Presented by: Isabella Fanio, Carl Dave,

Darien Mitchell C. Bas, Bea Mondoedo,

Kathryn Jose

Comparative Analysis of
the Parliamentary and
Presidential System

Definitions

Presidential System a system of government in

which the president is constitutionally independent
of the legislature.
Parliamentary system a system which governs in
and through the assembly or parliament, thereby
fusing the legislature and executive.

Presidential System

Clear separation of power between the legislative,

executive and the judiciary branches wherein they
are independent of each other.
The president as chief executive.
De-centralization of power (Equilibrium of power to
avoid tyranny)
A fixed term for all elected officials.

The President

The President

Elected by the PEOPLE

The head of the executive branch.
Enacts laws
Appoints certain positions in the cabinet
Can declare emergency powers
Can declare martial law (With the intervention of the
senate)

Parliamentary System

Members of the government or cabinet or the

executive, are simultaneously members of the
legislature.
The government or cabinet consisting of political
leaders of the majority party or a coalition who are
also members of the legislative is in effect a
committee of the legislature.
The government or cabinet has a pyramidal structure
at the apex of which is the prime minister or his
equivalent.

Parliamentary System

The government or cabinet remains in power only

for as long as it enjoys the support of the majority of
the legislature.
Both government and legislature are possessed of
control devices with which each can demand of the
other immediate political responsibility. In the hands
of the legislature is the vote of no confidence
whereby government may be ousted.

The Prime Minister

The Prime Minister

In the UK, The Prime Minister is not

directly elected. Instead, the public vote for a single
Member of Parliament, a representative from their
constituency. There are 650 MPs in total. If one
political party has a majority in the Commons, then
the leader of that party will be appointed Prime
Minister by the monarch.

Arguments for
Presidential System

De-centralized power
Fixed terms for all elected officials
Autonomy of every branch
Through the electoral process, the people have
greater power.

Arguments for
Presidential System

The legislative can propose without fear of its

dissolution because the members are considered on
their merits unlike in the parliamentary, the
members are considered on their vote of confidence
on the PM.
Fixed terms provide more predictability and
stability to the policy making process than the
frequent dismantling and reconstructing of cabinets
that afflicts some parliamentary systems.

Arguments for
Presidential System

Conjunctural argument
Change is inappropriate for the Philippines at this
time since it will be too divisive and disruptive to the
countys tasks of addressing its political and
economic problems.
Cynical argument
Zeroes in on the motives of politician proponents;
smokescreen to a powergrab.

Arguments for
Presidential System

Parliamentary systems can bring about conflicting

claims of legitimacy.
Parliamentary system suffers from executivelegislative gridlock in policy making.
Strong parties are more likely to favor rules and
institutions that further buttress party discipline
such as strong oversight or control committees,
extensive agenda setting and committee assignment
powers for party leaders and weak policy
committees.

Arguments for
Presidential System

Cultural argument
Personalistic political culture in the Philippines is not
appropriate to the de-personalized behavior of a
parliamentary.
Personality not the system argument
Its not the system that needs changing, but the
personalities in the system.

PARLIAMENTARY

Arguments for
Parliamentary System

More efficient and harmonious executive-legislative

relations/less gridlock in the political systems.
Fixed terms enjoyed by both the executive and
legislative branches act as a disincentive for them to
cooperate.
In the presidential system, the president must
contend with institutional deadlocks brought about
by the checks and balances from both legislative and
judiciary powers.

Arguments for the

Parliamentary System

In the Philippine context, the Presidential System

becomes a popularity contest where candidates with
little or no track-record emerge victorious.
By using the parliamentary system, candidates
would compete using their individual track records,
competence, leadership abilities.

Arguments for the

Parliamentary System

No Dual-democratic legitimacy conflict

Flexibility of tenure (Power to dismiss each other)
They will not experience the same problem of policy
immobilism that the presidential system faces.
The bigger the majority, the more veto players.

Suggested courses of
action for the Phil.
Context

Presidential System

Rather than changing the constitution, reform the

parts of the presidential system that are failing.
- Reform is politically manageable and politically less
risky to undertake.

Parliamentary System

Although a change of constitution may be needed,

the country will adapt the internationally proven
more stable, more accountable, more efficient, and
more confidence based Parliamentary System.

REFERENCES:

rationalwiki.org/wiki/Prime_Minister_of_the_Unit
ed_Kingdom
Bernas, Joaquin. 2009. The 1987 Constitution of the
Philippines: A Commentary REX Book Store pp. 52-53
Torres, Tom. 2004. The Philippine ProParliamentary Position and the Comparative
Constitutional Design Literature. Philippine
Political Science Journal vol. 25 no. 48, pp. 55-78.
https://correctphilippines.org/parliamentary_shift/