BATAS PAMBANSA Blg. 643
An Act to Submit to the Filipino People for Ratification or Rejection the Amendments to the Constitution of the Philippines Proposed by the Batasang Pambansa in its Sixth Regular Session, Calling a Plebiscite for this Purpose, Appropriating Funds Therefor and for Other Purposes
Section 1. A plebiscite shall be held on January 27, 1984, pursuant to Article XVI, Sections 1(1) and 2 of the Constitution, for the submission to the people of amendments to the Constitution of the Philippines proposed by the Batasang Pambansa during its Sixth Regular Session.
Section 2. The said amendments shall be published at least once, in at least three newspapers of nationwide circulation and once in at least one newspaper of provincial circulation in every province to be determined by raffle, the last publication to be made not later than January 7, 1984. Printed copies of the amendments shall be posted in a conspicuous place in every provincial capitol, municipal, city and barangay hall or building not later than January 7, 1984. Sufficient copies of the proposed amendments shall be furnished each voting center to be available for the qualified voters to read and study on the day of the plebiscite. Copies thereof in the principal dialects shall also be printed and distributed to the electorate. The Commission on Elections is hereby empowered to promulgate rules and regulations to assure widest dissemination through the print and broadcast media and other means of information on the proposed amendments and questions herein prescribed for submission to the electorate.
Section 3. The official ballots to be used in the plebiscite shall be printed in English and, in appropriate cases, in Arabic in accordance with the provisions of the Election Code, of 1973, in a form to be prescribed by the Commission on Elections which shall include the questions and particulars hereunder stated to be printed in clearly readable type:
OFFICIAL BALLOT
The Batasang Pambansa, in Resolutions Numbered 104, 105, 110, 111 and 112 has proposed that the Constitution of the Philippines be amended in the particulars hereinbelow stated.
To vote for the approval of each of the questions covering the proposed amendments, write the word "Yes" or its equivalent in the blank space provided for the purpose. A check mark shall not be considered as such equivalent.
To vote for the rejection thereof, write the word "No" or its equivalent in the blank space provided for the purpose. A cross or "x" mark shall not be considered as such equivalent.
QUESTION NO. 1
Do you vote for the approval of amendments to the Constitution proposed by the Batasang Pambansa in Resolution Numbered 104 and 112 which, in substance, provides as follows:
1. The Members of the Batasang Pambansa shall be elected by the different provinces with their component cities, by highly urbanized cities, and by the districts of Metropolitan Manila, instead of by the various regions. Each province, highly urbanized city and district of Metropolitan Manila shall be entitled to at least one Member. The total number of Members of each province and city shall at least be the same as under the 1935 Constitution.
2. The Members of the Batasang Pambansa to be elected by the different provinces with their component cities, highly urbanized cities, and the districts of Metropolitan Manila shall be apportioned, unless otherwise provided by law, as follows:
National Capital Region: Manila, 6; Quezon City, 4; Caloocan, 2; Pasay, 1; Pasig and Marikina, 2; Las Piñas and Parañaque, 1; Makati, 1; Malabon, Navotas and Valenzuela, 2; San Juan and Mandaluyong, 1; Taguig, Pateros and Muntinglupa, 1.
Region I: Abra, 1; Benguet, 1; Ilocos Norte with Laoag City, 2; Ilocos Sur, 2; La Union, 2; Mountain Province, 1; Pangasinan with the cities of Dagupan and San Carlos, 6; Baguio City, 1;
Region II: Batanes, 1; Cagayan, 3; Ifugao, 1; Isabela, 3; Kalinga-Apayao, 1; Nueva Vizcaya, 1; Quirino, 1;
Region III: Bataan, 1; Bulacan, 4; Nueva Ecija with the cities of Cabanatuan, Palayan and San Jose, 4; Pampanga with Angeles City, 4; Tarlac, 2; Zambales, 1; Olongapo City, 1;
Region IV: Aurora, 1; Batangas with the cities of Batangas and Lipa, 4; Cavite with the cities of Cavite, Tagaytay and Trece Martires, 3; Laguna with the San Pablo City, 4; Marinduque, 1; Occidental Mindoro, 1; Oriental Mindoro, 2; Palawan with Puerto Princesa City, 1; Quezon with Lucena City, 4; Rizal, 2; Romblon, 1;
Region V: Albay with Legaspi City, 3; Camarines Norte, 1; Camarines Sur with the cities of Iriga and Naga, 4; Catanduanes, 1; Masbate, 2; Sorsogon, 2;
Region VI: Aklan, 1; Antique, 1; Capiz with Roxas City, 2; Iloilo with Iloilo City, 5; Negros Occidental with the cities of Bacolod, Bago, Cadiz, La Carlota, San Carlos and Silay, 7;
Region VII: Bicol with Tagbilaran City, 3; Cebu with the cities of Danao, Lapu-Lapu, Mandaue and Toledo, 6; Negros Oriental with the cities of Bais, Canlaon and Dumaguete, 3; Siquijor, 1; Cebu City, 2;
Region VIII: Leyte with the cities of Ormoc and Tacloban 5; Southern Leyte, 1; Eastern Samar, 1; Northern Samar, 1; Samar with Calbayog City, 2;
Region IX: Basilan, 1; Sulu, 1; Tawi-Tawi, 1; Zamboanga del Norte with the cities of Dapitan and Dipolog, 2; Zamboanga del Sur with Pagadian City, 3; Zamboanga City, 1;
Region X: Agusan del Norte with Butuan City, 1; Agusan del Sur, 1; Bukidnon, 2; Camiguin, 1; Misamis Occidental with the cities of Oroquieta, Ozamis and Tangub, 1; Misamis Oriental with Gingoog City, 2; Surigao del Norte with Surigao City, 1; Cagayan de Oro City, 1;
Region XI: Surigao del Sur, 1; Davao del Norte 3; Davao Oriental, 1; Davao del Sur, 2; South Cotabato with General Santos City, 3; Davao City, 2;
Region XII: Lanao del Norte, 1; Lanao del Sur with Marawi City, 2; Maguindanao with Cotabato City, 2; North Cotabato, 2; Sultan Kudarat, 1; Iligan City, 1.
Any province that may hereafter be created or any component city that may hereafter be declared by or pursuant to law as a highly urbanized city, shall be entitled in the immediately following election to at least one Member or such number of Members as it may be entitled to on the basis of the number of its inhabitants and on the same uniform and progressive ratio used in the last preceding apportionment. The number of Members apportioned to the province out of which the new province was created or where the new highly urbanized city is geographically located shall be correspondingly adjusted by the Commission on Elections but such adjustment shall not be made within one hundred twenty days before the election.
3. The foregoing appointment shall be appended as an Ordinance to the Constitution.
4. The residence requirements in the political subdivision in which a Member of the Batasang Pambansa will be elected is reduced from one year to six months immediately preceding the day of the election.
QUESTION NO. 2
Do you vote for the approval of amendments to the Constitution as proposed by the Batasang Pambansa in Resolution Numbered 110 which, in substance, provide for a different mode of presidential succession with the following salient features:
1. Abolition of the Executive Committee and Creation of the Office of the Vice-President.
(1) The Executive Committee provided in Section 3, Article IX of the Constitution is abolished.
(2) The Office of the Vice-President is created. The Vice-President shall have the same qualifications and term of office and may be removed from office in the same manner as the President. He may be appointed as a member of the Cabinet and he may be nominated and elected as Prime Minister. He shall be elected with and in the same manner as the President. A vote for the President shall also be a vote for the Vice-President running under the same ticket of a political party, unless otherwise provided by law. The age qualification for President and Vice-President is reduced to 40 years old.
2. Presidential succession before the election of 1987
(1) In case a vacancy in the Office of President occurs before the presidential election of 1987, the Speaker of the Batasang Pambansa shall act as President until a President and a Vice-President or either of them shall have been elected and shall have qualified.
(2) The Batasang Pambansa shall, at ten o’clock in the morning of the third day after the vacancy occurs, convene in accordance with its Rules without need of a call and within seven days enact a law calling for a special election for President and Vice-President to be held not earlier than forty-five days and not later than sixty days from the time of such call. The convening of the Batasang Pambansa cannot be suspended nor the special election postponed. No special election shall be called if the vacancy occurs within seventy days before the date of the presidential election of 1987.
(3) The tenure of office of the President and Vice-President elected in the special election shall commence at noon of the tenth day following their proclamation, and shall end at noon on the thirtieth day of June of the sixth year thereafter.
3. Limitations on the powers of the Speaker acting as President.
(1) The Acting President may not declare martial law or suspend the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus without the prior consent of at least a majority of all the Members of the Batasang Pambansa.
(2) He may not issue any decree, order or letter of instruction while the lawmaking power of the President is in force.1avvphi1
(3) He shall be deemed automatically on leave and the Speaker Pro-Tempore shall act as Speaker. While acting as President, the Speaker may not be removed.
(4) He shall not be eligible for election in the immediately succeeding election for President and Vice-President.
(5) Appointments extended by the Acting President shall remain effective unless revoked by the newly elected President within ninety days from his assumption of office.
4. Presidential succession after the election of 1987
(1) If at the time fixed for the beginning of his term, the President-elect shall have died, the Vice-President elect shall become President.1âwphi1 If a President shall not have been chosen before the time fixed for the beginning of his term, or if the President shall have failed to qualify, then the Vice-president shall act as President until a President shall have qualified.
(2) In case of permanent disability, death, removal from office or resignation of the President, the Vice-President shall become the President to serve the unexpired term.
5. Statutory succession
(1) The Batasang Pambansa shall by law provide who shall act as President or the manner in which one who is to act shall be elected if neither a President-elect nor a Vice-President-elect shall have been chosen nor shall have qualified, or both shall have, died at the time fixed for the beginning of their term.
(2) The Batasang Pambansa shall by law provide for the death, pertinent disability or resignation of the Speaker at the time the vacancy in the Office of the President occurs or subsequently thereafter, declaring who shall serve as President until the President and the Vice-President shall have been elected and qualified, subject to the same restrictions of powers and disqualifications as the Speaker when acting as President.
QUESTION NO. 3
Do you vote for the approval of amendments to the Constitution as proposed by the Batasang Pambansa in Resolution Numbered 105 which, in substance, provide that grant shall be an additional mode for the acquisition of lands belonging to the public domain and that the agrarian reform program may include the grant or distribution of alienable lands of the public domain to qualified tenants, farmers and other landless citizens.
Section 4. In case of any resolution that may hereafter be approved proposing further amendment or amendments to the Constitution, the Commission on Elections is empowered to formulate the appropriate question or questions based on the resolution concerned for inclusion in the same ballot as the other questions to be submitted in the plebiscite herein called.
Section 5. There shall be a Citizen’s Election Committee in every voting center to be composed of three public school teachers one whom shall be designated as the chairman. In case the number of public school teachers is insufficient, the Commission of Elections may appoint private school teachers. The members of the committee shall each receive a compensation of fifty pesos per day of service which shall be paid not later than thirty days following the day of the plebiscite.
Section 6. The Citizens’ Election Committees shall prepared and sign four copies of the returns of the plebiscite in their respective voting centers on a form to be prescribed by the Commission on Elections. The fourth copy shall be deposited in the ballot box for valid ballots, and three copies shall be delivered to the election registrar concerned who shall retain one copy, immediately deliver the original to the provincial election supervisor and forward the other to the Commission on Elections. In cities, the election registrar shall deliver the original to the city board of canvassers and forward the other to the Commission on Elections. Certified copies of the plebiscite returns may be issued by the election committees upon request of interested parties and such certified copies shall be evidence of the results of the plebiscite in the voting centers concerned.
Section 7. (1) There shall be a provincial board of canvassers in each province to be composed of the provincial election supervisor or a representative of the Commission, as chairman, and the provincial fiscal and the division superintendent of schools, as members: Provided, That in case there are two or more division superintendents of schools in a province, the Commission shall appoint as member the more senior superintendent who is not a native of the province.
(2) There shall be a city board of canvassers in each city to be composed of the city election registrar or a representative of the Commission on Elections who should be a lawyer, as chairman, and the city fiscal and the city superintendent of schools, as members.
Section 8. Upon the completion of the canvass, the provincial or city board of canvassers as the case may be shall prepare a certificate if canvass in duplicate. The original shall be delivered to the Commission on Elections in Manila by the fastest possible means and the duplicate shall be filed in the Office of the Provincial Election Supervisor. Certified copies of the certificate of canvass may be issued by the board of canvassers upon request of interested parties and such certificates shall be evidence of the results of the canvass in the province or city concerned.
Section 9. The Commission on Elections, sitting en banc shall, not later than twenty days from the date of the plebiscite, canvass and proclaim the result of the plebiscite using the certificates submitted to it, duly authenticated and certified by the board of canvassers of each province or city.
Section 10. The President shall issue a proclamation upon submission to him by the Commission on Election of the results of the plebiscite, declaring the amendments ratified in the plebiscite as in full force and effect as part of the Constitution of the Philippines.
Section 11. On such date as the Commission on Elections may fix, which shall not be later than January 17, 1984, the Commission on Elections shall order a new registration of voters in any voting center, motu proprio or upon verified petition of any election registrar, political party or voter after due notice and hearing, in areas where there is need therefor to cleanse the list of voters of illegal or irregular registrants. Not later than five days before the date fixed for the plebiscite, the complete list of voters shall be posted in every voting center. Failure to comply with this requirement shall be considered serious election offense and shall be penalized as such.
Section 12. The expenses for the plebiscite shall be charged to the appropriations of the Commission on Elections authorized for the purpose in the General Appropriations Acts of 1983 and 1984. In case of deficiency, the appropriations herein provided may be augmented from funds authorized under said General Appropriations Acts under the Special Activities Fund.
Section 13. The plebiscite shall be conducted and supervised by the Commissioner on Elections and shall be governed by the pertinent provisions of the 1978 Election Code and other applicable laws. The Commission on Elections shall promulgate the rules and regulations necessary to carry out the provisions of this Act.
Section 14. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.
Approved: December 21, 1983
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