Arturo Tolentino v.

Secretary of Finance and Commissioner of

Internal Revenue
G.R. No. 115455; October 30, 1995
Mendoza, J.:
FACTS:
Petitioner Arturo Tolentino et. al seeks reconsideration of the
court’s previous ruling dismissing the petition filed for declaration
of unconstitutionality of RA 7716, the Expanded Value Added Tax.
Petitioner contends that the said law did not “originate exclusively”
in the House of Representatives as required by Article VI Section 24
of the Constitution. The Senate allegedly did not pass it on second
and third reading, instead passing its own version. Petitioner
contends that it should have amended the House bill by striking the
text of the bill and substituting it with the text of its own bill, so as
to conform to the Constitution.

ISSUE: Whether the Senate can pass its own version of a House Bill
originated from the House of Representative in the exercise of its
power to propose amendment to the said House bill.

HELD:
Yes. The enactment of the Senate Bill has not been the first
instance where the Senate, in its exercise of its power to propose
amendments to bill passed its own version. An amendment by
substitution (striking out the text and substituting it) as urged by
Petitioners concerns a matter of form, and considering the
Petitioner has not shown what substantial difference it would make
if Senate applied such substitution to the case at bar. While the
aforementioned Constitutional provision that the bill must
“originate exclusively” in the House of Representatives, it also adds
that “but the Senate may propose or concur with amendments.”
The Senate may then propose an entirely new bill as a substitute
measure. Petitioner erred in assuming the Senate version to be an
independent and distinct bill. Without the House bill, the Senate
could not have enacted the Senate bill, as the latter was a mere
amendment of the former. As such it did not pass the second and
third reading.
Because revenue bills are required to originate exclusively in the
House of Representatives, the Senate cannot enact revenue
measures of its own without such bills. After a revenue bill is
passed and sent over to it by the House, however, the Senate
certainly can pass its own version on the same subject matter. This
follows from the coequality of the two chambers of Congress.