Article VI: - Page 4 of 5

Legislative Department

(The 1987 Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines)

Section 25
  1. The Congress may not increase the appropriations recommended by the President for the operation of the Government as specified in the budget.  The form, content, and manner of preparation of the budget shall be prescribed by law.
  2. No provision or enactment shall be embraced in the general appropriations bill unless it relates specifically to some particular appropriation therein.  Any such provision or enactment shall be limited in its operation to the appropriation to which it relates.
  3. The procedure in approving appropriations for the Congress shall strictly follow the procedure for approving appropriations for other departments or agencies.
  4. A special appropriations bill shall specify the purpose for which it is intended, and shall be supported by funds actually available as certified by the National Treasurer, or to be raised by a corresponding revenue proposed therein.
  5. No law shall be passed authorizing any transfer of appropriations; however, the President, the President of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, and the Constitutional Commissions may, by law, be authorized to augment any item in the general appropriations law for their respective offices from savings in other items of their respective appropriations.
  6. Discretionary funds appropriated for particular officials shall be disbursed only for public purposes to be supported by appropriate vouchers and subject to such guidelines as may be prescribed by law.
  7. If, by the end of any fiscal year, the Congress shall have failed to pass the general appropriations bill for the ensuing fiscal year, the general appropriations law for the preceding fiscal year shall be deemed reenacted and shall remain in force and effect until the general appropriations bill is passed by the Congress.
Section 26
  1. Every bill passed by the Congress shall embrace only one subject which shall be expressed in the title thereof.
  2. No bill passed by either House shall become a law unless it has passed three readings on separate days, and printed copies thereof in its final form have been distributed to its members three days before its passage, except when the President certifies to the necessity of its immediate enactment to meet a public calamity or emergency.  Upon the last reading of a bill, no amendment thereto shall be allowed, and the vote thereon shall be taken immediately thereafter, and the yeas and nays entered in the Journal.
Section 27
  1. Every bill passed by the Congress shall, before it becomes a law, be presented to the President.  If he approves the same, he shall sign it; otherwise, he shall veto it and return the same with his objections to the House where it originated, which shall enter the objections at large in its Journal and proceed to reconsider it.  If, after such reconsideration, two-thirds of all the Members of such House shall agree to pass the bill, it shall be sent, together with the objections, to the other House by which it shall likewise be reconsidered, and if approved by two-thirds of all the Members of that House, it shall become a law.  In all such cases, the votes of each House shall be determined by yeas or nays, and the names of the Members voting for or against shall be entered in its Journal.  The President shall communicate his veto of any bill to the House where it originated within thirty days after the day of receipt thereof; otherwise, it shall become a law as if he had signed it.
  2. The President shall have the power to veto any particular item or items in an appropriation, revenue, or tariff bill, but the veto shall not affect the item or items to which he does not object.
Section 28
  1. The rule of taxation shall be uniform and equitable.  The Congress shall evolve a progressive system of taxation.
  2. 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.
  3. Charitable institutions, churches and parsonages or covenants appurtenant thereto, mosques, non-profit cemeteries, and all lands, buildings, and improvements, actually, directly, and exclusively used for religious, charitable, or educational purposes shall be exempt from taxation.
  4. No law granting any tax exemption shall be passed without the concurrence of a majority of all the Members of the Congress.

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