About Justiciable Controversy

Also commonly known as a justiciable question here in the

Philippines, a justiciable controversy is basically a query to and decided
by a court that involves issues regarding legally demandable and
enforceable rights by one party against another party disputing such
rights. In more comprehensible terms, it is an issue which the court
could answer and decide because of its involved legal aspect. It refers to
bringing to court a predicament where, for example, one person or a
group of people, asserts a right or number of rights against another that
could be settled by referring carefully to existing competent laws. The
courts are the ones in charge of settling such kinds of disputes due to
their more-than-average competence in the understanding and
application of the law, especially of the highest law of the land which is
the Philippine Constitution.
A justiciable controversy could be compared against a political
question, which the latter involves not of the legality of the acts or
issues, but of the decision-making power of the people in their sovereign
capacity. Political questions are left either to the legislative or the
executive branch of the government, and both of the branches have the
full discretionary authority to settle these kinds of issues. As a result, the
judicial branch of the government cannot decide and answer political
questions because of the mere absence of the essence of legality and
reference to laws. It cannot have that jurisdiction to settle and it should
stay away and not get involved in such disputes that only the peoples
wisdom and judgment can render them effective or ineffective. If ever
the courts attempt to do so, it would be considered as an encroachment
upon the other branches powers and could violate the doctrine of
separation of powers. These three branches of the government have their
own respective scopes of authority, and the judiciary, being an expert on
law interpretation and application, should confine their powers to
justiciable questions only.

RICHARD L. CHICO

LLB-1

LEGAL RESEARCH