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The Philippine Bill of Rights comprises the twenty-two provisions of Article III of the Philippine Constitution. It establishes the relationship between the individual to the State by defining the civil and political rights of the individual and limiting the governmental power of the State.

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History
The first Philippine constitution, the 1899 Malolos Constitution, established the First Philippine Republic and included in it a form of a Bill of Rights. In Title IV, it enumerated the national and individual rights of the Filipino. The First Philippine Republic, however, was never internationally recognized. After the defeat of Spain in the Spanish-American War, the United States acquired the Philippines along with other Spanish territories in the Treaty of Paris of 1898. Furthermore, the Malolos Constitution was never put into effect due to the outbreak of the Philippine-American War. The Bill of Rights in the Malolos Constitution has nevertheless been cited in Supreme Court cases as a matter of historical interest.

The Philippine Organic Act (1902), enacted by the United States Congress on July 1, 1902, became the basic law of the Insular Government. Among its key provisions was a declaration of rights extended to the people of the Philippines, as defined in the Act. The provision on rights was reproduced in the Jones Law (1916), an organic act that replaced the Philippine Organic Act. While not explicitly referred to in the Jones Law as a Bill of Rights, the provision effectively worked as a Bill of Rights and was referred to as such by the Supreme Court. The Jones Law served as the fundamental law of the Philippines until the Tydings-McDuffie Act (1934) authorized the Filipinos to call a convention for the drafting and adoption of a Philippine Constitution, with the assurance of full independence ten years after. The Tydings-McDuffie Act contained mandatory provisions to be included in the Philippine Constitution, such as requiring a bill of rights. The Act did not stipulate the actual character of the required bill of rights, but it did provide that the draft constitution had to be be submitted to the President of the United States, who would determine whether it substantially conformed to the provisions of the Act.

After President Franklin D. Roosevelt certified the constitution on March 18, 1935, it was ratified at a plebiscite held on May 14. The Bill of Rights contained in the 1935 Constitution drew heavily on the declaration of rights enumerated in the colonial constitutional texts, while also including new rights that do not appear in the organic laws of the United States nor its Constitution , as discussed below. The 1935 Constitution served as the supreme law of the Philippines during the Commonwealth of the Philippines and then during the Third Republic of the Philippines, after the United States recognized Philippine independence on July 4, 1946, in accordance with the Tydings-McDuffie Act.

Section One
"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."Section 1 includes two clauses that work to enshrine a right to due process and the equal protection of law. The section was reproduced in all governing constitutions in modern Philippine history starting from the Philippine Organic Act. In Smith, Bell & Co. v. Natividad (1919), the Supreme Court stated that the due process and equal protection clause of the Jones Law corresponded to the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution, and should thus be interpreted and given the same force as the latter.

Due Process Clause
The due process clause prohibits arbitrary deprivation of life, liberty, or property by the government except as authorized by the law. Constitutional due process has been interpreted by the United States Supreme Court and the Philippine Supreme Court as consisting of two elements: procedural due process; and substantive due process, including a prohibition against vague laws.

Equal Protection Clause
The equal protection clause provides for equal protection of the law to all persons, including non-citizens, within the jurisdiction. In People v. Cayat (1939), the Supreme Court said:"It is an established principle of constitutional law that the guaranty of the equal protection of the law is not violated by legislation based on reasonable classification. And the classification, to be reasonable: (1) must rest on substantial distinctions; (2) must be germane to the purpose of the law; (3) must not be limited to existing conditions only; and (4) must apply equally to all members of the same class."