Article VII Executive Department

Article VII 
Executive Department

 

Summary: Article VII provides for the Executive Department, its powers and functions. It specifically provides that the executive power is vested in the President of the Philippines. The President, the Vice-President, and the executive departments composed the Executive branch. The qualifications and terms of office of the President and the Vice-President are provided herein. The grounds for removal from office are likewise presented. The Executive powers includes appointing heads of executive departments, offices and bureaus and top officers of the Armed Forces; exercising general supervision over local governments; granting reprieves, commutations and pardons; and making treaties with the concurrence of two-thirds of all Members of the Senate. Most importantly, the Constitutional declaration that the President is the commander in chief of all armed forces makes civilian authority supreme over the military.

 

Section 1. The executive power shall be vested in a President of the Philippines.

 

Section 2. The President shall hold his office during a term of four years and together with the Vice-President chosen for the same term, shall be elected by direct vote of the people. The returns of every election for President and Vice-President, duly certified by the board of canvassers of each province or city, shall be transmitted to the seat of the National Government, directed to the President of the Senate, who shall, in the presence of the Senate and the House of Representatives, open all the certificates, and the votes shall then be counted. The person respectively having the highest number of votes for President and Vice-President shall be declared elected, but in case two or more shall have an equal and the highest number of votes for their office, one of them shall be chosen President or Vice-President, as the case may be, by a majority vote of the Members of the Congress in joint session assembled.

 

Section 3. No person may be elected to the office of the President or Vice-President unless he is a natural born citizen of the Philippines, a qualified voter, forty years of age or over, and has been a resident of the Philippines for at least ten years immediately preceding the election.

 

Section 4. Elections for President and Vice-President shall be held once every four years on a date to be fixed by law.

 

The terms of the President and Vice-President shall end at noon on the thirtieth day of December following the expiration of four years after their election, and the terms of their successors shall begin from such time.

 

Section 5. No person shall serve as President for more than eight consecutive years. The period of such service shall be counted from the date he shall have commenced to act as President. Voluntary renunciation of the office for any length of time shall not be considered as an interruption in the continuity of the service of the incumbent for the full term for which he was elected.

 

Section 6. If, at the time fixed for the beginning of the term of the President, the President-elect shall have died, the Vice-President-elect shall become President. If a President shall not have been chosen before the time fixed for the beginning of his term or if the President shall have failed to qualify, then the Vice-President shall act as President until a President shall have qualified, and the Congress may by law provide for the case wherein neither a President-elect nor a Vice-President-elect shall have qualified, declaring who shall then act as President, or the manner in which one who is to act shall be selected, and such person shall act accordingly until a President or Vice-President shall have qualified.

 

Section 7. Before he enters on the execution of his office, the President shall take the following oath or affirmation:

 

" I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully and conscientiously fulfill my duties as President of the Philippines, preserve and defend its Constitution, execute its laws, do justice to every man, and consecrate myself to the service of the Nation. So help me God." (In case of affirmation, last sentence will be omitted)

 

Section 8. In the event of the removal of the President from office, or his death, resignation, or inability to discharge the powers and duties of the said office, the same shall devolve on the Vice-President, and the Congress shall by law provide for the case of removal, death, resignation, or inability, both of the President and Vice-President, declaring what officer shall then act as President, and such officer shall act accordingly, until the disability be removed, or a President shall be elected.

 

Section 9. The President shall have an official residence and receive a compensation to be ascertained by law which shall be neither increased nor diminished during the period of which he shall have been elected, and he shall not receive within the period any other emolument from the Government or any of its subdivisions or instrumentalities. Until the Congress shall provide otherwise, the President shall receive an annual salary of thirty thousand pesos. The Vice-President, when not acting as President, shall receive an annual compensation of fifteen thousand pesos until otherwise provided by law.

 

Section 10. (1) The President shall have control of all executive departments, bureaus or offices, exercise general provision over all local governments as may be provided by law, and take care that the laws be faithfully executed.

 

(2) The President shall be commander-in-chief of all armed forces of the Philippines, and, whenever it becomes necessary, he may call out such armed forces to prevent or suppress lawless violence, invasion, insurrection, or rebellion. In case of invasion, insurrection, or rebellion or imminent danger thereof, when the public safety requires it, he may suspend the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus, or place the Philippines or any part thereof under Martial Law.

 

(3) The President shall nominate and with the consent of the Commission on Appointments, shall appoint the heads of the executive departments and bureaus, officers of the Army from the rank of colonel, of the Navy and Air Forces from the rank of captain or commander, and all other officers of the Government whose appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and those whom he may be authorized by law to appoint; but the Congress may by law vest the appointment of inferior officers, in the President alone, in the courts, or in the heads of departments.

 

(4) The President shall have the power to make appointments during the recess of the Congress, but such appointments shall be effective only until disapproval by the Commission on Appointments or until the next adjournment of the Congress.

 

(5) The President shall from time to time give to the Congress information on the state of the Nation, and recommend to its consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient.

 

(6) The President shall have the power to grant reprieves, commutations, and pardons, and remit fines and forfeitures, after conviction, for all expenses except in case of impeachment, upon such conditions and with such restrictions and limitations as he may deem proper to impose. He shall have the power to grant amnesty with the concurrence of the Congress.

 

(7) The President shall have the power, with the concurrence of two-thirds of all the Members of the Senate to make treaties, and with the consent of the Commission on Appointments, he shall appoint ambassadors, other public ministers, and consuls. He shall receive ambassadors and other public ministers duly accredited to the Government of the Philippines.

 

Section 11. (1) The executive departments of the present Government of the Philippine Islands shall continue as now authorized by law until the Congress shall provide otherwise.

 

(2) The heads of the departments and chiefs of bureaus or offices and their assistants shall not, during their continuance in office, engage in the practice of any profession, or intervene, directly or indirectly, in the management or control of any private enterprise which in any way may be affected by the functions of their office; nor shall they, directly or indirectly, be financially interested in any contract with the Government, or any subdivision or instrumentality thereof.

 

(3) The President may appoint the Vice-President as a member of his Cabinet and also as head of an executive department.