CABILIN, Devina J. February 2, 2012BSRT III

With the intricateness of the operations of government, it is unwise and impractical to produce a strict and complete separation of powers. There are instances when certain powers are to be reposed in more than one department so they may better collaborate with, and in the process, check each other for the sake of a good and efficient government, thus, the necessity of blending of powers.

Blending of power is a situation where there is a sharing of two or more departments in the performance of a given constitutional task. One department acts in a manner complementary or supplementary to another.

The following are examples under the 1987 Philippine Constitution where powers are not confined exclusively within one department but are in fact shared:

1. The President and Congress help one another in the making of laws. Congress enacts the bill and the President approves it.

2. The president prepares a budget and Congress enacts an appropriation bill pursuant to that budget.

3. The president enters into a treaty with foreign countries and the Senate ratifies the same.

4. The Supreme Court may declare a treaty, international or executive agreement, or law, as unconstitutional, and it has also the power to declare invalid any act done by the other departments of government.

5. The grant of amnesty by the President is subjected to the concurrence of a majority of all the members of the Congress.

6. The president appoints, with consent of the Commission on Appointments, members of the Constitutional Commissions, ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls, or officers of the armed forces from the rank of colonel or naval captain, and other officers whose appointments are vested in the President in the 1987 Constitution.

7. The members of the Supreme Court are appointed by the president, based on a list prepared by the Judicial and Bar Council. These appointments do not need the consent of the Commission on Appointments.