EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT

Structural Outline

(All parenthetical references are to Article VII of the 1987 Constitution, unless
otherwise specified)

POWERS

Powers in general:

 Power to enforce the laws (S1)

SPECIFIC POWERS

APPOINTMENT POWER

 Those whose appointments are vested in the President by the Constitution

They require confirmation by the Commission in Appointments except if markeD

by [*].

o Heads of Executive Departments, Ambassadors and other Public

Ministers and Consuls, AFP Officers, Colonel and Naval Captain up
(S16)

o Other officers whose appoinments are vested in President in the

Constitution:

 SC Justices and Judges of lower courts (Art. VIII, S9) *

 Regular members of the Judicial and Bar Council (Art.VIII, S8
[2])
 Chairman and Commissioners of the CSC (S1 [2], Art. IX [B])
 Chairman and Commissioners of the COMELEC (S1 [2], Art.
IX [C])
 Chairman and Commissioners Chairman and Commissioners
of the COA (S1 [2], Art. IX [D])
 The Ombudsman and his Deputies (Art. XI, S9)
  All other officers of the government whose appointments are not otherwise
provided for by law

 Those whom the President may be authorized by law to appoint

 Officers lower in rank whose appointments the Congress may by law vest in
the president alone.

LIMITATIONS ON THE POWER TO APPOINT:

 Appoinment of those whose appointments are determined by the Constitution

are subject to the consent of the Commision on Appointments. (S16)

 Appointment of SC Justices and judges of lower courts from a list of at least

three candidates for every vacancy. (Art. VIII, S9)

o For the lower courts, the President shall issue the appointments within
ninety days from the submission of the list. (Art. VIII, S9)

 No appointments two months before the next Presidential election and up to

the end of current President’s term. (S15)

 Appointments extended by an Acting President shall remain effective, unless

revoked by the elected President, within ninety days from his assumption or
reassumption of office. (S14)

 The President cannot appoint his spouse and relatives by consanguinity or

affinity within the fourth civil degree as (S13) –

o Members of the Constitutional Commissions

o Ombudsman
o Secretaries, Undersecretaries, chairmen or heads of bureaus or offices,
including government-owned or –controlled corporations

II. CONTROL OF ALL EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS, BUREAUS, AND

OFFICES (S17)

 Control of all Executive Departments, Bureaus, and Offices

o Control extends beyond Presidentsd power to appoint

 Ensure that the laws are faithfully executed (“faithful execution clause”)

o Essentially executive.

o The faithful execution clause gives the President the following powers
and duties –

 Supervision over LGUs

 The President of the Philippines shall exercise general

supervision over local governments. (Art. X, S4)

 The President shall exercise general supervision over

autonomous regions to ensure that laws are faithfully
executed. Art. X, S16)

 It is the power of a superior officer to "ensure that the

laws are faithfully executed" by inferiors.

 The power of supervision does not include the power of

control; but the power of control necessarily includes
the power of supervision. E.g. the power of the
President over local governments is only one of general
supervision.

 Power to prosecute crimes

 The prosecution of crimes appertains to the executive

department of government whose principal power and
responsibility is to see that our laws are faithfully
executed. A necessary component of this power to
execute our laws is the right to prosecute their violators.
The right to prosecute vests the prosecutor with a wide
range of discretion — the discretion of whether, what
and whom to charge, the exercise of which depends on
a smorgasbord of factors which are best appreciated by
prosecutors. (Webb vs De Leon 1995)

 Power to enter into executive agreements with foreign states

 Note that executive agreements are entered into to

enforce or implement treaties or laws (Saguisag vs
Ochoa)
LIMITATIONS ON POWER OF CONTROL:

 President must observe the limits imposed by the Constitution and Laws
(Faithful Execution Clause; S17)

 President cannot interfere with decisions of quasi-judicial bodies, even if they

are executive agencies

 President merely has power of general supervision of local government units

NOTE:

Power of control v. power to discipline or remove

 While the power of control pertains to the power over “acts or decisions” or officers in the executive
department. Power to discipline or remove pertains to the power over the “person” of the officers
themselves.
 The power of an officer to alter or modify or nullify or set aside what a subordinate had done in the
performance of his duties and to substitute the judgment of the former for that of the latter. This power,
however, merely applies to the exercise of control over the acts of the subordinate in the performance of
his duties. It only means that the President may set aside the judgment or action taken by a subordinate
in the performance of his duties.
 The power of control, therefore, is not the source of the Executive's disciplinary power over the person
of his subordinates. Rather, his disciplinary power flows from his power to appoint The power to
remove is inherent in the power to appoint. Moreover, this inherent disciplinary power has been made
subject to limitation by the legislature through the tatter's power to provide for a civil service system one
of whose main features is security of tenure: "No officer or employee in the Civil Service shall be
suspended or dismissed except for cause as provided by law.” (Article IX, B, Section 2(3). Hence, it can
be said that while the Executive has control over the "judgment" or "discretion" of his subordinates, it is
the legislature which has control over their “person."

III. COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF POWERS (S18):

 To call out the armed forces

 Suspend the privilege of he writ of habeas corpus

 Declare martial law

IV. CLEMENCY POWERS (S19)

 Grant reprieves, commutations and pardons, and remit fines and forfeitures.
 o After conviction by final judgment, the Presidemt may grant:

 Reprieves — postpone the execution of an offense to a day

certain (such as the death penalty).

 Commutations — a remission of a part of the punishment or a

substitution of a less penalty for the one originally imposed.
The commutation of the original sentence for another of a
different length and nature shall have the legal effect of
substituting the latter in the place of the former.

 Pardons — an act of grace, proceeding from the power

entrusted with the execution of the laws, which exempts the
individual on whom it is bestowed from the punishment the
law inflicts for a crime he has committed.

 Remit fines and forfeitures — prevents the collection of fines

or the confiscation of forfeited property. But it cannot have the
effect of returning property which has been vested in third
parties or money in the public treasury.

 Grant amnesty with concurrence of a majority of all the members of Congress

PARDON AMNESTY
Granted solely by the President Granted by the President but requires the concurrence of
a majority of all the Members of the Congress

Private act which must be pleaded and proved by the Public act of which the courts should take judicial notice
person pardoned

Granted only to those convicted by final judgment for Granted to classes of persons or communities who may
all be guilty of political offense (but has been recognized in
kinds of offenses tax cases), generally before or after the institution of the
criminal prosecution and sometimes after conviction

Looks forward and relieves the offender from the Looks backward and abolishes and puts into oblivion the
consequences of an offense of which he has been offense itself, it so overlooks and obliterates the offense
convicted, that is, it abolishes or forgives the with which is charged that the person released by
punishment, amnesty stands before the law precisely as though he
and for that reason it does not work restoration of the had committed no offense.
rights to hold public office, or the right of suffrage,
unless
such rights be expressly restored by the terms of the
pardon," and it "in no case exempts the culprit from the
payment of the civil indemnity imposed upon him by the
sentence"

 Limitations on the Clemency Power to grant pardons:

 o It cannot be granted in the following cases:

 In cases of impeachment

 Art. IX – C, S5: “No pardon, amnesty, parole, or suspension of

sentence for violation of election laws, rules, and regulations
shall be granted by the President without the favorable
recommendation of the Commission.”

 In cases of legislative contempt, or civil contempt

o A pardon can be extended only to one whose conviction is final,

pardon has no effect until the person withdraws his appeal and thereby
allows his conviction to be final. (People v. Salle 1995)
o It cannot absolve the convict of civil liability (People v. Nacional
1995)
o It cannot restore public offices forfeited (Monsanto v. Factoran)
‣

V. POWER OVER FOREIGN RELATIONS

 Power to contract or guarantee foreign loans (S20)

o There must be prior concurrence of the monetary board

o Subject to such limitations as may be provided by law

 Treaty-making powers (S21)

o Treaties and international agreements

 These are agreements that are permanent and original. Such

agreements should be embodied in a treaty.

 Senate concurrence is required

 Power to enter into executive agreements

o These are international agreements which are merely temporary or

implementations of treaties or laws

o Concurrence of 2/3 members of the Senate is NOT required for its

validity and effectivity.
 o Executive Agreements fall into two classes:

 Presidential Agreements — agreements made purely as

executive acts affecting external relations and independent of
or without legislative authorization

 Congressional-Executive Agreements — agreements entered

into in pursuance to acts of Congress

VI. LEGISLATIVE POWERS

 Delegated legislative powers

o In times of war or other national emergency (S23 [2])

o Power to imppose tariff rates, etc. (S28 [2], Art. VI)

 Power to propose the general appropriations bill (S22)

 Veto power (S27 [1 and 2])

 Power to call Congress to a special session (S15)

VII. OTHER POWERS

 Power to consent to deputation of government personnel by the Commission

on Elections and to discipline such deputies (Art. IX-C, Sec. 2)

 Residual powers (Marcos vs Manglapus, G.R. No. 88211 September 15,

1989)

QUALIFICATIONS

 Natural-born citizen
 Registered voter
 Able to read and write
 At least 40 years of age on day of election
 Resident of Philippines at least 10 immediately preceding election years
 TERM AND TERM LIMITS

 Six year term

 One term only

PRIVILEGES AND IMMUNITIES

 Immunity from suit

o Absolute immunity from suit during tenure (Estrada v. Desierto)

o Immunity may be waived (Soliven v. Makasiar)
o Suits covered: criminal, civil, administrative. (Forbes v. Chuoco
Tiaco)
o Scope of immunity: Official as well as unofficial act while President
o Can a sitting President be sued for acts prior to Presidency? Yes
o The immunity can be invoked only by the President (Soliven v.
Makasiar)
o Immunity extends beyond tenure? Yes, but for official acts only. After
his tenure President immunity cannot be invoked for suits for damages
arising out of acts done by him while President (Estrada v. Desierto)
o Only President can invoke; cabinet secretaries cannot unless he was
acting for an on behalf of the President
o Can Vice-President invoke immunity from suit? Good question!

 Executive Privilege
o The power to withhold certain types of information from the courts,
Congress and the public. (Senate v. Ermita, G.R. No. 169777, April
20, 2006)
o The claim of executive privilege is highly recognized in cases where
the subject of the inquiry relates to a power textually committed by the
Constitution to the President, such as in the area of military and
foreign relations. Under our Constitution, the President is the
repository of the commander-in-chief, appointing, pardoning and
diplomatic powers. Consistent with the doctrine of separation of
powers, the information relating to these powers may enjoy greater
confidentiality than others. (Neri v. Senate Committee 2008)
o The types of information include those which are of a nature that
disclosure would subvert military or diplomatic objectives, or
information about the identity of persons who furnish information of
violations of law, or information about internal deliberations
comprising the process by which government decisions are reached.
o A claim of privilege must be stated with sufficient particularity to
enable Congress or the court to determine its legitimacy. Absent then a
 statement of the specific basis of a claim of executive privilege, there
is no way of determining whether it falls under one of the traditional
privileges, or whether, given the circumstances in which it is made, it
should be respected. The lack of specificity renders an assessment of
the potential harm resulting from disclosure impossible. However,
Congress must not require the executive to state the reasons for the
claim with such particularity as to compel disclosure of the
information which the privilege is meant to protect. (Senate vs Ermita,
supra)
o Privilege covers:
 Military
 Diplomatic
 Other national security matters
o It is the information itself that is privileged, not the executive officials
themselves
o There must be a formal claim of privilege with specific basis given
o Exception to privilege:
 Information covered by executive privilege may be disclosed if
there is a “sufficient showing of need”.

PROHIBITIONS

 Prohibitions on the President and his official family

o The President, Vice-president, the members of the cabinet, and their
deputies or assistants, during their tenure, are directly or indirectly
prohibited from –

 Holding any other office or employment (both public and

private office employment)
 Practice any other profession
 Participate in any business
 Be financially interested in any contract with, or in any
franchise, or special privilege granted by the Government or
any subdivision, agency, or instrumentality thereof, including
government-owned or controlled corporations or their
subsidiaries
 Receiving any other emolument from the Government or any
other source (This prohibition applies only to the President and
Vice-President)

o Exception They may hold other offices if it is expressly provided in

the Constitution –
 Vice President may be appointed as a member of the Cabinet (Art. 7, Sec. 3)
 Secretary of Justice is an ex-officio member of the Judicial and Bar Council (Art. 8,
Sec. 82.
 Offices in ex-officio capacity