Article VI Legislative Department to referendum until ninety (90) days after their

effectivity [Sec. 10, R. A. 6735].

Laws referred to under legislative power

Legislative
- These are the statutes which are the written enactments of the
Section 1 The legislative power legislature
power shall be vested in - Authorit
y to Scope of legislative power
the Congress of the make - Congress may legislate on any subject matter
Philippines which shall laws - Power of congress is plenary
consist of a Senate and a and to Valid delegation of legislative power ( P E T A L )
House of Representatives, alter or 1. Delegation to people at large
repeal 2. Delegation of emergency powers to president
them 3. Delegation of tariff power
- The power of the purse 4. Delegation to Administrative Bodies
Where vested? 5. Delegation to LGU
1. Congress Additional notes on Congress of the Philippines
HOR - In Chavez v. Judicial Bar Council, the SC ruled that the word
Senate Congress must be taken to mean the entire legislative
2. People thru initiative and referendum department. Only a singular representative will be allowed to
Initiative is the power of the people to propose sit in the JBC as representative of the Congress.
amendments to the Constitution or to propose and
enact legislation through an election called for the
purpose. Section 2 The Senate
Referendum is the power of the electorate to shall be composed of
approve or reject legislation through an election
twenty-four Senators who
called for the purpose. It may be of two classes,
namely: shall be elected at large by
a. Referendum on statutes which refers to a petition to the by the qualified voters
approve or reject an act or law, or part thereof, Section 3 No person shall
Section 4 The term of
passed by Congress; and be a Senator unless:
b. Referendum on local laws which refers to a petition office of the Senators shall
to approve or reject a law, resolution or ordinance 1. He is a natural-born be six years and shall
enacted by regional assemblies and local legislative citizen of the commence, unless
bodies Philippines, otherwise provided by law,
Prohibited measures. The following cannot be the
subject of an initiative or referendum petition:
2. On the day of at noon on the thirtieth
Section 5 (1) The HoR
election is at least 35
a. No petition embracing more than one subject day of June next following
years of age shall be composed of not
shall be submitted to the electorate; and their election.
b. Statutes involving emergency measures, the 3. Able to read and more than 250 members,
enactment of which is specifically vested in write No Senator
unless otherwise
shall serve
fixed for
by
Congress by the Constitution, cannot be subject
4. A registered voter law,
more who
than shall
two consecutive
be elected
from legislative districts
apportioned among
provinces, cities and
Metropolitan Manila area
in accordance with the
number of their respective
 - In BANAT v. COMELEC, the 2% requirement is not a
qualification but a guarantee. There is no constitutional basis to
allow that only party-lists which garnered 2% of the votes cast
are qualified for a seat and those which garnered less than 2%
are disqualified. Further, the 2% threshold creates a
mathematical impossibility to attain the ideal 80-20
apportionment. The Supreme Court explained:

It is therefore clear that the two percent threshold presents

an unwarranted obstacle to the full implementation of
Section 5(2), Article VI of the Constitution and prevents the
attainment of the broadest possible representation of party,
sectoral or group interests in the House of Representatives.
(2) The party-list ( NEW DOCTRINE)
representatives shall
How are remaining seats aloted?
constitute twenty
percentum of the total In BANAT v. COMELEC , Instead, the 2% rule should mean that if a party-
number of representatives list garners 2% of the votes cast, then it is guaranteed a seat, and not
qualified. This allows those party-lists garnering less than 2% to also get a
including those under the
seat.
party-list. For three
consecutive terms after But how? The Supreme Court laid down the following rules:
the ratification of this 1. The parties, organizations, and coalitions shall be ranked from the highest
Is the twenty
Constitution, of the to the lowest based on the number of votes they garnered during the
percent
seats allocated to party- allocation for
elections.
party-list representatives mentioned in Section 5 (2), Article VI 2. The parties, organizations, and coalitions receiving at least two percent
of the Constitution, mandatory or is it merely a ceiling? (2%) of the total votes cast for the party-list system shall be entitled to one
guaranteed seat each.
In Veterans Federation v. COMELEC, SC ruled that It is not
mandatory. It merely provides a ceiling for the party-list 3. Those garnering sufficient number of votes, according to the ranking in
seats in the House of Representatives. The Constitution vested paragraph 1, shall be entitled to additional seats in proportion to their total
Congress with the broad power to define and prescribe the number of votes until all the additional seats are allocated.
mechanics of the party-list system of representatives
4. Each party, organization, or coalition shall be entitled to not more than
Are the two percent threshold requirement (RA 7941) is a three (3) seats.
qualification for a party-list to be part of the HoR?
In computing the additional seats, the guaranteed seats shall no
- In Veterans Federation v. COMELEC, 2% requirement is a
longer be included because they have already been allocated, at one seat
qualification. This is because that to have meaningful
each, to every two-percenter. Thus, the remaining available seats for
representation, the elected persons must have the mandate of
allocation as additional seats are the maximum seats reserved under the
a sufficient number of people (OLD DOCTRINE)
Party List System less the guaranteed seats. Fractional seats are to the remaining party-lists and those higher in rank in the voting shall be
disregarded in the absence of a provision in R.A. No. 7941 allowing for a prioritized until all the seats are occupied.
rounding off of fractional seats.

In short, there shall be two rounds in determining the allocation of

the seats. In the first round, all party-lists which garnered at least 2% of the Are major political parties allowed to participate in part-list
votes cast (called the two-percenters) are given their one seat each. The elections?
total number of seats given to these two-percenters are then deducted from - In the BANAT v. COMELEC, major political parties are
the total available seats for party-lists. In this case, 17 party-lists were able disallowed, as has always been the practice, from participating
to garner 2% each. There are a total 55 seats available for party-lists hence, in the party-list elections. But, since theres really no
55 minus 17 = 38 remaining seats. (Please refer to the full text of the case constitutional prohibition nor a statutory prohibition, major
for the tabulation). political parties can now participate in the party-list system
provided that they do so through their bona fide sectoral wing.
The number of remaining seats, in this case 38, shall be used in the (OLD DOCTRINE)
second round, particularly, in determining, first, the additional seats for the
two-percenters, and second, in determining seats for the party-lists that did - In Atong paglaum, Inc. v. COMELEC, it abandoned the ruling
not garner at least 2% of the votes cast, and in the process filling up the 20% in Bagong Bayani and BANAT cases. Parameters. In qualifying
allocation for party-list representatives. party-lists, the COMELEC must use the following parameters:

How is this done? 1. Three different groups may participate in the party-list
system: (1) national parties or organizations, (2) regional
Get the total percentage of votes garnered by the party and multiply it parties or organizations, and (3) sectoral parties or
against the remaining number of seats. The product, which shall not be organizations.
rounded off, will be the additional number of seats allotted for the party list
but the 3 seat limit rule shall still be observed. 2. National parties or organizations and regional parties or
organizations do not need to organize along sectoral lines and
Example:
do not need to represent any marginalized and
In this case, the BUHAY party-list garnered the highest total vote of underrepresented sector.
1,169,234 which is 7.33% of the total votes cast for the party-list elections
(15,950,900). 3. Political parties can participate in party-list elections
provided they register under the party-list system and do not
Applying the formula above: (Percentage of vote garnered) x (remaining field candidates in legislative district elections. A political
seats) = number of additional seat party, whether major or not, that fields candidates in
legislative district elections can participate in party-list
Hence, 7.33% x 38 = 2.79 elections only through its sectoral wing that can
separately register under the party-list system. The
Rounding off to the next higher number is not allowed so 2.79 remains 2.
sectoral wing is by itself an independent sectoral party,
BUHAY is a two-percenter which means it has a guaranteed one seat PLUS
and is linked to a political party through a coalition.
additional 2 seats or a total of 3 seats. Now if it so happens that BUHAY got
20% of the votes cast, it will still get 3 seats because the 3 seat limit rule 4. Sectoral parties or organizations may either be
prohibits it from having more than 3 seats. marginalized and underrepresented or lacking in well-
Now after all the tw0-percenters were given their guaranteed and additional defined political constituencies. It is enough that their
seats, and there are still unoccupied seats, those seats shall be distributed principal advocacy pertains to the special interest and
concerns of their sector. The sectors that are marginalized defined political constituencies, either must belong to their
and underrepresented include labor, peasant, fisherfolk, urban respective sectors, or must have a track record of
poor, indigenous cultural communities, handicapped, veterans, advocacy for their respective sectors. The nominees of
and overseas workers. The sectors that lack well-defined national and regional parties or organizations must be bona-
political constituencies include professionals, the elderly, fide members of such parties or organizations.
women, and the youth.
6. National, regional, and sectoral parties or organizations shall
5. A majority of the members of sectoral parties or not be disqualified if some of their nominees are disqualified,
organizations that represent the marginalized and provided that they have at least one nominee who remains
underrepresented must belong to the marginalized and qualified.
underrepresented sector they represent. Similarly, a majority
of the members of sectoral parties or organizations that
lack well-defined political constituencies must belong to
the sector they represent. The nominees of sectoral parties
or organizations that represent the marginalized and
underrepresented, or that represent those who lack well-