Article 26. The Federal Authorities shall supervise and synchronize the functions and projects with the corresponding State Authorities, with the exception of the Tax Collection Authority which has exclusive jurisdiction to collect all taxes levied in all levels of government.
Article 27. The five States which shall cover the entire territorial domain of the country shall have similar active operating powers.
The leadership in the executive department shall be vested in Troikas composed of the Governor-General, the Premier, and the Speaker of the State Assemblies.
The Governor-General shall have jurisdiction over Departments (instead of Ministries) of the State, entrusted with interstate matters, the Department of Culture and Education, and the Department of Peace and Order.
The Premier shall have supervision over all other Departments which will be mainly concerned with the economic development of the States.
The Speaker of the State Assembly shall have the corresponding powers and duties of the Speaker of Parliament.
EXPLANATORY NOTES
The Department of Culture and Education is related to the Department of Peace and Order, both under the jurisdiction of the Governor-General. Peace and order is best guaranteed by good human values.
Unlike in Canada, where the Premier of a State is allowed to take matters related to the promotion of minerals owned by the Provinces with foreign governments, in this Constitution, the Republic of the Philippines will have only one spokesman with all foreign countries even on matters related to trade.
Interstate relations and relations between the State and the Federal Government are matters within the jurisdiction of the Secretary of State under the supervision of the Governor-General. These areas are proper functions of the State Secretary. They are matters that are parallel in lower level to the functions of foreign affairs.
QUESTION: There is the saying that too many cooks spoil the broth. Isn’t this a case of too many cooks, 18 of them, involved in affairs of the Republic of the Philippines which traditionally have been handled by just one person, the President of the Commonwealth, and since the Republic, the President of the Republic?
ANSWER: This is not the case of too many cooks because the different cooks will be in charge of cooking different dishes. The problems of a country today are much more complicated, and if the leadership is entrusted to 18 government officials, the problems of the country become more manageable, as long as the political powers vested in the members of the Troikas are well delimited.
QUESTION: May not the federal system, made up of the National Government and five State Governments, prove more expensive in terms of personnel?
ANSWER: Cost must be judged in relation to productivity and the honesty and integrity of the officials. A one man dictatorship that has no constraints and is protected by immunity and has vast powers over the resources, and the contracts that he can dispense with, can be a very expensive system because of unaccountability and serious mistakes that a one-man decision can bring.
CHAPTER IV
ACTIVE OPERATING POWERS: THE LEGISLATIVE
Article 28. All the legislative federal powers of the Government are vested in a unicameral body to be called Parliament, composed of four members for every two million voters. A fraction of less than two million in a district shall not be counted. The constituencies shall be delimited every ten years by the Commission on Elections based on the census to be taken one year preceding the end of a period.
By the unanimous vote of the President and the Prime Minister, an Act of Parliament may be vetoed, but it may be overridden by a vote of 60% of the members of Parliament. A similar provision shall apply to State Assemblies.
The Parliament shall convene on the third Tuesday of January of every year, unless otherwise provided by an Act of Parliament. It shall recess and reconvene at its pleasure or upon call by a majority of the Troika.
EXPLANATORY NOTES
A unicameral legislative body has been the consistent and logical choice of three constitutional conventions of the Philippines, each held in Malolos in 1899, in Manila in 1935, and in Quezon City in 1972. It was only the charisma of President Manuel L. Quezon that compelled the adoption of the bicameral legislature in 1940, with the institution of the Senate, the upper house in the Congress of the Philippines.
The last days of the sessions of the Congress were always crowded with urgent legislative business, and progressive legislation approved by the House of Representatives, which the Senate for personal reasons or for lack of cooperative understanding, sometimes failed to act upon. The bicameral legislature as a system of legislative organization had ample indicting evidence in Philippine legislative history.
The unicameral legislature avoids wastage in material and human resources and functions effectively. The involvement of private citizens in the legislative process through participation in the Parliament of Citizens and in the Citizen’s Assemblies (Article 71), as provided in this Constitution insures meaningful participatory democracy.
The Parliament may override the joint veto of the President and the Prime Minister by a vote of 60 percent of its members. (To be continued/PN)
