Salvanera, Jerwin S.

Final Exam - Constitutional Law 1

20-00155

1. A. In the case of Defensor-Santiago v. Guingona, it was stated that the principle of

separation of powers ordains that each of the three great branches of Government has
exclusive cognizance of and is supreme in matters falling within its own constitutionally
allocated sphere. Constitutional respect and a becoming regard for the sovereign acts of a co-
equal branch prevents the Court from prying into the internal workings of the Senate. Where
no provision of the constitution or the laws or even the Rules of the Senate is clearly shown
to have been violated, disregarded or overlooked, grave abuse of discretion cannot be
imputed to Senate officials for acts done within their competence and authority.
The separation of powers allow one department to resist encroachments upon its
prerogatives or to rectify mistakes or excesses committed by the other departments. The
purpose of checks and balances is to secure coordination in the workings of the various
departments of the government.

B. The two tests for valid delegation of legislative authority are the following:
(a) Completeness Test - Under this test, the law must be complete in all its essential terms and
conditions when it leaves the legislature so that there where be nothing left for the delegate
to do when it reaches him except to enforce it.
(b) Sufficient Standard Test- Under this test, the statute must not only define a fundamental
legislative policy, boundaries, and specify the public agency to exercise the legislative power. It
must also indicate the circumstances under which the legislative command is to be effected. To
avoid the taint of unlawful delegation, there must be a standard, which implies at the very least
that the legislature itself determines matters of principle and lays down fundamental policy. A
standard must be fixed to which the delegate must conform in the performance of his functions.

2. The four steps in the budgetary process are:

(a) Budget Preparation - The first step is essentially tasked upon the Executive Branch and
covers the estimation of government revenues, the determination of budgetary priorities and
activities within the constraints imposed by available revenues and by borrowing limits, and
translation of desired priorities and activities into expenditure levels.
(b) Budget Legislation - Congress enters the picture and deliberates or acts on the budget
proposals of the President. Congress, in the exercise of its own judgment and wisdom,
formulates an appropriation act precisely following the process established by the
Constitution, which specifies that no money may be paid from the Treasury except in
accordance with an appropriation made by law.
(c) Budget Execution - It is tasked on the Executive. The third phase of the budget process
covers the various operational aspects of budgeting.
(d) Budget Accountability - It is the evaluation of actual performance and initially approved
work targets, obligations incurred, personnel hired and work accomplished are compared
with the targets set at the time the agency budgets were approved.

3. Gerrymandering is the formation of one legislative district out of separate territories for the
purpose of favoring a candidate or a party. In a decided case, the Supreme Court held that this is
not allowed as it mandates each legislative district to compromise, as far as practicable, a
contiguous, compact and adjacent territory.

 4.
A. Calling-out Power of the President - The calling out of the armed forces to prevent of
suppress lawless violence is a power that the Constitution directly vests in the President. As
held by the Supreme Court, the President does not need a congressional authority to exercise
the same.
B. The Constitution grants to the President the discretion to determine the territorial coverage of
martial law and the suspension of the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus. He may put the
entire Philippines or only a part thereof under martial law. The grounds for declaration of
martial law are:
(a) invasion or rebellion; and
(b) when public safety requires it.
However, the President may only exercise this power in case of actual invasion or
rebellion. Its duration shall not be more than 60 days, following which it shall be lifted, unless
extended by Congress. Also, it is the duty of the President to report to Congress within 48 hours
personally or in writing.

C. According to the Supreme Court, following are the distinctions or pardon and amnesty:
(a) pardon is a private act which must be pleaded and proved while amnesty is a public act which
courts may take judicial notice;
(b) pardon does not require concurrence of Congress while amnesty requires the concurrence of
Congress;
(c) pardon is granted to individuals while amnesty is granted to classes of persons;
(d) pardon looks forward and relieves the pardonee of the consequence of the offense while
amnesty looks backward and puts into oblivion the offense itself;
(e) pardon may be granted for any offense while amnesty is granted for political offense;
(f) in pardon, the acceptance of the grantee is necessary while in amnesty, there is no need for
distinct acceptance of the grantee;
(g) pardon can be granted only after conviction while amnesty may be granted even before trial.

5.
A. Power of Control - Under the Constitution, the President shall have control of all the
executive departments, bureaus, and offices. According to the Supreme Court, control means the
power of an officer to alter, modify, nullify, or set aside what a subordinate has done in the
performance of his duties and to substitute his judgment to that of the former.
Power of Supervision - Supervision involves oversight of a subordinate to ensure that the
rules are followed.
The power of supervision does not include the power of control; but the power of control
necessarily includes the power of supervision. The President only has general supervision over
the local government units and autonomous regional governments and not control.

B. Doctrine of Qualified Political Agency

It declares that, save in matters of which the Constitution or the circumstances require the
President to act personally, executive and administrative functions are exercised through
executive departments headed by cabinet secretaries, whose acts are presumptively the acts of
the President unless disapproved by the latter.
Since the President is a busy man, he is not expected to exercise the totality of his power
of control all the time. He is expected to delegate some of them to members of Cabinet. Applying
this doctrine, the power to reorganize the National Government may be validly delegated to his
Cabinet Members exercising control over a particular executive department.

 6. Amendment is an isolated or piecemeal change merely by adding, deleting, or reducing

without altering the basic principles involved. On the other hand, revision is a revamp or
rewriting of the whole instrument altering the substantial entirety of the Constitution.
Amendment may be proposed by:
(a) Congress acting as Constituent Assembly upon a vote of 3/4 of all its members
(b) Congress upon a vote of 2/3 of all its members to call for a Constitutional
Convention, or upon a majority vote of all members if the Congress to submit to the Electorate
the question of calling a Constitutional Convention
(c) people’s initiative, upon through a plebiscite, at least 12% of the total number of
registered voters, of which every legislative district must be represented by 3% of the registered
voters therein.
While revision may be proposed through (a) or (b) only.

7.
A. Under Article XI, Section 2 of the Constitution, the following are the grounds for
impeachment:
1. Culpable violation of the Constitution;
2. Treason;
3. Bribery;
4. Graft and Corruption;
5. Other high crimes; and
6. Betrayal of Public Trust.

B. Under Article XI, Section 2 of the Constitution, the following are the impeachable officers:
1. President;
2. Vice-President;
3. Members of the Supreme Court;
4. Members of the Constitutional Commissions; and
5. Ombudsman.

C. No, the impeachment complaint will not prosper. Section 3, Article XI states that “no
impeachment proceeding shall be initiated against the same official more than once within a
period of one year.” In the case given, an impeachment proceeding was already initiated on
March 2017 thus the complaint filed by Mr. B on May 2017 shall not be allowed.

8. Yes, Judge Red is correct. Under the Constitution, the Supreme Court en banc shall have the
the power to:
(a) discipline judges of lower courts, or
(b) order the dismissal of judges of lower courts by a vote of majority of the members
who actually took part on the issues in the case and voted thereon.
In the case given, Judge Red, being a judge of a lower court, falls under the exclusive
jurisdiction of the Supreme Court.

9.
A. Midnight appointment is the appointment made by the President 2 months immediately
before the next presidential elections up to the end of his term. Under Section 15 of Article VII of
the Constitution, this is prohibited except:
(a) when only temporary appointments can be extended;
(b) appointments only in the executive department; and
(c) when it is necessary to make such appointment because continuous vacancy will
prejudice public service or endanger public safety.

 B. Under the Constitution, the spouse and relatives by consanguinity or affinity within the
4th civil degree of the President shall not, during his tenure, be appointed as:
(a) Members of the Constitutional Commission;
(b) Members of the Office of the Ombudsman;
(c) Secretaries;
(d) Undersecretaries; and
(e) Chairman or heads of bureaus or offices, including GOCC and their subsidiaries.
Margie, even if a relative of the President within 4th civil degree of consanguinity, is still
allowed to be appointed by the President because members of the Supreme Court and lower
courts are not included in the above list that are not allowed to be appointed by the President.

10. Patricio is correct. The law is unconstitutional for being contrary to the rule-making
authority of the Supreme Court under the Constitution. The power to promulgate rules of
pleading, practice and procedure is in exclusive domain of the Judicial Department. Plea
bargaining is essentially a rule of procedure, thus falls under the exclusive powers of the
Judiciary.

11. The enrolled bill shall prevail. In a decided case, the Supreme Court held that in case of
discrepancy between journal and the enrolled bill, the latter shall prevail, except to matters,
which under the Constitution, must be entered into the Journal. In this case, even if Mr. A claims
mistakes in the law signed and cites the journal of deliberation, the enrolled bill will still prevail
over the journals.

12.
A. No, he is not correct. In a decided case, the Supreme Court held that the suspension
contemplated in the Constitution is a punishment that is imposed by the Senate of House of
Representatives upon an erring member, it is distinct from the suspension under the Anti-Graft
and Corrupt Practice Act, which is not a penalty but a preventive measure.

B. In a decided case, the Supreme Court held that a preventive suspension is not a penalty
by itself. It is merely a measure of precaution so that the employee who is charged may be
separated from the scene of his alleged misfeasance while the same is being investigated, to
prevent him from using his position or office to influence prospective witnesses or tamper with
the records, which may be vital in the prosecution of the case against him.

13. No. Under the Constitution, no law shall be passed exempting any entity of the
Government or its subsidiaries in any guise whatever, or any investment of public fund, from
jurisdiction of the Commission on Audit. In this case, since the foreign grants will form part of a
fund in a private corporation established by the Congress, these donation shall not be exempted
from the jurisdiction of the Commission on Audit and the law exempting the same from COA’s
jurisdiction is unconstitutional.