Alternate Constitution

From Roach Busters

Revision as of 05:07, 30 April 2010

President of the Republic (Presidente de la República): Josué Pablo López Lacayo
Vice President of the Republic (Vicepresidente de la República): Cipriano Borges Cárdenas

President of the Council of Ministers and Minister of Economy, Finance, and Foreign Trade (Presidente del Consejo de Ministros y Ministro de Economía, Finanzas y Comercio Exterior): Javier Watanabe Watanabe
Minister of Agriculture and Food (Ministro de Agricultura y Alimentación): Bernabé Reyes Martínez
Minister of Defense (Ministro de Defensa): Gustavo Santos de Gálvez
Minister of Education (Ministro de Educación): Enrique Calderón Carpio
Minister of Energy and Mines (Ministro de Energía y Minas): Germán Piñera Montt
Minister of the Environment (Ministro del Ambiente): Plutarco Méndez Díaz
Minister of Fisheries (Ministro de Pesquería): Héctor Agüero Rojas
Minister of Foreign Affairs (Ministro de Asuntos Exteriores): Adolfo Pallais Varela
Minister of Housing and Construction (Ministro de Vivienda y Construcción): Fernando Noriega Torres
Minister of Industry, Domestic Trade, Tourism, and Integration (Ministro de Industria, Comercio Interior, Turismo e Integración): Rómulo Caldera Solís
Minister of the Interior (Ministro del Interior): Gastón Pérez Ruano
Minister of Justice (Ministro de Justicia): Andrés Gómez Guzmán
Minister of Labor and Social Promotion (Ministro de Trabajo y Promoción Social): Rubio Velásquez Chávez
Minister of Public Health (Ministro de Salud Pública): Patricio Contreras Osorio
Minister of Transportation and Communications (Ministro de Transportación y Comunicaciones): Manuel Hernández Guerrero

President of the Senate (Presidente del Senado): Víctor Salinas del Campo
President of the Chamber of Deputies (Presidente de la Cámara de Diputados): Raúl Villanueva García

President of the Supreme Court of Justice (Presidente de la Corte Suprema de Justicia): Néstor Vargas Amador

TITLE V
The Legislative Power

Article. The legislative power shall be exercised by Congress.

Article. The latter shall be composed of two chambers: one of deputies and the other of senators, which shall function jointly or separately according to the various provisions of this Constitution.

Article. Deputies and senators represent the nation and are not subject to any imperative mandate.

Article. In being sworn into the chambers, the deputies and senators shall take an oath to fulfill their offices faithfully and patriotically, and to act in every respect in conformity with the provisions of this Constitution.

Article. The executive power convokes general elections for the President of the Republic and deputies, and for the renewal of the senatorial thirds.

If the executive power does not make the convocations on the dates or within the periods which the law specifies, they shall be made by the President of Congress.

Article. Congress shall begin its sessions on the fifteenth of March of each year, meeting until the fifteenth of December, or only until October fifteenth, in the event that there are elections, and the new Congress must in that event begin its sessions on the fifteenth of the following February.

Congress shall meet on the dates indicated, without the necessity of special convocation by the executive power.

Only for grave and urgent reasons may Congress, or either of the chambers, or the executive power, terminate the recess, and then exclusively for the purpose of dealing with the questions which have given rise to the convocation.

Article. The chambers shall open and close their sessions simultaneously and shall hold their sessions in such a way that the number held by either one shall not exceed the number held by the other by more than three, unless otherwise agreed upon by both.

Any action taken in either chamber in contravention of this provision is void.

Article. Each chamber is the sole judge of the election of its members and their rights and titles. Neither chamber shall open its sessions without the presence of an absolute majority of its members; but a smaller number may compel the absent members to attend the sessions, under a penalty that shall be established in the rules or procedure for absentees.

Article. By a two-thirds majority vote, each chamber may reprimand or remove any of its members because of misconduct in the performance of duty, incapacity, or physical or mental disability, duly substantiated. In cases of resignation, it shall decide by a simple majority vote.

Article. No member of Congress may be legally accused or interrogated for any opinions he may express in the performance of his duties as a legislator. From the day he is elected until the end of his term, no senator or deputy may be arrested, except when caught flagrante delicto. In that case, the authority taking action shall place him in custody in his residence and shall immediately notify the corresponding chamber of this occurrence, and shall transmit the antecedents of this case to the lower courts. Should the latter institute proceedings against the member for that offense, or any other, and if there are grounds for issuance of a warrant for arrest, the judge of the case, before issuing that warrant, shall notify the chamber, which shall, by a two-thirds vote, suspend the accused and place him at the disposal of the judge.

Article. In the event of a temporary or permanent absence of a member of Congress, he shall be replaced by the corresponding alternate. If the latter is absent, the president of the chamber shall call upon any other alternate of the same political party as the absentee, until the list is exhausted, in accordance with the formalities specified in the respective regulations.

In the event that the designated alternates refuse to or cannot attend the chamber, the president thereof shall fill the vacancy with alternates of another party of his own choosing.

Article. A deputy or senator who absents himself from the country for more than thirty days without permission of the chamber to which he belongs, or in the recess thereof, of its president, shall cease to hold his office. Special laws alone can authorize an absence of more than a year.

Article. Deputies and senators who, without justifiable cause or without permission of the president of the respective chamber, do not attend a session, shall have no right to remuneration for the day on which they were absent.

Article. Any meeting or action of members of Congress for the purpose of exercising the legislative power, held otherwise than in accordance with the constitutional provisions, shall be void.

Article. The following may not be elected as deputies or senators:

(1) Members of the executive power, the judicial power, the Public Ministry, the Tribunal of Accounts, the Regional Councils or Municipal Councils, or of salaried councils or boards of directors of the autonomous entities;
(2) Military employees or civil employees of the executive power, the judicial power, the Public Ministry, the Tribunal of Accounts, the regional or municipal governments, and the autonomous entities, if they receive a salary, but excepting retired or pensioned employees. This provision does not apply to university teaching positions or university technicians with teaching functions, but if the elected deputy or senator chooses to continue in such position, it must be honorary during his term of office. Military persons who resign their posts and salary in order to serve in the legislature shall retain their rank but for the duration of their legislative functions they may not be promoted; they shall be exempt from all military discipline and the time during which they hold their legislative position shall not be counted for purposes of seniority for promotion;
(3) Those who administer or have administered or collected national or municipal funds, until their accounts have been settled;
(4) Those who are part of an enterprise that operates a public service or has obtained a concession from the government, or those who are attorneys, representatives, or advisers of such an enterprise;
(5) Members of the clergy; and
(6) Those whose citizenship rights are suspended.

Article. Deputies and senators shall receive a monthly remuneration, which shall be established in the General Budget of Revenues and Expenditures of the Republic. The monthly remuneration to the deputies and senators may not be renounced, withheld, or attached.

Article. The armed forces may not enter the premises of either chamber or of the Congress in joint session except at the request of the presiding officer, and they shall remain at his orders.

Article. The sessions of the chambers and of Congress in joint session shall be public, except in those cases in which it is otherwise established by this Constitution or the respective regulations.

Article. No regular deputy or senator, or alternate holding office, from the time of his election or installation, may be appointed or elected to public office or employment paid from national, regional, or municipal government funds, and the appointment shall have no legal effect unless he first resigns as a representative. The following positions are excepted from the incompatibility stipulated in this article: Minister of State, positions on international arbitration tribunals, in the field of teaching, on the boards of directors of the universities, and those on the social welfare boards.

They may also be members of technical or scientific commissions or hospital directors or physicians.

Article. For the purposes of voting in the chambers of Congress, a simple majority shall be understood to mean one half of the legal quorum plus one; an absolute majority, at least the legal quorum; a two-thirds majority, two-thirds of the legal quorum; and a two-thirds absolute majority, two thirds of the total number of members of each chamber. The legal quorum shall consist of one half of that total, plus one, in each case. When the type of majority is not specified, it shall be understood to be a simple majority.

Article. Each chamber shall elect its officers, issue its regulations, and appoint its staff.

Article. Congress in joint session shall be presided over alternately by the presidents of the two chambers, for periods of three months each.

Article. Congress has the following powers:

(1) To enact Codes and other laws; to interpret, amend, and repeal existing laws;
(2) To open and close ordinary and extraordinary legislative sessions at the time which the Constitution fixes;
(3) To designate its meeting place and determine whether there are or are not to be armed forces, in what number and at what distance;
(4) To examine infractions of the Constitution and do what is necessary in order to make effective the responsibility of those who infringe it;
(5) To establish tribunals and regulate the administration of justice and of contentious-administrative matters;
(6) To establish the political division of the territory of the Republic and the municipal organizations;
(7) To approve or disapprove, in whole or in part, the General Budget of Revenues and Expenditures of the Republic;

(7) To levy the necessary taxes to meet budgetary expenditures, provide for their distribution, collection and appropriation, and to repeal, modify, or increase those in existence;
(8) To authorize the executive power to negotiate loans pledging the national treasury and indicating funds for their amortization;
(9) To establish mints, to prescribe the weight, fineness, value, type, and denomination of the coinage, to determine the value of foreign currencies, and to adopt a general system of weights and measures;
(10) To create or abolish public employments, to determine or to modify their attributes, to increase or diminish their salaries, to grant pensions and to decree public honors to those rendering distinguished services. Laws granting pensions must be passed by a vote of two-thirds of the members present in each chamber;
(11) To specify the functions of government employees and indicate the territorial jurisdictions in which they are to be exercised;
(12) To approve or disapprove, by an absolute majority of the full membership of both chambers, the treaties, conventions, concordats, and other international agreements which the executive power may make with foreign powers;
(13) To designate each year the armed forces that may be necessary. Military effectives may be increased only by an absolute majority of the votes of the full membership of each chamber;
(14) To permit or prohibit the entry of foreign troops into the territory of the Republic, and in the former case, to fix the time when they must depart. Excepted from the above are forces which may enter for the sole purpose of doing honor and whose entry shall be authorized by the executive power;
(15) To refuse or permit the expedition of national forces outside the Republic, in the latter case fixing the time for their return to the country;
(16) To approve or disapprove a declaration of war on the proposal of the executive power;
(17) To authorize, for specific periods of time, on the proposal of the executive power, concessions for the establishment of new industries or national public services, as well as for the extraction and transformation of raw materials;
(18) To accept or reject the resignation from his post of the President of the Republic;
(19) To declare vacant the Presidency of the Republic in the cases which the Constitution indicates;
(20) To approve or disapprove the proposals which, subject to the law, are made by the executive power for military promotions beginning with and including the rank of colonel in the Army, or its equivalent in the other branches of the armed forces and in the services;
(21) To establish new archbishoprics and bishoprics or to abolish those already existing at the request of the executive power;
(22) To elect, in joint session of both chambers, the members of the Supreme Court of Justice, as well as the president of the Tribunal of Accounts;
(23) To accept or reject the resignation of the members of the Supreme Court of Justice and of the president of the Tribunal of Accounts;
(24) To grant pardons by a two-thirds vote of the full membership of Congress in joint session, and to grant amnesties in extraordinary cases, by an absolute majority vote of the full membership of each chamber;
(25) To establish the legal rules governing the transfer and lease of fiscal and municipal assets;
(26) To establish rules for the occupation and alienation of vacant lands and fix their price;
(27) To open and close ports and to establish, transfer, or close down maritime and frontier custom houses, and designate their location;
(28) To grant awards and extend temporary privileges permitted by the Constitution to authors and inventors of works of general utility and to persons who have introduced new industries or improved existing ones;
(29) To regulate river and air navigation;
(30) To grant honorary citizenship to foreigners who have rendered eminent services to the Republic;
(31) To authorize public officials or employees to accept posts, honors, or recompense from foreign governments;

Article. The Chamber of Deputies shall consist of one hundred and twenty deputies elected, with their respective alternates, directly by the people, under a system of proportional representation which takes into account the votes cast in favor of each party throughout the country.

Each region shall have at least two deputies.

The number of deputies may be changed by law, the enactment of which shall require a two-thirds vote of the full membership of each chamber.

Article. The term of office of the deputies is four years. However, should the President of the Republic make use of the authority conferred upon him by _____ of Article _____, the newly elected Chamber of Deputies shall operate, in such case, only during the time left for the dissolved Chamber to complete its period.

Article. The qualifications for being elected deputy are the following:

(1) To be a _____ citizen by birth;
(2) To have attained twenty-five years of age at the time of the election;
(3) To be a native of the department to which the electoral circumscription belongs or to have had three years' continuous residence therein; and
(4) Not to be included within any of the grounds for incapacity indicated in Article _____.

Article. The Chamber of Deputies has the exclusive right of impeachment, before the Senate, of the President and Vice President of the Republic, the members of both chambers, the Ministers of State, and the members of the Supreme Court of Justice, for violation of the Constitution or the laws, or other serious offenses, after taking cognizance of the matter upon petition of a party or by one of its members, and having decided that there are grounds for prosecution.

Article. The Senate shall consist of sixty regular senators and their respective alternates, elected directly by the people, in a single national election district, for a term of six years.

Article. The senators shall be elected by the system of integral proportional representation.

Article. The Senate shall be renewed by thirds every two years.

Article. The qualifications for being elected senator are the following:

(1) To be a _____ citizen by birth;
(2) To have attained thirty-five years of age at the time of the election; and
(3) Not to be included within any of the grounds for incapacity indicated in Article _____.

Article. The Senate is competent to initiate the public trial of those impeached by the Chamber of Deputies and to pronounce sentence, by a two-thirds vote of its full membership, and such sentence shall have the sole effect of removal from office.

Article. An impeached person whom the Senate has removed from office in accordance with the preceding article shall nevertheless be subject to trial according to law.

Article. Acts approved by the chambers as co-legislative bodies are termed laws. Laws which systematically cover rules relating to a given subject may be termed Codes.

Article. Organic laws are those which are so designated by this Constitution and those which are invested with this character by an absolute majority of each chamber when the respective bill is introduced therein.

Laws which are enacted on matters governed by organic laws are subject to the rules contained in the latter.

Article. The introduction of bills pertains to:

(1) Senators and deputies;
(2) The executive power; and
(3) Members of the judicial power, when matters relating to judicial organization or procedures are concerned.

Article. All bills shall be presented with a statement of reasons for them.

Article. Every bill shall have at least two discussions in each chamber, on different days and in full chamber, in accordance with the rules established in this Constitution and in the respective regulations.

Article. When a bill is approved in one of the chambers it shall be sent to the other. If the latter approves it without modifications, it becomes sanctioned as law. If it is approved with modifications it is returned to the chamber where it originated.

If the chamber of origin accepts the modifications, it is thereby sanctioned as law. Otherwise, the chambers in joint session shall decide by majority vote what is to be done with the articles on which there are differences and others having a connection with them, and they may agree on a text different from that adopted by either chamber. When the differences have been settled, the executive power will declare it sanctioned as law.

Article. Bills rejected may not be considered again in either chamber during the sessions of the same year, unless presented by an absolute majority of one of them.

The discussion of bills that were pending at the end of one session may be continued in the following sessions if so decided by the respective chamber.

Article. Ministers have the right to a voice in the discussion of laws. Any magistrate of the Supreme Court of Justice and designated by that body has the same right, in the discussion of laws relating to judicial organization and procedure.

Article. Regardless of their stage of passage, the executive power may withdraw any bills that it has sent from Congress and table them or postpone their presentation until another legislative session.

Article. Within ten days following the receipt by the President of the Republic of a law approved by Congress, the former must promulgate it and order its observance.

If the executive has observations to make, they shall be presented to Congress within ten days certain. The law having been reconsidered in Congress with the observations of the executive and, nevertheless, again approved, shall be sanctioned and its promulgation and enforcement ordered.

Article. If the President of the Republic does not promulgate and order the observance of the law within ten days, it shall be promulgated and its observance ordered by the President of Congress, who shall order its publication in some newspaper.

Article. In drafting laws Congress shall use this formula:

The executive, in promulgating and ordering the observance of laws, shall use this formula:

Article. In the interpretation, amendment, or repeal of laws, the same procedure shall be followed as that established for their enactment.

Article. A law is obligatory from the day following its promulgation and publication, except when the law itself provides otherwise.

Article. Members of the public can take action before the judicial power against regulations, and against the government resolutions and decrees of a general character which infringe the Constitution or the laws, without prejudice to the political responsibility of Ministers.

The law shall establish the judicial procedure in question.

TITLE VI
The Executive Power

Article. The President of the Republic is the head of the State and personifies the Nation.

Article. The qualifications for being elected President of the Republic are the following:

(1) To be a _____ citizen by birth, in the full enjoyment of his rights, and the son of _____ parents by birth;
(2) To have attained thirty-five years of age at the time of the election;
(3) To have resided ten years continuously in the territory of the Republic;
(4) To have completed secondary education, or the equivalent thereof;
(5) To follow the Roman Catholic Apostolic faith;
(6) To possess the moral and intellectual qualities that recommend him to hold the office;
(7) Never to have renounced his nationality at any time; and
(8) Not to be included within any of the grounds for incapacity indicated in Article _____.

Article. The President of the Republic shall be elected by direct ballot, with an absolute majority of the votes validly cast. The election shall be held at least six months prior to the end of the administration of the President of the Republic then holding office in the manner determined by law.

Should there be more than two candidates in the presidential election, none of them obtaining more than half of the votes validly cast, a new election shall be held within fifteen days following the proclamation of the official count. This election shall be limited to the two candidates with the highest relative majorities.

In relation to the provisions contained in the two preceding paragraphs, blank and null and void votes will be considered as if they had not been cast.

Article. The term of the President of the Republic shall be six years and shall begin and end on the first of July, and no event whatever may extend his mandate.

Article. The President-elect shall take office before a formal joint session of Congress and shall take the following oath: "I, (name), swear before God and country that I will faithfully and patriotically discharge the office of president of the Republic of _____ and support and defend the Constitution and the laws. If I do not do this, may God and country hold me to account." If on the date established the Congress not succeed in forming a quorum in order to meet, the ceremony shall be held immediately before the Supreme Court of Justice.

Article. A citizen who has held the office of President of the Republic, by popular election or by appointment as ad interim, provisional, or substitute President, can in no case and for no reason again hold that office. This prohibition may not be modified or repealed. The author or authors of a proposal for modification or repeal, and those who support it, directly or indirectly, shall cease ipso facto in the occupation of their respective posts and shall be permanently incapacitated for the exercise of any public office.

Likewise, the following may not be elected President of the Republic:

(1) Relatives of the President of the Republic within the fourth degree of consanguinity or affinity;
(2) A military person who has been in active service within six months prior to the election;
(3) A Minister of State who has been in office at any time during the six months prior to the election;
(4) Persons who have held the position of magistrate of the courts and tribunals of justice at any time during the six months prior to the election;
(5) The leader and chiefs of a coup d'état, revolution, or other armed movement or their relatives within the fourth degree of consanguinity or affinity for the period in which the constitutional regime was interrupted;
(6) Anyone who has been a Minister of State or held high military rank in a de facto government or his relatives within the fourth degree of consanguinity or affinity, for the same periods indicated in the preceding paragraph; and
(7) A minister of any religious cult.

Article. The Presidency of the Republic is vacated, besides in case of death:

(1) By permanent physical or moral incapacity of the President of the Republic, declared by Congress;
(2) By the acceptance of his resignation;
(3) By a judicial sentence condemning him for the offenses enumerated in Article _____;
(4) By leaving the territory of the Republic without the permission of Congress; and
(5) By not returning to the territory of the Republic on the expiration of the permission granted to him by Congress.

Article. The exercise of the Presidency of the Republic is suspended:

(1) By the President's commanding the armed forces in person;
(2) By the temporary physical incapacity of the President of the Republic declared by Congress; and
(3) By being brought to trial according to Article _____.

Article. There shall be a Vice President of the Republic, who shall be elected at the same time, in the same manner, with the same qualifications, and for the same term as the President.

Article. In the cases of a vacancy indicated in Article _____ of the Constitution, the Vice President shall complete a term that has begun. In the cases indicated in Article _____, he shall only assume the office for such time as the impediment of the President persists.

Article. Only in the event of absence of the President and the Vice President shall the executive power be assumed by the Council of Ministers, until Congress elects a President for the remainder of the presidential term, in accordance with the provisions of Article _____ of the Constitution.

Article. In case of vacancy of the Presidency and Vice Presidency of the Republic, Congress shall elect the President for the rest of the presidential term.

If Congress is in session when a vacancy occurs, the election of the President shall be made within three days. If Congress is in recess, it must assemble in extraordinary session for the sole object of electing the President and receiving his oath. The election, in this case, shall be made within twenty days counting from that on which the vacancy occurred.

The convocation of Congress to assemble in extraordinary session to elect the President of the Republic is effected by the President of the Senate or, in default of the latter, by the President of the Chamber of Deputies.

The election of the President of the Republic by Congress shall be made by secret vote, in permanent and continuous session. The person obtaining an absolute majority of the votes shall be proclaimed elected.

Article. The President of the Republic shall present a message on the termination of his presidential term and on the inauguration of Congress in ordinary legislature. He may present messages at any time. The presidential messages must be submitted to the Council of Ministers for approval.

Article. The President of the Republic, during his term of office, may be impeached only for treason to the country; for having prevented the presidential or parliamentary elections; for dissolving Congress, except in those cases provided for in Article ______; and for serious common crimes.

Article. The official office of the President of the Republic shall be in the Government House, and the National Treasury shall defray the expense of a residence for him that is in keeping with the dignity of his office. He shall be entitled to a salary, which may not be changed during his term of office, and during that term he may not engage in any other employment, nor devote himself to his profession, business or industry, nor receive any other emolument from the Republic.

Article. The President of the Republic may not leave the national territory without the permission of Congress, which shall fix the period for which this is granted.

In no case may a President of the Republic against whom an impeachment is pending before the Senate leave the country. Neither may former Presidents of the Republic who are in similar circumstances leave the country.

Article. The President of the Republic may not personally command the armed forces without permission from Congress. In the event of his commanding them, he shall have only the attributes of commander-in-chief, subject to the military laws and regulations, and shall be responsible in conformity with them.

Article. The President of the Republic has the following powers and duties:

(1) To represent the State at home and abroad;
(2) To comply with and enforce the Constitution and the treaties, laws, and other legal provisions;
(3) To maintain internal order and the external security of the Republic, without contravening the Constitution or the laws;
(4) To convoke, according to the Constitution, a general election for President of the Republic and for deputies, and for the renewal of the senatorial thirds;
(5) To convoke Congress to ordinary and extraordinary sessions;
(6) To attend the opening of Congress in ordinary session;
(7) To concur in the making of the laws, in conformity with the Constitution;
(8) To appoint and remove the President of the Council of Ministers and the Ministers of State, in conformity with the Constitution;
(9) To regulate the laws in whole or in part, without altering their spirit, purpose or reasoning and, with this same restriction, to issue decrees and resolutions;
(10) To provide for the collection of the revenues of the Republic, decree the expenditures, and render accounts of them, in accordance with the General Budget of Revenues and Expenditures of the Republic and the laws;
(11) To command all branches of the armed forces, organize them, distribute them, and utilize them in conformity with the law;
(12) To direct wartime operations as commander-in-chief;
(13) To command in person the armed forces with the approval of Congress. In this case the President of the Republic may reside at any place occupied by _____ arms;
(14) To commission officers of all branches of the armed forces up to and including the rank of lieutenant colonel or its equivalent and, with the approval of the Senate, the higher ranks. On the field of battle he may confer these superior military offices at his own instance;
(15) To appoint, remove, and grant leave of absence, in conformity with the law, to public officials and employees whose appointment or removal does not devolve on other officials or agencies;
(16) To grant, in conformity with the law, severance and retirement pensions and annuities;
(17) To settle disputes which arise between the Regional Councils;
(18) To enforce the observance of the decisions of the judicial power;
(19) To give to the judicial power whatever assistance it may need for the expeditious exercise of its functions;
(20) To direct the foreign relations of the Republic;
(21) To negotiate and sign, with the approval of the Council of Ministers, treaties of peace, friendship, commerce, navigation, alliance, boundaries, and neutrality, and concordats and other international agreements, and to ratify them after approval by Congress;
(22) To appoint ambassadors and ministers plenipotentiary of the foreign service of the Republic with the approval of the Council of Ministers, while being accountable to Congress;
(23) To receive chiefs of diplomatic missions of foreign countries and admit their consuls;
(24) To exercise the rights of National Patronage of the Republic in the presentation of archbishops and bishops, in agreement with the Ecclesiastical Senate or the national clergy assembled, and to acknowledge or withhold the decrees of the Councils, and the bulls, apostolic briefs, and rescripts of the Supreme Pontiff, in agreement with the Council of Ministers and Congress;
(25) To grant, for outstanding merit, the decorations, medals, diplomas, and prizes that are established by law, with the approval of the Council of Ministers;
(26) To exercise the other functions of government and administration which the Constitution and the laws entrust to him.

Article. For the conduct of business corresponding to the executive power there shall be Ministers of State. The law shall specify their number, their titles, and the departments of the administration corresponding to each.

Article. The acts of government and administration of the President of the Republic must be countersigned by the Ministers of the respective departments. Without this requirement they are null and void.

Article. The Ministers of State in assembly form the Council of Ministers. Its organization and function are determined by law. The Council of Ministers has its President. It is the responsibility of the President of the Republic to preside over the Council of Ministers when he convokes it or attends its meetings.

Article. The President of the Republic appoints and removes the President of the Council. He appoints and removes the other Ministers, on the proposal and with the agreement, respectively, of the President of the Council.

Article. The President of the Council countersigns his own appointment and that of the other Ministers.

Article. In order to be designated a Minister of State it is required to possess the necessary qualifications for being a member of the Chamber of Deputies.

Article. The following may not be Ministers of State:

(1) Contractors for national, regional, or municipal works and services;
(2) Persons who as a result of such contracts have claims in their own interest pending against the Public Treasury or regional or municipal councils;
(3) Persons who have collected or administered national, regional, or municipal funds, and whose accounts have not been settled;
(4) Delinquent debtors to the Public Treasury; and
(5) Relatives of the President of the Republic within the second degree of consanguinity or affinity.

Article. The powers and duties of the Ministers, in their respective portfolios and in accordance with the laws and regulations of the executive power, are as follows:

(1) To comply with and enforce the Constitution, laws, decrees, and resolutions;
(2) To direct, in conformity with the general policy of the executive power, the subjects within the competence of their respective ministries;
(3) To formulate and submit to the consideration of superior authority, such projects of laws as they may deem appropriate;
(4) To effect, within the limits of their functions, the payment of recognized debts of the State;
(5) To grant leaves of absence to the employees of their departments;
(6) To propose the appointment or discharge of employees of their divisions;
(7) To supervise administrative functions and adopt the necessary measures for their proper conduct, and to impose disciplinary penalties; and
(8) To sign and communicate the resolutions of the executive power.

Article. There are no Ministers pro tempore. The President of the Republic may, on the proposal of the President of the Council, entrust to a Minister, who retains his own ministry, the charge of another in the event of vacancy or impediment on the part of the serving Minister, but this charge may not be prolonged for more than thirty days or be transferred successively to the other Ministers.

Article. The President of the Council shall represent the Council of Ministers. He shall preside over its meetings and sign the resolutions and communications of the Council together with the Minister or Ministers whom the matter concerns, and without such signature no one is compelled to obey them. However, the Council may provide that certain decisions shall take effect by a general act issued in accordance with the same requirements as the preceding.

The Ministers may not individually give orders of any kind.

Article. The Council of Ministers shall meet regularly on the days and hours it may determine, and extraordinarily at any time by the decision of the President of the Council or two of its members.

Article. The Council shall be in session if at least one-half plus one of the Ministers are present. The President of the Council has the right to speak and to vote.

Article. Any decision of the Council requires the affirmatory votes of the majority of its members.

Article. A discussion in the Council may be terminated at any time by majority vote. The motion to this effect shall not be discussed.

Article. The Council of Ministers has a deliberative vote and a consultative vote in the cases specified by law.

Article. The President of the Republic adjusts, with the consultative vote of the Council, conflicts of competence among the Ministers. His decision is countersigned by the President of the Council.

Article. The exercise of the functions of a deputy or senator is not suspended while he holds office as a Minister.

Article. The Ministers may not exercise any other public function, or any professional activities.

They shall not intervene, directly or indirectly, in the direction or management of any private undertaking or association.

Article. The Ministers are responsible civilly and criminally for their own acts and for the presidential acts which they countersign.

Unless they resign immediately, all Ministers are collectively responsible for offenses against or infractions of the Constitution and of the laws which the President of the Republic commits, or which are agreed on in the Council, even though they refrain from voting.

Article. The Council of Ministers in full, or the Ministers separately, may attend the sessions of Congress or of the chambers and participate in discussions relating to their departments, with preference in speaking, but without the right to vote if they are not members of Congress.

They may also attend when invited to give information.

A Minister who is a congressman shall have the right to vote only in the chamber to which he belongs.

Article. For their services, the Ministers shall receive a salary established by law, which may not be changed during their term of office.

Article. The President of the Council, on assuming his functions, shall attend the Chamber of Deputies, in company with the other Ministers, and shall explain the general policy of the executive power.

Article. The attendance of the Council of Ministers, or of any of the Ministers, is obligatory if the Chamber of Deputies calls for them in order to interpellate them.

The interpellation shall be made in writing. For its acceptance it requires one fifth of the votes of the sitting deputies. The Chamber of Deputies shall indicate the day and hour for the Ministers to reply to the interpellations.

Article. The Chamber of Deputies actualizes the political responsibility of the Council of Ministers or of the Ministers individually by means of a vote of censure or by defeating a vote of confidence. The latter may only be proposed upon a ministerial initiative.

Any motion of censure of the Council of Ministers or of any of the Ministers must be introduced by no fewer than one fourth of the legal number of deputies. A censure motion shall be debated only two days after being submitted to the Chamber of Deputies. The censure, adopted by an absolute majority of the full membership of the Chamber of Deputies, shall require the immediate resignation of the Minister or Ministers affected by it.

The President of the Republic shall accept the resignation within the subsequent seventy-two hours. The outgoing Minister shall continue provisionally in his office after resignation, until his successor takes office.

The nonapproval of a ministerial initiative does not oblige the Minister to resign, except in the case of his having made approval a matter of confidence.

Article. Crises in questions of confidence may be total or partial. Those that concern the President of the Council or that concern more than three Ministers shall be considered total. Others shall be considered partial.

Article. The power of refusing confidence in the entire Council, in the President of the Council, or in any of those who form a part of the Council, may not be exercised until at least six months after the appointment of the Council of Ministers for the first time, or after a later occurrence of a total crisis in which a motion of lack of confidence has been approved by the Chamber of Deputies, according to the rules established in this Constitution. Ministers whose appointments were occasioned by the removal of their predecessors in a partial crisis may not be submitted to a vote of no confidence until six months after their designation, except in a question of total crisis.

If a motion of no confidence should result favorably in the Chamber of Deputies, another such motion may not be raised again for one year.

Two partial crises shall be the equivalent of one total crisis for the purposes of the six-month restriction to which this article refers.

In no case may questions of confidence be raised within the last six months of each presidential term.

The President of the Council of Ministers may introduce before the Chamber of Deputies a question of confidence on behalf of the Council of Ministers. In this case the question shall be discussed and decided immediately. If confidence is denied or if the President of the Council is censured or if he resigns, a total crisis of the Cabinet is produced.

The fact of a motion of confidence demanded by the President of the Council having been previously decided does not impede or restrict the Chamber from freely exercising its right to raise such motions of confidence.

Article. The President of the Republic is authorized to dissolve the Chamber of Deputies if the latter has censured or denied its confidence to two Councils of Ministers.

The dissolution decree includes the calling of elections to form a new Chamber of Deputies within 60 days of the dissolution of the old. The Chamber cannot be dissolved during the final year of its constitutional term of office.

If the elections are not held within the deadline provided for, the dissolved Chamber may meet as a matter of right, recover its powers, and remove the Council of Ministers. None of the latter’s members may be reappointed Minister during the remaining presidential term.

The Chamber cannot be dissolved during a state of emergency or a state of siege.

TITLE VII
The Judicial Power

Article. The judicial power of the Republic shall be exercised by a Supreme Court of Justice and by such other tribunals and courts that the Constitution and the laws may specify.

Article. The power of judging civil and criminal cases belongs exclusively to the tribunals and courts established by law. Neither the executive power nor the legislative power can in any case exercise judicial functions, remove pending cases from one court to another, or revive terminated proceedings.

Article. The administration of justice shall be gratuitous.

Article. The members of the judicial branch are independent in the exercise of their functions. They shall be subject only to the Constitution and the laws.

Article. All judges are responsible before the law for the slightest infringement of the rights of individuals as well as for deviation from the established order of procedure in that respect.

Article. A special law will determine the organization and attributes of the courts that may be necessary for the speedy and full administration of justice throughout the territory of the Republic.

Only by virtue of a law can a change be made in the attributes of the courts or in the number of their members.

Article. No judicial magistrate may be arrested, except when he is caught flagrante delicto. If this occurs, the authority taking action shall place him in custody in his residence, immediately inform the Supreme Court of Justice of the fact, place the arrestee at the disposal of the judge, and remit to the latter the antecedents of the case.

Article. Those who make an attempt against the independence of the judicial magistrates shall, besides making themselves liable to the penalties established by the criminal law, be disqualified from holding a public office for five years.

Article. The members of the judicial power shall enjoy the same immunities and prerogatives as members of Congress.

Article. Their compensation shall be fixed by the legislative power.

Article. Officials of the judicial power may not hold any positions by popular election or by appointment by the executive power or by any other administrative authority or corporate body. Excepted from this provision are teaching positions, membership on committees to codify or amend laws, and membership on international arbitration tribunals or on special diplomatic missions.

Acceptance of an appointment prohibited by this article shall mean loss of the judicial office.

Article. Officials and employees of the judicial branch may under no circumstances receive fees for services of any kind, under pain of dismissal and without prejudice to other punishment that they may incur for any crime committed in this same connection.

Excepted from the principle of gratuitous justice is the tax levy on stamped paper and fees collected through stamps.

Article. The services of all members of the judicial power shall cease upon their attaining the age of seventy years.

Article. The qualifications for being a member of the Supreme Court of Justice are the following:

(1) To be a native citizen in full exercise of civil rights;
(2) To have attained thirty-five years of age;
(3) To possess the university degree of Doctor of Laws;
(4) To have had recognized experience in legal matters; and
(5) To enjoy an excellent reputation for his integrity.

Article. The Supreme Court of Justice shall be composed of five magistrates, appointed by the executive power in accordance with the procedure established in Article _____.

The law may provide for the organization of the Supreme Court in chambers, their organization and functioning, and the quorum necessary to meet, deliberate, and hand down a valid decision.

Article. The members of the Supreme Court of Justice shall serve for ten years, without prejudice to the provisions of Article _____, and they may be reappointed. They may be removed only for commission of crimes or malperformance of their duties. Removal of members of the Supreme Court of Justice shall be effected in accordance with the provisions of this Constitution.

Article. There shall be a Contentious Administrative Court in the capital of the Republic, which shall take cognizance of such matters as the law may determine, and in the manner prescribed by it. It shall consist of five magistrates, elected by the National Council of the Magistracy by a two-thirds vote of its full membership. The first magistrate elected shall be the president of that court.

At the initiative of the Supreme Court of Justice, the law may create other organs of contentious-administrative law.

Article. In the cases determined by law, decisions of the Contentious Administrative Court may be appealed to the Supreme Court of Justice.

Article.

Article. The law shall fix the number of lawyer courts in the Republic, consistent with the exigencies of a more prompt and efficient administration of justice, and shall indicate the location of the seat of each of these, its powers, and the manner of exercising them.

Article. The lawyer judges shall be elected by the National Council of the Magistracy by a two-thirds vote of its full membership.

Article. The qualifications for being a lawyer judge are the following:

(1) To be a native citizen in full exercise of civil rights, or a legal citizen who has exercised these rights for five years;
(2) To have attained thirty years of age;
(3) To have practiced his profession or held the position of judge or secretary of a court for one year or more;
(4) To enjoy an excellent reputation for his integrity.

Article. Lawyer judges shall remain in office for four years. Notwithstanding, and for reasons of the good of the service, the Supreme Court of Justice may transfer them at any time, from their office or place or from both, provided such transfer is decided upon after hearing the court prosecutor, and subject to the following conditions:

(1) Vote of approval of three members of the Supreme Court of Justice in favor of the transfer, if the new office does not imply a reduction in grade or remuneration or both, as compared with the former;
(2) Vote of approval of four of its members in favor of the transfer if the new office does imply a reduction in grade or remuneration, or both, as compared with the former.

Article. The qualifications for being a Justice of Peace are the following:

(1) To be a native citizen in full exercise of civil rights, or a legal citizen who has exercised these rights for two years;
(2) To have attained twenty-five years of age.

To the qualifications stated there should be added the requirement that candidates for Justice of Peace in the region of San Pablo must be lawyers, and either lawyer or notary public in the capitals and cities of the other regions or in any other town of the Republic where the judicial activity so demands, in the opinion of the Supreme Court of Justice.

Article. There shall be as many Peace Courts in the Republic as there are judicial districts into which the territory of the regions is divided.

Article. Justices of Peace shall be elected by direct vote in the manner determined by law.

Article. Justices of Peace shall hold office for four years, and may be reelected.

Article. The National Council of the Magistracy is charged with the selection and appointment of judges and prosecutors, except when these are popularly elected.

The National Council of the Magistracy is independent and is regulated by its organic law.

Article. The Academy of the Magistracy, which is part of the judicial power, is entrusted with the formation and training of judges and prosecutors at all levels for the purpose of their candidacy.

Special studies are required by the said Academy for the candidacy of members of the judiciary.

Article. The National Council of the Magistracy has the following powers and duties:

(1) To appoint by a two-thirds vote of its full membership, following a prior public competitive examination and personal evaluation, judges and prosecutors at all levels;
(2) To re-certify the judges and prosecutors at all levels every seven years. Those not certified may not reenter either the judicial power or the Public Ministry. The process of certification is independent of disciplinary measures.