Due Process of Law

Due Process of Law

   Sec. 1. No person shall be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law, nor shall any person be deprived the equal protection of the law. 

   The term person, in its juridical sense, may be defined as a "being, physical or moral, real or juridical and legal, which is susceptible of rights and obligations or of being the subject of legal relations. This definition contemplates two aspects:

      The first aspect relates to natural person or human being who possesses physical existence, a product of procreation.

      The second aspect refers to a juridical person, one who exist only in the contemplation of law; that is to say, a product of legal fiction, like the State and its political subdivisions and other corporations, institutions, and entities for private interest or purpose to which the law grants juridical personality.

      As contemplated under Section 1 of Article III, the term person embraces all natural persons within the territorial jurisdiction of the Philippines, whether citizens or aliens, without regard to differences in race, color, or nationality. Citizens as well as aliens are entitled to the protection of their life, liberty and property.

      Every person is entitled to due process. It is no exaggeration that the basest criminal, ranged against the rest of the people who would condemn him outright, is still, under the Bill of Rights, a majority of one.