LEGAL RESEARCH

LARIN, Christian John V.

What is the set-up of the Philippine Government? Determine the powers and duties used in
the promulgation of rules and regulations for the following:

1. NATIONAL GOVERNMENT
The Philippine government takes place in an organized framework of a presidential,
representative, and democratic republic whereby the president is both the head of state and the
head of government. This system revolves around three separate and sovereign yet
interdependent branches: the legislative branch (the law-making body), the executive branch
(the law-enforcing body), and the judicial branch (the law-interpreting body). Executive power
is exercised by the government under the leadership of the president. Legislative power is
vested in both the government and the two-chamber congress—the Senate (the upper chamber)
and the House of Representatives (the lower chamber). Judicial power is vested in the courts
with the Supreme Court of the Philippines as the highest judicial body.

1. Executive Branch
Executive power to implement and administer the law, and, second, other powers necessary
to carry out the same. Section 1, Article VII provides that “the executive power shall be vested in
the President of the Philippines,” so that his primary role is to ensure that the laws are faithfully
executed. That executive power is given to the President alone makes him the most potent
official in the government.
2. Legislative Branch
Legislative power refers to the power to make and unmake laws. Laws are rules or collection
of rules, whether written or unwritten, prescribed under the authority of a political society for the
common good. The “Legislative Department” (Legislature) is the law-making branch of the
government.
3. Judiciary Branch
Judicial power refers to the power of the different courts of justice to interpret and apply the
laws in particular cases. Interpretation, on the one hand, refers to the process by which the court
discovers the true meaning of the language used by the law. Its purpose is to give effect to the
intent or spirit of the law. The application of the law, on the other, refers the process by which
the court relates the pertinent legal provisions to the set of facts of a particular case.

2. LOCAL GOVERNMENT UNITS

The Constitution of the Philippines recognizes the importance of local governments. It

provides as a policy that "the State shall guarantee and promote the autonomy of the local
government units -- especially the barangays -- to ensure their fullest development as self-
reliant communities."
Local governments constitute the foundation of the entire structure of the government. The
acts of the local government units affect the ordinary citizen more directly than those of the
national government. The average citizen has more and closer contacts with the local
governments and their agencies than with the national or provincial government, and is more
concerned with the local affairs than with those of the national or provincial in scope.

The following are the powers and functions of the local government:

1. Assist the President in the exercise of general supervision over local governments;
2. Advise the President in the promulgation of policies, rules, regulations and other
issuances on the general supervision over local governments and on public order and
safety;
3. Establish and prescribe rules, regulations and other issuances implementing laws on
public order and safety, the general supervision over local governments and the
promotion of local autonomy and community empowerment and monitor compliance
thereof;
4. Provide assistance towards legislation regarding local governments, law enforcement
and public safety;
5. Establish and prescribe plans, policies, programs and projects to promote peace and
order, ensure public safety and further strengthen the administrative, technical and
fiscal capabilities of local government offices and personnel;
6. Formulate plans, policies and programs which will meet local emergencies arising
from natural and man-made disasters;
7. Establish a system of coordination and cooperation among the citizenry, local
executives and the Department, to ensure effective and efficient delivery of basic
services to the public;
8. Organize, train and equip primarily for the performance of police functions, a police
force that is national in scope and civilian in character.

4. CONSTITUTIONAL COMMISSIONS
A commission created by the constitution as stated in the 1987 Constitution are
governmental bodies that are independent of the three main branches of government.
These are the Civil Service Commission, Commission on Audit, and the Commission on
Elections.

a) Civil Service Commission

The constitution entrusts the administration of the civil service, inclusive of all the
branches, subdivisions, instrumentalities and agencies of the government, and
government-owned or -controlled corporations, to the Civil Service Commission
(CSC).

The CSC acts as the central personnel agency of the government. It is mandated to
adopt measures to promote morale, efficiency, integrity, responsiveness,
progressiveness and courtesy in the bureaucracy. It is also tasked to strengthen the
 merit and rewards system within government agencies, integrate human resources
development programs for all levels and ranks, and institutionalize a climate
conducive to transparency and accountability.

b) Commission on Elections
The Commission on Elections (COMELEC) is the primary government agency
responsible for the conduct of regular and special elections in the country. Similar to
other constitutional commissions, the COMELEC is an independent and fiscally-
autonomous body free from political interference or influence from the three branches
of government, which makes possible the conduct of free, fair, and honest elections.

The COMELEC shall exercise and perform the following powers and functions:

 Enforce and administer all laws and regulations relative to the conduct of an election,
plebiscite, initiative, referendum, and recall.
 Exercise exclusive original jurisdiction over contests relating to the elections, returns and
qualifications of elective regional, provincial and city officials, and appellate jurisdiction
over contests involving elective municipal officials or barangay officials decided by trial
courts.
 Decide all questions affecting elections, including determination of the number and
location of polling places, appointment of election officials and inspectors, and
registration of voters.
 Deputize law enforcement agencies and instrumentalities of the government, including
the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), to ensure peaceful, orderly and credible
elections.
 Register political parties, organizations or coalitions, and accredit citizens’ arms or
watchdogs.
 File petitions in court for inclusion or exclusion of voters, and investigate and prosecute
cases of violations of election laws, including election frauds, offenses, and malpractices.
 Recommend to Congress measures to minimize election spending, limit places for
propaganda materials, and prevent and penalize all forms of election frauds, offenses and
nuisance candidates.
 Submit to the President and Congress a comprehensive report on the conduct of each
election, plebiscite, initiative, referendum, or recall.

c) Commission on Audit

Envisioned as an anti-graft and corruption body, the Commission on Audit (COA)

was established to audit, examine, and settle all accounts pertaining to the revenue,
funds, expenditures and property owned or held in trust by government agencies,
including other constitutional commissions, government-owned or -controlled
corporations, autonomous state colleges and universities, and non-governmental
entities receiving subsidy or equity from or through the government.
 The COA’s other powers and functions, as provided for in the constitution, include:

 Promulgate accounting and auditing rules and regulations, including those for the
prevention and disallowance of irregular, unnecessary, excessive, extravagant or
unconscionable expenditures, or uses of government funds and properties.
 Submit annual reports to the President and Congress on the financial condition and
operation of the government.
 Recommend measures to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of government
operations.
 Keep the general accounts of government, and preserve the vouchers and supporting
papers pertaining thereto.
 Decide any case brought before it within 60 days.

d) Commission on Human Rights

Apart from the three bodies created in Article IX of the constitution, Sections 17 and 18
of Article XIII and the Administrative Code of 1987 established an independent
Commission on Human Rights (CHR).

The CHR has the following powers and function:

 Investigate all forms of human rights violations involving civil and political rights.
 Provide appropriate legal measures for the protection of human rights of all persons
within the Philippines, as well as Filipinos residing abroad.
 Provide for preventive measures and legal aid services to the underprivileged whose
human rights have been violated or need protection.
 Exercise visitorial powers over jails, prisons, or detention facilities.
 Establish a program of research, education, and information to enhance respect for the
primacy of human rights.
 Recommend to Congress effective measures to promote human rights, and to provide
for compensation to victims of violations of human rights, or their families.
 Monitor the government’s compliance with international treaty obligations on human
rights.
 Grant immunity from prosecution to any person whose testimony or possession of
evidence is necessary or convenient to determine the truth in any matter it
investigates;
Which branch of the government is symbolized as a sword? Give a historical
background.

The sword symbolizes the Executive Branch of the government.

The President of the Philippines is elected by direct vote of the people, and has a term of six
years with no provision for reelection.

There have been 15 Presidents of the Philippines from the establishment of the office on
January 23, 1899, in the Malolos Republic. President Emilio Aguinaldo is the inaugural holder
of the office and held the position until March 23, 1901, when he was captured by the
Americans during the Philippine-American War.

The Office of the President of the Philippines was abolished after the capture of Aguinaldo,
and ceased to exist until the inauguration of the Philippine Commonwealth in 1935.

After the first national elections were held on September 16, 1935, Manuel L. Quezon was
elected as the second President of the Philippines and the first President of the Philippine
Commonwealth. Originally elected to a six-year term, President Quezon would stay in office
until 1944, because the 1935 Constitution was amended in 1940 to allow reelection, but
shortened the term of the President to four years. Quezon was elected again in 1941—
however, due to constitutional limitations, he would have not served the full four years—his
term started on November 15, 1935, and thus would end on November 15, 1943. In 1943,
however, President Quezon had to take an emergency oath of office, extending his term,
because of the outbreak of World War II.

When World War II forced the Philippine Commonwealth into exile, a different government
would be installed in the Philippines, which would later to be known as the Second Republic
of the Philippines. Jose P. Laurel would lead this government as the third President of the
Philippines and the only President of the Second Republic. Laurel stayed in office from 1943
to 1944 when the Second Republic was abolished. At this point, the President of the Second
Republic would overlap with the President of the Commonwealth. On September 17, 1945,
however, the laws of the Second Republic were declared null and void by the Supreme.

The Philippine Commonwealth would be reestablished in Philippine soil in 1945 with

President Sergio Osmeña as the second President of the Commonwealth and the fourth
President of the Philippines. Osmeña took his oath of office in the United States after the
demise of President Quezon. Osmeña would run in the first post-war presidential elections
held in 1946, but lose to Senate President Manuel Roxas.

President Roxas was elected in 1946 as the third President of the Philippine Commonwealth,
first President of the independent Republic of the Philippines, and the fifth President of the
Philippines. He would usher in the end of the Philippine Commonwealth on July 4, 1946, and
the birth of the Third Republic. Roxas would be followed by Presidents Elpidio Quirino,
Ramon Magsaysay, Carlos P. Garcia, and Diosdado Macapagal as the second, third, fourth,
and fifth President of the Third Republic and the sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth President of
the Philippines, respectively.

President Ferdinand E. Marcos became the last President of the Third Republic when he
declared martial law in 1972, while the 1973 Constitution suspended the 1935 Constitution, he
only formally proclaims the “New Republic”—the Fourth—in 1981. Marcos became the first
President of the Fourth Republic and the tenth President of the Philippines overall. Marcos
stayed in office for 20 years—the longest serving President of the Philippines.

In 1986, the EDSA Revolution successfully installed Corazon C. Aquino as the new President
of the Philippines—the 11th in the country’s history. President Aquino served as the second
and last President of the Fourth Republic at the beginning of her term. A transitional, Freedom
Constitution was put into effect in the same year. When the 1987 Constitution was put into
full force and effect, the Fourth Republic was ended and the Fifth Republic inaugurated. Thus,
President Aquino became the first President of the Fifth Republic. She would be followed by
Presidents Fidel V. Ramos, Joseph Ejercito Estrada, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, and Benigno
S. Aquino III as the second, third, fourth, and fifth President of the Fifth Republic and 12th,
13th, 14th and 15th President of the Philippines, respectively.

The current President, Rodrigo Duterte, is the sixth President of the Fifth Republic and the
16th President of the Philippines.

Which branch of the government is symbolized as a purse? Give a historical

background.

The purse symbolizes the Legislative Branch of the government.

Representation in the Spanish Cortes

Prior to the creation of a legislature in the Philippines, Filipinos, from time to time, were allowed
to sit in the Spanish Cortes as representatives of the Philippine Islands. In 1810, the Spanish
government allowed Filipinos to receive Spanish citizenship and appropriate representation in
the Cortes. When the Cadiz Constitution was in full force and effect, Filipino representation
became a standard in the Cortes. However, in 1837, the liberal Cortes finally abolished
representation and declared that overseas territories of Spain to be ruled by special laws. This
loss of representation was one of the main points that Jose Rizal and other propagandists were
fighting for during the Propaganda movement.

Malolos Republic, 1899 – 1901

The first Filipino legislature was convened on September 15, 1898 in Barasoain Church,
Malolos, Bulacan. Later known as the Malolos Republic, it drafted the first constitution of the
Philippines, which was also the first democratic constitution in Asia. The Congress included
delegates from different provinces of the Philippines, some elected and some appointed. It was a
short-lived legislature, unable to pass any laws due to the onset of the Philippine-American War.
The first Philippine Republic was ended on March 23, 1901 with the capture of President Emilio
Aguinaldo in Palanan, Isabela.

Philippine Commission, 1899 – 1916

In 1899, United States President William McKinley appointed a commission led by Dr. Jacob
Schurman to study and investigate the conditions in the Philippine Islands. This would be known
as the first Philippine Commission. It was followed by another investigative commission led by
William Howard Taft in 1900, which also had limited legislative and executive powers. From
1901 onwards, the Philippine Commission would be regularized. It exercised both executive and
legislative powers, with three Filipino delegates, namely Benito Legarda, Trinidad Pardo de
Tavera, Jose Luzuriaga. After the organization of the Philippine Assembly (see below) in 1907,
the commission stayed on as the upper house of the legislature.

Philippine Assembly, 1907 – 1916

Electoral representation in the Philippines by Filipinos began when the American insular
government allowed partial self-governance by establishing the Philippine Assembly. The
assembly, as the lower house, shared legislative power with the Philippine Commission, which
remained under American control, as membership in the Philippine Commission was still
restricted to appointed American officials. In 1907, still under American rule, the Philippines
held its first national elections for the newly created representative body, which had an inaugural
membership of 81 Filipinos representing their respective districts. In the succeeding years, the
number of districts were increased to 85 in 1910, and 91 in 1912.

Resident commissioners, 1907 – 1946

From 1907 to 1946, the Philippine legislature sent a representative to sit in the U.S. House of
Representatives, as resident commissioner. Under Spain, the Philippines had also been given
limited representation in the Spanish Cortes, and like the resident commissioners, they had the
right to speak, but not to vote. The restoration of Philippine independence in 1946 ended
Philippine representation in the U.S. Congress. (Note: To this day, Puerto Rico still has a
resident commissioner in the U.S. House of Representatives.)

The Philippine Legislature, 1916 – 1935

Upon the enactment of the Jones Law in 1916, the Filipinos were subsequently granted the
opportunity to hold other offices in the government. Positions in the Philippine Senate were
opened to Filipinos, with 12 senatorial districts and two senators elected from each. The
inaugural President of the Senate in 1916 was Manuel L. Quezon, representing the fifth
senatorial district. He would hold this position until the establishment of the Commonwealth of
the Philippines in 1935. For the 19 years prior to the Commonwealth, the Senate presidency was
the highest position a Filipino could hold.
From the first Philippine Commission to the establishment of the Commonwealth of the
Philippines, the Philippine legislature were passing public acts. This form of legislation is started
at Congress, with the approval of the American governor-general of the Philippine Islands.

Commonwealth of the Philippines, 1935 – 1946

On November 15, 1935, Quezon took his oath as the first President of the Commonwealth of the
Philippines, giving control of the executive branch of government to the Filipinos. It was also in
this era that the Supreme Court of the Philippines was completely Filipinized. By virtue of the
1935 Constitution, the bicameral Philippine legislature was merged to form the unicameral
National Assembly.

Two elections were held under the Commonwealth. The first, in 1935, elected the President of
the Philippines as well as members of the National Assembly; the second, in 1939, elected only
members of the National Assembly. The National Assembly would be retained until 1941, when
a new structure for the legislature was introduced through a constitutional amendment.

From the Commonwealth period to the inauguration of the Third Philippine Republic, the
Philippine legislature was passing Commonwealth acts (CA). This form of legislation is started
at the National Assembly and approved by the President of the Philippines.

Constitutional amendments of 1941

After six years under a unicameral legislature, the Constitution of 1935 was amended, dividing
the National Assembly into two separate houses. The Senate of the Philippines and the House of
Representatives were reestablished, with a Senate President and a Speaker of the House leading
their respective chambers.

The elections for members of these newly created chambers were held in 1941. However, the
onset of World War II prevented the elected members from assuming their posts and the
legislature of the Commonwealth of the Philippines was dissolved upon the exile of the
government of the Philippines.

The Second Republic, 1943

On October 14, 1943, the Japanese-sponsored Second Republic was inaugurated, with Jose. P.
Laurel as the President. This government followed the newly crafted 1943 Constitution, and
reverted the legislature back to a unicameral National Assembly. The National Assembly of the
Second Republic would remain in existence until the arrival of the Allied forces in 1944, which
liberated the Philippines from the Imperial Japanese forces.

Restoration of the Philippine Commonwealth, 1945 – 1946

Upon the reestablishment of the Commonwealth in 1945, President Sergio Osmeña called for a
special session of Congress. The first Congress convened on June 9 of that year, with most of the
senators and representatives, who were elected in 1941, assuming their positions. Manuel Roxas
and Jose C. Zulueta served as Senate President and Speaker of the House, respectively. Not all,
however, were allowed to take their post because some were incarcerated for collaboration with
the Japanese.

The inaugural session, was held in a converted school house in Lepanto St., Manila, as the
Legislative Building in Manila was reduced to ruins as an outcome of the war.

On April 23, 1946, national elections were held to choose new members of Congress, the
President, and the Vice President of the Philippines. After the elections the second Congress of
the Commonwealth convened on May 25, 1946. It would only last until July 4, 1946, with the
inauguration of the Third Republic of the Philippines.

The Third Republic, 1946 – 1972

The independent Republic of the Philippines was finally proclaimed on July 4, 1946 with
Manuel Roxas as President. The Second Congress of the Commonwealth was transformed into
the first Congress of the Republic of the Philippines, also made up of the Senate and the House
of Representatives. This would mark the beginning of the count of Congresses of the Republic
until the imposition of Martial Law in 1972, when Congress would be dissolved.

This era started the legislation of republic acts which would continue until 1972. Upon the
restoration of democracy in 1986 and the ratification of the 1987 Constitution, the naming of
laws as republic acts would be reinstated.

Martial law and the Fourth Republic, 1972-1986

On September 23, 1972 President Ferdinand E. Marcos issued Presidential Proclamation No.
1081, placing the entire country under Martial Law. This coincided with the closing of the
sessions of both chambers of Congress. Days before the scheduled reopening of the Senate and
the House of Representatives, Marcos promulgated the 1973 Constitution, which effectively
abolished the bicameral legislature and replaced it with a unicameral legislature. Opposition
legislators reported to the Legislative Building on January 22, 1973, but found the building
padlocked and under an armed guard.

Under martial rule, Marcos created the Batasang Bayan in 1976, by virtue of Presidential Decree
No. 995, to serve as a legislative advisory council—a quasi-legislative machinery to normalize
the legislative process for the eventual actualization of the 1973 Constitution. The Batasang
Bayan would hold office in the Philippine International Convention Center (a modernist structure
designed by National Artist for Architecture Leandro Locsin, within the Cultural Center of the
Philippines Complex—a pet project of First Lady Imelda R. Marcos). The consultative body
would serve until 1978.

The Batasang Bayan would be replaced in 1978 by an elected unicameral body: the Interim
Batasang Pambansa (IBP), a parliamentary legislature, as provided for in the 1973 Constitution.
On April 7, 1978, elections for were held. Those elected to the IBP would be called Mambabatas
Pambansa (Assemblymen) who would be elected per region, via a bloc-voting system. The IBP
opened on Independence Day 1984 in the Batasan Pambansa in Quezon City.

Members of the Regular Batasang Pambansa (RBP) were elected in 1984, this time at-large and
per province. The RBP held its inaugural session on July 23, 1984.

In 1986, President Marcos succumbed to international pressure and called for a snap presidential
election. Though Marcos and his running mate former Senator and Assemblyman Arturo
Tolentino were proclaimed by the Batasang Pambansa as the winners of the election, a popular
revolt installed opposition leaders Corazon C. Aquino and Salvador H. Laurel as President and
Vice President, respectively.

For both the IBP and RBP, the laws passed would be called “Batas Pambansa,” which did not
continue the previous numbering of Republic Acts.

The Fifth Republic, 1987 – present

On March 25, 1986, President Aquino declared a revolutionary government by virtue of

Presidential Proclamation No. 3, s. 1986, which suspended some provisions of the 1973
Constitution and promulgated in its stead a transitory constitution. This effectively abolished the
Batasang Pambansa. A constitutional commission, tasked with drafting a new charter, was
created by virtue of Proclamation No. 9 issued on April 23, 1986.

Following the overwhelming ratification of the 1987 Constitution through a national plebiscite
held on February 2, 1987, the 1987 Constitution finally came into full force and effect on
February 11, 1987. It re-established a bicameral legislature, composed of the House of
Representatives and the Senate, much like the way it was before martial law. The former, being
much larger in composition, reopened in the Batasan Pambansa while the Senate, still with its 24
members, returned to the Legislative Building. In 1997, the Senate of the Philippines moved to
the GSIS building where it is currently housed.

Laws passed by the bicameral legislature would restore “Republic Acts”, as the laws were named
in the Third Republic (1946-1972). Moreover, it was decided to maintain the old count, taking up
where the last pre-martial law Congress left off. Thus, the last Congress under the 1935
Constitution was the seventh Congress, and the first Congress under the 1987 Constitution
became the eighth Congress.

Which branch of the government is symbolized as a scale? Give a historical background.

The scale symbolizes the Judicial Branch of the government.

The royal audencia was established on May 5, 1583, composed of a president, four oidores
(justices) and a fiscal. The audencia exercised both administrative and judicial functions. Its
functions and structure were modified in 1815 when a chief justice replaced its president and the
number of justices was increased. It came to be known as the Audencia Territorial de Manila
with two branches, civil and criminal. A royal decree issued on July 24, 1861 converted it to a
purely judicial body with its decisions appealable to the Court of Spain in Madrid. A territorial
audencia in Cebu, and audencia for criminal cases in Vigan were organized on February 26,
1898.

Philippine Revolution and First Republic

In the three phases of the revolution: 1896-1897; 1898; 1899-1901, the exigencies of war
prevented the thorough organization of the administration of justice. Katipunan councils, then the
provisional governments of Tejeros, Biak-na-Bato, and the Revolutionary Republic proclaimed
in Kawit, essentially had General Emilio Aguinaldo exercising decree-making powers instituting
ad hoc courts and reviewing any appeals concerning their decisions.

In 1899, when the Malolos Constitution was ratified, it provided for a Supreme Court of Justice.
President Aguinaldo proposed the appointment of Apolinario Mabini as Chief Justice, but the
appointment and the convening of the Supreme Court of Justice never materialized because of
the Philippine-American War.

American military rule

During the Philippine-American War, General Wesley Merrit suspended the audencias when a
military government was established after Manila fell to American forces in August,
1898. Major General Elwell S. Otis re-established the Audencia on May 29, 1899 by virtue of
General Order No. 20, which provided for six Filipino members of the audencia.

Establishment of the Supreme Court

With the establishment of civil government, Act No. 136 of the Philippine Commission
abolished the audencia and established the present Supreme Court on June 11, 1901, with
Cayetano Arellano as the first chief justice together with associate justices—the majority of
whom were Americans.

Commonwealth: Filipinization of the Supreme Court

With the ratification of the 1935 Constitution, the membership was increased to 11 with two
divisions of five members each. The Supreme Court was Filipinized upon the inauguration of
the Commonwealth of the Philippines on November 15, 1935. The composition of the court was
reduced by virtue of Commonwealth Act No. 3. It provided for a Supreme Court, headed by a
chief justice with six associate justices.

World War II and the Third Republic

During World War II, the National Assembly passed legislation granting emergency powers to
President Manuel L. Quezon; Chief Justice Jose Abad Santos was made concurrent Secretary of
Justice and acting President of the Philippines in unoccupied areas. After his capture and
execution at the hands of the Japanese, the Commonwealth government-in-exile had no system
of courts.

Meanwhile, the Japanese organized the Philippine Executive Commission in occupied areas on
January 8, 1942, which gave way to the Second Republic in October 14, 1943. By the end of
World War II, the regular function of the courts had been restored, beginning with the
appointment of a new Supreme Court on June 6, 1945. On September 17, 1945, the laws of the
Second Republic were declared null and void; a Supreme Court decision on Co Kim Cham v.
Eusebio Valdez Tan Keh and Arsenio P. Dizon recognized this.

Martial law

The Supreme Court was retained during the martial law years under rules similar to the 1935
Constitution, but with the exception few key factors, e.g.:

1. The 1973 Constitution further increased the membership of the Supreme Court to 15,
with two divisions;
2. The process by which a chief justice and associate justices are appointed was changed
under to grant the president (Ferdinand Marcos during this time) the sole authority to
appoint members of the Supreme Court. There were five chief justices that were
appointed under this provision.

Present-day Supreme Court

Pursuant to the provisions of the 1987 Constitution, the Supreme Court is composed of a chief
Justice and 14 associate justices who serve until the age of 70. The court may sit en banc or in
one of its three divisions composed of five members each. The chief justice and associate justices
are appointed by the President of the Philippines, chosen from a shortlist submitted by the
Judicial and Bar Council. The president must fill up a vacancy within 90 days of occurrence.

Article VIII, Section 4 (2) of the constitution explicitly provides for the cases that must be heard
en banc, and Section 4 (3) for cases that may be heard by divisions.

The Judiciary Reorganization Act of 1980 transferred the administrative supervision of all courts
and their personnel from the Department of Justice to the Supreme Court. This was affirmed
by Article VIII, Section 6 of the 1987 Constitution. To effectively discharge this constitutional
mandate, the Office of the Court Administrator (OCA) was created under Presidential Decree
No. 828, as amended by Presidential Decree No. 842 (and its functions further strengthened by a
resolution of the Supreme Court en banc dated October 24, 1996). Its principal function is the
supervision and administration of the lower courts throughout the Philippines and all their
personnel. It reports and recommends to the Supreme Court all actions that affect the lower court
management. The OCA is headed by the court administrator, three deputy court administrators,
and three assistant court administrators.
According to the 1987 Constitution, Article VIII, Section 5, the Supreme Court exercises the
following powers:

1. Exercise jurisdiction over cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers and
consuls, and over petitions for certiorari, prohibition, mandamus, quo warranto,
and habeas corpus.
2. Review, revise, reverse, modify, or affirm, on appeal or certiorari, as the law or
the Rules of Court may provide, final judgments and orders of the lower courts in:
 All cases in which the constitutionality or validity of any treaty,
international or executive agreement, law, presidential decree,
proclamation, order, instruction, ordinance, or regulation is in question;
 All cases involving the legality of any tax, impost, assessment, or toll, or
any penalty imposed in relation thereto;
 All cases in which the jurisdiction of any lower court is in issue;
 All criminal cases in which the penalty imposed is reclusion perpetua or
higher;
 All cases in which only an error or question of law is involved;
3. Assign temporarily judges of lower courts to other stations as public interest may
require. Such temporary assignments shall not exceed six months without the
consent of the judge concerned.
4. Order a change of venue or place of trial to avoid a miscarriage of justice.

1. Promulgate rules concerning the protection and enforcement of constitutional rights,

pleading, practice, and procedure in all courts; the admission to the practice of law, the
Integrated Bar; and legal assistance to the underprivileged. Such rules shall provide a
simplified and inexpensive procedure for the speedy disposition of cases, shall be
uniform for all courts the same grade, and shall not diminish, increase or modify
substantive rights. Rules of procedure of special courts and quasi-judicial bodies shall
remain effective unless disapproved by the Supreme Court.
2. Appoint all officials and employees of the Judiciary in accordance with the Civil Service
Law (Sec. 5 , id.).

The Supreme Court has adopted and promulgated the Rules of Court for the protection and
enforcement of constitutional rights, pleadings and practice and procedure in all courts, and the
admission in the practice of law. Amendments are promulgated through the Committee on
Revision of Rules. The Court also issues administrative rules and regulations in the form of
court issuances posted on the Supreme Court E-Library website.