Malolos Constitution Gr.6

1899: MALOLOS CONSTITUTION
• After the signing of the truce, the Filipino revolutionary leaders accepted a
payment from Spain and went to exile in Hong Kong. Upon the defeat of the
Spain to the Americans in the Battle of Manila Bay on 1 May 1898, the United
State Navy transported Aguinaldo back to the Philippines. The newly reformed
Philippine revolutionary forces reverted to the control of Aguinaldo, and the
Philippine Declaration of Independence was issued on 12 June 1898, together
with several decrees that formed the First Philippine Republic, the Malolos
Congress was elected, which selected a commission to draw up a draft
constitution on 17 September 1898, which was composed of wealthy and
educated men.
November 29, 1898 the document was approved by the Congress and
promulgated by Aguinaldo on 21 January 1899, was title ‘THE POLITICAL
CONSTITUTION OF 1899” and written in Spanish.
The constitution has 39 articles divided into 14 titles, with eight articles of
transitory provisions, and a final addition article.
The document was patterned after the Spanish Constitution of 1812, with
influences from the charters of Belgium, Mexico, Brazil, Nicaragua, Costa Rica,
and Guatemala, and the French Constitution of 1793.
Felipe Calderon was the main author of the constitution.
Prior constitutional projects in the Philippines also influenced the Malolos
Constitution, namely, the Kartilya and the Sanggunian Hukuman, the charter of
laws and morals of the Katipunan written by EMILIO JACINTO in 1896;
the Biak-na-Bato Constitution of 1897 planned by ISABELO ARTACHO;
Mabini’s Constitutional Program of the Philippine Republic of 1898; the
provisional constitution of Mariano Ponce in 1898 that followed the Spanish
constitutions; and the autonomy projects of Paterno in 1898.
PRIMARY SOURCE: Preamble of the Political Constitution of 1899
We, the Representative of the Filipino People, lawfully convened, in order to establish
justice, provider for common defense, promote the general welfare and insure the benefits
of liberty, imploring the aid of the Sovereign Legislator of the Universe for the attainment
of these ends, have voted, decreed, and sanctioned the following political constitution.
 The 27 articles of Title IV detail the natural rights and popular sovereignty of Filipinos, the enumeration of
which does not imply the prohibition of any other rights not expressly stated.
 Title III, Article V also declares that the state recognize the freedom and equality of all briefs, as well as the
separation of Church and State. These are direct reactions to features of the Spanish government in the
Philippines, where the friars were dominant agents of the state.
 The form of government, according to Title II, Article 4 is to be popular, representative, alternative, and
responsible, and shall exercise three distinct powers - legislative, executive, and judicial. The legislative
power was vested in a unicameral body called the Assembly of Representatives, members of which are
elected for terms of four years. Secretaries of the government were given seats in the assembly, which meet
annually for a period of at least three months. Bills could be introduced either by the president or by a
member of the assembly. Some powers not legislative in nature were also given to the body, such as the
right to select its own officers right of censure and interpellation, and the right of impeaching the president,
cabinet members, the chief justice of the Supreme Court, and the solicitor-general. A permanent
commission of seven, elected by the assembly, and granted specific powers by the constitution, was to sit
during the intervals between sessions of the assembly.
Executive power was vested in the president, and elected by a constituent assembly of the
Assembly of Representatives and special representatives. The president will serve a term of four
years without re-election. There was no vice president, and in case of a vacancy, a president was
to be selected by the constituent assembly.
The 1899 Malolos Constitution was never enforced due to the ongoing war. The Philippines was
affectively a territory of the United States upon the signing of the Treaty of Paris between Spain
and the United States, transferring sovereignty of the Philippines on 10 December 1898.
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1899: MALOLOS CONSTITUTION

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