Tag: Congress

breaking news, constitutional law, News, The President

(Updated) PNoy to submit for CA confirmation Roxas as local govt sec & Abaya as transport sec

(Updated) PNoy to submit for CA confirmation Roxas as local government secretary and Abaya as transportation secretary: Distinction between a regular appointment and an ad interim  appointment

PNoy  will forthwith submit the nominations of  transportation secretary Mar  Roxas as local government secretary and Cavite Rep. Jun Abaya as transportation  secretary to the Commission on Appointments for confirmation.  

   Upon announcing their appointment, the President fielded questions from the media and said,  “They cannot sit in their respective posts until they are confirmed …Congress is in session so we cannot make an ad interim appointment. This is why we are asking the CA to act on these appointments immediately.” (ANC News)

    The following are the pertinent provisions of the Constitution:

“Art. VII. Section 16. The President shall nominate and, with the consent of the Commission on Appointments, appoint the heads of the executive departments, ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls, or officers of the armed forces from the rank of colonel or naval captain, and other officers whose appointments are vested in him in this Constitution. He shall also appoint all other officers of the Government whose appointments are not otherwise provided for by law, and those whom he may be authorized by law to appoint. The Congress may, by law, vest the appointment of other officers lower in rank in the President alone, in the courts, or in the heads of departments, agencies, commissions, or boards.

“The President shall have the power to make appointments during the recess of the Congress, whether voluntary or compulsory, but such appointments shall be effective only until disapproved by the Commission on Appointments or until the next adjournment of the Congress.”

     The first sentence provides: : “shall nominate and, with the consent of the Commission on Appointments, appoint…”

      The appointments do not take effect unless  “consented to”  by the Commission on Appointments.

      The second paragraph provides:  “shall have the power to make appointments during the recess.. shall be effective only until disapproved by the Commission on Appointments or until the next adjournment…”

     In other words, when Congress is not in session, the chief executive has more leeway in the sense that the “appointee” can start working but is an “unconfirmed” appointee  or he/she has to go to the trouble of going back to the Commission on Appointment for confirmation (an ad interim appointment). 

   For purposes of academic discussion, the following news feature from the archives of Vera Files illustrates the distinction between a regular appointment and an ad interim appointment:    

“ Robredo no longer ‘acting’ DILG secretary, gets regular appointment from Aquino June 27, 2011/ By Ellen Tordesillas. After almost a year, President Benigno Aquino III has decided that he can work with Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo, whom he is keeping in the Cabinet and to whom he is finally handing over supervision of the Philippine National Police.

“Last June 13, Aquino issued Robredo, who assumed the post in an acting capacity, an “ad interim” appointment.

“The appointment elevates Robredo to the status of full-fledged secretary, with Malacanang finally submitting his name to the Commission on Appointments for confirmation once Congress reopens in July.

“ `We confirm that last June 13, President Aquino issued an ad interim appointment to Mr. Jesse Robredo as secretary of Interior and Local Government,” Presidential Spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said in a text message in answer to VERA Files’ query about Robredo’s change of official status.

“Lacierda also confirmed that the PNP will now come under Robredo’s supervision.

“Ad interim appointments are issued when Congress is not in session to allow the official to legally perform his duties until the Commission on Appointments confirms or bypasses the appointment. The first regular session of the 15th Congress adjourned on June 8. It will resume for its second regular session on July 25.

“Aquino came under fire after VERA Files revealed last year that Robredo, despite his credentials, was excluded from the first batch of appointments Aquino made at the start of his administration on June 30, 2010. Aquino appointed Robredo in an acting capacity on July 9, 2010, but did not give him control over the PNP. xxx ”

 

News, The News Media, The President

Is the SONA (State of the Nation Address) relevant to you? Vote in our poll

Beyond the media hype and the excuse to parade designer gowns and garb,  is the SONA (State of the Nation Address) relevant to you? Would you rather do something else than listen to the SONA? Tell him so, and tell the media organizations — participate in our polls (click the button of your choice, then click “Vote”):

constitutional law, Criminal law, Rules of Court, The President

Go ahead: Convene the rump session (half of a constituent assembly)

Photo credit: Pecto Camero, MRS-PRIB / 04 June 2009 01:03:11 AM Right-clicked from www.congress.gov.ph used here for non-commercial purposes.
Photo credit: Pecto Camero, MRS-PRIB / 04 June 2009 01:03:11 AM Right-clicked from http://www.congress.gov.ph used here for non-commercial purposes.

Rump session, because legally, the constituent assembly (con-ass) should be convened in joint assembly (Senate and Lower House), and voting separately because of the bicameral nature of the legislature. Joint assembly, because it is deliberative and requires a sense that the other half (the Senate) is moving in the same direction.

Administration congressmen should go ahead and convene their half-of-a- constituent-assembly. They should calendar it. Today. Or a day after the State of the Nation. Sign payrolls of the staff for the half-a-constituent assembly. Sign DTR’s (daily time records). Sign vouchers and checks and disbursement forms to pay for the supplies, xerox, food, electricity, maintenance, supplies, etc. Sign contracts for extra and extension of utility and security services Sign contracts and memos. Spend the people’s money. They will incur criminal liability; this enterprise presumes 2010 will never come or that, the next President had entered a modus vivendi not to allow any criminal prosecution of any of the incumbents.

Congress has eleven “non-legislative” powers, as follows (here goes my Justice V.V. Mendoza course outline):

1)to act as Board of Canvassers; 2)call for special elections in case of vacancy, President and VP; 3)Decide on disability of the President when Cabinet disputes capability; 4)Impeachment; 5)Declare a state of war and delegate emergency powers;

6)act on declaration of martial law, suspension of writ; 7)concur in amnesties; 8)concur in treaties; 9)participate in appointment process thru Commission on Appointment; 10)review agreements of government with foreign corporations over utilization of natural resources (President has to report , 30 days);

and…. 11) Constituent power, or the power to propose amendments to the Constitution by a vote of three-fourths of all members of Congress.

The three-fourths (separately, Lower House and Upper House) of the members should be present and voting on the floor when the amendment or revision is up for approval (mere signatures not allowed).

Can the congressmen argue: “ Well, if you’re correct, this is just our half of it. It’s not entirely illegal, it’s half of the process, it’s just pending deliberation and approval by the Upper House….so, we’ll do our half of it first.”

But precisely. It requires a sense that the Senate is moving in the same direction in order not to spend taxpayers’ money on an enterprise that would be void; the Senate already approved a resolution that it will not convene itself into a counterpart con-ass. At least half a dozen laws would have to be violated by members of the Lower House just juggling items and juggling funds paying for salaries and looking for money for a plebiscite.

The action in the Supreme Court is premature (also, the resolutory part of H.R. 1109 merely quotes the provision of the Constitution, “upon a vote of three-fourths of all its (Congress’) members”; you cannot litigate just on the Whereas clauses; the Supreme Court also does not entertain petitions to ask for its opinion (in effect, for declaratory relief, or a request to interpret provisions; disguised as a petition for certiorari and prohibition).   The time to file the action is when an amendment is presented before the   members of the Lower House and they actually assemble and sit in their rump session and moneys start getting disbursed and they start approving amendments by their half-selves (without the Senate); hell, i want to see the amendments, bring it; bring the prime-minister-amendments.

The widespread indignation however is not premature, if only for the insult being heaped on all of us.

Go ahead. Convene your rump session.