Abakada Guro Party List System vs.

Ermita (supra)

FACTS:

Several members of the House of Representatives led by Rep. Francis Joseph G. Escudero filed
this petition for certiorari on June 30, 2005. They question the constitutionality of R.A. No. 9337
on the following grounds:

1) Sections 4, 5, and 6 of R.A. No. 9337 constitute an undue delegation of legislative power, in
violation of Article VI, Section 28(2) of the Constitution;

2) The Bicameral Conference Committee acted without jurisdiction in deleting the no pass
on provisions present in Senate Bill No. 1950 and House Bill No. 3705; and
3) Insertion by the Bicameral Conference Committee of Sections 27, 28, 34, 116, 117, 119, 121,
125, 148, 151, 236, 237 and 288, which were present in Senate Bill No. 1950, violates Article VI,
Section 24(1) of the Constitution, which provides that all appropriation, revenue or tariff bills
shall originate exclusively in the House of Representatives

ISSUE:
Whether R.A. No. 9337 violates the following provisions of the Constitution Article VI, Section
24

RULING:

NO. Sec. 24. All appropriation, revenue or tariff bills, bills authorizing increase of the public
debt, bills of local application, and private bills shall originate exclusively in the House of
Representatives but the Senate may propose or concur with amendments.

To insist that a revenue statute – and not only the bill which initiated the legislative process
culminating in the enactment of the law – must substantially be the same as the House bill
would be to deny the Senate’s power not only to "concur with amendments" but also to
"propose amendments."
Given, then, the power of the Senate to propose amendments, the Senate can propose its
own version even with respect to bills which are required by the Constitution to originate in
the House.

it was indeed House Bill Nos. 3555 and 3705 that initiated the move for amending provisions of
the NIRC dealing mainly with the value-added tax. Upon transmittal of said House bills to the
Senate, the Senate came out with Senate Bill No. 1950 proposing amendments not only to NIRC
provisions on the value-added tax but also amendments to NIRC provisions on other kinds of
taxes

Since there is no question that the revenue bill exclusively originated in the House of
Representatives, the Senate was acting within its

constitutional power to introduce amendments to the House bill when it included provisions in
Senate Bill No. 1950 amending corporate income taxes, percentage, excise and franchise taxes.
Verily, Article VI, Section 24 of the Constitution does not contain any prohibition or limitation
on the extent of the amendments that may be introduced by the Senate to the House revenue
bill.