Section 1. There shall be an Interim National Assembly which shall exist immediately upon the ratification of this Constitution and shall continue until the Members of the regular National Assembly shall have been elected and shall have assumed office following an election called for the purpose by the Interim National Assembly. Except as otherwise provided in this Constitution, the Interim National Assembly shall have the same powers and its Members shall have the same functions, responsibilities, rights, privileges, and disqualifications as the regular National Assembly and the Members thereof.
Section 2. The Members of the Interim National Assembly shall be the incumbent President and Vice-President of the Philippines, those who served as President of the nineteen hundred and seventy-one Constitutional Convention, those Members of the Senate and the House of Representatives who shall express in writing to the Commission on Elections within thirty days after the ratification of this Constitution their option to serve therein, and those Delegates to the nineteen hundred and seventy-one Constitutional Convention who have opted to serve therein by voting affirmatively for this Article. They may take their oath of office before any officer authorized to administer oaths and who qualify thereto, after the ratification of this Constitution.
Section 3.
The incumbent President of the Philippines shall initially convene the Interim National Assembly and shall preside over its sessions until the interim Speaker shall have been elected. He shall continue to exercise his powers and prerogatives under the nineteen hundred and thirty-five Constitution and the powers vested in the President and the Prime Minister under this Constitution until he calls upon the Interim National Assembly to elect the interim President and interim Prime Minister who shall then exercise their respective powers vested by this Constitution.
All proclamations, orders, decrees, instructions, and acts promulgated, issued, or done by the incumbent President shall be part of the law of the land, and shall remain valid, legal, binding, and effective even after the lifting of the Martial Law or the ratification of this Constitution unless modified, revoked, or superseded by subsequent proclamations, orders, decrees, instructions, or unless expressly or implicitly modified or repealed by the regular National Assembly.
Section 4. The interim Prime Minister and his Cabinet shall exercise all the powers and functions, and discharge the responsibilities of the regular Prime Minister and his Cabinet, and shall be subject to the same disqualifications provided in this Constitution.
Section 5. The Interim National Assembly shall give priority to measures for the orderly transition from the Presidential to the Parliamentary system, the reorganization of the government, the eradication of graft and corruption, programs for the effective maintenance of peace and order, the implementation of declared agrarian reforms, the standardization of compensation of government employees, and such other measures as shall bridge the gap between the rich and the poor.
Section 6. The Interim National Assembly shall reapportion the Assembly seats in accordance with Article Eight, Section two, of this Constitution.
Section 7. All existing laws not inconsistent with this Constitution shall remain operative until amended, modified, or repealed by the National Assembly.
Section 8. All courts existing at the time of the ratification of this Constitution shall continue and exercise their jurisdiction, until otherwise provided by law in accordance with this Constitution, and all cases pending in said courts shall be held, tried, and determined under the laws then in force. The provisions of the existing Rules of Court not inconsistent with this Constitution shall remain operative unless amended, modified, or repealed by the Supreme Court or the National Assembly.
Section 9. All officials and employees in the existing government of the Republic of the Philippines shall continue in office until otherwise provided by law or decreed by the incumbent President of the Philippines, but all officials whose appointments are by this Constitution vested in the Prime Minister shall vacate their respective offices upon the appointment and qualification of their successors.
Section 10. The incumbent Members of the Judiciary may continue in office until they reach the age of seventy years, unless sooner replaced in accordance with the preceding section hereof.
Section 11. The rights and privileges granted to citizens of the United States or to corporations or associations owned or controlled by such citizens under the ordinance appended to the nineteen hundred and thirty-five Constitution shall automatically terminate on the third day of July, nineteen hundred and seventy-four. Titles to private lands acquired by such persons before such date shall be valid as against other private persons only.
Section 12. All treaties, executive agreements, and contracts entered into by the government or any subdivision, agency, or instrumentality thereof, including government-owned or controlled corporations are hereby recognized as legal, valid and binding. When the national interest so requires, the incumbent President of the Republic or the interim Prime Minister may review all contracts, concessions, permits, or other forms of privileges for the exploration, exploitation, development, or utilization of natural resources entered into, granted, issued, or acquired before the ratification of this Constitution.
Section 13. Any public officer or employee separated from the service as a result of the reorganization effected under this Constitution shall, if entitled under the laws then in force, receive the retirement and other benefits accruing thereunder.
Section 14. All records, equipment, buildings, facilities, and other properties of any office or body abolished or reorganized under this Constitution shall be transferred to the office or body to which its powers, functions, and responsibilities substantially pertain.
Section 15. The Interim National Assembly, upon special call by the interim Prime Minister may, by a majority vote of all its Members propose amendments to this Constitution. Such amendment shall take effect when ratified in accordance with Article Sixteen hereof.
Section 16. This Constitution shall take effect immediately upon its ratification by a majority of the votes cast in a plebiscite called for the purpose and, except as herein provided, shall supersede the Constitution of nineteen hundred and thirty-five and all amendments thereto.
The 1973 Constitution was ratified on January 17, 1973 in accordance with Presidential Proclamation No. 1102 issued by President Ferdinand E. Marcos
