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BOOK REVIEW:THE 1973 PHILIPPINE CONSTITUTION; NOTES AND CASES;

PART I, THE STRUCTURE AND POWERS OF GOVERNMENT.By J oaquin G. Bernas, S. J. Manila : Rex Book Store , 1974. 756 p.

CONSTITUTIONAL LAW CASES AND OTHER MATERIALS ;PART II, THE RIGHTS OF THE PERSON. WITH 1973 SUPPLEMENT

By Joaquin G. Bernas, S. J. Manila: College of Law,Ateneo de Manila University, 1974. 788 p.

"There is no further judicial obstacle to the new Constitution beingconsidered in force and effect." Thus spoke the Supreme Court in thelandmark case of Javellana 11 . Executive SecretaM) and thus the 1973Constitution was stamped with the imprimatur of the judiciary, Amidst

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422 PHILIPPINE LAW JOURNAL IVol. 49assertion of historic identity, decolonialization on paper, and an embarrassing muddling of the Philippin e position towards the Treaty of Paris."In analyzing the functions of the President as the symbolic Head ofState, he describes the office as having "the vibrancy of a dead coconuttree," With respect to the martial law provision which is a verbatimreproduction of the provision in the old Constitution, the author "hazard (s) the su rmise that . . . the Prime Minister has far vaster martiallaw powers than the President of the 1935 Constitution" oecause of thechange from a presidential to a parliamentary system of government.

Perhaps the most intere::Jting part of the two vo lu mes is the author'sdiscussion of the 1973 Ratification Cases. Fr. Bernas states that aconstitution may be changed not only by revision, which implies adher.ence to constitutional procedure, but also by revolution, which is achange effected by the sovereign people in violation of the existing cons-titution. Therefore, change by revolution, a superior expression of thepeople's sovereignty, cannot be unconstitutional but merely extra-constitutional. The author submits that t his is the case with the 1973 Cons-

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[1974] BOOK REVIEW 423prOVISIOn on the National Economy and Patrimony, these two volumesserve as valuable tools for the student of Constitutional Law in the un-derstanding of the 1973 Constitution. But more than this, they arealso both enlightening and stimulating as they provide food for thoughtfor all: laymen, students, learned constitutionalists, "believers" or "in-fidels."

MANUEL R. ROXAS*

':'Chairman, Student Editorial Board, Philippine Law Journal.