Article XIII - Social Justice and Human Rights

Question 1

What is SOCIAL JUSTICE as used in the Philippine Constitution?

Answer 1

It means the equalization of economic, political and social opportunities with special emphasis on the duty of the state to tilt the balance of social forces by favoring the disadvantaged in life.

Question 2

What does Article XIII - Social Justice and Human Rights covers?

Answer 2

Article XIII covers:

(1) Labor
(2) Agrarian and Natural Resources and Reform
(3) Urban Land Reform and Housing
(4) Health
(5) Women
(6) Role and Rights People’s Organization
(7) Human Rights

Question 3

[CODAL PROVISION]

What is Section 1, Article XIII?

Answer 3

SECTION 1. The Congress shall give highest priority to the enactment of measures that protect and enhance the right of the people to human dignity, reduce social economic and political inequalities, and remove cultural inequities by equally 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.

Question 4

[CODAL PROVISION]

What is Section 2, Article XIII?

Answer 4

SECTION 2. The promotion of social justice shall include the commitment to create economic opportunities based on freedom of initiative and self-reliance.

Question 5

[JURISPRUDENCE]

In International School Alliance of Educators v. Quisumbing:
Foreign-hires are paid a salary rate of 25% more than local hires

Comment on the case.

Answer 5

 Equal work = equal pay
 The constitution directs the State to promote equality of employment opportunities for all.
 Similarly, the Labor Code provides that the State shall ensure equal work opportunities regardless of sex, race, or creed. Persons who work with substantially equal qualifications, skill, effort and responsibility, under similar conditions, should be paid similar salaries.

Question 6

Name the TWO PRINCIPAL ACTIVITIES which the State is commanded to achieve the goals of a social justice.

Answer 6

(1) Creation of more economic opportunities and more wealth
(2) Closer regulation of the acquisition, ownership, use and disposition of property in order to achieve a more equitable distribution of wealth and political power

Question 7

[CODAL PROVISION]

What is Section 3, Article XIII?

Answer 7

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 the workers in self-organization, collective bargaining and negotiations, and peaceful concerted activities, including the right to strike in accordance with law. They shall be entitled to security of tenure, human conditions of work, and a living wage. They shall also participate I the policy and decision-making processes affecting these rights and benefits as may be provided by law.

The State shall promote the principle of shared responsibility between the workers and the 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 to labor to its just share in the fruits of production and the right of enterprises to its reasonable returns on investments, and to expansion and growth.

Question 8

What is LABOR as defined in the Philippine Constitution?

Answer 8

LABOR as a primary social economic force proclaims the primacy of the human factor over the on-human factors of production.

Question 9

Enumerate the RIGHTS OF THE WORKERS under Section 3, Article XII.

Answer 9

The guaranteed rights of the workers are:

(1) Self-organization
(2) Collective bargaining and negotiations
(3) Peaceful concerted activities
(4) Right to Strike
(5) Humane conditions of work
(6) Living Wage
(7) Participation in the policy and decision -making process affecting their rights and benefits

Question 10

Enumerate the ELEMENTS OF A HEALTHY LABOR ATMOSPHERE which the State is commanded to promote.

Answer 10

• Principle of shared responsibility between the workers and the employers
• Use of voluntary modes in settling disputes, including conciliation
• Enforcement of mutual compliance to foster industrial peace

Question 11

Enumerate the DECISION-MAKING PROCESS (as may be provided by law).

Answer 11

• Collective Bargaining agreements
• Grievance machineries
• Voluntary mode of settling disputes
• Conciliation proceedings mediated by the Government

Question 12

What FACTORS must be weighed in regulating the RELATIONS BETWEEN WORKERS AND EMPLOYERS?

Answer 12

1) Right of labor to its just share in the fruits of production
2) Right of enterprises to reasonable returns of investments, and to expansion and growth

Question 13

[JURISPRUDENCE]

In Eagle Security Agency Inc v. NLRC:
Eagle and PTSI were ordered to be solidarily liable for unpaid wage and allowance increase to their security guards by the NLRC.

Comment on the case.

Answer 13

 Solidary liability of contractor and principal is mandated by the Labor Code to assure compliance
 The purpose of the law is to afford protection to the workers; the law was enacted in the exercise of the police power of the State

Question 14

[CODAL PROVISION]

What is Section 4, Article XIII?

Answer 14

SECTION 4. The State shall, by law, undertake an agrarian reform program founded on the right of farmers and regular farmworkers, who are landless, to own directly or collectively the lands they till or, in the case of other farmworkers, to receive a just share of the fruits thereof. To this end, the State shall encourage and undertake the just distribution of all agricultural lands, subject to such priorities and reasonable retention limits as the Congress may prescribe, taking into account ecological, developmental, or equity considerations, and subject to the payment of just compensation. In determining retention limits, the State shall respect the right of small landowners. The State shall further provide incentives for voluntary land-sharing.

Question 15

What must be the GOAL OF AGRARIAN REFORM?

Answer 15

Agrarian reform must aim at:
(1) Efficient production
(2) More equitable distribution of land which recognizes the right of farmers and regular
farm workers who are landless to own the land they till
(3) Just share of other or seasonal farm workers in the fruits of the land

Question 16

What are AGRICULTURAL LANDS?

Answer 16

Those lands, which are “arable and suitable agricultural land lands” and “do not include commercial, industrial, and residential lands”.

Question 17

What lands are EXEMPTED from land reform?

Answer 17

These are:

(1) Non-agricultural lands
(2) Lands previously converted to non-agricultural uses prior to the effectivity of Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law by government agencies other than DAR

Question 18

Who are the HOLDER OF THE RIGHT TO OWN A LAND through the agrarian land reform?

Discuss each of them.

Answer 18

1) Farmers - who have a tenancy relationship with the landowners, which relationship may be present or historical.
2) Farm workers - which can either be a regular farm worker who has the rights to claim the land they till; or non-regulars with rights to a just share in the fruits of production

Question 19

Who are “SMALL LANDOWNERS”?

Answer 19

The term “small landowners” jurisrudentially refers to frugal people who in a lifetime of sacrifice, [have] gathered their pitiful little savings and purchased small farms to supplement the inadequate pension from the GSIS or SSS.

They do not necessarily have to be owner-cultivators.

Question 20

What is the EFFECT of the issuance of CERTIFICATE OF LAND TRANSFER to a land reform beneficiary prior to payment?

Answer 20

It is NOT IRREVOCABLE or NOT PERMANENT.

Mere issuance of the certificate of land transfer does not vest in the farmer/grantee ownership of the land described therein. – merely evidences the government’s recognition of the guaranteed as the party qualified to avail of the mechanism for the acquisition of ownership.

Question 21

What is the “JUST COMPENSATION” in the following context?

1) R.A. 3844 otherwise known as the Agricultural Land Reform Code (August 8, 1963)
2) Presidential Decree No 76 (December 6, 1972)
3) 1987 Constitution Deliberations Committee

Answer 21

1) Based on R.A. 3844, just compensation depends on the farmer’s ability to pay an not on the standard fair market value
2) On P.D. No. 76, the measure of just compensation is is the assessed value of the land or the value declared by the owner in his tax-declaration whichever is lower
3) For purposes of agrarian reform and the spirit of social justice, just compensation in our Constitution is the payment to the landwoner of the equivalent amount of the value of land from the landowner beneficiary whatever he can afford and subsidized amount from the Government.

Question 22

What is the RIGHT OF RETENTION?

Answer 22

It is a constitutionally guaranteed right, which is subject to qualification by the legislature.

It prescribes the RETENTION LIMITS on the size of land an individual owner would be allowed to keep.

Question 23

What does the CONCEPT OF JUST COMPENSATION embrace?

Answer 23

It embraces also:
> PROMPT PAYMENT - payment within a reasonable time from its taking
> FULL PAYMENT - the payment in full of the just compensation to the landholders as finally determined by the courts

Question 24

In what FORM OF PAYMENT should a just compensation be?

Answer 24

Not exclusively cash, may be financial instruments

Question 25

How is REDISTRIBUTION OF LAND achieved?

Answer 25

The redistribution of land can be achieved through:

1) Voluntary Sale
2) Expropriation
3) Resale

Question 26

[CODAL PROVISION]

What is Section 5, Article XIII?

Answer 26

SECTION 5. The State shall recognize the right of farmers, farmworkers, and landowners, as well as cooperatives, and other independent farmers’ organizations to participate in the planning, organization, and management of the program, and shall provide support to agriculture through appropriate technology and research, and adequate financial, production, marketing, and other support services.

Question 27

What is the purpose of Section 5, Article XIII?

Answer 27

1) Right of farmers and regular farm owner to participate in the management of the land reform program
2) The State must ensure that redistributed land will be efficiently productive and effectively beneficial to all concerned.

Question 28

[CODAL PROVISION]

What is Section 6, Article XIII?

Answer 28

SECTION 6. The State shall apply the principles of agrarian reform or stewardship, whenever applicable in accordance with law, in the disposition or utilization of other natural resources, including lands of the public domain under lease or concession suitable to agriculture, subject to prior rights, homestead rights of small settlers, and the rights of indigenous communities to their ancestral lands.

The State may resettle landless farmers and farmworkers in its own agricultural estates which shall be distributed to them in the manner provided by law.

Question 29

Principles of agrarian reform extend to the disposition of natural resources. Identify them.

Answer 29

In principle the term “lands” would include all forms of natural resources, including mineral, forests and water resources, whether public or private, whether titled or un or

Question 30

[CODAL PROVISION]

What is Section 7, Article XIII?

Answer 30

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. Fishworkers shall receive a just share from their labor in the utilization of marine and fishing resources.