Tiêu đề 1987 Constitution By Bernas.pdf.pdf ✅

PREAMBLE 3 violence to human dignity, as for instance when the greater majority might want the extermination of those who are considered as belong- ing to an inferior race. It was thought that the phrase "common good" would guarantee that mob rule would not prevail and that the majority would not persecute the minority. 4 An attempt to substitute "Lord of History" or "God of History" for "Divine Providence" was made on the reasoning that the suggested substitute connoted active involvement of God in the affairs of men. But the suggestion was rejected when it was pointed out that the phrase could be misunderstood as an acceptance of the Marxist concept of his- tory as being the only God. Instead, the phrase "Almighty God" was chosen as being more personal than "Divine Providence" and therefore more consonant with Filipino religiosity. Another change made by the body was the insertion of the phrase "a just and humane society". The phrase added the notion that a con- stitution not merely sets up a government but is also an instrument for building the larger society of which government is merely a part. An attempt to substitute "equity" for "equality" was rejected as being subject to the interpretation that the Commission was rejecting the enshrinement of "equality" already made by the 1973 Constitution. The 1973 Preamble had added "equality" to reflect the mounting wave of protests against basic social inequalities which even at the time of the 1971 Constitutional Convention plagued Philippine society. The Committee's desire to substitute "rule" for "regime" was rejected. Instead, the phrase "rule of law" was inserted and the con- cluding litany was made to read "truth, justice, freedom, love, equality and peace". The introduction of the word "love" probably makes the Philippines the only nation to enshrine the word in its Constitution. It serves as a monument to the love that prevented bloodshed in the Feb- ruary Revolution of 1986. Moreover, the insertion of "truth" is a protest against the deception that characterized the Marcos regime. Finally, the enumeration captures a stream in Catholic thought which sees peace as the fruit of the convergence of truth, justice, freedom, and love. The draft was approved on second reading on the eve of Indepen- dence Day, June 11, 1986. HII RECORD 277.
4 THE 1987 CONSTITUTION OF THE REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES 2. Purpose and effect of the Preamble. Constitutionally, however, a Preamble is not a source of power or right for any department of government. 5 But because it sets down the origin, scope, and purpose of the Constitution, it is useful as an aid in ascertaining the meaning of ambiguous provisions in the body of the Constitution. In Aglipay v. Ruiz,6 for instance, Justice Laurel, in seeking the true meaning of separation of church and state in Philippine juris- prudence, had occasion to allude to the invocation of the "aid of Divine Providence" found in the 1935 Preamble. The Preamble, moreover, bears witness to the fact that the Consti- tution is the manifestation of the sovereign will of the Filipino people. This idea comes out more clearly in the present text, as also in the 1973 text, which uses the first person approach. The 1935 Preamble had used the third person approach: "The Filipino people, imploring the aid, etc." The effect of the 1935 text was to suggest that some third person, the United States, was making the announcement that the Filipino people were finally being allowed to promulgate a constitution. The identification of the Filipino people as the author of the con- stitution also calls attention to an important principle: that the document is not just the work of representatives of the people but of the people themselves who put their mark of approval by ratifying it in a plebiscite. The 1935 text had also stated that one of the objects of the promul- gation of the constitution was "to secure to themselves and their poster- ity the blessings of independence." The text thus suggested that inde- pendence was still merely an aspiration (as indeed it was then) and not yet a possession of the Filipino people. To remove this anachronistic suggestion, the Preamble now, as also the 1973 Preamble, speaks of the "blessings of democracy" and calls the Filipino people "sovereign."