Government

and Law
Trixie C. Pepito
BS Accountancy 3

Government and Law

Definition and Nature of
Politics and Government

Politics
as long as we need to have some
social organization, we need
government and POLITICS is precisely
the theory, art, and practice of the
government.
We need people who will be vested with

authority to exercise power and assume

responsibility over the governance of
society.

In its more precise sense,

politics means the practice of statecraft

or of governing a country.
In countries where government rules well for

the common welfare of its citizens, politics is

known as STATESMANSHIP.
In places afflicted with incompetent and

corrupt leaders, politics is better known as

DEMAGOGUERY.

Political institutions
are societal arrangements for:
legislating and enforcing laws (Congress);
and
providing for social services like education
(DepEd), public health and welfare (DOH),
distributing public funds (DBM), collecting
taxes (BIR), conducting foreign affairs (DFA),
and deciding on issues of war and peace
(AFP, PNP, etc.)

A State is
a structure that has the legal authority or right

to make rules that are binding over a given

population within a given territory.
It possesses sovereignty that is, it has the

power to make decisions that cannot be

overruled by any other body.
It has perpetual existence as long as its four

(4) elements people, territory, government

and sovereignty -- are present.

Government
is an essential element of the state.
The often-quoted Preamble of the Philippine

Constitution sums up the purposes of

government as:
to promote the common good, conserve
and develop our patrimony, and secure to
ourselves and our posterity the blessings of
independence and democracy.

Governments are
empowered to establish and regulate the

interrelationships of the people within their

territorial confines, the relations of the people
with other political entities.
A consequence of this is the moral right of the

government to promulgate laws and to

restrain, punish or even eliminate individuals
that threaten the existence of society. This is
the police power of the government.

The government also

has
the right to exact taxes from people and

properties in its territory to carry out the

functions of government.
Likewise, it can expropriate private property

for public purpose upon payment of just

compensation. This is the government power
of eminent domain.

When government harms the

right of society and individuals,
the people acquire the moral right to change

such government by all legal and peaceful

means, such as through elections, recall and
empeachment of constitutional officers.
Section I, Article II of the Philippine

Constitution also recognizes that the people

can resort to revolution as a matter of right if
sufficiently provoked by oppression or abuses
of tyrannical government.

Government and Law

The Government Powers to
Enact, Execute and Interpret
the Laws

Laws
are formalized norms which are enacted by

people who are vested with governmental

power and enforced by political and legal
authorities designated by the government.
In the Philippine government the power to

enact laws is vested in the Philippine

Congress, the legislative branch of
government composed of the House of
Senate and the House of Representatives.

Congress
Both Houses deliberate upon the Senate

Bills and House Bills, which are then

forwarded to the Chief Executive (the
President) for approval.
The approval of the President

transforms a bill into a law commonly

called statute, Republic Act or Batas
Pambansa.

Implementation and Execution of

Laws

lies in the supreme domain of the

Executive branch of the government

the President or Chief Executive and
his/her cabinet.

The President

The Local Government

Provinces (Governor)
Cities (City Mayor)
Town or Municipalities (Municipal Mayor)
Barangay (Barangay Captain)

Constitutionality of Laws
The interpretation of whether a law is

constitutional or not, or whether the

acts of the President in implementing
the law are unconstitutional or done
with abuse of discretion of his/her
power is vested in the judicial branch of
government the Supreme Court, the
highest court of the land.

Supreme Court
Kataas-taasang Hukuman ng Pilipinas

Other judicial bodies include:

Court of Appeals;
Court of Tax Appeals;
Ombudsman and Sandiganbayan;
Regional Trial Courts;
Municipal Trial Courts; and
Lupong Tagapamayapa or Pangkat in the
barangay level performing quasi-judicial
functions.

Court of Appeals
Hukuman ng Apelasyon ng Pilipinas

Court of Tax Appeals

Hukuman ng Paghahabol sa Buwis ng Pilipinas

Ombudsman
Tanodbayan ng Pilipinas

Sandiganbayan
Peoples Advocate

Government and Law

Political Ideology and Forms of
Government

Political Ideology
An ideology is a system of values, ideas,

beliefs, and attributes that a society or groups

within it share and accept as truth or fact; it
contains a set of attitudes towards the various
institutions and processes of society.

Forms of Government
Since Aristotles time, the forms of
government envisioned by different
political ideologies have been the
following:

Autocracy
Oligarchy
Democracy
Socialism

Autocracy
is a government in the hands of a

single absolute ruler.

An absolute ruler is a despot.
He makes the laws, executes the law and
interprets the law.
He is the lawmaker, the Chief Executive and
the judiciary rolled into one.
He is above the law; in effect, he is the law.

An autocratic
government
is ruled a king, a monarch, a despot or a

dictator.
The present-day autocracy is known as
totalitarian a government or a state in
which the life and actions of every
individual, as well as those of every
enterprise, are controlled by a dictator.
Ex: The dictatorial regime of the late President
Marcos under the guise of constitutional
authoritarianism.

Oligarchy
is a government in which power is in

the hands of a few.

The rulers are known as oligarchs and

aristocrats who govern for their own

interests.
C. Wright Mills believed that a handful of men
composed of the powerful military upper echelons,
the corporate rich, and the political elites should
make the most significant decisions to steer the ship
of the government.

Democracy
is a form of government by the

people, usually through their

representatives.
It is popularly known as a republic or a

representative democracy a government of

the people, by the people, and for the people.
In the republic, the head of the state is an

elected president, who exercises

governmental powers from the constitution.

Socialism
is a form of government wherein

properties are owned by the state that

is, in turn, controlled by the workers.
Practiced in: the Soviet Union; China;

Mongolia; North Korea; North Vietnam;

Laos; Cambodia; Cuba; Albania; and
Yugoslavia.

Government and Law

The Nature of Power

Power vs. Authority

Government and Law

Limitations of the Exercise of
Power

Absolute power
corrupts.
Power can be used as an end in itself, or

as a means to achieve desired ends.

Being subject to abuse and misuse,

power should be limited.

Power should be limited through

the ff. ways:

Principle of checks and balances

Political pluralism
Popular sovereignty
Human factors

End of Presentation

Thank you.