Amendments and Revisions

- Art. XVII of the Constitution pertains to the Constitution of Sovereignty.

- Cases:
o Santiago vs. COMELEC
o Lambino vs. COMELEC

Q: What is the difference between an amendment and a revision?

A: Amendment contemplates piecemeal or isolated change in the constitution.
Only a part of Constitution is amended and renders no substantial effect of the
basic principles of the constitution. Revision overhauling or rewriting of the
whole constitution. Major parts of constitution will be changed and thus alters
the basic principles of the constitution.
Ex: If Art. 6, 7, and 8 of the Philippine Constitution, such cannot be considered
as mere amendment because if you change these articles, it will result to total
change of governmental structure, thus considered revision.

Lambino vs. COMOLEC

- Two test to determine whether the change is amendment or revision:

- Quantitative Test – sees how many provisions, articles, or sections of

constitution will be change. If it is piecemeal or isolated, it will not
drastically affect the constitution.

- Qualitative Test – ask what is the nature of the proposed change?

Will it be substantial?

- Facts: There was a proposal to change the system of government from

presidential to a parliamentary form of government. In presidential form,
there is a clear distinction between the executive and legislative branch,
they are two separated entities. That is why in the concept of Separation of
Powers, governmental powers are allocated to different branches of
government. On the other hand, in Parliamentary form of government, there
is unity between executive and legislative branch of the government, hence
they are treated the same. In this type of government, it will not be the
people who will directly voting their head-of-state and other leaders of
government but the members of legislature who will elect the heads. The
petitioners argue that using the quantitative test, the change of
governmental structure from presidential to parliamentary is mere
amendment because it is only a piecemeal or isolated change.

- SC: The proposed change is a revision. Since the proposal includes the
change in Articles 6, 7, and 8, applying the Qualitative Test, such change
will introduce substantial effect to the Constitution, thus will result to total
rewriting of the Constitution.