The Issues of Society, Politics, Economics, and Culture within Philippine History

  Issues in the Constitution, Taxation, and Agrarian Reform  The Constitution During the pre-Spanish era, law was laid down by the maharlikas -council of elders, but chosen by the datu, no elections were held to designate them. Thus, when the Spanish colonizers arrived in the Philippines, they found out that Filipinos doesn’t have any written laws which made them easy to be colonized with the Spaniards. Also, the first constitution of the Philippines was the Malolos Constitution, promulgated during the American era. Taxation During the precolonial era, before the Spaniards came, the country had various kingdoms called Barangays. Barangay/s is a small territorial and administrative district forming the most local level of government. In this era barter is used as the direct exchange of goods or services without an intervening medium of exchange or money either according to established rates of exchange or by bargaining. Tax also called buwis or handug, came in forms of crops or...

  Issues in the Constitution, Taxation, and Agrarian Reform The Constitution  There was no constitution in the Philippines during the Spanish Era because the first Philippine Constitution, the Malolos Constitution, was introduced in 1899 during the American Era and the Spanish Era ended in 1898. However, the government was composed of two branches during the Spanish Era, which were the executive and the judicial. Since the laws were coming from Spain, there was no legislative branch at the time. In the Philippines, the only laws created are those ordered by the Governor General, and the Governor General also served as the country's leader and was considered as a representative of Spain. Only minor positions were held by Filipinos. Their rights and preferences were almost entirely neglected, and they were excluded from access to public education. The laws that did exist to protect them weren't imposed and they started to control the lives of the Filipinos. Religious rights and ...

  Issues in the Constitution, Taxation, and Agrarian Reform The 1973 Constitution During the post-war era, the Marcos administration introduced a new constitution to the public that along with the Prime Minister of the office and two new commissions: the Commission of Audit (CoA) and the Civil Service Commission (CSC). This Constitution also explained that the Prime Minister has more power than the president, since it is the head of the government which would result to a shift from a Republic government to a Parliamentary government. This also describes the country as an independent nation, promotes the Filipino-centric values of such Duties of Filipino youth, Civilian authority, etc.    Meanwhile, this constitution didn’t regulate the power of government officials, it also didn’t object to the idea of reelection of the president. During this time, the president was Ferdinand Marcos Sr. who was a dictator and implemented the Martial Law throughout his regime. Since there...