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OVEMBER 17, 2013JEFF REY

G.R. No. 76180 October 24, 1986
IN RE: SATURNINO V. BERMUDEZ
Facts:
In a petition for declaratory relief with no respondents,
petitioner asked the court if the provision of the Section 5
Article XVIII of the 1986 Constitution, to wit: The six-year
term of the incumbent President and Vice-President
elected in the February 7, 1986 election is, for purposes of
synchronization of elections, hereby extended to noon of
June 30, 1992, refers to the then-incumbent President
Corazon Aquino and Vice-President Salvador Laurel or
the previously-elected President Ferdinand E. Marcos and
Vice-President Arturo M. Tolentino.
After the election of February 7, 1986 where Marcos and
Tolentino were declared the winners, Aquino and Laurel
were installed into the position last February 25, 1986 after
the infamous People Power Revolution. The next regular
election for the President and Vice-President was held last
May 2, 1992.
Issue:
Whether the aforecited article applies to the then-
incumbent President and Vice-President, or the previously
elected President and Vice-President.
Held:
The petition was hereby dismissed outright for:
1. Lack of jurisdiction. Court has no jurisdiction over
petition for declaratory relief. Rules of Court states that it is
the RTC (Regional Trial Courts) who has the jurisdiction

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over petitions for declaratory relief. Also, incumbent

Presidents are immune from suit or from being brought to
court during the period of their incumbency and tenure.

2. Lack of cause of action on the part of petitioner.

Petitioner had no personality to use, and his allegation
was manifestly gratuitous. The legitimacy of the Aquino
government was not a justiciable matter. It belongs to the
realm of politics where only the people of the Philippines
are the judge, and the people have made judgment.

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