EXECUTIVE BRANCH OF GOVERNMENT operations in pursuance of his duties as the

administrative head shall be promulgated in

Article VII, Section 1, of the 1987 Constitution vests administrative orders.
executive power on the President of the Proclamations — Acts of the President fixing a
Philippines. The President is the Head of State and Head date or declaring a status or condition of public moment
of Government, and functions as the commander-in- or interest, upon the existence of which the operation
chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. As chief of a specific law or regulation is made to depend, shall
executive, the President exercises control over all the be promulgated in proclamations which shall have the
executive departments, bureaus, and offices. force of an executive order.
Memorandum orders — Acts of the President
THE PRESIDENT OF THE PHILIPPINES on matters of administrative detail, or of subordinate or
temporary interest which only concern a particular
The President of the Philippines is elected by direct vote
officer or government office shall be embodied in
by the people for a term of six years. He may only serve
memorandum orders.
for one term, and is ineligible for reelection. The term of Memorandum circulars — Acts of the President
the President of the Philippines starts at noon of the on matters relating to internal administration, which
30th day of June after the election. the President desires to bring to the attention of all or
some of the departments, agencies, bureaus, or offices
QUALIFICATIONS
of the government, for information or compliance, shall
The qualifications for an individual aspiring to become be embodied in memorandum circulars.
the President of the Philippines are outlined in Article General or special orders — Acts and commands
VII, Section 2 of the 1987 Constitution. According to the of the President in his capacity as commander-in-chief
constitution, an individual may become President of the Armed Forces of the Philippines shall be issued as
general or special orders.
provided he meets the following criteria:
It is important to note that during the term of President
1. natural born Filipino; Ferdinand E. Marcos, he used executive issuances
2. a registered voter; known as presidential decrees as a form of legislation.
3. must be able to read and write; These decrees have the full force and effect of laws
4. 40 years of age at the day of the election; and because at the time the legislature did not exist and,
5. must have resided in the Philippines ten years when the 1973 Constitution was put into full force and
before the election is held. effect, it gave the power to the President to do as such.
The President of the Philippines is elected by direct vote This continued until the first year of President Corazon
of the people, and has a term of six years with no C. Aquino’s term. However, President Aquino opted to
provision for reelection. used executive orders instead of presidential decrees.
President Aquino’s executive orders, however, still had
POWERS OF THE PRESIDENT the full force and effect of laws until the ratification of
the 1987 Constitution.
Besides the constitution, the powers of the President of
the Philippines are specifically outlined in Executive 3. Power over aliens
Order No. 292, s. 1987, otherwise known as the The President of the Philippines has certain powers over
Administrative Code of 1987. The following powers are: non-Filipinos in the Philippines. The powers he may
exercise over foreigners in the country are as follows:
1. Power of control over the executive branch  The chief executive may have an alien in the
The President of the Philippines has the mandate of Philippines deported from the country after due
control over all the executive departments, bureaus, process.
and offices. This includes restructuring, reconfiguring,  The President may change the status of a
and appointments of their respective officials. The foreigner, as prescribed by law, from a non-
Administrative Code also provides for the President to immigrant status to a permanent resident
be responsible for the abovementioned offices’ strict status without necessity of visa.
implementation of laws.  The President may choose to overrule the
Board of Commissioners of the Bureau of
2. Power ordinance power Immigration before their decision becomes final
The President of the Philippines has the power to give and executory (after 30 days of the issuance of
executive issuances, which are means to streamline the the decision). The Board of Commissioners of
policy and programs of an administration. There are six the Bureau of Immigration has jurisdiction over
issuances that the President may issue. They are the all deportation cases.
following as defined in the Administrative Code of 1987:  The president is also mandated by the
Executive orders — Acts of the President Administrative Code of 1987 to exercise powers
providing for rules of a general or permanent character as recognized by the generally accepted
in implementation or execution of constitutional or principles of international law.
statutory powers shall be promulgated in executive
orders.
Administrative orders — Acts of the President
which relate to particular aspects of governmental
4. Powers of eminent domain, escheat, land Appointments (a committee composed of members
reservation and recovery of ill-gotten wealth from the House of Representatives and the Senate of
The President of the Philippines has the authority to the Philippines).
exercise the power of eminent domain. The power of
eminent domains means the state has the power to 6. Power of general supervision over local
seize or authorize the seizure of private property for governments
public use with just compensation. There are two The President of the Philippines, as chief executive, has
constitutional provisions, however, that limit the the mandate to supervise local governments in the
exercise of such power: Article III, Section 9 Philippines, despite their autonomous status as
(1) of the Constitution provides that no person provided by Republic Act No. 7160 otherwise known as
shall be deprived of his/her life, liberty, or property the Local Government Code of 1991.
without due process of law. Furthermore, Article III, Traditionally, this is done by the Department of the
Section 9 Interior and Local Government, headed by a cabinet
(2), provides that private property shall not be secretary—an alter ego of the President.
taken for public use without just compensation.
7. Other powers
Once the aforementioned conditions are met, the Aside from the aforementioned powers of the President
President may exercise the power of eminent domain of the Philippines, he can also exercise powers
which are as follows: enumerated in the constitution, and powers given to
Power of eminent domain — The President shall him by law.
determine when it is necessary or advantageous to
exercise the power of eminent domain in behalf of the LINE OF SUCCESSION
national government, and direct the solicitor general, The constitution provides for a line of succession in the
whenever he deems the action advisable, to institute event that the elected President of the Philippines is not
expropriation proceedings in the proper court. able to discharge the duties of his office due to death,
Power to direct escheat or reversion proceedings — disability, or resignation. The following is the line of
The President shall direct the solicitor general to succession:
institute escheat or reversion proceedings over all lands 1. Vice President — in cases of the death,
transferred or assigned to persons disqualified under disability, or resignation of the President
the constitution to acquire land. 2. Senate President — in cases of the death,
Power to reserve lands of the public and private disability, or resignation of the President and
domain of the government — Vice President
(1) The president shall have the power to 3. Speaker of the House of Representatives — in
reserve for settlement or public use, and for specific cases of the death, disability, or resignation of
public purposes, any of the lands of the public domain, the President, Vice President, and Senate
the use of which is not otherwise directed by law. The President
reserved land shall thereafter remain subject to the Contrary to popular belief, the constitution doesn’t
specific public purpose indicated until otherwise include the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court in the
provided by law or proclamation. President’s line of succession.
(2) He shall also have the power to reserve from The Congress of the Philippines is mandated enact a law
sale or other disposition and for specific public uses or calling for a special election three days after the
purposes, any land belonging to the private domain of vacancy in the Office of the President and Vice
the government, or any of the friar lands, the use of President. The special election should occur 40 days
which is not otherwise directed by law, and thereafter after the enactment of the law, but not later than 60
such land shall be used for the purposes specified by days after the enactment of the law.
such proclamation until otherwise provided by law.
Power over ill-gotten wealth — The President shall Impeachment in the Philippines
direct the solicitor general to institute proceedings to is an expressed power of the Congress of the
recover properties unlawfully acquired by public Philippines to formally charge a serving government
officials or employees, from them or from their official with an impeachable offense. After
nominees or transferees. being impeached by the House of Representatives, the
Within the period fixed in, or any extension official is then tried in the Senate. If convicted, the
thereof authorized by, the constitution, the President official is either removed from office or censured.
shall have the authority to recover ill-gotten properties Impeachment followed by conviction is often
amassed by the leaders and supporters of the previous the only way to forcibly remove a sitting official. While
regime, and protect the interest of the people through "impeachment" is often used to refer to the entire
orders of sequestration or freezing of assets or process of removing an official from office, it only
accounts. formally refers to the indictment stage in the House of
Representatives, not the trial stage in the Senate. Under
5. Power of appointment the current Constitution, an official can be impeached if
The President may appoint officials of the Philippine one third of the House of Representatives votes in
government as provided by the constitution and laws of favor. Since it takes only a simple majority to set the
the Philippines. Some of these appointments, however, agenda or to adjourn the House, it can be difficult for a
may need the approval of the Committee on
minority of one third to bring a vote and impeach an
official.

Impeaching Procedures

 Any citizen with an endorsement of a member

of the House of Representative may file
charges.
 The House Committee on Justice will decide by
majority vote if the complaint
 has substance.
 sufficient in form.
 sufficient in grounds.
 probable cause in the complaint.
 The House Committee will refer it to House
Plenary that will be voted upon with at least
one-third votes
 If the vote passes, the complaint will become
the "Articles of Impeachment" and the House
will appoint prosecutors who may or may not
be members of the House, they will be headed
by the Chairman of House Committee on Justice
 If the vote fails in any part of the procedure, the
official accused can't be filed for impeachment
for one calendar year.
 The Senate will then try to convict the
impeached official. Conviction requires a two-
thirds vote.
 If convicted, there are two punishments the
Senate can mete out:
 Censure or a reprimand, or
 Removal from office and prohibition to hold any
governmental office

In the 1935 constitution, a two-thirds vote was needed

to impeach an official by the House of Representatives,
while a three-fourths vote in the Senate was required to
convict.