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In order to address the numerous and complex demands of legislative function, the

Constitution provides exceptions to the non-delegation rule. Further delegation is


permitted in the following cases:
(a) Delegation to the people at large. The Congress further delegates its legislative
power by allowing direct legislation by the people in cases of initiative and referendum;
(b) Delegation of emergency powers to the President. Section 23 (2), Article VI of the
Constitution states that in times of war or other national emergency, the Congress
may, by law, authorize the President, for a limited period and subject to such
restrictions as it may prescribe, to exercise powers necessary and proper to carry out a
declared national policy. Emergency powers are delegated to the President by the
Congress to effectively solve the problems caused by war or other crisis which the
Congress could not otherwise solve with more dispatch than the President;
(c) Delegation of tariff powers to the President. Section 28 (2), Article VI of the
Constitution states that the Congress may, by law, authorize the President to fix within
specified limits, and subject to such limitations and restrictions as it may impose, tariff
rates, import and export quotas, tonnage and wharfage dues, and other duties or
imposts within the framework of the national development program of the Government.
Tariff powers are delegated to the President by the Congress to efficiently and speedily
solve economic problems posed by foreign trade which the Congress could not
otherwise address with more dispatch than the President;
(d) Delegation to administrative bodies. The Congress delegates the so called power
of subordinate legislation to administrative bodies. Due to the growing complexity of
modern society, it has become necessary to allow specialized administrative bodies to
promulgate supplementary rules, so that they can deal with technical problems with
more expertise and dispatch than the Congress or the courts. Regulations or
supplementary rules passed by the administrative bodies are intended to fill-in the gaps
and provide details to what is otherwise a broad statute passed by Congress. For the
rules and regulations to be valid and binding, they must be in accordance with the
statute on which they are based, complete in themselves, and fix sufficient standards. If
any of the requirements is not satisfied, the regulation will not be allowed to affect
private rights; and
(e) Delegation to the local governments. This delegation is based on the principle that
the local government is in better position than the national government to act on purely
local concerns. Legislative power is therefore given to them for effective local
legislation.

Checks and Balances

Under the doctrine, there is no absolute separation of the three branches of the government, but to
maintain their co-equality each department checks the power of the others. Generally, the
departments cannot encroach each others power, but constitutional mechanisms allow each one of
them to perform acts that would check the power of others to prevent monopoly, concentration, and
abuse of power. For example, the Judicial and Bar Council recommends nominees to the President
so that the latter will not capriciously appoint someone whom he can easily convert into a puppet and
thereby become his medium to control the judiciary. In the same way, the disbursement of public
funds cannot depend solely upon the discretion of the President, but must be based on legislation by
the Congress.

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