ARTICLE VI, SEC.

1 The Legislative Department

Legislative Power; Non-Delegation
Filling in the Details

PICHAY v OFFICE OF THE DEPUTY EXECUTIVE SECRETARY

677 SCRA 408, 2012

POINT OF THE CASE: The President has Continuing Legislative Authority to Reorganize the
Executive Department.

FACTS OF THE CASE: President Benigno Aquino III abolished the Presidential Anti-Graft
Commission (PAGC) through the issuance of Executive Order No. 13 and transfer its functions to the Office
of the Deputy Executive Secretary for Legal Affairs (ODESLA), particularly to the newly-established
Investigative and Adjudicatory Division (IAD).
The petitioner assails the constitutionality of the said executive order and they contest that the
President is not authorized under any legal existing law to create a new office with quasi- judicial functions
and that the President not only usurped the power of the Congress but also the Ombudsman.

ISSUE: Whether or not the issuance of Executive Order No. 13 is constitutional

RULING: Yes. The abolition of the PAGC and the transfer of its functions to a division specifically
created within the ODESLA is properly within the prerogative of the President under his continuing
delegated legislative authority to reorganize his own office pursuant to E.O. 992. The reorganization did
not necessitate the creation of a new office, PAGC’s functions were just simply transferred to the ODESLA,
which is an existing office within the Office of the President Proper, it is more of alteration on the structure
through the creation of a new division within an existing office.