Article 8.—The President shall have the sole right to appoint the secretaries, and in agreement with them he shall appoint all the staff subordinate to the respective departments. Nevertheless, in the election of individuals favouritism must be avoided on the understanding that the good name of the Fatherland and the triumph of the Revolution need the services of the most really capable persons.
Article 9.—The secretaries can take part in the sessions of the Revolutionary Congress, whenever they have a motion to present in the name of the President, or on the interpellation of any deputy, but when the question under debate, or the motion on which they have been summoned is put to the vote, they shall retire and not take part in that voting.
Article 10.—The President of the Government is the personification of the Philippine people, and as such he cannot be held responsible for any act whilst he holds that position. His position is irrevocable until the Revolution shall triumph, unless extraordinary circumstances should compel him to tender his resignation to Congress, in which case only Congress shall elect whomsoever is esteemed most fit.
Chapter II
Of the Revolutionary Congress
Article 11.—The Revolutionary Congress is the assembly of those deputies from the Philippine provinces, elected in due form, as prescribed in the Decree of the 18th inst. Nevertheless, if any province could not elect deputies because the majority of its towns had not yet been able to free themselves from Spanish dominion, the Government can nominate provisional deputies chosen from the persons of highest consideration by reason of their education and social position up to the number fixed by the said Decree, always provided that such persons shall have been born or have resided for a long time in the provinces to be represented.
Article 12.—When the deputies shall have met in the town and in the building to be provided by the Revolutionary Government the preliminary act shall be the election by majority of votes of a commission of five persons who shall examine the documents accrediting the personality of each person, and another commission of three persons who shall examine the documents exhibited by the first commission of five.
Article 13.—The next day the said deputies shall again meet and the two commissions shall read their respective reports on the validity of the said documents, all doubts on the same to be resolved by an absolute majority of votes. They shall then at once proceed to the election, by absolute majority, of a president, a vice-president, and two secretaries, to be chosen from among the same deputies, after which the Congress shall be held to be constituted, and notice of the same shall be given to the Government.
Article 14.—The meeting-place of Congress is sacred and inviolable, and no armed force can enter therein except on the summons of the President of the Congress for the purpose of restoring order, should the same have been disturbed by those who know not how to honour themselves and their solemn functions.
Article 15.—The powers of Congress are:—To look after the general interests of the Philippine people and the fulfilment of the revolutionary laws; to discuss and vote laws; to discuss and approve, before ratification, all treaties and loans to examine and approve the accounts of the general expenses which shall be presented annually by the Finance Secretary and to fix the extraordinary taxes, and others which, in future, may be imposed.