SECTION 27 METHODS BY WHICH A BILL MAY BECOME A LAW

TOLENTINO VS. SECRETARY OF FINANCE

235 SCRA 630, 1994
FACTS:
The value-added tax (VAT) is levied on the sale, barter or exchange of goods
and properties as well as on the sale or exchange of services. It is equivalent
to 10% of the gross selling price or gross value in money of goods or
properties sold, bartered or exchanged or of the gross receipts from the sale
or exchange of services.
Republic Act No. 7716 seeks to widen the tax base of the existing VAT
system and enhance its administration by amending the National Internal
Revenue Code. It was challenged for alleged constitutional infirmities
(defects), among others: It is claimed that the conference committee
included provisions not found in either the House Bill or the Senate Bill that
these provisions were stealthily inserted by the conference committee and
Law did not originate exclusively in the House of Representative as required
by Section 24, Article VI they contended that to be considered as having
originated in the HOR, it should retain the essence of the House Bill.

ISSUE: Whether or not there are constitutional defects in RA 7716, since the
conference committee included provisions not found in either the House Bill
or the Senate Bill.
HELD:
A third version of the bill may result from the conference committee, which is
considered may result from the conference committee, which is considered
an amendment in the nature of a substitute the only requirement being
that the third version be germane to the subject of the House and Senate
bills.
As to the possibility of an entirely new bill emergency out of a
Conference Committee, it has been explained: Under congressional rules of
procedure, conference committees are not expected to make any material
change in the measure at issue, either by deleting provisions to which both
houses have already agreed or by inserting new provisions. But this is a
difficult provision to enforce. Note the problem when one house amends a
proposal originating in either house by striking out everything following the
enacting clause and substituting provisions which make it an entirely new
bill. The versions are now altogether different, permitting a conference
committee to draft essentially a new bill.

The result is a third version, which is considered an "amendment in the

nature of a substitute," the only requirement for which being that the third
version be germane to the subject of the House and Senate bills.
SECTION 24 SHALL ORIGINATE EXCLUSIVELY IN HOR
ISSUE: Whether or not there are constitutional defects in RA 7716, since it
did not originate exclusively in the House of Representative as required by
Sec. 24, Article VI.
HELD:
No. The Supreme Court held that the Senate is empowered by the
Constitution to concur with amendments and propose amendments, even
substitute the entire bill as a whole.
A bill originating in the HOR may undergo such extensive changes in the
Senate that the result maybe rewriting of the whole; As a result of the Senate
action, a distinct bill may be produced AND to insist that a revenue statute
must substantially be the same as the House bill would be to deny the
Senates power not only to concur with amendments but also to propose
amendments.