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Article VII The Executive Department

Section 1. The executive power shall be vested in the president of the Philippines.

1. Executive power.- Marcos v. Manglapus, et al. (1989)

o Coup d’etat during Aquino presidency (Marcos loyalists, attempt of

Marcoses to return from Hawaii, Honasan). Communist insurgency.

Secessionist movement in Mindanao. Foreign debt. Marcos, in his

deathbed has signified his wish to return to the Philippines to die.Aquino, considering the dire consequences to the nation of his return

at a time when stability of government is threatened from various

directions and the economy is just beginning to rise and move

forward, has stood firmly on the decision to bar the return of Marcos

and his familyo This case is unique and should not create a precedent for the case of a

dictator forced out of office is in a class in itself. This petition for

mandamus and prohibition asks the Court to order the respondents to

issue travel documents to Marcos and immediate members of his

family and to enjoin the implementation of the President’s decision to

bar their return to the Philippineso ISSUE: one of power – W/N in the exercise of the powers granted by

the Constitution, the President may prohibit the Marcoses from

returning to the Philippines

o Justice Laurel (in Angara v. Electoral Commission): the Constitution

has blocked but with deft strokes and in bold lines, allotment of power

to the executive, the legislative and the judicial departments of

government

o These provisions not only establish a separation of powers by actual

division but also confer plenary legislative, executive and judicial

powers subject only to limitations provided in the Constitution.

o Ocampo v. Cabangis: a grant of the legislative power means a grant of

all legislative power, a grant of the judicial power means a grant of all

the judicial power which may be exercised under the government

o It can equally be said of the executive power which is vested in one

official – the President.

o Art VII, Sec1 : says that it vests in the President but does not say whatit meant by “executive power”, although in the same article it touches

on the exercise of certain powers by the President. Hence, by touching

on the certain powers of the President, did the framers of the

Constitution intend that the President shall exercise those specific

powers and no other? Are these enumerated powers the breadth and

scope of the “executive power”?

o Petitioners assert that the only powers of the president are thosethat were enumerated and “what is not enumerated is implie dlydenied to her”

o Corwin: (re: President of the US) Article II is most loosely drawn

chapter. To those who think that a constitution ought to settle

everything beforehand it should be a nightmare; by the same token, to

those who think that a constitution makers ought to leaveconsiderable leeway for the future play of political forces, it should be

a vision realized.; What the presidency is at any particular moment

depends in important measure on who is President.o Schlesinger, The Imperial Presidency: The American presidency a

personal institution, More than most agencies in the government, it

changed shape, intensity and ethos according to the man in charge.

Above all, the way each President understood it as his personal

obligation to inform and involve the Congress, to earn and hold the

confidence of the electorate and to render an accounting to the nation

and posterity determined whether he strengthened or weakened the

constitutional order.o Essential to have a complete understanding of the extent of and

limitations to the President’s powers under the 1987 Constitution

1935 Constitution created a strong president with explicitly

broader powers than the US President

The 1973 Constitution attempted to modify the system of

government into parliamentary type with President as mere

figurehead but through numerous amendments, President

became more powerful and de facto Legislature

1987 Constitution brought back the presidential system and

separation of powers which provides checks and balanceso Executive power = enforce laws, head of state, head of government

and whatever powers inhere in such positions pertain to the office

unless Consti withholds ito Although the 1987 Constitution imposes limitations on the exercise of

specific powers of the President, it maintains intact what istraditionally considered as within the scope of “executive power”.

Hence, executive power is more than the sum of specific powers so

enumerated

o It has been advanced that whatever power inherent in the

government that is neither legislative nor judicial has to be executive

(Springer v. Government of the Philippine Islands)

o As president, must consider principles and adhere to them: service

and protection of the people, maintenance of peace and order,

protection of life, liberty, property…o President is constrained by these principles in addressing w/n to

allow Marcoses to return

o To the president, the problem is one of balancing the general welfare

and the common good against the exercise of rights of certain

individuals. The power involved is the President’s residual power to

protect the general welfare of the people. Power of the president to

keep the peace.

o That the President has the power under the Consti to bar the

Marcoses from returning has been recognized by members of the

Legislature, and is manifested by Resolution proposed in the HOR

signed by 103 members urging President to allow Marcoses to return

as a gesture of true national reconciliation

o HELD: Request of Marcoses cannot be considered in the light solely of

constitutional provisions guaranteeing liberty of abode and right to

travel, subject to certain exceptions or of case law which clearly never

contemplated such situations. Must be treated as residual unstatedpowers of the President which are implicit in and correlative to



paramount duty residing in the office. Such request or demand should

submit to the exercise of a broader discretion on the part of

thePresident to determine wheter it must be denied or granted.

2. Executive immunity

- Estrada v. Desierto

o Estratada says that cases filed before him before the Ombudsman

should be prohibited because he has not been convicted in the

impeachment proceedings against him and that he enjoys immunity

from all kinds of suit

o W/N Estrada enjoys immunity from suit. Assuming he enjoysimmunity, extent of the immunity

o Forbes, etc V. Chuoco Tiaco and Crossfield: Governor-General like

judges and the members of the Legislature may not be personally

mulcted in civil damages for the consequences of an act executed in

the performance of his official duties. President is entitled to

protection in determining the question of his authority. If president is

not protected from suit, action upon matters of state delayed, time

and substance of chief spent in wrangling litigation, disrespect

engendered for the person of one of the highest officials of the state,

and for office he occupies, tendency to unrest and disordero 1973 Constitution: extended by far the immunity, hence AIDS

(Absolute Immunity Defense Syndrome)

o 1987 Constitution: immune during his tenure

o HELD: He can be prosecuted. Impeachment trial was aborted by the

walkout of the prosecutors and by events that led to his loss of the

presidency. The Impeachment Court is now functus officio, it is

untenable for petitioner to demand that he be impeached first and

then convicted before he can be prosecuted. Constitutional

Commission makes it clear that when impeachment proceedings have

been moot due to resignation, proper criminal and civil cases may be

filed against him. On the second issue, petitioner cannot cite any SC

decision licensing the President to commit criminal acts and wrapping

him with post-tenure immunity from liability. The rule is that

unlawful acts of public officials are not acts of the State and the officer

who acts illegally is not acting as such but stands in the same footingas any other trespasser

- Soliven v. Makasiaro President Aquino sued Beltran for libel for having written that the

President hid under the bed during an attempted coup

o ISSUES: W/N President, under the Consti, may initiate criminal

proceedings against petitioner through the filing of a complaint-

affidavit

o Beltran claims that presidential immunity imposes president’s

disability to file suit since she might have to be a witness in trial (and

thus defeats immunity)o HELD: Privilege of immunity from suit pertains to the president by

virtue of the office and may not be invoked only by the holder of the

office; not by any other person in the President’s behalf

o A criminal case where the President is complainant, the accused

cannot raise the privilege as a defense to prevent the case fromproceeding against the accused

o Nothing in the law that would prevent the president waives the

privilege

3. Head of State

- Clinton Rossiter: ceremonial head of the government and he must take part

with real or apparent enthusiasm in a range of activities

4. Chief Executive

- He is the Chief Executive, the head of government, he is the executive and no

one else is

- Villena v. Secretary of Interior: President is the executive and no one else is,

heads of exec departments hold office in advisory capacity and subject todirection of president (atty general Cushing) and Presdient’s bosom of

confidence (Thomas Jefferson)

5. The Cabinet

- An institution that is extra-constitutionally created

- Consists of heads of depts. Who have formed a body of presidential advisers

who meet regularly with the president

- President is still chief of administration

6. Executive privilege

- by-product of separation of powers and of the co-equality of the three

departments which require of them respect for each other

- Invoked when president wants to hide things in a shroud of secrecy- 3 kinds of executive privilege:

o Keep state secrets (that could subvert military or diplomaticobjectives)

o Privilege to withhold from disclosure the identity of persons who

furnish information of violations of law to officers charged with

enforcement of that law (law of evidence)

o Attaches to opinions, recommendations, and deliberations which

comprise the process of arriving at presidential decisions

- WHY? Encourages candid policy discussions and honors the expectation of

privacy on the part of those who participate in executive discussions

- Final arbiter as to whether the privilege should be honored is not the president

but the supreme court (court will still have to decide whether in the particular

instance privilege should be honored. Even if recognized, president may still

voluntarily make requested disclosure)

Section 2. No person may be elected president unless he is a natural-born citizen of

the Philippines, a registered voter, able to read and write, at least forty years of

age on the day of the election, and a resident of the Philippines for at least ten

years immediately preceding such election.

1. Citizenship qualification

- Tecson v. Comelec

o Victorino X. Fornier filed, saying that Poe made a material

misrepresentation in his COC by claiming to be a natural-born Filipino

since his mother Bessie Kelley Poe was an American and his fatherAllan Poe was a Spanish national, being the son of a Lorenzo Pou, a

Spanish subject. Fornier asserted that granting, Allan Poe was a

Filipino citizen, he could not have transmitted to FPJ his citizenship

because FPJ was an illegitimate child of an alien mother. Allan F. Poewas married to Paulita Gomez before his marriage to Bessie Kelley



Poe, and even if there was no first marriage, Allan only married Bessie

a year after FPJ was borno Petitioner presented: birth certificate, certified photocopy of an

affidavit executed in Spanish by Paulita Poe y Gomez attesting to her

having filed a case for bigamy and concubinage against Allan upon

discovering bigamous relationship with Bessie, English translation of

such, certified photocopy of certificate of birth of Allan Poe,

certification issued by Director of Records Management and Archives

office, attesting to the fact that there was no record in the National

Archives that a Lorenzo Poe or Lorenzo Pou resided or entered thePhilippines before 1907, certification from Archives Division of the

National Archives to the effect that no available info could be found in

the files of the National Archives regarding the birth of Allan F. Poe

o FPJ presented 22 documentary pieces of evidence: some ofwhich are

certification that there was no registry of birth of Allan Poe in San

Carlos Pangasinan, birth certificate of FPJ, marriage contract of Allan

and Bessie, documents in Lorenzo Pou’s name, certification issued by

City Civil Regsitrar of San Carlos that records were destroyed during

WWII

o COMELEC dismissed complaint on lack of merit and Fornier motion

for reconsideration which was denied by the Comelec. Then filed withthe SC

o ISSUE: W/N SC has jurisdiction. Decision of COMELEC on disqualification cases may be

reviewed by the SC in an action for certiorari. YES. (In GR

161824, Fornier). Fornier uses Ominbus Election Code as

basis and Revised Rules of Civil Procedure;

In GR 161434 and 161634, Tecson et al invokes Article VII,

Section 4, Paragraph 7 (SC shall be the sole judge of all

contests relating to the election, returns, and qualifications

of the President, VP and may promulgate rules for the

purpose) NO. Electoral contests consist of either an election

protest or a quo warranto to dislodge the winning candidate

from office. Hence, jurisdiction refers to contests relating to

elections, returns, and qualifications of the president or vpand not of candidates. Quo warranto someone who

usurps an office. Hence Tecson and Velez are dismissed for

want of jurisdictiono ISSUE: W/N FPJ is a natural-born Filipino

Civil Code of Spain made effective in Philippine jurisdiction

on December 18, 1889, who were Spanish citizens. That

time, 1898, Americans came. An accepted principle of

international law dictated that a change in sovereignty, while

resulting in an abrogation of all political laws then in force,

would have no effect on civil laws, which would remain

virtually intact. Americans made Filipinos citizens of the

Philippines and issued passports, entitled to the protection

of the US (Philippine Bill of 1902 aka Organic Act of 1902)

1935 Constitution applied jus sanguinis

FPJ’s birthday falls on August 20, 1939 or under the 1935Constitution

Documentary evidence showed that earliest direct ascendant

was grandfather Lorenzo Pou, married to Marta Reyes,

father of Allan Poe. While there was no record of birth, his

death certificate said he was a Filipino from San Carlos,

Pangasinan. Allan Poe’s birth certificate showed that he was

born on May 17, 1915 to Espanol father and Espanol mestiza

mother. Evidence that sister of Bessie, Ruby KelleyMangahas, duly notarized claiming that FPJ’s parents met,

married, lived together and had children, recognized FPJ as

legitimate. Court claimed that documentary evidence of Paulita Gomez

and Allan Poe is doubtful at best. The thesis of petitioner re:

illegitimate child will have the citizenship of the mother fails

because it is based only on an obiter dictum which does not

create precedent.

While totality of the evidence may not establish

conclusively that respondent is a natural-born citizen,

the evidence on hand still would preponderate in his

favor enough to hold that he cannot be held guilty of

having made a material misrepresentation in his COC.

Lorenzo Pou evidence only in death certificate, in absence ofsuch, it is presumed that he was born in San Carlos,

Pangasinan and lived there ever since. He became a Filipinodue to the “en masse Filipinization” under the Philippine Bill

of 1902. He would have passed on his citizenship to his son

Allan Poe and Allan would have passed it on to FPJ. This was

at the time of the 1935 Constitution which states that

citizenship of father is conferred to the children whether

il/legitimate.

Section 3. There shall be a vice-president who shall have the same qualifications

and term of office and be elected with and in the same manner as the president. He

may be removed from office in the same manner as the president.

The vice-president may be appointed as a member of the cabinet. Such

appointment requires no confirmation.

Section 4. The president and the vice-president shall be elected by direct vote ofthe people for a term of six years which shall begin at noon on the thirtieth day of

June next following the day of the election and shall end at noon of the same date

six years thereafter. The president shall not be eligible for any reelection. No

person who has succeeded as president and has served as such for more than four

years shall be qualified for election to the same office at any time.

No vice president shall serve for more than two successive terms. Voluntary

renunciation of the office for any length of time shall not be considered as an

interruption in the continuity of the service for the full term for which he was

elected.

The returns of every election for president and vice-president duly certified by theBoard of Canvassers of each province or city, shall be transmitted to the Congress,



directed to the President of the Senate. Upon receipt of the certificates of canvass,

the President of the Senate shall not later than thirty days after the day of the

election, open all the certificates in the presence of the Senate and the House of

Representatives in joint public session, and the Congress, upon determination of

the authenticity and due execution thereof in the manner provided by law, canvass

the votes.

The person having the highest number of votes shall be proclaimed elected, but

incase two or more shall have an equal and highest number of votes, on of them

shall forthwith be chosen by the vote of a majority of all the members of bothhouses of the Congress, voting separately.

The Congress shall promulgate its rules for the canvassing of the certificates.

The Supreme Court, sitting en banc, shall be the sole judge of all contests relating

to the election, returns, and qualifications of the president or vice president, and

may promulgate its rules for the purpose.

1. Election and canvass.

- Macalintal v. Comeleco ISSUE: Does Section 18.5 of the Overseas Absentee Voting Act of 2003

empowering the COMELEC to proclaim the winning candidates for

national offices and party list representatives including the president

and the VP violate the constitutional mandate under Section 4, Art VII

of the Consti that winning candidates for President and VP shall be

proclaimed as winners by Congress?

o SolGen asserts that it should betaken as COMELEC can proclaim the

winning Senators and party-list representatives but not the President

and VP

o HELD: YES. It appears to be repugnant to Section 4, Article VII insofaras it totally disregarded the authority given to Congress by the

Constitution to proclaim the winning candidates for president and VP.

Congress could not have allowed COMELEC to usurp a power that

constitutionally belongs to it.

- Congressman Lopez v. Senate and House

o Petition seeking to nullify Section 13, Rule VIII of the Rules of the joint

Public Session of Congress which shall preliminary canvass the votesof the candidates for President and VP

o Court has jurisdiction since it is a matter over allegations claiming

violations of the Constitution.o HELD: SC resolves to dismiss on the ground that petition failed to

show that Congress gravely abused its discretion in creating such Joint

Committee.o Also, Congress has power “to promulgate its rules for the canvassing

of the certificates”, Court has no authority to restrict or limit the

exercise of congressional prerogative granted by the Constitution

- Pimentel v. Joint Canvassing Committee

o Pimentel seeking to declare null and void the continued existence of

the Joint Committee of Congress to determine the authenticity and

due execution of certificates of canvass and preliminary canvas for Pand VP following the adjournment of Congress sine die on June 11,

2004 because with the adjournment “of regular session, the term is

terminated and expired on the said day and the 12th Congress passedout of legal existence”

o HELD: Dismissed and no basis under the Constitution. What was

meant that regular session had passed but the 12 th Congress had not

passed out of legal existence, considering the term ends on June 30.

Congress’ legislative functions had ended. But this does not affect its

non-legislative functions. For only when a board of canvassers has

completed its functions is it rendered functus officio

- Fernando Poe Jr. v. GMAo Before the election protest of FPJ could be decided, he died, Susan

Roces is now asking if she can continue and substitute for her

husband due to the paramount interest of the people

o ISSUE: May the widow substitute/intervene for the protestant who

died during the pendency of the latter’s protest case?

o Rule 14 of the PET: Only president or VP candidate who received the

second and third highest votes may contest the election.

o The PET has no rule on substitution nor intervention but it does allow

for the analogous and suppletory application of the Rules of Court

o Court has ruled a lot of times that public office is personal to the

public officer and not a property transmissible to the heirs upondeath. In cases where the widow is not a real party in interest, we

denied substitution by the wife or heirs. While the right to a publicoffice is personal and exclusive to the public officer, an election

protest is not purely personal and exclusive to the protestant or to the

protestee such that the death of either would oust the court of all

authority to continue the protest proceedings. Hence, we have

allowed substitution and intervention but only by a real party in

interest. A real party of interest is the party who would be benefited

or injured by the judgment, and the party who is entitled to the avails

of the suit.

o Mrs. FPJ denies any claim to the office of the president, hence, the

widow is not a real party of interest to this election protest

Section 5. Before they enter on the execution of their office, the president, the vice-

president, or the acting president shall take the following oath or affirmation:

“I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully and conscientiously fulfill my

duties as president (or vp or acting president) of the Philippines, preserve and

defend its Constitution, execute its laws, do justice to every man, and consecrate

myself to the service of the nation. So help me god.” (IN case of affirmation, last

sentence will be omitted.)

Section 6. The president shall have an official residence. The salaries of the

president and vice-president shall be determined by law and shall not be

decreased during their tenure. No increase in said compensation shall take effect

until after the expiration of the term of the incumbent during which such increase

was approved. They shall not receive during their tenure any other emolument

from the government or any other source.

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