SEPARATION OF POWERS

We understand that a government's role is to protect individual rights, but acknowledging that
governments have historically been the major violators of these rights, a number of measures have been
derived to reduce this likelihood. The concept of Separation of Powers is one such measure. The premise
behind the Separation of Powers is that when a single person or group has a large amount of power, they
can become dangerous to citizens. The Separation of Power is a method of removing the amount of power
in any group's hands, making it more difficult to abuse.

The Philippines is a democratic and republican state. As a republican state, sovereignty resides in
the People and all government authority emanates from them (Constitution Article II, Section 1). “A
Republican form of government rests on the conviction that sovereignty should reside in the people and
that all government authority must emanate from them. It abhors the concentration of power on one or a
few, cognizant that power, when absolute, can lead to abuse, but it also shuns a direct and unbridled rule
by the people, a veritable kindling to the passionate fires of anarchy. Our people have accepted this notion
and decided to delegate the basic state authority to principally three branches of government — the
Executive, the Legislative, and the Judiciary – each branch being supreme in its own sphere but with
constitutional limits and a firm tripod of checks and balances.”

ARTICLE II

Declaration of Principles and State Policies Principles

SECTION 1. The Philippines is a democratic and republican State. Sovereignty resides in the people and
all government authority emanates from them.

The Doctrine of Separation of Powers entails: first, the division of the powers of the government
into three, which are legislative, executive, and judicial; and second, the distribution of these powers to
the three major branches of the government, which are the Legislative Department, Executive
Department, and the Judicial Department.

Basically, Legislative Department is generally limited to the enactment of the law and not to
implementation or interpretation of the same. It is 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” (Section 1, Article VI).

Executive Department has the power to enforce and execute the laws of the land. It is vested in the
President of the Philippines (Section 1 Article VII) who is both “Head of State,” or ceremonial head of
the government, and “Chief Executive” with supervision and control over the heads of the executive
departments or Cabinet members who hold office in advisory capacity.
 Judicial Department is generally limited to the interpretation and application of the laws enacted by the
Legislative department which includes the duty to settle actual controversies involving rights which are
legally demandable and enforceable, and to determine whether there has been grave abuse of discretion
amounting to lack or excess of jurisdiction on the part of any branch or instrumentality of the Government
(Section 1, Article VIII).

The separation of powers prevents the monopoly of power. Separation of powers seeks to prevent
concentration of power to one person or group of persons, and thereby forestalls dictatorship. Sovereignty
resides in the people, and it should remain that way. The Government officials, who are the
representatives of the people, must exercise the powers of their office in the interest of the public. While
representational exercise of power brings out the essence of republicanism, too much concentration of
power rips it apart. Each department should collaborate with each other while exercising their respective
powers because at the end of the day they all belong to one unified government with a common purpose.
For example, Appointment of Members of the Supreme Court by the President must be upon the
recommendation of the Judicial and Bar Council. Before the President, who belongs to the executive
branch, appoint a Supreme Court justice, a recommendation must first be given to him by the JBC, which
is an independent body in the judiciary. Generally, the departments cannot encroach each other’s power,
but constitutional mechanisms allow each one of them to perform acts that would check the power of
others to prevent monopoly, concentration, and abuse of power.

The separation of powers is important because power is shared and not concentrated in one place.
Government branches are accountable to each other and there’s no abuse of power. If a single group
shared all three powers, they would have unlimited power. They could specify any law, arresting the
'criminal', and then decide that they are guilty. Through the Separation of Powers, though, no group can
have more than one of these powers. Only through the combined use of all three can the government use
force. By requiring the consent of all three branches, it increases the likelihood that the government will
not initiate violent force. By any number of possible separations, a government can be made safer for its
citizens.

Reference

https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/constitutions/1987-constitution