CONSTITUTIONAL LAW I

DEFINITION OF TERMS

AD INTERMIN APPOINTMENTS They are appointments made by the

President during the recess of the Congress (during the Commission on
Appointments does not meet). It becomes effective immediately, without
need for confirmation by the Commission on Appointments, but the
effectivity lasts only until disapproval by the Commission on Appointments or
until the next adjournment of the Congress.

AMENDMENT alteration of one or a few specific and isolated provisions of

the constitution. Its guiding original intention is to improve specific parts or
to add new provisions or to suppress existing ones according as addition or
subtraction might be demanded by existing conditions.

AMNESTY commonly denotes the general pardon to rebels for their

treason and other high political offenses, or the forgiveness which one
sovereign grants to the subjects of another, who have offended by some
breach of the law of nations (Villa v Allen).

CITIZENSHIP is personal and more or less permanent membership in a

political community. It denotes possession within that particular political
community of full civil and political rights subject to special qualifications
such as minority. Reciprocally, it imposes the duty of allegiance to the
political community.

CIVIL SERVICE SYSTEM institutionalized to establish and promote

professionalism and efficiency in public service.

COMMISSION ON APPOINTMENTS acts as a legislative check on the

appointing authority of the President. For the effectivity of the appointment
of certain key officials enumerated in the Constitution, the consent of the
Commission on Appointments is needed.

COMMUTATION remission of a part of the punishment. A substitution of a

less penalty for the one originally imposed.

CONSTITUENT POWER the power to formulate a Constitution or to

propose amendments to or revision of the Constitution and to ratify such
proposal.

CONTINGENT LEGISLATION where the effectivity of the law is made

dependent on the verification by the executive of the existence of certain
conditions. The verification is delegated to the executive. (Abakada Guru
Party List Officers v Executive Secretary).

ELECTORAL TRIBUNAL is the sole judge of all contests relating to the

election return, and qualifications of the members of the Congress. Neither
the Supreme Court nor each House of Congress nor the Commission on
Elections can interfere.

ENROLLED BILL the official copy of approved legislation ans bears the
certification of the presiding officer of the legislative body.
ENROLLED BILL DOCTRINE the signing of a bill by the Speaker of the
House and the President of the Senate and the certification by the secretaries
of both Houses of Congress that such bill was passed are conclusive of its
due enactment. (Arroyo v De Venecia).

EXECUTIVE CLEMENCY it is a tacit admission that human institutions are

imperfect and that there are infirmities in the administration of justice. The
power therefore exists as an instrument for correcting these infirmities and
for mitigating whatever harshness might be generated by too strict
application od the law. Forms of Executive Clemency reprieves,
commutations, pardons, remission of fines and forfeitures, amnesty.

EXECUTIVE IMPOUNDMENT refusal of the President to spend funds

already allocated by the Congress for a specific purpose. (Philippine
Constitution Association v Enriquez).

EXECUTIVE POWER vested in the President, who is both Head of the

State and Chief Executive.

EXECUTIVE PRIVILEGE the power of the President to withhold certain

types of information from the courts, the Congress and ultimately the public.
(Senate v Ermita, Neri v Senate). This covers the type of information include
those which are of a nature that disclosure would subvert military or
diplomatic objectives or information about the identity od persons who
furnish information of violation of laws, or information about internal
deliberations comprising the process by which government decisions are
eached.

FISCAL AUTONOMY Appropriations for the Judiciary may not be reduced

by the legislature below the amount appropriated for the previous year and,
after approval, shall be automatically and regularly released. It is granted to
the Supreme Court to strengthen its independence.

GOVERNMENT an element of the state that institution or aggregate of

institutions by which an independent society makes and carries out those
rules of action which are necessary to enable men to live in a social state, or
which are imposed upon the people forming that society by those who
possess the power or authority of prescribing them. CONSTITUENT
FUNCTIONS are compulsory which constitute the very bonds of the society.
MINISTRANT FUNCTIONS are optional from the government.

GOVERNMENT DE JURE one established by authority of the legitimate

sovereign. Examples: Cory Aquino and Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo form of
Government.

GOVERNMENT DE FACTO one established in defiance of the legitimate

sovereign. Kinds: (1) government that gets possession and control of, or
usurps, by force or by the voice of the majority. (2) government which
established and maintained by invading military forces (3) government that
was established as an independent government by the inhabitants of a
country who rise in insurrection against the parent state. Example:
Government of the Southern Confederacy in revolt against the Union during
the war of secession. (Co kim Cham v. Valdez Tan Keh).
JUDICIAL AND BAR COUNCIL the Council shall have the principal
function of recommendation appointees to the Judiciary. It may exercise such
other functions and duties as the Supreme Court may assign to it.

JUDICIAL POWER vested in the Supreme Court and its power includes
the duty of the 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.

JUS SANGUINIS acquisition of citizenship on the basis of blood

relationship.

JUS SOLI acquisition of citizenship on the basis of place of birth.

LEGAL SOVEREIGNTY the supreme power to affect legal interests either

by legislative, executive or judicial action. This is lodged in the people but is
normally exercised by state agencies.

LEGISLATIVE POWER the authority to make laws and to alter or repeal

them. Its power is vested in the Congress of the Philippines which shall
consist of a Senate and a House of representative except to the extent
reserved to the people by the provision on the initiative referendum in
Section 32. SUBSTANTIVE LIMITS curtail the contents of the law.
PROCEDURAL LIMITS curtail the manner of passing laws.

MARTIAL LAW is essentially police power. This is borne out by the

constitutional text which sets down public safety as the object of the exercise
of martial law. The police power is exercised by the executive with the aid of
the military and in place of certain governmental agencies which for the time
being are unable to cope with existing conditions in a locality which remains
subject to the sovereignty.

NATURALIZATION the legal act of adopting an alien and clothing him

with the privilege of a native born citizen. A person may be naturalized either
by complying with both the substantive and procedural requirements of a
general naturalization law or he may be naturalized by a special act of
legislature.

QUALIFIED POLITICAL AGENCY DOCTRINE the doctrine recognizing

that the Constitution has established a single and not a plural executive,
postulates that all executive and administrative organizations are adjuncts
of the Executive Department, the heads of the various executive
departments are assistants and agents of the Chief Executive, and, except in
cases where the Chief Executive is required by the Constitution or law to act
in person or exigencies of the situation demand that he act personally, the
multifarious executive and administrative functions of the Chief Executive are
performed by and through the executive departments, and the acts of the
secretaries of such departments, performed and promulgated in the regular
course of business, are, unless disapproved or reprobated by the Chief
Executive presumptively the acts of the Chief Executive. ((Villena v Secretary
of Interior).
QUESTION HOUR there is no separation between the legislative and
executive department. Section 22 of the Constitution has made the
appearance of the department heads voluntary. They can appear on their
own initiative, with the consent of the President, or at the request of
Congress. Because of separation of powers, however, department secretaries
may not impose their appearance upon either house.

QUO WARRANTO the proper legal remedy to determine the right or title
to the contested public office and to oust the holder from its enjoyment. It is
brought against the person who is alleged to have usurped, intruded into, or
unlawfully held or exercised the public office, and may be commenced by the
Solicitor General or a public prosecutor, as the case may be, or by any
person claiming to be entitled to the public office or position usurped or
unlawfully held or exercised by another. A private person suing must show a
clear right to the contested office.

PARDON is an act of grace, proceeding from the power entrusted with the
execution of the laws, which exempts the individual on whom it is bestowed
from the punishment the law inflicts for a crime he has committed. It is a
deed, to the validity of which the delivery is essential, and delivery is not
complete without acceptance. It may be rejected by the person to whom it is
tendered, and if it be rejected, even the court has no power to enforce it to
him.

PARENS PATRIAE the State has the authority and duty to step in where
parents fail to or are unable to cope with their duties to their children.

PARLIAMENTARY PRIVILEGE OF SPEECH No member shall be

questioned nor be held liable in any other place for any speech or debate in
the Congress or in any committee thereof.

PARTISAN POLITICAL CAMPAIGN every form of solicitation of the

electors vote in favor of specific candidate.

PEOPLE a community of persons sufficient in number and capable of

maintaining the continued existence of the community and held together by
a common bond of law. It is of no legal consequence if they possess diverse
racial, cultural, or economic interests.

POLITICAL QUESTION are those questions, which under the Constitution

are to be decided by the people in their sovereign capacity, or in regard to
which full discretionary authority has been delegated to the legislative or
executive branch of the government.

POLITICAL SOVEREIGNTY the sum total of all the influences in a state,

legal and non-legal, which determine the course of law.

POWER OF CONTROL the power of an officer to alter, or modify, or nullify

or set aside what a subordinate officer had done in the performance of his
duties and to substitute the judgment of the former for that of the latter.

POWER OF JUDICIAL REVIEW Supreme Courts power to declare a law,

treaty, international or executive agreement, presidential decree,
proclamation, order, instruction, ordinance, or regulation unconstitutional.
The first requisite for the exercise of judicial review is that there must be
before the court an actual case calling for the exercise of judicial power. The
question before it must be ripe for adjudication, that is, the governmental act
being challenged must have had an adverse effect on the person challenging
it. (PACU v Secretary of Education). The second is that the person
challenging that act must have standing to the challenge, that is, he must
have a personal and substantial interest in the case such that he has
sustained, or will sustain, direct injury as a result of its enforcement. (People
v Vera).

POWER OF SUPERVISION the power of a superior officer to ensure that

the laws are faithfully executed by inferiors. This does not include the power
of control but the power of control necessarily includes the power of
supervision.

PRIVILEGE FROM ARREST - a legislator is privileged from arrest even for

a criminal offense provided that the offense was not punishable by a penalty
of more than six (6) years imprisonment. It is available while the Congress is
in session whether regular or special and whether or not the legislator is
actually attending a session. Hence, it is not available while the Congress is
in recess.

PROXIMITY RULE Every appointment implies confidence, but much more

than ordinary confidence is reposed in the occupant of a position that is
primarily confidential. The latter phrase denotes not only confidence in
aptitude of the appointee for the duties of the office but primarily close
intimacy which insures freedom of intercourse without embarrassment or
freedom from misgivings of betrayals of personal trust or confidential matters
of state.

REPATRIATION is the recovery of original citizenship. Thus, if what was

lost was naturalized citizenship, that is what will be reacquired. If what was
lost was natural born citizenship, that will be reacquired. (Bengzon v Cruz)

REPRIEVE postpones the execution of an offense to a day certain. (People

v Vera)

REPUBLICAN STATE a state wherein all government authority emanates

from the people and is exercised by representatives chosen by the people.

REVISION re-examination of the entire document or an important cluster

of provisions in the document to determine how and to what extent it should
be altered. The end product of a revision can be an important structural
change in the government or a change, which affects several provisions of
the Constitution.

SOCIAL JUSTICE the equalization of economic, political and social

opportunities with special emphasis on the duty of the state to tilt the
balance of social forces by favoring the disadvantaged in life.

SOVEREIGNTY the property of a state-force due to which it has the

exclusive capacity of legal self-determination and self-restriction.
STANDING a person has a standing to challenge the validity of
governmental act only if he has a personal and substantial interest in the
case such that he has sustained, or will sustain, direct, injury as a result of
its enforcement.

STATE It is a community of persons more or less numerous, permanently

occupying a definite portion of territory, independent of external control, and
possessing an organized government to which the great body of inhabitants
render habitual obedience. ELEMENTS: PEOPLE, TERRITORY, SOVEREIGNTY,
GOVERNMENT.

TENURE the period during which the official actually holds the office.

TERM the period during which an official is entitled to hold office

WRIT OF AMPARO It is a remedy available to any person whose right to

life, liberty and security is violated or threatened with violation by an
unlawful act or omission of a public official or employee, or of a private
individual or entity. The writ shall cover extralegal killings and enforced
disappearance or threats thereof.

WRIT OF KALIKASAN it is a remedy available to a natural or juridical

person, entity authorized by law, peoples organization, non-governmental
organization, or any public interest group accredited by or registered with
any government agency, on behalf of persons whose constitutional right to a
balanced and healthful ecology is violated, or threatened with violation by an
unlawful act or omission of a public official or employee, or private individual
or entity, involving environmental damage to such magnitude as to prejudice
the life, health or property of inhabitants in two or more cities or provinces.

WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS a writ directed to the person detaining

another, commanding him to produce the body of the prisoner at a
designated time and place, with the day and cause of his caption and
detention, to do, submit to, and receive whatever the court or judge
awarding the writ shall consider in that behalf. The essential requisite for the
availability of the writ is actual deprivation of personal liberty.