Declaration of principles, A2 1987 Constitution

1. Principles

The following are the decorated principles under the 1987 Constitution:

1) That the Philippines is a democratic and republican State;

2) That sovereignty resides with the people;

3) That the Philippines renounces war as an instrument of war;

4) That the Philippines adopts international law;

5) That civilian authority is supreme over the military;

6) That the duty of the Government is to serve and protect the people;

7) That general welfare shall be promoted; and

8) That the Church and the State shall be separated.

2. Democratic and republican state

Article II of the 1987 Philippine Constitution states:

SECTION 1. The Philippines is a democratic and republican State…

a. To freely think

The viability of a truly representative government depends upon the effective protection and exercise of the rights of the people to freely think, to freely discuss and to freely assemble for redress of their grievances; for these underlie the mechanisms of peaceful change in a democratic polity. There is ample authority in history for the belief that those who value freedom, but are frustrated in its exercise, will tend to resort to force and violent opposition to obtain release from their repression. So essential are these freedoms to the preservation and vitality of democratic institutions that courts have on numerous occasions categorized them as occupying a “preferred position” in the hierarchy of civil liberties. “That priority… give...