Propriety of COCCTRP's Act of Issuing a Resolution to Clarify the Scope of the Programs Under Sec. 8 of RA No. 8240

DOJ OPINION NO. 033 , s. 2012 June 1, 2012 Secretary Florencio B. Abad Department of Budget and Management Malacaang, Manila Dear Secretary Abad : This pertains to your request for this Department's legal opinion on whether or not it is proper for the Congressional Oversight Committee on Comprehensive Tax Reform Program (COCCTRP) to issue Resolution No. 26 dated November 28, 2011, purporting to clarify the scope of the programs and projects covered by Section 8 of Republic Act (R.A.) No. 8240. 1 HAISEa Section 8 of R.A. No. 8240 provides that: "Section 8. Fifteen percent (15%) of the incremental revenue collected from the excise tax on tobacco products under this Act shall be allocated and divided among the provinces producing burley and native tobacco in accordance with the volume of tobacco leaf production. The fund shall be exclusively utilized for programs in pursuit of the following objectives : "(a) Cooperative projects that will enhance better quality of agricultural products and increase income and productivity of farmers; "(b) Livelihood projects particularly the development of alternative farming system to enhance farmer's income; "(c) Agro-industrial projects that will enable tobacco farmers to be involved in the management and subsequent ownership of projects such as post harvest and secondary processing like cigarette manufacturing and by-product utilization. " The Department of Budget and Management in consultation with the Oversight Committee created hereunder shall issue the corresponding rules and regulations governing the allocation and disbursement of this fund ." 2 (Emphasis supplied) The request, it appears, stemmed from the endorsement of the majority of the legislators for infrastructure projects to be implemented by cooperatives under the fund through Memorandum of Agreement entered into by beneficiary LGUs. You said that your Department wrote the COCCTRP, which subsequently convened and came out with Resolution No. 26. Subject to the discussions herein provided, we answer your query in the negative. We do not believe that it is proper for the Oversight Committee to "clarify" the scope of the programs for which the funds may be utilized through the issuance of said Resolution. At the outset, we note the categorically exclusive enumeration of the type of projects that are qualified to be funded under Section 8 of R.A. 8240. Such intent is apparent in the phrase "[t]he fund shall be exclusively utilized for programs in pursuit of the following objectives ..." Nevertheless, the COCCTRP deemed it proper to issue Resolution No. 26, allowing the introduction of infrastructure projects to be implemented by cooperatives under the fund, and in effect, the congressional Oversight Committee inserted or added another objective in the existing implementing rules. DEScaT It is not within the power of such body to expand the coverage of the law, especially through a mere Resolution .Section 9 of the law itself is explicit in defining the power of the Oversight Committee, which is merely to "monitor and ensure the proper implementation of [the law]." Such mandate does not cover either expanding its coverage or attaching an interpretation to its provisions that is not supported by their plain meaning. If the COCCTRP believes that there is wisdom in allowing such infrastructure projects to be financed through the fund, the extent of its authority is to initiate and propose the appropriate amendments to the law, which shall, as a matter of course be enacted in accordance with the requirements set forth in the Constitution, specifically Sections 26, 27 and 29, Article VI. 3 The passing of a Resolution signed by only the members of the COCCTRP, instead of having been passed following the procedure set forth in the Constitution, is not the proper way to amend the law. Even if it is argued that the Resolution merely "clarifies" the coverage of the law for purposes of implementation, such Resolution is, at best, merely of persuasive value and, at worst, may be construed as a violation of the principle of separation of powers enshrined in the Constitution. The power to implement the law is purely an executive function, while the power to interpret and construe the same belongs to the judiciary. As stated by the Supreme Court in Macalintal v. COMELEC , 4 "a congressional oversight committee has no power to approve or disapprove the implementing rules of laws because the implementation of laws is purely an executive function .The intrusion of the congressional Oversight Committee in the drafting of implementing rules is a violation of the separation of powers enshrined in the Constitution . This Court cannot allow such intrusion without violating the Constitution. Second, Congress has no power to construe the law. Only the courts are vested with the power to construe the law .Congress may provide in the law itself a definition of terms but it cannot define or construe the law through its Oversight Committee after it has enacted the law because such power belongs to the courts ." (Emphasis supplied) The last paragraph of Section 8, R.A. No. 8240 itself provides that the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) in consultation with the Oversight Committee created hereunder shall issue the corresponding rules and regulations governing the allocation and disbursement of this fund. Clearly, the power to issue the rules and regulations governing the allocation and disbursement of the subject fund belongs to your Department and not with the Oversight Committee (COCCTRP),which shall only be consulted in this case. cDHCAE As previously stated, the Oversight Committee has only the power to monitor and ensure the proper implementation of this Act. Monitoring and ensuring the proper implementation of this Act is far different from the issuance of rules and regulations governing the allocation and disbursement of this fund, which is a rule-making authority vested in the DBM pursuant to Section 8 of R.A. No. 8240. By virtue of Section 8 of R.A. No. 8240, Congress has empowered the DBM to "issue the corresponding rules and regulations governing the allocation and disbursement of this fund." This provision of law grants an administrative agency the authority to craft the rules and regulations implementing the law that the legislature has enacted, in recognition of the administrative expertise of that agency in its particular field of operation. Once a law is enacted and approved, the legislative function is deemed accomplished and complete . The legislative function may spring back to Congress relative to the same law only if that body deems it proper to review, amend and revise the law, but certainly not to approve, review, revise and amend the corresponding rules and regulations. 5 By vesting itself with the powers to issue Resolution No. 26, which in effect amended the scope of programs and projects covered by provisions of Section 8 of R.A. No. 8240, Congress went beyond the scope of its constitutional authority. As provided in Section 9 of R.A. No. 8240, the Oversight Committee shall monitor and ensure the proper implementation of this Act. This role must be understood as being limited only to the monitoring and ensuring the proper implementation of the Act, pursuant to the power of Congress to conduct inquiries in aid of legislation . Thus, the issuance of Resolution No. 26, which in effect, allowed the introduction of infrastructure and analogous projects that will enhance better quality of agricultural products and increase the income and productivity of burley and native tobacco farmers thereby giving full effect to the objectives enumerated under the said law, is not within the power and mandate of the Oversight Committee. Please be guided accordingly. Very truly yours, (SGD.) LEILA M. DE LIMA Secretary Footnotes 1. Entitled: An Act Amending Sections 138, 139, 140 and 142 of the National Internal Revenue Code, as Amended, and for Other Purposes. 2. Emphasis supplied. 3. 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 date 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 convents 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. SECTION 29. (1) No money shall be paid out of the Treasury except in pursuance of an appropriation made by law. (2) No public money or property shall be appropriated, applied, paid, or employed, directly or indirectly, for the use, benefit, or support of any sect, church, denomination, sectarian institution, or system of religion, or of any priest, preacher, minister, or other religious teacher, or dignitary as such, except when such priest, preacher, minister, or dignitary is assigned to the armed forces, or to any penal institution, or government orphanage or leprosarium. (3) All money collected on any tax levied for a special purpose shall be treated as a special fund and paid out for such purpose only. If the purpose for which a special fund was created has been fulfilled or abandoned, the balance, if any, shall be transferred to the general funds of the Government. 4. G.R. No. 157013, July 10, 2003. 5. Ibid.