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Parts of a Statute

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Title -- The title of the statute is the heading on the preliminary part, furnishing the name by which the act is individually known. Preamble -- That part of the statute explaining the reasons for its enactment and the objects sought to be accomplished. Enacting Clause -- That part of the statute which declares its enactment and serves to identify it is an act of legislation proceeding from the proper legislative authority. Body -- The main and operative part of the statute containing its substantive and even procedural provisions. Provisos and exemptions may also be found in the body of the statute. Repealing Clause -- That part of the statute which announces the prior statutes or specific provisions which have been abrogated by reason of the new law. Saving Clause -- a restriction in a repealing act, which is intended to save rights, pending proceedings, penalties, etc., from the annihilation which would result from an unrestricted repeal. Separability Clause -- That part of the statute which provides that in the event that one or more provisions are declared void or unconstitutional, the remaining provisions shall still be in force and effect. Effectivity Clause -- That part of the Statute which announces the effective date of the law.

Kinds of Statutes
General Law -- is one that affects the community at large. A law that relates to a subject of a general nature, or that affects all people of the state or all of a particular class. 2. Special Law -- is one which is different from others of the same general kind, designed for a particular purpose, limited in range, or confined to a prescribed field of action on operation. 3. Local Laws -- are those which relates or operates over a particular locality. 4. Public Laws -- consist of constitutional, administrative, criminal and international law, concerned with the organization of the State, the relations between the people and the state, the responsibilities of public officers to the state, and the relations of states with one another. 5. Private Laws -- are those which defines, regulates, enforces, and administers relationships among individuals, associations and corporations. 6. Remedial Statutes -- are those which refer to the method of enforcing rights or of obtaining redress of their invasion. It can be made to applicable to cases pending at the time of its enactment. 7. Curative Statutes -- are those which undertake to cure errors and irregularities, thereby validating judicial or administrative proceedings, acts of public officers, or private deeds and contracts which otherwise would not produce their intended consequences by reason of some statutory disability or failure to comply with some technical requirement. They operate on conditions already existing, and are necessarily retroactive in operation. Curative statutes are "healing acts x x x curing defects and adding to the means of enforcing existing obligations x x x (and) are intended to supply defects, abridge superfluities in existing laws, and curb certain evils x x x By their very nature, curative statutes are retroactive x x x (and) reach back to past events to correct errors or irregularities and to render valid and effective attempted acts which would be otherwise ineffective for the purpose the parties intended. 8. Penal Statutes -- are those which defines criminal offenses and specify corresponding fines and punishments. It is enacted to preserve the public order, which defines an offense against the public and inflicts a penalty for its violation. 9. Prospective Laws -- are those which applies only to acts or omissions committed after its enactment. 10. Retrospective Laws -- are those which look backwards or contemplates the past. Laws which are made to affect acts or facts occurring, or rights occurring, before it came into force. 11. Affirmative Statutes -- are those couched in affirmative or mandatory terms. One which directs the doing of an act, or declares what should be done. 12. Mandatory Statutes -- are those which require, and not merely permit, a course of action. 1.

Constitutional Limitations of Statutes


1. 2. 3. No ex post facto law or bill of attainder shall be enacted. [4] Every bill passed by the Congress shall embrace only one subject which shall be expressed in the title thereof. [5] No bill passed by either House shall become a law unless it has passed three readings on separate days, and printed copies thereof in its final form have been distributed to its Members three days before its passage, except when the President certifies to the necessity of its immediate enactment to meet a public calamity or emergency. Upon the last reading of a bill, no amendment thereto shall be allowed, and the vote thereon shall be taken immediately thereafter, and the yeas and nays entered in the Journal. [6] Every bill passed by the Congress shall, before it becomes a law, be presented to the President. If he approves the same, he shall sign it; otherwise, he shall veto it and return the same with his objections to the House where it originated, which shall enter the objections at large in its Journal and proceed to reconsider it. If, after such reconsideration, two-thirds of all the Members of such House shall agree to pass the bill, it shall be sent, together with the objections, to the other House by which it shall likewise be reconsidered, and if approved by two-thirds of all the Members of that House, it shall become a law. In all such cases, the votes of each House shall be determined by yeas or nays, and the names of the Members voting for or against shall be entered in its Journal.

4.

The President shall communicate his veto of any bill to the House where it originated within thirty days after the date of receipt thereof; otherwise, it shall become a law as if he had signed it. [7]

Philippine Commission
The Philippine Commission was a body appointed by the President of the United States to exercise legislative and limited executive powers in the Philippines. It was first appointed by President William McKinley in 1901. Beginning in 1907, it acted as the upper house of a bicameral legislature, with the elected Philippine Assembly acting as lower house. The Jones Act of 1916 created an elected Philippine Senate to replace the Philippine Commission.

First Philippine Commission


Main article: Schurman Commission On January 20, 1899, President McKinley appointed the First Philippine Commission (the Schurman Commission), a five-person group headed by Dr. Jacob Schurman, president of Cornell University, to investigate conditions in the islands and make recommendations. In the report that they issued to the president the following year, the commissioners acknowledged Filipino aspirations for independence; they declared, however, that the Philippines was not ready for it. Specific recommendations included the establishment of civilian government as rapidly as possible (the American chief executive in the islands at that time was the military governor), including establishment of a bicameral legislature, autonomous governments on the provincial and municipal levels, and a system of free public elementary schools.[1]

Second Philippine Commission


Main article: Taft Commission The Second Philippine Commission (the Taft Commission), appointed by McKinley on March 16, 1900, and headed by William Howard Taft, was granted legislative as well as limited executive powers. Between September 1900 and August 1902, it issued 499 laws. A judicial systemwas established, including a Supreme Court, and a legal code was drawn up to replace antiquated Spanish ordinances. A civil service was organized. The 1901 municipal code provided for popularly elected presidents, vice presidents, and councilors to serve on municipal boards. The municipal board members were responsible for collecting taxes, maintaining municipal properties, and undertaking necessary construction projects; they also elected provincial governors.[1] The Philippine Organic Act of July 1902 stipulated that a legislature would be established composed of a lower house, the Philippine Assembly, which would be popularly elected, and an upper house consisting of the Philippine Commission. The two houses would share legislative powers, although the upper house alone would pass laws relating to the Moros and other non-Christian peoples. The act also provided for extending the United States Bill of Rights to Filipinos and sending two Filipino resident commissioners to Washington to attend sessions of the United States Congress. In July 1907, the first elections for the assembly were held, and the legislature opened its first session on October 16, 1907

Philippine Assembly
The Philippine Assembly was the legislative body of the Philippines during the earlier part U.S. colonial administration. It served as the lower house of the legislature with the Philippine Commission, headed by the U.S. Governor General serving as the upper house.

Organization
The Philippine Assembly was convened at the old Manila Grand Opera House on October 16, 1907. Two dominant political groupsthe Partido Nacionalista and Partido Nacional Progresista vied for positions in the Assembly. Minority parties also fielded their candidates as well as independent aspirants. The Nacionalista Party, the party that espoused "immediate and complete independence" headed by Sergio Osmea, captured majority of the 80 seat Assembly. However, a situation of conflict prevailed, for the legislative arm of government consisted of an elective Assembly composed of Filipinos and an appointive Commission (later to become the Senate), the majority of the members of which were Americans. Such conflicts, however, came to an end when the legislative powers were vested by the Jones Law in a bicameral legislature composed exclusively of Filipinos. From 1907 to 1916, the legislative power was vested in a legislature, with the Philippine Commission as the upper house and the Philippine Assembly as the lower house thereof. Pursuant to the provisions of the Jones Law, the legislative set-up was changed. The Philippine Commission was abolished and the Philippine Legislature, inaugurated on October 16, 1916, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives was established. Thus, the history of Philippine Senate can be traced in relative term from the time the Americans colonized the country.

Congress of the Philippines


The Congress of the Philippines (Filipino: Kongreso ng Pilipinas) is the national legislature of thePhilippines. It is a bicameral body consisting of the the Senate (upper chamber), and the House of Representatives (lower chamber). The Senate is composed of 24 senators half of which are elected every three years. Each senator, therefore, serves a total of six years. The senators are elected by the whole electorate and do not represent any geographical district. The House of Representatives is composed of a maximum of 250 congressmen. There are two types of congressmen: the district and the sectoral representatives. The district congressmen represent a particular geographical district of the country. All provinces in the country are composed of at least one congressional district. Several cities also have their own congressional districts, with some composed of two or more representatives. The sectoral congressmen represent the minority sectors of the population. This enables these minority groups to be represented in the Congress, when they would otherwise not be represented properly through district representation. Also known as party-list representatives, sectoral congressmen represent labor unions, rights groups, and other organizations. The Constitution provides that the Congress shall convene for its regular session every year beginning on the 4th Monday of July. A regular session can last until thirty days before the opening of its next regular session in the succeeding year. The President may, however, call special sessions which are usually held between regular sessions to handle emergencies or urgent matters.

National Assembly
The National Assembly of the Philippines refers to legislature of both the Commonwealth of the Philippines from 1935 to 1941 and theSecond Philippine Republic from 1943 to 1945. The two National Assemblies were not a continuation of each other, as the National Assembly of the Philippine Commonwealth was established under the 1935 Constitution, which went into exile at the advent of the Second World War in the Pacific, while the National Assembly of the Second Philippine Republic was established under 1943 Constitution, which established a nominally independent Republic of the Philippines recognized mainly by the Axis powers.

Establishment
Prior to 1935, the Philippine Islands, which was an insular area of the United States had the bicameral Philippine Legislature, established in 1916 under a U.S. federal law; the Jones Law. It was composed of a Senate and a House of Representatives, with some of its members appointed, without the need for any confirmation by the U.S. Governor-General, who also exercised veto power over its legislations. In 1934, Filipino politicians obtained the passage of a Philippine independence law known as theTydings-McDuffie Act that allowed them to draft and adopt a constitution, subject to the concurrence of the U.S. President to prepare the Philippines for its eventual independence after a 10-year period. In the constitutional convention that followed, a unicameral National Assembly was adopted, after the failure of the constitutional convention delegates to agree on the setup of the bicameral system favored by the majority. It also set the ceiling of its members to a maximum of 120, that were to be elected every three years, similar to what the Jones Law had provided. It entitled everyprovince, regardless of its population to have at least one representative. The convention likewise provided for the direct election of representatives from non-predominantly Christian areas previously appointed by the U.S. Governor-General.

Commonwealth National Assembly


After the 1935 Constitution was ratified, elections were held on September 17, 1935 for the 98 members of the National Assembly simultaneous with the election for the Commonwealth President and Vice President. The Philippine Commonwealth was inaugurated on November 15, 1935 and thus the term of the elected officials began. The National Assembly first met officially on November 25, ten days after the Commonwealth government was inaugurated and elected Gil Montilla of Negros Occidental as its Speaker. It soon organized itself into 3 commissions and 40 standing committees when it adopted its rules on December 6.

Legislations
The assembly had the task of passing legislations to prepare the Philippines for its eventual independence, however certain legislations dealing with foreign relations and finance still required the approval of the U.S. President. Commonwealth President Manuel L. Quezon, who had practical control of the National Assembly addressed the body on its inaugural session and laid-out his administration's priorities and legislative agenda. He was able to secure the passage of important legislations without much opposition, after diluting the powers of the Speaker to a mere presiding officer. Among the first of such measures were the National Defense Act of 1935, which created the Philippine Army, the creation of the National Economic Council to serve as advisory body on economic matters, and the creation of the Court of Appeals. Several economic measures were tackled including the impending difficulties on the phase out of free trade between the Philippines and the United States after independence, establishing aminimum wage and the imposition of new taxes among others. Most of the bills enacted however were drafted by the executive branch and the few that originated from the members themselves were often vetoed by Quezon. In the sessions of the First National Assembly in 1936, 236 bills were passed, of which 25 bills were vetoed, while on its 1938 session 44 bills out of 105 were vetoed due to practical defects, including one which proposed to make religious instruction compulsory in schools clearly violating the constitutional provision on the

separation of Church and State. The "rubber stamp" legislature then began to criticize Quezon's policies and asserted its independence from the executive and reinstated the inherent powers of the Speaker. It was also in this period that Filipino women were finally extended universal suffrage. In a plebiscite held on April 30, 1937, 447,725 women voted favorably for it against 44,307. The second elections for the National Assembly were held on November 8, 1938, under a new law that allowed block voting which favored the governing Nacionalista Party. As expected all the 98 seats of the National Assembly went to the Nacionalistas. Jose Yulo who was Quezon'sSecretary of Justice from 1934 to 1938, was elected Speaker. The Second National Assembly embarked on passing legislations strengthening the economy, unfortunately the cloud of the Second World War loomed over the horizon. Certain laws passed by the First National Assembly were modified or repealed to meet existing realities. A controversial immigration law that set an annual limit of 50 immigrants per country which affected mostly Chinese and Japanese nationals escaping the Sino-Japanese War was passed in 1940. Since the law bordered on foreign relations it required the approval of the U.S. President which was nevertheless obtained. When the result of the 1939 census was published, the National Assembly updated the apportionment of legislative districts, which became the basis for the 1941 elections.

Batasang Pambansa
The Batasang Pambansa (English: National Assembly), also known as the Batasan, was the former parliament of the Republic of thePhilippines. It was established as an interim legislative body in 1976 and subsequently inaugurated as the official legislative body in 1981. Under the 1973 Constitution, the Batasan replaces the bicameral Congress established under the amended 1935 Constitution. The Batasang Pambansa is one of three unicameral legislature in Philippine history: first, the Malolos Congress under the 1899 Constitution, and; second, the National Assembly established under the original provisions of the 1935 Constitution.

History
The original provisions of the 1973 Constitution, which was ratified on 17 January 1973, provides for the establishment of a unicameral National Assembly. Upon its ratification, an interim National Assembly, composed of the incumbent President and Vice-President of the Philippines, those who served as President of the 1971 Constitutional Convention, the Members of the Senate and the House of Representatives, and those Delegates to the 1971 Constitutional Convention, was established and functioned as the Legislature. However, the regular National Assembly, under the 1973 Constitution, was not convened. By virtue of Presidential Decree No. 1033, or the 1976 amendments to the Constitution, the National Assembly has been replaced by theinterim Batasang Pambansa, and with it, all the powers inherent from the original body have been transferred to the Batasan. The members of the regular Batasang Pambansa includes the regional representatives, sectoral representatives, and those chosen by the incumbent President from the members of the Cabinet. Before the convening of the regular Batasang Pambansa, the interim Batasang Pambansa, composed of 120 members, served as the Legislature. The members include the incumbent President of the Philippines, representatives elected from different regions and from different sectors, and those chosen by the incumbent President from the members of Cabinet. In 1981, the semi-parliament was formally convened as the "Batasang Pambansa." In 1984, the Batasan tried to impeach Ferdinand E. Marcos, but was unsuccessful. The Batasang Pambansa was subsequently dissolved as a legislative body when Proclamation No. 3, popularly known as the 1986 Freedom Constitution, was promulgated on March 25, 1986.

Structure and Composition


The Batasang Pambansa was established under the 1973 Constitution as a unicameral legislature. It composed of not more than 200 Members which include the representatives elected from the different provinces, with their component cities, highly urbanized cities, and districts in Metropolitan Manila; those elected or selected from the various sectors; and those chosen by the President from Members of the Cabinet. The members shall serve for a term of six years.

Congress of the Philippines


The Congress of the Philippines (Filipino: Kongreso ng Pilipinas) is the national legislature of thePhilippines. It is a bicameral body consisting of the the Senate (upper chamber), and the House of Representatives (lower chamber). The Senate is composed of 24 senators half of which are elected every three years. Each senator, therefore, serves a total of six years. The senators are elected by the whole electorate and do not represent any geographical district. The House of Representatives is composed of a maximum of 250 congressmen. There are two types of congressmen: the district and the sectoral representatives. The district congressmen represent a particular geographical district of the country. All provinces in the country are composed of at least one congressional district. Several cities also have their own congressional districts, with some composed of two or more representatives. The sectoral congressmen represent the minority sectors of the population. This enables these minority groups to be represented in the Congress, when they would otherwise not be represented properly through district representation. Also known as party-list representatives, sectoral congressmen represent labor unions, rights groups, and other organizations. The Constitution provides that the Congress shall convene for its regular session every year beginning on the 4th Monday of July. A regular session can last until thirty days before the opening of its next regular session in the succeeding year.

The President may, however, call special sessions which are usually held between regular sessions to handle emergencies or urgent matters.

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