2. Control of Administrative Actions

Question 1

Art. VII. Sec. 17.

Answer 1

The President shall have control over all the executive departments, bureaus, and offices. He shall ensure that laws be faithfully executed. [Sec. 17, Art. VII, CONST.]

Question 2

What is the difference between control and supervision?

Answer 2

Control - the power of an officer to alter or modify or nullify or set aside what a subordinate officer had done in the performance of his duties and to substitute the judgment of the former for test of the latter.

Supervision - overseeing or the power or authority of an officer to see that subordinate officers perform their duties.

Question 3

What is Congressional oversight?

Answer 3

Congressional oversight is Congress’s power to monitor, scrutinize, investigate, and supervise the acts of administrative agencies. It is for congress to make sure the admin. agencies perform their functions within the authority delegated to them.

Congressional oversight is the power which embraces all activities undertaken by Congress to enhance its understanding of and influence over the implementation of legislation it has enacted; it is intrinsic in the grant of legislative power and integral to the checks and balances inherent in a democratic system of government. [Macalintal v. COMELEC, J. Puno dissenting op.]

Question 4

What is the purpose of Congressional Oversight?

Answer 4

The purposes of congressional oversight power are:

1. To monitor bureaucratic compliance with program objectives;
2. To determine whether agencies are properly administered;
3. To eliminate executive waste and dishonesty;
4. To prevent usurpation of legislative authority;
5. To assess conformity with the congressional perception of public interest.

Question 5

What are the categories of congressional oversight functions?

Answer 5

There are three categories of congressional oversight functions:

1. Legislative scrutiny - passive process of looking at readily available facts; Congress may request information or report from other branches of government. It can give recommendations or pass resolutions for consideration of the agency involved; implies a lesser intensity and continuity of attention to administrative operations. Its primary purpose is to determine economy and efficiency of the operation of government activities.
2. Legislative investigation - involves a more intense digging of facts. It has been held to be an essential and appropriate auxiliary to the legislative function. In Arnault v. Nazareno, the Court held that “the power of inquiry – with process to enforce it – is an essential and appropriate auxiliary to the legislative function. A legislative body cannot legislate wisely or effectively in the absence of information respecting the conditions which legislation is intended to affect or change.”
3. Legislative supervision - connotes a continuing and informed awareness on the part of a congressional committee regarding executive operations in a given administrative area. It allows Congress to scrutinize the exercise of delegated law-making authority, and permits Congress to retain part of that delegated authority. Typically, supervision is exercised through Congress’s veto power. The veto power requires the president to have the rules and regulations approved by Congress. (legislative veto was held unconstitutional in Macalintal v. COMELEC)

Question 6

According to Dean Carlotta, what is the problem with the non-delegation doctrine and sufficient standard rule?

Answer 6

The non-delegation doctrine provides that the legislative powers cannot be delegated. Permissible delegation is only allowed when there is a sufficient standard. The more specific the standard the higher the safeguard against arbitrariness. However, a scrutiny of SC decisions reveal that even blatantly vague sufficient standards such as “Public Interest” are accepted. Thus, it has the effect of validating a delegation without any specific standard.