Political Constitution of the Republic of Panama, 1972, Amended to Legislative Act No. 1 of 27 July 2004
THE POLITICAL CONSTITUTION OF
THE REPUBLIC OF PANAMA
PREAMBLE
With the ultimate objective of strengthening the Nation, to guarantee liberty, to assure democracy and institutional stability, to exalt human dignity, to promote social justice, the general well-being and regional integration, and invoking the protection of God, we decree the Political Constitution of the Republic of Panama.
TITLE I
THE PANAMANIAN STATE
Article 1
The Panamanian Nation is organized as a sovereign and independent State, of which the denomination is the Republic of Panama. Its Government is unitary, republican, democratic and representative.
Article 2
The Public Power emanates solely from the people [pueblo]. It is exercised by the State in accordance with what is established in this Constitution, through the Legislative, Executive, and Judicial Organs, which act in a limited and separate manner, but in harmonious collaboration.
Article 3
The territory of the Republic of Panama comprises the terrestrial surface, the territorial sea, the submarine continental platform, the subsoil and the air space between [the countries of] Colombia and Costa Rica, in accordance with the boundary [límites] treaties celebrated by Panama with those States.
The national territory may never be ceded, assigned or transferred, neither temporarily nor partially, to other States.
Article 4
The Republic of Panama complies with the norms of International Law.
Article 5
The territory of the Panamanian State is divided politically into Provinces, these in turn into Districts and the Districts into corregimientos [boroughs].
The law can create other political divisions, either to subject them to special regimes or for reasons of administrative convenience or of public service.
Article 6
The symbols of the Nation are: the anthem, the flag, and the coat-of-arms, adopted by the Law 34 of 1949.
Article 7
Spanish is the official language of the Republic.
TITLE II
NATIONALITY AND FOREIGNERS
Article 8
The Panamanian nationality is acquired by birth, by naturalization or by constitutional provision.
Article 9
The following are Panamanian by birth:
1. Those born in the national territory.
2. The children of Panamanian father or mother by birth, born outside the territory of the Republic, if they establish their domicile in the National territory.
3. The children of Panamanian father or mother by naturalization, born outside the national territory, if they establish their domicile in the Republic of Panama and manifest their will to acquire [acogerse] Panamanian nationality not later than one year after reaching their age of majority [mayoría de edad].
Article 10
The following can solicit Panamanian nationality by naturalization:
1. The foreigners with five consecutive years of residence in the territory of the Republic if, after having reached their age of majority, they declare their will to become naturalized, they expressly renounce their nationality of origin or that they hold and they prove to have a command of the Spanish language and a basic knowledge of Panamanian geography, history and political organization.
2. The foreigners with three consecutive years of residence within the territory of the Republic, who have children born in it, of Panamanian father or mother, or of a spouse of Panamanian nationality, if they make the declaration and present the evidence to which the preceding section refers.
3. The nationals by birth, of Spain or of a Latin American State, if they fulfill the same requirements that in their country of origin are required of
Panamanians for naturalization.
Article 11
Those born abroad and adopted before reaching seven years of age by Panamanian nationals are Panamanian by constitutional provision and without the necessity of a letter of naturalization. In this case, the nationality is acquired from the moment when the adoption is inscribed in the Panamanian
Civil Registry.
Article 12
The law shall regulate naturalization. The State can refuse a request for a letter of naturalization for reasons of morality, security, health [salubridad], and physical or mental incapacity.
Article 13
The Panamanian nationality of origin or acquired by birth cannot be lost, but the express or tacit renunciation of it suspends the citizenship.
The Panamanian nationality derived from or acquired by naturalization will be lost for the same causes.
The express renunciation of the nationality is produced when the person manifests in writing to the Executive their will to abandon it; and the tacit, when another nationality is acquired or when entering the service of an enemy State.
Article 14
Immigration shall be regulated by the Law with attention to the social, economic and demographic interests of the country.
Article 15
Both nationals and foreigners, who are found within the territory of the Republic, will be subjected to the Constitution and to the Laws.
Article 16
The Panamanians by naturalization are not obligated to take up arms against their State of origin.
TITLE III
INDIVIDUAL AND SOCIAL RIGHTS AND DUTIES
Chapter 1
Fundamental Guarantees
Article 17
The authorities of the Republic are instituted to protect the lives, the honor and the property of nationals, wherever they may be, and of foreigners who are under its jurisdiction; to assure the effectiveness of the individual and social rights and duties, and of observing [cumplir] and having observed the Constitution and the Law.
The rights and guarantees consecrated by this Constitution, must be considered as minimums and do not exclude others which are related to them concerning the fundamental rights and the dignity of the person.
Article 18
The individuals [particulares] are only responsible before the authorities for the infraction of the Constitution or of the Law. The public servants are responsible for the same causes and also for breach [extralimitación] of their functions or for omissions in the exercise of them.
Article 19
There shall be no benefits [fueros] or privileges or discrimination for reason of race, birth, disability, social class, sex, religion or political ideas.
Article 20
The Panamanians and the foreigners are equal before the Law, but it can, for reasons of labor, of health, morality, public security and national economy, subordinate to special conditions or deny the exercise of specific [determinadas] activities to foreigners in general. Likewise, the Law or the Authorities can, according to the circumstances, take measures that exclusively affect the nationals of certain countries in case of war or in accordance with what is established in the international treaties.
Article 21
No one may be deprived of their liberty, except by virtue of a written order [mandamiento] from a competent authority, issued in accordance with the legal formalities and for reasons previously defined in the Law. The executors of such an order are obligated to give a copy of it to the interested [party], if they requests it.
The delinquent surprised in flagrante delicto can be apprehended by any person and must be turned over immediately to the authority.
No one may be detained more than twenty-four hours without being brought before the orders of a competent authority. The public servants who violate this precept have as a sanction the loss of office [empleo], without prejudice to the penalties that for such effect are established by the Law.
There shall not be imprisonment, detention or arrest for debts or purely civil obligations.
Article 22
All detained persons must be informed immediately and in a form that is comprehensible to them, of the reasons for their detention and of their corresponding constitutional and legal rights.
The persons accused of having committed a crime [delito] have the right to be presumed innocent while their culpability is not proved in a public trial which has assured all of the guarantees established for their defense. Whoever is detained will have the right, from that moment, to the assistance of an attorney in the police and judicial proceedings [diligencias].
The Law shall regulate this matter.
Article 23
Every individual detained outside of the cases and the forms that this Constitution or the law prescribes, shall be set at liberty on his petition or the petition of another person, through the action of habeas corpus which can be interposed [interpuesta] immediately after the detention and without consideration of the applicable penalty.
The action will be processed with preference [prelación] over the other cases pending through a summary [sumarísimo] proceeding, without the proceeding being suspended by reason of hours or holidays [días inhábiles].
The habeas corpus will also proceed when there exists a real or actual threat against physical [corporal] freedom, or when the form or the conditions of the detention or the place where the detained person is held put their physical, mental or moral integrity at risk or infringes his right of defense.
Article 24
The State may not extradite its nationals; nor may it extradite foreigners for political crimes.
Article 25
No one is obligated to declare against themselves, their spouse or relatives within the fourth degree of consanguinity or second of affinity in criminal, correctional or police matters.
Article 26
The domicile or residence is inviolable. No one may enter it without the consent of its owner, except by written order [mandato] of a competent authority and for specific purposes, or to assist [socorrer] the victims of crimes or disasters.
The public servants of labor, of social security and of sanitation may undertake [practicar], with prior [presentation of] identification, domiciliary or inspection visits, to the work sites with the objective [fin] of seeing to the fulfillment of the social and public health Laws.
Article 27
Every person may transit freely in the national territory and change domicile or residence, without more limitations than those imposed by the transit, fiscal, health, and immigration laws or regulations.
Article 28
The penitentiary system is based on the principles of security, rehabilitation and social defense. The application of measures which damage the physical, mental, or moral integrity of the detained is prohibited.
The training [capacitación] of the detained in occupations [oficios] which should permit them to be usefully reincorporated into society, is established.
The detained [persons] who are minors shall be subject to a special regime of custody, protection and education.
Article 29
Correspondence and other private documents are inviolable and may not be examined or seized, except by order of a competent authority and for specific purposes, in accordance with the legal formalities. In any case, absolute reserve shall be maintained [guardará] concerning the matters alien to the object of the examination or of the seizure.
The registration of letters and other documents or papers will always be practiced in the presence of the concerned person or of a person of their family or, in their absence [defecto], of two honorable neighbors of the same place.
All private communications are inviolable and may not be intercepted or recorded, except by the order of judicial authority.
The non-compliance with this provision shall prevent [impedirá] the use of the results as evidence, without prejudice to the criminal responsibility incurred by the authors.
Article 30
There is no death penalty, penalty of expatriation, or of confiscation of assets [bienes].
Article 31
Only the acts [hechos] declared punishable by Law prior to their perpetration and exactly applicable to the imputed [imputado] act, shall be penalized.
Article 32
No one shall be tried [juzgado], except by a competent authority and in accordance with the legal procedures, and not more than once for the same criminal, administrative, police or disciplinary cause.
Article 33
The following authorities may impose sanctions without a previous trial, in the cases and under the precise terms of the law:
The heads [jefes] of the Public Force, who may impose sanctions on their subordinates in order to contain an insubordination or a mutiny, or for disciplinary lapse.
The captains of ships or of aircraft, who while being outside the port have the faculty to contain an insubordination or a mutiny, or to maintain order aboard, and to provisionally detain any real or presumed delinquent.
Article 34
In case of manifest infraction of a constitutional or legal precept, in detriment of any person, the superior mandate does not relieve the agent who executed it from responsibility. The members of the Public Force are excepted when they are in actual service, in which case the responsibility falls uniquely on the hierarchical superior who gave the order.
Article 35
The profession [profesión] of all religions is free [libre], as well as the exercise of all beliefs [cultos], without other limitation than the respect for Christian morality and the public order. It is recognized that the Catholic religion is that of the majority of Panamanians.
Article 36
The religious associations have juridical capacity and [they] manage and administer their assets within the limits specified by the Law, the same as other juridical persons.
Article 37
Every person may express freely their verbal thoughts in writing or through another medium, without subjection to prior censorship; but legal responsibilities exist when through any of these media there is an infringement against the reputation or the honor of persons or against the social security or the public order.
Article 38
The inhabitants of the Republic have the right to assemble peacefully and without arms for licit purposes. The demonstrations or meetings in open air [al aire libre] are not subject to permission and to conduct them only a previous notification to the local administrative authorities, with an anticipation of twenty-four hours, is required.
The authority may take police measures to prevent or restrain abuses in the exercise of this right, when the form in which it is exercised causes, or may cause, traffic disturbances, alteration of the public order or violation of the rights of third parties [terceros].
Article 39
To form companies, associations and foundations that are not contrary to morals or to the legal order, is permitted, [and] these may obtain recognition as juridical persons.
Recognition will not be granted to the associations inspired by ideas or theories based on the pretended superiority of any race or of an ethnic group, or [which] justify or promote racial discrimination.
The capacity, the recognition and the regime of corporations [sociedades] and other juridical persons shall be determined by the Panamanian law.
Article 40
Every person is free to exercise any profession or occupation [oficio] with subjection to the regulations established by the Law with regards to capability [idoneidad], morality, social welfare and security, professional affiliation [colegiación], public health, unionization, and obligatory dues [cotizaciones].
No taxes or assessments [contribuciones] for the exercise of the liberal professions and of the occupations [oficinas] and the arts shall be established.
Article 41
Every person has the right to present respectful petitions and complaints [quejas] to the public servants for reasons of social or individual [particular] interest, and to obtain a prompt resolution.
The public servant before whom such petition, inquiry or complaint was presented, must resolve it within the term of thirty days.
The Law shall specify the sanctions that correspond to the violation of this norm.
Article 42
Every person has a right to the personal information contained in databases or public or private registries, and to require their rectification and protection, as well as their deletion [supresión], in accordance with what is provided in the Law.
This information may only be collected for specific purposes, by means of the consent of its titleholder [titular] or by disposition of a competent authority with basis on what is provided in the Law.
Article 43
Every person has a right to solicit information of public access or of collective interest stored in databases or registries [which are] the responsibility of public servants or of private persons who render public services, as long as that access has not been limited by a written disposition and by a mandate of the law, as well as to request its faithful treatment and rectification.
Article 44
Every person can initiate [promover] an action of habeas data in order to guarantee the right of access to their personal information stored in official or individual databases or registries, when the latter concerns companies which render a service to the public or are dedicated to providing information.
This action may also be interposed, in equal form, to enforce the right of access to public information or information of free access, in accordance with what is established in this Constitution.
Through the action of habeas data the correction, updating, rectification, deletion or the maintenance in confidentiality [of] the information or data that have a personal character may be solicited.
The law shall regulate that concerning the tribunals competent to take cognizance of habeas data, which will be examined [se sutanciará] in a summary proceeding and without the necessity of a judicial attorney-in-fact [aporterado].
Article 45
The Ministers of religious beliefs [cultos], other than the functions inherent to their mission, may only exercise the public offices [cargos] which relate to social assistance, education or scientific investigation.
Article 46
The laws do not have retroactive effect, except those of public order or of social interest when it is expressed in them. In criminal matters the Law favorable to the accused always has preference and retroactivity, even when there has been an executed sentence.
Article 47
Private property acquired in accordance with the law by juridical or natural persons, is guaranteed.
Article 48
Private property implies obligations on the part of its owner by reason of the social function it must fulfill.
For reasons [motivos] of public utility or social interest defined in the law, there may be expropriation through special legal actions [juicios] and indemnification.
Article 49
The State recognizes and guarantees the right of every person to obtain quality goods [bienes] and services of quality, truthful, clear and sufficient information concerning the characteristics and the contents of the goods and services which they acquire, as well as the freedom of choice and the right to conditions of equitable and fair treatment.
The law shall establish the mechanisms necessary to guarantee these rights, their education and the procedures of defense of the consumer and user, the compensation [resarcimiento] of damages caused and the corresponding sanctions for the transgression of these rights.
Article 50
When the application of a Law enacted for reasons of public utility or social interest, results in a conflict of the rights of the individual with the necessity recognized by the Law itself, the private interest must yield [ceder] to the public or social interest.
Article 51
In case of war, of grave disturbance of the public order or of urgent social interest, that require rapid measures, the Executive [Organ] can decree the expropriation or occupation of private property.
When the return of the occupied object is feasible, the occupation shall be only for the time that the circumstances that have caused it remain.
The State is always responsible for all expropriations that arise under the auspices [cabo] of the Executive [Organ] and for the damages and losses caused by the occupation, and will pay their value when the determining cause of the expropriation or occupation ceases.
Article 52
No one is obligated to pay a contribution or tax which has not been legally established and of which the collection is not conducted in the form prescribed by the laws.
Article 53
Every author, artist or inventor enjoys the exclusive ownership [propiedad] of its work or invention, during the time and in the form established by [the] Law.
Article 54
Every person against whom, by a public servant, an order to do or not to do, is issued or executed, which violates the rights and guarantees consecrated by this Constitution, will have the right [to have] the order revoked on their petition or the petition of any person.
The recourse [recurso] of amparo of constitutional guarantees to which this Article refers, will be dealt with [tramitar] through a summary procedure and will be of the competence of the judicial tribunals.
Article 55
In case of foreign war or internal disturbance that menaces the peace and the public order, all of the Republic, or part of it, may be declared in [a] state of urgency, and the effects of Articles 21, 22, 23, 26, 27, 29, 37, 38, and 47 of the Constitution [may be] temporarily suspended, partially or totally.
The state of urgency and the suspension of the effects of Constitutional norms cited above shall be declared by the Executive Organ through a Decree, agreed upon in Council of the Cabinet. The Legislative Organ, in its own right or at the instance of the President of the Republic, must take cognizance of the declaration of the state referred to if it is prolonged for more than ten days, and to confirm or to revoke, totally or partially, the decisions adopted by the Council of the Cabinet, related to the state of urgency.
The cause that motivated the decree of the state of urgency ceasing, the
Legislative Organ, if it should be meeting, or, if it should not be, the Council of the Cabinet, shall rescind [levantará] the state of urgency.
Chapter 2
The Family
Article 56
The State protects [the institution of] marriage, motherhood and the family. The Law shall determine what relates to [the] civil status.
The State shall protect the physical, mental and moral health of minors and will guarantee their right to food, health, education and social security and prevision.
Likewise the elderly and the incapacitated [deválidos] sick will have the right to this protection.
Article 57
The institution of marriage is the legal basis [fundamento] of the family, the same rests on the equality of the rights of both spouses and can be dissolved in accordance to the Law.
Article 58
The de facto union [unión de hecho] of persons of different sex with the legal capacity to contract marriage, maintained for five consecutive years in conditions of singularity and stability, will produce all of the effects of a civil marriage. To this end, a joint request of the interested parties to the Civil Registry to register the de facto union, will be sufficient. When this request is not made, the marriage can be evidenced, for the purposes of claiming the rights pertaining to it, by one of the spouses or by another interested [party], in accordance with the procedures [trámites] determined by the Law. However, the Public Ministry, in the interest of [the] morals and of the law, or of third persons who claim [aleguen] rights susceptible of being affected by the registration, may object to the registration or challenge [impugnarla] it subsequently, if the declaration is contrary to the reality of the facts.
Article 59
The parental authority [patria potestad] is the aggregate [conjunto] of the duties and the rights that parents have with regards to their children.
The parents are obligated to feed, educate and protect their children to obtain a good upbringing and an adequate physical and spiritual development, and they to respect and assist them.
The Law shall regulate the exercise of parental authority in accordance with the social interests and the welfare of the children.
Article 60
The parents have, with respect to their children born [habidos] out of matrimony, the same duties as towards their children born [nacidos] within it.
All of the children are equal before the law and [they] have the same rights of inheritance within intestate successions. The Law will recognize the rights of the minors or of the incapacitated children and of the destitute parents in testate successions.
Article 61
The Law shall regulate the investigation of the paternity. The classifications as to the nature of the relationship are abolished. There will not be entered [consignará] any statement establishing differences of birth or regarding the civil status of the parents in their registration records [actas], or in any attestation, baptismal records or certificate referring to the affiliation.
To the Father of a child born before the effective date of this Constitution is granted the faculty to protect [ampararlo] the child with what is set forth in this article, by means of the rectification of any record or attestation in which any classification may have been established with respect to such child. The consent of the mother is not required for this. If the child is of majority of age, the same must grant his consent.
In the acts of simulation of paternity, anyone who is legally affected by the act may oppose this measure.
The Law shall specify the procedure.
Article 62
The State shall see to the social and economic development of the family and it shall organize the family patrimony determining the nature and quantity of the assets [bienes] that shall constitute it, on the basis that it is inalienable and unattachable [inembargable].
Article 63
The State shall create an organ destined for the protection of the family for the purposes of:
1. Promoting responsible paternity and maternity through family education.
2. Institutionalizing preschool education in specialized centers to assist the [children] upon the request of their parents or guardians.
3. Protecting the minors and the elderly, and watch over [custodiar] and [conduct the] the social readjustment of the abandoned, helpless, [those] within moral danger or who have maladjustment [conduct].
The Law shall organize and determine the functioning of a special jurisdiction over minors, which among other duties, will take cognizance of the investigation of the paternity, the family abandonment and the problems of juvenile conduct.
Chapter 3
Work
Article 64
Work is a right and a duty of the individual, and as such it is an obligation of the
State to devise the economic policies directed to promote the full employment and to assure for every worker the necessary conditions for a decorous existence.
Article 65
Every worker at the service of the State or of public or private enterprises or of private individuals is guaranteed with a minimum salary or wage. The workers of the enterprises that the Law determines will participate in the profits [utilidades] of the same, in accordance with the economic conditions of the country.
Article 66
The Law shall establish the manner to periodically adjust the minimum salary or wage of the workers, with the purpose of covering the normal necessities of their families, to improve their standard of living, in accordance with the specific conditions of each region and of each economic activity; [the law] can determine also the method to establish [fijar] the minimum salaries or wages for each profession or activity [oficio].
In the jobs conducted per task or piece, it is obligatory that the minimum wage be assured for each piece or workday.
The minimum of all wages or salaries is un-attachable [inembargable], except in the cases of support obligations [obligaciones alimenticias] as established by the Law. The instruments of work of the workers are also un-attachable.
Article 67
For equal work in identical conditions, always corresponds equal salary or wage, whoever the persons that performs it may be, without distinction of sex, nationality, age, race, social class, or political or religious ideas.
Article 68
The right of unionization [sindicación] is acknowledged for employers, wageearners and professionals of all the classes for the purposes of economic and social activities.
The Executive Organ will have a non-extendable term of thirty days to admit or reject the registration of a union.
The Law shall regulate that concerning the recognition by the Executive Organ of the unions, of which the juridical personality will be determined by the registration.
The Executive Organ may not dissolve a union except when it permanently deviates from its purposes, and this is so declared by a competent tribunal by means of a final judgment.
The directorates of these associations will be composed exclusively of Panamanians.
Article 69
The right to strike [huelga] is recognized. The Law shall regulate its exercise and can submit it to special restrictions within the public services that it determines.
Article 70
The maximum daily workday is of eight hours and the workweek of up to forty-eight hours; the maximum night workday will not be more than seven hours and overtime [horas extraordinarias] will be remunerated with a surcharge.
The maximum work day may be reduced to six hours per day for those older than [mayores] fourteen and [for those] younger than [menores] eighteen.
Employment of those younger than fourteen, and night work of those younger than sixteen, is prohibited, except for the exceptions established by [the] Law. It is equally prohibited to employ children younger than fourteen years in the capacity [calidad] of domestic servants [sirvientes], and to employ minors [menores] and women in unhealthy [insalubres] occupations.
In addition to a weekly [day of] rest, every worker will have the right to remunerated vacations.
The Law can establish the remunerated weekly day of rest in accordance with the social and economic conditions of the country and for the benefit of workers.
Article 71
The stipulations that imply renunciation, diminishment, adulteration [aduteración], or abandonment of any right recognized in favor of the worker are void, and, as such, do not obligate the contracting parties, although expressed in a labor agreement or in any other pact. The Law shall regulate everything relating to the labor contract.
Article 72
The maternity of the working woman is protected. The [pregnant] woman in a state of graveness [gravidez] may not be separated from her public or private employment for this cause. For a minimum of six weeks prior to giving birth and eight weeks thereafter, she shall enjoy necessary rest [descanso forsozo] paid in the same mode as her work and shall retain the employment and all the rights corresponding to her contract. On reincorporating the working mother into her employment, she may not be dismissed for the term of one year, except in the special cases specified by the Law, which shall, in addition, regulate the special working conditions of the woman in the state of pregnancy.
Article 73
The contracting of foreign workers who can lower the conditions of work or standards [normas] of living of the national workers, is prohibited. The Law shall regulate the contracting of foreign Managers, Administrators and
Executive Directors, technicians, and professionals for public and private services, always assuring the rights of the Panamanians in accordance with the national interest.
Article 74
No worker may be dismissed [despedido] without a just cause and without the formalities established by the Law. The same shall specify the just causes for the dismissal, its special exceptions, and the corresponding indemnification.
Article 75
The State or the private enterprise will provide gratuitous professional training for the worker. The Law shall regulate the manner to render this service.
Article 76
Union training is established. It will be imparted exclusively by the State and by Panamanian union organizations.
Article 77
All disputes that originate from the relations between capital and labor, will be subject to the jurisdiction of labor, which shall be exercised in accordance with what is provided for by the Law.
Article 78
The Law shall regulate the relations between capital and labor, placing them on a basis of social justice and setting a special State protection for the benefit of the workers.
Article 79
The rights and guarantees established in this Chapter will be considered as a minimum in favor of the workers.
Chapter 4
National Culture
Article 80
The State recognizes the right of every human being to participate in the Culture, and therefore shall foster the participation of all inhabitants of the Republic within the National Culture.
Article 81
The National Culture is constituted by the artistic, philosophic and scientific manifestations produced by man in Panama through the ages. The State shall promote, develop and safeguard this cultural patrimony.
Article 82
The State shall see to the defense, dissemination and purity of the Spanish language.
Article 83
The State shall formulate the national scientific policy destined to promote the development of science and technology.
Article 84
The State recognizes the individuality and the universal value of artistic work; it shall support and stimulate national artists [by] divulging their works through the system of cultural communication, and shall promote, at the national level, the development of the art in all of its manifestations by means of academic institutions, and institutions of dissemination [divulgación] and recreation.
Article 85
The historical patrimony of the Nation is constituted by its archeological sites and objects, the documents, the historical monuments, and other movable or real property that are testimonial of the Panamanian past. The State will decree the expropriation of those items which are found in the hands of individuals.
The Law shall regulate what concerns their custody, based on the historical primacy of them and shall take all the necessary measures to reconcile [conciliarla] them with the feasibility of programs of commercial, tourist, industrial, and technological order.
Article 86
The State shall foster the development of the physical culture through sports, education, and the recreation institutions which shall be regulated by the law.
Article 87
The State recognizes that the folkloric traditions constitute an essential element of the national culture, and as such it shall promote their study, preservation and divulgation, establishing their primacy over manifestations or tendencies that adulterate them.
Article 88
The aboriginal languages shall be the object of special study, conservation and divulgation and the State shall promote the programs of bilingual literacy in the indigenous communities.
Article 89
The means of social communication are instruments of information, education, recreation, and cultural and scientific dissemination [difusión]. When they are used for the publicity or dissemination of propaganda, these must not be contrary to [the] health, morals, education, [and] cultural formation of society and the national conscience. The law shall regulate its functioning.
Article 90
The State recognizes and respects the ethnic identity of the national indigenous communities, and shall establish [realizará] the programs tending to develop the material, social and spiritual values belonging to [propias] each one of their cultures, and to create an institution for the study, conservation and divulgation of these cultures and of their languages, as well as the promotion of the integral development of said human groups.
Chapter 5
Education
Article 91
All persons have the right to education and the responsibility to become educated. The State organizes and directs the public service of the national education and guarantees to the parents of the family the right to participate in the educational process of their children.
The education is based on science, it uses its methods, promotes its growth and dissemination, and applies its results in order [to assure] the development of the human person, and of the family, and equally to assure the affirmation and strengthening of the Panamanian Nation as a cultural and political community.
The education is democratic and is founded on the principles of human solidarity and social justice.
Article 92
The education must attend to [atender] the harmonious and integral development of the student within social coexistence [convivencia social], within the physical, intellectual, moral, aesthetic, and civil aspects, and must provide for their training for useful work in their own interest and for the collective benefit.
Article 93
It is recognized that it is the objective of Panamanian education to foment in the student a national conscience based on the knowledge of the history and problems of the country.
Article 94
The freedom of education [enseñanza] is guaranteed, and the right to create private [particulares] teaching centers is recognized with subjection to the Law.
The State can intervene in private educational establishments so that the national and social objectives of the culture and the intellectual, moral, civic, and physical formation of students are fulfilled.
Public education is that which the official dependencies impart and private education is that imparted by the private [privadas] entities.
The establishments of education, whether official or private, are open to all students [alumnos] without distinction of race, social position, political ideas, religion, or the nature of the union of their parents or guardians.
The Law shall regulate public as well as private education.
Article 95
The official education is gratuitous at all pre-university levels. The primary level of teaching or the general basic education is obligatory.
The gratuitousness implies that the State furnishes students with all the supplies necessary for their instruction [aprendizaje] until they complete their general basic education.
The gratuitousness of the education does not prevent the establishment of the right of paid tuition in the non-obligatory levels.
Article 96
The Law shall determine the State dependency which shall formulate [elaborará] and approve the plans of studies, the programs of teaching and the educational levels, as well as the organization of a national system of orientation, all in accordance with the national needs.
Article 97
Vocational [laboral] education is established, as a special [no regular] modality of the system of education, with programs of basic education and special training.
Article 98
The private enterprises whose operations significantly alter the school population in a certain [determinada] area, will contribute to meet the educational requirements in accordance with the official norms, and the urban development [urbanizadores] enterprises will have the same responsibility concerning the sectors that they develop.
Article 99
Only the academic and professional titles issued by the State or authorized by it, in accordance with the Law, are recognized. The Official University of the State shall supervise these degrees of the officially approved private Universities to guarantee the titles that they issue and shall revalidate those of foreign universities in the cases established by the law.
Article 100
Education will be imparted in the official language, but for reasons of public interest the Law can permit for any groups [planteles] that it may be imparted in a foreign language.
The teaching of the history of Panama and of the civic education will always be taught [dictada] by Panamanians.
Article 101
The law may create economic incentives in benefit of public education and of private education, as well as the publication [edición] of national instructional [didácticas] works.
Article 102
The State shall establish the systems which provide the adequate resources to grant scholarships, supplements [auxilios], or other economic assistance to the students who merit it or require it.
Under equal circumstances, preference shall be given to those economically more needful.
Article 103
The Official University of the Republic is autonomous. It is recognized with juridical personality, its own patrimony, and the right to administer it. It is empowered [facultad] to organize its own study programs, and to appoint and dismiss its personnel in the form determined by the Law. It shall include in its activities the study of the national problems and the dissemination of the national culture. Equal importance shall be given to the university education provided in the Regional Centers as to the one provided in the capital.
Article 104
In order for the economic autonomy of the University to be made effective, the State shall provide it with what is indispensible for its installation, functioning, and future development, as well as the patrimony mentioned in the preceding Article and of the means necessary to increase it.
Article 105
The freedom of teaching [cátedra] is recognized without other limitations than those that, for reasons of public order, the University Statute [estatuto] establishes.
Article 106
Exceptionality in students, in all its manifestations, shall be attended to through special education, based on scientific research and educational orientation.
Article 107
The Catholic religion shall be taught in the public schools, but its learning and the assistance to the religious beliefs [cultos] will not be obligatory when the parents or guardians so solicit it.
Article 108
The State shall develop programs of education and promotion for the indigenous groups which possess their own cultural patterns [patrones], to assure [lograr] their active participation in the function of citizenship [ciudadana].
Chapter 6
Health, Social Security and Social Assistance
Article 109
It is an essential function of the State to see to the health of the population of the
Republic. The individual, as part of the community, has the right to the promotion, protection, conservation, restitution and rehabilitation of his health and the obligation to conserve it, [health being] understood as the complete physical, mental and social well-being.
Article 110
In matters of health, the development of the following activities corresponds primarily to the State, integrating the functions of prevention, cure and rehabilitation:
1. To develop a national policy of food and nutrition which assures an optimum nutritional state for the entire population, by promoting the availability, the consumption, and the biological benefit of adequate foodstuffs.
2. To train the individual and the social groups, through educational actions, which disseminate the knowledge of the individual and collective duties and rights in matters of personal and environmental health.
3. To protect the health of the mother, of the child and of the adolescent, guaranteeing an integral attention during the processes of pregnancy, lactation, growth and development in childhood and adolescence.
4. To combat the contagious [transmisibles] diseases through environmental clearing [saneamiento], the development of the availability of potable water, and to adopt methods of immunization, prophylaxis, and treatment, to be provided collectively or individually, to the entire population.
5. To create, in accordance with the necessities of each region, centers [establecimientos] which provide integral health care services and which supply medicines to all of the population. These health services and medications will be provided gratuitously to those who lack the economic resources.
6. To regulate and oversee the fulfillment of the conditions of health and of safety that must be met in the workplace, establishing a national policy of industry and labor medicine and hygiene to be followed.
Article 111
The State shall develop a national policy [with regards to] medicines which shall promote the production, availability, accessibility, quality and control of the medicines for all of the population of the country.
Article 112
It is a duty of the State to establish a policy on population which responds to the necessities of social and economic development of the country.
Article 113
Every individual has the right to the security of their economic means for subsistence in case of disability [incapacidad] to work or to obtain a remunerated [retribuido] job. The services of social security shall be rendered or administered by autonomous entities and shall cover the cases of sickness, maternity, disability [invalidez], family subsidies, old age, widowhood, orphanhood, compulsory lay off, labor accidents and occupational diseases, and the other contingencies that may be the object of assistance and social security.
The Law shall provide for the establishment [implantación] of such services to the extent that necessities so require.
The State shall create establishments of assistance and social security [previsión]. The fundamental tasks of these are the economic and social rehabilitation of the dependent sectors or [those] lacking economic resources, the care of the mentally incapacitated, the chronically ill, and the indigent invalids and the groups that have not been integrated into the social security system.
Article 114
The State can create complementary funds with the support and the participation of the workers of the public and the private enterprises in order to improve the services of social security within matters [related to] the retirements [jubilaciones]. The Law shall regulate this matter.
Article 115
The governmental sectors of health, including its autonomous and semiautonomous institutions, are integrated organically and functionally. The Law shall regulate this matter.
Article 116
The communities have the duty and the right to participate in the planning, execution and evaluation of the different programs of health.
Article 117
The State shall establish a National Housing Policy destined to provide the enjoyment of this right to all the population, especially for those sectors of lower income.
Chapter 7
Ecological Regime
Article 118
It is the fundamental duty of the State to guarantee that the population lives in a healthy environment and free from contamination, where the air, the water, and the foodstuffs satisfy the requirements for the adequate development of the human life.
Article 119
The State and all of the inhabitants of the national territory have the duty of promoting a social and economic development which prevents the contamination of the environment, maintains ecological balance [equilibrio], and avoids the destruction of the ecosystems.
Article 120
The State shall regulate, shall supervise [fiscalizará], and shall apply in a timely manner the measures necessary to guarantee that the use of, and benefit from, the terrestrial, fluvial and marine fauna, as well as [of] the forests, lands and waters, takes place [lleven a cabo] rationally, in a manner to avoid their misuse [depredación] and to assure their preservation, renewal, and permanence.
Article 121
The Law shall regulate the exploitation [aprovechamiento] of the non-renewable natural resources, in order to avoid the social, economic and environmental abuses [perjuicios] that could result from it.
Chapter 8
The Agrarian Regime
Article 122
The State shall provide special attention to the full [integral] development of the agricultural/livestock [agropecuario] sector, it shall promote the optimum use [aprovechamiento] of the soil, to see to its rational distribution, and its proper [adecuanda] use and conservation, in order to maintain it in productive condition to guarantee the right for each farmer [agricultor] to a dignified existence.
Article 123
The State shall not allow the existence of uncultivated, unproductive or idle lands, and [it] shall regulate the work relations on the farms [en el agro], promoting a maximum productivity and a just distribution of the benefits of them.
Article 124
The State shall give special attention to the indigenous and farming [campesinas] communities with the purpose of promoting their economic, social, and political participation in the national life.
Article 125
The correct use of the agricultural land is a duty of the owner towards the community and shall be regulated by the Law in accordance with its ecological classification, in order to avoid its underutilization and a decrease of its production potential.
Article 126
In order to fulfill the objectives of the agrarian policy, the State shall develop the following activities:
1. To provide the farmers [campesinos] with the necessary workable lands [tierras de labor] and to regulate the use of the water. The Law can establish a special regime of collective ownership for the farming communities who request it.
2. To organize the credit assistance to satisfy the financial necessities of financing of the agricultural/livestock activity and, particularly, those of the low income sector and its organized groups and to give special attention to small [piqueño] and medium producers.
3. To take the measures to assure stable markets and fair prices for the products and to foster the establishment of the entities, corporations, and cooperatives of production, industrialization, distribution and consumption.
4. To establish the means of communication and transportation to link [unir] the farming and indigenous communities with centers of storage, distribution and consumption.
5. To colonize new lands and to regulate the tenancy and the use of them and of those that are integrated into the economy as a result of the construction of new highways [carreteras].
6. To stimulate the development of the agrarian sector by means of technical assistance and the promotion of the organization, training, protection, mechanization [tecnificación] and the other forms determined by the Law; and 
7. To conduct studies of the land in order to establish the agrological classification of the Panamanian soil.
The policy established for the implementation of this Chapter will be applicable to the indigenous communities in accordance with the scientific methods of cultural change.
Article 127
The State will guarantee to the indigenous communities the reservation of the necessary lands and the collective ownership of the same for the achievement of their economic and social well-being. The Law shall regulate the procedures that must be followed for achieving this purpose, and the corresponding boundaries within which private appropriation of land is prohibited.
Article 128
The agrarian jurisdiction is established and the Law shall determine the organization and the functions of its tribunals.
Chapter 9
Office of the Defender of the People [Defensoría del Pueblo]
Article 129
The Office of the Defender of the People shall see to the protection of the fundamental rights and guarantees consecrated in this Constitution, as well as of those which are provided in the international conventions on human rights and in the Law, through the non-jurisdictional control of the facts, acts or omissions of the public servants and of those who provide public services, and shall act so that they are respected.
The Office of the Defender of the People will act under the direction and responsibility of the Defender of the People, who is appointed by the Legislative Organ for a period of five years, during which he may neither be suspended nor dismissed [removido], except by the vote of two-thirds of the members of the National Assembly, by virtue of [the] causes previously defined by the Law.
Article 130
In order to be elected as Defender of the People it is required:
1. To be Panamanian by birth.
2. To fully enjoy one's civil and political rights.
3. To be at least thirty-five years of age.
4. To not have been sentenced for a grave [doloso] crime with a penalty deprivative of liberty of five years or more.
5. To have moral integrity and recognized reputation [prestigio].
6. To not be related, within the fourth degree of consanguinity and the second of affinity, with the President of the Republic, with any other member of the Council of the Cabinet, with the Magistrates of the Supreme Court of Justice or with the Deputies of the Republic.
TITLE IV
POLITICAL RIGHTS
Chapter 1
Of Citizenship
Article 131
All Panamanians over eighteen years of age are citizens of the Republic, without distinction of sex.
Article 132
The political rights and the capacity to exercise public offices [cargos] with authority [mando] and jurisdiction, are reserved for Panamanian citizens.
Article 133
The exercise of the rights of the citizens is suspended:
1. By the cause expressed in Article 13 of this Constitution.
2. For penalty in accordance with the Law.
Article 134
The Law shall regulate the suspension and recovery of citizenship.
Chapter 2
The Suffrage
Article 135
Suffrage is a right and a duty of all the citizens. The vote is free, equal, universal, secret and direct.
Article 136
The authorities are obligated to guarantee the freedom and fairness [honradez] of the suffrage. The following are prohibited:
1. The official support, direct or indirect, [of] candidates for offices [puestos] of popular election, even when the means employed to this end are concealed [velados].
2. Activities of partisan propaganda or affiliation in public offices.
3. The exacting of quotas [cuotas] or contributions from the public employees for political purposes, even under the pretext that they are voluntary.
4. Any act that impedes or obstructs [dificulte] a citizen from obtaining, keeping, or presenting personally his personal identity card [cédula].
Equally, the exacting of quotas, contributions, fees or discounts from the workers of the private sector by the employers for political purposes, even under the pretext that they are voluntary, is prohibited.
The law shall typify [tipificará] the electoral offenses and shall specify their respective sanctions.
Article 137
The conditions of eligibility to be a candidate for offices [cargos] of popular election, by public functionaries, shall be defined in the Law.
Article 138
The political parties express political pluralism, [they] contribute [concurren] to the formation and manifestation of the popular will and are fundamental instruments of political participation, without prejudice to free candidacy [postulación] in the form provided for by this Constitution and the Law. The internal structure and the functioning of the political parties will be based on democratic principles.
The law shall regulate the recognition and the [continued] existence [subsistencia] of the political parties, but in no case, may it establish that the number of votes necessary for their [continued] existence [subsistencia] is superior to five percent of the votes validly emitted in the elections for
President, Deputies, Mayors or Representatives of Corregimientos, according to the most favorable vote for the party.
Article 139
The formation of political parties based on sex, race, or religion, or that have as their purpose to destroy the democratic form of Government, is not licit.
Article 140
The political parties will have the right, in equal conditions, to the use of the means of social communication administered by the Central Government, and to request [recabar] and receive reports from all the public authorities regarding any matter of their competence, except concerning reserved diplomatic relationships.
Article 141
The State may supervise [fiscalizar] and contribute to the expenses incurred by the natural persons and the political parties in the electoral processes. The Law shall determine and regulate such supervision and contributions, assuring the equality of expenditures [erogaciones] of each party or candidate.
Chapter 3
The Electoral Tribunal
Article 142
With the objective of guaranteeing the freedom, fairness [honradez] and effectiveness of the popular suffrage, an autonomous and independent tribunal is established, denominated the Electoral Tribunal, to which is recognized juridical personality, its own patrimony and [the] right to administer it. This Tribunal shall proprietarily [privativamente] interpret and apply the Electoral Law and it shall direct, shall supervise [vigilará], and shall control the recording [inscripción] of important facts, deaths, naturalizations, and other juridical facts and acts related to the civil status of persons; the issuance of the personal identity card and the phases [fases] of the electoral process.
The Electoral Tribunal will have jurisdiction in the entire Republic and will be composed of three Magistrates who meet the same qualifications [requisitos] which are required to be Magistrate of the Supreme Court of Justice, and who will be appointed, in a phased [escalonada] manner, for a term of ten years, as follows: one by the Legislative Organ, another by the Executive Organ, and the third by the Supreme Court of Justice, among persons who do not form part of the nominating authority. For each principal, one substitute will be appointed, in the same form.
The Magistrates of the Electoral Tribunal and the General Electoral Prosecutor [Fiscal General Electoral] are responsible before the Supreme Court of Justice for the offenses [faltas] or crimes [delitos] committed in the exercise of their functions, and the same prohibitions and prerogatives established by this Constitution for the Magistrates of the Supreme Court of Justice are applicable to them.
Article 143
In addition to those conferred on it by the Law, the Electoral Tribunal will have the following attributions which will be exercised proprietarily [privativamente], excepting those consigned in numerals 5, 7 and 10:
1. To effect the recording of births, marriages, deaths, naturalizations, and other juridical facts and acts related to the civil status of persons, and to make the resultant [procedentes] annotations in the respective records.
2. To issue the personal identity card [cédula].
3. To regulate the Electoral Law, to interpret it and to apply it and to take cognizance of the disputes caused by its application.
4. To sanction the offenses [faltas] and crimes [delitos] against freedom and purity [pureza] of the suffrage, in accordance with the Law, guaranteeing double instance [doble instancia].
5. To keep [levantar] the Electoral Registry [Padrón Electoral].
6. To organize, to direct and to supervise [fiscalizar] the register [registro] of the electors and to resolve the disputes, claims and complaints that may arise in this respect.
7. To process the records of the requests for immigration and naturalization application.
8. To name the members of the electoral corporations, in which the representation of the legally constituted political parties must be guaranteed. The law shall regulate this matter.
9. To formulate its budget and to present it in a timely manner to the Executive Organ for its inclusion in the bill [proyecto] of the General Budget of the State.
The Electoral Tribunal shall support [sustentará], at all stages, its draft [proyecto] budget. The budget finally approved will provide, so as to guarantee it, the necessary funds for the fulfillment of its objectives. In the said budget will be incorporated the expenditures of functioning of the Electoral Tribunal and of the Office of the General Electoral Prosecutor, the investments and expenditures necessary to conduct [realizar] the electoral processes and other popular consultations as well as the subsidies to the political parties and to the independent candidates for the offices [puestos] of popular election. During the year immediately prior to the general elections and until the end of the electoral period, the Electoral Tribunal will be supervised by the Office of the General Comptroller of the Republic, only through posterior control.
10. To exercise legislative initiative on the matters that are of its competence.
11. To take cognizance, proprietarily, of the recourses and actions brought against the decisions of the electoral criminal tribunals [juzgados] and of the Office of the General Electoral Prosecutor.
The decisions of the Electoral Tribunal regarding electoral matters may only be challenged [son recurribles] before it and, once the proceedings of Law have been completed, they will be definitive, irrevocable and obligatory.
Against these decisions, only the recourse of unconstitutionality will be admissible.
Article 144
The Office of the General Electoral Prosecutor is an agency [agencia] of independent investigation and assistance [coadyuvante] of the Electoral Tribunal, which has the right to administer its Budget.
The General Electoral Prosecutor will be appointed by the Executive Organ, subject to the approval of the Legislative Organ, for a period of ten years; the appointed person must fulfill the same qualifications as [those required] to be Magistrate of the Supreme Court Justice, and will have equal restrictions. His functions are:
1. To safeguard [salvaguardar] the political rights of the citizens.
2. To watch over the official conduct of the public functionaries, with respect to the political and electoral rights and duties.
3. To prosecute [perseguir] the electoral crimes [delitos] and offenses [contravenciones].
4. To exercise the other functions specified by the Law.
Article 145
The public authorities are obligated to follow and fulfill the orders and decisions emanating from the functionaries of the electoral jurisdiction, giving to them the obedience, cooperation and assistance as required for the exercise [desempeño] of their attributions. The omission or negligence in complying with such obligations shall be sanctioned in accordance with what is established by the Law.
TITLE V
THE LEGISLATIVE ORGAN
Chapter 1
The National Assembly
Article 146
The Legislative Organ will be constituted by a body [corporación] denominated the National Assembly, whose members will be elected through party nominations [postulación] or through independent candidacy [postulación], by means of a direct popular vote, in accordance with what is established in this Constitution.
The requirements and procedures established in the Law for the formalization of the free candidacy, will be equivalent and proportional to those required for the registration of the political parties and for the presentation of party nominations, as far as applicable.
Article 147
The National Assembly will be composed of seventy-one Deputies who are elected as a result of and in conformity with the Law and subject to what is set forth below:
1. There shall be uninomial and plurinomial circuits [circuitos/constituencies].
Each district in which more than one Deputy, is elected will form one sole electoral circuit, with the exception of the district of Panamá, which will have circuits of three or more Deputies.
2. The circuits will be conformed in proportion to the number of electors who appear in the current Electoral Registry [Padrón Electoral].
3. To each comarca [semi-autonomous indigenous region] and to the province of Darién, it shall correspond to elect the number of Deputies that they have at the moment at which this norm enters into force.
4. For the creation of the circuits, the political-administrative division of the country, the territorial proximity, the concentration of the population, the neighborhood ties, the channels of communication and the historical and cultural factors, shall be taken into account, as basic criteria for the grouping of the electors in the electoral circuits.
To each Deputy will correspond a personal substitute elected with the principal Deputy on the same day as him, who will replace him in his absences [faltas].
After prior consultation with the legally recognized parties, the Electoral Tribunal, within the framework of the instituted organ of consultation, shall prepare and present to the National Assembly the bill of law that creates the electoral circuits which shall serve as the basis for the election of the Deputies, in accordance that provided in this constitutional norm.
Article 148
The Deputies will be elected for a term of five years, on the same day as the ordinary elections for the President and Vice President of the Republic are held.
Article 149
The National Assembly will meet in its own right, without prior convocation, in the Capital of the Republic, in sessions that will last eight months in a one-year period, divided into two ordinary legislatures of four months each. Such legislatures will extend from the first of July until the thirty-first of October, and from the second of January until the thirtieth of April.
The National Assembly can meet in any other place in the country, as long as it is decided by the majority of its members
The National Assembly will also meet, in extraordinary legislature, when it is convoked by the Executive Organ and during the time it specifies, to take cognizance exclusively of the matters that said Organ submits to its consideration.
Article 150
The Deputies shall act in the interest of the Nation and they represent within the National Assembly their respective political parties and the electors in their Electoral Circuit.
Article 151
The political parties may revoke the mandate of the Principal or Substitute Deputies that they have nominated, for which they shall comply with the following requirements and formalities:
1. The causes of revocation and the applicable procedure must be established in the statutes of the party.
2. The causes must refer to grave violations of the statutes and to the ideological, political or programmatic platform of the party, and must have been approved by means of a written resolution dictated by the Electoral Tribunal prior to the date of nomination.
3. That the Deputy or Substitute has been sentenced for [a] malicious [doloso] offense deprivative of liberty for five years or more, by executory sentence, proffered by a tribunal of justice, is also cause for revocation.
4. The affected [person] shall have the right, within his party, to be heard and to defend himself in two [different] instances.
5. The decision of the party where the revocation of the mandate is adopted will be subject to a recourse which can only be heard by the Electoral Tribunal and which shall have suspensive effect.
6. For the application of the revocation of mandate, the political parties may establish, prior to initiating the process, a mechanism of popular consultation with the electors in the corresponding circuit.
The political parties may also, through a summary [sumario] procedure, revoke the mandate of the Principal and Substitute Deputies who have renounced their party.
The electors in the circuit may solicit the Electoral Tribunal to revoke the mandate of the Principal and Substitute Deputies of free candidacy that they have elected, for which they will fulfill the requirements and formalities established by the Law.
Article 152
The sessions dedicated to the exercise of jurisdictional attributions of the
National Assembly will be denominated judicial sessions, no matter what date they are held, or how such National Assembly was convoked. Its meeting [celebración] will not alter the continuity or the duration of a legislature, and will terminate only when the Assembly has decided [fallado] the pending cause.
To exercise jurisdictional functions, the National Assembly can meet in its own right, without prior convocation.
Article 153
To become a Deputy it is required:
1. To be a Panamanian by birth, or by naturalization with fifteen years of residence in the country after having obtained the nationalization.
2. To be a citizen in exercise of citizenship.
3. To have turned at least twenty-one years of age at the time of the election.
4. To not to have been condemned for malicious offense with a penalty deprivative of liberty of five years or more, by executory sentence [sentencia] proffered by a tribunal of justice.
5. To be a resident of the corresponding electoral circuit, for at least one year prior to the candidacy.
Article 154
The members of the National Assembly are not legally responsible for the opinions and votes emitted by them in exercise of their office [cargo].
Article 155
The members of the National Assembly may be investigated and prosecuted by the Plenary of the Supreme Court of Justice, for the presumed [presunta] commission of any criminal or police [policivo] act, without the authorization by the National Assembly being required for these effects. The preventive detention or any precautionary [cautelar] measure will be determined by the Plenary of the Supreme Court of Justice.
The Principal or Substitute Deputy may be civilly sued, but no seizure [secuestro] or other precautionary measure concerning their assets may be taken without prior authorization by the Plenary of the Supreme Court of Justice, with the exception of the measures that have as a basis to assure the fulfillment of obligations of the Rights of the Family and of Labor Law.
Article 156
The Principal and Substitute Deputies, when the latter are exercising the office, may not accept any remunerated public employment. If they would, an absolute vacancy is produced in the office of principal or substitute Deputy, whichever the case may be. The appointments of Minister, Vice Minister, General Director or Manager of autonomous or semi-autonomous entities and Diplomatic Agents, are exceptions, of which acceptance only produces a temporary [transitoria] vacancy for the time in which the office is held. The exercise of the positions [cargos] of teacher or professor in an official or private center of education is compatible with the office of Deputy.
Article 157
The Deputies will receive the emoluments specified by the Law, which will be imputable to the National Treasury, but their increase shall only become effective after the termination of the term of the National Assembly in which these were approved.
Article 158
The Deputies may not by themselves, or through interposing parties, make any contract with the Organs of the State or with [the] institutions or businesses linked to it, nor to allow [admitir] to anyone [the] power to conduct [gestionar] negotiations before these Organs, institutions or businesses.
The following cases are excluded:
1. When the Deputy makes personal or professional use of public services or performs current operations of the same nature [índole] with institutions or enterprises linked with the State.
2. When it deals with contracts awarded between institutions or entities mentioned in this Article, through public biddings [licitación], and nonshareholder companies in which a Deputy is a partner, provided that his participation in these is prior to his election for the office.
3. When the contracts, awarded with or without public bidding, are celebrated with such Organs or entities, by shareholder companies [sociedades anónimas] in which one or more Deputies do not hold in total more than twenty percent of the shares of the capital stock.
4. When a Deputy acts in exercise of the profession of lawyer before a Judicial Organ, outside the period of sessions or within them by authorization granted by the Plenary of the National Assembly.
Article 159
The legislative function is exercised through the National Assembly and consists in enacting the laws necessary for the fulfillment of the purposes and the exercise of the functions of the State declared in this Constitution and especially for the following:
1. To enact, modify, reform or repeal the National Codes.
2. To enact the General Law of wages proposed by the Executive Organ.
3. To approve or to disapprove, before their ratification, the treaties and international agreements negotiated [celebre] by the Executive Organ.
4. To intervene in the approval of the Budget of the State, according to that established in Title IX of this Constitution.
5. To declare war and to empower the Executive Organ to assure and negotiate [concertar] the peace.
6. To decree amnesty for political offenses [delitos].
7. To establish or to reform the political division of the national territory.
8. To determine the Law, the weight, value, form, type, and denomination of the national currency.
9. To decide [disponer] concerning the application of the national assets [bienes] for public purposes.
10. To establish national taxes and the contributions, revenues, and official monopolies to attend to the public services.
11. To dictate the official or specific norms to which the Executive Organ, the autonomous and semi-autonomous entities, [and] the state and mixed enterprises will be subject, when, with respect to the latter, the State has administrative, financial or investment control, for the following effects: to negotiate and to contract loans [empréstitos]; to organize public credit; to determine [reconocer] the National debt and to arrange for its servicing; to establish and modify tariffs, rates and other provisions concerning the regime of customs.
12. To determine, on proposal of the Executive Organ, the structure of the national administration through the creation of Ministries, Autonomous Entities, Semi-autonomous [Entities], State Enterprises and other public establishment, and to distribute among them the functions and transactions of the Administration, with the purpose of assuring the effectiveness of the administrative functions.
13. To organize the public services established in this Constitution; to enact, or authorize the Pacto Social [articles of incorporation] and the estatutos [by-laws] for mixed economy companies, and the organic Laws of industrial or commercial Enterprises of the State, as well as to dictate the standards corresponding to the careers provided for in Title XI.
14. To decree the norms relative to the celebration of contracts in which the State, or any of its entities or enterprises, is a part, or has interest.
15. To approve or disapprove [improbar] the contracts in which the State or one of its entities is a part or has interest, if their celebration should not been regulated previously in accordance with numeral fourteen [14] or if any contractual stipulations do not conform to the respective Law of authorizations.
16. To grant conceder to the Executive Organ, when it so solicits, and when necessity requires it, the precise extraordinary faculties that shall be exercised during the recess of the National Assembly, by means of Decree-Laws.
The law which confers such faculties will express specifically the matters and the purposes fines that will be the object of the Decree-Laws and will not include the matters mentioned in numerals three, four, and ten of this Article, nor the development of the fundamental guarantees, the suffrage, the regime of the political parties and the typification of the crimes and sanctions. The Law of extraordinary faculties will expire when the subsequent ordinary legislature begins.
Every Decree-Law issued by the Executive in the exercise of [the] powers that are conferred upon it, must be submitted to the Legislative Organ, so that it may legislate concerning the matter in the ordinary legislature, immediately following the promulgation of the respective Decree-Law. The Legislative Organ can at any time, and on its own initiative, abrogate [derogar], modify, or add to, without limitation as to the subject matter, the Decree-Laws so dictated.
17. To dictate the Organic Regulations of its internal regime.
Article 160
It is the judicial function of the National Assembly to take cognizance of the accusations or claims presented against the President of the Republic and the Magistrates of the Supreme Court of Justice, and to judge them, should the occasion arise, for acts executed in the exercise of their functions which prejudice the free functioning of the public power or for violating this Constitution or the laws.
Article 161
The National Assembly has [the following] administrative functions:
1. To examine the credentials of its own members and decide if they have been issued in the form prescribed by the Law.
2. To accept or reject the resignation of the President and Vice President of the Republic.
3. To grant leave [of absence] to the President of the Republic when he solicits it, and to authorize his absence from the national territory, in accordance with the provisions of this Constitution.
4. To approve or to disapprove the appointments of the Magistrates to the Supreme Court of Justice, of the Procurator General of the Nation, of the Procurator of the Administration, and the others that are made by the Executive Organ and which, by provision of this Constitution or the law require the confirmation [ratificación] of the National Assembly. The functionaries who require confirmation may not take possession of their office [cargo] before they have been confirmed.
5. To appoint the Comptroller General of the Republic, the Sub Comptroller of the Republic, the Defender of the People, the Magistrate of the Electoral Tribunal and the substitute that corresponds to him in accordance with this Constitution.
6. To appoint, in accordance with that provided in this Constitution and the Internal Regulations, the permanent commissions of the National Assembly and the commissions of investigation concerning any matter of public interest, for the information of the Plenary so that it may dictate the measures that it considers appropriate.
7. To adopt [dar] votes of censure against the Ministers of State when they, in the opinion of the National Assembly, are responsible for offenses or illegal acts, or for grave errors that have caused prejudice to the interests of the State.
In order that the vote of censure may be executable [exequible] it is required that it be proposed in writing six days before its debate by no less than half of the Deputies, and be approved by the vote of the two-thirds part of the Assembly.
The Law shall establish the sanction that corresponds.
8. To examine and approve or define responsibilities regarding the General Account of the Treasury that the Executive Organ presents to it, with the concurrence of the Comptroller General of the Republic.
To this end, the Minister of the branch will personally present before the Plenary of the National Assembly the General Account of the Treasury, in March of each year. The Internal Regulations of the National Assembly shall establish the provisions concerning that appearance [of the Minister] and the vote on the Account of the Treasury presented by the Executive Organ.
9. To summon [citar/cite] or to require of the officials that the Legislative Organ appoints or confirms, of the Ministers of State, of the General Directors or Managers of all the autonomous entities, semi-autonomous entities, decentralized organizations, industrial or commercial enterprises of the State, as well as of the mixed enterprises referred to in numeral 11 of Article 159, to submit written or oral reports on the matters of their competence which the National Assembly requires for the better performance of its functions or to take cognizance of the acts of the Administration, except for what is provided in numeral 7 of Article 163. When the reports must be verbal, the summons shall be made at least forty-eight hours in advance and shall be formulated as a specific and written questionnaire. The functionaries who are to render this report must attend and be heard in the session to which they were summoned, without prejudice to the debate being continued in subsequent sessions by decision of the National Assembly. Such debate may not extend to matters unrelated to the specific questionnaire.
10. To rehabilitate those who have lost their inherent rights of citizenship.
11. To approve, to reform or to repeal [derogar] the decree of state of emergency and the suspension of the constitutional guarantees, in accordance with the provisions of this Constitution.
Article 162
All of the Commissions of the National Assembly will be elected by it through a system which guarantees the proportional representation of the minority.
Article 163
The National Assembly is prohibited:
1. To enact laws which are contrary to the letter or to the spirit of this Constitution.
2. To interfere [inmiscuirse] by means of resolutions in matters that are the exclusive competence [competencia privativa] of the other Organs of the State.
3. To acknowledge [reconocer] as a charge on the Public Treasury indemnifications that have not been previously declared by the competent authorities, and vote for the expenditures [partidas] to pay for scholarships, pensions, retirement funds, grants or expenditures [erogaciones] which have not been decreed in accordance with the pre-existing general laws.
4. To decree acts of proscription [proscripción] or persecution [persecución] against persons or corporations.
5. To incite or to compel the public functionaries to adopt determined measures.
6. To make different appointments than those which correspond to it in accordance with this Constitution and the laws.
7. To require from the Executive Organ communication of the instructions given to Diplomatic Agents or the reports, concerning negotiations which have a reserved character.
8. To order or to authorize other expenditures [partidas] and programs not foreseen in the General Budget of the State, except in cases of emergency, expressly declared as such by the Executive Organ.
9. To delegate any of the functions that correspond to it, except for what is provided in numeral 16 of Article 159.
10. To give votes of confidence or of censure with respect to the acts of the President of the Republic.
Chapter 2
Formation of the Laws
Article 164
The laws have their origin in the National Assembly and are divided as follows:
a) Organic laws, which are those issued in fulfillment of numerals 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 and 16 of Article 159.
b) Ordinary laws, which are those issued in relation to the other numerals of the said article.
Article 165
The laws will be proposed:
1. When they are organic:
a. By [the] Permanent Commissions of the National Assembly.
b. By the Ministers of State, by virtue of the authorization of the Council of the Cabinet.
c. By the Supreme Court of Justice, the Procurator General of the Republic, and the Procurator of the Administration, as long as they refer to the enactment or reform of the National Codes.
d. By the Electoral Tribunal on matters of its competence.
2. When they are ordinary:
a. By any member of the National Assembly.
b. By the Ministers of State, by virtue of the authorization of the Council of the Cabinet.
c. By the Presidents of the Provincial Councils, with authorization of the Provincial Council.
All of the above mentioned functionaries will have the right to speak in the sessions of the National Assembly. In the case of the Presidents of the Provincial Councils and of the Magistrates of the Electoral Tribunal, they have the right to speak when dealing with bills of law presented by them.
The organic laws require for their adoption [expedición] the favorable vote in the second and third debates, of the absolute majority of the members of the National Assembly. The ordinary laws only require the approval of a majority of the Deputies present [asistentes] at the corresponding sessions.
Article 166
No project will become a Law of the Republic if it has not been approved by the National Assembly in three debates, on different days and sanctioned by the Executive Organ in the form set forth by this Constitution.
The first debate of any bill of Law is the one done in the Commission mentioned in the prior Article.
A bill of Law may proceed to a second debate when the majority of the National Assembly, at the request of one of its members, revokes the resolution [dictamen] of the Commission and gives its approval to the Bill.
Article 167
Every bill of Law that has not been presented by one of the Commissions will be passed by the President of the National Assembly to an Ad Hoc Commission for its study and discussion within a prudent time period.
Article 168
When a bill of Law has been approved it will pass to the Executive Organ, and if it sanctions it, it will order its promulgation as Law. In the contrary case, it will return it with a statement of objections to the National Assembly.
Article 169
The Executive Organ will have [dispondrá] a maximum time period of thirty working days to return any bill of law with objections.
If the Executive does not return the bill [of law] with its objections once the time period has elapsed, it may not refrain from sanctioning it and having it promulgated.
Article 170
A bill of Law objected to as a whole [en su conjunto] by the Executive Organ, will be returned to the National Assembly, for a third debate. If it has been objected to only in part, it will be returned for a second [debate], for the sole purpose of considering [formular] the formulated [formuladas] objections.
If after consideration of the objections by the National Assembly the bill is approved by two-thirds of the Deputies composing the National Assembly, the Executive Organ will sanction it and have it promulgated without being able to present new objections. If it does not obtain the approval of this number of Deputies, the bill will remain rejected.
Article 171
When the Executive Organ objects to a bill as unconstitutional [inexequible] and the National Assembly, by the expressed majority, insists on its adoption, the same will send it to the Supreme Court of Justice to decide regarding its unconstitutionality. The ruling of the Court that declares the bill as constitutional, obligates the Executive to sanction it and have it promulgated.
Article 172
If the Executive does not comply with the duty of sanctioning and having the Laws promulgated, in the terms and according to the conditions established by this Title, they will be sanctioned and will be promulgated by the President of the National Assembly.
Article 173
Every law will be promulgated within the six working days following its sanction and will enter into force [comenzará a regir] from its promulgation, except when the law itself establishes a later date for its entrance into force.
The untimely [extemporánea] promulgation of a Law does not determine its unconstitutionality.
Article 174
The Laws may be motivated and their text will begin with the following formulation:
THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY DECREES:
TITLE VI
THE EXECUTIVE ORGAN
Chapter 1
President and Vice President of the Republic
Article 175
The Executive Organ is constituted by the President of the Republic and the Ministers of the State, according to the norms of this Constitution.
Article 176
The President of the Republic exercises his functions by himself or with the participation of the Minister of the respective branch, or with the participation of all of the Ministers in the Council of the Cabinet, or in any other form determined by this Constitution.
Article 177
The President of the Republic will be elected by popular direct suffrage and by the majority of votes, for a term of five years. With the President of the Republic will be elected, in the same manner and for [an] equal term, a Vice President, who will replace him in his absences [faltas] in accordance with what this Constitution provides.
Article 178
The functionaries who have been elected President or Vice President may not be reelected for the same office in the two Presidential terms immediately following.
Article 179
To be President or Vice President of the Republic, it is required:
1. To be Panamanian by birth.
2. To have reached thirty-five years of age.
Article 180
Anyone having been condemned, for [committing] a malicious [doloso] crime, with a penalty deprivative of liberty of five years or more, by an executory sentence proffered by a tribunal of justice, may not be elected President or Vice President of the Republic.
Article 181
The President and the Vice President of the Republic will take possession of their respective offices, before the National Assembly, on the first day of the month of July following their election and [they] will take the oath of office in these terms: “I swear to God and to the Country to comply faithfully with the Constitution and the laws of the Republic.”
The citizen who does not profess any religious belief may dispense from the invocation to God in his oath.
Article 182
If for any reason the President or the Vice President of the Republic cannot take possession of office before the National Assembly, they shall do so before the Supreme Court of Justice; if this is not possible, before a Notary-Public and, in defect of the latter, before two competent [hábiles] witnesses.
Article 183
The following are the attributions that the President of the Republic exercises by himself [si solo]:
1. To freely appoint and remove the Ministers of State.
2. To coordinate the work of the Administration and of the public establishments.
3. To see to the preservation of [the] public order.
4. To adopt the measures necessary for the National Assembly to meet on the day specified by the Constitution or the Decree by which it has been convoked to extraordinary sessions.
5. To present at the beginning of each legislature, on the first day of ordinary sessions, a message relative to the affairs [asuntos] of the administration.
6. To object to the bills of Law due to considering them improper or unconstitutional [inexequibles].
7. To invalidate the orders or dispositions issued by a Minister of State by virtue of Article 186.
8. The others that correspond to him in accordance with the Constitution or the Law.
Article 184
The following are attributions that the President of the Republic exercises with the participation of the respective Minister:
1. To sanction and to promulgate the Laws, to obey them and to see to their exact compliance.
2. To appoint and to remove the Directors and other members of the police services and to make use of these services.
3. To freely appoint and remove the Governors of the Provinces.
4. To inform the Legislative Organ of the vacancies produced in the offices that it must provide for.
5. To supervise [vigilar] the collection and administration of the national revenues [rentas].
6. To appoint, in accordance with the provisions in Title XI, the persons who are must hold [disempeñar] any national offices or positions [empleos], of which provision does not correspond to another functionary or body [corporación].
7. To send to the Legislative Organ, within the first month of the first annual legislature, the bill of the General Budget of the State, unless the date of the taking of possession [of office] of the President of the Republic coincides with the initiation of the said sessions. In this case, the President of the Republic must do so within the first forty days of [the] sessions.
8. To conclude [celebrar] administrative contracts for the provision of services and the execution of public works, in accordance with the provisions of this Constitution and the Law.
9. To direct the foreign relations; to conclude treaties and international agreements, which will be submitted to the consideration of the Legislative Organ and to accredit and to receive diplomatic and consular agents.
10. To direct, to regulate and to inspect the services established in this Constitution.
11. To appoint the Chiefs [Jefes], Managers and Directors of the autonomous entities, semi-autonomous entities and of the state enterprises, as provided by the respective Laws.
12. To decree pardons for political offenses, reduce penalties and grant conditional freedom to the convicts of common crimes.
13. To confer promotions to the members of the police services according to the escalafón [ladder/scale of promotion] and to the corresponding legal provisions.
14. To regulate the Laws that require it for their better fulfillment, without deviating, in any case, either from its text or from its spirit.
15. To grant to nationals that solicit it, permission to accept positions in foreign governments, in the case where it is necessary in accordance with the Law.
16. To exercise the other attributions that correspond to him in accordance with this Constitution and the Law.
Article 185
The following are attributions exercised by the Vice President of the Republic:
1. To replace the President of the Republic in case of temporary or absolute absence [falta].
2. To participate with a right to speak, but not to vote, in the sessions of the Council of the Cabinet.
3. To advise the President of the Republic on the matters determined by the same.
4. To assist and represent the President of the Republic in public acts and national or international congresses, or on special missions that the President assigns to him.
Article 186
The acts of the President of the Republic, except for those which may be exercised by him alone, will not have any validity if they are not countersigned [refrendados] by the respective Minister of State, who becomes responsible for them.
The orders and the dispositions issued by a Minister of State by instruction of the President of the Republic are obligatory and will only be invalidated by the latter for being contrary to the Constitution or the Law, without prejudice to the recourses available [a que haya lugar].
Article 187
The President and the Vice President of the Republic may separate from their offices by means of a leave of absence [licencia] that, when it does not exceed ninety days, will be granted by the Council of the Cabinet. For the separation of more than ninety days, the permission [licencia] of the National Assembly is required.
During the exercise of the leave granted to the President of the Republic to be separated from his office, the same will be replaced by the Vice President of the Republic, who will have the title of Encargado [Person Responsible] of the Presidency of the Republic.
When for any reason the absences of the President cannot be fulfilled by the Vice President, the Presidency will be exercised by one of the Ministers of State, who they will elect by a majority of votes, [and] who must fulfill the requirements necessary to be President of the Republic and who will have the title of Minister Encargado of the Presidency of the Republic.
In the terms specified in this Article and in the following [Article] the holidays [días inhábiles] will be included.
Article 188
The President of the Republic can be absent from the national territory, in each occasion, without having to ask for a leave from his office:
1. For a maximum period of up to ten days, without the need for any authorization.
2. For a period that exceeds ten days but is not greater than thirty days, with authorization from the Council of the Cabinet.
3. For a period greater than thirty days, with the authorizations of the National Assembly.
If the President is absent for more than ten days, the Vice President will take charge of the Presidency and, in his absence [defecto], a Minister of State will do so, in accordance with that established in this Constitution. Whoever exercises the office will have the title of Encargado of the Presidency of the Republic.
Article 189
In the absolute absence of the President of the Republic, the Vice President will assume the office for the rest of the term.
When the Vice President assumes the office of President, one of the Ministers of State will exercise the vice presidency, who they will elect by a majority of votes, who must fulfill the requirements necessary to be Vice President of the Republic.
When for any reason the absolute absence of the President cannot be filled by the Vice President, the Presidency will be exercised by one of the Ministers of State, who will be elected by a majority of votes, who must fulfill the requirements necessary to be President of the Republic, and will have the title of Minister Encargado of the Presidency of the Republic.
When the absolute absence of the President and Vice President occurs at least two years before the expiration of the presidential term, the Minister Encargado of the Presidency will convoke elections for President and Vice President on a date not later than four months, in a mode allowing those that the citizens elect to take possession within six months following the convocation. The respective decree will be issued no later than eight days after the assumption of the office by said Minister Encargado.
Article 190
The emoluments assigned by the law to the President and to the Vice President of the Republic may be modified, but the change will enter into force in the following presidential term.
Article 191
The President and the Vice President of the Republic alone are responsible in the following cases:
1. For exceeding [extralimitación] their constitutional functions.
2. For acts of violence or coercion in the course of the electoral process; for impeding the meeting of the National Assembly; for obstructing the exercise of the functions of it or of the other public organs or authorities that are established by this Constitution.
3. For offenses against the international personality of the State or against the Public Administration.
In the first two cases, the penalty will be the removal from office, and the disqualification to exercise public office for a period established by the Law. In the third case, the ordinary [común] law will be applied.
Article 192
The following may not be elected President of the Republic:
1. The citizen who, called to exercise the Presidency because of absolute absence of the titular [person], has exercised it at any time during the three years immediately preceding the term for which the election is held.
2. The relatives within the fourth degree of consanguinity or second of affinity of the President of the Republic who has exercised his function in the term immediately preceding, or those of the citizen referred to in numeral one [1] of this Article.
Article 193
The following may not be elected Vice President of the Republic:
1. The President of the Republic who has performed his functions at any time, when the election for Vice President of the Republic is for the term immediately following his term.
2. The relatives within the fourth degree of consanguinity or second of affinity of the President of the Republic, for the term following that in which the President of the Republic has exercised the office.
3. The citizen who, as Vice President of the Republic, has exercised the office of President of the Republic in a permanent manner at any time during the three years preceding the term for which the election is being held.
4. The relatives within the fourth degree of consanguinity or second of affinity of the citizen mentioned in the preceding numeral, for the term immediately following that in which that citizen has exercised the Presidency of the Republic.
5. The relatives within the fourth degree of consanguinity or second of affinity of the President of the Republic.
Chapter 2
The Ministers of State
Article 194
The Ministers of State are the heads [jefes] of their respective branches and they participate with the President of the Republic in the exercise of their functions, in accordance with this Constitution and the Law.
Article 195
The distribution of matters [negocios] between the Ministers of State will be effected in conformity with the Law, according to their objectives [finalidades].
Article 196
The Ministers of State must be Panamanians by birth, they must have reached twenty-five years of age and [must] not have been condemned to a penalty deprivative of liberty of five years or more for a malicious [doloso] offense, by means of an executory sentence, proffered by a tribunal of justice.
Article 197
The relatives of the President of the Republic within the fourth degree of consanguinity or second of affinity, may not be appointed Minister of State, nor may the members of its Cabinet be persons linked [unidas] among them by the expressed degrees of kinship [parentesco].
Article 198
The Ministers of State will personally deliver to the National Assembly an annual report or memoire concerning the state of [the] affairs [negocios] of their Ministry and concerning the reforms deemed [by the Ministers] as expedient [oportuno] to introduce.
Chapter 3
The Council of the Cabinet
Article 199
The Council of the Cabinet is the meeting [la reunión] of the President of the Republic, who will preside over it, or of the Encargado of the Presidency, with the Vice President of the Republic and the Ministers of State.
Article 200
The Council of the Cabinet has the following functions:
1. To act as a consultative body in the matters submitted to its consideration by the President of the Republic and in those matters in which it must be heard by mandate of the Constitution or the Law.
2. To approve [acordar] with the President of the Republic the appointments of the Magistrates of the Supreme Court of Justice, the Procurator General of the Nation, the Procurator of the Administration, and their respective substitutes, subject to the approval of the National Assembly.
3. To approve the celebration of contracts, the negotiation of loans [empréstitos] and the alienation of movable or real national property, as determined by the law.
4. To agree with the President of the Republic that the latter can compromise [transigir] or subject to arbitration the litigious matters in which the State is a party, for which the favorable opinion [concepto] of the Procurator General of the Nation is necessary.
This numeral does not apply to the arbitral agreements accorded to contractually by the State, which will have efficacy on their own.
5. To decree, under the collective responsibility of all its members, the state of urgency and the suspension of the pertinent Constitutional norms, in accordance with what is provided for in Article 55 of this Constitution.
6. To require of the public functionaries, the state entities and mixed enterprises, those reports deemed necessary or appropriate for the dispatch [despacho] of [the] affairs it must consider, and to summon the first and the representatives of the second, to render verbal reports.
7. To negotiate and contract loans; to organize public credit; to establish [reconocer] the national debt and arrange for its servicing; to establish and to modify the tariffs, rates, and the other provisions concerning the regime of customs, subject to the norms provided by the Laws referred to by numeral 11 of Article 159 of this Constitution. While the Legislative Organ has not enacted [dictada] a Law or the Laws that contain the corresponding general norms, the Executive Organ may exercise these attributions and will send to the Legislative Organ copies of all the Decrees it dictates in exercise of this faculty.
8. To dictate the regulations of its internal regime and to exercise the other functions that the Constitution or the Law specify.
TITLE VII
THE ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE
Chapter 1
The Judicial Organ
Article 201
The Administration of Justice is gratuitous, expeditious, and uninterrupted. The management [gestión] and action [actuación] of all court proceedings will be recorded on simple paper and will not be subject to any tax.
The vacancies of the Magistrates, Judges or judicial employees will not interrupt the continuous functioning of the respective tribunals.
Article 202
The Judicial Organ is constituted by the Supreme Court of Justice, the tribunals and the courts that the Law establishes. The administration of justice may also be exercised by the arbitral jurisdiction in accordance with what is determined by the Law. The arbitration tribunals may take cognizance of and decide themselves, with regards to their own competence.
Article 203
The Supreme Court of Justice will be composed of the number of Magistrates determined by the Law, appointed by agreement of the Council of the Cabinet, with subjection to the approval of the Legislative Organ, for a period of ten years. The absolute absence [falta] of a Magistrate will be covered through [a new appointment for the rest of the respective term.
Each Magistrate will have a substitute appointed in equal form as the principal Magistrate and for the same term, who will replace them in their absences, in accordance with the Law. Only the functionaries of the Judicial Career may be designated as substitutes.
Every two years, two Magistrates will be appointed, except in the cases when, for reason of the number of Magistrates which integrate the Court, more than two or less than two Magistrates are appointed. When the number of Magistrates of the Court is increased, the necessary appointments to this end will be made, and the respective Law shall establish [dispondrá] the provisions adequate to maintain the principle of phased [escalonados] appointments.
The following may not be appointed Magistrate of the Supreme Court of Justice:
1. Whoever is exercising or has exercised the function [cargo] of Deputy of the Republic or substitute Deputy during the constitutional term currently under way [en curso].
2. Whoever is exercising or has exercised command and jurisdictional offices [cargos] in the Executive Organ during the constitutional term currently under way.
The Law will divide the Court in Chambers Salas, each formed with three permanent Magistrates.
Article 204
To be a Magistrate of the Supreme Court of Justice it is required:
1. To be Panamanian by birth.
2. To have reached thirty-five years of age.
3. To be in full enjoyment of the civil and political rights.
4. To hold a university degree in Law and to have the university degree registered in the office specified by the Law.
5. To have completed a period of ten years duration of having exercised either the profession of lawyer, any other office of the Judicial Organ, of the Public Ministry, of the Electoral Tribunal, or of the Office of [the] Defender of the People that requires a university degree in Law, or to have been a professor of Law in a university teaching establishment.
The validity of the credentials to be Magistrates of the Supreme Court of Justice, granted in accordance with previous constitutional provisions, is recognized.
Article 205
The person who has been condemned for a malicious crime, through an executory sentence proffered by a tribunal of justice, may not hold any office in the Judicial Organ.
Article 206
The Supreme Court of Justice will have, among its constitutional and legal attributions, the following:
1. To guard the integrity of the Constitution for which the Court in plenary will take cognizance of and decide, hearing [the opinion] of the Procurator General of the Nation or the Procurator of the Administration, concerning the unconstitutionality of the Laws, decrees, agreements, resolutions and other acts that for reasons of substance [fondo] or of form are challenged before it by any person.
When in a proceeding a public functionary given the charge of imparting Justice considers or is advised [advirtiere o se lo advitiere] by any of the parties that the legal or regulatory provision applicable to the case is unconstitutional, he will submit the question to the cognizance of the plenary of the Court, except when the provision has [already] been the subject of a decision [pronunciamiento] by it, and will continue the course of the matter until it is placed in a state of decision.
The parties may only formulate such observations one time per instance.
2. The contentious-administrative jurisdiction in respect of acts, omissions, defective or deficient provision of the public services, resolutions, orders or provisions which are executed, adopted, issued, or committed in the exercise of their functions, or on pretext of exercising them, by the national, provincial, and municipal public functionaries and authorities and of the autonomous and semi-autonomous public entities. To such end, the Supreme Court of Justice, hearing the opinion of the Procurator of the Administration, will have the power to annul the acts that have been accused of illegality; to reestablish the particular [particular] rights violated; to institute [estatuir] new provisions in replacement of those opposed and to decide prejudicially with regards to the meaning, and applicability of an administrative act or of its legal validity.
The persons affected by the act, resolution, order or provision which is concerned may resort to [acoger] the contentious-administrative jurisdiction; and, in exercise of the public action, any natural or juridical person domiciled in the country.
3. To investigate and to process the Deputies. For the effects of the investigation, the Plenary of the Supreme Court of Justice shall commission an agent of investigation [instrucción].
The decisions of the Court in the exercise of the attributions specified in this Article are final, definitive, obligatory and must be published in the Gaceta Oficial [Official Gazette].
Article 207
Neither recourses of unconstitutionality, nor of amparo of constitutional guarantees will be admitted against the judgments [fallos] of the Supreme Court of Justice or any of its Chambers.
Article 208
The Magistrates and principal Judges may not occupy any other public office [cargo], except for that of professor for the teaching of Law in university learning establishments.
Article 209
In the Tribunals and courts established by the Law, the Magistrates will be appointed by the Supreme Court of Justice and the Judges by its hierarchic superior. The subordinate [subalterno] personnel will be appointed by the respective Tribunal or Judge. All these appointments will be made according to the Judicial Career, following that provided for in Title XI [of this Constitution].
Article 210
The Magistrates and Judges are independent in the exercise of their functions and are subject only to the Constitution and to the Law; but the inferior courts are obligated to abide by [acatar] and comply with the decisions dictated by their hierarchic superiors when revoking or reforming, by virtue of legal recourse, the resolutions proffered by them.
Article 211
The Magistrates and the Judges may neither be discharged [depuestos], nor suspended or transferred [trasladados] in exercise of their functions [cargos], except in the cases and with the formalities provided for by the Law.
Article 212
The offices [cargos] of the Judicial Organ are incompatible with any participation in politics, except the emitting of the vote in the elections, with the exercise of advocacy [abogacia] or of commerce [comercio] and with any other remunerated position, except for what is provided in Article 208 [of this Constitution].
Article 213
The salaries and allowances [asignaciones] for the Magistrates of the Supreme Court of Justice may not be less than those of the Ministers of State. All suppressions of offices [empleos] in the Judicial branch will have effect on the expiration [al finalizar] of the corresponding term.
Article 214
The Supreme Court of Justice and the Procurator General of the Nation shall formulate the respective Budgets of the Judicial Organ and of the Public Ministry, and will remit them opportunely to the Executive Organ for their inclusion in the bill of [the] General Budget of the public sector. The President of the Court and the Procurator General can support [sustentar], at all the stages of it, their respective projected [proyectos] Budgets.
The budgets of the Judicial Organ and of the Public Ministry may not be inferior, in conjunction, to two percent of the current income of the Central Government.
However, when this amount is resultingly superior to that required to cover the fundamental necessities proposed by the Judicial Organ and the Public Ministry, the Executive Organ can include the excess in other areas [regiones] of expenditures or investments in the bill of [the] Budget of the Central Government, in order for the National Assembly to determine what proceeds.
Article 215
The procedural laws that are approved shall be inspired, among others, by the following principles:
1. Simplification of procedures [trámites], procedural economy and absence of formalisms.
2. The object of the process is to recognize the rights granted [consignados] by the substantive Law.
Article 216
The Magistrates and Judges may neither be detained nor arrested except by virtue of a written order [mandamiento] of a judicial authority competent to judge them.
Article 217
The Law establishes [arbitrar] the means of giving advice and juridical defense to those who, by their economic situation cannot pay for them by themselves, whether through official organs [organismos], created for this purpose, or by the intermediary of professional associations of lawyers recognized by the State.
Article 218
The trial by jury is instituted. The Law shall determine the causes that must be decided by this system.
Chapter 2
The Public Ministry
Article 219
The Public Ministry will be exercised by the Procurator General of the Nation, the Procurator of the Administration, by the Prosecutors Fiscals and Personeros [Representatives/Agents] and by the other functionaries established by the Law. The agents [agentes] of the Public Ministry may exercise by delegation, in accordance with what is determined by the Law, the functions of the Procurator General of the Nation.
Article 220
The attributions of the Public Ministry are:
1. To defend the interests of the Nation or of the Municipality.
2. To promote the compliance with or execution of the Laws, judicial sentences and administrative provisions.
3. To supervise [vigilar] the official conduct of the public functionaries and see to it that they fully comply [desempeñen cumplidamente] with their duties.
4. To prosecute the offenses and violations [contravenciones] of constitutional or legal provisions.
5. To serve as juridical councilors to the administrative functionaries.
6. To exercise the other functions determined by the Law.
Article 221
To be Procurator General of the Nation and Procurator of the Administration necessitates the same qualifications required as to be Magistrate of the Supreme Court of Justice. Both will be appointed for a term of ten years.
Article 222
Special functions of the Procurator General of the Nation are:
1. To accuse before the Supreme Court of Justice those public functionaries, whose judgment corresponds to that Body [Corporación].
2. To see to that the other Agents of the Public Ministry faithfully perform their office [cargo], and to require responsibility for offenses or crimes committed by them.
Article 223
The same provisions govern with respect to the Agents of the Public Ministry as are established for the judicial functionaries in Articles 205, 208, 210, 211, 212 and 216.
Article 224
The Procurator General of the Nation and the Procurator of the Administration will be appointed in accordance with the same requirements and prohibitions established for the Magistrates of the Supreme Court of Justice.
The temporary absence [falta] of any of the Procurators will be covered by a functionary of the Public Ministry, with the quality of Procurator Encargado parson acting as Procurator, who complies with the same requirements for the office and who will be appointed temporarily by the respective Procurator.
The Prosecutors and Personeros will be appointed by their hierarchic superiors.
The subordinate personnel will be appointed by the respective Prosecutor or Personero. All these appointments will be acts [made] in conformity with the Judicial Career.
TITLE VIII
MUNICIPAL AND PROVINCIAL REGIMES
Chapter 1
Representatives of the Corregimientos Boroughs
Article 225
Each Corregimiento Borough will elect a Representative and a substitute by direct popular vote, for a period of five years. The Representatives of the Corregimientos may be re-elected indefinitely.
Article 226
In order to be the Representative of a Borough it is required:
1. To be Panamanian by birth or to have acquired the Panamanian nationality in a definitive form ten years before the date of the election.
2. To be eighteen years of age.
3. To not have been condemned for [committing] a malicious [doloso] offense to a penalty deprivative of liberty of five years or more, by means of an executory sentence, proffered by a tribunal of justice.
4. To be a resident of the Corregimiento which they represent, for at least, the year immediately preceding the election.
Article 227
The representation will be lost for the following causes:
1. A voluntary change of residence to another Corregimiento.
2. A judicial conviction founded on [a] crime.
3. The revocation of the mandate, in accordance with what is regulated by the Law.
Article 228
In the case of the temporary or absolute vacancy of the principal representation of the Corregimiento, the substitute Representative will take charge. When an absolute vacancy of the principal and of the substitute is produced, elections must be held within the following six months to elect a new Representative and their respective substitute.
Article 229
The Representatives of the Corregimientos may not be appointed to remunerated public offices in the respective Corregimiento. The infraction of this precept nullifies the appointment.
The appointment in the Judicial Organ, in the Public Ministry, or in the Electoral Tribunal produces absolute vacancy in the office of Representative of the Corregimiento; and the designation as Minister of State, Head of an Autonomous or Semi-autonomous Institution, of a Diplomatic Mission or of Governor of a Province, produces transitory vacancy.
Article 230
The Representatives of the Corregimientos are not legally responsible for the opinions that they emit in the exercise of their office, as members of the Provincial Council are not.
Article 231
The Representatives of the Corregimientos will receive a remuneration that shall be paid by the National or Municipal Treasury, as determined by the Law.
Chapter 2
The Municipal Regime
Article 232
The Municipality is the autonomous political organization of a community established in a District.
The municipal organization shall be democratic and shall respond to the essentially administrative character of the local government.
Article 233
To the Municipality, as [the] fundamental entity of the political-administrative division of the State, with its own government, democratic and autonomous, corresponds the provision of the public services and to construct the public works determined by the Law, to order the development of its territory, to promote citizen participation, as well as the cultural and social improvement of its inhabitants and to comply with the other functions assigned to it by the Constitution and the Law.
The Executive Organ will guarantee the achievement of these purposes, within the process of decentralization of the public competence and function which the Panamanian State shall promote and shall carry out on the basis of the principles of autonomy, subsidiarity [subsidiaridad], equity, equality, sustainability and efficiency, and considering the territoriality, the population and the basic necessities of the municipalities.
The law shall establish how the Public Administration shall be decentralized and the transfer [traslado] of competence and the transfer of resources for the compliance with this norm.
Article 234
The municipal authorities have the duty to comply with, and to have complied with, the Constitution and the Laws of the Republic, the decrees and the orders of the Executive Organ and the resolutions of the ordinary and administrative tribunals of justice.
Article 235
No municipal public servant may be suspended or discharged [destituido] by the national administrative authorities.
Article 236
The State shall complement the municipal management [gestión], when the same is insufficient, in cases of epidemic, grave disturbance [alteración] of the public order or other reasons of general interest, in the form determined by the Law.
Article 237
In each District there will be a body [corporación] denominated the Municipal Council, composed by all of the Representatives of the Corregimientos that have been elected within the District. If in any district there are [existieren] less than five Corregimientos, the Councilors [Concejales] will be elected by direct popular vote, according to the procedure and [the] system of proportional representation established by the Law, so that, in this case, there are five members [integrantes] of the Municipal Council.
The Council will appoint a President and a Vice President from among its members. The latter will replace the former in any absences.
Article 238
By popular initiative and through the vote of the Councils, two or more Municipalities may solicit their fusion in one or to associate for reasons of common benefit. The Law shall establish the corresponding procedure.
With equal requisites the Municipalities of a Province may unify their regime establishing a treasury and a common fiscal administration. In this case an Inter- Municipal Council may be created of which [the] composition shall be determined by the Law.
Article 239
The citizens have the right of initiative and of referendum in the matters attributed to the Councils.
Article 240
The Law may provide, in accordance with the economic capacity and the human resources of the Municipalities, which of them] will be governed by a system of specialized comptrollers [síndicos] to render those services which they establish.
Article 241
In each District there will be a Mayor [Alcalde], [who is the] Head of the Municipal Administration, and a Vice-Mayor, elected by direct popular vote for a five year period.
Article 242
It is the function of the Municipal Council, without prejudice to the other functions that the Law specifies, to enact [expedir], modify, reform and repeal the municipal agreements and resolutions, pertaining to:
1. The approval or the rejection of the Municipal Budget of Revenues and Expenditures formulated by the office of the Mayor [Alcaldía].
2. The determination of the structure of the municipal administration proposed by the Mayor.
3. The control [fiscalización] of the Municipal Administration.
4. The approval or the rejection of the celebration of contracts concerning concessions and other forms of provision of public services, and what is relative to the construction of municipal public works.
5. The approval or the elimination of taxes, contributions, fees [derechos/rights] and levies, in accordance with the Law.
6. The creation or the elimination of the provision of municipal public services.
7. The appointment, the suspension and dismissal of the municipal functionaries who labor in the Municipal Council.
8. The ratification of the appointment of the Municipal Treasurer made by the Mayor.
9. The matters linked to the competences of the municipality, according to the Law.
The municipal agreements have the force of Law within the respective municipality.
Article 243
The Mayors will have the following attributions:
1. To present bills of agreements, especially the one of the Budget of Revenues and Expenditures.
2. To organize [ordenar] the expenditures of the local administration, adjusting the same to the Budget and to the accounting regulations.
3. To appoint and to dismiss the municipal public functionaries, whose appointment does not correspond to another authority, subject to that provided in Title XI.
4. To promote the progress of the municipal community and to see to the fulfillment of the duties of the public functionaries.
5. To exercise the other attributions assigned to [them] by the Law.
Article 244
The Mayors will receive a remuneration for their services, which will be paid by the National or Municipal Treasury, in accordance with what is determined by the Law.
Article 245
The municipal taxes are those which have no incidence outside of the District, but the Law may establish exceptions so that specific [determinados] taxes can be municipal but [at the same time] have that [outside] incidence. On this basis, the Law shall establish with due division [separación] the national and the municipal revenues and expenditures.
Article 246
The following will be the sources of the municipal income, in addition to those specified by the Law in accordance with the preceding Article:
1. The product of their lands [áreas] or ejidos [small rural properties], the same as of their own assets [bienes].
2. The fees [tasas] for the use of goods [bienes] or services.
3. The fees [derechos/rights] on public performances.
4. The taxes on the sale of alcoholic beverages.
5. The fees [derechos/rights], determined by the Law, on the extraction of sands, quarried stone, rock, clay, coral, gravel and limestone.
6. The fines imposed by the municipal authorities.
7. The State subsidies and the donations.
8. The fees [derechos/rights], over the extraction of woods, its exploitation and lumbering.
9. The tax on the slaughtering [degüello] of bovine and porcine livestock which will be paid in the Municipality from where the animal is from.
Article 247
The Municipalities may create municipal or mixed enterprises for the exploitation of goods [bienes] or services.
Article 248
The State may not grant exemptions of municipal fees [derechos/rights], fees [tasas] or taxes. The Municipalities may only do so through a municipal agreement.
Article 249
The Municipalities may contract loans [empréstitos] with the prior authorization of the Executive Organ. The Law shall determine the procedure.
Article 250
In each Corregimiento there will be a Communal Board [Junta Communal] that shall promote the development of the collectivity and see to the solution of its problems.
The Communal Boards will exercise the functions of voluntary conciliation and others that the Law specifies.
Article 251
The Communal Boards will be composed of the Representative of the Corregimiento, who will preside over it, and four resident citizens of the Corregimiento chosen in the form determined by the Law.
Chapter 3
The Provincial Regime
Article 252
In each Province there will be one Governor of [the] free appointment and removal of the Executive Organ, who will be the representative of it within his circumscription. Each Governor will have a substitute appointed also by the Executive Organ.
The Law shall determine the functions and duties of the Governors.
Article 253
The Provinces will have the number of Districts provided for by the Law.
Article 254
A Provincial Council will function in each Province, composed of all the Representatives of the Corregimientos [Boroughs] of the respective Province and of the other members determined by the Law which regulates its organization and functioning, with the latter having only the right of voice [voz].
Each Provincial Council will elect its President and Directive Board, from among the respective Representatives of the Corregimientos, and shall dictate its internal regulations. The Governor of the Province and the Mayors of the Districts may participate with a right of voice at the meetings of the Provincial Council.
Article 255
Without prejudice to the others specified by the law, the functions of the Provincial Council are the following:
1. To act as a consultative organ of the Governor of the Province, of the provincial authorities and of the national authorities in general.
2. To require reports from the national, provincial and municipal functionaries in relation to matters concerning the Province. For these effects, the provincial and municipal functionaries are obligated, when the Provincial Council solicits it, to appear personally before it and render verbal reports.
The national functionaries may render written reports.
3. To prepare each year, for the consideration of the Executive Organ, the plan for public works, of investments and of services of the Province and to supervise [fiscalizar] their execution.
4. To supervise the performance of the public services as provided in their respective Province.
5. To recommend to the National Assembly [the] changes considered appropriate within the political divisions of the Province.
6. To solicit from the national and provincial authorities, studies and programs of provincial interest.
Article 256
The Provincial Council shall meet in ordinary sessions once a month, in the capital of the Province, as the Council determines, and in extraordinary sessions when these are convoked by the President or at the solicitation of no less than the one-third part of its members.
TITLE IX
THE HACIENDA PÚBLICA [PUBLIC FINANCES]
Chapter 1
Assets and Rights of the State
Article 257
The following belong to the State:
1. The assets existing in the territory that belonged to the Republic of Colombia.
2. The rights and the shares [acciones] that the Republic of Colombia possessed as owner, inside or outside of the country, by reason of the sovereignty that it exercised over the territory of the Isthmus of Panama.
3. The assets, revenues, estates, valuables, rights, and shares which pertained to the extinct Department of Panama.
4. The vacant [baldías] and free [indultadas] lands.
5. The wealth of the subsoil, which may be exploited by state or mixed enterprises or be the object of concessions or contracts for their exploitation as established by the Law.
The mining rights granted and not exercised within the period and the conditions established by the Law, will revert to the State.
6. The salt mines, the mines, the subterranean and thermal waters, deposits of hydrocarbons, the quarries, and the deposits [yacimientos] of any class which may not be the object of private appropriation but may be exploited directly by the State, through state or mixed enterprises, or be the object of concessions or other contracts for their exploitation by private enterprises. The Law shall regulate all matters concerning the specific [distintas] forms of exploitations specified in this ordinal.
7. The historical monuments, documents and other assets [bienes] which are testimonial to the past history of the Nation. The Law shall specify the procedure by which such assets will be reverted to the State when held by private parties under any title.
8. The archaeological sites and objects, of which the exploration, study and restoration shall be regulated by the Law.
Article 258
The following belong to the State and are of public use and, consequently, may not be the object of private appropriation:
1. The territorial sea and the lake and fluvial waters, the beaches and banks [riberas] of the same and of the navigable rivers, and the ports and estuaries [esteros]. All these assets are of free and common benefit, subject to the regulations established by the Law.
2. The lands and waters destined for public services and for all classes of communications.
3. The lands and waters destined, or that the State has allocated, for public services of irrigation, of hydroelectric production, of drainage and of aqueducts.
4. The air space, the submarine continental shelf, the bed and subsoil of the territorial sea.
5. The other assets defined by the law for public use.
In all the cases in which the assets of private ownership are converted by legal provision into assets of public use, the owner of them will be indemnified.
Article 259
The concessions for the exploitation of the soil, of the subsoil, of the forests and for the utilization of waters, of the means of communication or transport and of the other enterprises of public service, shall be inspired by the social wellbeing and the public interest.
Article 260
The artistic and historical wealth of the country constitutes the Cultural Heritage [Patrimonio] of the Nation and shall be under the guardianship [salvaguarda] of the State which will prohibit its destruction, exportation or transmission.
Article 261
The attribution [facultad] of issuing currency belongs to the State, which may transfer it to official banks of issuance, in the form determined by the Law.
Article 262
There will not be in the Republic fiat paper money [moneda de curso forzoso].
Article 263
The Law shall create and regulate the official or semi-official banks which function as autonomous entities supervised [vigiladas] by the State and shall determine their subsidiary responsibilities with respect to the obligations contracted by these institutions. The Law shall regulate the banking regime.
Article 264
The Law shall procure, as far as possible, within the necessity of arbitrating public funds and of protecting the national production, that any tax imposed on the taxpayer shall be in direct proportion to their economic capacity.
Article 265
There may be established by the Law, for revenue purposes [arbitrio], official monopolies on imported articles or on those not produced in the country.
To establish a monopoly by virtue of which any person is deprived of the exercise of a licit business or industry, the State will compensate [resarcirá] in advance those persons or enterprises whose business has been expropriated within the terms referred to by this Article.
Article 266
The execution or reparation of the national works [obras], the purchases made from funds of the State, of its autonomous or semi-autonomous entities or of the Municipalities, and the sale or lease of assets belonging to them, will be effected by public bidding [licitación], except in the cases determined by the Law.
The Law shall establish the measures to assure in all bidding [licitación] the maximum benefit for the State and full justice in the award [adjudicación].
Chapter 2
Of the General Budget of the State
Article 267
The drafting [elaboración] of the bill of the General Budget of State corresponds to the Executive Organ, and to the Legislative Organ its examination, modification, rejection or approval.
Article 268
The Budget will have an annual character and will contain the total of the investments, revenues and expenditures of the public sector, which includes the autonomous and semi-autonomous entities and state enterprises.
Article 269
The Executive Organ shall hold [celebrará] budgetary consultations with the different dependencies and entities of the State.
The Commission of the Budget of the National Assembly shall participate in such consultations.
Article 270
In the Budget drafted by the Executive Organ the expenditures will be balanced [equilibrados] with the revenues.
Article 271
The National Assembly may eliminate or reduce the amounts [partidas] of the expenditures provided for in the bill of the Budget, except those allocated for the payment of the public debt, to the fulfillment of other contractual obligations of the State and to the financing of the public investments previously authorized by the Law.
The National Assembly may not increase any of the expenditures [erogaciones] provided for in the bill of the Budget, or include a new expenditure without the approval of the Council of the Cabinet, or add to the calculation of the total revenues without the favorable opinion [concepto] of the Comptroller General of the Republic.
If according to what is provided for in this Article, the calculation of the revenues is increased or if any of the amounts of expenditures are eliminated or reduced, the National Assembly may apply the quantities so available to other expenses or investments, as long as it obtains the approval of the Council of the Cabinet.
Article 272
If the bill of the General Budget of State should not be voted at the latest by the first day of the corresponding fiscal year, the bill as proposed by the Executive Organ will enter into force, which will be adopted by decision of the Council of the Cabinet.
Article 273
If the National Assembly rejects the bill of the General Budget of State, the Budget of the prior fiscal year [ejercicio] will be considered as automatically extended until a new Budget is approved, and also the amounts [partidas] in the rejected Budget, in respect of the payment of the public debt, the fulfillment of other contractual obligations of the State, and the financing of the public investments previously authorized by the Law, will be automatically approved.
Article 274
Any supplementary or extraordinary credit, with reference to the current [vigente] Budget, can be solicited by the Executive Organ and approved by the National Assembly in the form specified by the Law.
Article 275
When at any time of the fiscal year, the Executive Organ fundamentally considers that the total of the available income is inferior to the total amount of the expenditures authorized in the General Budget of the State, it will adopt a plan of adjustment of expenditure, that will be approved in accordance with what the Law establishes.
The adjustments to the budgets of the Legislative and Judicial Organs, of the Public Ministry, of the Electoral Tribunal, the Office of the Defender of the People and of the Office of Comptroller General of the Republic will not be superior in percentage, in each one of these institutions, to the adjustment of the General Budget of the State, and shall affect the expenditure items [renglones] that it determines.
Article 276
The National Assembly may not enact Laws which abrogate [deroguen] or modify those that establish revenues included [comprendidos] in the Budget, without at the same time establishing new substitute revenues or increasing those in existence, with a prior report of the Office of the Comptroller General of the Republic concerning the fiscal effectiveness of them.
Article 277
No public payment [gasto] may be made that has not been authorized in accordance with the Constitution or the Law. Neither may any credit be transferred to an objective not provided for in the respective Budget.
Article 278
All of the deposits [entradas] and withdrawals [salidas] from the public treasuries must be included and authorized in the respective Budget. No deposits shall be received [percibirán] due to taxes that the Law has not established nor will there be the payment of any expenses [gastos] not provided for in the Budget.
Chapter 3
Of the Office of the Comptroller General of the Republic
Article 279
There will be an independent state organ [organismo] called the Office of the Comptroller General [Contraloría General] of the Republic, of which the direction will be the charge of a public functionary who will be denominated the Comptroller General, seconded by a Subcomptroller, who will be appointed for an equal term as the President of the Republic, during which they may not be suspended or removed, only by the Supreme Court of Justice by virtue of causes defined by the Law. Both will be appointed so that they enter into their functions beginning on the first day of January following the start of each ordinary presidential term.
To be Comptroller and Subcomptroller of the Republic it is required to be a Panamanian citizen by birth; to have a university degree and thirty-five years or more of age and to not have been condemned for a malicious [doloso] offense to a penalty deprivative of liberty of five years or more, through executory sentence proffered by a tribunal of justice.
Article 280
The following are the functions of the Office of the Comptroller General of the Republic, in addition to those stated by the Law:
1. To keep the national accounts, including those concerning to the internal and external debts.
2. To supervise [fiscalizar] and regulate, by means of prior and subsequent control, all of the acts of management of funds and other public assets, with the objective to conduct [realicen] them with correctness [correción], in accordance with what is established in the Law.
The Office of the Comptroller will determine the cases in which it will exercise both the prior and the subsequent control concerning the acts of management, as well as those in which it will only exercise the latter.
3. To examine, to intervene and to close [fenecer] the accounts of the public functionaries, entities or persons who administer, manage or oversee [custodien] funds or other public assets. The matters related to the criminal responsibility correspond to the ordinary tribunals.
4. To conduct inspections and investigations tending to determine the correctness or incorrectness [corrección o incorrección] of the operations that affect the public assets [patrimonios] and, in such case, to present the respective complaints.
5. To request [racabar] of the corresponding public functionaries reports concerning the fiscal management of the national, provincial, municipal, autonomous or semi-autonomous public dependencies and State enterprises.
6. To establish and to promote the adoption of the measures necessary to make effective the credits in favor of the public entities.
7. To demand the declaration of unconstitutionality or of illegality, according to the cases, of the laws and [of the] other acts violating the Constitution or the Laws which affect public assets [patrimonios].
8. To establish [the] methods of accounting of the public dependencies specified in numeral 5 of this Article.
9. To inform the National Assembly and the Executive Organ concerning the financial state of the Public Administration and to emit its opinion concerning the viability and appropriateness [conveniencia] of providing supplementary or extraordinary credits.
10. To direct and to compile [formar] national statistics.
11. To appoint the employees of its departments in accordance with this Constitution and the Law.
12. To present to the Executive Organ and to the National Assembly the annual report of its activities.
13. To present for its judgment, through the Tribunal of Accounts, the accounts of the public agents and servants of management when there are objections [reparos] because of alleged [supuestos] irregularities.
Chapter 4
Tribunal of Accounts
Article 281
The Jurisdiction of Accounts is established, with national competence and jurisdiction, to judge the accounts of the agents and employees of management, when there are objections to the same due to reasons of alleged irregularities.
The Tribunal of Accounts will be composed of three Magistrates, who will be appointed [designados] for a period of ten years as [follows]: one by the Legislative Organ, another by the Executive Organ and the third by the Supreme
Court of Justice.
The Law shall determine the creation and functioning of the Tribunal of Accounts.
TITLE X
THE NATIONAL ECONOMY
Article 282
The exercise of the economic activities corresponds primordially to individuals [particulares]; but the State shall orient, shall direct, shall regulate, shall replace or shall create them, in accordance with the social necessities and within the norms of this Title, with the purpose of increasing the national wealth and of assuring its benefits to the largest possible number of inhabitants of the country.
The State shall plan the economic and social development, by means of specialized organs [organismos] or departments of which the organization and functioning shall be determined by the Law.
Article 283
To achieve the objectives treated in the previous article, the Law shall provide that the following measures are taken:
1. To create commissions of technicians and of specialists to study the conditions and the possibilities of all the types of economic activities, and to formulate recommendations for developing them.
2. To promote the creation of private enterprises that function in accordance with the recommendations mentioned in the preceding part [aparte anterior], to establish of State enterprises and to encourage the creation of mixed enterprises in which the State shall participate, and to create the State enterprises to attend to the social necessities and the public security and interests.
3. To establish [fundar] institutions of credit and of development [fomento] or to establish [establecar] other measures adequate for the objective of serving those engaged in small scale economic activities.
4. To establish theoretical-practical centers for the teaching of commerce, agriculture, cattle-raising, tourism and crafts and arts, including in the latter the manual arts, and for the instruction [formación] of specialized industrial workers and managers.
Article 284
The State shall intervene in any class of enterprise, within the regulation established by the Law, to make effective the social justice to which this Constitution refers and, especially, for the following objectives:
1. To regulate, through special organs [organismos] the rates [tarifas], the services and the prices of goods [artículos] of any nature, and specially those of basic necessity [primera necesidad].
2. To require the proper efficiency [debida eficacia] in the services and the adequate quality of the goods mentioned in the preceding part.
3. To coordinate the services and the production of goods. The Law shall define the goods of basic necessity.
Article 285
The greater part of the capital of the private enterprises of public utility which function in the country, must be Panamanian, except for the exceptions established by the Law, which also must define them.
Article 286
The State shall create through the autonomous or semi-autonomous entities or through other adequate measures, enterprises of public utility. In equal form it shall assume, when it should be necessary for the collective wellbeing and through expropriation and indemnification, the domain of the enterprises of public utility belonging to individuals [particulares], if in each case it is authorized by the Law.
Article 287
In the areas or regions in which the level [grado] of social or economic development requires it, the State may create autonomous or semi-autonomous national, regional or municipal institutions, which promote the comprehensive integral development of the sector or region[,] and that may coordinate the State and municipal programs in cooperation with the Municipal or Inter-Municipal Councils. The Law shall regulate the organization, jurisdiction, financing and supervision of the entities of development.
Article 288
It is the duty of the State to promote and supervise the cooperatives and for such purposes it shall create the necessary institutions. The Law shall establish the special regime for their organization, functioning, recognition and registration, which will be gratuitous.
Article 289
The State shall regulate the adequate use of the land in accordance with its potential use and the national programs of development, with the objective to guarantee its optimum use [aprovechamiento].
Article 290
No foreign government or official or semi-official foreign entity or institution may acquire dominion over any part of the national territory, except when it concerns the seats of embassies in accordance with that which the Law provides.
Article 291
Foreign natural or juridical persons and national persons having foreign capital, in all or in part, may not acquire the ownership of national or private lands situated less than ten kilometers from the frontier.
The insular territory may only be alienated [enajenarse] for specific objectives of development of the country and under the following conditions:
1. When it is not considered a strategic area or reserved for governmental programs.
2. When it is declared an area of special development, and there has been legislation dictated concerning its use, provided that the National Security is guaranteed.
The alienation of the insular territory does not affect the ownership of the State of the assets of public use. In the preceding cases, the rights legitimately acquired before the entry into force of this Constitution will be respected; however, the corresponding assets may be expropriated at any time, through the payment of an adequate indemnification.
Article 292
There will be no assets that are not of free alienation, or irredeemable obligations, except for that provided in Article 62 and 127. However, the temporary limitations to the right of alienation and the conditions or modalities that suspend or retard the redemption of the obligations, will be valid for a maximum period of twenty years.
Article 293
Only the following may engage in retail commerce [comercio al por menor]:
1. Panamanians by birth.
2. The individuals [individuos] who, at the entry into force of this Constitution becomes, were naturalized and married to a Panamanian [masculine] or Panamanian [feminine] national or had children by a Panamanian [masculine] or Panamanian [feminine] national.
3. The Panamanians by naturalization not included in the preceding case, after three years from the date of their obtaining their final papers [carta definitiva].
4. The national or foreign juridical persons and foreign natural persons who at the date of entry into force of this Constitution were engaged in retail commerce, in accordance with the Law.
5. The juridical persons formed by Panamanians or by foreigners authorized [faculatadas] to engage in it individually, in accordance with this article, and also those which, although not constituted in the form herein provided, are engaged in retail commerce at the moment of entry into force of this Constitution. The foreigners not authorized to engage in retail commerce may, however, have participation in those companies which sell products manufactured by the same.
To engage in [ejercer] retail commerce means engaging [dedicarse] in the sale to the consumer, or in the representation or in the agency of productive or mercantile enterprises, or in other activity classified by the Law as pertaining to such commerce.
From this rule [regla] are excepted the cases in which the farmer or manufacturer of manual industries sells their own products. The Law shall establish a system of supervision and sanctions to prevent those persons who, in accordance with this Article may not engage in retail commerce, do so through an interposed person or in any other fraudulent form.
Article 294
Wholesale commerce [comercio al por mayor] is understood as commerce which is not included by the preceding provision, and which may be engaged in by any natural or juridical person.
The Law may, however, when there exists a necessity to protect the wholesale commerce engaged in by Panamanians, restrict the exercise of such commerce by foreigners. In no case will this restriction prejudice the foreigners who engaged legally in wholesale commerce at the entry into force of the corresponding provisions.
Article 295
Any combination, contract or action whatever which tends to restrict or prevent [imposibilitar] free commerce and competition, and which has the effects of monopoly in prejudice to the public, is prohibited in commerce and in industry.
The operation [prática de explotar] by a single natural or juridical person of a series or chain of mercantile retail establishments in a form that ruins or tends to eliminate the competition of small merchants or industrialists, belongs to this area [género].
There shall be public action to impugn before the tribunals any combination, contract or action that has for its object to establish monopolistic practices; the Law shall regulate this matter.
Article 296
The Law shall regulate the practices of hunting, fishing and the use of the forests, in a mode to assure their renewal [renovación] and the permanence of their benefits.
Article 297
The exploitation of games of luck and chance [azar] and of activities that give rise to wagers may only be conducted by the State.
The Law shall regulate the games, as well as any activity which give rise to wagers, whatever their system may be.
Article 298
The State shall see to the freedom of economic competition and the free participation [concurrencia] in the markets.
The laws shall establish the modalities and conditions which guarantee these principles.
TITLE XI
THE PUBLIC SERVANTS
Chapter 1
Fundamental Dispositions
Article 299
The public servants are the persons appointed temporarily or permanently to offices [cargos] in the Executive, Legislative or Judicial Organs, of the Municipalities, the autonomous or semi-autonomous entities; and in general, those who receive a remuneration from the State.
Article 300
The public servants will be of Panamanian nationality, without discrimination for reasons of race, sex, religion or belief and political activities. Their appointment and removal shall not be the absolute and discretional power of any authority, except as provided for in that respect in this Constitution.
The public servants shall be governed by the system of merits; the stability in their offices shall depend on their competence, loyalty and morality in service.
Article 301
The students and graduates of the educational institutions will render temporary services to the community before freely exercising their profession or trade [oficio] as a result of obligatory Civil Service instituted by this Constitution. The Law shall regulate this matter.
Chapter 2
Basic Principles of the Administration of Personnel
Article 302
The duties and the rights of [the] public servants, as well as the principles for the appointments, promotions, suspensions, transfers, dismissals, separations [cesantía] and retirements shall be determined by the Law.
The appointments that fall under the career personnel shall be based on the system of merit.
The public servants are obligated to personally perform their functions to which they shall dedicate their maximum capabilities and for which they will receive a just remuneration.
Article 303
The public servants may not receive two or more salaries paid by the State, except in the special cases determined by the Law, nor may they hold positions [puestos] with simultaneous periods [jornadas] of work.
The pensions [jubilaciones] of the public servants shall be based on actuarial studies and reasonable budgetary allocations [proporciones].
Article 304
The President and the Vice President of the Republic, the Magistrates of the Supreme Court of Justice, of the Ordinary and Special Tribunals, the Procurator General of the Nation and that of the Administration, the Judges, the Ministers of State, the Comptroller General of the Republic, the President of the National Assembly, the Magistrates of the Electoral Tribunal, the Magistrates of the Tribunal of Accounts, the Electoral Attorney General, the Defender of the People, the General Directors, Managers or Heads of Autonomous Entities, the National and Provincial Directors of the Police Services, [the] public fiduciary employees or functionaries [empleados o funcionarios públicos de manejo] conforming to the Fiscal Code, must present at the beginning and at the end of their functions a sworn declaration of their patrimonial estate, which must be made publicly and in writing, within a time of ten working days from the taking of possession of the office [cargo] and ten working days from leaving it.
A Notary will perform the necessary service without any cost.
This provision has immediate effects, without prejudice to its regulation through the Law.
Chapter 3
Organization of the Administration of Personnel
Article 305
The following careers in the pubic function are instituted in accordance with the system of merits:
1. The Administrative Career.
2. The Judicial Career.
3. The Teaching Career.
4. The Diplomatic and Consular Career.
5. The Career of the Sciences of Health.
6. The Police Career.
7. The Career of the Livestock and Agricultural Sciences.
8. The Career of the Legislative Service.
9. The others that the Law determines.
The Law shall regulate the structure and organization of these careers in accordance with the necessities of the Administration.
Article 306
All official dependencies shall function on the basis of a Manual of Procedures and of another of Classification of Offices [Puestos].
Article 307
The following do not form part of the public careers:
1. The public servants having appointments regulated by this Constitution.
2. The General Directors and Sub-Directors of the autonomous and semiautonomous entities, the public servants appointed for a specific time or for fixed periods established by the Law or those serving in honorary positions.
3. The secretarial service personnel immediately attached to the public servants who do not form part of any career.
4. The public servants with authority [mando] and jurisdiction who are not within a career.
5. The professionals, or technicians or manual workers who are required for temporary, interim or transitory services in the Ministries or in the autonomous or semi-autonomous institutions.
6. The public servants whose offices are regulated by the Labor Code.
7. The heads of Diplomatic Missions as determined by the Law.
Chapter 4
General Provisions
Article 308
The provisions contained in Articles 205, 208, 210, 211, 212 and 216, will be applied in accordance with the precepts established in this Title.
Article 309
The public servants may not celebrate on their own, or through third parties [interpuestas personas], contracts with the entity or organs [organismos] in which they work when these are lucrative and of a character unsuited [ajeno] to the service rendered.
TITLE XII
[THE] PUBLIC FORCE
Article 310
The Republic of Panama will not have an army.
All Panamanians are obligated to bear arms to defend the national independence and the territorial integrity of the State.
For the preservation of the public order, the protection of life, the honor and assets of those who are under the jurisdiction of the State and for the prevention of criminal [delictivos] acts, the Law shall organize the necessary police services, with separate commands and promotion.
In the face of external aggression, and by virtue of law, special police services may be organized temporarily, for the protection of the frontiers and the jurisdictional spaces of the Republic. The President of the Republic is the head of all the services established in this Title; and they, as agents of authority, will be subordinated to the civil power; therefore, they will obey the orders issued by the national, provincial or municipal authorities in the exercise of their legal functions.
Article 311
The police services are not deliberative and their members may not make political statements [manifestaciones] or declarations in individual or collective form. Neither may they intervene in partisan political activities, except to cast a vote. The contempt [desacato] of this norm will be sanctioned with the immediate dismissal from office [cargo], as well as the sanctions established by the Law.
Article 312
Only the Government may possess arms and elements of war. For their fabrication and exportation, the previous permission of the Executive Organ is required. The Law shall define the arms which are not considered arms of war, and shall regulate their importation, manufacture and use.
TITLE XIII
REFORM OF THE CONSTITUTION
Article 313
The initiative to propose constitutional reforms corresponds to the National Assembly, to the Council of the Cabinet and to the Supreme Court of Justice.
Such reforms must be approved by one of the following procedures:
1. By a Constitutional Act, approved in three debates by the absolute majority of the members of the National Assembly, which must be published in the Gaceta Oficial [Official Gazette] and transmitted by the Executive Organ to said Assembly, within the first five days of the ordinary sessions following the installation of the National Assembly elected in the last general elections, so that it may be debated and approved in its first legislature without modification, in sole debate, by the absolute majority of the members which integrate it.
2. By a Constitutional Act, approved in three debates by the absolute majority of the members of the National Assembly, in one legislature, and approved, equally, in three debates, by the absolute majority of the members of the mentioned Assembly, in the immediately following legislature. In this case the text approved during the previous legislature may be modified. The Constitutional Act approved in this form must be published in the Gaceta Oficial and submitted to a direct popular consultation through referendum that will be held on the date that the National Assembly specifies, within a period that may not be less than three months or exceed six months, counted from the approval of the Constitutional Act by the second legislature.
Article 314
A new Constitution may be adopted, through a Parallel Constituent Assembly [Asamblea Constituyente Paralela], which may be convoked by decision of the Executive Organ, ratified by the absolute majority of the Legislative Organ, or by the Legislative Organ with the favorable vote of the two-thirds part of its members, or by citizen initiative, which must be accompanied by the signatures of, at least, twenty percent of those composing the Electoral Register corresponding to 31 December of the year prior to the solicitation. In this case, the petitioners will have until six months to comply with the requirement in conformity with the regulation issued to this effect by the Electoral Tribunal.
It will correspond to the Electoral Tribunal to accept the proposed initiative and to make the convocation of the election of constituents, within a period not less than three months or greater than six months from the formalization of the solicitation of convocation. The election having been realized, the Parallel Constituent Assembly will be formally installed and will initiate its deliberations of its own right, as soon as the Electoral Tribunal delivers the respective credentials to its members.
The Parallel Constituent Assembly will be composed of sixty constituents, who must proportionally represent the Panamanians of all the provinces and comarcas, in accordance with the electoral population; in addition to party nomination, independent candidacies will be permitted. For these effects, the Electoral Tribunal must establish in the convocation the electoral system applicable to the election of constituents.
The Parallel Constituent Assembly may reform the current Constitution in total or in partial form but in no case may the decisions that it adopts have retroactive effects, nor may they alter the terms of office of the elected or appointed functionaries, who are exercising their function [cargo] at the moment of the entry into force of the new Constitution. The Parallel Constituent Assembly will have a period of not less than six months and not more than ninths months, to fulfill its work and to deliver to the Electoral Tribunal the approved text of the new Constitution, which will publish it immediately in the Boletin del Tribunal Electoral [Bulletin of the Electoral Tribunal].
The new Constitutional Act approved in accordance with this method will be submitted to referendum convoked by the Electoral Tribunal within a period of not less than three months, or more than six months, counted from its publication in the Boletin del Tribunal Electoral.
The Constitutional Act approved in accordance with any one of the procedures specified in this Article and in the preceding Article, will enter into force on its publication in the Gaceta Oficial which must be accomplished [deberá hacerse] by the Executive Organ, within the ten working days which follow its ratification by the National Assembly, or within the thirty days which follow its approval through referendum, whichever the case may be, without the publication subsequent to such times [plazos] being cause of unconstitutionality.
TITLE XIV
THE PANAMA CANAL
Article 315
The Panama Canal constitutes an inalienable patrimony of the Panamanian Nation; it shall be permanently open to peaceful and uninterrupted transit of vessels of all the nations and its use will be subject to the requirements and conditions established by this Constitution, the Law and its Administration.
Article 316
An autonomous juridical person of Public Law is created which will be denominated the Panama Canal Authority, to which will correspond proprietarily [privativamente] the administration, functioning, conservation, maintenance and modernization of the Panama Canal and its pertinent [conexas] activities, in accordance with the constitutional and legal norms in force, in order that it functions in a secure, continuous, efficient and profitable manner. It will have its own patrimony and right to administer it.
To the Panama Canal Authority corresponds the responsibility for the administration, maintenance, use and conservation of the hydric resources of the Panama Canal watershed, constituted by the water of the lakes and their tributary currents, in coordination with state organs [organismos] determined by the Law. The construction plans, water use, utilization, expansion, development of the ports and of any other work or construction on the banks of the Panama Canal, will require the prior approval of the Panama Canal Authority.
The Panama Canal Authority will not be subject to the payment of taxes, fees [derechos/rights], rates [tasas], charges, contributions or tariffs, of national or municipal character, with the exception of the social security quotas, the educational insurance, the professional risks and the rates for public services, except as provided in Article 321.
Article 317
The Panama Canal Authority and all of those institutions and authorities of the Republic linked to the maritime sector, shall form of the national maritime strategy.
The Executive Organ shall propose to the Legislative Organ the Law which coordinates all of these institutions to promote the social-economical development of the country.
Article 318
The administration of the Panama Canal Authority will be the charge of a Directive Board composed of eleven directors, appointed as follows:
1. A Director appointed [designado] by the President of the Republic, who will preside over the Directive Board and who will have the condition of Minister of State for the Affairs of the Canal.
2. A Director appointed [asignado] by the Legislative Organ, who will be of its free appointment and removal.
3. Nine Directors appointed [nombrados] by the President of the Republic, with the agreement of the Council of the Cabinet and ratified by the Legislative Organ, by the absolute majority of its members.
The Law shall establish the requirements to occupy the office of director, guaranteeing the phased [escalonada] renewal of the directors specified in numeral 3 of this Article, in groups of three and every three years. As of the first renewal, the term of all the directors will be of nine years.
Article 319
The Directive Board will have the following faculties and attributions, without prejudice to the others determined by the Constitution and the Law:
1. To appoint and remove the Administrator and Sub-Administrator of the Canal and determine their attributions, in accordance with the Law.
2. To establish the tolls, rates and fees for the use of the Canal, and its related services, subject to the final approval of the Council of the Cabinet.
3. To contract loans, with prior approval of the Council of the Cabinet and within the limits established in the Law.
4. To grant concessions for the provision of services to the Panama Canal Authority and to the vessels that transit it.
5. To propose the limits of the hydrographic watershed of the Canal for the approval of the Council of the Cabinet and the National Assembly.
6. To approve privately the regulations that develop the general norms enacted
by the Legislative Organ on proposal of the Executive Organ, concerning the regime of contracting, of  purchases and all the matters necessary for the better functioning, maintenance, conservation and modernization of the Canal, within the national maritime strategy.
7. To exercise all of those established by this Constitution and the Law.
Article 320
The Panama Canal Authority shall adopt a system of triennial financial planning and administration in accordance with which it shall approve, by means of a substantiated resolution, its bill of the annual budget, which will not form part of the General Budget of the State.
The Panama Canal Authority will present the bill of the Budget to the Council of the Cabinet, which in turn, will submit it to the consideration of the National Assembly for its examination, approval or rejection, in accordance with that provided in Chapter 2, Title IX of this Constitution.
In the Budget the contributions to social security and the payments of rates for public services rendered shall be established, as well as the transfer of the economic surpluses to the National Treasury, once the costs of operation, investment, functioning, maintenance, modernization, and enlargement of the Canal and the necessary reserves for contingencies, provided in accordance with the Law and its Administration, have been covered.
The execution of the budget will be the charge of the Administrator of the Canal and will be supervised [fiscalizada] by the Directive Board, or by whoever it designates, and, only by means of subsequent control, by the Office of the Comptroller General of the Republic.
Article 321
The Panama Canal Authority will pay annually to the National Treasury fees [derechos/rights] per net tonnage of the Panama Canal, or their equivalent, collected from the vessels subject to the payment of tolls transiting through the Panama Canal. These fees shall be established by the Panama Canal Authority and will not be inferior to those which the Republic of Panama should receive correspondingly [por igual concepto] on 31 December 1999.
Because of their transit through the Panama Canal, the vessels, their cargo or their passengers, their owners, shipbuilders or their functioning, as well as the Panama Canal Authority, will not be subject to any other national or municipal encumbrance.
Article 322
The Panama Canal Authority will be subject to a special labor regime based on a system of merits and shall adopt a General Plan of Employment which will maintain as minimum, the conditions and labor rights similar to those existing on 31 December 1999. To these Workers and to those who must be covered by a special pension during that year and whose positions are determined as necessary in accordance with the applicable norms, the contracting with equal benefits and conditions to those corresponding up to that date, will be guaranteed to them.
The Panama Canal Authority shall contract, preferentially, with Panamanian citizens. The Organic Law shall regulate the contracting of foreign workers so that the conditions or the standards [normas] of living of the Panamanian employee is not impaired. Taking into consideration the essential international public service provided by the Canal, its functioning may not be interrupted for any cause. The labor disputes between the workers of the Panama Canal and its Administration shall be resolved between the workers or the unions [sindicatos] and the Administration, following the mechanisms of resolution [dirimencia] established in the Law. Arbitration will constitute the last administrative instance.
Article 323
The regime contained in this Title may only be developed by Laws establishing general norms. The Panama Canal Authority may regulate these matters and will provide copy of all the regulations issued in the exercise of this faculty to the Legislative Organ, within a term not greater than fifteen calendar days.
TITLE XV
FINAL AND TRANSITORY PROVISIONS
Chapter 1
Final Provisions
Article 324
This Constitution will enter into force from 11 October 1972.
Article 325
The treaties or international agreements [convenios] that the Executive Organ concludes concerning the Panama Canal, its adjacent zone and the protection of this Canal, as well as the construction of a Canal at sea-level or of a third set of locks [esclusas], will be approved by the Legislative Organ and, after being approved, they will be submitted to a national referendum, that may not be held earlier than the three months following the legislative approval.
No amendment, reserve, or understanding that refers to such treaties or agreements will be valid, if it does not comply with the requirements dealt with in the previous paragraph.
This provision will apply also to any proposal of construction of a third set of locks or of a canal at sea-level on the existing route, which the Panama Canal Authority may propose to realize, either by administration or through contracts concluded with any private enterprise or enterprises or those belonging to another State or to other States. In these cases, the construction proposal, which must be approved previously by the Executive Organ and submitted to the Legislative Organ for its approval or rejection, will be submitted to a referendum. Any project concerning the construction of a new Canal will also be submitted to a referendum.
Article 326
All of the laws and other juridical norms that are contrary to this Constitution are abrogated [derogadas], except for those relating to the parental authority [patria potestad] and support [alimentos], which will continue in force in the parts which are contrary to this Constitution for a period not greater than twelve months from its entry into force.
Chapter 2
Transitory Dispositions
Article 327
The following transitory provisions are adopted with regard to the modifications introduced by the Legislative Act of 2004:
1. As a general rule, the provisions of this constitutional reform have immediate force, from their promulgation, except in the following cases:
When a transitory rule prescribes a specific date for its entry into force.
When specific Titles or Articles of the Constitution of 1972, which will be replaced or reformed, maintain [their] force temporarily.
2. The changes related to the initiation and the termination of the ordinary legislatures, will enter into force on the first of July 2009.
3. The Magistrate of the Electoral Tribunal who are selected at the end of the term of the current Magistrates, will be appointed in the following terms: that appointed by the Judicial Organ, for a term of six years; that appointed by the 
Executive Organ, for a term of eight years; and that appointed by the Legislative Organ, for a term of ten years, to the effect of establishing the system of phased [escalonados] appointments of the Magistrates of the Electoral Tribunal.
4. As long as the Law which regulates the Tribunal of Accounts is not enacted and has not entered into force, all the existing norms and procedures concerning the jurisdiction of accounts will continue in force.
Once the Tribunal of Accounts enters into [its] function, all proceedings which are pending before the Dirección de Responsibilidade Patrimonial [Department of Financial Liability] of the Office of Comptroller General, will transfer to be of the competence of said Tribunal.
In order to assure the phased appointments, the first Magistrates who compose the Tribunal of Accounts will be appointed as [follows]: that appointed by the Judicial Organ, for a period of six years; that appointed by the Executive Organ, for a term of eight years; and that appointed by the Legislative Organ, for a term of ten years.
5. The functionaries of popular election for the term 2004-2009, will conclude their term on 30 June 2009.
6. The Legislative Organ will appoint a Comisión de Estilo [Style Commission] to order the Articles of the Constitution, together with their modifications, in a numerical order, which shall see to the concordance of such numerical order with the numbers of those Articles to which any constitutional norm has made reference.
7. This Legislative Act of the year 2004 will enter into force from its publication in the Gaceta Oficial which must be accomplished by the Executive Organ, within the ten working days which follow its ratification by the National Assembly.
8. The elimination of the offices of popular election that are specified in this constitutional reform will become effective as of the general elections of 2009.
9. The public functionaries whose appointments are contemplated in this Constitution and who are discharging their functions at the moment of entry into force of these reforms, will exercise their offices [cargos] until the expiration of the term for which they have been appointed.
Article 328
In matters that do not contradict that provided for in this Constitution, the Panama Canal Authority will integrate into its organization the administrative and operational structure existing in the Panama Canal Commission on 31 December 1999, including its departments, offices, positions, norms in effect, regulations and collective agreements [convenciones] in force, until these are modified in accordance with the Law.