Article VII The Executive Department Section 1. The executive power shall be vested in the president of the Philippines.

1. Executive power. Marcos v. Manglapus, et al. (1989) o Coup detat during Aquino presidency (Marcos loyalists, attempt of Marcoses to return from Hawaii, Honasan). Communist insurgency. Secessionist movement in Mindanao. Foreign debt. Marcos, in his deathbed has signified his wish to return to the Philippines to die. Aquino, considering the dire consequences to the nation of his return at a time when stability of government is threatened from various directions and the economy is just beginning to rise and move forward, has stood firmly on the decision to bar the return of Marcos and his family o This case is unique and should not create a precedent for the case of a dictator forced out of office is in a class in itself. This petition for mandamus and prohibition asks the Court to order the respondents to issue travel documents to Marcos and immediate members of his family and to enjoin the implementation of the Presidents decision to bar their return to the Philippines o ISSUE: one of power W/N in the exercise of the powers granted by the Constitution, the President may prohibit the Marcoses from returning to the Philippines o Justice Laurel (in Angara v. Electoral Commission): the Constitution has blocked but with deft strokes and in bold lines, allotment of power to the executive, the legislative and the judicial departments of government o These provisions not only establish a separation of powers by actual division but also confer plenary legislative, executive and judicial powers subject only to limitations provided in the Constitution. o Ocampo v. Cabangis: a grant of the legislative power means a grant of all legislative power, a grant of the judicial power means a grant of all the judicial power which may be exercised under the government o It can equally be said of the executive power which is vested in one official the President. o Art VII, Sec1 : says that it vests in the President but does not say what it meant by executive power, although in the same article it touches on the exercise of certain powers by the President. Hence, by touching on the certain powers of the President, did the framers of the Constitution intend that the President shall exercise those specific powers and no other? Are these enumerated powers the breadth and scope of the executive power? o Petitioners assert that the only powers of the president are those that were enumerated and what is not enumerated is implie dly denied to her o Corwin: (re: President of the US) Article II is most loosely drawn chapter. To those who think that a constitution ought to settle everything beforehand it should be a nightmare; by the same token, to those who think that a constitution makers ought to leave considerable leeway for the future play of political forces, it should be o

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a vision realized.; What the presidency is at any particular moment depends in important measure on who is President. Schlesinger, The Imperial Presidency: The American presidency a personal institution, More than most agencies in the government, it changed shape, intensity and ethos according to the man in charge. Above all, the way each President understood it as his personal obligation to inform and involve the Congress, to earn and hold the confidence of the electorate and to render an accounting to the nation and posterity determined whether he strengthened or weakened the constitutional order. Essential to have a complete understanding of the extent of and limitations to the Presidents powers under the 1987 Constitution 1935 Constitution created a strong president with explicitly broader powers than the US President The 1973 Constitution attempted to modify the system of government into parliamentary type with President as mere figurehead but through numerous amendments, President became more powerful and de facto Legislature 1987 Constitution brought back the presidential system and separation of powers which provides checks and balances Executive power = enforce laws, head of state, head of government and whatever powers inhere in such positions pertain to the office unless Consti withholds it Although the 1987 Constitution imposes limitations on the exercise of specific powers of the President, it maintains intact what is traditionally considered as within the scope of executive power. Hence, executive power is more than the sum of specific powers so enumerated It has been advanced that whatever power inherent in the government that is neither legislative nor judicial has to be executive (Springer v. Government of the Philippine Islands) As president, must consider principles and adhere to them: service and protection of the people, maintenance of peace and order, protection of life, liberty, property President is constrained by these principles in addressing w/n to allow Marcoses to return To the president, the problem is one of balancing the general welfare and the common good against the exercise of rights of certain individuals. The power involved is the Presidents residual power to protect the general welfare of the people. Power of the president to keep the peace. That the President has the power under the Consti to bar the Marcoses from returning has been recognized by members of the Legislature, and is manifested by Resolution proposed in the HOR signed by 103 members urging President to allow Marcoses to return as a gesture of true national reconciliation HELD: Request of Marcoses cannot be considered in the light solely of constitutional provisions guaranteeing liberty of abode and right to travel, subject to certain exceptions or of case law which clearly never contemplated such situations. Must be treated as residual unstated powers of the President which are implicit in and correlative to

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paramount duty residing in the office. Such request or demand should submit to the exercise of a broader discretion on the part of thePresident to determine wheter it must be denied or granted. Executive immunity Estrada v. Desierto o Estratada says that cases filed before him before the Ombudsman should be prohibited because he has not been convicted in the impeachment proceedings against him and that he enjoys immunity from all kinds of suit o W/N Estrada enjoys immunity from suit. Assuming he enjoys immunity, extent of the immunity o Forbes, etc V. Chuoco Tiaco and Crossfield: Governor-General like judges and the members of the Legislature may not be personally mulcted in civil damages for the consequences of an act executed in the performance of his official duties. President is entitled to protection in determining the question of his authority. If president is not protected from suit, action upon matters of state delayed, time and substance of chief spent in wrangling litigation, disrespect engendered for the person of one of the highest officials of the state, and for office he occupies, tendency to unrest and disorder o 1973 Constitution: extended by far the immunity, hence AIDS (Absolute Immunity Defense Syndrome) o 1987 Constitution: immune during his tenure o HELD: He can be prosecuted. Impeachment trial was aborted by the walkout of the prosecutors and by events that led to his loss of the presidency. The Impeachment Court is now functus officio, it is untenable for petitioner to demand that he be impeached first and then convicted before he can be prosecuted. Constitutional Commission makes it clear that when impeachment proceedings have been moot due to resignation, proper criminal and civil cases may be filed against him. On the second issue, petitioner cannot cite any SC decision licensing the President to commit criminal acts and wrapping him with post-tenure immunity from liability. The rule is that unlawful acts of public officials are not acts of the State and the officer who acts illegally is not acting as such but stands in the same footing as any other trespasser Soliven v. Makasiar o President Aquino sued Beltran for libel for having written that the President hid under the bed during an attempted coup o ISSUES: W/N President, under the Consti, may initiate criminal proceedings against petitioner through the filing of a complaintaffidavit o Beltran claims that presidential immunity imposes presidents disability to file suit since she might have to be a witness in trial (and thus defeats immunity) o HELD: Privilege of immunity from suit pertains to the president by virtue of the office and may not be invoked only by the holder of the office; not by any other person in the Presidents behalf o A criminal case where the President is complainant, the accused cannot raise the privilege as a defense to prevent the case from proceeding against the accused

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Nothing in the law that would prevent the president waives the privilege Head of State Clinton Rossiter: ceremonial head of the government and he must take part with real or apparent enthusiasm in a range of activities Chief Executive He is the Chief Executive, the head of government, he is the executive and no one else is Villena v. Secretary of Interior: President is the executive and no one else is, heads of exec departments hold office in advisory capacity and subject to direction of president (atty general Cushing) and Presdients bosom of confidence (Thomas Jefferson) The Cabinet An institution that is extra-constitutionally created Consists of heads of depts. Who have formed a body of presidential advisers who meet regularly with the president President is still chief of administration Executive privilege by-product of separation of powers and of the co-equality of the three departments which require of them respect for each other Invoked when president wants to hide things in a shroud of secrecy 3 kinds of executive privilege: o Keep state secrets (that could subvert military or diplomatic objectives) o Privilege to withhold from disclosure the identity of persons who furnish information of violations of law to officers charged with enforcement of that law (law of evidence) o Attaches to opinions, recommendations, and deliberations which comprise the process of arriving at presidential decisions WHY? Encourages candid policy discussions and honors the expectation of privacy on the part of those who participate in executive discussions Final arbiter as to whether the privilege should be honored is not the president but the supreme court (court will still have to decide whether in the particular instance privilege should be honored. Even if recognized, president may still voluntarily make requested disclosure) o

Section 2. No person may be elected president unless he is a natural-born citizen of the Philippines, a registered voter, able to read and write, at least forty years of age on the day of the election, and a resident of the Philippines for at least ten years immediately preceding such election. 1. Citizenship qualification Tecson v. Comelec o Victorino X. Fornier filed, saying that Poe made a material misrepresentation in his COC by claiming to be a natural-born Filipino since his mother Bessie Kelley Poe was an American and his father Allan Poe was a Spanish national, being the son of a Lorenzo Pou, a Spanish subject. Fornier asserted that granting, Allan Poe was a Filipino citizen, he could not have transmitted to FPJ his citizenship because FPJ was an illegitimate child of an alien mother. Allan F. Poe was married to Paulita Gomez before his marriage to Bessie Kelley

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Poe, and even if there was no first marriage, Allan only married Bessie a year after FPJ was born Petitioner presented: birth certificate, certified photocopy of an affidavit executed in Spanish by Paulita Poe y Gomez attesting to her having filed a case for bigamy and concubinage against Allan upon discovering bigamous relationship with Bessie, English translation of such, certified photocopy of certificate of birth of Allan Poe, certification issued by Director of Records Management and Archives office, attesting to the fact that there was no record in the National Archives that a Lorenzo Poe or Lorenzo Pou resided or entered the Philippines before 1907, certification from Archives Division of the National Archives to the effect that no available info could be found in the files of the National Archives regarding the birth of Allan F. Poe FPJ presented 22 documentary pieces of evidence: some ofwhich are certification that there was no registry of birth of Allan Poe in San Carlos Pangasinan, birth certificate of FPJ, marriage contract of Allan and Bessie, documents in Lorenzo Pous name, certification issued by City Civil Regsitrar of San Carlos that records were destroyed during WWII COMELEC dismissed complaint on lack of merit and Fornier motion for reconsideration which was denied by the Comelec. Then filed with the SC ISSUE: W/N SC has jurisdiction. Decision of COMELEC on disqualification cases may be reviewed by the SC in an action for certiorari. YES. (In GR 161824, Fornier). Fornier uses Ominbus Election Code as basis and Revised Rules of Civil Procedure; In GR 161434 and 161634, Tecson et al invokes Article VII, Section 4, Paragraph 7 (SC shall be the sole judge of all contests relating to the election, returns, and qualifications of the President, VP and may promulgate rules for the purpose) NO. Electoral contests consist of either an election protest or a quo warranto to dislodge the winning candidate from office. Hence, jurisdiction refers to contests relating to elections, returns, and qualifications of the president or vp and not of candidates. Quo warranto someone who usurps an office. Hence Tecson and Velez are dismissed for want of jurisdiction ISSUE: W/N FPJ is a natural-born Filipino Civil Code of Spain made effective in Philippine jurisdiction on December 18, 1889, who were Spanish citizens. That time, 1898, Americans came. An accepted principle of international law dictated that a change in sovereignty, while resulting in an abrogation of all political laws then in force, would have no effect on civil laws, which would remain virtually intact. Americans made Filipinos citizens of the Philippines and issued passports, entitled to the protection of the US (Philippine Bill of 1902 aka Organic Act of 1902) 1935 Constitution applied jus sanguinis FPJs birthday falls on August 20, 1939 or under the 1935 Constitution

Documentary evidence showed that earliest direct ascendant was grandfather Lorenzo Pou, married to Marta Reyes, father of Allan Poe. While there was no record of birth, his death certificate said he was a Filipino from San Carlos, Pangasinan. Allan Poes birth certificate showed that he was born on May 17, 1915 to Espanol father and Espanol mestiza mother. Evidence that sister of Bessie, Ruby Kelley Mangahas, duly notarized claiming that FPJs parents met, married, lived together and had children, recognized FPJ as legitimate. Court claimed that documentary evidence of Paulita Gomez and Allan Poe is doubtful at best. The thesis of petitioner re: illegitimate child will have the citizenship of the mother fails because it is based only on an obiter dictum which does not create precedent. While totality of the evidence may not establish conclusively that respondent is a natural-born citizen, the evidence on hand still would preponderate in his favor enough to hold that he cannot be held guilty of having made a material misrepresentation in his COC. Lorenzo Pou evidence only in death certificate, in absence of such, it is presumed that he was born in San Carlos, Pangasinan and lived there ever since. He became a Filipino due to the en masse Filipinization under the Philippine Bill of 1902. He would have passed on his citizenship to his son Allan Poe and Allan would have passed it on to FPJ. This was at the time of the 1935 Constitution which states that citizenship of father is conferred to the children whether il/legitimate.

Section 3. There shall be a vice-president who shall have the same qualifications and term of office and be elected with and in the same manner as the president. He may be removed from office in the same manner as the president. The vice-president may be appointed as a member of the cabinet. Such appointment requires no confirmation. Section 4. The president and the vice-president shall be elected by direct vote of the people for a term of six years which shall begin at noon on the thirtieth day of June next following the day of the election and shall end at noon of the same date six years thereafter. The president shall not be eligible for any reelection. No person who has succeeded as president and has served as such for more than four years shall be qualified for election to the same office at any time. No vice president shall serve for more than two successive terms. Voluntary renunciation of the office for any length of time shall not be considered as an interruption in the continuity of the service for the full term for which he was elected. The returns of every election for president and vice-president duly certified by the Board of Canvassers of each province or city, shall be transmitted to the Congress,

directed to the President of the Senate. Upon receipt of the certificates of canvass, the President of the Senate shall not later than thirty days after the day of the election, open all the certificates in the presence of the Senate and the House of Representatives in joint public session, and the Congress, upon determination of the authenticity and due execution thereof in the manner provided by law, canvass the votes. The person having the highest number of votes shall be proclaimed elected, but incase two or more shall have an equal and highest number of votes, on of them shall forthwith be chosen by the vote of a majority of all the members of both houses of the Congress, voting separately. The Congress shall promulgate its rules for the canvassing of the certificates. The Supreme Court, sitting en banc, shall be the sole judge of all contests relating to the election, returns, and qualifications of the president or vice president, and may promulgate its rules for the purpose. 1. Election and canvass. Macalintal v. Comelec o ISSUE: Does Section 18.5 of the Overseas Absentee Voting Act of 2003 empowering the COMELEC to proclaim the winning candidates for national offices and party list representatives including the president and the VP violate the constitutional mandate under Section 4, Art VII of the Consti that winning candidates for President and VP shall be proclaimed as winners by Congress? o SolGen asserts that it should betaken as COMELEC can proclaim the winning Senators and party-list representatives but not the President and VP o HELD: YES. It appears to be repugnant to Section 4, Article VII insofar as it totally disregarded the authority given to Congress by the Constitution to proclaim the winning candidates for president and VP. Congress could not have allowed COMELEC to usurp a power that constitutionally belongs to it. Congressman Lopez v. Senate and House o Petition seeking to nullify Section 13, Rule VIII of the Rules of the joint Public Session of Congress which shall preliminary canvass the votes of the candidates for President and VP o Court has jurisdiction since it is a matter over allegations claiming violations of the Constitution. o HELD: SC resolves to dismiss on the ground that petition failed to show that Congress gravely abused its discretion in creating such Joint Committee. o Also, Congress has power to promulgate its rules for the canvassing of the certificates, Court has no authority to restrict or limit the exercise of congressional prerogative granted by the Constitution Pimentel v. Joint Canvassing Committee o Pimentel seeking to declare null and void the continued existence of the Joint Committee of Congress to determine the authenticity and due execution of certificates of canvass and preliminary canvas for P and VP following the adjournment of Congress sine die on June 11,

2004 because with the adjournment of regular session, the term is terminated and expired on the said day and the 12 th Congress passed out of legal existence o HELD: Dismissed and no basis under the Constitution. What was meant that regular session had passed but the 12 th Congress had not passed out of legal existence, considering the term ends on June 30. Congress legislative functions had ended. But this does not affect its non-legislative functions. For only when a board of canvassers has completed its functions is it rendered functus officio Fernando Poe Jr. v. GMA o Before the election protest of FPJ could be decided, he died, Susan Roces is now asking if she can continue and substitute for her husband due to the paramount interest of the people o ISSUE: May the widow substitute/intervene for the protestant who died during the pendency of the latters protest case? o Rule 14 of the PET: Only president or VP candidate who received the second and third highest votes may contest the election. o The PET has no rule on substitution nor intervention but it does allow for the analogous and suppletory application of the Rules of Court o Court has ruled a lot of times that public office is personal to the public officer and not a property transmissible to the heirs upon death. In cases where the widow is not a real party in interest, we denied substitution by the wife or heirs. While the right to a public office is personal and exclusive to the public officer, an election protest is not purely personal and exclusive to the protestant or to the protestee such that the death of either would oust the court of all authority to continue the protest proceedings. Hence, we have allowed substitution and intervention but only by a real party in interest. A real party of interest is the party who would be benefited or injured by the judgment, and the party who is entitled to the avails of the suit. o Mrs. FPJ denies any claim to the office of the president, hence, the widow is not a real party of interest to this election protest

Section 5. Before they enter on the execution of their office, the president, the vicepresident, or the acting president shall take the following oath or affirmation: I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully and conscientiously fulfill my duties as president (or vp or acting president) of the Philippines, preserve and defend its Constitution, execute its laws, do justice to every man, and consecrate myself to the service of the nation. So help me god. (IN case of affirmation, last sentence will be omitted.) Section 6. The president shall have an official residence. The salaries of the president and vice-president shall be determined by law and shall not be decreased during their tenure. No increase in said compensation shall take effect until after the expiration of the term of the incumbent during which such increase was approved. They shall not receive during their tenure any other emolument from the government or any other source.