CHAPTER III
ACTIVE OPERATING POWERS: THE EXECUTIVE
Article 18. The division of power in the Republic of the Philippines are:
1) The constitutional powers;
2) The active operating powers; and
3) The moderating powers.
The constitutional powers may be classified into constitutional amending powers and authoritative interpretation powers. Constitutional amending powers are provided in Article 86. Authoritative interpretation of powers in this Constitution is the exclusive jurisdiction of the Constitutional Tribunal. It has power to declare unconstitutional an Act of Parliament by a vote of two-thirds of its members, and unconstitutional an Act of the Troika of the executive power by a vote of the absolute majority of its members.
The higher echelon of the active operating powers in the Federal Government are vested in a collective leadership composed of a Troika in the persons of the President, the Prime Minister, and the Speaker of the Parliament.
The President shall supervise the Ministry of National Identity, Culture, and Education, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Ministry of National Defense, as well as the Authorities that may be created, related to these Ministries.
The Prime Minister has jurisdiction over all other Ministries of the Federal Government related to domestic and economic problems and such Authorities as may be created to support those Ministries.
The Speaker of Parliament shall preside at all meetings of Parliament and direct its affairs. As a member of the Troika, he shall decide all conflicts of jurisdiction in the executive power between the President and the Prime Minister. In addition, he will participate in the preparation of the program of government to be submitted annually and from time to time to the people and to Parliament.
The Troika, by majority vote, shall propose, annually and from time to time, the government policy and the State of the Nation for consideration of the Parliament, and shall decide all conflicts of jurisdiction in the supervision of ministries.
The members of the cabinet shall be called Ministers of the different ministries. They may or may not be members of Parliament. They shall be chosen by the President or by the Prime Minister, depending on who has jurisdiction over the supervision of the Ministry. The Cabinet may sit en banc with the President presiding or, in divisions of two, with the Prime Minister
presiding over the Cabinet under his jurisdiction.
Parliament is another active operating power.
The Judiciary with jurisdiction over private law, with the Supreme Court at the top, shall be the third active operating power.
EXPLANATORY NOTES
Montesquieu, more than two centuries ago in his book The Spirit of the Laws, enunciated his three divisions of government: executive, legislative, and judicial.
In this modern complicated age, it is time that we develop the efficiency and effectivity of the Government by dividing its power into:
1) Constitutional
2) Active operating
3) Moderating
The provision of Article 18 is, to a great extent, self-explanatory. We shall limit ourselves to answer objections which might be propounded against the idea of a Federal Government and the concept of the collective leadership, composed of a Troika.
Article 18 may be studied jointly with Article 9, which provides for a Federal Republic that will comprise five States, namely: Northern Luzon, Southern Luzon, Visayas, Muslim Mindanao, and Christian Mindanao. The six governments (the Federal Government and five States Governments) will have on the top a well-balanced collective leadership, a Troika, with divided and well-defined executive responsibilities, and the duty to recommend to the legislative body the government program.
QUESTION: Is the Philippines big enough to justify its division into five States?
ANSWER: We have today (as of 1981) a population of 49,000,000 people living in an area of about 116,000 square miles, bigger than Great Britain, jointly with Scotland and Ireland. Area-wise, the Philippines is slightly smaller than Japan, but more abundant in natural resources.
QUESTION: What will happen if the members of the Troika belong to different parties, each one trying to promote the political interests of his respective party?
ANSWER: The executive powers of each member of the Troika are well¬-defined. In the Federal Government, the President will have under his jurisdiction the appointment and supervision of the Minister of National Identity, Culture, and Education, the Minister of National Defense, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs.
The Prime Minister will be entrusted with the powers to select the Ministers of all other Ministries in the government that are generally related to economic development, public works, and all other domestic matters. It may be true that in some cases, trade and foreign affairs problems might overlap with domestic trade matters. In those cases, the Speaker of Parliament will be called upon to decide the issue.
In addition to its executive powers, the Troika is entrusted with the duty to recommend to Parliament the program of government that will require legislation. In case the members of the Troika belong to different parties, it might be possible that the Troika may not agree on the solution of a given problem. In such a case, as we already said and we repeat it here, rather than a disadvantage, it might actually be an advantage for Parliament to have the benefit of three different views to solve a difficult legislative problem. But should the Troika arrive at a common ground, there would be the advantage that legislation could be expeditiously adopted and to this extent the Troika is beneficial.
This provides the efficiency of a dictatorship without the quarrels common in the US Congress, where the two houses of Congress, arrive at a legislation and must agree on a uniform act even to the last comma. President Carter’s inability to have an energy bill expeditiously approved by a Congress dominated by his own party in the two houses greatly jeopardized his prestige as an effective President.
Despotism flows from an ambitious person who has an accommodating conscience. He can, with the support of ruffians, the army, and all the powers of a centralized government, overcome the power of the people made possible by a defective constitution. The best guarantee to prevent the death of democracy in any country is a Federal System of Government with a well-balanced collective leadership. (To be continued/PN)
