The Government is an important element of the state. It follows the doctrine of 'Parens Patriae' or better understood as 'Guardian of the Rights of the People. A government like that of the Philippines has 3 major braches namely: Executive, Legislative, and Judiciary.
The question that i would like to take and answer in this blog is "Which branch of government is really the most powerful?". Before I answer this question, I will first lay down the basic job description of each branch.
First is the Executive, the 1987 Constitution of the Philippines was specifically drafted to reduce the power of the Executive branch of the government for fear of another Marcos to come. Basically, Executive branch from the word itself deals with the 'execution' of laws or enforcement of law. In the simplest definition, Executive is the 'Police' that ensures the proper administration of the law to the public.Second is the Legislative branch which deals with the enactment or creation of the laws. Anyone in the country can pass a bill which can be heard in the congress provided that they will have a sponsorship from any Representative of the House. Legislative branch of the government basically is responsible for most laws that we have today. Lastly, Judiciary is branch that aplly the law. They are the one who interpret the laws created by the Legislative branch. Judiciary is also responsible for settling disputes of many individuals.
In summary, as Isagani Cruz puts it in his book Philippine Political Law "Legislature is generally limited to the enactment of law and may not enforce or apply them; the Executive to the enforcement of Law and may not enact or apply them; and the Judiciary to the application of laws and may not enact or enforce them". This is done for the purpose of checks and balance in the government.
Now, which do you think is the most powerful branch?
My answer? For me it would be the JUDICIARY. Maybe many would be surprised with my answer because many would think that it would either be the Legislative or Executive who is the most powerful but I think otherwise. My reason for choosing the Judiciary is the ACCOUNTABILITY element of each brach. Clearly, Executive and Legislative is accountable to the people and there are several institution that makes sure these two branch will function honestly like the Office of the Ombudsman, Philippine Anti-Graft Commision and to some degree Commission on Human Rights. These institutions are there to assure as that these to branches would function properly in the light of public interest. It also shows a concrete plan in dealing with misbehavior or corruption of any officials in this branch. Plus the fact that these two branch also has the power to check each other for any signs of corruption or whatsoever.
Judiciary on the other has no ACCOUNTABILITY. The fact that what the Supreme Court say is considered as FINAL and EXECUTORY means that no one else can dispute what the Supreme Court had ruled. Example: In the case of Santiago VS COMELEC, in this case of People's Initiative, if hypothetically the SC had ruled otherwise saying that RA.6735 is enough to be considered as an enabling law to the provision in the constitution, Article 17 Section 2, then for all we know we are now in a parliamentary form of government years before and even if people would disagree in this decision, like what is said earlier, the words of SC is FINAL and EXECUTORY.
Is there an institution that can re-checked the works of SC? As far as i know there is none. From being the weakest branch of government in the years of Marcos, SC became the most powerful in present. The only thing that Justify the decisions of Supreme Court is thinking that "Supreme Court decisions is perceived as Constitutional".
YOU, what do you think?!?
DISCLAIMER:
I am not saying that philippine system is flawed in creating Judiciary as the most powerful (at least for me).
posted by JP @ 2:16 AM
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