The Malolos Constitution

THE MALOLOS CONSTITUTION

 We, the Representatives of the Filipino People, legally convened to establish justice, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare and ensure the blessings of liberty, imploring the aid of the Sovereign Lawgiver of the Universe in order to obtain these objectives, have voted, decreed and approved the following:

 POLITICAL CONSTITUTION

 Title 1 — On the Republic

 Article 1 The political association of all Filipinos constitutes a Nation, whose State shall be named the Philippine Republic.

 Article 2 The Philippine Republic is free and independent.

 Article 3 Sovereignty resides exclusively in the people.

 Title II — On the Government

Article 4 The Government of the Republic is popular, representative, alternative and responsible, and shall be divided among three distinct powers, which shall be named legislative, executive and judicial. Never can two or more of these powers be given to a person or corporation, nor shall the power of the legislative be vested in any single individual.

 Title III — On Religion

Article 5 The State recognizes the freedom and equality of all beliefs, as well as the separation of Church and State.

 Title IV — On the Filipinos and their National and Individual Rights

 Article 6

 The following are Filipinos:

1. All persons born in Philippine territory. Any sea vessel where the Philippine flag is flown is considered, for this purpose, a part of Philippine territory.

2. Children of a Filipino father or mother, even though they were born outside the Philippines.

3. Foreigners who have obtained the certificate of naturalization.

4. Those who, without such certificate, have acquired domicile in any town within Philippine territory.

It is understood that domicile is acquired through an uninterrupted residence of two years in a locality within Philippine territory, keeping an open house and having a known occupation, and paying all the taxes imposed by the Nation. Philippine citizenship is lost in accordance to the laws.

Article 7 No Filipino or foreigner can be detained or imprisoned except by virtue of a crime and in accordance to the laws.

Article 8 Any detainee shall either be set free, or be given to judicial authority within the next twenty-four hours following the act of detention.          

Any detention shall either be rendered without effect, or be raised to imprisonment within seventy-two hours of the detainee being handed over to a competent court.

      The interested party shall be duly notified within the same period of whatever decision pronounced.        

 Article 9 No Filipino can be imprisoned except by virtue of a warrant issued by a competent court.          

The order through which the warrant has been pronounced shall be ratified or revised, after having heard the accused, within seventy-two hours following the act of imprisonment.       

Article 10. Nobody can enter the place of residence of any Filipino or foreign resident in the

Philippines without his consent, except in urgent cases of fire, flood, earthquake or any similar danger, or of unlawful aggression coming from within, or in order to help any person who therein asks for help.

Other than these cases, entry into the place of residence of any Filipino or foreign resident in the Philippines, and searching his papers or effects can be ordered only by a competent court and be executed only in daytime. The search of papers and effects shall always be made in the presence of the person concerned or any member of his family and, in their absence, of two witnesses from the same neighborhood. However, should a delinquent caught in fraganti and pursued by the authorities through their agents take refuge in his place of residence, these agents can enter therein for the sole purpose of carrying out the arrest. Should the delinquent seek refuge in another person’s house, permission must be first obtained from its owner.  

Article 11 No Filipino can be compelled to change his place of residence except by virtue of an executory order.           

Article 12. In no way shall any correspondence entrusted to the post office or any message sent through telegraph or telephone be withheld or opened by government authorities.

However, by virtue of an order from a competent court, a correspondence may be withheld, and whatever message sent through the postal system may be opened in the presence of a defendant.     

Article 13. Any warrant to arrest, to search a place of residence and to withhold written, telegraphic or telephone correspondence must be duly justified. Should the warrant lack this requisite, or when the motives on which such warrant has been based are declared illegal or notoriously insufficient by a court, the person that has been imprisoned, or whose imprisonment has not been ratified within the period required in Article 9, or whose place of residence has been searched, or whose correspondence has been withheld, will have the right to file for corresponding damages.        

Article 14. No Filipino can be prosecuted or sentenced except by the judge or court that, by virtue of the laws previous to the crime, has been given jurisdiction, and in the manner that these laws prescribe.     

Article 15 Any person detained or imprisoned without the legal formalities, save for the cases provided for in this Constitution, will be set free upon his own request or that of any Filipino. The laws shall determine the proceedings summarily in this case, as well as the personal and pecuniary penalties that must be incurred by whosoever shall order, execute or cause to execute the illegal detention or imprisonment.  

Article 16. Nobody shall be denied of his property and rights whether temporarily or permanently, or be disturbed in the possession of the same, except by virtue of a judicial sentence. Government officials who, under any pretext, infringe this provision shall be held personally responsible for whatever damage caused.       

Article 17. Nobody shall be expropriated of his properties, except by reason of common necessity and utility, previously justified and declared by the proper authority, and through indemnification of the owner prior to expropriation. 

Article 18. Nobody is required to pay any tax that has not been approved by the Assembly or by popular Corporations legally authorized to impose the same, and whose exaction is not made in the form prescribed by law.    

Article 19 No Filipino who finds himself in full enjoyment of his civil and political rights shall be prevented from the free exercise of the same.    

Article 20. Neither shall any Filipino be denied:

1. Of the right to freely express his ideas and opinions, be they orally or in writing, through the use of print or any other similar means;

2. Of the right of association for all purposes of human life that not contrary to public morals; and lastly,

3. Of the right to address a petition, whether individually or collectively, to public powers and authorities. The right to petition shall in no way be exercised by means of arms.      

 Article 21. The exercise of the rights provided for in the preceding article shall be subject to the general regulations that regulate them.           

 Article 22. Crimes that are committed in the exercise of the rights guaranteed in this title shall be penalized by the courts in accordance to the common law.

 Article 23. Any Filipino can create and maintain institutions of instruction or education, in accordance with the established prescriptions. Public instruction shall be obligatory and free of charge in state schools.

Article 24. Any foreigner can freely reside in Philippine territory, subject to the dispositions regulating the matter, practice his profession therein, or engage in any work that may be performed without the certificates of aptitude issued by public authorities and required under the law.    

 Article 25 Any Filipino who is in the full enjoyment of his political and civil rights cannot be prevented from leaving the territory freely, nor can he be hindered from transferring his residence and properties to a foreign country, except when he is required to render military service or maintain public charges.  

 Article 26. Any foreigner who is not naturalized cannot exercise any office in the Philippines that carries any authority or jurisdiction.        

 Article 27 Every Filipino is required to rise in arms to defend the Motherland whenever he is summoned by the law, and to contribute to the expenses of the State in a manner proportional to his means. 

 Article 28. The enumeration of the rights guaranteed under this title does not imply the prohibition of any other right not expressly stated herein.       

 Article 29 Previous authorization shall not be required to prosecute public officials before the lower courts, whatever the offense they have committed may be.

A superior order shall not exempt a public official from his responsibility in cases where there is a manifest, clear and peremptory infraction against a provision of the Constitution. Otherwise, it will only exempt agents who do not exercise any authority.

 Article 30. The provisions guaranteed in Articles 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11, and Paragraphs 1 and 2 of Article 20 cannot be suspended for the entire Republic or for any of its parts, except temporarily and by means of a law, whenever the security of the State so requires under extraordinary circumstances.

 Upon promulgation of such suspension in the territory concerned, a special law shall be enforced during the period of suspension according to whatever the circumstances require. Both suspension and special law will be voted on in the National Assembly, and should it be in recess, the Government shall be empowered to enact it, in accord with the Permanent Commission, without any prejudice to convoking the Assembly as soon as possible and accounting for whatever move it has undertaken. However, in no law can other rights be suspended aside from those provided for in the first paragraph of this article, nor shall it authorize the Government to exile or deport any

Filipino from the country.

 In no case can military or civil officials establish another punishment other than what has been previously prescribed by the law.

 Article 31. Nobody in the Philippine Republic can be brought to trial under privative laws or in special courts. No person or corporation can have privileges or enjoy emoluments that are not obtained as compensation for public service and determined under the law. Army and navy laws shall only apply to crimes and offenses closely related to the military and naval discipline.   

 Article 32. No Filipino can establish majorats or institutions that entail property, or accept honors, distinctions, honorific titles or titles of nobility from foreign nations without the authorization of the Government.

 Neither can the Government of the Republic establish the institutions aforementioned in the preceding paragraph, nor can it confer honors, distinctions, honorific titles or titles of nobility to any Filipino.

 The Nation, however, shall award by means of a special law approved by the Assembly the distinguished services rendered by its citizens to the Motherland.  

 Title IV — On Legislative Power

 Article 33. Legislative power shall be exercised by an Assembly of Representatives of the Nation. This Assembly shall be organized in the form and conditions determined by the law enacted for such purpose.    

 Article 34. The members of the Assembly shall represent the entire Nation, and not only the voters who elected them.  

 Article 35. No representative can receive any imperative mandate from his voters. 

 Article 36. The Assembly will convene every year. It is the duty of the President of the

Republic to convoke it, suspend and close its sessions, and dissolve it, with its concurrence or with that of the Permanent Commission, in the absence of the former, and within the period granted under the law.         

 Article 37 The Assembly shall be open for at least three months in a year, with the time spent in its organization excluded from this period. The President of the Republic shall convoke it on the 15th of April at the latest.           

 Article 38. In extraordinary cases, he can convoke it outside the period granted under the law, with the concurrence of the Permanent Commission, and extend legislative work, provided that the extension shall not exceed the period of one month and that it shall not be held for more than twice within the same legislature.           

 Article 39 The National Assembly, together with extraordinary representatives, shall form a constituent body in order to proceed to the reform of the Constitution and the election of a new President of the Republic. It shall be convened at least a month prior to the expiration of the powers of the former. In case the President of the Republic dies or resigns his office, the Assembly shall convene immediately on its own, either through the initiative of its President, or that of the Permanent Commission.     

 Article 40. While the new President of the Republic has yet to be named, his duties shall be exercised by the President of the Supreme Court of Justice, who in turn shall be substituted in his duties by one of the members of this said tribunal in accordance to the laws.          

 Article 41. Whatever meeting of the Assembly held outside the ordinary period of legislation shall be illegal and void, except in the case provided for in Article 39, or in the event when the Assembly is convened as a Court of Justice, in which case no function can be exercised other than its judicial powers.         

 Article 42 The sessions of the Assembly shall be done in public. However, they can be held privately upon the request of a certain number of its members determined under its bylaws, with a decision afterwards through an absolute majority of votes among its members in attendance if the discussion on the same subject should continue in public.      

 Article 43 The President of the Republic shall communicate with the Assembly through messages that shall be read from the tribune by a Secretary of Government. The Secretaries of Government can enter the Assembly with the right to be given the floor if they so wish, and can be represented in the deliberation of any particular bill by envoys designated by decree of the President of the Republic.          

Article 44 The Assembly can be convened as a Court of Justice to pass judgment on crimes against the security of the State by the President of the Republic, and members of the Council of Government, by the President of the Supreme Court of Justice, and by the Solicitor General of the Nation, by means of a decree issued by the Assembly itself, or by the Permanent Commission in the absence of the former, or by the President of the Republic upon recommendation of the Solicitor General or the Council of Government. The laws shall determine the procedures for accusation, investigation and pardon.     

 Article 45 No member of the Assembly can be persecuted or harassed for whatever opinion he expresses, nor for the votes that he casts in the exercise of his office.         

 Article 46 No member of the Assembly can be prosecuted on criminal matters without the authorization of the Assembly or of the Permanent Commission, to which an account of the matter shall be immediately rendered for the appropriate resolution. Imprisonment, detention or arrest of a member of the Assembly cannot be done without prior authorization from the Assembly or from the Permanent Commission. However, once the Assembly has been notified about the warrant of arrest, it shall be held liable if, within the next two days after notification, it does not authorize imprisonment or manifest the reasons for refusing the same.      

 Article 47 The National Assembly shall also have the following powers:

1. Create bylaws for its internal governance;

2. Examine the legality of election and legal aptitude of the elected members;

3. Upon its convocation, appoint its President, Vice President and Secretaries. Provided that the

Assembly is not dissolved, its President, Vice President and Secretaries shall continue exercising their office for four terms; and

4. Accept the resignation presented by its members and grant leaves of absence in accordance to the bylaws.           

 Article 48. No bill may be passed into law without being submitted into a vote in the Assembly. The presence of at least a fourth part of the total number of members whose election has been duly approved and have been sworn to office is required in order to pass a law.     

 Article 50. The Assembly has the right of censure, and each of its members, the right of interpellation.    

Article 51. The initiative of the laws belongs to the President of the Republic and the Assembly.

 Article 52. Any representative of the Assembly who accepts pension, employment or assignment with corresponding remuneration from the Government shall be considered resigned from his office. Exempted from this are the office of the Secretary of Government of the Republic, and other positions provided for in special laws.   

 Article 53. The office of a representative shall be for four years, and those who exercise such office shall have the right to receive as a form of compensation an amount provided for under the law and in accordance to the circumstances.

 Those who fail to attend the entire period of legislation shall not have the right to receive compensation, but shall regain such right once they attend the sessions thereafter.

 

Title VI — On the Permanent Commission

 Article 54 The Assembly, before closing its sessions, shall elect seven of its members to constitute the Permanent Commission during the period that it is in recess, with the obligation that the latter designate a President and a Secretary on its first session.  

 Article 55 The Permanent Commission, in the absence of the Assembly, shall be empowered to:

 1. Declare whether or not there is sufficient cause to take legal action against the President of the

Republic, the Representatives, the Secretaries of Government, the President of the Supreme Court of Justice, and the Solicitor General in the cases provided for in this Constitution;

2. Convene the Assembly in extraordinary session in cases when the Court of Justice must be constituted;

3. Act on matters that have remained unresolved in order for them to be taken into consideration;

4. Convene the Assembly in extraordinary sessions when the exigency of the case so requires; and

5. Substitute the Assembly in the exercise of its powers in accordance to the Constitution, except in the power of creating and passing laws. The Permanent Commission shall meet whenever it is convened by whoever presides over it in accordance to this Constitution.

 Title VII — On Executive Power

 Article 57. The administration of the particular interests of towns, provinces and the State shall be entrusted respectively to town assemblies, provincial assemblies and the incumbent Administration in accordance to the law, and shall be based on the broadest decentralization and autonomy of administration.

 Title VIII — On the President of the Republic

 Article 58. The President of the Republic shall be elected through an absolute majority of votes by the Assembly and the special representatives convened as a constituent chamber. His appointment shall be for four years and he will be eligible for re-election.       

 Article 59. The President of the Republic, as well as the members of the Assembly, shall have the initiative of the laws. He shall promulgate the laws once they have been passed and approved by the latter, and shall supervise and ensure their execution.

 Article 60. The power to enforce the law shall extend to any concern related to the preservation of public order in the country, and to the external security of the State.       

 Article 61. The President of the Republic shall promulgate a law within twenty days following the transmittal of its definitive approval to him by the Assembly.

 Article 62. If the law is not promulgated within this period, the President shall return it to the Assembly with a justification on the reasons for such deferment. The Assembly shall proceed to its review. It shall not be presumed that the latter insists on its passage if it is not re-passed by a vote of two-thirds of the members present in the Assembly. Once the law is reviewed in the manner indicated, the Government shall promulgate it within ten days with a manifestation of its non-conformity.

 The Government, wherefore, shall be held liable if it allows the period of twenty days to elapse without returning the law to the Assembly.       

 Article 63. When the promulgation of a law has been declared urgent by an ad hoc vote, or by an absolute majority of votes in the Assembly, the President of the Republic can ask the former to deliberate anew by emitting a message to such effect. Such deliberation cannot be refused. Upon re-approval of the same law, it shall be promulgated within the period prescribed, without prejudice to the President’s right to manifest his non-conformity.    

 Article 64. The promulgation of the law shall be effected by publishing the same in the official bulletin of Republic, and shall be binding and executory after thirty days following its publication.

 Article 65. The President of the Republic shall have the army and the navy at his disposition, declare war, and enter into a peace agreement and ratify it, with the prior consent of the Assembly.

 Article 66. Peace treaties shall not be definitive unless approved by the Assembly through a vote.

 Article 67. Apart from the powers necessary to execute laws, it is the duty of the President of the Republic to:

 1. Confer civil and military employment in accordance to the law;

2. Appoint Secretaries of Government;

3. Direct diplomatic and commercial relations with other powers;

4. Ensure the swift and complete administration of justice in the entire territory;

5. Pardon lawbreakers in accordance to the law, subject to the provisions relating to the Secretaries of Government;

6. Preside over national solemnities, and welcome accredited envoys and representatives of foreign powers.

 Article 68. The President of the Republic needs to be authorized by a special law:

1. To transfer, cede or exchange any part of Philippine territory;

2. To incorporate any other territory into the Philippines;

3. To allow foreign troops in Philippine territory;

4. To ratify treaties of offensive and defensive alliance, special commercial treaties, treaties that stipulate subsidies to a foreign power, and any other treaty that compels Filipinos to perform any individual obligation; in no case can the confidential articles of a treaty nullify those that are public.

5. To grant general amnesties and pardons;

6. To mint money.      

 Article 69. The President of the Republic has the power to impose rules for the compliance and enforcement of the laws subject to the requisites that the same prescribe.     

 Article 70. The President of the Republic can, with the prior concurrence of the Representatives adopted through a majority of votes, dissolve the Assembly before the expiration of the term legally prescribed for its mandate. In this case, they shall be convened for new elections within three months.

 Article 71. The President of the Republic alone shall be held responsible in cases of high treason. 

 Article 72. The salary of the President of the Republic shall be determined by a special law, which cannot be revised except at the end of his term in office.         

 Title IX — On the Secretaries of Government

 Article 73. The Council of Government shall be composed of a President and seven Secretaries, who shall be put in charge of the portfolios of:

Foreign Relations,

Interior,

Finance,

War and the Navy,

Public Instruction,

Public Works and Communications,

Agriculture, Industries and

Commerce.     

 Article 74. Anything that the President of the Republic commands or resolves in the exercise of his authority shall be signed by the Secretary concerned. No public official shall fulfill any order that lacks such requisite.           

 Article 75. The Secretaries of Government shall be held jointly responsible by the Assembly for the general policies of Government, and individually for their personal actions. It shall be the duty of the Solicitor General of the Nation to prosecute them, and of the Assembly to judge them. The laws shall determine the cases wherein the Secretaries of Government are to be responsible, the penalties to which they shall be subjected, and the manner on how to proceed against them.      

 Article 76 In order for the Secretaries to obtain pardon if and when they are convicted by the Assembly, it is necessary that a petition be first approved by the Representatives by an absolute majority.

 Title X — On Judicial Power

 Article 77. The courts have the exclusive power to apply the laws, on behalf of the Nation, in civil and criminal trials. The same codes of law shall apply to the entire Republic, notwithstanding the variations that the law may prescribe in particular circumstances. There shall be but one code of laws applicable to all citizens in ordinary, civil and criminal trials.          

 Article 78. The courts shall not apply general and municipal regulations, except insofar as they are in conformity to the laws.

 Article 79. The exercise of judicial power resides in a Supreme Court of Justice, and in the tribunals that are to be established by law.

 Their composition, organization and other attributes shall be determined by the organic laws that shall be enforced.        

 Article 80 The President of the Supreme Court of Justice and the Solicitor General shall be appointed by the National Assembly with the concurrence of the President of the Republic and the Secretaries of Government, and shall have absolute independence from the legislative and executive branches.

 Article 81. Any citizen can initiate public action against members of the judiciary for misdemeanors that they commit in the exercise of their office.           

 Title XI — On Provincial and Popular Assemblies

 Article 82. The organization and attributes of the provincial and popular assemblies shall be determined by their respective laws. These laws shall conform to the following principles:

 1. Governance and management of the particular interests of the province or the town by its respective corporation, with the principle of popular and direct election as the basis for the constitution of the same.

2. Disclosure of the sessions of the assemblies, within the bounds provided for under the law.

3. Publication of the budget, accounts and important agreements of the same.

4. Intervention of the Government and, as the case may be, of the National Assembly, in order to prevent provinces and municipalities from exceeding their powers to the detriment of general and individual interests.

5. Establishment of their powers on matters of taxation, in a manner that allows the provincial and municipal assemblies to avoid coming in conflict with the tax system of the State.     

 Title XII — On the Administration of the State

 Article 83. The Government shall annually submit the budget of expenditures and revenues to the Assembly, indicating whatever alteration it has incorporated in that of the previous year and attaching therein a balance of the last fiscal year in accordance to the law. The budget must be presented to the Assembly once it convenes within a period of ten days following its convocation.         

Article 84. No payment can be made except in accordance to the law on budget or any other special law in the form and under the responsibility established under the laws.

 Article 85. The Government must be authorized by a special law in order to dispose the goods and properties of the State, and to borrow money using the credit of the Nation.       

 Article 86. Whatever public debt incurred by the Government of the Republic, in accordance to this Constitution, shall be under the special safeguard of the Nation. No loan shall be secured without determining at the same time the necessary resources to pay it.    

 Article 87. All laws pertaining to revenues, public expenditures or public credit shall be considered part of the laws on budget, and shall be published as such.        

 Article 88. The Assembly shall determine, upon the recommendation of the President of the Republic, the military forces at sea and on land.     

 Title XIII — On Constitutional Reform

 Article 89. The Assembly, on its own or upon the recommendation of the President of the Republic, can resolve to amend the Constitution, indicating to such effect the article or articles that should be modified.          

 Article 90. After such declaration has been made, the President of the Republic shall dissolve the Assembly, and convene a constituent body, which shall meet within the next three months. In the convocation, the resolution mentioned in the preceding article shall be inserted.        

 Title IX — On Constitutional Observance and Oath of Office, and on Languages

 Article 91. The President of the Republic, the Government, the Assembly and all Filipino citizens shall faithfully uphold the Constitution. The legislative power, immediately after the approval of the law on budgets, shall examine if the Constitution has been precisely observed and if its infractions are corrected, providing for whatever is convenient in order to impose responsibility on the offenders.  

 Article 92. The President of the Republic and all other public officials of the Nation cannot assume the exercise of their powers without taking an oath of office.

 Such oath shall be taken by the President of the Republic before the National Assembly. Other public officials of the National shall take it before the authorities determined under the law.         

 Article 93. The use of the languages spoken in the Philippines shall not be compulsory. It cannot be regulated except by virtue of law and only for acts of public authority and judicial affairs. On such occasions, the Spanish language shall temporarily be used.   

 TRANSITORY PROVISIONS

 Article 94. In the meantime and without prejudice to the provision mentioned in Article 48 and the commissions named by the Assembly to draft and transmit the organic laws to the same for the development and application of the rights granted to Filipino citizens and for the governance of the public powers guaranteed therein, those laws prevailing in these islands before their emancipation shall be considered laws of the Republic. Likewise, the provisions of the Civil Code as regards civil marriages and registry, suspended by the Governor General of these islands, as well as the Instruction issued on 26 April 1888 for the execution of Articles 77, 78, 79 and 82 of the aforesaid Code, the Law on Civil Registry dated 17 June 1870 and referred to in Article 332 of the same, and the Regulation issued the following 13 December for the execution of this law, shall all be considered in force, without prejudice to local administrators who continue to manage inscriptions in the Civil Registry and intervene in the celebration of marriage among Catholics.

 Article 95. While the laws referred to in the preceding article are not yet approved and put in effect, the provision of the Spanish laws that the said article temporarily enforces may be modified by virtue of a special law.

 Article 96. Once the laws that the Assembly approves are promulgated in accordance to Article 94, the Government of the Republic shall be authorized to impose decrees and regulations necessary for the immediate organization of all the offices of the State.   

 Article 97. The incumbent President of the Revolutionary Government shall immediately assume the title of President of the Republic, and shall perform the duties of the office until the Constituent Assembly has been convened and proceeds to the election of the person who shall assume the position definitively.

Article 98. This Congress, with the members who already compose it and whoever else should join either through election or through decree, shall have a term of four years, or in other words, for the entire duration of the present legislature that starts this coming 15 April.   

 Article 99. Notwithstanding the general rule established in Paragraph 2 of Article 4 while the country needs to fight for its independence, the Government shall be authorized during the recess of Congress to resolve whatever issues and difficulties not provided for under the laws, which unforeseen events may cause, by means of decrees that shall be brought to the knowledge of the Permanent Commission and shall be reported to the Assembly in the first meeting that will be called in accordance to the precepts of this Constitution.       

 

Article 100. The execution of Article 5, Title 3 shall be suspended until the meeting of the Constituent Assembly. Meanwhile, the municipal governments of the town that may require the spiritual ministry of a Filipino priest shall provide him with the necessary support.           

 Article 101. Notwithstanding the provision in Articles 62 and 63, the laws that the President of the Republic returns to Congress cannot be passed except in the legislative term of the following year, with this suspension remaining under the responsibility of the President and his Council of Government. Once they are re-passed under these conditions, their promulgation shall be obligatory within ten days, with the President manifesting his non-conformity. Should the law be re-approved in subsequent legislations, it shall be considered a law approved for the first time.    

 Additional Article

 It is understood that all parcels of land, buildings and other properties that religious orders used to own in these islands have been restored to the Philippine State on the 24th day of May of last year, when the Dictatorial Government of Cavite has been constituted.

             In Barasoain, on the 20th day of January, eighteen hundred and ninety-nine.

 The President of Congress.

 PEDRO A. PATERNO.        

 The Secretaries,

PABLO TECSON.

PABLO OCAMPO.