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    Demetria Vs Alba

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    nchlrys
    Paragraph 1 of Section 44 of PD 1177 is unconstitutional. The Philippine Constitution prohibits the passage of any law authorizing the transfer of appropriations between departments. However, it allows the President and other heads of branches to augment items in the budget with savings from other items within their department. PD 1177 goes beyond this by allowing the President to arbitrarily transfer funds between any programs across departments without regard for whether the funds are actual savings. This amounts to an undue delegation of legislative power and violates the standards in the Constitution, rendering that provision null and void. Transfers of savings within a department are still allowed.

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    Demetria Vs Alba

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    nchlrys
    148 views1 page
    Paragraph 1 of Section 44 of PD 1177 is unconstitutional. The Philippine Constitution prohibits the passage of any law authorizing the transfer of appropriations between departments. However, it allows the President and other heads of branches to augment items in the budget with savings from other items within their department. PD 1177 goes beyond this by allowing the President to arbitrarily transfer funds between any programs across departments without regard for whether the funds are actual savings. This amounts to an undue delegation of legislative power and violates the standards in the Constitution, rendering that provision null and void. Transfers of savings within a department are still allowed.

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    Demetria vs Alba

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    Paragraph 1 of Section 44 of PD 1177 is unconstitutional. The Philippine Constitution prohibits the passage of any law authorizing the transfer of appropriations between departments. However, it allows the President and other heads of branches to augment items in the budget with savings from other items within their department. PD 1177 goes beyond this by allowing the President to arbitrarily transfer funds between any programs across departments without regard for whether the funds are actual savings. This amounts to an undue delegation of legislative power and violates the standards in the Constitution, rendering that provision null and void. Transfers of savings within a department are still allowed.

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    148 views1 page

    Demetria Vs Alba

    Uploaded by

    nchlrys
    Paragraph 1 of Section 44 of PD 1177 is unconstitutional. The Philippine Constitution prohibits the passage of any law authorizing the transfer of appropriations between departments. However, it allows the President and other heads of branches to augment items in the budget with savings from other items within their department. PD 1177 goes beyond this by allowing the President to arbitrarily transfer funds between any programs across departments without regard for whether the funds are actual savings. This amounts to an undue delegation of legislative power and violates the standards in the Constitution, rendering that provision null and void. Transfers of savings within a department are still allowed.

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    DEMETRIA VS ALBA

    148 SCRA 208 Political Law Transfer of Funds Power of the President to Realign Funds
    Demetrio Demetria et al as taxpayers and members of the Batasan Pambansa sought to prohibit
    Manuel Alba, then Minister of the Budget, from disbursing funds pursuant to Presidential Decree No.
    1177 or the Budget Reform Decree of 1977. Demetria assailed the constitutionality of paragraph 1,
    Section 44 of the said PD. This Section provides that:
    The President shall have the authority to transfer any fund, appropriated for the different
    departments, bureaus, offices and agencies of the Executive Department, which are included
    in the General Appropriations Act, to any program, project or activity of any department,
    bureau, or office included in the General Appropriations Act or approved after its enactment.
    Demetria averred that this is unconstitutional for it violates the 1973 Constitution.
    ISSUE: Whether or not Paragraph 1, Section 44, of PD 1177 is constitutional.
    HELD: No. The Constitution provides that no law shall be passed authorizing any transfer of
    appropriations, however, the President, the Prime Minister, the Speaker, the Chief Justice of the
    Supreme Court, and the heads of constitutional commissions may by law be authorized to augment
    any item in the general appropriations law for their respective offices from savings in other items of
    their respective appropriations.
    However, paragraph 1 of Section 44 of PD 1177 unduly overextends the privilege granted under the
    Constitution. It empowers the President to indiscriminately transfer funds from one department,
    bureau, office or agency of the Executive Department to any program, project or activity of any
    department, bureau or office included in the General Appropriations Act or approved after its
    enactment, without regard as to whether or not the funds to be transferred are actually
    savings in the item from which the same are to be taken, or whether or not the transfer is for the
    purpose of augmenting the item to which said transfer is to be made. It does not only completely
    disregard the standards set in the fundamental law, thereby amounting to an undue delegation of
    legislative powers, but likewise goes beyond the tenor thereof. Indeed, such constitutional infirmities
    render the provision in question null and void.
    But it should be noted, transfers of savings within one department from one item to another in the
    GAA may be allowed by law in the interest of expediency and efficiency. There is no transfer from
    one department to another here.

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