Unconstitutionality of the 1986 Provisional Constitution of the Philippines

## Importance of Promulgation

On the question whether or not an act of promulgation necessary for a law or statute *-- or a constitution in particular --* to be effective or otherwise to have its force and effect, Section 1, Article VII of the 1986 Philippine Constitution provides as follows:

*"This Proclamation shall take effect upon its promulgation by the President."*

Expressly therefore, the Constitution mandates that in order for the aforesaid Constitution to take effect, the act of promulgation need be satisfied *a priori* thus literally suggesting the act of promulgation indispensably necessary.

## Promulgation Defined by the Constitution

While there may be some disagreements on the relative use and application of the term *promulgate*, Section 2, Article VII
of the said Constitution expressly provides for the manner through which the act of promulgation is to be satisfied by providing as follows:

*"Pursuant to the letter and spirit of this Proclamation, a consolidated official text of the Provisional Constitution shall be promulgated by the President and published in English and Pilipino in the official Gazette and in newspapers of general circulation to insure widespread dissemination."*

Specifically therefore, the 1986 Constitution provides for the following two (2) elements of Constitutional promulgation, namely:

## FIRST ELEMENT: Promulgation by the President of the Consolidated Official Text of the Constitution

The first Constitutional element of promulgation pertains to two (2) specific requisites, namely:

a. That the Constitution be promulgated *by the President*; *and,*

b. The Constitution must be promulgated in its *consolidated official text.*

Last paragraph of the Introductory Clause of the 1986 Constitution provides:

*"**WHEREFORE, I, CORAZON C. AQUINO,** President of the Philippines, by virtue of the power vested in me by the sovereign mandate of the people; do hereby promulgate the following Constitution:"*

This provision of the Constitution is not sufficient in order to satisfy herein pertained *First Element* of Constitutional promulgation because aside from being promulgated by the President, it further mandates that it need be promulgated in its ***Consolidated Official Text.***

Proclamation No. 3, series of 1986 otherwise titled *"Declaring a National Policy to Implement Reforms Mandated by the People Protecting their Basic Rights, Adopting a Provisional Constitution, and Providing for an Orderly Transition to a Government Under a New Constitution"* is published in the Official Gazette on 25 March 1986 providing under Article I *(Adoption of Certain Provisions of the 1973 Constitution, As amended)* the following texts, to wit:

*SECTION 1. The provisions of ARTICLE I (National Territory), ARTICLE III (Citizenship), ARTICLE IV (Bill of Rights), ARTICLE V (Duties and Obligations of Citizens), and ARTICLE VI (Suffrage) of the 1973 Constitution, as amended, remain in the force and effect and are hereby adopted in toto as part of this Provisional Constitution.*

*SECTION 2. The provision of ARTICLE II (Declaration of Principles and State Policies), ARTICLE VII (The President), ARTICLE X (The Judiciary), ARTICLE XI (Local Government), ARTICLE XIII (Accountability of Public Officers), ARTICLE XIV (The National Economy and Patrimony of the Nation), ARTICLE XV (General Provisions) of the 1973 Constitution, as amended, are hereby adopted as part of this Provisional Constitution, as amended, are hereby adopted as part of this Provisional Constitution, insofar as they are not inconsistent with the provisions of this Proclamation.*

The term *"consolidate"[1]* literally means *"(to) combine a number of things into a single, more effective, coherent whole".* The phrase *"consolidated official text"* particularly pertains to the provision of Article I of the Constitution where the select provisions of the 1973 Constitution were cited not in their official texts but merely on their call-out references. The 1986 Constitution therefore was promulgated by the President in such form and construction contrary to its express instruction of being promulgated in its consolidated official texts much as provisions of Article I provides for the adopted provisions of 1973 Constitution citing only their references *(Article No. and Title)* and not otherwise their complete consolidated official texts.

## SECOND ELEMENT: Publish in English and Pilipino

The Second Element of promulgation pertains to the following two (2) specific requisites, namely:

a. That the Constitution be published in English and in Pilipino; *and,*

b. That it be published in the Official Gazette and in Newspapers of general circulation.

To the date of this writing, the publication record of the Official Gazette of the 1986 Provisional Constitution provides only one copy. That is, the 1986 Philippine Constitution in its original English text and no Pilipino translation of the said Constitution was ever published. The same is the case of its publication with newspapers of general circulation where there is only one version of the Constitution which were published being its original English text.

## CONCLUSION

This Article espouses the legal controversy on the unconstitutionality of the 1986 Provisional Constitution of the Philippines. As provided above, the argument rests on the fundamental issue of *failure of promulgation* or otherwise not being able to satisfy the requisites of promulgation specifically mandated by the very letters of the aforesaid Constitution. Particularly, its promulgation by the President is proved to be contrary to the provision of Section 2, Article VII providing that the Constitution be promulgated in its consolidated official text and that it be published in both languages English and Pilipino. To the date of this writing, no Pilipino translation of said Constitution exists as much as it original published copy being not in the
form of a consolidated official text remains to be the only version of the said Constitution. Given the foregoing discourse therefore, it is herein alleged the 1986 Philippine Provisional Constitution unconstitutional HENCE null and void from from the beginning having no force and effect whatsoever.

ScriptorivmTerminvs (talk) 17:18, 28 March 2021 (UTC)