Constitutional Law 1
Annotation: SUPERVISION AND CONTROL Powers of Supervision and Control
The subject to this annotation is the case of petitioner Joel Bito-Onon vs. Hon. Judge Nelia Fernandez, e t al , al , in which the petitioner, Bito-Onon and private respondent, Quejano were rival candidates for the position of Executive Vice President in the Liga ng Barangay Provincial Chapter of Palawan election. The petitioner was proclaimed the winner which precipitated the private respondent to file an election protest before the Board of Election Supervisors (BES) but it was decided against him. He then later filed a Petition for Review of the BES decision before the RTC in which the petitioner filed a Motion to Dismiss raising the issue of jurisdiction. Petitioner maintained that the Supplemental Guidelines for the election issued by the DILG relative to Memorandum Circular No. 97-193 providing for review of decisions of the BES by the regular courts of law is an ultra vires act and is void for being issued without or in excess of jurisdiction since its issuance is an exercise of control rather than supervision. supervision. The Supreme Court held that Memorandum Circular issued by the DILG insofar as it authorizes the filing of Petition for Review of the decisions of the BES with the regular courts in a post proclamation electoral protest is of doubtful constitutionality. SC agreed with the petitioner and the Solicitor General that in authorizing the filing of the petition for review of the BES’ decision with the regular courts, the DILG Secretary, in effect, amended and modified the GUIDELINES promulgated by the National Liga Board and adopted by the LIGA which provides that the decision of the BES shall be subject to review by the National Liga Board. The amendment of the GUIDELINES is more than the exercise of power of supervision but is an exercise of the power of control, which the President does not have the power over the LIGA . Futher, the decision stressed that although the DILG is given the power to prescribe rules, regulations and other issuances, the Administrative Code limits its authority to merely “monitoring compliance by local government units which means “to watch, observe, observe, and check” and is limited to checking whether the local government unit concerned or its officers perform their duties conformably to the statutory enactments.
Supervision and Control Distinguished Section 17, Article VII (EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT) of the 1987 Constitution states unequivocally that the President shall have control of all the executive departments, bureaus, and offices. He shall ensure that the laws be faithfully executed. The President’s power of general supervision over local government units is vested upon him by the Constitution. He or she has full control of all the members of the Cabinet, the latter, being an alter ego or extension of the personality of the President. Their acts “performed and promulgated in the regular course of business, are unless disapproved or reprobated by t he Chief Executive, presumptively the acts of the Chief Executive.” The power of supervision refers “to the p ower of a superior officer to see to it that the lower officers perform their functions in accordance with the law” While, the power of control is “the power of an officer to alter, modify, or set aside what a subordinate officer had done in the performance performance of his duties and to substitute the judgment of the former” .
