CHAPTER IV. The National Congress
Article 24
The National Congress is composed of two branches—the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate.
Article 25
In elections of Deputies and Senators a method shall be used, that, in practice, will result in giving an effective proportionality in representation to opinions and to political parties.
Article 26
Determination of the elections of Deputies and Senators and cognizance of nullification protests that may be brought against them, belongs to the Qualification Court.
But both the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate are empowered exclusively to pass upon the disabilities of their members and to accept their resignations if the causes upon which the disability is founded be of such a nature as to unfit them physically or morally for the discharge of their duties. In order for a resignation to be accepted two-thirds of the Deputies or Senators present must concur.
Article 27
In order to be elected Deputy or Senator it is necessary to possess the requisites of citizenship with right of suffrage and never to have been sentenced for an offense punishable corporally.
Senators in addition must have attained thirty-five years of age.
Article 28
The following cannot be elected Deputies nor Senators:
- Ministers of State.
- Intendentes and Governors.
- Magistrates of the Superior Courts of Justice, scholastic judges and officials of the Public Ministry.
- Natural persons and the agents or administrators of juridical persons or companies who may have contracts with the State, or are sureties for the same.
Article 29
The offices of Deputies and Senators are incompatible inter se and with those of Representatives and Municipal councilors.
They are likewise incompatible with every public employment paid from government or municipal funds and with every service or commission of the same kind, with the exception of employments, services or commissions of higher, secondary and special education, located in the city in which Congress holds its sessions.
The elected must choose between the office of Deputy or Senator and another office, employment, service or commission that he may be discharging, within fifteen days, if he be within the territory of the Republic, and within one hundred days if he be absent therefrom. These periods shall be counted from the approval of the election. In default of a choice declared within the period the elected shall cease holding his office of Deputy or Senator.
Article 30
No Deputy or Senator, from the moment of his election and until six months after the termination of office, shall be named for any service, commission or public employment paid from government or municipal funds.
This provision does not control in case of foreign war, nor is it to be applied to the offices of President of the Republic, Ministers of State and diplomatic agents, but only those offices conferred in time of war are compatible with the functions of Deputy or Senator.
Article 31
The 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 from holding his office. Special laws alone can authorize an absence of more than a year.
Likewise the Deputy or Senator shall cease from holding his office who, during its exercise, enters into or becomes surety for contracts with the State; and one who acts as counsel or attorney in any kind of proceeding pending against the Treasury, or as solicitor or agent in personal negotiations of administrative character.
Article 32
Deputies and Senators are inviolable for the opinions they may express and the votes they may cast in the discharge of their offices.
Article 33
No Deputy or Senator from the day of his election can be indicted, prosecuted or arrested, except in a case in flagrante delicto, unless the Court of Appeals of the respective jurisdiction, in open session, has previously authorized the indictment by declaring that there exist grounds for prosecution. From this decision an appeal may be taken to the Supreme Court.
Article 34
In case of any Deputy or Senator being arrested in flagrante delicto he shall be immediately placed at the disposition of the respective Court of Appeals with the summary information. The Court will then proceed conformably to the provisions of the foregoing article.
Article 35
From the moment in which is declared, by a signed decision, that there exist grounds for prosecution the accused Deputy or Senator becomes suspended from his office and at the disposal of the competent judge.
Article 36
If a Deputy or Senator die or ceases for any cause, before the last year of his term, to belong to the Chamber of Deputies or to the Senate, his replacement shall be proceeded with in the manner as determined by the electoral law, for the period that remains of his term.
The Deputy or Senator who may accept the position of Minister of State must be replaced within the period of thirty days.
The Chamber of Deputies
Article 37
The Chamber of Deputies is composed of members elected by the departments, or by groups of adjoining departments within each province, as the law may provide by direct vote and in the manner as determined by the electoral law.
One Deputy shall be elected for each thirty thousand inhabitants and for a fraction of not less than fifteen thousand.
Article 38
The Chamber of Deputies shall be renewed in the aggregate every four years.
Article 39
Exclusive attributes of the Chamber of Deputies are:
- To declare whether or not there be grounds for the accusations that ten, at the least, of its members may formulate against the following officials:
- The President of the Republic, for acts of his administration by which the honor or the security of the State may be gravely compromised, or the Constitution or the laws openly infringed. Such an accusation may be introduced while the President is in office and in the six months following the expiration of his term. During this latter period the President cannot absent himself from the Republic without permission of the Chamber.
- The Ministers of State, for the offenses of treason, extortion, misappropriation of public funds, bribery, violation of the Constitution, disregard of the laws in having failed to cause their execution, and for having gravely compromised the security or the honor of the nation. Such accusations may be introduced while the Minister is in office and in the three months following the expiration of his term. During this latter period the Minister cannot absent himself from the Republic without permission of the Chamber, or in its recess of its President.
- The Magistrates of the Superior Courts of Justice for flagrant neglect of duty.
- The Generals or Admirals of the armed forces for having compromised gravely the security or the honor of the Nation.
- Intendentes and Governors for the offenses of treason, sedition, infringement of the Constitution, misappropriation of public funds and extortion.
In all of these cases the Chamber, after having heard the accused and the report of a committee of five Deputies, chosen by lot, excluding the accusers, shall declare within the period of ten days whether or not there be grounds for prosecution. The committee report must be presented within the period of six days, after which the Chamber shall proceed without it. If it declare affirmatively the Chamber will name three Deputies to formulate the declaration and prosecute it before the Senate. If the accused does not attend the session to which he is cited or does not send a written defense, the Chamber may renew the citation or proceed without his defense.
In order to declare that there be grounds for prosecution in the case of letter (a), the vote of the majority of the Deputies entitled to vote shall be necessary.
In other cases the accused will be suspended from office from the moment in which the Chamber declares that there be grounds for prosecution. The suspension will cease if the Senate rejects the accusation or does not pass upon it within the thirty days following.
- To scrutinize the acts of the Government. In order to exercise this attribute the Chamber may, on vote of a majority of the Deputies present, adopt resolutions or make suggestions that shall be forwarded in writing to the President of the Republic. The resolutions or suggestions shall not affect the political responsibility of the Ministers and will be answered in writing by the President of the Republic or verbally by the appropriate Minister.
The Senate
Article 40
The Senate is composed of members elected by direct ballot for the nine provincial groups, as fixed by law, with regard to the characteristics and interests of the several regions of the territory of the Republic. Each group is entitled to elect five Senators.
Article 41
The Senate will be renewed every four years by parts in the manner as determined by law. Each Senator will remain eight years in office.
Article 42
Exclusive attributes of the Senate are:
- To take cognizance of accusations that the Chamber of Deputies may present in accordance with Article 39 after a prior hearing of the accused. If the latter does not attend the session to which he is cited or does, not send a written defense the Senate may renew the citation or proceed without his defense.The Senate will act as a jury and be limited to declaring whether the accused is or is not guilty of the offense or abuse of power charged against him.
The declaration of guilt must be pronounced by a two-thirds part of the Senators entitled to vote when the matter is an accusation against the President of the Republic, and by a majority of the Senators entitled to vote in other cases.
Through the declaration of guilt the accused becomes deprived of his office.
The official found guilty will be tried in accordance with the laws by the ordinary tribunal having jurisdiction, both for the application of the penalty as prescribed for the offense committed as also to fix the civil liability for losses and injuries caused to the State or to private persons.
- To decide whether there be or not grounds for the admission of accusations that any private individual may present against the Ministers on account of injuries he may have suffered unjustly from any act of theirs, will follow the same procedure as in the foregoing number.
- To declare whether or not there be grounds for prosecution, as regards criminality, against Intendentes and Governors. Excepted therefrom is the case where the accusation is initiated by the Chamber of Deputies.
- To take cognizance of conflicts in jurisdiction that may arise between the political or administrative authorities and the Superior Courts of Justice.
- To grant rehabilitation referred to in Article 9.
- To extend or to deny its consent to the acts of the President of the Republic in cases in which the Constitution or the law may so require.If the Senate shall not pass upon the matter within thirty days after call for exigency by the President of the Republic, its consent shall be taken for granted.
- To render an opinion to the President of the Republic in all cases in which he may consult it.
Attributes of Congress
Article 43
Exclusive attributes of Congress are:
- Annually to approve or disapprove the statement of disbursement of funds intended for the expenses of the public administration, which the Government must present.
- To give its consent for the President of the Republic to leave the national territory.
- To declare, when the President of the Republic tenders his resignation from office, whether or not the causes upon which he bases it do disable him from holding the office, and in consequence whether to accept or to refuse the resignation.
- To declare, when there may be occasion for doubts, whether the disability that debars the President from the exercise of his functions is of such a nature that a new election should be held.
- To approve or disapprove treaties that, before their ratification, the President of the Republic shall present to it.
All of the above resolutions shall be subject in Congress to the same procedure as a law.
Article 44
Only by virtue of a law is it possible:
- To impose taxes of any kind or nature, to repeal existing taxes, to fix their apportionment when necessary among the provinces or communes, and to determine their proportionality or progression.
- To authorize the contraction of loans, or of any other kind of operations which may affect the credit and financial responsibility of the State.
- To authorize the alienation of State or municipal property, or its lease, or concession for more than twenty years.
- Annually to approve the estimate of receipts and in the same law to fix the expenditures of the public administration. The budget law shall not alter expenditures or taxation prescribed in general or special laws. Only variable expenditures can be modified by it, but the initiative for increases therein or for changing the estimate of receipts belongs exclusively to the President of the Republic. The proposed budget law must be presented to Congress four months in advance of the date on which it should begin to be operative, and if at the expiration of this period it has not been approved, the bill as presented by the President of the Republic shall become effective. In case the proposed bill be not presented in time, the period of four months shall begin to count from the date of its presentation.Congress cannot approve any new expenditure chargeable to the funds of the nation without at the same time creating or indicating the sources of revenue necessary to provide for this expenditure.
- 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.
- To fix the remuneration that Deputies and Senators shall receive. The remuneration cannot be changed during a legislative period except to take effect in the period following.
- To establish or to modify the political or the administrative division of the country; to habilitate ports of entry and to establish customs houses.
- To prescribe the weight, fineness, value, type and denomination of the coinage and the system of weights and measures.
- To fix the land and sea forces that should be maintained in service in time of peace and of war.
- To allow the entry of foreign troops into the territory of the Republic, with limitation of the time of their stay therein.
- To allow the departure of national troops from the territory of the Republic, prescribing the time of their return.
- To approve or disapprove a declaration of war on the proposal of the President of the Republic.
- To restrain personal liberty and freedom of the press, or suspend or restrict exercise of the right of assembly, when supreme need for the defense of the State, preservation of the constitutional regime or internal peace may so demand, and only for periods not to exceed six months.If such laws prescribe penalties, infliction thereof shall always be made by the established tribunals. Aside from the cases prescribed in this number, no law shall be enacted to suspend or restrict the liberties or rights that the Constitution insures.
- To grant general pardons and amnesties.
- To select the city in which the President of the Republic must reside, the sessions of the National Congress be held and the Supreme Court function.
Enactment of the Laws
Article 45
Laws may be originated in the Chamber of Deputies or in the Senate, through a message directed by the President of the Republic, or on motion of any of their members. Such motions cannot be signed by more than ten Deputies nor by more than five Senators.
Amendments to sections or items of the general Budget Law can be proposed by the President of the Republic only.
Laws respecting taxation of any nature whatever, the budgets of the public administration and recruiting shall originate in the Chamber of Deputies only.
Laws respecting amnesty and general pardons shall originate in the Senate only.
Article 46
The President of the Republic may declare urgency of dispatch for a proposal, and in such a case the respective Chamber must pass upon the matter within the period of thirty days.
Declaration or urgency may be repeated in all constitutional steps of procedure on the proposal.
Article 47
The proposal which may be rejected in the Chamber of its origin cannot be reintroduced except after one year.
Article 48
A proposal approved in the Chamber of its origin shall pass immediately to the other Chamber for its discussion.
Article 49
The proposal that may be rejected in its totality by the revisory Chamber shall return to that of its origin where it will be taken in consideration anew, and if it be approved therein by a two-thirds part of the members present, it shall pass for a second time to the Chamber that rejected it. It will be understood that the latter disapproves it if two-thirds in number of the members present so agree.
Article 50
The proposal that may be enlarged or amended by the revisory Chamber will return to that of its origin; and, in the latter it will be understood that, with the vote of the majority of the members present, the additions or amendments are approved.
But if the additions or amendments are disapproved the proposal will return a second time to the revisory Chamber, where, if the additions or amendments are approved anew by a majority of two-thirds of the members present, the proposal will return to the other Chamber. It will be understood that the latter disapproves the additions or amendments if two-thirds of the members present so agree.
Article 51
When on account of insistency, accord between the two Chambers on fundamental points of the proposal is not reached, or when one changes substantially the proposal of the other, mixed committees of an equal number of Deputies and Senators may be designated in order to suggest a form and method of resolving the difficulties arisen.
Article 52
A proposal approved by both Chambers will be remitted to the President of the Republic, who, if he also approves, will cause it to be promulgated as law.
Article 53
If the President of the Republic disapproves the proposal he will return it to the Chamber of origin with suitable suggestions within the period of thirty days.
Article 54
If the two Chambers approve the suggestions the proposal shall have the force of law and be returned to the President to be promulgated.
If the two Chambers reject all or any of the suggestions and insist, by two-thirds of the members present, on all or part of the proposal as approved by them, it shall be returned to the President to be promulgated.
Article 55
If the President of the Republic should not return the proposal within thirty days counting from the date of its remission, it will be understood that he approves it and will promulgate it as law. If Congress should close its sessions before the thirty days in which to make the return shall have expired the President will make it within the first ten days of the following ordinary or extraordinary legislative term.
Sessions of Congress
Article 56
Congress will begin its ordinary sessions on the 21st of May and adjourn on the 18th of September of each year.
At the opening of each ordinary session the President of the Republic shall give an account to Congress in joint session of the administrative and political state of the Nation.
Article 57
Congress will hold extraordinary sessions when called by the President of the Republic, and when called by the President of the Senate at the written request of a majority of the members of the Chamber of Deputies or of the Senate.
When called by the President of the Republic it cannot transact any other legislative business than that mentioned in the call, yet proposals of constitutional reform may be introduced, discussed and voted on, although they do not appear in the call.
When called by the President of the Senate, it may transact any business within its competency.
Article 58
The Chamber of Deputies shall not enter into session, nor pass resolutions without the concurrence of one-fifth of its membership, nor the Senate without the concurrence of one-fourth of its membership. Each one of the Chambers will provide in its internal regulations for closure of debate by simple majority.
Article 59
The Chamber of Deputies and the Senate will open and close their ordinary and extraordinary legislative terms at the same time. Nevertheless, they may function separately for matters within their exclusive competency, in which case the call will be issued by the President of the respective Chamber.
