Practice question
An executive department argues that presidential control allows the President to revise the department’s lawful policy but that the secretary’s delegated status also permits him to disregard an explicit statutory spending prohibition. No exemption exists. Which distinction is correct?
- Control and delegated status authorize violation of any statute.
- Lawful substitution of administrative judgment differs from dispensing with a binding statutory prohibition, which neither control nor agency alone authorizes.
- Only the secretary’s popularity determines whether the law applies.
- Every spending prohibition automatically applies only to courts.
- A prohibited expenditure becomes lawful if renamed a memorandum.
Legal references
- 1987 Constitution: https://elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/thebookshelf/showdocs/3/353 Article VII, Section 17.
- Villena v. Secretary of the Interior, G.R. No. L-46570, April 21, 1939, main decision, presidential departmental agents and personal-action exceptions: https://lawphil.net/judjuris/juri1939/apr1939/gr_l-46570_1939.html
- Drilon v. Lim, G.R. No. 112497, August 4, 1994, main decision, control and supervision distinguished: https://lawphil.net/judjuris/juri1994/aug1994/gr_112497_1994.html
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