geared towards ensuring socio-economic equality and
stability for all.
I. On Social Justice
In an earlier decision, Del Rosario v. De los Santos, it was

categorically stated that the social justice principle is the
translation into reality of its significance as popularized by late
President Magsaysay: He who has less in life should have
more in law. As enshrined in the 1987 Constitution, social justice
entails protection to certain sectors that tend to be marginalized
and whose roles in society are not given the importance and
attention due to them.
As is clear from a perusal of Article XII, social justice does not

contemplate mere economic equality. Whereas there is a
tendency to equate social justice with equality of economic
conditions and opportunities, the constitutional provisions on
social justice recognize that other sectors may be marginalized by
unequal social circumstances that are not necessarily connected
with the lack of wealth.

The rights enshrined in the social justice and human rights
provisions in Article XIII are not enforceable by themselves.
II. The Concept of Social Justice
ARTICLE XIII
SOCIAL JUSTICE AND HUMAN RIGHTS
SECTION 1. The Congress shall give highest priority to the

enactment of measures that protect and enhance the right of all
the people to human dignity, reduce social, economic, and political
inequalities, and remove cultural inequities by equitably diffusing
wealth and political power for the common good.
To this end, the State shall regulate the acquisition, ownership,

use, and disposition of property and its increments.
SECTION 2. The promotion of social justice shall include the

commitment to create economic opportunities based on freedom
of initiative and self-reliance.
Case Laws:
Calalang v. Williams
70 Phil. 726, No. 47800 (1940)
Social justice is Neither communism, nor despotism, nor

atomism, nor anarchy, but the humanization of laws and the
equalization of social and economic forces by the State so that
justice in its rational and objectively secular conception may at
least be approximated. Social justice means the promotion of
the welfare of all the people, the adoption by the Government of
measures calculated to insure economic stability of all the
competent elements of society, through the maintenance of a
proper economic and social equilibrium in the interrelations of the
members of the community, constitutionally, through the adoption
of measures legally justifiable, or extra-constitutionally, through
the exercise of powers underlying the existence of all
governments on the time-honored principle of salus populi est
suprema lex.
The Honorable Chief Justice Enrique M. Fernando, in

explaining the concept of social justice, wrote:
What is thus stressed is that a fundamental principle as social

justice, identified as it is with the broad scope of the police power,
has an even more basic role to play in aiding those whose lives
are spent in toil, with destitution an ever-present threat, to attain a

certain degree of economic well-being. Precisely, though the
social justice coupled with the protection to labor provisions, the
government is enabled to pursue an active and militant policy to
give reality and substance to the proclaimed aspiration of a better
life and more decent living conditions for all.
The preservation of the lives of the citizens is a basic duty of

the State, more vital than the preservation of the profits of the
corporations. When the State is in a life-and-death struggle, like
war or rebellion, it is the citizen worker who fights in defense of the
State. When the life of the State is threatened from within and
without, it is the citizen that mans the weapons of war and march
into battle.
Philippine Apparel Workers Union v. National Labor

Relations Commission, 106 SCRA 444, G.R. No. L- 50320
Philippine Apparel Inc. sought to implement the wage

increases in the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) as part
of its compliance with the increase in living allowance provided in
Presidential Decree 1123, which took effect earlier than the
signing of the CBA. To this, Philippine Apparel Workers Union
protested.
Upon reaching the Supreme Court, it was held that the

increase in living allowance provided by the Presidential Decree
is separate and distinct from the wage increase in the CBA.
However, Justice Herrera dissented, quoting the classic

definition of Justice Laurel in Calalang v. Williams. Among the
points she raised was that the broader requirements for the
maintenance of a stable economy should also be taken into
account in resolving conflicts between labor and management.
It is submitted that the principle of social justice will be better

served by upholding the protection-to-labor policy guaranteed by
the Constitution.
Guido v. Rural Progress Administration

84 Phil 847, G.R. No. L-2089 (1949)
The Court rids the false notion that social justice can be used
as an excuse for unlimited expropriation of private land; the goal
not being equality of economic status, but equality of opportunity.
The promotion of social justice ordained by the Constitution

does not supply paramount basis for untrammelled expropriation

of private land by the Rural Progress Administration or any other
government instrumentality.
Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. v. National Labor

Relations Commission
164 SCRA 671, G.R. No. L-80609 (1988)
As to the case at bar, the Court held that the grant of

separation pay was unjustified, because petitioner was dismissed
for dishonesty.
The Court stressed thus stressed that the policy of social

justice is not intended to countenance wrong-doing simply
because it is committed by the underprivileged.
National Federation of Sugar Workers v. Ovejera

114 SCRA 354 (1982)
This case dwells on the interpretation of the exemption

provided in Presidential Decree 851 which mandates the payment
of 13th month pay to employees.
III. The Social Justice Provisions
Article XII of the Constitution is divided into seven main

Sections, to wit:
A. Labor
B. Agrarian Reform
C. Urban Land Reform and Housing
D. Health
E. Women
F. The Role and Rights of Peoples Organizations
G. Human Rights

A. LABOR
Article XIII, Section 3 of the 1987 Constitution:

Social Justice and Human Rights
SECTION 3. The State shall afford full protection to labor, local

and overseas, organized and unorganized, and promote full
employment and equality of employment opportunities for all.
It shall guarantee the rights of all workers to self-organizations,

and peaceful concerted activities, including the right to strike in
accordance with law. They shall be entitled to security of tenure,
humane conditions of work, and a living wage. They shall also
participate in policy and decision-making processes affecting their
rights and benefits as may be provided by law.
The State shall promote the principle of shared responsibility

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

employers, recognizing the right of labor to its just share in the
fruits of production and the right of enterprises to reasonable
returns on investments, and to expansion and growth.
The following law enforces and builds on the rights of labor as

enunciated in the Constitution. The Labor Code is important
insofar as it is a compilation of all laws pertinent to the labor sector.
This law is given liberal interpretation in favor of the labor sector.
PRESIDENTIAL DECREE NO. 442, as amended The Labor

Code
Article 3 of the Labor Code provides that The State shall

afford:
Protection to labor
Such protection is best carried out by all-encompassing

construction in favor of labor provided in Article 4: All doubts in
the implementation and interpretation of the provisions of this
Code, including its implementing rules and regulations, shall be
resolved in favor of labor.

Promote full employment
To give the labor force as many employment opportunities as

are offered within the country, competition with non-residents who
are sought to be imported by local employers is eliminated through
the establishment of the work permit system.
Ensure equal work opportunities regardless of sex, race or

creed
The provisions on the employment of women in the Labor

Code are two-fold. First, special protection is given to women
workers in terms of the hours of work and the facilities that should
be provided for them in the workplace. Second, there is a
prohibition on discrimination against them in terms of employment
opportunities.
Discrimination of women workers regarding terms and

conditions of employment solely on account of her sex is
specifically prohibited.
Regulate the relations between workers and employers
The State encourages labor and management to enter into

collective bargaining and negotiations to determine the terms and
conditions of employment. Likewise, they are encouraged to settle
their labor or industrial disputes through voluntary arbitration,
mediation and conciliation (Article 211).
Assure the rights of workers to: Self-organization
The right to self-organization is given dimension in article 243,

as follows: All persons employed in commercial, industrial and
agricultural enterprises and in religious, charitable, medical or
educational institutions whether operating for profit or not, shall
have the right to self-organization and to form, join or assist labor
organizations of their own choosing for purposes of collective
bargaining. Ambulant, intermittent and itinerant workers, self-
employed people, rural workers and those without any definite
employers may form labor organizations for the purpose of
enhancing and defending their interests and for their mutual aid
and protection.
Collective Bargaining
It is declared policy of the State to promote and emphasize

the primacy of collective bargaining and negotiations. (Article
211).

Thus, the Code imposes the duty to bargain collectively which
means the performance of a mutual obligation to meet and
convene promptly and expeditiously in good faith for the purpose
of negotiating an agreement with respect to wages, hours of work
and all other terms and conditions of employment including
proposals for adjusting any grievances or questions arising under
such agreement and executing a contract incorporating such
agreement if requested by either party, but such duty does not
compel any party to agree to a proposal or to make any
concession (Article 252).
Security of Tenure
Security of tenure exists in regular employment. According to

Article 280 of the Code, an employment shall be deemed to be
regular where the employee has been engaged to perform
activities which are usually necessary or desirable in the usual
business or trade of the employer except where the employment
has been fixed for a specific project or undertaking, the completion
or termination of which has been determined at the time of the
engagement of the employee or where the work or service to be
performed is seasonal nature and the employment is for the
duration of the season. Otherwise, the employment is casual.
Just and humane conditions of work
The Labor Code provides the minimum standards for just and
humane conditions of work and for payment of wages.
B. AGRARIAN REFORM
Article XIII of the 1987 Constitution: Social Justice and Human

Rights
SECTION 4. The State shall, by law, undertake an agrarian reform

program founded on the right of farmers and regular farm workers, who
are landless, to own directly or collectively the lands they till or, in the
case of other farmworkers, to receive a just share of the fruits thereof.
To this end, the State shall encourage the (see copy in the net)
SECTION 5. The State shall recognize the right of farmers, farm

workers, and landowners, as well as cooperatives, and other
independent farmers' organizations to participate in the planning,
organization, and management of the program, and shall provide
support to agriculture through appropriate technology and research,

and adequate financial, production, marketing, and other support
services.
SECTION 6. The State shall apply the principles of agrarian reform

or stewardship, whenever applicable in accordance with law, in the
disposition or utilization of other natural resources, including lands of
the public domain under lease or concession suitable to agriculture,
subject to prior rights, homestead rights of small settlers, and the rights
of indigenous communities to their ancestral lands. The State may
resettle landless farmers and farm workers in its own agricultural
estates which shall be distributed to them in the manner provided by
law.
SECTION 7. The State shall protect the rights of subsistence

fishermen, especially of local communities, to the preferential use of
local marine and fishing resources, both inland and offshore. It shall
provide support to such fishermen through appropriate technology and
research, adequate financial, production, and marketing assistance,
and other services. The State shall also protect, develop, and conserve
such resources. The protection shall extend to offshore fishing grounds
of subsistence fishermen against foreign intrusion. Fish workers shall
receive a just share from their labor in the utilization of marine and
fishing resources.
SECTION 8. The State shall provide incentives to landowners to

invest the proceeds of the agrarian reform program to promote
industrialization, employment creation, and privatization of public
sector enterprises. Financial instruments used as payment for their
lands shall be honored as equity in enterprises of their choice.
The following provisions from the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform

Law exhibit how Congress seeks to concretize the rights embodied by
the Constitution as mentioned in the foregoing provisions.
REPUBLIC ACT NO. 6657

Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law
PRINCIPLES AND POLICIES
Section 2 of RA 6657 outlined the principles and policies by which

it was enacted and connects them to what the Act undertakes to do.

It is the policy of the State to pursue a Comprehensive Agrarian
Reform Program (CARP). The welfare of the landless farmers and
farmworkers will receive the highest consideration to promote social
justice and to move the nation toward sound rural development and
industrialization, and the establishment of owner cultivatorship of
economic-size farms as the basis of Philippine agriculture.
The State shall promote industrialization and full employment

based on sound agricultural development and agrarian reform, through
industries that make full and efficient use of human and natural
resources, and which are competitive in both domestic and foreign
markets: Provided, That the conversion of agricultural lands into
industrial, commercial or residential lands shall take into account,
tillers' rights and national food security. Further, the State shall protect
Filipino enterprises against unfair foreign competition and trade
practices.
The State recognizes that there is not enough agricultural land to

be divided and distributed to each farmer and regular farmworker so
that each one can own his/her economic-size family farm. This being
the case, a meaningful agrarian reform program to uplift the lives and
economic status of the farmer and his/her children can only be
achieved through simultaneous industrialization aimed at developing a
self-reliant and independent national economy effectively controlled by
Filipinos.
The State shall be guided by the principles that land has a social
function and land ownership has a social responsibility. Owners of
agricultural land have the obligation to cultivate directly or through
labor administration the lands they own and thereby make the land
productive. The State may lease undeveloped lands of the public
domain to qualified entities for the development of capital-intensive
farms, and traditional and pioneering crops especially those for exports
subject to the prior rights of the beneficiaries under this Act.
DEFINITION OF AGRARIAN REFORM
Agrarian Reform means the redistribution of lands, regardless of

crops or fruits produced, to farmers and regular farmworkers who are
landless, irrespective of tenurial arrangement, to include the totality of
factors and support services designed to lift the economic status of the
beneficiaries and all other arrangement alternative to the physical

redistribution of lands, such as production or profit-sharing, labor
administration, and the distribution of stock, which will allow beneficia-
ries to receive a just share of the fruits of the lands they work.
[Section 3(a) of RA 6657]
PROTECTION OF THE RIGHTS OF INDIGENOUOS COMMUNITIES

TO THEIR ANCESTRAL LANDS
Section 9 elaborates on the statement 1 Section 2 that the

distribution of lands is subject to the rights of indigenous communities
to their ancestral lands. For purposes of this Act, ancestral lands of
each indigenous cultural community shall include, but not be limited to,
lands in the actual, continuous and open possession and occupation
of the community and its members: Provided, that the Torrens System
shall be respected.
The right of these communities to their ancestral lands shall be

protected to ensure their economic, social and cultural well-being.

THE COOPERATIVE CODE
Chapter XI Special Provisions Relating to Agrarian Reform

Cooperatives
An agrarian reform cooperative within the meaning of this Code is

one where the majority of the members are agrarian reform
beneficiaries and marginal farmers and organized for any or all of the
following purposes:
(1) To develop an appropriate system of land tenure, land

development, and land consolidation or land management in areas
covered by agrarian reform;
(2) To coordinate and facilitate the dissemination of scientific

methods of production, and provide assistance in the storage,
transport, and marketing of farm products for agrarian reform
beneficiaries and their immediate family, hereinafter referred to as
beneficiaries;
(3) To provide financial facilities to beneficiaries for provident or

productive purposes at reasonable costs;

(4) To arrange and facilitate the expeditious transfer of
appropriate and suitable technology to beneficiaries and marginal
farmers at the lowest possible cost;
(5) To provide social security benefits, health, medical and

social insurance benefits and other social and economic benefits
that promote the general welfare of the agrarian reform
beneficiaries and marginal farmers;
(6) To provide non-formal education, vocational/technical

training, and livelihood programs to beneficiaries and marginal
farmers;
(7) To act as channels for external assistance and services to

the beneficiaries and marginal farmers;
(8) To undertake a comprehensive and integrated development

program in agrarian reform and resettlement areas with special
concern for the development of agro-based, marine-based and
cottage-based industries;
(9) To represent the beneficiaries on any or all matters that

effect their interest; and
(10) To undertake such other economic or social activities as

may be necessary or incidental in the pursuit of the foregoing
purposes.
Landholdings like plantations, estates or haciendas acquired by the

State for the benefit of the workers in accordance with the
Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program shall be owned collectively
by the workers-beneficiaries who shall form a cooperative at their
option.

C. URBAN LAND REFORM AND HOUSING
Article XIII of the 1987 Constitution: Social Justice and Human

Rights
SECTION 9. The State shall, by law, and for the common good,
undertake, in cooperation with the public sector, a continuing program
of urban land reform and housing which will make available at
affordable cost decent housing and basic services to underprivileged
and homeless citizens in urban centers and resettlement areas. It shall
also promote adequate employment opportunities to such citizens. In
the implementation of such program the State shall respect the rights
of small property owners.
SECTION 10. Urban or rural poor dwellers shall not be evicted nor
their dwellings demolished, except in accordance with law and in a just
and humane manner. No resettlement of urban and rural dwellers shall
be undertaken without adequate consultation with them and the
communities where they are to be relocated.

URBAN DEVELOPMENT AND HOUSING ACT
OBJECTIVES
The Urban Development and Housing Program aims to:
(a) Uplift the conditions of the underprivileged and homeless

citizens in urban areas and in resettlement areas by making
available to them decent housing at affordable cost, basic services,
and employment opportunities;
(b) Provide for the rational use and development of urban land
in order to bring about the following:
1. Equitable utilization of residential lands in urban and

urbanizable areas with particular attention to the needs and
requirements of the underprivileged and homeless citizens and
not merely on the basis of market forces;

2. Optimization of the use and productivity of land and
urban resources;
3. Development of urban areas conducive to commercial

and industrial activities which can generate more economic
opportunities for the people;
4. Reduction in urban dysfunctions, particularly those that

adversely affect public health, safety and ecology; and
5. Access to land and housing by the underprivileged and

homeless citizens;
(c) Adopt workable policies to regulate and direct urban growth and
expansion towards a dispersed urban net and more balanced urban-
rural interdependence;
(d) Provide for an equitable land tenure system that shall guarantee
security of tenure to Program beneficiaries but shall respect the rights
of small property owners and ensure the payment of just compensation;
(e) Encourage more effective people's participation in the urban
development process; and
(f) Improve the capability of local government units in undertaking

urban development and housing programs and projects.
DISPOSITION OF LANDS
Section 14. Limitations on the Disposition of Lands for

Socialized Housing. No land for socialized housing, including
improvements or rights thereon, shall be sold, alienated, conveyed,
encumbered or leased by any beneficiaries as determined by the
government agency concerned.
SLUM IMPROVEMENT AND RESETTLEMENT
Part of this program is the rehabilitation and development of

blighted and slum areas and the resettlement of Program beneficiaries
(Section 26).
The local government units, in coordination with the National

Housing Authority, shall implement the relocation and resettlement of

persons living in danger areas such as esteros, railroad tracks,
garbage dumps, riverbanks, shorelines, waterways, and in other public
places as sidewalks, roads, parks, and playgrounds. They shall
provide relocation or resettlement sites with basic services and
facilities and access to employment and livelihood opportunities
sufficient to meet the basic needs of the affected families. (Section 29)
EVICTION AND DEMOLITION
Eviction or demolition as a practice shall be discouraged. Eviction

or demolition, however, may be allowed under the following situations:
a. When persons or entities occupy danger areas such as

esteros, railroad tracks, garbage dumps, riverbanks,
shorelines, waterways, and other public places such as
sidewalks, roads, parks, and playgrounds;
b. When government infrastructure projects with available

funding are about to be implemented; or
c. When there is a court order for eviction and demolition.
COMMUNITY MORTGAGE PROGRAM
The Community Mortgage Program (CMP) is a mortgage financing

program of the National Home Mortgage Finance Corporation which
assists legally organized associations of underprivileged and
homeless citizens to purchase and develop a tract of land under the
concept of community ownership. (Section 31)
ORGANIZATION OF BENEFICIARIES
Beneficiaries of the Program shall be responsible for their

organization into associations to manage their subdivisions or places
of residence, to secure housing loans under existing Community
Mortgage Program and such other projects beneficiaries to them.

D. HEALTH
Article XIII of 1987 Constitution:

SOCIAL JUSTICE AND HUMAN RIGHTS
SECTION 11. The State shall adopt an integrated and

comprehensive approach to health development which shall
endeavor to make essential goods, health and other social
services available to all the people at affordable cost. There shall
be priority for the needs of the under-privileged sick, elderly,
disabled, women, and children. The State shall endeavor to
provide free medical care to paupers.
SECTION 12. The State shall establish and maintain an

effective food and drug regulatory system and undertake
appropriate health manpower development and research,
responsive to the country's health needs and problems.
SECTION 13. The State shall establish a special agency for

disabled person for their rehabilitation, self-development and self-
reliance, and their integration into the mainstream of society.
Article II of the 1987 Constitution: DECLARATION OF

PRINCIPLES AND STATE POLICIES
SECTION 15. The State shall protect and promote the right to
health of the people and instill health consciousness among them.
The following Act presents a scheme for providing health

services to as many people as possible, subject to priorities held
by the Constitution.

National Health Insurance Act of 1995
Statement of Principles and Policies
The Act shall be guided by the following principles in

accordance with the constitutional approach towards health
development:
a) Allocation of National Resources for Health The

Program shall underscore the importance for government to
give priority to health as a strategy for bringing about faster
economic development and improving quality of life;

b) Universality The Program shall provide all citizens
with the mechanism to gain financial access to health services,
in combination with other government health programs. The
National Health Insurance Program shall give the highest
priority to achieving coverage of the entire population with at
least a basic minimum package of health insurance benefits;
c) Equity The Program shall provide for uniform basic

benefits. Access to care must be a function of a persons health
needs rather than his ability to pay;
d) Responsiveness The Program shall adequately meet

the needs for personal health services at various stages of a
members life;
e) Social Solidarity The Program shall be guided by

community spirit. It must enhance risk sharing among income
groups, age groups, and persons of differing health status, and
residing in different geographic areas;
f) Effectiveness The Program shall balance economical

use of resources with quality of care;
g) Innovation The Program shall adapt to changes in

medical technology, health service organizations, health care
provider payment systems, scopes of professional practice,
and other trends in the health sector. It must be cognizant of
the appropriate roles and respective strengths of the public
and private sectors in health care, including peoples
organizations and community-based health care organizations;
h) Devolution The Program shall be implemented in

consultation with local government units (LGUs), subject to the
overall policy directions set by the National Government;
i) Fiduciary Responsibility The Program shall provide

effective stewardship, funds management, and maintenance
of reserves;
j) Informed Choice The Program shall encourage

members to choose from among accredited health care
providers. The Corporations local offices shall objectively
appraise its members of the full range of providers involved in
the Program and of the services and privileges to which they
are entitled as members. This explanation, which the members
may use as a guide in selecting the appropriate and most
suitable provider, shall be given in clear and simple Filipino and
in the local languages that is comprehensible to the member;

k) Maximum Community Participation The Program
shall build on existing community initiatives for its organization
and human resource requirements;
l) Compulsory Coverage All citizens of the Philippines

shall be required to enroll in the National Health Insurance
Program in order to avoid adverse selection and social inequity;
m) Cost Sharing The Program shall continuously

evaluate its cost sharing schedule to ensure that costs borne
by the members are fair and equitable and that the charges by
health care providers are reasonable;
n) Professional Responsibility of Health Care

Providers The Program shall assure that all participating
health care providers are responsible and accountable in all
their dealings with the Corporation and its members;
o) Public Health Services The Government shall be

responsible for providing public health services for all groups
such as women, children, indigenous people, displaced
communities and communities in environmentally endangered
areas, while the Program shall focus on the provision of
personal health services. Preventive and promotive public
health services are essential for reducing the need and
spending for personal health services;
p) Quality of Services The Program shall promote the

improvement in the quality of health services provided through
the institutionalization of programs of quality assurance at all
levels of the health service delivery system. The satisfaction of
the community, as well as individual beneficiaries, shall be a
determinant of the quality of service delivery;
q) Cost Containment The Program shall incorporate

features of cost containment in its design and operations and
provide a viable means of helping the people pay for health
care services; and
r) Care for the Indigent The Government shall be

responsible for providing a basic package of needed personal
health services to indigents through premium subsidy, or
through direct service provision until such time that the
Program is fully implemented.

Objectives of the Act
The Act has the following general objectives:
a) To provide all citizens of the Philippines with the

mechanisms to gain financial access to health services;
b) To create the National Health Insurance Program,

hereinafter referred to as the Program, to serve as the
means to help the people pay for health care services;
c) To prioritize and accelerate the provision of health

services to all Filipinos, especially that segment of the
population who cannot afford such services; and
d) To establish the Philippine Health Insurance

Corporation, that will administer the Program at central
and local levels.
Coverage
The National Health Insurance Program established by this Act

shall serve as means for the healthy to help pay for the care of
the sick and those who can afford medical care to subsidize those
who cannot.
The National Health Insurance Program shall cover all citizens

of the Philippines. However, it shall not be made compulsory in
provinces and cities where such are not assured yet reasonable
access to its health care services.
All indigents not enrolled in the Program shall have priority in

the use and availment of the services and facilities of government
hospitals, health care personnel, and other health organizations:
Provided, however, that such government health care providers
shall ensure that said indigents shall subsequently be enrolled in
the Program.

Topic: Social Rights Page 21
E. WOMEN
Women in the labor force are identified as a marginalized

sector by article XII of the constitution:
Art. XII of the 1987 Constitution: Social Justice and Human

Rights:
Section 14 The state shall protect working women by

providing safe and healthful working conditions, taking into
account their maternal functions, and such facilities and
opportunities that will enhance their welfare and enable them to
realize their full potential in the service of nation.
The significance of this provision is the recognition that men

and women in the labor force have fundamental differences, and
that the women as a subsector of labor have concerns that may
be different from those of their male counterparts. This provision
as regards women in the labor force must be read in conjunction
with the recognition, in the declaration of Principles and State
policies, that the women and men are fundamentally equal, and
that the women play an important role in the nation-building. Thus,
whereas the state recognizes the fundamental equality between
the sexes in the eyes of the law, it recognizes as well that there
are fundamental differences warrant the special protection given
to women in the article on social justice.
Art. II of the 1987 Constitution: Declaration of Principles and

State Policies:
SECTION 14 The state recognizes the role of women in the

nation-building, and shall ensure the fundamental equality before
the law of women and men.
REPUBLIC ACT NO 7192

Women in Development and Nation-Building Act
The act assumes the policy that the state recognizes the role
of women in nation building and shall ensure the fundamental
equality before the law of women and men.
Fundamental equality as a state policy entails equality in the

capacity to act. Women shall, upon reaching the legal age,
regardless of civil status, have the capacity to act and enter into
contracts as men under similar circumstances have. Married
women shall likewise have rights equal to married men in all
contractual situations. Thus:

Equality shall also be manifest in access to membership in all
social, civic and recreational clubs, committees, associations and
similar other organizations devoted to public purpose. If the
women belong to the same organization as their husband, they
shall be entitles to the same rights and privileges accorded to the
latter (Section 6).
Likewise, women shall have opportunities for appointment,

admission, training, graduation and commission in all military or
similar schools of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the
Philippines National Police equal to that of men.
In recognition of the contributions of married persons who

devote full time to managing the household and family affairs, they
shall be entitled to voluntary Pag-IBIG (Pagtutulungan-ikaw,
Bangko, industriya, at Gobyerno), Government Service Insurance
System (GSIS) or Social Security System (SSS) coverage with the
consent of the working spouse. The GSIS or the SSS shall issue
rules and regulations to implement these provisions (Section 8).
Case Laws:
VILLEGAS VS SUBIDO, 109 SCRA G.R NO. L-27714 (1981)
Commissioner of Civil Service Abelardo Subido refused to

recognize the appointments of ninety-one women as metro aides
in the City of Manila and further requested their salaries to be
withheld because in his opinion as noted by the Supreme Court,
the practice of making them perform manual labor outside office
premises exposes them to contempt and ridicule and constitutes
a violation of the traditional dignity and respect accorded Filipino
woman-hood.
The Supreme Court brushed aside the opinion of the

commissioner. There has been no offense to the well-known
Filipino tradition of holding the women in high esteem and respect.
Moreover, as is quite obvious in civic parades where a contingent
of them usually takes part, they take prideand justly so --- in
what they are doing.
Moreover, the trend towards greater and greater recognition of

equal rights for both sexes under the shelter of the equal
protection clause argues most strongly against this kind of
discrimination.

PHILIPPINE ASSOCIATION OF SERVICE EXPORTERS, INC.
VS. DRILON, 163 SCRA 386, G.R NO. L-81958 (1988)
Philippine Association of Service Exporters, Inc., firm recruiting

Filipino workers for overseas placement, assailed the
constitutionality of a Department Order issued by the Department
of Labor and Employment, entitled guidelines Governing the
Temporary Suspension of Development of Filipino Domestic and
Household Workers. The Department Order was alleged to be
discriminatory, providing protection only for female Filipino
domestic and household workers.
The Supreme Court however upheld the constitutionality of the

challenged Department Order.
As a matter of judicial notice, the Court is well aware of the

unhappy plight that has befallen our female labor force abroad,
especially domestic servants, amid exploitative working conditions
marked by, in not few cases, physical and personal abuse.
The same, however, cannot be said of our male workers. In

the first place, there is no evidence that, except perhaps for
isolated instances, our men abroad have been afflicted with an
identical predicament.
Discrimination in this case is justified.
The Labor Code contains provisions giving special protection

to women workers given the problems they particularly face, and
outlawing various forms of discrimination against them.
PRESIDENTIAL DECREE NO. 442

The Labor Code
Among the forms of special protection granted to women

workers is the prohibition of working, regardless of age, during
certain hours of the night, whether it be for compensation or not:
a) In any industrial undertaking or branch thereof between

ten oclock at night and six o'clock in the morning of the
following day; or
(b) In any commercial or nonindustrial undertaking or

branch thereof, other than agricultural, between midnight and
six o'clock in the morning of the following day; or

(c) In any agricultural undertaking at night time unless she
is given a period of rest of not less than nine consecutive hours
(Article 130).
Other forms of providing special protection to woman workers

are the facilities in the workplace to ensure their safety and health.
Maternity leave benefits shall also be provided.
Family planning services shall also be provided.
Women who work with or without compensation in any night

club, cocktail lounge, massage clinic, bar or similar establishment
under the control and supervision of the employer for a period of
time determined by the Secretary of Labor shall be considered an
employee for the purpose of labor and social legislation (Article
138).
Prohibition on Discrimination
The other provisions of the Code on women workers involve

prohibition on discrimination against any woman employee on the
terms and conditions of her employment solely on account of her
sex.
The Code also prohibits the employer to require as a condition

of employment or continuation of employment that a woman
employee shall not get married. A woman employee shall also not
be discriminated against or otherwise prejudiced on account of her
marriage (Article 136).
The next case illustrates how a policy against hiring married

women runs counter to the rights granted to women by the
Constitution and the Labor Code.
Case Laws:
Philippine Telephone and Telegraph Co. v. NLRC, 272 SCRA

596, G.R. No. 118978 (1997)
Grace de Guzman, a PT&T employee, indicated in the reliever

agreements she entered into with her employer that her civil status
was single although she was actually married. PT&T dismissed
her, allegedly for dishonesty. De Guzman, thought, claimed that
she was fired because of the management policy against hiring
married women as employees. The Supreme Court ruled in favor
of De Guzman.

Republic Act No. 8369
Family Courts Act of 1997
Section 5 of the Act grants to Family Courts the jurisdiction to

hear and decide cases of domestic violence against women, in
recognition that such cases involve acts of gender based violence
that results, or likely to result in physical, sexual or psychological
harm or suffering to women; and other forms of physical abuse
such as battering or threats and coercion which violate a womans
person hood, integrity and freedom of movement.
Protection is likewise given to rape victims through the creation

of a womens ask to handle their case in view of the particular
problems they face at the hands of the investigating officers.

Rape Victim Assistance and Protection Act of 1998
Section 4 of the Act mandates that a womens desk shall be

established in every police precinct throughout the country to
enable a police woman to conduct investigation of complaints of
women rape victims. The same provision provides that a female
prosecutor or prosecutors shall conduct the preliminary
investigation investigation proper or inquest of women rape
victims, and the examining physician be of the same gender as
the offended party.
A similar provision is found in the next law granting protection

to women who are victims of a wider range of crimes. In addition
to the creation of a womens desk, the National Police
Commission is also mandated to formulate a gender sensitivity
program to further protect women from possible abuses of power
by the police authorities.

Philippine National Police Reform and Reorganization Act of
1998
A womens desk shall be established by the Philippine National

Police (PNP) in all of its police stations in the country to deal with
cases involving crimes against chastity, sexual harassment,
abuses committed against women and children and other similar
offenses (section 57). Women shall be prioritized in recruitment
and training where service in such desks is concerned. Further,
ten percent of its annual recruitment, training and education quota
shall be reserved for women for five years after enactment
(section 58).

A gender sensitivity program shall be formulated by the
National Police Commission within ninety days from the effectivity
of the Act. The program shall include the establishment of equal
opportunities for women in the PNP, the prevention of asexual
harassment in the workplace, and the prohibition of discrimination
on the basis of gender or sexual orientation (Section 59).
Violation of this program by any member of the personnel shall
result in suspension without pay for not less than thirty days, and
the requirement of attending a gender sensitivity seminar or
training. More than two violations of the rules shall merit
recommendation of demotion or dismissal from the PNP (Section
60). The provisions herein shall not be construed as a prohibition
against promotion of policewomen or their assignment to other
positions in the PNP (Section 61).
The following law gives special protection to women who fall prey
to schemes of sending them abroad as mail order brides.
An Act to Declare Unlawful the Practice of Matching Filipino

Women for Marriage to Foreign Nationals on a Mail Order
Basis and other Similar Practices, Including the
Advertisement, Publication, Printing or Distribution of
Brochures, Fliers and other Propaganda Materials in Further
an e Thereof and Providing Penalty therefore.
The Act aims to protect Filipino women from being exploited

in utter disregard of human dignity in their pursuit of economic
upliftment (Section 11).
Women are given better chances of serving the Armed Forces

of the Philippines through a provision in the following law. At the
same time, they are given special protection by pro idling
adjustments in the standards applied due to the physiological
make-up of women.

Citizen Armed Forces of the Philippines Reservist Act
Section 65 of the Act provides that women shall have the right
and duty to serve in AFP. The relevant standards for admission,
training and commissioning of women shall be the same as those
required for men, except for those essential adjustment in such
standards required because of physiological difference between
men and women.

F. PEOPLES ORGANIZATION
Article XII of the 1987 Constitution: Social Justice and

Human Rights
SECTION 15. The State shall respect the role of independent

peoples organizations to enable the people to pursue and protect,
within the Democratic framework, their legitimate and collective
interests and aspirations through peaceful and lawful means.
Peoples organizations are bona fide associations of citizens

with demonstrated capacity to promote the public interest and with
identifiable leadership, membership, and structure.
SECTION 16. The right of the people and their organizations

to effective and reasonable participation at all levels of social,
political and economic decision-making shall not be abridged. The
State shall, by law, facilitate the establishment of adequate
consultation mechanisms.
This Act specifies the different roles of peoples and non-

government organizations in local government.

The Local Government Code of 1991
The Code devotes a chapter on relations with peoples and

non- governmental organizations (Chapter IV)
Peoples and non-governmental organizations shall be

established and encouraged to become active partners of the lock
government units to further local autonomy (Section 34). As
partners, the local government units and peoples and non-
governmental organizations shall enter into joint ventures and
other cooperative arrangements to deliver certain basic services,
capability a building and livelihood projects, and to develop
enterprises designed to improve productivity and income, diversity
agriculture, spur rural industrialization, promote ecological
balance, and enhance the economic and social well-being of the
people (Section 35).
The Rules and Regulations Implementing the Local

Government Code expounds on the peoples and non-
governmental organizations' involvement in the plans, programs,
projects and activities of the LGUs.

Role in Local Special Bodies
In local special bodies, the peoples and non-governmental

organizations shall have the following participation:
(a) Local Development Councils The July designated

representatives of accredited peoples organizations, NGOs,
and the private sector operating in the provinces, cities,
municipalities, or Barangay development councils, as the case
may be. The number of NGO representatives in each LDC
shall not be less than one-fourth of the total membership of the
fully organized council.
The local chief executive shall undertake the necessary

information campaign to ensure participation of all NGOs
operating within his territorial jurisdiction.
(b) Local Or equal I fixation, Bids and Awards

Committees
(c) Local Health Boards
(d) Local School Boards The representatives of NGOs

or the private sector who shall sit as members of the local
school boards are as follows:
(1) Provincial school board
(2) City school board
(3) Municipal school board
(e) Local Peace and Order Councils
(f) Peoples Law Enforcement Boards
Role in the Delivery of Basic Services
To ensure active participation in the delivery of basic services

and facilities, the LGUs may sell, lease, encumber, or dispose to
the private sector the public economic enterprises owned by them
in their proprietary capacity. The LGUs shall do so by means of
ordinance (Article 65).

Assistance to Other Projects
In support of economic, socially-oriented, environmental, or

cultural projects which the peoples and non-governmental
organization may implement within its territorial jurisdiction, the
local government unit may provide financial, or other forms of
assistance provided that it shall be through the local chief
executive and with the concurrence of the sanggunian concerned
(Section 36). Article 67 of the Implementing Rules also provide
that the LGU may grant tax exemptions, tax relief and other tax
incentives to give further assistance.
Preferential Rights of Certain Organizations
Organizations and cooperatives of marginal fishermen shall

have the following preferential right:
(a) The duly registered organizations and cooperatives of

marginal fishermen shall have preferential right in the grant by
the sanggunian to erect fish corals, oyster, mussel or aquatic
beds or bangun fry areas, within a definite zone of the
municipal waters.
(b) The sanggunian may grant the privilege to gather, take

or catch bangus fry, prawn fry or kawag-kawag or fry of other
species and fish from the municipal waters by nets, traps or
other fishing gears to marginal fishermen free of any rental, fee,
charge or any other imposition whatsoever (Article 68).

G. THE COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS
Article XIII of the 1987 Constitution: Social Justice and

Human Rights
SECTION 17. (1) There is hereby created an independent

office called Commission on Human Rights.
The Commission shall be composed of a Chairman and four

Members who must be natural-born citizens of the Philippines and
a majority of whom shall be members of the Bar. The term of office
and other qualifications and disabilities of the Members of the
Commission shall be provided by law.
Until this Commission is constituted, the existing Presidential

Committee on Human Rights shall continue to exercise its present
functions and powers.
The approved annual appropriations of the Commission shall

be automatically and regularly released.
SECTION 18. The commission on Human Rights shall have

the following powers and functions:
(1) Investigate, on its own or on complaint by any party, all

forms of human rights violations involving civil and
political rights;
(2) Adopt its operational guidelines and rules of procedure,

and cite for contempt for violations thereof in
accordance with the Rules of Court;
(3) Provide appropriate legal measures for the protection of

human rights of all persons within the Philippines, as
well as Filipinos residing abroad, and provide for
preventive measures and legal aid services to the under
price legend whose human rights have been violated or
need protection;
(4) Exercise visitorial powers over jails, prisons, or

detention facilities;
(5) Establish a continuing program of research, education,

and information to enhance respect for the primacy of
human rights;

(6) Recommend to the Congress effective measures to
promote human rights and to provide for compensation
to victims of violations of human rights, or their families;
(7) Monitor the Philippine Government's compliance with

international treaty obligations on human rights;
(8) Grant immunity from prosecution to any person whose

testimony or whose possession of documents or other
evidence is necessary or convenient to determine the
truth in any investigation conducted by it or under its
authority;
(9) Request the assistance of any department, bureau,

office, or agency in the performance of its functions;
(10) Appoint its officers and employees in accordance

with law; and
(11) Perform such other duties and functions as may be

pro used by law.
SECTION 19. The Congress may provide for other cases of

violations of human rights that should fall within the authority of
the Commission, taking into account its recommendations.
Creation of the Commission on Human Rights
The creation of the Commission on Human Rights is done by

the Congress to avoid any refusal or failure of Congress to create
such a body. However, an implementing law is still needed to
declare the existence of the Commission, and to organize and
provide the specific details needed for it to commence operation.
EXECUTIVE ORDER NO. 163 established the existence of the

CHR and how it was constituted.
The Commission on Human Rights is declared to now be in

existence (Section 1). It shall be constituted as follows:
(a) The Commission on Human Rights shall be composed

of a Chairman and four Members who must be natural-born
citizens of the Philippines and, at the time of their appointment,
at least thirty five years of age, and must not have been
candidates for any elective position in the elections
immediately preceding their appointment. However, a majority
thereof shall be members of the Philippine Bar.

(b) The Chairman and the Members of the Commission on
Human Rights shall not, during their tenure, hold any other
office or employment. Neither shall they engage in the practice
of any profession or in the active management or control of any
business which in any way be affected by the functions of their
office, nor shall they be financially interested, directly or
indirectly, in any contract with, or in any franchise or privilege
granted by the government, any of its subdivisions, agencies,
or instrumentalities, including government-owned or controlled
corporations or their subsidiaries.
(c) The Chairman and the Members of the Commission on

Human Rights shall be appointed by the President for a term of
seven years without reappointment. Appointment to any
vacancy shall be only for the expired term of the predecessor.
(d) The Chairman and the Members of the Commission on

Human Rights shall receive the same salary as the Chairman
and Members, respectively, of the Constitutional Commissions,
which shall not be decreased during their term of office
(Section 2).
Its powers and functions shall be as those provided in the

Constitution (Section 3).
The Court held in this case that the Constitution pro used that
the Presidential appointment of the Chairman and members of the
Commission on Human Rights does not need confirmation from
the Commission in Appointments.
Case Laws:
Carino vs CHR 204 SCRA 483 GR NO 96681 (1981)
Public school teachers who engaged in "mass concerted

actions" for failure of public authorities to act on their grievances
were dismissed or suspended, after they had been
administratively charged for failure to comply with a return to work
issues by the Secretary of Education. Eight of the teachers filed a
complaint with the CHR, alleging that they were "denied due to
process and suspended without formal notice, unjustly, since they
did not join the mass leave".
CHR held that the teachers were indeed denied due process
of law for having been suspended for dismissed without a chance
to reply to the administrative charges Cario challenged the order
by filling a petition for certiorari with prohibition at the Supreme
Court, which held "the commission on Human Rights to have no

such power; and that it was not meant by the fundamental law to
be another court or quasi-judicial agency in this country, or
duplicate much less take over the functions of the latter.
The most that may be concealed to the Commission in the way

of adjunctive power is that it may investigate, receives evidence
and make findings of facts as regards claimed human rights
violations involving civil and political rights. The commission on
Human Rights does not have the power to issue a writ of
preliminary injunction, not being a court law.
EZPA VS CHR 208 SCRA 125
The CHR issued an injunction order after several farmers filed

a joint complaint against EPZA for bulldozing the area they
occupied which within the premises of the land EPZA bought in
the Cavite Export Processing Zone.
EPZA challenged the injunction orders via a special civil action

of certiorari and prohibition. The Supreme Court held that:
The Constitutional provision directing the CHR to provide for

preventive measures and legal aid services to the unprivileged
whose human rights have been violated or need protection may
not be construed to confer jurisdiction on the Commission to issue
a restraining order or writ of injunction for, it that were the intention,
the Constitution would have expressly said so. Jurisdiction is
conferred only by the Constitution or by law. It is never derived by
implication.
Not being a court of justice, the CHR itself has no jurisdiction

to issue the writ, for writ of preliminary of injunction may only be
issued by the judge of any court in which the action is pending
(within his district), or by a Justice of the Court of appeals, or the
Court of the Supreme Court.
This Supreme Court, in this case, held that the investigative

powers of the Commission on Human Rights are limited to human
rights violations involving civil and political rights. The court also
held that the contempt powers of the Commission may also be
exercised in relation to violations of its rules and regulations, and
not in relation to adjudication.
SIMON VS CHR, 229 SCRA 117 GR NO 100150 (1994)
A demolition order was sent by the Office of Quezon City

Mayor Brigido Simon, Jr. to the North EDSA Vendors Association,
incorporated, giving them three days to remove their stalls within

the premises in front of SM North EDSA to give way to the
construction of Peoples Park. The officers and members of the
Association, instead, filed a letter-complaint with the commission
on Human Rights (CHR), prompting the Commission to issue an
order directing Mayor Simon and the officials under him,
petitioners herein, to desist from the demolition. When the
demolition was still carried out, the Commission issued another
order warning them if the demolition is continued, the officials
concerned shall be cited for contempt and shall be arrested.
CHR claimed that they possessed adjudicative powers and

was capable of adopting legal measures to ensure protection of
the human rights of the people. The Supreme Court however,
disagreed, citing Cario vs Commission on Human Rights, and
reiterating the doctrine that the CHRs powers are merely
investigatory in nature.
As to the extent of the Commissions investigatory powers, the

Court held that, as to provide by the Constitution, such powers
are limited to human rights violations involving civil and political
rights.
Based on such deliberations by the Constitutional Commission,

the Court concluded that the demolition of the stalls and shanties
does not fall within the scope of human rights violations involving
civil and political rights.
IV. Conclusion
The existence of the social justice provisions in the

Constitution reveal a highly sophisticated understanding about
human rights. As can be seen, however, these provisions are
meaningless without adequate implementing legislation to give
the spirit behind these provisions life in the legal sphere.
The wide array of implementing legislation, however, betrays

an absence of coherence, perhaps due to a fundamental
confusion as regards the meaning of these provisions. Thus,
whereas there is no dearth of legislation, these many laws do not
seem driven by the same impulses and aspirations. Perhaps the
absence of unity may be traced more indirectly to a fundamental
confusion as regards the concept not only of social justice, but of
exactly what a human right is in the first place.


What Are Social Rights?

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What Are Social Rights?

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WHAT ARE SOCIAL RIGHTS?

- Social rights are those rights deemed necessary for full

- From a theorist viewpoint, social rights were borne from the

- Depending on the situation, Social Rights usually overlap with

Examples of Social Rights:

The Right to Education - enabling all persons to participate

The Right to Food - guaranteeing freedom from hunger and

The Right to Health - ensuring the highest attainable

The Right to Housing - ensuring access to a safe, secure,

The Right to Social Security - guaranteeing that everyone

Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law

What are the basic characteristics of social rights?

1. Inherent are not granted by any person

2. Fundamental - without them, the life and dignity of man will

3. Inalienable - cannot be taken away; no one has the right to

4. Imprescriptible - do not prescribe and cannot be lost even if

5. Indivisible - cannot be denied even when other rights have

6. Universal - are universal in application and they apply

7. Interdependent - are interdependent because

Opponents of the indivisibility of human rights argue that economic,

o positive, meaning that they require active provision of

Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law

o vague, meaning they cannot be quantitatively measured,

o ideologically divisive/political, meaning that there is no

o socialist, as opposed to capitalist

o non-justiciable, meaning that their provision, or the

o aspirations or goals, as opposed to real 'legal' rights

BRIEF HISTORY OF SOCIAL RIGHTS IN THE PHILIPPINES

From a formal viewpoint, it would be prudent to say that any proper

In hindsight, the enjoyment of all types of rights, socio-cultural or

Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law

SOCIAL JUSTICE IN RELATION TO SOCIAL RIGHTS

It is important to go back to the definition of both Social Justice and

By the above definitions, it is clear that Social Justice works to

In an earlier decision, Del Rosario v. De los Santos, it was

As is clear from a perusal of Article XII, social justice does not

Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law

II. The Concept of Social Justice

SECTION 1. The Congress shall give highest priority to the

To this end, the State shall regulate the acquisition, ownership,

SECTION 2. The promotion of social justice shall include the

Social justice is Neither communism, nor despotism, nor

The Honorable Chief Justice Enrique M. Fernando, in

What is thus stressed is that a fundamental principle as social

Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law

The preservation of the lives of the citizens is a basic duty of

Philippine Apparel Workers Union v. National Labor

Philippine Apparel Inc. sought to implement the wage

Upon reaching the Supreme Court, it was held that the

However, Justice Herrera dissented, quoting the classic

It is submitted that the principle of social justice will be better

Guido v. Rural Progress Administration

The promotion of social justice ordained by the Constitution

Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law

Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. v. National Labor

As to the case at bar, the Court held that the grant of

The Court stressed thus stressed that the policy of social

National Federation of Sugar Workers v. Ovejera

This case dwells on the interpretation of the exemption

III. The Social Justice Provisions

Article XII of the Constitution is divided into seven main

Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law

Article XIII, Section 3 of the 1987 Constitution: