WHAT do we mean by the term “constitutional rights”? What are these constitutional rights?
One law dictionary defines constitutional rights as “individual liberties granted by … constitutions and protected from governmental interference.” These rights “are usually those asserted by the minority, since the governmental instruments of the majority, the legislative and the executive branches, are usually sought to be checked by the supremacy of constitutional provisions as interpreted by the judiciary.” (Steven H. Gifis, “Law Dictionary” [Seventh Edition, 2016])
Constitutional rights may be classified into civil rights, political rights, social and economic rights, cultural rights, and rights of the accused.
Civil rights refer to “those rights that belong to every citizen of the state or country, or, in a wider sense, to all its inhabitants, and are not connected with the organization or administration of the government. They include the rights of property, marriage, equal protection of the laws, freedom of contract, etc.” They are rights appertaining to a person by virtue of his citizenship in a state or community. In general sense, they refer to rights capable of being enforced or redressed in a civil action. (Simon, Jr. vs. Commission on Human Rights, G.R. No. 100150, January 5, 1994)
Political rights refer to “the right to participate, directly or indirectly, in the establishment or administration of government, the right of suffrage, the right to hold public office, the right of petition and, in general, the rights appurtenant to citizenship vis-a-vis the management of government.” (Ibid.) Social and economic rights refer to “those rights which are intended to insure the well-being and economic security of the individual.” They also deal with the promotion of social justice, the conservation and utilization of natural resources, and the promotion of education, science and technology, and arts and culture.
While cultural rights “protect the rights for each person, individually and in community with others, as well as groups of people, to develop and express their humanity, their world view and the meanings they give to their existence and their development through, inter alia, values, beliefs, convictions, languages, knowledge and the arts, institutions and ways of life.” (www.ohchr.org)
The so-called rights of the accused, on the other hand, are “the (civil) rights intended for the protection of a person accused of any crime.” These rights include the right against unreasonable search and seizure, the right to presumption of innocence, the right to a speedy, impartial, and public trial, and the right against cruel, degrading, or inhuman punishment.
Under our 1987 Constitution, civil and political rights are found in the Bill of Rights (Article III). It must be recapitulated that the Bill of Rights—also known as the Charter of Liberty and which was created as a limitation on action by the government—enumerates the rights of the people. To illustrate, Section 1 of the Bill of Rights states that “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.”
Furthermore, under the 1987 Constitution, economic, social, and cultural rights are found and recognized in several articles: Article XII on National Economy and Patrimony; Article XIII on Social Justice and Human Rights including Labor, Agrarian and Natural Resources Reform, Urban Land Reform and Housing, Health, Women, and Role and Rights of People’s Organizations; Article XIV on Education, Science and Technology, Arts, Culture, and Sports; and Article XV on the Family.
