Laws On Local Government Finals Flashcards
Revised Administrative Code is Executive Order 292, series of 1987.
The Local Government Code of 1991 is Republic Act 7160.
What is the Revised Administrative Code of 1987?
It lays down the basic policies and the systems and procedure by which the organization and operation of the bureaucracy are to be based, including the personnel administration aspect.
What is the Local Government Code of 1991?
It establishes the system and defines powers of provincial, city, municipal, and barangay governments in the Philippines.
Harmonize the Revised Administrative Code of 1987 vis-a-vis the Local Government Code of 1991 as to the duties, functions, and responsibilities of elective officials.
One facet that is addressed by the overlap and harmonization of the common and similar provisions of the Revised Administrative Code of 1987 and the Local Government Code of 1991 is with regard the function of the President via the departments attached under it (by virtue of the alter ego principle) in i) controlling; and ii) supervising elective officers.
What are the provisions on the Revised Administrative Code as to control and supervision?
Sections 79 (C) and 86 of the Revised Administrative Code:
Sec. 79 (C). Power of direction and supervision. — The Department Head shall have direct control, direction, and supervision over all bureaus and offices under his jurisdiction and may, any provision of existing law to the contrary notwithstanding, repeal or modify the decisions of the chief of said bureaus or offices when advisable in the public interest.
The Department Head may order the investigation of any act conduct of any person in the service of any bureau or office under his Department and in connection therewith may appoint a committee or designate an official or person who shall conduct such investigations, and such committee, official, or person may summon witnesses by subpoena and subpoena duces tecum, administer oath, and take testimony relevant to the investigation.
Sec. 86. Bureaus and offices under the Department of Interior. — The Department of the Interior shall have executive supervision over the administration of provinces, municipalities, chartered cities, and other local political subdivisions, except the financial affairs and financial agencies thereof, . . . .
How should disciplinary action be taken against a local office who might be guilty of dereliction of duty?
The legal procedure in such cases will have to be judicial, not administrative. An action will have to be presented in court charging the official with violation of law or neglect of his duties. The Constitution in this respect does not establish anything novel; it merely revives the rule of law in place of administrative discretion.
Under Article VII, Section 10, paragraph 1 of the Constitution, what power is vested in the Executive?
What is its limitation as to local governments?
The President shall have control of all the executive department, bureaus, or offices, exercise general supervision over all local governments as may be provided by law, and take care that the laws be faithfully executed.
Under this constitutional provision the President has been invested with the power of control of all the executive departments, bureaus, or offices, but not of all local governments over which he has been granted only the power of general supervision as may be provided by the law.
In administrative law, how are control and supervision differentiated from one another?
In administrative law, supervision means overseeing or the power or authority of an officer to see that subordinate officers perform their duties. If the latter fail or neglect to fulfill them, the former may take such action or step as prescribed by law to make them perform their duties.
Control, on the other hand, means 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 that of the latter.
Why is Presidential authority over local governments a form of GENERAL SUPERVISION and NOT CONTROL?
What situation would prove that a President can only do general supervision and not control?
If said section 79 (C) were fully applicable to local governments, the President — who now discharges the functions of the former Secretary of the Interior — could “alter or modify or nullify or set aside” any duly enacted municipal ordinance or resolution of a provincial board, or “substitute” his judgment in lieu of that of municipal councils or provincial boards. Yet, it is well settled that he cannot even disapprove any said ordinance or resolution, except when the same is illegal (Gabriel vs. Gov’t of Pampanga, 50 Phil., 686; Rodriguez vs. Montinola, * 50 Off. Gaz., 4820). Thus, despite the “direct control” and “supervision” of every Department Head over all bureaus and offices under his jurisdiction, and his specific power to “repeal or modify the decisions of the . . . bureaus and offices” under his department, pursuant to said section 79 (C), and the fact that “provinces, municipalities, chartered cities and other local political subdivisions” were among the “bureaus and offices under the Department of Interior”, according to the above-quoted section 86, the word “offices”, as used in section 79 (C), was not deemed to include local governments, even before the adoption of the Constitution. Greater adherence to this view is, obviously, demand by the provision of the fundamental law reducing the presidential authority over local governments, from “control” to mere “general supervision.”
As to removal of an elective official, why is this limited to the judiciary and not the executive?
The contention that the President has inherent power to remove or suspend municipal officers is without doubt not well taken. Removal and suspension of public officers are always controlled by the particular law applicable and its proper construction subject to constitutional limitations. (2 McQuillen’s Municipal Corporations [Revised], section 574.) So it has been declared that the governor of a state, (who is to the state what the President is to the Republic of the Philippines) can only remove where the power is expressly given or arises by necessary implication under the Constitution or statutes. (43 Am. Jur. 34.)
There is neither statutory nor constitutional provision granting the President sweeping authority to remove municipal officials. By Article VII, section 10, paragraph (1) of the Constitution the President “shall . . . exercise general supervision over all local governments”, but supervision does not contemplate control. (People vs. Brophy, 120, P., 2nd., 946; 49 Cal. App., 2nd., 15.) Far from implying control or power to remove, the President’s supervisory authority over municipal affairs is qualified by the proviso “as may be provided by law,” a clear indication of constitutional intention that the provision was not to be self-executing but requires legislative implementation. And the limitation does not stop here. It is significant to note that section 64 (b) of the Revised Administrative Code in conferring on the Chief Executive power to remove specifically enjoins that the said power should be exercised conformably to law, which we assume to mean that removals must be accomplished only for any of the causes and in the fashion prescribed by law and the procedure.
Under the exercise of general supervision over local governments, what are the limitations in the actions of the executive with regard to local government officers?
The executive department of the national government, in the exercise of its general supervision over local governments, may conduct investigations with a view to determining whether municipal officials are guilty of acts or omissions warranting the administrative action.
Does the President’s power of general supervision extend to the Liga ng mga Barangay, which is not an LGU?
Yes. The Liga ng mga Barangay are primary governed by the provisions of the LGC.
Differentiate Power of Supervision versus Power of Control of the Executive.
Power of Supervision vs. Control
Supervision: Overseeing, or the power or authority of an officer to see that subordinate officers
perform their duties, and to take such action as prescribed by law to compel his subordinates to
perform their duties.
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 that of the latter.
What can be said of the Executive’s Power of General Supervision?
The Constitution permits the President to wield no more authority than that of checking whether a local government or its officers perform their duties as provided by statutory enactments. It is the power of mere oversight over an inferior body; it does not include any restraining authority
over such body.
What are the reasons why the Liga ng mga Barangays is subject to supervision of the Executive?
Reasons why Liga is subject to supervision:
- The Liga is an aggroupment of barangays which are in turn represented therein by their
respective punong barangays; - The representatives of the Liga sit in an ex officio capacity at the municipal, city and provincial sanggunians; and
- They enjoy all the powers and discharge all the functions of regular municipal/city/provincial
councilors/board members.
