I n n o vation

Policy Analysis
Anne Grace M. Labatete, DGM
Subject Professor

STRUCTURE OF THE
PHILIPPINE
GOVERNMENT SYSTEM:
A REVIEW – Part 2
 THE THREE (3) BRANCHES OF
THE GOVERNMENT
Specific mandate according to the 1987 Constitution of the Philippines:

1. Art. VI, Sec. 1: The legislative power shall be vested in the

Congress of the Philippines which shall consist of a Senate, and
a House of Representatives, except to the extent reserved to
the people by the provision on initiative and referendum.
2. Art. VII, Sec. 1: The executive power shall be vested in the
President of the Philippines.
3. Art. VIII, Sec. 1: The judicial power shall be vested in one
Supreme Court and in such lower court as may be established
by law.
 A. LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT
✓ Possess the rule making function.

Legislative Power:
• The power to make, amend or even repeal
laws.
• Vested in the Congress of the Philippines per
Article VI, Section 1, 1987 Constitution, except
to the extent reserved to the people by the
provisions on initiative and referendum.
A. LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT
Powers of the Congress:
1. General Legislative Power
2. Implied Powers
3. Inherent Powers
4. Specific Legislative Powers
5. Executive Power
6. Supervisory Power
7. Electoral Power
8. Judicial Power
9. Miscellaneous Power
A. LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT
Powers of the Congress:
1. General Legislative Power
2. Implied Powers
3. Inherent Powers
4. Specific Legislative Powers
5. Executive Power
6. Supervisory Power
7. Electoral Power
8. Judicial Power
9. Miscellaneous Power
 B. EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT
✓ Possess the rule implementation function.
Nature of Executive Power :
• Executive power is the power to
enforce and administer the laws.
• Power vested to the President of the
Philippines, as both the head of the
State and the Government
 B. EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT
Powers of the President:

1. Power of Appointment
2. Power of Removal
3. Power of Control
4. Power of Supervision
5. Military Power
6. Power of Executive Clemency
7. Diplomatic or Foreign Relations Power
8. Budgetary Power
 C. JUDICIAL DEPARTMENT
✓ The rule-adjudication agency of the government.

Judicial Power:
• Includes the duty of courts of justice to settle actual
controversies involving rights which are legally demandable
and enforceable, and to determine whether or not there
has been a grave abuse of discretion amounting to lack or
excess of jurisdiction on the part of any branch or
instrumentality of the government.
• Vested in the Supreme Court and other lower courts as
may be established by law.
 C. JUDICIAL DEPARTMENT
Functions, divided into two categories:
a. Administrative Function
➢ Supervision and control over the judicial branch of the
government and its employees, as well as the members of the
Philippine bar;
➢ Empowered to order change the venue of trial to avoid
miscarriage of justice and appoint all members of the
Judiciary;
➢ To promulgate rules for the admission into the practice of law,
for legal assistance to the underprivileged, and the procedural
rules to be observed in all courts throughout the country.
 C. JUDICIAL DEPARTMENT
Functions, divided into two categories:

b. Judicial Function
➢ Settlement of actual controversies involving
rights which are legally demandable and
enforceable, and;
➢ Judicial Review or the power of the Supreme
Court to inquire into the constitutionality of
the acts of both the executive and legislative
branches of the government.
✓ Basic principle of the government embraced
the rule of separation of powers among the
three branches of government.

✓ The Constitution provides a mechanism of

check and balance to prevent abuses and
unbridled discretion of a branch of
government.
 TWO PRINCIPLES INHERENT IN
PRESIDENTIAL SYSTEM
1. Separation of Power

➢ Government is divided into 3 independent

departments, each supreme in its own sphere
but co-equal with one-another.
➢ Have independent powers from one another,
that should not encroach upon the function of
the other
 TWO PRINCIPLES INHERENT IN
PRESIDENTIAL SYSTEM
2. Check and Balances
➢ The constitution allows limited powers on each
department to encroach or check each other’s
domain so that there would be balance among
the three.
➢ Tools to see to it that no department dominates
another
 TWO PRINCIPLES INHERENT IN
PRESIDENTIAL SYSTEM

Separation of powers and its corollary

system of check and balance must be
understood from a perspective of
coordination and interdependence and
not hostility towards the powers of
another.