PREAMBLE

We, the sovereign Filipino people, imploring the aid of Almighty God, in order to build a just and humane society, and establish a Government that shall embody our ideals and aspirations, promote the common good, conserve and develop our patrimony, and secure to ourselves and our posterity, the blessings of independence and democracy under the rule of law and a regime of truth, justice, freedom, love, equality, and peace, do ordain and promulgate this Constitution.

EXPLANATION:

It shall be the sovereign Filipino people basically through the facilities and structures of government and through people’s organization.

It is said that the Preamble is not a part of the Constitutions nor a source of rights. But it can certainly be referred to in knowing the aims or purposes of the Constitutions. Dean Vicente Sinco says of the Preamble: “The preamble performs a vital function in a constitution. Its value is not merely formal but real and substantive. It is to the constitution what the enacting clause is to a statue. The authenticity of the authorship of the constitution is made patent in the preamble. Without this or something equivalent to it, the source of authority that gives valid force to the constitutional mandates may lie concealed, perhaps left to the dangers of uncertain conjectures.”

Thus, it was pointed out that “general welfare” should really mean “ikabubuti ng nakararami” while “common good” shall mean “ikabubuti ng lahat”. Thus, all efforts and rules of society and government should be for the welfare of all, without exceptions. “The patrimony of the Nation” now read “our patrimony”, to make it more emphatic, a Nolledo amendment. The words “blessings of independence and democracy”, an Edmundo Garcia amendment, to underscore the importance of true independence even in the presence of democratic beliefs and practices.

“Love” is found in the preamble, an amendment by Bishop Teodoro Bacani, to assert the need for love in the face of divisions and discords that take place among our people because of varying political and social beliefs, practices, and persuasions.

“Imploring the aid of Divine Providence ” now appear as “imploring the aid of Almighty God”, to make the reference to God more personal and direct. And by invoking God in the preamble, Jose Laurel, Sr. said, the Filipino people “thereby manifested their intense religious nature and place unfaltering reliance upon Him who guides the destinies of men and nations.”