Gonzales vs. Macaraig

452 SUPREME COURT REPORTS ANNOTATED
Gonzales vs. Macaraig, Jr.
*
G.R. No. 87636. November 19, 1990.
NEPTALI A. GONZALES, ERNESTO M. MACEDA,

ALBERTO G. ROMULO, HEHERSON T. ALVAREZ,
EDGARDO J. ANGARA, AGAPITO A. AQUINO,
TEOFISTO T. GUINGONA, JR., ERNESTO F. HERRERA,
JOSE D. LINA, JR., JOHN OSMEÑA, VICENTE T.
PATERNO, RENE A. SAGUISAG, LETICIA RAMOS-
SHAHANI, MAMINTAL ABDUL J. TAMANO,
WIGBERTO E. TAÑADA, JOVITO R. SALONGA,
ORLANDO S. MERCADO, JUAN PONCE ENRILE,
JOSEPH ESTRADA, SOTERO LAUREL, AQUILINO
PIMENTEL, JR., SANTANINA RASUL, VICTOR ZIGA,
petitioners, vs. HON. CATALINO MACARAIG, JR., HON.
VICENTE JAYME, HON. CARLOS DOMINGUEZ, HON.
FULGENCIO FACTORAN, HON. FIORELLO ESTUAR,
HON. LOURDES QUISUMBING, HON. RAUL
MANGLAPUS, HON. ALFREDO BENGSON, HON. JOSE
CONCEPCION, HON. LUIS SANTOS, HON. MITA
PARDO DE TAVERA, HON. RAINERIO REYES, HON.
GUILLERMO CARAGUE, HON. ROSALINA CAJUCOM
and HON. EUFEMIO C. DOMINGO, respondents.
Constitutional Law; Separation of Powers; The contextual

reiteration of Section 55 (FY ’89) in Section 16 (FY ’90) and again
its veto by the President, underscore the need for judicial
arbitrament.—We take note as well of what petitioners stress as
the “imperative need for a definitive ruling by this Court as to the
exact parameters of the exercise of the item-veto power of the
President as regards appropriation bills x x x in order to obviate
the recurrence of a similar problem whenever a general
appropriations bill is passed by Congress.” Indeed, the contextual
reiteration of Section 55 (FY ’89) in Section 16 (FY ’90) and again,
its veto by the President, underscore the need for judicial
arbitrament. The Court does not thereby assert its superiority
over or exhibit lack of respect due the other co-ordinate
departments but discharges a solemn and sacred duty to
determine essentially the scope of intersecting powers in regard
which the Executive and the Senate are in dispute.
Same; Same; Same; The political question doctrine neither
interposes an obstacle to judicial determination of the rival claims.
—The
_______________
* EN BANC.
453
VOL. 191, NOVEMBER 19, 1990 453
political question doctrine neither interposes an obstacle to

judicial determination of the rival claims. The jurisdiction to
delimit constitutional boundaries has been given to this Court. It
cannot abdicate that obligation mandated by the 1987
Constitution, although said provision by no means does away with
the applicability of the principle in appropriate cases.
Same; Same; Same; Same; The doctrine of separation of
powers is in no way endangered because the transfer is made
within a department (or branch of the government) and not from
one department (branch) to another.—There should be no
question, therefore, that statutory authority has, in fact, been
granted. And once given, the heads of the different branches of
the Government and those of the Constitutional Commissions are
afforded considerable flexibility in the use of public funds and
resources (Demetria v. Alba, supra). The doctrine of separation of
powers is in no way endangered because the transfer is made
within a department (or branch of government) and not from one
department (branch) to another.
Same; Executive Department; Veto-power; The power given the
executive to disapprove any item or items in an Appropriations Bill
does not grant the authority to veto a part of an item and to
approve the remaining portion of the same item.—As specified, the
President may not veto less than all of an item of an
Appropriations Bill. In other words, the power given the executive
to disapprove any item or items in an Appropriations Bill does not
grant the authority to veto a part of an item and to approve the
remaining portion of the same item.
Same; Legislation; Appropriation Bill; The terms item and
provision in budgetary legislation and practice are concededly
different.—The terms item and provision in budgetary legislation
and practice are concededly different. An item in a bill refers to
the particulars, the details, the distinct and severable parts x x x
of the bill (Bengzon, supra, at 916). It is an indivisible sum of
money dedicated to a stated purpose (Commonwealth v. Dodson,
11 S.E., 2d 120, 124, 125, etc., 176 Va. 281). The United States
Supreme Court, in the case of Bengzon v. Secretary of Justice (299
U.S. 410, 414, 57 S.Ct 252, 81 L. Ed., 312) declared “that an ‘item’
of an appropriation bill obviously means an item which in itself is
a specific appropriation of money, not some general provision of
law, which happens to be put into an appropriation bill.”
Same; Same; Same; Same; Section 55 (FY ‘89) and Section 16
(FY ‘90) are not provisions in the budgetary sense of the term.—
But even
454
assuming arguendo that provisions are beyond the executive

power to veto, we are of the opinion that Section 55 (FY ‘89) and
Section 16 (FY ‘90) are not provisions in the budgetary sense of
the term.
Same; Same; Same; Same; Section 55 (FY ‘89) and Section 16
(FY ‘90) although labelled as provisions are actually inappropriate
provisions that should be treated as items for the purpose of the
President’s veto power.—Explicit is the requirement that a
provision in the Appropriations Bill should relate specifically to
some “particular appropriation” therein. The challenged
“provisions” fall short of this requirement. Firstly, the vetoed
“provisions” do not relate to any particular or distinctive
appropriation. They apply generally to all items disapproved or
reduced by Congress in the Appropriations Bill. Secondly, the
disapproved or reduced items are nowhere to be found on the face
of the Bill. To discover them, resort will have to be made to the
original recommendations made by the President and to the
source indicated by petitioners themselves, i.e., the “Legislative
Budget Research and Monitoring Office” (Annex B-1 and B-2,
Petition). Thirdly, the vetoed Sections are more of an expression
of Congressional policy in respect of augmentation from savings
rather than a budgetary appropriation. Consequently, Section 55
(FY ‘89) and Section 16 (FY ‘90) although labelled as “provisions,”
are actually inappropriate provisions that should be treated as
items for the purpose of the President’s veto power.
Same; Same; Same; Same; The Executive is not allowed to
veto a condition or proviso of an appropriation while allowing the
appropriation itself to stand.—There can be no denying that
inherent in the power of appropriation is the power to specify how
money shall be spent; and that in addition to distinct “items” of
appropriation, the Legislature may include in Appropriation Bills
qualifications, conditions, limitations or restrictions on
expenditure of funds. Settled also is the rule that the Executive is
not allowed to veto a condition or proviso of an appropriation
while allowing the appropriation itself to stand (Fairfield v.
Foster, supra, at 320). That was also the ruling in Bolinao, supra,
which held that the veto of a condition in an Appropriations Bill
which did not include a veto of the items to which the condition
related was deemed invalid and without effect whatsoever.
Same; Same; Same; Same; Same; Restrictions or conditions in
an Appropriations Bill must exhibit a connection with money items
in a budgetary sense in the schedule of expenditures.—However,
for the rule to apply, restrictions should be such in the real sense
of the term, not some matters which are more properly dealt with
in a separate
455
VOL. 191, NOVEMBER 19, 1990 455

legislation (Henry v. Edwards, La, 346, So 2d 153). Restrictions or
conditions in an Appropriations Bill must exhibit a connection
with money items in a budgetary sense in the schedule of
expenditures. Again, the test is appropriateness.
Same; Same; Same; Same; Same; Same; Section 55 (FY ‘89)
and Section 16 (FY ‘90) held to be inappropriate conditions.—
Tested by these criteria. Section 55 (FY ‘89) and Section 16 (FY
‘90) must also be held to be inappropriate “conditions.” While
they, particularly, Section 16 (FY ‘90), have been “artfully
drafted” to appear as true conditions or limitations, they are
actually general law measures more appropriate for substantive
and, therefore, separate legislation.
Same; Same; Same; Same; Same; Same; Same; Sections 55
(FY ‘89) and 16 (FY ‘90) therefore impair the constitutional and
statutory authority of the President and other key officials to
augment any item or any appropriation from savings in the
interest of expediency and efficiency.—When Sections 55 (FY ‘89)
and 16 (FY ‘90), therefore, prohibit the restoration or increase by
augmentation of appropriations disapproved or reduced by
Congress, they impair the constitutional and statutory authority
of the President and other key officials to augment any item or
any appropriation from savings in the interest of expediency and
efficiency. The exercise of such authority in respect of disapproved
or reduced items by no means vests in the Executive the power to
rewrite the entire budget, as petitioners contend, the leeway
granted being delimited to transfers within the department or
branch concerned, the sourcing to come only from savings.
GUTIERREZ, JR., J., Dissenting:
Laws passed by Congress can be vetoed by the President only

in their entirety or none at all.—As a general rule, laws passed by
Congress can be vetoed by the President only in their entirety or
none at all. She cannot select provisions and sections she does not
like and veto them while approving the rest of the statute. The
Constitution allows a limited power of veto only when it comes to
appropriation, revenue or tariff bills. The power is limited to
items. It should not be interpreted by this Court to mean the
expanded power to also veto “provisions.” To state it in another
way, the President may veto a distinct and severable part of a bill
only—(1) if that severable part is an item and not a provision, and
(2) if that severable part belongs to an appropriation, revenue or
tariff bill. All other bills must be vetoed in their entirety.
456

CRUZ, J., Dissenting:
The power of the purse belongs to Congress and has been

traditionally recognized in the Constitutional provision that “no
money shall be paid out of the treasury except in pursuance of an
appropriation made by law.”—The power of the purse belongs to
Congress and has been traditionally recognized in the
constitutional provision that “no money shall be paid out of the
Treasury except in pursuance of an appropriation made by law.”
The transfer of funds from one item to another in the General
Appropriations Act is part of that power, except that the
Constitution allows Congress to delegate it by law to the
President, the Senate President, the Speaker of the House of
Representatives, the Chief Justice and the heads of the
Constitutional Commissions. When exercising this authority, the
aforementioned officials act not by virtue of their own competence
but only as agents of Congress.
President needs statutory authority before she can augment.—
In justifying her veto, the President says that “the provision
violates section 25(5) of Article VI of the Constitution,” as if to
suggest that she derives her power of augmentation directly from
this section. She does not, of course. This is not a self-executing
provision. The said section states that she and the other officials
mentioned therein “may, by law, be authorized to augment any
item in the general appropriations law for their respective offices.
. .” This means she needs statutory authority before she can
augment.
PETITION for prohibition/mandamus assailing mainly the

constitutionality or legality of Presidential veto of Section
55.
The facts are stated in the opinion of the Court.

Gonzales, Batiller, Bilog & Associates for petitioners.
MELENCIO-HERRERA, J.:
This constitutional controversy between the legislative and
executive departments of government stemmed from
Senate Resolution No. 381, adopted on 2 February 1989,
“Authorizing and Directing the Committee on Finance to Bring in

the Name of the Senate of the Philippines the Proper Suit with
the Supreme Court of the Philippines contesting the
Constitutionality of the Veto by the President of Special and
General Provisions, particu-
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VOL. 191, NOVEMBER 19, 1990 457

larly Section 55, of the General Appropriation Bill of 1989 (H.B.

No. 19186) and For Other Purposes.”
Petitioners are thus before us as members and ex-officio

members of the Committee on Finance of the Senate and as
“substantial taxpayers whose vital interests may be
affected by this case.”
Respondents are members of the Cabinet tasked with
the implementation of the General Appropriations Act of
1989 and 1990, some of them incumbents, while others
have already been replaced, and include the National
Treasurer and the Commission on Audit Chairman, all of
whom are being sued in their official capacities.
The Background Facts
On 16 December 1988, Congress passed House Bill No.

19186, or the General Appropriations Bill for the Fiscal
Year 1989. As passed, it eliminated or decreased certain
items included in the proposed budget submitted by the
President.
Pursuant to the constitutional provision on the passage
of bills, Congress presented the said Bill to the President
for consideration and approval.
On 29 December 1988, the President signed the Bill into
law, and declared the same to have become Rep. Act No.
6688. In the process, seven (7) Special Provisions and
Section 55, a “General Provision,” were vetoed.
On 2 February 1989, the Senate, in the same Resolution
No. 381 mentioned at the outset, further expressed:
“WHEREAS, Be it Resolved, as it is hereby Resolved, That the

Senate express its sense that the veto by the President of Section
55 of the GENERAL PROVISIONS of the General Appropriation
Bill of 1989 (H.B. No. 19186) is unconstitutional and, therefore,
void and without any force and effect; hence, the aforesaid Section
55 remains;
“x x x x x x x x x”
Thus it is that, on 11 April 1989, this Petition for

Prohibition/ Mandamus was filed, with a prayer for the
issuance of a Writ of Preliminary Injunction and
Restraining Order, assailing mainly the constitutionality or
legality of the Presidential veto of Sec-
458

tion 55, and seeking to enjoin respondents from

implementing Rep. Act No. 6688. No Restraining Order
was issued by the Court.
The Comment, submitted by the Solicitor General on 25
August 1989 (after several extensions granted), was
considered as the Answer to the Petition and, on 7
September 1989, the Court Resolved to give due course to
the Petition and to require the parties to submit their
respective Memoranda. Petitioners filed their
Memorandum on 12 December 1989. But, on 19 January
1990, they filed a Motion for Leave to File and to Admit
Supplemental Petition, which was granted, basically
raising the same issue as in the original Petition, this time
questioning the President’s veto of certain provisions,
particularly Section 16, of House Bill 26934, or the General
Appropriations Bill for Fiscal Year 1990, which the
President declared to have become Rep. Act No. 6831.
The Solicitor General’s Comment on the Supplemental
Petition, on behalf of respondent public officials, was
submitted on 24 April 1990. On 15 May 1990, the Court
required the parties to file simultaneously their
consolidated memoranda, to include the Supplemental
Petition, within an inextendible period of thirty (30) days
from notice. However, because the original Resolution of 15
May 1990 merely required the filing of a memorandum on
the Supplemental Petition, a revised Resolution requiring
consolidated memoranda, within thirty (30) days from
notice, was released on 28 June 1990.
The Consolidated Memoranda were respectively filed on
26 June 1990 by petitioners, and on 1 August 1990 by
respondents. On 14 August 1990, both Memoranda were
Noted and the case was deemed submitted for deliberation.
On 11 September 1990, the Court heard the case on oral
argument and required the submittal of supplemental
Memoranda, the last of which was filed on 26 September
1990.
The Vetoed Provisions and Reasons Therefor
Section 55 of the Appropriations Act of 1989 (Section 55

[FY ‘89] hereinafter), which was vetoed by the President,
reads:
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VOL. 191, NOVEMBER 19, 1990 459

“SEC. 55. Prohibition Against the Restoration or Increase of

Recommended Appropriations Disapproved and/or Reduced by
Congress: No item of appropriation recommended by the
President in the Budget submitted to Congress pursuant to
Article VII, Section 22 of the Constitution which has been
disapproved or reduced in this Act shall be restored or increased
by the use of appropriations authorized for other purposes by
augmentation. An item of appropriation for any purpose
recommended by the President in the Budget shall be deemed to
have been disapproved by Congress if no corresponding
appropriation for the specific purpose is provided in this Act.”
We quote below the reason for the Presidential veto:
“The provision violates Section 25 (5) of Article VI of the

Constitution. If allowed, this Section would nullify not only the
constitutional and statutory authority of the President, but also
that of the President of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of
Representatives, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, and
Heads of Constitutional Commissions, to augment any item in the
general appropriations law for their respective offices from
savings in other items of their respective appropriations. A careful
review of the legislative action on the budget as submitted shows
that in almost all cases, the budgets of agencies as recommended
by the President, as well as those of the Senate, the House of
Representatives, and the Constitutional Commissions, have been
reduced. An unwanted consequence of this provision is the
inability of the President, the President of the Senate, Speaker of
the House of Representatives, the Chief Justice of the Supreme
Court, and the heads of Constitutional Commissions to augment
any item of appropriation of their respective offices from savings
in other items of their respective appropriations even in cases of
calamity or in the event of urgent need to accelerate the
implementation of essential public services and infrastructure
projects.
“Furthermore, this provision is inconsistent with Section 12
and other similar provisions of this General Appropriations Act.”
A substantially similar provision as the vetoed Section 55

appears in the Appropriations Act of 1990, this time crafted
as follows:
“B. GENERAL PROVISIONS

“Sec. 16. Use of Savings.—The President of the Philippines, the
President of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of
Representatives,
460

the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, the Heads of

Constitutional Commissions under Article IX of the Constitution
and the Ombudsman are hereby authorized to augment any item
in this Act for their respective offices from savings in other items
of their appropriations: PROVIDED, THAT NO ITEM OF
APPROPRIATION RECOMMENDED BY THE PRESIDENT IN
THE BUDGET SUBMITTED TO CONGRESS PURSUANT TO
ARTICLE VII, SECTION 22 OF THE CONSTITUTION WHICH
HAS BEEN DISAPPROVED OR REDUCED BY CONGRESS
SHALL BE RESTORED OR INCREASED BY THE USE OF
APPROPRIATIONS AUTHORIZED FOR OTHER PURPOSES IN
THIS ACT BY AUGMENTATION. AN ITEM OF
APPROPRIATION FOR ANY PURPOSE RECOMMENDED BY
THE PRESIDENT IN THE BUDGET SHALL BE DEEMED TO
HAVE BEEN DISAPPROVED BY CONGRESS IF NO
CORRESPONDING APPROPRIATION FOR THE SPECIFIC
PURPOSE IS PROVIDED IN THIS ACT.”
It should be noted that in the 1989 Appropriations Act, the

“Use of Savings” appears in Section 12, separate and apart
from Section 55; whereas in the 1990 Appropriations Act,
the “Use of Savings” and the vetoed provision have been
commingled in Section 16 only, with the vetoed provision
made to appear as a condition or restriction.
Essentially the same reason was given for the veto of
Section 16 (FY ‘90), thus:
“I am vetoing this provision for the reason that it violates Section

25 (5) of Article VI of the Constitution in relation to Sections 44
and 45 of P.D. No. 1177 as amended by R.A. No. 6670 which
authorizes the President to use savings to augment any item of
appropriations in the Executive Branch of the Government.
“Parenthetically, there is a case pending in the Supreme Court
relative to the validity of the President’s veto on Section 55 of the
General Provisions of Republic Act No. 6688 upon which the
amendment on this Section was based. Inclusion, therefore, of the
proviso in the last sentence of this section might prejudice the
Executive Branch’s position in the case.
“Moreover, if allowed, this Section would nullify not only the
constitutional and statutory authority of the President, but also
that of the officials enumerated under Section 25 (5) of Article VI
of the Constitution, to augment any item in the general
appropriations law for their respective appropriations.
“An unwanted consequence of this provision would be the
inability of the President, the President of the Senate, Speaker of
the House
461
VOL. 191, NOVEMBER 19, 1990 461

of Representatives, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, and
heads of Constitutional Commissions to augment any item of
appropriation of their respective offices from savings in other
items of their respective appropriations even in cases of national
emergency or in the event of urgent need to accelerate the
implementation of essential public services and infrastructure
projects.”
The fundamental issue raised is whether or not the veto by

the President of Section 55 of the 1989 Appropriations Bill
(Section 55 FY ‘89), and subsequently of its counterpart
Section 16 of the 1990 Appropriations Bill (Section 16 FY
‘90), is unconstitutional and without effect.
The Contending Views
In essence, petitioners’ cause is anchored on the following

grounds: (1) the President’s line-veto power as regards
appropriation bills is limited to item/s and does not cover
provision/s; therefore, she exceeded her authority when
she vetoed Section 55 (FY ‘89) and Section 16 (FY ‘90)
which are provisions; (2) when the President objects to a
provision of an appropriation bill, she cannot exercise the
item-veto power but should veto the entire bill; (3) the
item-veto power does not carry with it the power to strike
out conditions or restrictions for that would be legislation,
in violation of the doctrine of separation of powers; and (4)
the power of augmentation in Article VI, Section 25 [5] of
the 1987 Constitution, has to be provided for by law and,
therefore, Congress is also vested with the prerogative to
impose restrictions on the exercise of that power.
The Solicitor General, as counsel for public respondents,
counters that the issue at bar is a political question beyond
the power of this Court to determine; that petitioners had a
political remedy, which was to override the veto; that
Section 55 is a “rider” because it is extraneous to the
Appropriations Act and, therefore, merits the President’s
veto; that the power of the President to augment items in
the appropriations for the executive branches had already
been provided for in the Budget Law, specifically Sections
44 and 45 of Pres. Decree No. 1177, as amended by Rep.
Act No. 6670 (4 August 1988); and that the President is
empowered by the Constitution to veto provisions
462

or other “distinct and severable parts” of an Appropriations

Bill.
Judicial Determination
With the Senate maintaining that the President’s veto is

unconstitutional, and that charge being controverted, there
is an actual case or justiciable controversy between the
Upper House of Congress and the executive department
that may be taken cognizance of by this Court.
“Indeed, where the legislature or the executive branch is acting

within the limits of its authority, the judiciary cannot and ought
not to interfere with the former. But where the legislature or the
executive acts beyond the scope of its constitutional powers, it
becomes the duty of the judiciary to declare what the other
branches of the government had assumed to do as void. This is the
essence of judicial power conferred by the Constitution ‘in one
Supreme Court and in such lower courts as may be established by
law’ [Art. VIII, Section 1 of the 1935 Constitution; Art. X, Section
1 of the 1973 Constitution and which was adopted as part of the
Freedom Constitution, and Art. VIII, Section 1 of the 1987
Constitution] and which power this Court has exercised in many
instances” (Demetria vs. Alba, G.R. No. 71977, 27 February 1987,
148 SCRA 209).
We take note as well of what petitioners stress as the

“imperative need for a definitive ruling by this Court as to
the exact parameters of the exercise of the item-veto power
of the President as regards appropriation bills x x x in
order to obviate the recurrence of a similar problem
whenever a general appropriations bill is passed by
Congress.” Indeed, the contextual reiteration of Section 55
(FY 89) in Section 16 (FY ’90) and again, its veto by the
President, underscore the need for judicial arbitrament.
The Court does not thereby assert its superiority over or
exhibit lack of respect due the other co-ordinate
departments but discharges a solemn and sacred duty to
determine essentially the scope of intersecting powers in
regard which the Executive and the Senate are in dispute.
Petitioners have also brought this suit as taxpayers. As
ruled in Sanidad v. COMELEC (No. L-44640, 12 October
1976, 73 SCRA 333), this Court enjoys the open discretion
to entertain
463
VOL. 191, NOVEMBER 19, 1990 463

taxpayers suits or not. In Tolentino v. COMELEC (No. L-

34150, 16 October 1961, 41 SCRA 702), it was also held
that a member of the Senate has the requisite personality
to bring a suit where a constitutional issue is raised.
The political question doctrine neither interposes an
obstacle to judicial determination of the rival claims. The
jurisdiction to delimit constitutional boundaries has been
given to this Court. It cannot abdicate that obligation
mandated by the 1987 Constitution, although said
provision by no means does away with the applicability of
the principle in appropriate cases.
“SECTION 1. The judicial power shall be vested in one Supreme

Court and in such lower courts as may be established by law.
Judicial power includes the duty of the courts of justice to settle
actual controversies involving rights which are legally
demandable and enforceable, and to determine whether or not
there has been a grave abuse of discretion amounting to lack or
excess of jurisdiction on the part of any branch or instrumentality
of the Government.”
Nor is this the first time that the constitutionality of a

Presidential veto is raised to the Court. The two oft-cited
cases are Bengson v. Secretary of Justice (62 Phil. 912
[1936]), pennned by Justice George A. Malcolm, which
upheld the veto questioned before it, but which decision
was reversed by the U.S. Supreme Court in the same
entitled case in 292 U.S. 410, infra, essentially on the
ground that an Appropriations Bill was not involved. The
second case is Bolinao Electronics v. Valencia (G.R. No. L-
20740, 30 June 1964, 11 SCRA 486), infra, which rejected
the President’s veto of a condition or restriction in an
Appropriations Bill.
The Extent of the President’s Item-veto Power
The focal issue for resolution is whether or not the

President exceeded the item-veto power accorded by the
Constitution. Or differently put, has the President the
power to veto “provisions” of an Appropriations Bill?
Petitioners contend that Section 55 (FY ‘89) and Section
16 (FY ‘90) are provisions and not items and are, therefore,
outside the scope of the item-veto power of the President.
464

The veto power of the President is expressed in Article VI,

Section 27 of the 1987 Constitution reading, in full, as
follows:
“Sec. 27. (1) Every bill passed by the Congress shall, before it
becomes a law, be presented to the President. If he approves the
same, he shall sign it; otherwise, he shall veto it and return the
same with his objections to the House where it originated, which
shall enter the objections at large in its Journal and proceed to
reconsider it. If, after such reconsideration, two-thirds of all the
Members of such House shall agree to pass the bill, it shall be
sent, together with the objections, to the other House by which it
shall likewise be reconsidered, and if approved by two-thirds of all
the Members of that House, it shall become a law. In all such
cases, the votes of each House shall be determined by yeas or
nays, and the names of the Members voting for or against shall be
entered in its Journal. The President shall communicate his veto
of any bill to the House where it originated within thirty days
after the date of receipt thereof; otherwise, it shall become a law
as if he had signed it.
“(2) The President shall have the power to veto any particular
item or items in an appropriation, revenue, or tariff bill, but the
veto shall not affect the item or items to which he does not object.”
Paragraph (1) refers to the general veto power of the
President and if exercised would result in the veto of the
entire bill, as a general rule. Paragraph (2) is what is
referred to as the item-veto power or the line-veto power. It
allows the exercise of the veto over a particular item or
items in an appropriation, revenue, or tariff bill. As
specified, the President may not veto less than all of an
item of an Appropriations Bill. In other words, the power
given the executive to disapprove any item or items in an
Appropriations Bill does not grant the authority to veto a
part of an item and to approve the remaining portion of the
same item.
Originally, item veto exclusively referred to veto of items
of appropriation bills and first came into being in the
former Organic Act, the Act of Congress of 29 August 1916.
This was followed by the 1935 Constitution, which
contained a similar provision in its Section 11 (2), Article
VI, except that the veto power was made more expansive
by the inclusion of this sentence:
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VOL. 191, NOVEMBER 19, 1990 465

“x x x When a provision of an appropriation bill affects one or

more items of the same, the President can not veto the provision
without at the same time vetoing the particular item or items to
which it relates x x x.”
The 1935 Constitution further broadened the President’s

veto power to include the veto of item or items of revenue
and tariff bills.
With the advent of the 1973 Constitution, the section
took a more simple and compact form, thus:
“Section 20 (2). The Prime Minister shall have the power to veto
any particular item or items in an appropriation, revenue, or
tariff bill, but the veto shall not affect the item or items to which
he does not object.”
It is to be noted that the counterpart provision in the 1987

Constitution (Article VI, Section 27 [2], supra), is a
verbatim reproduction except for the public official
concerned. In other words, also eliminated has been any
reference to the veto of a provision. The vital question is:
should this exclusion be interpreted to mean as a
disallowance of the power to veto a provision, as petitioners
urge?
The terms item and provision in budgetary legislation
and practice are concededly different. An item in a bill
refers to the particulars, the details, the distinct and
severable parts x x x of the bill (Bengzon, supra, at 916). It
is an indivisible sum of money dedicated to a stated
purpose (Commonwealth v. Dodson, 11 S.E., 2d 120, 124,
125, etc., 176 Va. 281). The United States Supreme Court,
in the case of Bengzon v. Secretary of Justice (299 U.S. 410,
414, 57 S.Ct 252, 81 L. Ed., 312) declared “that an ‘item’ of
an appropriation bill obviously means an item which in
itself is a specific appropriation of money, not some general
provision of law, which happens to be put into an
appropriation bill.”
It is our considered opinion that, notwithstanding the
elimination in Article VI, Section 27 (2) of the 1987
Constitution of any reference to the veto of a provision, the
extent of the President’s veto power as previously defined
by the 1935 Constitution has not changed. This is because
the eliminated proviso merely pronounces the basic
principle that a distinct and severable
466

part of a bill may be the subject of a separate veto (Bengzon

v. Secretary of Justice, 62 Phil., 912, 916 (1926); 2
BERNAS, Joaquin, S.J., The Constitution of the Republic
of the Philippines, 1st ed., 154-155, [1988]).
The restrictive interpretation urged by petitioners that
the President may not veto a provision without vetoing the
entire bill not only disregards the basic principle that a
distinct and severable part of a bill may be the subject of a
separate veto but also overlooks the Constitutional
mandate that any provision in the general appropriations
bill shall relate specifically to some particular
appropriation therein and that any such provision shall be
limited in its operation to the appropriation to which it
relates (1987 Constitution, Article VI, Section 25 [2]). In
other words, in the true sense of the term, a provision in an
Appropriations Bill is limited in its operation to some
particular appropriation to which it relates, and does not
relate to the entire bill.
Petitioners’ further submission that, since the exercise
of the veto power by the President partakes of the nature of
legislative powers it should be strictly construed, is
negatived by the following dictum in Bengzon, supra,
reading:
“The Constitution is a limitation upon the power of the legislative

department of the government, but in this respect it is a grant of
power to the executive department. The Legislature has the
affirmative power to enact laws; the Chief Executive has the
negative power by the constitutional exercise of which he may
defeat the will of the Legislature. It follows that the Chief
Executive must find his authority in the Constitution. But in
exercising that authority he may not be confined to rules of strict
construction or hampered by the unwise interference of the
judiciary. The courts will indulge every intendment in favor of the
constitutionality of a veto the same as they will presume the
constitutionality of an act as originally passed by the Legislature”
(Commonwealth v. Barnett [1901], 199 Pa., 161; 55 L.R.A., 882;
People v. Board of Councilmen [1892], 20 N.Y.S., 52; Fulmore v.
Lane [1911], 104 Tex., 499; Texas Co. v. State [1927], 53 A.L.R.,
258 [at 917]).
Inappropriateness of the so-called “Provisions”
But even assuming arguendo that provisions are beyond

the executive power to veto, we are of the opinion that
Section 55
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VOL. 191, NOVEMBER 19, 1990 467

(FY ‘89) and Section 16 (FY ‘90) are not provisions in the
budgetary sense of the term. Article VI, Section 25 (2) of
the 1987 Constitution provides:
“Sec. 25 (2) No provision or enactment shall be embraced in the

general appropriations bill unless it relates specifically to some
particular appropriation therein. Any such provision or enactment
shall be limited in its operation to the appropriation to which it
relates.”
Explicit is the requirement that a provision in the

Appropriations Bill should relate specifically to some
“particular appropriation” therein. The challenged
“provisions” fall short of this requirement. Firstly, the
vetoed “provisions” do not relate to any particular or
distinctive appropriation. They apply generally to all items
disapproved or reduced by Congress in the Appropriations
Bill. Secondly, the disapproved or reduced items are
nowhere to be found on the face of the Bill. To discover
them, resort will have to be made to the original
recommendations made by the President and to the source
indicated by petitioners themselves, i.e., the “Legislative
Budget Research and Monitoring Office” (Annex B-1 and B-
2, Petition). Thirdly, the vetoed Sections are more of an
expression of Congressional policy in respect of
augmentation from savings rather than a budgetary
appropriation. Consequently, Section 55 (FY ’89) and
Section 16 (FY ’90) although labelled as “provisions,” are
actually inappropriate provisions that should be treated as
items for the purpose of the President’s veto power. (Henry
v. Edwards [1977] 346 S Rep. 2d, 157-158).
“Just as the President may not use his item-veto to usurp

constitutional powers conferred on the legislature, neither can the
legislature deprive the Governor of the constitutional powers
conferred on him as chief executive officer of the state by
including in a general appropriation bill matters more properly
enacted in separate legislation. The Governor’s constitutional
power to veto bills of general legislation . . . cannot be abridged by
the careful placement of such measures in a general appropriation
bill, thereby forcing the Governor to choose between approving
unacceptable substantive legislation or vetoing ‘items’ of
expenditure essential to the operation of government. The
legislature cannot by location of a bill give it immunity from
executive veto. Nor can it circumvent the Governor’s veto power
over
468

substantive legislation by artfully drafting general law measures

so that they appear to be true conditions or limitations on an item
of appropriation. Otherwise, the legislature would be permitted to
impair the constitutional responsibilities and functions of a co-
equal branch of government in contravention of the separation of
powers doctrine . . . We are no more willing to allow the
legislature to use its appropriation power to infringe on the
Governor’s constitutional right to veto matters of substantive
legislation than we are to allow the Governor to encroach on the
constitutional powers of the legislature. In order to avoid this
result, we hold that, when the legislature inserts inappropriate
provisions in a general appropriation bill, such provisions must be
treated as ‘items’ for purposes of the Governor’s item veto power
over general appropriation bills.
x x x x x x x x x
“x x x Legislative control cannot be exercised in such a manner
as to encumber the general appropriation bill with veto-proof
‘logrolling measure,’ special interest provisions which could not
succeed if separately enacted, or ‘riders,’ substantive pieces of
legislation incorporated in a bill to insure passage without veto. x
x x” (Italics supplied)
Inappropriateness of the so-called

“Conditions/Restrictions”
Petitioners maintain, however, that Congress is free to

impose conditions in an Appropriations Bill and where
conditions are attached, the veto power does not carry with
it the power to strike them out, citing Commonwealth v.
Dodson (11 SE, 2d 130, supra) and Bolinao Electronics
Corporation v. Valencia (No. L-20740, June 30, 1964, 11
SCRA 486). In other words, their theory is that Section 55
(FY ‘89) and Section 16 (FY ‘90) are such
conditions/restrictions and thus beyond the veto power.
There can be no denying that inherent in the power of
appropriation is the power to specify how money shall be
spent; and that in addition to distinct “items” of
appropriation, the Legislature may include in
Appropriation Bills qualifications, conditions, limitations or
restrictions on expenditure of funds. Settled also is the rule
that the Executive is not allowed to veto a condition or
proviso of an appropriation while allowing the
appropriation itself to stand (Fairfield v. Foster, supra, at
320). That was also the ruling in Bolinao, supra, which
held that the veto of a condition in an Appropriations Bill
which did not include a veto of the items to which the
condition related was deemed invalid and without effect
whatsoever.
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VOL. 191, NOVEMBER 19, 1990 469

However, for the rule to apply, restrictions should be such

in the real sense of the term, not some matters which are
more properly dealt with in a separate legislation (Henry v.
Edwards, La, 346, So 2d 153). Restrictions or conditions in
an Appropriations Bill must exhibit a connection with
money items in a budgetary sense in the schedule of
expenditures. Again, the test is appropriateness.
“It is not enough that a provision be related to the institution or

agency to which funds are appropriated. Conditions and
limitations properly included in an appropriation bill must exhibit
such a connexity with money items of appropriation that they
logically belong in a schedule of expenditures . . . the ultimate test
is one of appropriateness” (Henry v. Edwards, supra, at 158).
Tested by these criteria, Section 55 (FY ‘89) and Section 16

(FY ‘90) must also be held to be inappropriate “conditions.”
While they, particularly, Section 16 (FY ‘90), have been
“artfully drafted” to appear as true conditions or
limitations, they are actually general law measures more
appropriate for substantive and, therefore, separate
legislation.
Further, neither of them shows the necessary connection
with a schedule of expenditures. The reason, as explained
earlier, is that items reduced or disapproved by Congress
would not appear on the face of the enrolled bill or
Appropriations Act itself. They can only be detected when
compared with the original budgetary submittals of the
President. In fact, Sections 55 (FY ‘89) and 16 (FY ‘90)
themselves provide that an item “shall be deemed to have
been disapproved by Congress if no corresponding
appropriation for the specific purpose is provided in this
Act.”
Considering that the vetoed provisions are not, in the
budgetary sense of the term, conditions or restrictions, the
case of Bolinao Electronics Corporation v. Valencia (supra),
invoked by petitioners, becomes inapplicable. In that case,
a public works bill contained an item appropriating a
certain sum for assistance to television stations, subject to
the condition that the amount would not be available to
places where there were commercial television stations.
Then President Macapagal approved the appropriation but
vetoed the condition. When challenged before this Court, it
was held that the veto was
470

ineffectual and that the approval of the item carried with it

the approval of the condition attached to it. In contrast
with the case at bar, there is no condition, in the budgetary
sense of the term, attached to an appropriation or item in
the appropriation bill which was struck out. For obviously,
Sections 55 (FY ‘89) and 16 (FY ‘90) partake more of a
curtailment on the power to augment from savings; in
other words, “a general provision of law, which happens to
be put in an appropriation bill” (Bengzon v. Secretary of
Justice, supra).
The Power of Augmentation and The Validity of the

Veto
The President promptly vetoed Section 55 (FY ‘89) and

Section 16 (FY ‘90) because they nullify the authority of the
Chief Executive and heads of different branches of
government to augment any item in the General
Appropriations Law for their respective offices from
savings in other items of their respective appropriations, as
guaranteed by Article VI, Section 25 (5) of the Constitution.
Said provision reads:
“Sec. 25. (5) No law shall be passed authorizing any transfer of

appropriations; however, the President, the President of the
Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, 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” (Italics
ours).
Noteworthy is the fact that the power to augment from

savings lies dormant until authorized by law.
This Court upheld the validity of the power of
augmentation from savings in Demetria v. Alba, which
ruled:
“x x x to afford the heads of the different branches of the

government and those of the constitutional commissions
considerable flexibility in the use of public funds and resources,
the constitution allowed the enactment of a law authorizing the
transfer of funds for the purpose of augmenting an item from
savings in another item in the appropriation of the government
branch or constitutional body concerned. The leeway granted was
thus limited. The purpose and conditions for which funds may be
transferred were specified, i.e., transfer
471
VOL. 191, NOVEMBER 19, 1990 471

may be allowed for the purpose of augmenting an item and such

transfer may be made only if there are savings from another item
in the appropriation of the government branch or constitutional
body” (G.R. No. 71977, 27 February 1987, 148 SCRA 214).
The 1973 Constitution contained an identical authority to

augment from savings in its Article VIII, Section 16 (5),
except for mention of the Prime 1
Minister among the
officials vested with that power.
In 1977, the statutory authority of the President to
augment any appropriation of the executive department in
the General Appropriations Act from savings was
specifically provided for in Section 44 of Presidential
Decree No. 1177, as amended (RA 6670, 4 August 1988),
otherwise known as the “Budget Reform Decree of 1977.” It
reads:
“Sec. 44. x x x
“The President shall, likewise, have the authority to augment
any appropriation of the Executive Department in the General
Appropriations Act, from savings in the appropriations of another
department, bureau, office or agency within the Executive
Branch, pursuant to the provisions of Art. VIII, Sec. 16 (5) of the
Constitution (now Sec. 25 (5), Art. VI)” (Emphasis ours), (N.B.:
The first paragraph declared void in Demetria v. Alba, supra, has
been deleted).
Similarly, the use by the President of savings to cover

deficits is specifically authorized in the same Decree. Thus:
“Sec. 45. Authority to Use Savings in Appropriations to Cover

Deficits. Except as otherwise provided in the General
Appropriations Act, any savings in the regular appropriations
authorized in the General Appropriations Act for programs and
projects of any department, office or agency, may, with the
approval of the President be used to cover a deficit in any other
item of the regular appropriations:” x x x
_______________
1 Sec. 16 (5)—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.
472

A more recent grant is found in Section 12 of the General

Appropriations Act of 1989, the text of which is repeated in
the first paragraph of Section 16 (FY ‘90). Section 12 reads:
“Sec. 12. Use of Savings.—The President, the President of the
Justice of the Supreme Court, the heads of the Constitutional
Commissions, and the Ombudsman are hereby authorized to
augment any item in this Act for their respective offices from
savings in other items of their respective appropriations.”
There should be no question, therefore, that statutory

authority has, in fact, been granted. And once given, the
heads of the different branches of the Government and
those of the Constitutional Commissions are afforded
considerable flexibility in the use of public funds and
resources (Demetria v. Alba, supra). The doctrine of
separation of powers is in no way endangered because the
transfer is made within a department (or branch of
government) and not from one department (branch) to
another (CRUZ, Isagani A., Philippine Political Law [1989]
p. 155).
When Sections 55 (FY ‘89) and 16 (FY ‘90), therefore,
prohibit the restoration or increase by augmentation of
appropriations disapproved or reduced by Congress, they
impair the constitutional and statutory authority of the
President and other key officials to augment any item or
any appropriation from savings in the interest of
expediency and efficiency. The exercise of such authority in
respect of disapproved or reduced items by no means vests
in the Executive the power to rewrite the entire budget, as
petitioners contend, the leeway granted being delimited to
transfers within the department or branch concerned, the
sourcing to come only from savings.
More importantly, it strikes us, too, that for such a
special power as that of augmentation from savings, the
same is merely incorporated in the General Appropriations
Bill. An Appropriations Bill is “one the primary and specific
aim of which is to make appropriation of money from the
public treasury” (Bengzon v. Secretary of Justice, 292 U.S.,
410, 57 S.Ct. 252). It is a legislative authorization of
receipts and expenditures. The power of augmentation
from savings, on the other hand, can by no means be
considered a specific appropriation of money. It is a
473
VOL. 191, NOVEMBER 19, 1990 473

non-appropriation item inserted in an appropriation

measure.
The same thing must be said of Section 55 (FY ‘89),
taken in conjunction with Section 12, and Section 16 (FY
‘90), which prohibit the restoration or increase by
augmentation of appropriations disapproved and/or
reduced by Congress. They are non-appropriation items, an
appropriation being a setting apart by law of a certain sum
from the public revenue for a specific purpose (Bengzon v.
Secretary of Justice, 62 Phil. 912, 916 [1936]). It bears
repeating that they are more of a substantive expression of
a legislative objective to restrict the power of augmentation
granted to the President and other key officials. They are
actually matters of general law and more properly the
subject of a separate legislation that will embody, define
and delimit the scope of the special power of augmentation
from savings instead of being inappropriately incorporated
annually in the Appropriation Act. To sanction this practice
would be to give the Legislature the freedom to grant or
withhold the power from the Executive and other officials,
and thus put in yearly jeopardy the exercise of that power.
If, indeed, by the later enactments of Section 55 (FY ‘89)
and Section 16 (FY ‘90), Congress, as petitioners argue,
intended to amend or repeal Pres. Decree No. 1177, with all
the more reason should it have so provided in a separate
enactment, it being basic that implied repeals are not
favored. For the same reason, we cannot subscribe to
petitioners’ allegation that Pres. Decree No. 1177 has been
revoked by the 1987 Constitution. The 1987 Constitution
itself provides for the continuance of laws, decrees,
executive orders, proclamations, letters of instructions, and
other executive issuances not inconsistent with the
Constitution until amended, repealed, or revoked (1987
Constitution, Article XVIII, Section 3).
If, indeed, the legislature believed that the exercise of
the veto powers by the executive were unconstitutional, the
remedy laid down by the Constitution is crystal clear. A
Presidential veto may be overriden by the votes of two-
thirds of members of Congress (1987 Constitution, Article
VI, Section 27[1], supra). But Congress made no attempt to
override the Presidential veto. Petitioners’ argument that
the veto is ineffectual so that there is “nothing to override”
(citing Bolinao) has lost force and effect with the executive
veto having been herein upheld.
474

As we see it, there need be no future conflict if the

legislative and executive branches of government adhere to
the spirit of the Constitution, each exercising its respective
powers with due deference to the constitutional
responsibilities and functions of the other. Thereby, the
delicate equilibrium of governmental powers remains on
even keel.
WHEREFORE, the constitutionality of the assailed
Presidential veto is UPHELD and this Petition is hereby
DISMISSED. No costs.
SO ORDERED.
Narvasa, Gancayco, Bidin, Sarmiento, Griño-

Aquino, Me-dialdea and Regalado, JJ., concur.
Fernan (C.J.), No part. Formerly counsel for one
petitioner and one respondent.
Gutierrez, Jr., and Cruz, JJ., Please see dissent.
Paras, J., I dissent for the reasons given by Justices
Padilla, Cruz and Gutierrez, Jr.
Feliciano, J., On leave.
Padilla, J., See dissenting opinion.
GUTIERREZ, JR., J.: Dissenting Opinion
I regretfully dissent from the Court’s opinion in this case

because fundamental principles underlying the doctrine of
separation of powers were violated when the President
vetoed certain provisions of the 1989 and 1990
Appropriation Bills.
I am disturbed by the consequences of the Court’s act of
legitimation, among them the following:
(1) The traditional power of Congress over the public

purse is negated if functions or offices it has
abolished or reduced are restored through the grant
of carte blanche authority to shift savings from one
department or agency to another. What the Court is
sustaining is no longer augmentation within the
purview of the Constitution. It is already fund
juggling against the express command of the body
in whom fiscal power is vested.
(2) The Court is, in effect, allowing a modified lump
sum appropriation for the entire Executive Branch.
The Executive is annually given appropriations
ranging from Two Hundred Billion Pesos to Two
Hundred Fifty Billion Pesos. Whenever the
475
VOL. 191, NOVEMBER 19, 1990 475

President calls on all Departments to effect ten

percent (10%) savings, compliance immediately
follows. There is thus a built in excess of Two
Billion Pesos. This tremendous amount can now be
used to finance projects which Congress declares
improvident or of low priority. Secretaries of
executive departments can thumb their noses at the
legislature and, by asking for the President’s
largesse, implement even that which has been
interdicted.
(3) The Constitution does not grant fiscal autonomy to
the Executive Branch. There is no comparison
between the appropriations for the Judiciary and
other constitutional offices on one hand and for the
Executive Branch on the other. There is reason to
give flexibility in the use of funds for the Judiciary
and other constitutional creatures. However, tight
congressional control over the way executive
programs of government are funded is part of a
responsible presidential system of government.
(4) The power to augment is intended for functions,
projects, and offices where both Congress and the
President expressly or impliedly concur, not where
one specifically exercises its constitutional power to
regulate or modify the expenditures of the other. In
the same way that Congress cannot increase the
budgetary proposals of the Executive, neither
should the Executive restore that which Congress
has expressly abolished or reduced.
(5) The Constitution grants the President power to veto
any particular item or items of an appropriation
bill. The Constitution withholds the power to veto
provisions from the President. We are rewriting the
Constitution to restore what the framers have
eliminated when we ignore the difference between
an item and a provision.
The Court is interpreting the power to augment under

Section 25 (5), Article VI of the Constitution as a grant of
near untrammelled authority to shift savings from
appropriated funds for functions and projects never
intended by the lawmakers to be funded and worse, for
functions and projects which Congress has expressly stated
should not be beneficiaries of public funds for a specific
year.
With a budget of over Two Hundred Billion Pesos
(P200,000,000,000.00) annually given to the Executive
Depart-
476

ment, the implications of the Court’s ruling are extremely

serious, to say the least. The Court’s interpretation of the
power of augmentation effectively corrodes the power of
Congress over a function which by its nature is inherently
legislative. I don’t believe the Constitution ever intended to
give carte blanche authority to the President to suppress
certain activities in the Executive Department already
agreed upon with Congress and from the funds thus saved,
transfer various amounts to projects and offices which
Congress declares must be abolished or reduced. Why not
simply give the President a lump sum allocation of P250
Billion and let it be spent as the Executive wills?
The raising of funds for the expenses of Government is a
legislative prerogative. The legislative power also
determines through Appropriation Acts how the revenues
collected shall be spent and for what purpose. Congress
alone has the power to give the President the necessary
funds to implement Government programs. This vested
power of Congress over the financial affairs of Government
underlies and colors all interpretations of budgetary
provisions and appropriation laws.
Because of the high profile of Malacañang in the
disbursement of funds for public needs, people tend to
forget that it is only implementing the law as passed by
Congress. The President has no power to enact or amend
statutes, most specifically appropriation statutes. The
Executive merely proposes and submits recommendations.
It is Congress which decides. In the same way that
Congress creates public offices, it can also abolish them
whenever, in its opinion, bona fide simplicity, economy, and
efficiency would be achieved. By allowing the President
through augmentation to re-create public offices abolished
or reduced by Congress, the Court is treading upon
timetested doctrines, the effects of which may, in the
future, be regretted.
It is misleading for the respondents to tie up the
President’s augmentation authority with the same
authority given to the Chief Justice and the heads of
Constitutional Commissions. The Judiciary and these
Commissions enjoy fiscal autonomy. Their roles in the
constitutional scheme call for independence and flexibility
in the use of appropriated funds. Most of their expenditures
are fixed and recurring. The Department of Budget and
Management (DBM) prunes their requests for funds to the
477
VOL. 191, NOVEMBER 19, 1990 477

bone such that when the budget is presented to Congress,

there is nothing more to abolish or reduce. The Judiciary
and Commissions are usually neglected if not forgotten
when the financial pie is sliced. Thus the Judiciary with
around 23,000 Justices, Judges, Clerks of Court, lawyers,
and other supporting personnel is generally allocated a
miniscule one (1%) percent of the national budget by DBM
proposals. In the aborted 1991 proposals, the percentage
was lowered to 00.67 percent or a little over one-half
percent. Any savings are quite modest and usually result
from non-filling of judicial positions. The Constitutional
Commissions have the same problems. The Court now
validates the free use of savings by the Executive against
the express will of Congress. Since these could easily
amount not to one percent but to ten percent or more of the
gargantuan budget for the Executive Branch, the
implications are extremely disturbing.
As for the power given to the Senate President and
Speaker, it is Congress which enacts the law and the need
for augmentation is not really significant.
The same is not true for the President where the amount
from which savings are generated is always beyond P200
Billion. The argument that the leeway granted is delimited
to transfers within the department or branch overlooks the
fact that almost the entire budget of the Government is
eaten up by the Executive Branch. It is relatively easy for
the Office of the President, for example, to get P100 Million
from funds allocated as assistance to local governments or
construction of major public works and augment another
item anywhere in the entire Executive Branch. This is
indeed the power to rewrite the entire budget. It is not the
legislative power over the public purse which alone is
denigrated. The power to fiscalize government expenses is
equally diminished.
The constitutional history of the President’s item veto
power shows that it should not be interpreted to include
the vetoing of provisions. It must be limited to items.
The 1935 Constitution granted the power to veto
“provisions” provided the particular item or items to which
the provision relates are also vetoed.
The 1973 Constitution removed the power to veto
“provisions.” The Chief Executive was given the power to
veto only
478

“any particular item or items” in an appropriation,

revenue, or tariff bill.
The 1987 Constitution follows the 1973 formula. The
President may veto any particular item or items in an
appropriation, revenue, or tariff bill but the veto shall not
affect the item or items to which he does not object.
The majority opinion correctly concedes that the terms
item and provision in budgetary legislation and practice are
different.
If that is so, I fail to see how we can rule that the power
of the President under the 1935 Constitution to veto
“provisions” remains even if it was expressly eliminated
from both the 1973 and 1987 Constitutions. Where the
Constitution says “items,” the veto power must be limited
to “items.” It cannot include “provisions” which was
expressly stricken out.
As a general rule, laws passed by Congress can be
vetoed by the President only in their entirety or none at all.
She cannot select provisions and sections she does not like
and veto them while approving the rest of the statute. The
Constitution allows a limited power of veto only when it
comes to appropriation, revenue or tariff bills. The power is
limited to items. It should not be interpreted by this Court
to mean the expanded power to also veto “provisions.”
To state it in another way, the President may veto a
distinct and severable part of a bill only—(1) if that
severable part is an item and not a provision, and (2) if that
severable part belongs to an appropriation, revenue or
tariff bill. All other bills must be vetoed in their entirety.
Regarding the citation from Bengzon v. Secretary of
Justice (299 U.S. 410, 414 [1936]) for a liberal construction,
the veto power is interpreted in favor of validity only when
it is limited to the items it covers. No amount of liberal
interpretation, for instance, can allow the President to veto
any item, part, or section of a bill which has nothing to do
with appropriations, revenues, or tariffs.
I must emphasize that the provisions vetoed by the
President are not inappropriate and definitely are not
riders.
There can be no dispute that Congress has the power to
reduce the budgetary proposals prepared by the Executive.
If Congress abolishes, removes, or reduces a project,
function,
479
VOL. 191, NOVEMBER 19, 1990 479
or activity by cutting the funds proposed for it, a provision

enforcing that abolition, removal, or reduction is
appropriate and germane to the part thus stricken out. It
would be absurd to require that it should appear in
separate legislation.
A rider is a provision which is alien to the bill to which it
is attached. An example is the Spooner Amendment which
transfered government powers over the Philippines in 1901
from the military to the civil government, from the
Executive to Congress. This section had nothing to do with
the Army Appropriation Bill in which it was included. On
the other hand, the vetoed provisions in the instant case
specifically refer to appropriations which were disapproved
or reduced in those very same bills.
In fact, the vetoed provisions of the 1989 and 1990
Appropriation Acts are not only germane to these Acts but
are precisely authorized under Section 25 (5) of Article VI
of the Constitution. Under Section 25 (5), the President,
Senate President, Speaker, Chief Justice and heads of
Constitutional Commissions are by law authorized to
augment items in the general appropriations law for their
respective offices from savings in other items. As stated by
the majority opinion, the power to augment from savings
lies dormant until authorized by law. When Congress
exercises that dormant power and by law authorizes these
officials to augment items, certainly it has the power to
also state what items may not be augmented. I fail to see
how the exercise of this power can be termed an
inappropriate rider.
The grant of the power to augment includes the
authority to specify what matters are not part of the
granted power. I cannot agree that the 1977 authority to
augment appropriations from savings can prevail over 1989
and 1990 provisions to the contrary. The 1989 grant of the
power to augment in Section 12 of the 1989 Appropriations
Acts is necessarily circumscribed by the withholding of that
power in the provisions illegally vetoed. One part cannot
remain if a related part is vetoed.
In closing, I repeat that the Court’s opinion allows the
President to denigrate and render ineffective a clear and
positive expression of legislative policy on how the funds of
Government shall be spent. Where Congress expressly
states that our limited funds should not be spent on a
particular function or office, we should not give the
President the power to appropriate
480

through transfers of funds the money to maintain the

abolished or greatly reduced function or office. The power of
augmentation is intended to save programs or projects
agreed upon by both the President and Congress where the
funds allocated turn out to be inadequate. It was never
conceived to render inutile the legislative power over the
purse. The power to determine how public funds should be
spent should remain lodged where it rightfully belongs.
CRUZ, J., Dissenting:
Mme. Justice Herrera has written another opinion that

commends itself for its logic and lucidity. Regrettably,
there are certain conclusions in the ponencia that I cannot
share.
In justifying her veto, the President says that “the
provision violates section 25(5) of Article VI of the
Constitution,” as if to suggest that she derives her power of
augmentation directly from this section. She does not, of
course. This is not a self-executing provision. The said
section states that she and the other officials mentioned
therein “may, by law, be authorized to augment any item in
the general appropriations law for their respective offices. .
.” This means she needs statutory authority before she can
augment.
The President says nevertheless that she has that
authority and points to Section 44 of PD No. 1177,
otherwise known as the Budget Reform Decree of 1977, as
amended. Significantly, the provision she invokes is
precisely the section modified by Congress in the General
Appropriations Act of 1989 (and also of 1990). In vetoing
Section 55 of that law, the President is in effect saying that
the authorization earlier given her cannot be revoked.
The authority to augment is not such an extraordinary
endowment that, once given, becomes sacrosanct and
irrevocable. What the Legislature has conferred in its
discretion, it can also recall in the exercise of that same
discretion. The only exception I know to the principle that
Congress cannot pass irrepealable laws is the impairment
clause, and even that is fast losing ground.
I am not persuaded that Section 55 of the General
Appropriations Law of 1989 is a rider as contended by the
respondents. A
481
VOL. 191, NOVEMBER 19, 1990 481

rider is a provision not germane to the subject or purpose of

the bill where it is included, Section 55 is not irrelevant to
the General Appropriations Act of 1989 as it deals, quite
obviously, with appropriations. Its purpose is in fact to
limit the powers of the President in the disposition of the
funds appropriated in that measure.
I suggest it is Section 44 of the Budget Reform Decree
and not Section 55 of the General Appropriations Act of
1989 that is the rider. Section 44 is extraneous to the
subject and purpose of PD No. 1177, which deals only with
“the form, content and manner of preparation of the
budget” that are required to “be prescribed by law” under
Article VI, Sec. 25(1) of the Constitution. The budget is only
a recommendation of appropriations, not the appropriation
itself. The authority to augment given by Section 44 of PD
No. 1177 belongs in the General Appropriations Act and
has no place in the Budget Reform Decree.
The ponencia says that to sanction the inclusion of
Section 55 in the General Appropriations Act “would be to
give the Legislature the freedom to grant or withhold the
power from the Executive and other officials and thus put
in yearly jeopardy the exercise of that power” to augment. I
respectfully submit that the freedom is not ours to give. It
was vested in Congress by the Constitution itself, and we
ourselves have no authority to grant or withhold it.
It is needless to debate whatever distinction there may
be between the item and the provision. The important
consideration is that, whatever its nature, Section 55 of the
General Appropriations Act cannot be vetoed in any case
because it seeks to withdraw a delegated power.
The power of the purse belongs to Congress and has
been traditionally recognized in the constitutional
provision that “no money shall be paid out of the Treasury
except in pursuance of an appropriation made by law.” The
transfer of funds from one item to another in the General
Appropriations Act is part of that power, except that the
Constitution allows Congress to delegate it by law to the
President, the Senate President, the Speaker of the House
of Representatives, the Chief Justice and the heads of the
Constitutional Commissions. When exercising this
authority, the aforementioned officials act not by virtue of
their own competence but only as agents of Congress.
482

There should be no question that the agency conferred on

these officials can be revoked by Congress at any time and
for any reason it sees fit. The delegates cannot challenge
this withdrawal and insist on holding on to the
authorization that the legislature had the discretion to
withhold from them in the first place. The authority to
augment involves the element of confidence. Should
Congress choose to withdraw it, a becoming respect for the
doctrine of separation of powers, if not anything else,
should persuade the delegates to yield to the wish of the
principal.
The challenge to the validity of Section 55 is to me plain
quibbling. To argue that no recall has been made is to
ignore the obvious. What matters is the intention of
Congress, which should be clear enough if only the
respondents would not muddy the waters. The plain and
unmistakable intention of Congress is to withdraw from
the President, for its own reasons, the delegated power to
augment.
The following observations in the Emergency Power
Cases, 92 Phil. 603, are appropriate:
Although House Bill No. 727 had been vetoed by the President
and did not thereby become a regular statute, it may at least be
considered as a concurrent resolution of the Congress formally
declaring the termination of the emergency powers. To contend
that the Bill needed presidential acquiescence to produce effect
would lead to the anomalous, if not absurd, situation that, while
Congress might delegate its powers by a simple majority, it might
not be able to recall them except by two-thirds vote. In other
words, it would be easier for Congress to delegate its powers than
to take them back. This is not right and is not, and ought not, to
be the law.
I think it would have been more characteristic of the

President if she had graciously respected the will of the
Legislature and so again recognized her role in the
constitutional scheme of the Republic.
PADILLA, J.: Dissenting Opinion
I dissent mainly for two (2) reasons:

First: the questioned veto has no constitutional basis.
Article VI, Section 27 of the 1987 Constitution provides:
483
VOL. 191, NOVEMBER 19, 1990 483

“Sec. 27. (1) Every bill passed by the Congress shall, before it
becomes a law, be presented to the President. If he approves the
same, he shall sign it; otherwise, he shall veto it and return the
same with his objections to the House where it originated, which
shall enter the objections at large in its Journal and proceed to
reconsider it. If, after such reconsideration, two-thirds of all the
Members of such House shall agree to pass the bill, it shall be
sent, together with the objections, to the other House by which it
shall likewise be reconsidered, and if approved by two-thirds of all
the Members of that House, it shall become a law. In all such
cases, the votes of each House shall be determined by yeas or
nays, and the names of the Members voting for or against shall be
entered in its Journals. The President shall communicate his veto
of any bill to the House where it originated within thirty days
after the date of receipt thereof; otherwise, it shall become a law
as if he had signed it.
(2) The President shall have the power to veto any particular
item or items in an appropriation, revenue, or tariff bill, but the
veto shall not affect the item or items to which he does not object.”
Section 27 (1) refers to a general veto where the President

objects to an entire bill approved by Congress and returns
it to Congress for its reconsideration. The situation at bar
is admittedly not a general veto of the appropriation acts
for 1989 and 1990, Section 27 (1) does not, therefore, apply.
The majority opinion positions the veto questioned in
this case within the scope of Section 27 (2) above-quoted. I
do not see how this can be done without doing violence to
the constitutional design. The distinction between an item-
veto and a provision-veto has been traditionally recognized
in constitutional litigation and budgetary practice. As
stated by Mr. Justice Sutherland, speaking for the U.S.
Supreme Court in Bengzon vs. Secretary of Justice, 299
U.S. 410-416:
“x x x. An item of an appropriation bill obviously means an item

which in itself is a specific appropriation of money, not some
general provisions of law which happens to be put into an
appropriation bill. x x x.”
When the Constitution in Section 27 (2) empowers the

President to veto any particular item or items in the
appropriation act, it does not confer—in fact, it excludes—
the power to veto any particular provision or provisions in
said act.
484

In an earlier case, Sarmiento vs. Mison, et al., 156 SCRA

549, this Court referred to its duty to construe the
Constitution, not in accordance with how the executive or
the legislative would want it construed, but in accordance
with what it says and provides. When the Constitution
states that the President has the power to veto any
particular item or items in the appropriation act, this must
be taken as a component of that delicate balance of power
between the executive and the legislative, so that, for this
Court to construe Sec. 27 (2) of the Constitution as also
empowering the President to veto any particular provision
or provisions in the appropriation act, is to load the scale in
favor of the executive, at the expense of that delicate
balance of power.
Stated differently, to stretch the power of the President
to veto any item in the appropriation act so as to include
the power to veto any particular provision in the same act,
without any conclusive indication that the same was the
intent of the constitutional framers and the people who
adopted the 1987 Constitution, is for the Court to indulge
in spatial constitutional aerobics simply to justify what, to
my mind, is an indefensible presidential veto.
Second: Section 55 (FY 1989) and Section 16 (FY 1990)
are founded on principles of sound reason and public policy;
the attempt to “veto” them is a grave abuse of discretion
amounting to lack or excess of jurisdiction.
To begin with, Article VI, Section 25, par. 5 of the 1987
Constitution provides:
“(5) No law shall be passed authorizing any transfer of

appropriations; however, the President, the President of the
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
It will be at once noted that the fundamental policy of the

Constitution is against transfer of appropriations even by
law, since this “juggling” of funds is often a rich source of
unbridled patronage, abuse and interminable corruption.
485
VOL. 191, NOVEMBER 19, 1990 485

However, the same provision allows the enactment of a law

that would authorize the President of the Philippines, the
President of the Senate, the Speaker of the House, the
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, and the heads of
Constitutional Commissions to augment from savings
realized from any appropriations for their respective
offices, any other item of appropriation also for their
offices. In accordance with this Constitutional leave,
Section 12 of the appropriation act of 1989 (also Section 16
(1st part) of the appropriation act of 1990) provides:
“Sec. 12. Use of Savings.—The President, the President of the

Justice of the Supreme Court, the Heads of the Constitutional
Commissions, and the Ombudsman are hereby authorized to
augment any item in this Act for their respective offices from
Thus, a transfer from savings is allowed to augment any

appropriation pertaining to the office which effects the
savings.
And yet, Congress as the appropriating and funding
department of the Government has seen fit to place a
condition or a qualification in the authority to augment,
from savings, any appropriation in the offices concerned. It
requires that no such-savings can be used to augment an
appropriation previously disapproved by Congress or to
restore an appropriation previously reduced by Congress.
I can see no valid reason, in logic or in sound
management, why such a condition can not be accepted. It
only makes certain that congressional action disapproving
an appropriation or reducing the amount of an
appropriation, is not rendered inutile or meaningless by a
transfer of savings in an appropriation to such other items
already disapproved or reduced by Congress.
It can hardly be disputed that the condition, restriction
or qualification embodied in Sections 55 and 16, here
discussed, was enacted by Congress in the exercise of its
legislative power to appropriate funds for government
operations. The exercise of that legislative power, in the
first instance, should be accorded due respect and, as I see
it, the veto of the said condition is an undue encroachment
by the executive on a properly exercised
486

legislative power. This Court, in delineating power
boundaries between the different departments of
government, sadly expands, in this case, the bounds of an
already too-powerful executive, at the expense of legislative
prerogative. The majority appear to have overlooked that
the power to appropriate and set reasonable conditions
incidental thereto is a function entrusted by the
Constitution in the legislature and only in the legislature.
In Bolinao vs. Valencia, G.R. No. L-20740, 30 June 1964,
11 SCRA 486, this Court already had occasion to uphold a
condition laid down by the legislative in an appropriation
measure, to the extent of declaring a presidential veto of
such condition as illegal if made separately from the
appropriation itself. This Court held:
“It may be observed from the wordings of the Appropriations Act

that the amount appropriated for the operation of the Philippine
Broadcasting Service was made subject to the condition that the
same shall not be used or expended for operation of television
stations in Luzon, where there are already existing commercial
television stations. This gives rise to the question of whether the
President may legally veto a condition attached to an
appropriation or item in the appropriation bill. But this is not a
novel question. A little effort to research on the subject would
have yielded enough authority to guide action on the matter. For,
in the leading case of State v. Holder, it was already declared that
such action by the Chief Executive was illegal. This ruling, that
the executive’s veto power does not carry with it the power to
strike out conditions or restrictions, has been adhered to in
subsequent cases. If the veto is unconstitutional, it follows that
the same produced no effect whatsoever, and the restriction
imposed by the appropriation bill, therefore, remains. Any
expenditure made by the intervenor PBS, for the purpose of
installing or operating a television station in Manila, where there
are already television stations in operation, would be in violation
of the express condition for the release of the appropriation and,
consequently, null and void. x x x.”
By clear analogy, the President could not veto Sections 55

(FY 1989) and 16 (FY 1990) as conditions, without vetoing
the items or appropriations which are affected by said
conditions, meaning, the entire appropriation bills.
ACCORDINGLY, I vote to GRANT the petition and to
declare the presidential veto of Section 55 (FY 1989) and
Section 16 (FY
487
VOL. 191, NOVEMBER 20, 1990 487

Guardex Enterprises vs. NLRC
1990) as null and void and of no effect whatsoever, for

being clearly unconstitutional. It follows that Sections 55
(FY 1989) and 16 (FY 1990) remain as binding conditions
in the disposition of savings in appropriations covered by
the appropriation acts for 1989 and 1990.
Petition dismissed.
——o0o——
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452 SUPREME COURT REPORTS ANNOTATED

Gonzales vs. Macaraig, Jr.

NEPTALI A. GONZALES, ERNESTO M. MACEDA,

Constitutional Law; Separation of Powers; The contextual

VOL. 191, NOVEMBER 19, 1990 453

Gonzales vs. Macaraig, Jr.

political question doctrine neither interposes an obstacle to

454 SUPREME COURT REPORTS ANNOTATED

Gonzales vs. Macaraig, Jr.

assuming arguendo that provisions are beyond the executive

VOL. 191, NOVEMBER 19, 1990 455

Gonzales vs. Macaraig, Jr.

GUTIERREZ, JR., J., Dissenting:

Laws passed by Congress can be vetoed by the President only

456 SUPREME COURT REPORTS ANNOTATED

CRUZ, J., Dissenting:

The power of the purse belongs to Congress and has been

PETITION for prohibition/mandamus assailing mainly the

The facts are stated in the opinion of the Court.

“Authorizing and Directing the Committee on Finance to Bring in

VOL. 191, NOVEMBER 19, 1990 457

larly Section 55, of the General Appropriation Bill of 1989 (H.B.

Petitioners are thus before us as members and ex-officio

The Background Facts

On 16 December 1988, Congress passed House Bill No.

“WHEREAS, Be it Resolved, as it is hereby Resolved, That the

Thus it is that, on 11 April 1989, this Petition for

458 SUPREME COURT REPORTS ANNOTATED

tion 55, and seeking to enjoin respondents from

The Vetoed Provisions and Reasons Therefor

Section 55 of the Appropriations Act of 1989 (Section 55

VOL. 191, NOVEMBER 19, 1990 459

“SEC. 55. Prohibition Against the Restoration or Increase of

We quote below the reason for the Presidential veto:

“The provision violates Section 25 (5) of Article VI of the

A substantially similar provision as the vetoed Section 55

“B. GENERAL PROVISIONS

460 SUPREME COURT REPORTS ANNOTATED

the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, the Heads of

It should be noted that in the 1989 Appropriations Act, the

“I am vetoing this provision for the reason that it violates Section

VOL. 191, NOVEMBER 19, 1990 461

The fundamental issue raised is whether or not the veto by

The Contending Views

In essence, petitioners’ cause is anchored on the following

462 SUPREME COURT REPORTS ANNOTATED

or other “distinct and severable parts” of an Appropriations

With the Senate maintaining that the President’s veto is

“Indeed, where the legislature or the executive branch is acting

We take note as well of what petitioners stress as the

VOL. 191, NOVEMBER 19, 1990 463

taxpayers suits or not. In Tolentino v. COMELEC (No. L-

“SECTION 1. The judicial power shall be vested in one Supreme

Nor is this the first time that the constitutionality of a

The Extent of the President’s Item-veto Power

The focal issue for resolution is whether or not the

464 SUPREME COURT REPORTS ANNOTATED

The veto power of the President is expressed in Article VI,

VOL. 191, NOVEMBER 19, 1990 465