In my last column, I wrote about the judiciary. To that article, I must add that I really believe that right now, we have a really good Supreme Court.
Chief Justice Alexander Gesmundo and Senior Associate Justice Marvic Leonen are innovative leaders that will bring the judiciary to new heights.
I am thrilled with President Duterte’s recent appointments in the court, in particular, that of Justices Japar Dimaampao, Jose Midas Marquez, Antonio Kho, and Maria Filomena Singh.
When the latter was appointed, I described her as the one of the best judicial appointments of Duterte. She is brilliant, hardworking, progressive, both rigorous and imaginative. Her integrity is beyond doubt and she is fully committed to give access to justice for all.
I also said she is also quite young, which means she could be Chief Justice one day. Her being a woman is a bonus, given she will now be just one of two women in the Court.
For today, as part of my transition to the new government series, let me write about the legislative branch of government.
Indeed, except for the presidency, no other institution plays a more pivotal role in the life of a nation than the legislature, or the law-making body.
This is true with the Congress of the Philippines.
Under the current constitutional set-up of government, law-making is exercised by a bicameral legislature, a.k.a. THE Congress, composed of the Senate with 24 members and the House of Representatives consisting of district representatives and party list representatives.
The Senators shall enjoy a six-year term, to serve for no more than two consecutive terms. As provided in the present Constitution, the House of Representatives has two types of membership.
The district representatives with not more than 250 members, and those elected through a party-list system of registered national, regional, and sectoral parties or organizations to constitute 20 per centum of the total number of representatives.
The First Philippine Republic of 1898-1899 adopted a unicameral congress, followed by the Philippine Commission of 1901, a colonial legislative system composed of all-American appointees later on evolving into a bicameral legislature by virtue of the Jones Act of 1916.
A unicameral National Assembly replaced the bicameral body after the 1935 Philippine Constitution was ratified. A constitutional amendment in 1941 restored the bicameral legislature that came to be called the Congress of the Philippines.
September 1972 saw a major change in the legislature when President Ferdinand E. Marcos placed the country under martial law when Congress was abolished and replaced in 1978 by a Marcos-controlled unicameral National Assembly, known as Batasang Pambansa.
This was the state of Congress until, Marcos was ousted in the 1986 EDSA Revolution to usher in the present Constitution and rebirth of the old bicameral legislature.
Congress is a vital cog in the government and the society as large.
Aside from enacting laws, the legislature also exercises inherent, specific, and implied powers which are essential to the proper performance of its constitutional duties.
Inherent powers include the power to determine the rules of proceedings; to compel attendance of absent members to obtain quorum to do business; to keep journal of its proceedings; etc.
It is likewise expressly vested by the Constitution with specific powers such as power to appropriate, and power to impeach; (to initiate all cases of impeachment is the power of the House of Representatives and to try all cases of impeachment is the power of the Senate).
It has the power to confirm treaties (Senate); to declare the existence of war; to concur amnesty; and to act as board of canvasser for presidential/vice-presidential votes, among others.
The Congress is also given powers to check on the powers of the president.
Among these are: Checking the president’s power to appropriate money for government use (Article VI, Section 25); Providing consent on appointments made by the president (Article VII, Section 16); Checking the president’s power as commander in chief in the suspension of writ of habeas corpus or declaration of martial law (Article VII, Section 17); and concurring with president in granting amnesty to individuals (Article VII, Section 19).
Congress can also convert into a constituent assembly and propose charter change which must be approved by the people in a plebiscite. It can also call for a constitutional convention that can propose constitutional amendments and major constitutional revision that can make us have a parliamentary form of government or transform the Philippine into a federal state.
President-elect Marcos is expected to have a super majority in both Houses of Congress. It can pass laws that it wants and probably enact charter change as well.
One can only hope that these will all be done in accordance with national interest and not that of the ruling family and its allies.
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