THE CONTROL POWER

Section 17, Article VII of the Constitution mandates that the President shall have the control of all the executive departments, bureaus and offices. He shall ensure that the laws be faithfully executed.

Control is defined as the power of an officer to alter or modify or nullify or set aside what a subordinate officer had done in the performance of his duties and to substitute the judgment of the former for that of the latter. It includes the authority to order the doing of an act by a subordinate or to undo such act or to assume a power directly vested in him by law. (Cruz, 2002).

The control power of the President is directly derived from the Constitution. Thus, any law that will limit the exercise of his control power is invalid. The members of the Cabinet as his alter ego are under the full control of the President. He may appoint them as he sees fit, shuffle them at pleasure, and replace them in his discretion without any legal inhibition whatsoever. (ibid).

Control vs. Supervision
Control is different from supervision. To supervise is to oversee that subordinate officers perform their duties. If the subordinates fail or neglect to fulfill them, then the officer may take such action or steps as prescribed by law to make them perform these duties.

The "take-care" clause
The President is considered as the Law Enforcer. He is to enforce the Constitution, statutes, judicial decisions, administrative rules and regulations and municipal ordinances, as well as treaties entered into by the government.  The President cannot choose what he just would like to enforce or what he deemed lawful. He is to execute and implement all laws unless it is declared unconstitutional by the judiciary.