RIGHT TO REVOLT

The constitution in any democratic state enshrines the rule of law. Any action that operates beyond the framework of the rule of law is considered illegal. It sometimes happens, that the people rise in revolt against the existing administration and through force or threats succeed in altering the constituted organs of government. (Sinco, 1962).

The revolution, being an elemental right, is attributed to the state if it succeeds. It becomes legal since any action attributed to the state is legal. This is the legal and political basis of the doctrine of revolution.

In some other nations, the right to revolt is not included in their organic laws because it implies political instability of the state. From their points of view, to constitutionalize the right to revolt might encourage mob rule and set-off a chain of revolutions for capricious reasons.

The Philippines, provides otherwise. Section 1, Article II of the 1987 Philippine Constitution recognizes that the people, as the ultimate judges of their destiny, can resort to revolution as a matter of right. (De Leon, 1991). It recognizes the inherent right of the people to revolt if sufficiently provoked by oppression or abuses. From the time that the present Constitution took effect, twice that the people of the Philippines have exercised this basic right, but in the in more prudent and peaceful ways. In a span of 15 years, the Filipinos were able to overthrow two administrations haunted by graft and corruption and human rights violations. Those direct state actions were written in history as People Power 1 and People Power 2 respectively.