Art. VI, Sec.

1
The legislative power shall be vested in the Congress of the Philippines which shall consist of a Senate
and a House of Representatives, except to the extent reserved to the people by the provision on
initiative and referendum.
Art. VII, Sec. 1
The executive power shall be vested in the President of the Philippines.
Art. VIII, Sec. 1
The judicial power shall be vested in one Supreme Court and in such lower courts as may be established
by law.

Executive Clemency
 Executive clemency is the power of the President to grant reprieves, commutations, and
pardons, and remit fines and forfeitures, after conviction by final judgment. The President shall
also have the power to grant amnesty with the concurrence of a majority of all the Members of
the Congress.

Kinds of Executive Clemency (FPARC) Requirement

1. Pardons (conditional or plenary) Conviction by final judgment
2. Reprieves Conviction by final judgment
3. Commutations Conviction by final judgment
4. Remission of Fines and Forfeitures Conviction by final judgment
5. Amnesty Concurrence of Congress

Definitions
1. Pardon
2. Reprieves- postponement of sentence to a date certain or stay of execution
3. Commutations-reduction or mitigation of the penalty
4. Remission of Fines and Forfeitures-prevents the collection of fines or confiscation of forfeited
property
5. Amnesty-grant of general pardon to a class of political offenders either after conviction or even before
the charge is filed

Limitations on the President’s Pardoning Power

1. Can be granted after conviction by final judgment (XPN: amnesty)
2. Cannot be granted in cases of civil or legislative contempt
3. Cannot absolve convict of civil liability
4. Cannot be granted in cases of impeachment
5. Cannot be granted for violation of election laws without favorable recommendations of the COMELEC
6. Cannot restore public offices forfeited

Clemency on Administrative penalties (Llamas v. Orbos)

 The Consti does not distinguish between which cases executive clemency may be exercised by
the President, with the sole exclusion of impeachment cases. If the Pres can grant reprieves,
commutations and pardons, and remit and fines and forfeiture in criminal cases, with much
more reason can she grant executive clemency in administrative cases, which are clearly less
serious than criminal offenses.
 However, the power of the President to grant executive clemency in administrative cases refers
only to administrative cases in the Executive branch.
Presidential Appointments
Appointments that need consent of Commission on Appointments
1. Heads of the Executive Department, except if VP is appointed to a cabinet position
2. Ambassadors, and other public ministers and consuls
3. Officers of the armed forces from the rank of Colonel or Naval Captain
4. Other officers whose appointments are vested in him by the Constitution
5. Chairmen and Commissioners of the CSC, COMELEC, COA
6. Regular members of the JBC

Jurisdiction of Commission on Appointments

1. Commission on Appointments shall confirm the appointments by the President with respect to the
positions stated above.
2. Congress cannot by law require that the appointment of a person to an office created by such law
shall be subject to confirmation by the Commission on Appointments.

Judicial Bar Council

 The members of the judiciary are appointed by the Pres of the Philippines from among a list of
at least three nominees prepared by the JBC for ever vacancy.
 The JBC is comprised of the:
[Regular members with a term of 4 years]
1. Chief Justice (ex-officio chairman),
2. Secretary of Justice (ex-officio member),
3. Representative of Congress, (ex-officio member),
[Other Members]
4. Representative of the Integrated Bar [4yrs],
5. Professor of law [3yrs],
6. Retired member of the SC [2yrs], and
7. Private sector representative [1yr].
 The principal function of the JBC is to recommend appointees to the judiciary. It may, however,
exercise such functions as the SC may assign to it. (Art. VIII, Sec. 8)

Power of Taxation
Legislative Powers of the Congress:
1. Powers of appropriation
2. Taxation
3. Expropriation
4. Authority to make, frame, and enact laws

Certain taxing powers of the President [Art. VI, Sec. 28 (2)]

 The Congress may authorize the Pres to fix,
 Within specified limits, and
 Subject to such limitations and restrictions as it may impose,
 Tariff rates, import and export quotas, tonnage and wharfage dues, and other duties or
imposts
 Within the framework of the national development program of the Government

Tariff and Customs Code is the enabling law that grants such powers to the Pres
  The power to impose tariffs in the first place is not inherent in the Pres but arises only from
congressional grant. Thus, it is the prerogative of Congress to impose limitations and restrictions
on such powers which do not normally belong to the executive in the first place. [Southern Cross
Cement Corp. v. PH Cement Manufacturing Corp.]

Prepare and Submit the Budget

 The Pres shall submit to Congress within 30 days from the opening of every regular session, as
the basis of the general appropriations bill, a budget of expenditures and sources of financing,
including receipts and proposed revenue measures. [Art. VII, Sec. 22]
 The budget is the plan indicating: 1) expenditures of the government, ii) sources of financing,
and 3) receipts from revenue-raising measures. This budget is the upper limit of the
appropriations bill to be passed by Congress.

Fiscal Powers/Power of the Purse

 Congress is the guardian of the public treasury. It wields the tremendous power of the purse.
The power of the purse comprehends both the power to generate money for the government
by taxation and the power to spend it.

Power of Appropriation/Spending Power

 [Art. VI, Sec. 29]: No money shall be paid out of the Treasury except in pursuance of an
appropriation made by law.
 Appropriation:
 An appropriation measure may be defined as a statute the primary and specific purpose
of which is to authorize the release of public funds from the treasury.
 A law creating an office and providing funds therefore is not an appropriation law since
the main purpose is not to appropriate funds but to create the office.

Budget Appropriation
 Sec. 25 (1): The Congress may not increase the appropriations recommended by the Pres for
operations of the Government as specified in the budget. The form, content, and manner of
preparation of the budget sgall be prescribed by law.

Procedure in approving appropriations for the Congress

 The Procedure in approving appropriations for Congress shall strictly follow the procedure for
approving appropriations for other departments and agencies.
 No transfer of appropriations is authorized. However, the Pres, Senate Pres, Speaker of HoR, CJ
of SC, and heads of the ConCom, may by law, be authorized to augment any item in the general
appropriation law for their respective offices from savings in other items of their respective
appropriations.

The Philippine Budget Cycle

1. Budget Preparation
 The budget preparation phase is commenced through issuance of a Budget Call by the DBM.
 Following the issuance of the Budget Call, the various departments and agencies submit their
respective Agency Budget Proposal to the DBM.
 The DBM consolidates the recommended agency budgets into the National Expenditure
Program (NEP) and a Budget of Expenditures and Sources of Financing (BESF).
  The NEP and BESF are thereafter presented by the DBM and the DBCC to the Pres and the
Cabinet for further refinements or reprioritization.
2. Budget Legislation
 It covers the period commencing from the time Congress receives President’s Budget, which is
inclusive of the NEP and the BESF, up to the President’s approval of the GAA. Also known as
the Budget Authorization Phase, and involves the significant participation of the Legislative
through its deliberations.
 Initially, the Pres’ Budget is assigned to the HoR’ Appropriations Committee on First Reading.
The Appropriations Committee and its various Sub-Committees schedule and conduct budget
hearings to examine the PAPs of the departments and agencies. Thereafter, the HoR drafts the
General Appropriations Bill.
 GAB is sponsored, presented and defended by the HOR’ Appropriations Committee and Sub-
Committee in plenary session. As with other laws, GAB is approved on Third Reading before the
HoR’ version is transmitted to the Senate.
 After transmission, the Senate conducts its own committee hearings on GAB. To expedite
proceedings, the Senate may conduct its committee hearings simultaneously with the HoR’
deliberations. The Senates’ Finance Committee and its Sub-Committees may submit the
proposed amendments to the GAB to the plenary of the Senate only after the HoR has formally
transmitted its version to the Senate. The Senate version of the GAB is likewise approved on
Third Reading.
 The HoR and the Senate constitute a panel each to sit in the Bicameral Conference Committee
for the purpose of discussing and harmonizing the conflicting provisions of their versions of
the GAB. The harmonized version of the GAB is next presented to the President for approval.
The Pres reviews the GAB, and prepares the Veto Message where budget items are subjected to
direct veto, or are identified for conditional implementation.
 If, by the end of any fiscal year, the Congress hall have failed to pass the GAB for ensuring fiscal
year, the GAA for the preceding fiscal year shall be deemed reenacted and shall remain in force
and effect until GAB is passed by the Congress.

3. Budget Execution
 With the GAA now in full force and effect, the next step is the implementation of the budget.
 Actual disbursement or spending of government funds terminates the Budget Execution Phase.
4. Accountability
 Ensures that the government funds have been effectively and efficiently utilized to achieve the
State’s socio-economic goals

Treaty and Executive Agreements

Scope of Diplomatic Power
 In our system of government, the President, being the head of state, is regarded as the sole
organ and authority in external relations and is the country’s sole representative with foreign
nations.
 As the chief architect of foreign policy, the Pres acts as the country’s mouthpiece with respect to
international affairs.

Scope of the foreign relations powers of the President (N-ARC-DP-Reco)

1. Negotiate treaties and other international agreements. However, such treaty or international
agreement requires the concurrence of the Senate (Art. VII, Sec. 21) which may opt to do the following:
a. Approve with 2/3 majority;
b. Disapprove outright; or
c. Approve conditionally, with suggested amendments which if re-negotiated and the Senate’s
suggestions are incorporated, the treaty will go into effect without need of further Senate approval.
***2,3,4 missing
5. Deport aliens
6. Decide that a diplomatic officer who has become persona non grata be recalled
7. Recognize governments and withdraw recognition

Treaty-making power
 [Bayan v. Executive Secretary] is defined by the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties as
 An international instrument concluded
 Between States
 In written form and
 Governed by international law,
 Whether embodied in a single instrument or in two or more related instruments, and
 Whatever its particular designation
 Executive agreements, however, do not require the legislative concurrence. [Bayan Muna v.
Romulo]
 An executive agreement is a treaty within the meaning of that word in international law
and constitutes enforceable domestic law. [Nicolas v. Romulo]
 Requisites of Executive Agreement under Vienna Convention
1. The agreement must be between states;
2. It must be written; and
3. It must be governed by international law [China Nat’l Machinery and
Equipment Corp. v. Sta. Maria]
Executive Agreements
 Merely involve arrangements on the implementation of existing policies, rules, laws, or
agreements. They are concluded:
1. To adjust the details of a treaty;
2. Pursuant to or upon confirmation by an act of the legislature; or
3. In the exercise of the President’s independent powers under the Constitution.
 [Saguisag v. Executive Secretary] The raison d’etre of executive agreements hinges on prior
constitutional or legislative authorizations.

Differences between a treaty and an executive agreement [Saguisag v. Executive Secretary]

Treaties Executive Agreement
Formal documents which require ratification with Become binding through executive action
the approval of two-thirds of all the members of without the need of a vote by the Senate or by
the Senate Congress
Agreements involving political issues or changes
in national policy, as well as those involving
international agreements of a permanent
character
Can create new international obligations Cannot create new international obligations that
are not expressly allowed or reasonably implied
 in the law they purport to implement
Products of the acts of the Executive and the Solely an Executive act
Senate
Same level as statute Not of the same level as a statute
A later law or a later treaty takes precedence Executive agreements that are inconsistent with
over one that is prior if there is an irreconcilable either a law or a treaty are considered
conflict ineffective.
*Both types of international agreement are nevertheless subject to the supremacy of the Constitution.