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Also, the matters contained in the following were written in accordance with the law, rules, and jurisprudence prevailing at the time of writing and posting, and do not include any future developments on the subject matter under discussion.
AT A GLANCE:
Heads of the various executive departments are the alter egos of the President, and, thus, the actions taken by such heads in the performance of their official duties are deemed the acts of the President unless the President himself should disapprove such acts. (Teves v. COA, G.R. No. 242342, March 10, 2020)
The doctrine of qualified political agency was introduced in the Philippines as a recognition that by reason of the multifarious responsibilities demanding a president’s attention, it becomes a necessity for his or her control power to be delegated to the members of his or her cabinet.
In Teves v. Commission on Audit, the Supreme Court held that the doctrine of qualified political agency essentially postulates that the heads of the various executive departments are the alter egos of the President, and, thus, the actions taken by such heads in the performance of their official duties are deemed the acts of the President unless the President himself should disapprove such acts. This doctrine is in recognition of the fact that in our presidential form of government, all executive organizations are adjuncts of a single Chief Executive; that the heads of the Executive Departments are assistants and agents of the Chief Executive; and that the multiple executive functions of the President as the Chief Executive are performed through the Executive Departments. The doctrine has been adopted here out of practical necessity, considering that the President cannot be expected to personally perform the multifarious functions of the executive office.
This necessity springs forth from the fact that “the President of the Philippines is the Executive of the Government of the Philippines, and no other. (Villena v. Secretary of the Interior, 67 Phil. 451, 464)
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