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

Concurring and Dissenting Opinion 4 G.R. Nos. 271347, 278353, E-02472 & E-04036 There is a historical irony in this arrangement. The constitutional limitations on the budget process existing today have antecedents in the fiscal system established during the period of American colonial administration of the philippines. Take for example Article VI, Section 25(7) of the Constitution,7 which provides that if Congress fails to pass an appropriations law for the ensuing fiscal year, the appropriations law of the past year is deemed reenacted. The origin of this provision can be found in the third paragraph of Section 7 of the Philippine Organic Act of 1902.8 The provision ensured them that the Philippine Assembly, which was the legislative chamber controlled by Filipinos, would not be able to stop the operations of the American colonial government upon its failure, deliberate or otheiwise, to enact an appropriations law. Then, under Section 21 of the Philippine Autonomy Act of 1916,9 the American Goven1or General was subsequently required to submit to the Philippine Legislature a "budget of receipts and expenditures, which shall be the basis of the annual appropriation bill." It likewise vested the Governor • General with the power to veto particular items in an appropriation bill.10 These early laws thus established the institutional limitations that would be central to Philippine national budgeting: the Chief Executive prepares and proposes the national budget, while the Legislature considers the same and enacts it as an appropriations law, while the Chief Executive retains the power to disapprove any line item found therein. The rationale for these limitations may have been rooted in the desire for the American Governor General to retain some form of control over the appropriations power of the Filipino-controlled Legislature. Strikingly, this 7 CONST., art. VI, sec. 25(7) states: If, by the end of any fiscal year, the Congress shall have failed to pass the general appropriations bill for the ensuing fiscal year, the general appropriations law for the preceding fiscal year shall be deemed reenacted and shall remain in force and effect nntil the general appropriations bill is passed by the Congress. 32, Stat. 691, 694 (1902) states: • ... That if at the termination of any session the appropriations necessary for the support of government shall not have been made, an amount equal to the sums appropriated in _the last appropriation bills for snch purposes shall be deemed to be appropriated; and until the legislature shall act in such behalf the treasurer may, with the advice of the goven10r, make the payments necessary for the purposes aforesaid. 9 39 Stat. 545,552 (1916) states: . : . He shall submit within [] OJ days of the opening of each regular session of. the Philippine Legislature a budget ofreceipts and expenditures, which shall be the basis of the annual appropriation bill. 10 39 Stat. 545,551 (1916) states: . _ . The Governor General shall have the power to veto any particular item or items of an appropriation bill, but the veto' shall not affe~ the item or items to :"'hich h~ doe: not_obje~- The item_ or items objected to shall not take effect except m the mruu1er heretotore provided m tl11s sectI.on as to bills and joint resolutions retnmed to the legislature without his approval.