Module 2: Philippine government in ● Head of state

focus: the executive ○ Official figurehead, chief architect

of foreign policy, official
Part 1: GUIDE QUESTIONS representative of the country to
I. What can the executive do? other nation-states, forms
A. Powers/duties of the president agreements & relationships with
II. How does the executive branch work? other countries
A. Who/what makes up the ● Commander-in-chief
executive branch? ○ Maintains civilian leadership over
III. How do they get their position? military, shapes national security
IV. To whom are they accountable? direction
V. Is their power permanent? ● Reactive powers
VI. How does the executive balance the ○ Veto power (whole or particular
powers of the two other branches? items)
● Agenda-setting powers
Part 2: ADDITIONAL NOTES FROM ○ SONA and priorities for legislation
READINGS ● Budgetary powers
I. SUMMARY: Presidential Performance ○ National expenditure program
and Dynamics of Power IN SHORT: EVERYTHING
● The president is not just one person. The
president is a NETWORK
○ The vast power that the
constitution grants the president
Powers/Duties of the President makes resources easily
● Lead executive departments & armed accessible to the president
forces (commander-in-chief) ● Therefore, it is important to demand
● Supervision over local governments accountability at all times, and not just
● Nominate & appoint department heads, dismiss his shortcomings and say: “tao
ambassadors, public ministers, consuls, lang, nagkakamali rin.”
military officers
● Submit budget (basis of GAA) to
Congress
● Contract/guarantee foreign loans &
agreements with foreign corporations Who/what makes up the executive branch?
● Suspend writ of habeas corpus, declare ● President
martial law ● Vice president
Roles of the President (as mandated by the ● Cabinet
1987 Constitution): ● LGUs
● Head of government Powers/Duties of the Vice-President
○ Chief architect of day-to-day ● Primary role is to succeed the president
affairs, provides direction for in case president steps down/gets
legislative agenda and executive removed from position
priorities, affirms/appoints ● No other role in the executive/congress
members of the government ● All the positions handled by the VP in the
Cabinet is via discretion of the president

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The Cabinet
● Composed of the heads of different Public Accountability
government departments/agencies ● All public officials and government
● Appointed by the president employees are held accountable by the
○ Can leave post only by 1987 Constitution on how they must
resignation or by the decision of conduct themselves while in office
the president. ● Impeachment
Local Government Units ○ culpable violation of the
● Barangays, municipalities, cities, and constitution, treason, bribery, graft
provinces and corruption and other high
crimes or betrayal of public trust
(Art. 11, XI Sec. 2)
● Election: ​applies to president, vice ○ House of Representatives – has
president, and LGU Officials the exclusive power to ​initiate all
● Appointment: applies to Cabinet cases of impeachment
members ○ Senate – sole power to ​try and
Qualifications for Elections decide​ all cases of impeachment
● Natural-born citizen
● Registered voter
Can read and write
● At least 40 years old
● Resident for 10 years before the election
● Additional notes:
○ President cannot be re-elected
○ Vice president can only be
reelected once
○ LGU officials can be reelected

Congress of the Philippines

● Legislative branch of the government

● Poses checks upon the executive
○ Authorize the president to Figure 1. Balance of powers ​(From Prof. Lanuza’s ppt)
exercise emergency powers BUT
for a limited period and with Executive to…
restrictions ● Judiciary
○ Sole power to declare the ○ Grant pardon, which modifies rule
existence of a state of war of court
○ Override the president’s veto (⅔ ● Legislative
vote in each House of Congress) ○ Veto bills

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Legislative to… ■ Easily nullifies balance of
● Executive power
○ Power of the purse ○ Dynastic elites
○ Inquiries in aid of legislation ○ Extensive powers enshrined in
(oversight) the constitution
○ Impeachment
○ Override veto ● Consequences
○ Reject appointments ○ Partisan appointments
● Judiciary ○ Turncoatism
○ Impeachment ○ Supermajorities in Congress
○ amend/enact laws, which may ○ Reinforcement of the factors
affect court decisions above
■ Becomes cyclical
Judiciary to… ○ Retention of personality politics
● Legislative ■ Less of meritocracy and
○ Judicial review more of personality
○ Declare unconstitutionality of
actions, grave abuse of discretion If the president is constitutionally strong…
● Executive ● Why do they need to extensively rely on
○ Declare unconstitutionality of pork barrel and other means of
actions, grave abuse of discretion patronage?
● Why does the executive still rely on local
politicians when powers are highly
concentrated?
The Philippine Executive ○ The presidency exists in an
● Can upend the balance of powers of the environment with weak
three branches due to: institutions
○ Weak party system ○ Weak party system -
■ No ideological difference personalistic instead of
between parties programmatic parties
■ Tendency of people to ■ Personalistic parties can
flock to the President’s be bought, as compared
party to programmatic,
■ Turncoatism, political ideological parties
butterflies ○ Weak bureaucracy - more of
■ Supermajorities - connections instead of ability
“numbers game not ■ Easily undermined by
representative game” patronage instead of merit
○ Patronage ○ Grouping of politicians - based on
■ President as the favors, not ideology
Patron-in-Chief
■ Biggest distributor of pork
■ Politicians prioritize own
interests

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[Additional Notes]
SUMMARY: Presidential Performance and Dynamics of Power
Table for the purpose of showing the scope of work of the executive
Contents mostly based on Chapter 9 in Morada
SIMILARITIES AQUINO RAMOS ESTRADA ARROYO

Restoration of ● Decentralization of ● Initially carried ● Focused on ● Gave cause for ● Order of

democracy and power the peoples’ political continuity the application of succession led to
constitutionalism ○ Began w/ the mandate for the and improvements constitutional her presidency to
passage of the restoration of in the economy provisions for his fulfill Erap’s
Local Gov’t democratic impeachment. remaining term
Code in 1991 processes and
institutions that
were in place
prior to Marcos’s
authoritarian
regime.
● Reinstituted
elections &
mechanisms of
participation of
diff. Political
parties, civil
society, &
electorate
● Orderly
constitutional
succession of
political
leadership.
● Reinstalled the
merits of the civil
service, and
norms & systems
for the
bureaucracy

Executive- Each president had ● Bargaining & ● “Rainbow-coalition ● Unfavorable ● “Sunshine

Legislative their own way of compromise strategy” political style coalition”

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relations maintaining between ○ “...lawmakers from paved the way to ○ Similar w/
executive-legislative executive & various political getting the rainbow-coalitio
relations. legislative branch parties promised to required n
○ Volatile support the signatures from
multiparty system common legislative members of the
○ Upper agenda of the Congress for
income-class ruling Erap’s
domination of administration impeachment
Congress party” (Villanueva, ● Allied w/ some
○ Shifting alliances 2016). members of the
of the members ● Senate to help
of congress. obstruct
pro-impeachment
team

Judicial ● Judiciary ● SC chief justice ● *not specified* ● The constitution’s ● Involved in

independence performed its administered oath provisions on sequence of
functions w/o of office to Aquino impeachment was events re. oath of
presidential applied on office for then-VP
interference Estrada’s Arroyo to succeed
impeachment Estrada.
●

Civilian ● All four presidents ● Tested by seven ● Pursued AFP ● Suspended AFP ● Kept close watch
supremacy over were able to coup attempts modernization militarization over military’s
military maintain civilian staged by military program program needs
supremacy over groups ● ● Funded weapons ● Appointed retired
military ● Initiated procurement and military officers to
professionalization directed total war her administration
and modernization policy against
of the AFP Muslim
secessionists

Executive ● Reorganization of ● Administrative ● Modernization and ● Scrapped AFP ● Administrative

direction, bureaucratic reforms for capacity-building modernization reform, market
bureaucracy, processes accountability of of AFP, program and reform,
development public officials COMELEC, DOJ, withheld 25% agricultural
and budgetary reform, criminal

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5
A. Bureaucratic Sandiganbayan. releases due to justice reform
reform “low financial
capacity” of govt
● Resisted moves to
recentralize health
& agriculture

B. Counterinsur ● Took some action ● National ● Peace agreement ● Reforms in law ● Continued govt’s
gency and toward military Reconciliation and w/ Moro National enforcement peace efforts w/
peace & order rebel groups, Dev’t Program Liberation Front, agencies & judicial MILF, CPP, and
armed forces, and and peace system to pursue NPA.
police. negotiations w/ campaign against
● Negotiations and Moro Islamic criminality,
peace talks w/ Liberation Front terrorism,
rebels ● kidnapping, drugs

C. Socioeconom ● Scope of work for ● Initiated ● Social reform ● “Erap para sa ● Strengthening free
ic planning & social and dismantling of agenda Mahirap” enterprise
development economic crony capitalism ● Directed the ● Prioritization on ● Modernizing
development and economic deregulation of the food security and agriculture
(esp. Human monopolies economy, expansion of ● Promoting
development) ● Privatization of privatization, manufacturing and information and
had a wide and government-owne liberalization, investments in technology
diverse latitude d and -controlled foreign and industry ● Geared at micro,
● institutions domestic ● Special economic small, and
● Agrarian reform investments. zones, export medium
● Accelerated ● processing zones enterprises
industrialization,
sustainable
natural resources
management
● Export dev’y and
promotion
● Intensive tax
collection

D. International ● Presidents fulfilled ● Bilateral and ● Country entered ● Attended APEC ● Signed agreement
relations the mandate of multilateral into 60 treaties/ and ASEAN w/ China to fight
cooperation, international meetings prohibited drugs

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6
 support, nd aid for conventions and ● Confronted w/ the and substances
dev’t efforts agreements with issue of China’s
Senate claim over
concurrence; into Spratlys, and with
31 resolutions w/ the VFA with the
Congress US.
concurrence
● ASEAN, APEC,
UN

Civil Society, ● Engaged in ● Additionally: ● Built coalition w/ ● Created his own ● Additionally:
Church, media, coalition building coalition building civil society for nonprofit coalition building
public opinion w/ sectors and for legitimacy of development organizations, for legitimacy of
groups for political people power programs such as the ERAP people power
support before MuslimYouth ● Used the
and after elections Foundation language of civil
● Civil society more society as core
involved in politics values of her
● Empowered to administration
participate, ●
cooperate, and
even contend w/
the state

Leadership, ● Legislators, civil ● Abided by the ● Abided by the ● Charged with ● Presidential bid for
accountability, society groups, constitutional constitutional plunder involving her own elective
integrity media, and public one-time term of one-time term of Php 3. Billion in term while still in
opinion paid close six years six years public funds and office as president
watch over a illegal for Estrada’s
number of commissions unexpired term
controversial raised issues
matters involving about her access
the president, to government
members of the resources
first family, and ●
gov’t transactions.
● Presidents were
subject to public

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7
 assessments of
their presidencies
● Politics of
patronage
observed

Adtl reference:
Villanueva, M. (2016). Rainbow coalition reborn. Retrieved from
https://www.philstar.com/opinion/2016/06/03/1589622/rainbow-coalition-reborn

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