THE 1987 CONSTITUTION
OF THE REPUBLIC OF
THE PHILIPPINES –
ARTICLE III
Section 1. No person shall be
deprived of life, liberty, or
property without due process of
law, nor shall any person be
denied the equal protection of
the laws.
LIFE
LIFE
• When the constitution speaks of right to
life, it refers not just to physical safety but
also to the importance of quality of life.
Thus, right to life means right to be alive,
right to one’s limbs against physical harm,
and, equally important, right to a good
quality of life. Life means something more
than mere animal existence.
The girl in jacket exclaimed: “You got fatter!.” She may have gained weight but she looked rather pale, her eyes tired and swollen. She
wore a pair of small silver hoop earrings and judging by the way she looked, you’d know she paid no attention to her appearance. Her
mind was set on other things — things one could only hope to achieve in this ungodly hour.
Then the girl with the backpack started talking about her misery at work — how she couldn’t concentrate on anything; how she had missed
a lot of deadlines in the past few weeks.
But she had a deadline of her own. And tonight was the night to finish the task. Tonight she will let go of the child she’s been carrying for 10
weeks. “Pagod na akong magmukmok, mag-secret at umiyak. Gusto ko na matapos lahat. (I was tired of being depressed, of all the
secrets and all the tears.) I could have killed myself a few weeks before that.”
The girl unpacked her bag filled with water, biscuits, sealed fruits and ten packs of sanitary napkins. She knew that there was no
justification or excuse for the crime she was about to commit — but she did it anyway.
The baby was conceived out of wedlock. The father guy who impregnated her abandoned her to deal with this alone: no phone calls, no
messages, just a recent photo of him and his wife uploaded on Facebook. The message was clear: “Stay away from me and my family.”Of
course she thought of a way out. Abortion, clearly, wasn’t the first choice. Maybe adoption? She said she could not live to give her child
away to a stranger. Raise the baby with her beki friends? Possible. Tell her parents? Not a chance. Her parents would literally have a heart
attack on the spot. Her father would lose his position in the church, their family ostracized and detested by their religious [Link]
said she could handle the pregnancy, even maybe keep the baby for good if her life was the only thing at stake here. But she thought of
her parents — surely she would break not only their hearts but their trusts as well. She knew that she could never, ever, go [Link] thought
of losing her family only strengthened her decision. She used to be a strong-willed girl: hard-headed and unafraid to commit mistakes. But
on that night, she was weak and vulnerable. “I hate the word regret. For the longest time, I stand by my decisions however stupid they are.
Live and let live. Live and learn. But at that time, I felt remorse at regret. I know I could have made a better decision not to have sex with
that guy.”
The girl with the backpack took the pills and laid her head back against the pillows. The other two girls watched the TV. They had to stay
awake in case an emergency happened, such as an infection or incessant bleeding. Then they waited. Waited for something to happen.
Waited for relief. Waited for salvation.“Naunang sumakit ang puson ko tapos chills na nakakapagod kasi ‘di humihinto. (At first I felt
abdominal pain, then I had continuous chills. It was tiring.) And I can only sigh in regret, frustration and every bad feeling the world knows.”
Even as the pain subsided a few hours later, the girl with the backpack felt no relief, and certainly, no salvation.
LIBERTY
LIBERTY
• It includes “negative” and “positive” freedom. Negative
freedom means freedom from, or absence of, physical
constraints, while positive freedom means freedom to
exercise one’s faculties. Right to liberty therefore includes
the two aspects of freedom and it cannot be dwarfed into
mere freedom from physical restraint or servitude, but is
deemed to embrace the right of man to enjoy his God-
given faculties in all lawful ways, to live and work where he
will, to earn his livelihood by any lawful calling, to pursue any
vocation, and enter into contracts.
I left for Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in 1995 for a two-year contract, when I was 26 years old. People told me I shouldn’t go to an Arabic country and warned
me of the massive cultural differences, but I wanted to make my own experiences.
When I arrived I already knew that things wouldn’t be as expected. Even though I arrived in my employer’s home late at 2 in the morning, I had to get
up at 6 a.m. and start to work; not as a babysitter as written in my contract, but as a domestic helper.
And even the number of the family members I had to look after was not as I was told. Instead of three people I had to clean up the mess of six people.
The two-year contract I signed assured me of a US$250 salary a month, but I was only paid US$200. I was told it was due to a salary deduction for
agency fees, so I accepted it because I had no other choice. I was already in Saudi Arabia and I would rather work for less money than leave right
away without a single dollar. I wouldn’t be able to help my family at all, if I do not accept these conditions and helping my family to have a better life
was my biggest motivation.
My daily life in Riyadh was not really livable. The family I was working for held back my salary and sent it straight back to the Philippines, so there was
nothing left for me. I did not even have days off where I could do things I could have spent my money on.
Apart from the language barrier I had to deal with and which challenged me a lot because Arabic is really hard to pick up, most of the time I had to
stay inside and was not allowed to leave the property. To adapt myself to the Arabic culture I had to wear a Burka, which is a robe that veils one’s
whole body except for a little slit for the eyes. There were a few Filipinos around who maybe could have given me a sense of home, but I was also not
allowed to talk to them. I was isolated for most of the time and I felt really lonely.
I was not satisfied at all with my working conditions, but I was also afraid, that it would have been my fault if I would have reneged on my contract. I
didn’t want to get fined by the agency and return to the Philippines with no money in my pocket.
Sometimes the family would buy me expensive necklaces and give me money as a present, probably just to make them feel better. But they meant
nothing to me. They wanted me to extend my stay because they said no one could replace me. The husband argued that other friend’s families also
have Filipino maids and that it would be normal. But I told him that I am different. After two years, I finally returned to the Philippines.
Before I left for Abu Dhabi, I had to attend an orientation seminar at the OWWA. I was asked to share my experience as an OFW at the 3-day
orientation in front of 120 people. I was unprepared and quite nervous to speak in front of so many people, but I tried. I warned them that their
expectations to become lucky and rich might not come true, that they would be separated from their families and be lonely.
PROPERTY
PROPERTY
• It refers either to the thing itself or right over the thing. As a
thing, property is anything capable of appropriation, and it
could be personal or real. As a right, it refers to right to own,
use, possess, alienate, or destroy the thing. The constitution
uses property in the sense of right, and as such it includes,
among others, right to work, one’s employment, profession,
trade, and other vested rights. It is important to note
however that privileges like licenses are not protected
property; but they may evolve in a protected right if much is
invested in them as means of livelihood. Public office is not
also a property; but to the extent that security of tenure
cannot be compromised without due process, it is in a
limited sense analogous to property.
MANILA — Some 100 homes in an urban poor community in Road 10, Tondo, Manila were demolished to give way to a reported road widening program.
“The demolition of our homes is illegal because they did not show us any papers that would prove that we have to be evicted,” Rocel Berdan, vice president of
Samahang Magkakapitbahay sa Road 10, adding, “They have no right to deprive us of our rights to housing and livelihood here in our community.” Road 10
residents pointed to the privatization of the Manila North Harbor as the culprit behind the demolition of their homes. The port privatization is among the 50 public
private partnership programs that the Aquino administration is pushing for. Anakpawis Partylist earlier said many urban poor communities have been
demolished or are threatened to be demolished to give way to public-private partnership projects (PPP).
Mary Ann Florenda, president of Samahan ng Magkakapitbahay ng Road 10, said residents were given only seven days to leave their homes, as the notice of
demolition was only issued on Apr. 14, 2014.
On Apr. 23, 2014, a 300-crew demolition team, accompanied by some 100 policemen, arrived in Road 10 to demolish the homes.
Some 500 families would be relocated to a site in Cavite, a report read.
“The 100-million road widening project will add two more lanes to a two-kilometer section of Road 10, currently a four-lane thoroughfare covering Manila’s North
Harbor area,” the Philippine Daily Inquirer reported.
“For the urban poor, Aquino’s PPP is nothing but a brutal instrument to justify massive dislocation of poor residents. The so-called development project is nothing
but a shameless and anti-poor campaign of the Aquino administration in the service of its big business sponsors” Anakpawis Rep. Fernando Hicap said. Families
were offered to be relocated to Batya, a government relocation site in the province of Bocaue, Bulacan. But residents said the stories of neighbors who agreed to
be relocated are not very [Link] Arcon, 43, a Road 10 resident who agreed to be relocated, told [Link] that the relocation site is right in the
middle of rice fields; there was no electricity and water when they first arrived, and that they had to buy mineral water for drinking, which, he added, is an added
burden to the already meager family income.
“The urban boor has long been demanding that we stay here where we have a livelihood. Most of the residents are workers in the port or in Divisoria. If they will
relocate us to far places, it would mean death for our family,” Berdan said.
Hicap appealed to Manila mayor Joseph Estrada to intervene in the demolition.
“If Manila Mayor Estrada was able to go to Hong Kong to make amends with the families of the victims of the Manila hostage incident, he can make time to
arrange a negotiation or dialogue with his immediate constituents regarding their issue,” Hicap said. Berdan vowed that residents would continue to seek justice
for the negligence of the government and for the demolition that has led to the destruction of their future.