271059/271347/E-02472/E-04036 Concurring and Dissenting Opinion: Justice Maria Filomena D. Singh — Official PDF

Concurring and Dissenting Opinion 10 G.R. Nos. 271347, 278353, E-024 72 & E-04036 MR. DAVIDE: That can be done by the Congress.18 (Emphasis supplied) Commissioner Davide thus clarified that what the President proposes • in the Budget is the appropriations level for the entire Goverru:nent of the Republic of the Philippines, and not exclusively for the Executive Branch. Included in this Budget is the appropriations for the legislative and judicial branches, as well as the constitutional commissions, and other agencies and instrumentalities. Indeed, the term "Government of the Republic of the Philippines" refers to "the corporate governmental entity through which the functions of government are exercised throughout the Philippines, including, save as the contrary appears from the context, the various arms through which political authority is made effective in the Philippines, whether pertaining to the autonomous regions, the provincial, city, municipal or barangay subdivisions[,] or other forms of local govemment."19 It was the intent of the Constitutional Commissioners, when they revived the budget ceiling provision in the 1987 Constitution, to revert to the practice under the 1935 Constitution, of affording the President great discretion in proposing the Budget that will fund the agenda of his or her , administration, in which Congress can only adjust specific line items within such Budget. This is to recognize that it is the President, as the Chief Executive, who is equipped with the lmowledge of the sources of revenue, existing and predicted, for government operations in any given year. The budget cycle must be understood in light of this constitutional framework Considering the limitations provided for in the Constitution, it can then be concluded that the Philippine Congress possesses what may properly be described as a qualified power of the purse. This distinction is not semantic, but goes to the allocation of fiscal authority between the Legislative and Executive Departments. In view of the fiscal system designed by the Constitution, the Philippine budget process or cycle has been described as consisting of four pliases, namely: (a) budget preparation; (b) budget legislation or authorization; (c) budget execution; and ( d) budget accountability. In Araullo v. President Aquino IJI,20 the Court extensively discussed how these phases occur. 18 I! RECORD, CONSTITUTIONAl COMMISSION (July 23, 1986). 19 ADMIN. CODE, Introductory Provisions, sec. 2(1). 20 737 Phil. 457 (2014) [Per J. Bersamin, En Banc].