Readings on Social, Political, Economic, and Cultural Issues in Philippine History PDF

SOCIAL, POLITICAL, ECONOMIC AND CULTURAL ISSUES IN PHILIPPINE HISTORY READINGS IN PHILIPPINE HISTORY LEARNING OBJECTIVES: Analyze social, political, economic, and cultural issues in the Philippines using the lens of history. Recognize that the problems of today are consequences of...

SOCIAL, POLITICAL, ECONOMIC AND CULTURAL ISSUES IN PHILIPPINE HISTORY READINGS IN PHILIPPINE HISTORY LEARNING OBJECTIVES: Analyze social, political, economic, and cultural issues in the Philippines using the lens of history. Recognize that the problems of today are consequences of decisions an events that happened in the past. Understand several enduring issues in Philippine society through history. Propose recommendations or solutions to present-day problems based on the understanding of the past and anticipation of the future through the study of history. EVOLUTION OF THE PHILIPPINE CONSTITUTION The constitution is defined as a set of fundamental principles or established precedents according to which a state or other organization is governed. The word itself means to be a part of a whole, the coming together of distinct entities into one group, with the same principles and ideals. 1897: CONSTITUTION OF BIAK-NA-BATO The constitution of Biak-na-Bato was the provisionary Constitution of the Philippine Republic during the Philippine Revolution and was promulgated by the Philippine Revolutionary Government on November 1, 1897. The constitution was written by Isabelo Artacho and Felix Ferrer in Spanish.  1899: MALOLOS CONSTITUTION Emilio Aguinaldo issued a decree on July 18, 1898 asking for the election of delegates to the revolutionary congress, another decree was promulgated five days later, which declared that Aguinaldo would appoint representatives of congress because holding elections is not practical at that time. He appointed 50 delegates in all (but this number fluctuated from time to time). In accordance with these two decrees, Aguinaldo assembled the Revolutionary Congress at the Brasoain Church in Malolos, Bulacan on September 15, 1898. 1935: THE COMMONWEALTH CONSTITUTION The Commonwealth era is the 10 year transitional period in Philippine history from 1935 to 1945 in preparation for independence from the United States as provided for under the Philippine Independence Act or more popularly known as the Tydings-McDuffie Law. The Commonwealth era was interrupted when the Japanese occupied the Philippines in January 2, 1942. The Commonwealth government, lead by Manuel L. Quezon and Sergio S. Osmeña went into exile in the U.S. 1973: CONSTITUTIONAL AUTHORITARIANISM Marcos won the re-election in 1969. Elections of the delegates to the constitutional convention were held on November 20, 1970, and the convention began formally on June 1 1971. Before the convention finished its work, Marcos cited a growing communist insurgency as the reason for the Martial Law. Some delegates of the ongoing constitutional convention were placed behind bars and others went into hiding. 1987: CONSTITUTION AFTER MARTIAL LAW President Corazon Aquino‘ s government had three options regarding the constitution: revert to the 1935 Constitution, retain the 1973 Constitution, and be granted the power to make reforms or start anew and break from the vestiges of a disgraced dictatorship. They decided to make a new constitution that should be “truly reflective of the aspirations and ideals of the Filipino people”  POLICIES ON AGRARIAN REFORM Agrarian reform is essentially the rectification of the whole system of agriculture. Agrarian reform is centered on the relationship between production and the distribution of land among farmers. It is also focused on the political and economic class character of the relations of production and distribution in farming and related enterprises, and how these connect to the wider class structure. LAND OWNERSHIP IN THE PHILIPPINES UNDER SPAIN When the Spaniards colonized the country, they brought with them a system of pueblo agriculture, where rural communities, often dispersed and scattered in nature, were organized into a pueblo and given land to cultivate. Families were not allowed to own their land-the the King of Spain owned the land and Filipinos were assigned to these lands to cultivate them and they paid their colonial tributes to the Spanish authorities in the form of agricultural products. LAND OWNERSHIP IN THE PHILIPPINES UNDER THE AMERICANS The Philippine Bill of 1902 provided regulations on the disposal of public lands. A private individual may own 16 hectares of land while corporate landholders may have 1,024 hectares. The Philippine Commission also enacted Act No. 496 or the Land Registration Act, which introduced the Torrens system to address the absence of earlier records of issued land titles and conduct an accurate land surveys. In 1903, the homestead program was introduced, allowing a tenant to enter into an agricultural business by acquiring a farm of at least 16 hectares. There was no limit to the size of landholdings people could possess and the accessibility of possession was limited to those who could afford to buy, register and acquire fixed property titles.  POST-WAR INTERVENTIONS TOWARD AGRARIAN REFORM Rehabilitation and rebuilding after the war were focused on providing solutions to the problems of the past. President Roxas passed Republic Act No. 34 to establish 70-30 arrangement between tenant and landlord, which reduced the interest of landowners ’ loans to tenants at six percent or less and also attempted to redistribute hacienda lands. Under the term of President Elpidio Quirino, the Land Settlement Development Corporation was established to accelerate and expand the resettlement program for peasants and later became national Resettlement and Rehabilitation Administration under President Magsaysay.  POST-WAR INTERVENTIONS TOWARD AGRARIAN REFORM Rehabilitation and rebuilding after the war were focused on providing solutions to the problems of the past. President Roxas passed Republic Act No. 34 to establish 70-30 arrangement between tenant and landlord, which reduced the interest of landowners ’ loans to tenants at six percent or less and also attempted to redistribute hacienda lands. Under the term of President Elpidio Quirino, the Land Settlement Development Corporation was established to accelerate and expand the resettlement program for peasants and later became national Resettlement and Rehabilitation Administration under President Magsaysay.  AGRARIAN REFORM EFFORTS UNDER MARCOS President Marcos declared Martial, enabling him to essentially wipe out the landlord-dominated Congress. He was able to expand executive power to start a “fundamental restructuring” of government. Presidential Decree No. 27 or the Code of Agrarian Reform of the Philippines became the core of agrarian reform during the Marcos regime.  POST-1986 AGRARIAN REFORM On July 22, 1987, Aquino issued Presidential Proclamation 131 and executive Order 229, which outlined her land reform program. The Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law (later became Comprehensive Agrarian reform Program) enabled the redistribution of agricultural lands to tenant-farmer from landowners, who were paid in exchange by the government through just compensation and allowed them to retain not more than five hectares. Corporate landowners were allowed under law to voluntarily divest a proportion of their capital stock, equity, or participation in favor of their workers or other qualified beneficiaries instead of turning over their land to the government.  CARPER AND THE FUTURE OF AGRARIAN REFORM IN THE PHILIPPINES The new deadline of CARP expired in 2008, leaving 1.2 million farmer- beneficiaries and 1.6 million hectares of agricultural land to be distributed. In 209, President Arroyo signed Republic Act no. 9700 or Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program Extension with Reforms (CARPER), the amendatory law that extended the deadline to five more years EVOLUTION OF PHILIPPINE TAXATION Taxation is a reality that all citizens must contend with for the primary reason that governments raise revenue from the people they govern to be able to function fully. Taxation, as a government mechanism to raise funds, developed and evolved through time, and in the context of the Philippines, we must understand that it came with our colonial experience.  TAXATION IN SPANISH PHILIPPINES The Spaniards imposed the payment of tributes from the Filipino. The purpose is to generate resources to finance the maintenance of the islands. The difficulty faced by the Spaniards in revenue collection through the tribute was the dispersed nature of the settlements. Later on, the settlements will be handled by encomenderos who received rewards from the Spanish crown for their services  TAXATION UNDER THE AMERICANS The Americans who acquired the Philippines aimed to make the economy self-sufficient by running the government with the smallest possible sum of revenue and create a surplus in the budget. The Americans followed the Spanish system of taxation with some modifications. The urban would be replaced by a tax on real estate (land tax). TAXATION DURING THE COMMONWEALTH PERIOD Income tax rates were increased, adding a surtax rate on individual net incomes over 10,000pesos. Income taxes of corporations were also increased. In 1937, the cedula tax was abolished but a residence tax was imposed on every citizen aged 18 years old and on every corporation.  FISCAL POLICY FROM 1946 TO PRESENT The Duterte administration also passed an estate tax amnesty program under the partially vetoed RA 11213 or the Tax Amnesty law in 2019. The amnesty covers the estate of the deceased who died on or before December 31, 2017. An estate tax amnesty rate of 6 percent with a minimum tax amnesty amount of P5,000 shall be imposed on the deceased’s total net taxable estate at the time of his or her death without penalties at every stage of property transfer.