Philippine Constitution (Certain Provisions on Property and Labor)

The Philippine Constitution on the Social Purpose of Private Property and
the Explanatory Note to the Corporation Code of 1980 on the Purpose of the Private Corporations

According to Section 6 of the Philippine Constitution, “the use of property bears a social function, and all economic agents shall contribute to the common good”. The State has the duty to promote distributive justice and intervene when the common so demands. The State shall also promote a just and dynamic social order and free the people from poverty and provide adequate social services and promote a rising standard of living and improved quality of life for all (Article II, Section 9). To do this, the Congress shall give the highest priority to the enactment of measures that protect and enhance the right of all the people to human dignity, reduce social, economic, and political inequalities by equitably diffusing wealth and political power for the common good; the State shall regulate the acquisition, ownership, use and disposition of property and its increments. (Article XIII).

In terms of Labor (Article XIII, Section 3), the Constitution mandates that the State shall guarantee the rights of all workers, and the workers must be entitled to the security of tenure, humane conditions of work and a living wage. They shall also participate in policy and decision-making processes affecting their rights and benefits. The State shall also promote the principle of shared responsibilities between workers and employers. Rights of labor in terms of share in the fruits of production and right of enterprises to reasonable returns to investments, and to expansion and growth must be recognized.

Private corporations should not be merely established for the purpose of private gain, but effective partners of the National Government in spreading the benefits of capitalism for the social and economic development of the nation. (Explanatory note to the Corporation Code of 1980)

Comments: The mandate of the Philippine Constitution on the use of properties is very clear that they shall contribute for the common good since they bear social function. The same Constitution names the State as responsible for promoting distributive justice and intervene when the common good so demands. However, with the current practical scenarios, one can say that the State is not that effective in performing its duty since the current trend is that the properties are being sold to the richest people or “privatized” who in turn monopolize the benefits from those properties at the expense of ordinary citizens who cannot afford to repurchase said properties. Common example are the condominium developers. They purchase as many land as they can without limit or regulation and turn them into profits by reselling them in the form of condominium units to only those who can afford. Because of privatization of common land, rights of people to own a share now turns into privilege for those who can only afford. With this, instead of improving the quality of lives of ALL, discrimination results which is contrary to the provisions of the Constitution.

                        It is also not good to notice that the State is not preventing the widespread practice of labor contractualization which can be thought of as a way to circumvent the mandate of the Constitution/statute to provide living wage and humane conditions of work to all workers. With labor contractualization, workers are simply paid the minimum statutory wage without full benefits. Security of tenure is also absent in labor contractualization.  Often than not, workers bear more responsibilities than employers. There is also a huge gap to the returns being received by the employers vs. the fruits of production being received by the workers.

                        If there are entities who can be considered as truly rich, I would say they are the private corporations. Truly indeed, the government and private corporations are partners in producing gains and spreading the benefits of capitalism for the economic development of the country. However, to say that they are partners in spreading the benefits of capitalism for the social development of the country, it seems that this is not so happening.

                        Perhaps, instead of focusing on never ending political scandals, the State can choose to review and improve on how it enforces the mandate of the Constitution to promote the use of properties for the common good, the rights of all workers and the limitations of private corporations to private gains.

      
       References:

1.       Text

 

http://laws.chanrobles.com/otherlaws/1_otherlaws.php?id=1

Explanatory Note to the Corporation Code of 1980

BUS560M SESSION 10.ppt - De La Salle University-Manila