G.R. No.

L-28196 November 9, 1967

RAMON A. GONZALES v COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS

CONCEPCION, C.J.:

FACTS:

On March 16, 1967 three resolutions were passed to the Congress:

● RHB 1 - proposal to increase the number of membership of the House of Representatives
from a maximum of 120 to maximum of 180, to be apportioned among the several
provinces
● RHB 2 - proposal to have two (2) elective delegates from each representative district,
to be "elected in the general elections for the constitutional convention
● RHB 3 - proposal to authorize Senators and members of the House of Representatives to
become delegates to the aforementioned constitutional convention, without forfeiting
their respective seats in Congress.

On July 17, 1967 RHB 1 and 3 was approved by the President as RA 4913 for approval of the
people through general election on November 14, 1967.

The petitioner filed a class suit on October 21, 1967 praying to declare RA 4913 as
unconstitutional and restraining for the ratification of the said act.

ISSUE:
Whether or not Congress can simultaneously propose amendments to the Constitution and call
for the holding of a constitutional convention?

HELD:
YES. The power to amend the Constitution or to propose amendments thereto is not included
in the general grant of legislative powers to Congress. It is part of the inherent powers of the
people — as the repository of sovereignty in a republican state, such as ours — to make, and,
hence, to amend their own Fundamental Law. Congress may propose amendments to the
Constitution merely because the same explicitly grants such power. Hence, when exercising the
same, it is said that Senators and Members of the House of Representatives act, not as members
of Congress, but as component elements of a constituent assembly. When acting as such, the
members of Congress derive their authority from the Constitution, unlike the people when
performing the same function, for their authority does not emanate from the Constitution —
they are the very source of all powers of government, including the Constitution itself .

Since, when proposing, as a constituent assembly, amendments to the Constitution, the

members of Congress derive their authority from the Fundamental Law, it follows, necessarily,
that they do not have the final say on whether or not their acts are within or beyond
constitutional limits. Otherwise, they could brush aside and set the same at naught, contrary
to the basic tenet that ours is a government of laws, not of men, and to the rigid nature of our
Constitution. Such rigidity is stressed by the fact that the Constitution expressly confers upon
the Supreme Court, the power to declare a treaty unconstitutional, despite the eminently
political character of treaty-making power.