The recent Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) issue did not only stir citizens but it also paved way to the emergence of power struggle among the three branches of our government. Basically, there are three branches of the government: the Executive branch, Legislative branch and the Judiciary. The executive branch of the government is trying to impede and fight against the Supreme Court. The Congress, which is the legislative government, has been influenced by the executive branch in trying to hamper the Supreme Court. Seems like there’s going to be a two-against-one fracas. Anyway, in response to the existing dilemma, questions like ‘which among the three branches play a greater role to the nation?’ have been imposed. In this speech, I am going to explain to you the functions of each branch and why the executive branch should not be threatened by the brewing conspiracy between the Executive and Legislature.
First, the Executive branch. This branch is responsible for enforcing the laws of the land. The president, vice president and cabinet members carry out this mission. There are advantages under executive branch. Presidents can be more responsive to the citizens. Considering that they make things into actions, executive government can understand more the needs of the citizens. Secondly, executive and legislative branches are separate but they are even. They check each other. Laws will be non-existence without the advent of the Legislature and similarly, they are useless without being enforced (by the executive branch). Following the advantages of Executive government are its drawbacks. President is nearly impossible to impeach and he can become very powerful. We don’t want to live in an abused community by complying with the President even when he’s gone astray.
Secondly, there is a branch of government that is responsible in the law-making process and it is referred to as the Legislature. Furthermore, it is divided into the House of Representatives and the Senate. Since the Philippines is a bicameral legislature, I’m going to focus on it. Bicameral legislature is a legislature with two houses. Its advantage includes balancing the government. This prevents any branch of the government to gain exclusive power. On the other hand, its disadvantage is that it’s time-consuming in passing down laws or bills to both houses. Generally, under this branch, laws can be suggested by citizens to the Congress and the latter informs the House of Representatives to be able to decide whether the imposed laws be enacted or enforced.
Lastly, Judiciary decides whether a certain act is to be nullified. Basically, laws that are made by the Legislature are passed down to this branch to arrive to a decision regarding the implementation of the laws. Judiciary interprets statutes. If, for instance, a law has done violation, it is proclaimed to be unconstitutional. A better example is P-Noy’s DAP. Though the aforementioned program has guaranteed upheaval to the Philippine economy, it was determined unconstitutional by the Supreme Court because it violates certain acts (i.e. impoundment). To put it into simple context, Judiciary determines the constitutionality and unconstitutionality of laws prior to enforcement.
If you try to take a closer look at the legislative and judicial government, you’ll see that the latter plays a vital role and is powerful than that of legislative. The judiciary is the one that monitors whether statutes made by legislative are unconstitutional by trying to look at if previous acts are violated. In line with that, given that laws are ‘finalized’ under their branch, the Supreme Court holds a greater power than any of the subdivisions of branches of the government in the country- even powerful than that of the President. Judiciary rectifies those laws that are passed down by the Legislature.
In regards with the DAP issue, therefore, the Supreme Court should not be threatened by the existing connivance between the executive and the legislative branches. After all, laws cannot be executed (by executive branches) without the existence of statute itself. In addition to that, there should really be no power struggle because each branch plays a specific role to the society. Heedless to say, they go hand-in-hand. If the Supreme Court will be abolished, then there will be no branch accountable in scrutinizing the laws (made by the legislature) for the betterment of the nation. Same goes with that of Executive and Judiciary.
