108 Chasing the Wind: Assessing Philippine Democracy In a Presidential government with a functioning separation of powers and system of checks and balances, no branch or agency of government encroaches on the domain of another, the executive is checked by the other branches of government, and the abuse of power is prevented or punished. These features of Presidential government should be the hallmarks of a democratizing polity moving towards consolidation, the transition into a mature democracy. In the Philippines, the President is the most powerful official in relation to members of Congress and the justices of the Supreme Court. The executive powers that make him or her most powerful include the military power, the power to prepare the budget as the basis of national appropriations, the power to appoint, the power to disapprove bills passed by Congress, and the power to chart the country's foreign policy. The framers of the 1935 Constitution established “a strong President”. The Presidential system is described by the framers of the constitution, thus: There you have the separation of powers and the strong executive. Moreover, the necessary adjunct of interdependence and interrelation—the theory of checks and balances—is apparent. (Proceedings of the Constitutional Convention 1934-35, November 12, 1934: 239). The commissioners of the 1986 Constitutional Commission followed this view about the need for a strong executive. It was argued that the President is “responsible for everything that happens in the country” and hence, deserves to be given the powers to be able to meet this expectation (Commissioner Regalado, Records of the 1986 Constitutional Commission). This view articulates the basis of the powers of the executive in both the American Constitution and the 1935 Constitution of the Philippines. Both the 1935 and 1987 Constitutions envisioned a strong President. This strong President is supposed to be subject to the Congressional and Judicial constraints to his power. These constraints are meant to limit the executive's powers and make the system of checks and balances operational. O'Donnell argues that ironically, the strong executive, from the delegative view of authority, sees these limitations as mere hindrances for the attainment of his mandate from the people (O'Donnell 1998). The executive employs his powers to encroach on the authority of other government bodies and uses these powers to advance his interests, his relatives, friends and political allies. In transitioning polities like the Philippines, the strong President has the vast powers of his office to encroach on the authority of the other branches of government. He assumes such dominance that weakens horizontal accountability.