TITLE VII. ADMINISTRATIVE REGIMEN
CHAPTER I. CIVIL SERVICE
Article 218
Public functionaries and employees are in the service of the State and not of any specific political faction. They may not make use of their positions to engage in partisan politics. One who so acts shall be sanctioned as prescribed by law.
Article 219
The administrative career is established.
The law shall regulate the civil service and especially the conditions for admission to the administration; promotions and raises on the basis of merit and aptitude; transfers, suspensions, and dismissals; the duties of public servants and recourses against decisions affecting them; likewise, it shall ensure job stability to public employees.
Functionaries and employees holding political and personal (de confianza) appointments are not included in the administrative career, and in particular, the Ministers and Vice-Ministers of State, the Attorney General of the Republic, the Procurator General of the Republic, the Secretaries of the Presidency of the Republic, the Ambassadors, the General Directors, the Departmental Governors, and the Private Secretaries of the foregoing functionaries.
Article 220
A special law shall regulate matters pertinent to retirement of the public and municipal functionaries and employees, which shall fix the percentage of retirement benefits (jubilación) to which they shall be entitled according to the number of years of service rendered and to the earned salaries.
The amount of retirement benefits which is collected shall be exempt from all tax or fiscal and municipal appraisal.
The same law shall establish the other benefits to which public and municipal servants will be entitled.
Article 221
Strikes by public functionaries or employees, as well as the collective abandonment of positions, are prohibited.
The civil public services may be militarized only in the event of a national emergency.
Article 222
The provisions of this Chapter also apply to municipal functionaries and employees.
CHAPTER II. PUBLIC TREASURY (HACIENDA PUBLICA
Article 223
The public treasury consists of:
- Its funds and liquid assets;
- Its active credits;
- Its real and personal property;
- Revenues derived from the application of the laws governing taxes, duties, and other payments, as well as those that belong to it under any other title.
Recognized debts and those originating from duly authorized public expenditures are obligations chargeable against the Public Treasury.
Article 224
All revenue of the Public Treasury shall constitute a single fund that shall generally be subject to the needs and obligations of the State.
The Law may, nevertheless, allocate specific revenues for service on the public debt. Donations likewise may be allotted to the purposes indicated by the donor.
Article 225
Whenever a law authorizes, the State, for the attainment of its goals, may separate property from the general assets of the Public Treasury, or assign assets of the General Fund, to establish or add to special patrimony of the State for the use of public institutions.
Article 226
The Executive Organ, through the appropriate Branch, shall have the direction of the public finances, and shall be especially bound to maintain a balanced Budget, insofar as this is compatible with the fulfillment of the purposes of the State.
Article 227
The General Budget of the State, for each fiscal period, shall contain an estimate of all revenues anticipated in accordance with the laws in force on the date the budget was voted on, as well as the authorization for all expenditures deemed convenient to accomplish the aims of the State.
The Legislative Organ may decrease or reject the credits requested, but may never increase them.
The Budget shall authorize the floating debt that the government may incur during each year to cover temporary deficits in revenue.
The autonomous state institutions and businesses and entities whose expenditures are paid for or subsidized by funds of the Treasury with the exception of credit institutions, shall be governed by special budgets and salary systems approved by the Legislative Organ.
A special law shall establish regulations concerning the preparation, voting, execution, and rendering of accounts of the budgets and shall regulate the procedure to be followed when at the close of one fiscal period the Budget for the new period is not yet in effect.
Article 228
No sum shall be committed or discounted as against public funds unless it is within the limits of a budget credit.
Any pledge, grant, or payment must be made in accordance with provisions of law.
Funds from future fiscal periods may be pledged only with legislative authorization, for works of public or administrative interest, or for the consolidation or conversion of the public debt. For such purposes an extraordinary budget may be approved.
There shall be a special law to regulate subsidies, pensions, and retirement allotments that affect public funds.
Article 229
The Executive Organ, observing due legal formalities, may make transfers between items under the same branch or administrative organ, with the exception of those declared nontransferable in the Budget.
The Judicial Organ shall have an equal power with respect to items in its budget, observing the same legal formalities.
Article 230
There shall be a General Treasury Service for the collection, custody, and expenditure of public funds.
Whenever public property is expended in contravention of legal provisions, the official who authorizes or orders the transaction shall be held liable, as well as the person who effects the expenditure, unless he proves his freedom from guilt.
Article 231
No taxes may be imposed except by virtue of a law and for the public service.
Churches and their dependencies immediately and directly designated for religious service are exempt from taxes on real property.
Article 232
Neither the Legislative Organ nor the Executive Organ may relieve functionaries and employees who manage national or municipal funds of the obligation to pay sums of money retained (reparadas) by them, nor dispense with the payment of debts due the Public Treasury (Fisco) or the Municipalities.
Article 233
Real property of the Public Treasury or in public use can only be donated or given in usufruct, commodation (comodato) or lease (arrendamiento) with the authorization of the Legislative Organ, to entities of general utility.
Article 234
Whenever the State has to conclude contracts for public works or to acquire personal property for which public funds or assets are to be expended, such works or supply orders must be submitted for public bidding, except in those cases specified by law.
No contract may be concluded in which the decision, in the event of controversy, is to be rendered by the courts of a foreign country.
That provided in the preceding paragraphs shall be applied to the Municipalities.
