CONSTI Midterms Flashcards
What is political law?
That branch of public law which deals with the organization and operations of the governmental organs of the State and defines the relations of the State with the inhabitants of its territory.
What is Constitutional Law I?
Study of the structure and powers of the Government of the Republic of the Philippines. Also deals with concepts of Political Law–nature of the state, supremacy of Constitution, separation of powers, rule of the majority.
Why is Political Law important to study?
Every citizen, regardless of calling, should understand the mechanics and motivations of his government. “Sovereignty resides in the people and all government authority emanates from them.”
What is the principal basis of Constitutional Law I?
The Constitution which was adopted on Feb. 2, 1987.
When is our Independence Day?
June 12, 1898
When was the First Philippine Republic established?
Jan. 21, 1899 by Emilio Aguinaldo (Malolos Constitution) Parliamentary System but with President as head, not Prime Minister
Malolos Constitution, under which the new government was established, was the first democratic constitution ever to be promulgated in the whole of Asia. True or False?
TRUElaloo
What is the Treaty of Paris?
So it was signed on Dec. 10, 1898, which provided for the cession of the Philippine Islands by Spain to the United States.
Narrate the history of Philippine government from when it was successfully colonized by the Americans.
- Military government but was eventually transitioned into civilian rule for violation of separation of powers. Process:
- Schurman Commission (First Philippine Commission) that made a fact-finding survey of the Philippine Islands and submit appropriate recommendations to the US Congress.
- Substituted by Taft Commission (Second Philippine Commission) which took over all the legislative powers and some of the executive and judicial powers of the military governor.
- Spooner Amendment (July 4, 1901) that established civil government in the Philippine Islands, with William Howard Taft as the first governor.
- By virtue of the Philippine Bill of 1902, the Philippines Assembly was created in 1907 to sit with the Philippine Commission in a bicameral legislature. (Sergio Osmena first speaker) – dissolved in 1916.
- 1916 - Philippine Autonomy Act (Jones Law) promulgated. It established a Philippine legislature consisting of a Senate and HOR. (Manuel Quezon as Pres and Sergio Osmena as speaker)
- 1935 - Tydings-McDuffie Act, which authroized the establishment of the Commonwealth of the Philippines. Toward this end, a Constitutional Convention framed the Constitution of 1935 (ratified on May 14) and led to inauguration of Commonwealth Government on Nov. 15, 1935. (With Quezon as Pres and Osmena as VP). It also promised independence for Filipinos if they could prove their capacity for democratic government during a ten year transition period.
- July 14, 1946 - US withdrew sovereignty over Phils.
People Power Revolution
Feb. 22, 1986 led by Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile and General Fidel V. Ramos
Feb. 25 umupo si Aquino and Salvador Laurel (VP)
Pang-ilan na si 1987 Constitution since Philippines became independent on July 4, 1946?
Fourth na.
First was the Commonwealth Constitution (1935)
Constitution of 1973 (during Marcos regime)
Freedom Constitution (by Aquino)
True or false. No act shall be valid, however noble its intentions, if it conflicts with the Constitution.
True.
What is a state?
A community of persons permanently occupying a fixed territory, and possessed of an independent government organized for political ends to which the great body of inhabitants render habitual obedience.
State vs. nation
State - legal concept
Nation - only a racial or ethnic concept
(Thus, nation may comprise of several states.)
Does a nation need a state for it to be considered a “nation?”
No. Ex: Poles; Jews
Government is the same as a state. True or False
False. Government is only an element of State. State is the principal, government its agent. The State is an abstraction; it is the government that externalizes the State and articulates its will.
Essential elements of a state?
- People - inhabitants
- Territory - fixed portion inhabited
COMPONENTS: a. land mass (terrestrial domain) b. inland c. external waters (maritime and fluvial domain) d. aerial domain - Government - agency or instrumentality through which the will of the State is formulated, expressed and realized
- Sovereignty - supreme and uncontrollable power inherent in a State by which that State is governed
a. legal - authority which has the power to issue final commands
b. political - power behind legal sovereign or sum of influences that operate upon it
a. internal - power to control domestic affairs
b. external - independence (power to direct relations)
What are the criteria for establishing a state?
- Permanent population
- Defined territory
- Government
- Capacity to enter into relations with other states
How do we determine our territorial seas now?
Jamaica Convention on the Law of the Sea (1994)
Other name for UNCLOS I
United Nations Convention on the Territorial Sea and the Contiguous Zone
What were challenged in Magallona v. Ermita case?
- RA 9522 reduces Philippine maritime territory, and logically, the reach of the Philippine state’s sovereign power, in violation of Article 1 of the 1987 Constitution, embodying the terms of the Treaty of Paris and ancillary treaties
- RA 9522 opens the country’s waters landward of the baselines to maritime passage by all vessels and aircrafts, undermining Philippine sovereignty and national security, contravening the country’s nuclear-free policy, and damaging marine resources, in violation of relevant constitutional provisions.
How to determine territorial waters according to UNCLOS III?
12 nautical miles from the baselines
How to determine contiguous zone according to UNCLOS III?
Contiguous zone - an area subject to high seas freedom of navigation, overflight, and related freedoms, such as the conduct of military exercises.
24 nautical miles from the baselines
How to determine exclusive economic zone according to UNCLOS III?
200 nautical miles from the baselines
EEZ - an area of coastal water and seabed within a certain distance of a country’s coastline, to which the country claims exclusive rights for fishing, drilling, and other economic activities
How do states lose or acquire territory?
Through occupation, accretion, cession, and prescription, not by executing multilateral treaties on the regulations of sea-use rights or enacting statutes to comply with the treaty’s terms to delimit maritime zones and continental shelves.
Territorial claims to land features are outside UNCLOS III, and are instead governed by the rules on general international law. True or False
True.
How did the SC justify their rejection of the petition in Magallona v. Ermita?
Had Congress in RA 9522 enclosed the KIG and the Scarborough Shoal as part of the Philippine archipelago, adverse legal effects would have ensued.
- Article 47 (3) of UNCLOS III requires that the drawing of such baselines shall not depart to any appreciable extent from the general configuration of the archipelago
- Article 47 (2) of UNCLOS III requires that ‘the length of the baselines shall not exceed 100 nm,’ save for 3% of the total # of baselines which can reach up to 125nm.
Pacta sunt servanda
Agreements must be kept
What are regime of islands?
Islands that are naturally formed areas of land, surrounded by water which are above water at high tide.
True or False. Under Article 121 of UNCLOS III, portions of KIG fall under the category of regime of islands.
True.
Other name for Scarborough Shoal
Bajo de Masinloc
Purpose of having baselines laws
Gives notice to the rest of the international community of the scope of the maritime space and submarine areas within which States parties exercise treaty-based rights, namely, the exercise of sovereignty over territorial waters (Art. 2)
the jurisdiction to enforce customs, fiscal, immigration, and sanitation laws in the contiguous zone (Art. 33)
and the right to exploit the living and non-living resources in the exclusive economic zone (Art. 56)
and continental shelf (Art. 77).
Jurisdiction v. sovereignty
Jurisdiction - authority to exercise legal powers
Sovereignty - supreme political and constitutional authority of a State to govern itself
Which territories do we own according to Article I of UNCLOS III?
- Those ceded to the US by virtue of the Treaty of Paris of Dec. 10, 1898
- Those defined in the treaty concluded between the US and Spain on Nov. 7, 1900, which were not defined in the Treaty of Paris (Cagayan, Sulu, Sibuto)
- Those defined in the treaty concluded on Jan 2, 1930, between the US and Great Britain (Turtle and Mangsee Islands)
- The island of Batanes, which was covered under a general statement in the 1935 Constitution
- Those contemplated in the phrase “belonging to the Philippines by historic right or legal title” in the 1973 Constitution.
True or False. Our Constitution requires our government to be democratic and republican.
True.
Characteristics of a state?
Ideal person Invisible Intangible Immutable Existing only in contemplation of law
What are the two functions of the government?
Constituent functions - constitute the very bonds of society and are compulsory
a. Keeping of order and providing for the protection of persons and property from violence and robbery
b. Fixing of legal relations between husband and wife and between parents and children
c. Regulation of the holding, transmission and interchange of property, and the determination of its liabilities for debt/crime
d. Determination of contractual rights between individuals
e. Definition and punishment of crimes
f. Administration of justice in civil cases
g. Administration of political duties, privileges and relations of citizens
h. The dealings of the State with foreign powers; preservation of the State from external danger or encroachment and the advancement of its international interests.
Ministrant functions - those undertaken to advance the general interests of society (public works, public charity, and regulation of trade and industry). - optional
- -> but determines paternalistic govt from individualistic
- -> parang required by the Constitution na rin (Article 2, 13 and 16) not self executing tho just guidelines
Parens Patriae
Guardian of the rights of the people
De jure v. De facto government
De jure - has rightful title but no power or control
De facto - govt of fact (exercise but no title)
1. by force
2. insurrection
3. military forces