Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
CONSTITUTION
DEFINITION OF TERMS
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The intention of an act to amend is not a change of the entire
constitution but only the improvement of specific parts of the existing
constitution or the additions of provisions deemed essential as a
consequence of new conditions or the elimination of parts already
considered obsolete or unresponsive to the needs of the time.
In Gonzales vs. COMELEC, the Court said that the power to amend
or revise the Constitution is not included in the general grant of
legislative power to Congress. It is part of the inherent powers of the
people as the repository of sovereignty in a Republican State, such as
ours, to make and hence, to amend or revise the fundamental law. It
cannot be exercised by Congress unless expressly granted to it in the
Constitution. Congress may propose amendments to the constitution
merely because the same expressly grants such power. Thus, when
exercising the same, it is said that Senators and Members of the House
of Representatives act, not as members of Congress, but as
component elements of a constituent assembly. When acting as such,
the members of Congress derive their authority from the Constitution,
unlike the people, when performing the same function, for their
authority does not emanate from the Constitution they are the very
source of all powers of government including the Constitution itself.
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2. Proposal by a Constitutional Convention; or
Please note that under the foregoing provision the people cannot
exercise the power to revise the Constitution. This is so because said
power is exclusively reserved to the Congress as a constituent
assembly or to a constitutional convention, if one is called by
Congress.
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a. Conventional Sovereignty which holds that a
constitutional convention is the alter ego of the people, and
so is illimitable, save only by the will of the people. As such,
it is beyond judicial review.
Accordingly:
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a. A constitutional convention lawfully convened, derives its
authority from the constitution and not from the legislature,
although it is merely the creation of the latter.
d. Its powers are co-extensive with the purpose for which it was
called.
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a. Filing of a Petition with the COMELEC:
Under Sec. 5(c) of R.A. No. 6735, the petition must state the
following:
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c. Setting the Date of the Initiative which shall not be
earlier that forty-five (45) days but not later than ninety (90)
days from the determination by the COMELEC of the
sufficiency of petition.
b. The power may be exercised only once every five (5) years
thereafter;
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