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INTRODUCTION Since the evolution of human kind, the world is already beneath them without any rules to dictate their ways of conduct. The hunger for protection is very strong that it makes men fight each other and shed blood in the process. Civilization in their way of understanding means to be strong to be right_ might is just. Men lived with their own criteria of what is just and right. Though they were not born before the law to secure them the enjoyment of freedom and equality, men act in their nature as human being to deal with their own fellowmen with such rights. They had their way of promoting and maintaining justice and thus, giving everyone freedom and equality.

The idea of human rights includes here the notion that all persons derive their status as human beings. This entails that rights belong to all human beings, whether they are foolish or wise, rich or poor, black or white. But is this really followed by the rules of the world? We watch everyday in our television many incident of oppression and violation of our human rights as a person but do we have a say on it or the power to protect the weak? There is also the issue on racial discrimination of which our country is the most favorite victims on it. If we claim that all people are equal, what does this mean, from what source does equality arise? Today, men and countries fight each other for freedom and equality. Our country back in our history had a very long journey of struggle and suffering before we attained our freedom as men and country that has an identity and name of its own. It would seemed in our world that although these freedom and equality of men as a natural right of human individual, everyone fight for it to gain it. Every country had their taste of heroes and martyrs who worked for the enjoyment of these rights to their men and country. It is a new acquisition today to be the strongest and have the control of the world. The liberation of the concept of freedom and equality makes every country tried to make it worth in their own favor. Strong country justified their act because of this right and weak countries suffer as a consequence. Weak people have weak access to this so called right endowed to everyone, it is impossible to have total enjoyment of these rights when in this time and age, although slavery has been condemned by most country, we are still under the society that wealth and power is our god. As long that you possess it,

freedom and equality of men would be understood in your own understanding and convenient.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights which was adopted by the UN General Assembly on December 10,1948 formally recognize and draw a line to the rights of freedom and equality of men in its universal meaning cognizable and enforceable by the whole world. The first Article of the Human Rights talks about equality in dignity and rights of the people which was then strengthen by recognizing it in the first section of our Constitution of Bill of Rights under Article 111 section 1. A right which can stand in its own without any law to recognized it. A right which is endowed in a person even before he was born and become his person. And a right acceptable and cognizable by everyone. It is to this extend that our Constitution as the supreme law of our land has then recognized it as one of its most important highlight. But aside from anything, our Constitution in harmony with the UN Declaration of Human Rights works together to ensure that every rights of its citizen is being protected. Not only a right of a person is being guarded in his own place through the recognition and enactment of the Bill of Rights in our Constitution but also these human rights are being recognized nationwide. It is surely considered the great achievement of our world to be able to formalize these rights. The state may not be there always to protect everyones right but through the promulgation of the UN Human Rights, indeed it gives a man much contentment in his heart to be protected in his own person. It would not only be for the benefit of its UN members but also include every citizen of the world who are being deprived of these rights and specially those who are weak and victims of abuse and power.

I would like to choose the first Article of the UN Declaration of Human Rights in relation to section 1, Article 3 of the Bill of Rights to have a more insight to the equal protection of men before the law. The first Article of our Bill of Rights is almost the same with Article 1 of the UN Declaration of Human Rights but only with more specific coverage. However both rights have the same highlights that they speak equal protection before the law.

11. DISCUSSION If there be a human being who is freer than I, then I shall necessarily become his slave. If I am freer than any other, then he will become my slave. Therefore equality is an absolutely necessary condition of freedom._ Mikhail A. Bakunin A man is no different to a chattel when his rights and dignity as a person is stripped from him. Our freedom and equality as well as in dignity endowed in us by birth would not be fully enjoyed without our government recognizing it. It is in reference with this right that our right to equal protection and due process contained on the first article of our Bill of Rights is being drawn. As we can see, these rights were first written both in the UN Declaration of Human Rights and in our Bill of Rights. It is because these rights are the most needed by men to function naturally as a human being. We are born free and with intelligence of our own and this fact would remain as it is. Article 1 of the UN Declaration of the Human Rights states that: All human being are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood. To be born free means that all people have an equal right to freedom. But freedom does not mean that we can do anything we want, nor can freedom for some mean limiting the freedom of others. Though we are born free, we live in a community that functions because there is an understanding among its members; in other words, it has rules and requires responsibilities. Our right to equality which has been twin with freedom does not mean that we are all the same. Each of us is different in our own special way. But we also have the common qualities that make us all humans. So each of us should be treated with respect and dignity and treat others in the same way. This right makes a man his own person. In reference with this UN Declaration of Human Rights, our lawmaking body ensured it to be contained in our Bill of Rights. In Article 1 section 3 of our Bill of Rights it states here 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 law. In a poor country like us democracy is what we strived to have in order to live; it is the only weapon we hold against the whole world to be what we are. The security of our rights

especially our human rights is what matters most as it served as our shield from harm whether local or foreign powers. Our right to due process and equal protection as being first mentioned in our Bill of Rights guarantee us to have a better life as a person. It is a fact that the deprivation of the right to due process and equal protection to the citizen leads to a bloody revolution by the people. History would tell us that the main root of war between men and countries would be traced to the deprivation of these very rights. Men, women and children regardless of whom and where they came from, their status in the society must be given their due respect and dignity as a human being because we are born free and each should be treated in the same way. We have reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a friendly manner and in spirit of brotherhood.

It is still fresh in the memory of the Filipinos specially the family of the victim of martial law of the pain and suffering they suffer. This is the period from the time of our liberation from our colonizers where our human rights are being violated again. Equal protection before the law and due process had been replaced by tyranny during the reign of the great Marcos who played the last dictator throughout the Philippine history. However this event had served as a lesson to the Filipino people to be more careful and observant when it comes to our human rights. Our Bill of Rights had been given more priority in our Constitution to see to it that what the people experience during the period of martial law will never be repeated. It had already traumatized the people leaving a very big scar to their hearts which even make them react violently whenever the word martial law is being mention by our government. In fact, part of our Constitution is made base most definitely to the martial law crisis.

How would we understand the meaning of equality? It would have been just

very simple to decipher it among ourselves if we disregard our greed to power and wealth which is the only hindrance to achieve the value of freedom and equality. It should not be necessary for the world and our government in making our human rights written within our law because we know as a person that these rights are

given already upon us and that we should respect these rights with one another. This must be already understood among us. However, as it happen we have different concept of the meaning of freedom and equality. It may happen that others concept of equality may not be the same with our own understanding with it. This happen because of our differences in many aspects in life that we develop different view on things. To begin with, I would like to cite a case in the U.S being the pioneer of democracy themselves who played a great role in the liberation of the world from slavery and who fought for freedom and equality of men, had a very different view on equal protection and equality before the law and had a hesitation before finally accepting the meaning of equality in a bigger scale. In the case of Plessy vs Ferguson, which made the citizen of United States angrier because of the doctrine of separate but equal, the issue here, had been raised because of the facts that in the state of Louisiana, they have passed the Separate Car Act, legally segregating the black people from the white in a common carriers. However the Supreme Court of the United States held the Louisiana segregation statute constitutional. Speaking for a seven-man majority, Justice Henry Brown wrote: "A statute which implies merely a legal distinction between the white and colored races has no tendency to destroy the legal equality of the two races. The object of the Fourteenth Amendment was undoubtedly to enforce the absolute equality of the two races before the law, but in the nature of things it could not have been intended to abolish distinctions based upon color, or to enforce social, as distinguished from political equality, or a commingling of the two races upon terms unsatisfactory to either." The Plessy decision set the precedent that "separate" facilities for blacks and whites were constitutional as long as they were "equal." The "separate but equal" doctrine was quickly extended to cover many areas of public life. The doctrine was a fiction, as facilities for blacks were always inferior to those for whites. (Plessy vs Ferguson, 163 U.S 537, 1896)

This perspective on equality was only then struck down after almost six decades. It was in 1954 when the landmark case of Brown v. Board of Education

of Topeka unanimously changed the view of the U.S Supreme Court. So it would seem that the black suffered many years before they achieved their enjoyment of their right to equal protection before the law. Our small country also had its own share on the issue on equal protection and equality. We were called once an indio and always labeled as the least important in our own country. We suffered this inferiority for long that we developed an attitude that we always look less of ourselves not only as a person but even our country suffered the same. And up to present, I do not believed that we are spared by the timed framed that there is no more discrimination at this age. Because believe it or not, no matter how educated we are, they still look less to us merely because we are a Filipino. They always regard us as the maid of the world. (Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483, 1954)

In the Philippine setting where money plays a great place in our legal system, the poor and the weak are usually the victim of these injustices. Our justice system is not also spared from exercising and violating our rights to due process and equal protection before the law. It would seem that we always face this issue on our human rights as long as there is inequality in our community and as reality tells us, inequality would never be abolished. A good news indeed to us that although we are a very small country, our government however do its best and participate to protect the rights of its citizen. However, another worst challenge our government today is facing is the Zamboanga crisis which struck down the entire Philippines. As we have said earlier, the issue on equal protection and equality before the law is not just an academic subject which can be dealt with later but a very sensitive one which would grow bigger and create a very dangerous ground on order and organization of society. Our government had always been very patient and considerate with this MNLF rebel in the Muslim region that we were always been attentive to their demands. This rebellion of them had never been contemplated despite what our government put into it to secure peace and order between us. According to the Philippine Star, Philippine police initially filed rebellion and crimes against International Humanitarian Law

charges against four leaders of MNLF faction earlier this week, but Misuari was not among those charges. The self-struggle for independence of our moslem brothers had always been known to our government. They have been very persistent for the past years to achieve their somewhat independence from our government. Before drawing conclusion to their action, their fight had always been there since the beginning, this is cry of a particular people who only wants their freedom and attain equality. And is it the right action to appease this appeal of our brothers? Weve already shed bloods for the same reason and sacrifice too much. For how many years is there to attain peace with one another? Is there an end to this unending fight between us? One has to ask if all these efforts and sacrifices are really worth it at least in terms of the concrete gains they achieved for many years. As long as they believe that they are being segregated since our country is dominated by Christians, we will never understand each other. It must be understood that although we have different religion, it does not define what we are. Our brothers also in the moslem region believed that they are victims of capitalism. It is really a challenge for a country like us to have a contradicting view on things. But in the end, the main problem would be left to the original issue which is the struggle of freedom and equality given to us by nature, the struggle for equal protection before the law. This is what our brothers there in Mindanao are fighting for with all there life. This is somewhat very patriotic of them to their root to sacrifice their own lives to have independent with their own. (Philippine Star, September 22, 2013)

Our moslem brothers here have every right to demand freedom and to be treated equal before the law. Their fight is part of their right as we already established that men are born free and equal in dignity. If they somewhat believed that they are denied their rights, they have the rights to take action. We cant blame them for their passion of a rather revolutionist approach to gain these rights because when these very rights of a person are denied to them, at least to what they believe, anything is possible, as we have said these rights are what make as person. However, this Zamboanga crisis is already too much to comprehend for

our country is not an open field for games. It is time to draw a line to this human rights. It may be their rights to fight for what they believe as gaining their freedom but it certainly is not their rights to kill innocent people. This MNLF rebel made their choice to cut ties with our government when they decided to attack Zamboanga killing many lives including innocent children and women. This is the worst ever happen in this age in our country. This is not only a violation to our local laws but to human rights of these victims. They only showed to the world that they do not recognize and respect others rights as long as they get what they want. Their act is a violation to humanity itself. How can they demand to the world for independence and equality if they themselves do not give importance to it? Under the UN Human rights, we are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in the spirit of brotherhood. It is indeed irony that instead of protecting them and giving them more importance in the government to reach the gap between us, it is them who we defend ourselves.

These freedom and equality through due process and equal protection of the law are rather a twin requirement to help us widen our sphere. To deprive us of our freedom and equality before the law is same us killing us in the process for what is worst punishment given to a person than taking these rights from him. We can see that our human rights were strengthened by highlighting it within our Bill of Rights. Our fights with our human rights, although we have different understanding and concept of attaining it, we must always remember that in the end we are all Filipinos, we are mere human being born free and equal in dignity, and is entitled to equality and protection before the law.

111. CONCLUSION The great philosopher Aristotle in one of his master piece The Politics stated that Justice is equality, but only for equals; and justice is inequality, but only for those who are unequal. Reality now showed us that there is no such thing as freedom and equality in the world of the weak and poor. As long as you have the wealth and power, you can twist justice in your hand. Freedom and equality of men which has been given to him through birth has been restricted and controlled by evolution of men themselves. This only works to the powerful, and the weak as their means to enjoy these rights. It seemed that our bitter experienced did not teach us and served enough to make a better person in us, instead it opens the gate for us to utilized people in our chosen world. No matter what we do, there will never be a thing called inequality. However, this may be the fact but as long as we are content in our person, there is no need to be more dramatic because in this real life where there is power and wealth, once in a while we really become their victim.

It hits us to the truth that although there is a strong campaign throughout the world which started way back and up to the present, equality can never be understand in its universal meaning. We are born in a different place and different history which make us draw our own understanding of the true meaning of the word freedom and equality. But whichever right doesnt matter at all, because as long as there is happiness, we are indeed free and equal in the very sense of the freedom and equality. What important is the recognition of our freedom and equality before our law which can be seen in our Bill of Rights. Our rights to freedom and equality through these due process and equal protection of the laws truly served as our refuge. It is an assurance to us that we can live to our dreams. Being a small country really needs an assurance for future protection. We cant just depend on the speed of time that men today use their brain and not their sword to deal things. As long as these rights are involved, there is no assurance that history will repeat itself. These rights will help and protect us to maintain our independent as a state that has citizens of its own with equal rights as men.

We may have different experiences in our fight in achieving our freedom and equality before the world but it also served as an example for us to make a better life out of it. We must not let the sacrifices of our forefathers just go to waste by repeating the mistake of men. We must understand that we are not alone in this world and especially not God himself that we may play people in our hand because the moment this happen, we make nature our own enemy. This world had been perfectly created for men to live with, and that no men should ever take this with us. Our great philosophers as well as our heroes may have failed to fight inequality and injustices but what important lesson which leaves us is our ability to rise again and live with always hope in our future.

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Saint Louis University Baguio city

In Partial Fulfillment of the requirements in Constitution 2: Term Paper

Article 1 of the UN Declaration of Human Rights in relation to Section 1 of the Bill of Rights

January 7, 2014 S 404; 5:30-6:30T; 5-7S

Sub to: Atty. Jose Adrian M. Bonifacio Sub by: Claris E. Langngag

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