POLITICAL AND INTERNATIONAL LAW

I. THE PHILIPPINE CONSTITUTION

A. Constitution: definition, nature, and concepts

1. That body of rules and maxims in accordance with which the powers of sovereignty are habitually
exercised
2. That written instrument enacted by direct action of the people by which the fundamental powers
of the government are established, limited and defined, and by which those powers are distributed
among the several departments for their safe and useful exercise for the benefit of the body politic
3. Classification
1. Written or unwritten
1. Embodied in one document, several documents
2. Enacted (conventional) or evolved (cumulative)
3. Rigid or flexible
4. Qualities of a good written Constitution
1. Broad
2. Brief
3. Definite
5. Interpretation
1. Verbal egis
2. Ratio legis est anima
3. Ut magis valeat quam pereat
4. The proper interpretation, therefore, depends more on how it was understood by the people
adopting it than in the framers’ understanding thereof
5. The provisions should be considered self-executing; mandatory rather than directory; and
prospective rather than retroactive
B. Parts
1. Constitution of liberty
2. Constitution of government
3. Constitution of sovereignty
C. Amendments and revisions
1. Quantitative test asks whether the proposed change is so extensive in its provisions as to change
directly the “substance entirety” of the Constitution by the deletion or alteration of numerous
provisions
2. Qualitative test, which inquires into the qualitative effects of the proposed change in the
Constitution. The main inquiry is whether the change will “accomplish such far-reaching changes in
the nature of our basic governmental plan as to amount to a revision
3. Steps in the amendatory process
1. Proposal
1. Congress by vote of ¾, voting separately; constituted assembly
2. Congress by vote of 2/3, voting separately, constitutional convention
1. May be by majority vote whether to call or not to call a con-con to be
resolved by the people in a referendum
3. People’s initiative
1. At least 12% of the total number of registered voters, of which every
legislative district must be represented by at least 3% of the registered voters
therein
2. Cannot be more than once in every 5 years
3. Under RA 6735 may be:
1. Initiative on the Constitution
2. Initiative on statutes
3. Initiative on local legislation
4. Indirect initiative, exercise of initiative by the people through a
proposition sent to Congress or the local legislative body for action
5. But this law is only sufficient in so far as initiatives on statutes and
local legislation
4. There is no enabling law
5. Essential elements
1. People must author and sign the entire proposal; no agent or
representative can sign in their behalf
 2. As an initiative upon a petition, the proposal must be embodied in
the petition
6. Can only be resorted to in cases of amendment
2. Ratification
1. A majority of the votes cast in a plebiscite held not earlier than 60 nor later than 90
days after the approval of the proposal by Congress or the Constitutional Convention,
or after the certification by the Commission on Elections of the sufficiency of the
petition for initiative
2. Effectivity of the amendment or revision is upon ratification and not on the date of
the declaration that it was validly ratified. (See the Transitory Provisions)
3. Doctrine of proper submission
1. Plebiscite may be held on the same day as a regular election
2. No ratification of piece-meal amendments
D. Self-executing and non-self-executing provisions
1. A provision which lays down a general principle is usually not self-executing
2. A constitutional provision is self-executing if the nature and extent of the right conferred and the
liability imposed are fixed by the Constitution itself
1. Right to healthful ecology
2. Right to public disclosure of public information
E. General provisions
1. The flag of the Philippines shall be red, white and blue, with a sun and three stars, as consecrated
and honored by the people and recognized by law
2. The Congress may, by law, adopt a new name for the country, a national anthem, or a national
seal, which shall all be truly reflective and symbolic of the ideals, history, and traditions of the people.
Such law shall take effect only upon its ratification by the people in a national referendum
3. AFP shall be composed of a citizen armed force
1. They shall take an oath or affirmation to defend the Constitution
2. Cannot engage in partisan political activity
3. No member of the armed forces in the active service shall, at any time, be appointed or
designated in any capacity to any civilian position in the Government including GOCCs
4. Mass media should be owned 100% by Filipinos
5. Advertising company should be at least 70% Filipino-owned. All executives and managing officers
of such entities must be citizens of the Philippines

II. GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS

A. National territory
1. The national territory comprises the Philippine archipelago, with all the islands and waters
embraced therein, and all other territories over which the Philippines has sovereignty or jurisdiction,
consisting of its terrestrial, fluvial and aerial domains, including its territorial sea, the seabed, the
subsoil, the insular shelves, and other submarine areas
1. The territorial waters of an archipelagic state shall extend up to 12 nautical miles from its
baselines;
2. Its contiguous zone shall extend up to 24 nautical miles from its baselines;
3. Its exclusive economic zone shall extend up to 200 nautical miles from its baselines;
4. Its continental shelf “comprises the seabed and subsoil of the submarine areas that extend
beyond its territorial sea throughout the natural prolongation of its land territory to the outer
edge of the continental margin, or to a distance of 200 nautical miles from the baselines from
which the breadth of the territorial sea is measured where the outer edge of the continental
margin does not extend up to that distance
2. Although the contiguous zone and most of the exclusive economic zone may not, technically, be
part of the territory of the State, nonetheless, the coastal State enjoys preferential rights over the
marine resources found within these zones
3. UNCLOS III and its ancillary baselines laws play no role in the acquisition, enlargement or, as
petitioners claim, diminution of territory. Under traditional international law typology, States acquire
(or conversely, lose) territory through occupation, accretion, cession and prescription, not by
executing multilateral treaties on the regulations of sea-use rights or enacting statutes to comply with
the treaty’s terms to delimit maritime zones and continental shelves. Territorial claims to land features
are outside UNCLOS III, and are instead governed by the rules on general international law
1. Archipelagic doctrine
1. The waters around, between and connecting the islands of the archipelago, regardless of
their breadth and dimensions, form part of the internal waters of the Philippines
 2. Straight baseline method: Imaginary straight lines are drawn joining the outermost points
of outermost islands of the archipelago, enclosing an area the ratio of which should not be
more than 9:1 (water to land); provided that the drawing of baselines shall not depart, to any
appreciable extent, from the general configuration of the archipelago. The waters within the
baselines shall be considered internal waters; while the breadth of the territorial sea shall then
be measured from the baselines
B. State immunity
1. The State cannot be sued without its consent; includes
1. Foreign States
2. UN, its organs and specialized agencies
3. International organizations or agencies
1. SEAFDEC
2. IRRI
4. Non suability can be invoked at any stage of the proceeding, the rule on jurisdiction through
estoppel under Tijam v. Sinbonghanoy is not applicable
2. A suit is against the State if it requires:
1. Affirmative act
2. Appropriation of funds
3. Adversely affects properties, rights, and interests
4. But if there is allegation of bad faith, malice, gross negligence, unauthorized act, grave
abuse of discretion, then it is not a suit against the State
3. If it is a suit against the State, there should be consent in order to be suable such as:
1. Express
1. Charter of incorporated agencies
2. Charter of LGUs, LGC
3. RA 3083 on governmental contracts involving money claims
1. There must be prior filing of claim before the COA and the latter did not
decide within 2 months from presentation.
4. Art. 2180 of CC on special agents
1. This is applicable for actions for damages based on quasi-delict
5. Art. 2189 of CC on defective condition on public works
6. Other special laws
7. It must be pursuant to a law by Congress
2. Implied
1. If engaged in proprietary functions not incidental to governmental functions
2. Commences litigation
1. Intervention by the State would constitute commencement of litigation,
except when the State intervenes not for the purpose of asking for any
affirmative relief, but only for the purpose of resisting the claim precisely
because of immunity from suit
2. Only a compulsory counterclaim can be filed against it
3. Enters into a proprietary contract
1. Must not be incidental to governmental functions
4. Eminent domain cases
4. If suit is against the State and there is consent so it is suable and later held liable, enforcement is:
1. If governmental funds, ask for appropriation. If refuses, file for mandamus but only to
LGUs
2. If proprietary, file for a writ of execution
3. If already appropriated, file for a writ of execution
C. General principles and state policies
1. Republicanism
1. Essential features are representation and renovation
2. Manifestation
1. Government of laws, not of men
2. Rule of the majority
3. Bill of rights
4. Legislature cannot pass irrepealable laws
5. Accountability of public officials
6. Separation of powers
2. Incorporation clause
1. Renunciation of war
 2. Where the conflict is irreconcilable and a choice has to be made between a rule of
international law and municipal law, jurisprudence dictates that municipal law should be
upheld by the municipal courts
3. Civilian supremacy
4. Duty of government to serve and protect the people and the latter to defend the former
1. Cossi commitatus, compulsory personal military or civil service
5. Separation of church and state
1. Reinforced by
1. Freedom of religion clause
2. Religious sect cannot be registered as a political party
3. No sectoral representative from the religious sector
4. Prohibition against appropriation for sectarian benefit
2. Exceptions
1. Churches, parsonages, etc., actually, directly and exclusively used for religious
purposes shall be exempt from taxation)
2. Prohibition against appropriation for sectarian benefit, except when priest, etc., is
assigned to the armed forces, or to any penal institution or government orphanage or
leprosarium
3. Optional religious instruction for public elementary and high school students
4. Filipino ownership requirement for educational institutions, except those
established by religious groups and mission boards
6. Independent foreign policy and freedom from nuclear weapons
1. Paramount consideration shall be national sovereignty, territorial integrity, national
interest, and the right to self determination
7. Just and dynamic social order
8. Promotion of social justice
9. Respect for human dignity and human rights
10. Family and youth
11. Fundamental equality of men and women
11. Promotion of health and ecology
1. Self-executory (Oposa v. Factoran)
2. Inter-generational responsibility
12. Priority to education, science and technology
1. Sec. 5, Art. XIV, which provides for the highest budgetary priority to education, is merely
directory
13. Protection to labor
14. Self-reliant and independent economic order
1. Free enterprise does not call for the removal of protective regulations. However, it must be
clearly explained and proven by competent evidence how such protective regulations would
result in restraint of trade
15. Land reform
16. Indigenous cultural communities
17. Independent people’s organizations
18. Communication and information in nation-building
19. Autonomy of local governments
1. Only decentralization of administration, not decentralization of power
20. Equal access of opportunities to public office
21. Honest public service and full public disclosure
1. Diplomatic negotiations are privileged in order to encourage a frank exchange of
exploratory ideas between the parties by shielding the negotiations from public view
D. Separation of powers
1. Not independence but interdependence
2. Principle of blending of powers
E. Checks and balances
F. Delegation of powers
1. Permissible delegation of legislative powers
1. Tariff powers to the President
2. Emergency powers to the President
1. This is different from the calling out power and martial law. It is the legislative that
determines the national emergency
2. However, the president can declare a state of emergency but cannot give him the
power to exercise emergency powers
 3. State of War - Congress. However, the president can declare war but cannot exercise
emergency powers. Congress' determination is important for the appropriation of
necessary funds
4. The exercise of emergency powers, such as the taking over of privately-owned
public utilities or businesses affected with public interest, requires a delegation from
Congress. Sec. 17, Art. XII, must be understood as an aspect of the emergency powers
clause
5. Under Section 23(2), Article VI of the Constitution, Congress may grant the
President emergency powers subject to the following conditions:
1. There is a war or other national emergency;
2. The grant of emergency powers must be for a limited period;
3. The grant of emergency powers is subject to such restrictions as Congress
may prescribe; and
4. The emergency powers must be exercised to carry out a declared national
policy
3. Delegation to the people
1. RA 6735 on initiative
2. More of a reservation rather than a delegation
3. Referendum v. plebiscite (only for ratification of changes in the Constitution)
4. Delegation to LGUs
5. Delegation to administrative bodies
2. Tests for valid delegation
1. Completeness test. The law must be complete in all its essential terms and conditions when
it leaves the legislature so that there will be nothing left for the delegate to do when it reaches
him except to enforce it
1. The provision granting the court the authority to impose a penalty of imprisonment
in its discretion is unconstitutional. Neither a minimum nor a maximum deviation was
set by the legislature. The courts are given wide latitude to fix the term of the
imprisonment without any sufficient standard. This power is essentially legislative
2. Sufficient standard test. A sufficient standard is intended to map out the boundaries of the
delegate’s authority by defining the legislative policy and indicating the circumstances under
which it is to be pursued and effected
G. Forms of government
1. De jure
2. De facto
1. That which takes possession or control of, or usurps, by force or by the voice of the
majority, the rightful legal government and maintains itself against the will of the latter
2. That which is established by the inhabitants of a territory who rise in insurrection against
the parent state
3. That which is established by the invading forces of an enemy who occupy a territory in the
course of war; de facto government by paramount force
3. Presidential
4. Parliamentary. In a parliamentary form of government, the cabinet, the executive arm, are
simultaneously members of the legislature. The Prime Minister is the head of the cabinet. The cabinet
remains in power only so long as it enjoys the support of the majority of the legislature. The Prime
Minister may be removed on a vote of “no confidence”. The Prime Minister can dissolve the
legislature and call for new elections. In a parliamentary form of government, there is fusion of
executive and legislative powers in the legislature
5. Unitary
6. Federal

III. LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT

A. Who may exercise legislative power

1. Congress
2. Regional/Local legislative power
3. People’s initiative on statutes
1. Indirect initiative is the exercise of initiative by the people through a proposition sent to
Congress or local legislative body for action
2. Not less than 2,000 registered voters in case of autonomous regions, 1,000 in case of
provinces and cities, 100 in case of municipalities, and 50 in case of barangays, may file a
 petition with the Regional Assembly or local legislative body, respectively, proposing the
adoption, enactment, repeal, or amendment, of any law, ordinance or resolution
3. Limitations on local initiative
1. The power of local initiative shall not be exercised more than once a year
2. Initiative shall extend only to subjects or matters which are within the legal powers
of the local legislative bodies to enact
3. If at any time before the initiative is held, the local legislative body shall adopt in
toto the proposition presented, the initiative shall be cancelled
a. Initiative and referendum
1. Referendum is the power of the electorate to approve or reject legislation through
an election called for the purpose
2. No petition embracing more than one subject shall be submitted to the electorate;
and statutes involving emergency measures, the enactment of which is specifically
vested in Congress by the Constitution, cannot be subject to referendum until ninety
(90) days after their effectivity
4. The President under a martial law rule or in a revolutionary government
B. Houses of Congress
1. Senate
1. 24 Senators elected at large
2. Natural-born citizen of the Philippines, and, on the day of the election, at least 35 years of
age, able to read and write, a registered voter, and a resident of the Philippines for not less
than two years immediately preceding the day of the election
3. Six years, commencing at noon on the 30th day of June next following their election; 2
consecutive terms
1. Time for commencement of term may be changed by law
2. House of Representatives
a. District representatives and questions of apportionment
1. Elected from legislative districts apportioned among the provinces, cities and the
Metropolitan Manila area
2. On the basis of a uniform and progressive ratio
3. But: (i) each city with not less than 250,000 inhabitants shall be entitled to at least
one representative; and (ii) each province, irrespective of number of inhabitants, is
entitled to at least one representative
4. Each legislative district shall comprise, as far as practicable, contiguous, compact
and adjacent territory. This is intended to prevent gerrymandering
5. Congress to make reapportionment of legislative districts within three years
following the return of every census
6. The Court held that the Constitution does not preclude Congress from increasing
its membership by passing a law other than a general apportionment law
7. Natural-born Filipino citizen, and, on the day of the election, at least 25 years of
age, able to read and write, and, except the party-list representatives, a registered voter
in the district in which he shall be elected, and a resident thereof for not less than one
year immediately preceding the day of the election
8. Three years, commencing at noon on the 30th day of June next following their
election; 3 consecutive terms
b. Party-list system (R.A. No. 7941)
1. Rules as to who can participate in the party-list election (Atong Paglaum v.
COMELEC, 2013)
1. Three different groups may participate in the party-list system: (1) national
parties or organizations, (2) regional parties or organizations, and (3) sectoral
parties or organizations
2. National parties or organizations and regional parties or organizations do
not need to organize along sectoral lines and do not need to represent any
"marginalized and underrepresented" sector
3. Political parties can participate in party-list elections provided they register
under the party-list system and do not field candidates in legislative district
elections. A political party, whether major or not, that fields candidates in
legislative district elections can participate in party-list elections only through
its sectoral wing that can separately register under the party-list system. The
sectoral wing is by itself an independent sectoral party, and is linked to a
political party through a coalition.
 4. Sectoral parties or organizations may either be "marginalized and
underrepresented" or lacking in "well-defined political constituencies." It is
enough that their principal advocacy pertains to the special interest and
concerns of their sector. The sectors that are "marginalized and
underrepresented" include labor, peasant, fisherfolk, urban poor, indigenous
cultural communities, handicapped, veterans, and overseas workers. The
sectors that lack "well-defined political constituencies" include professionals,
the elderly, women, and the youth.
5. A majority of the members of sectoral parties or organizations that represent
the "marginalized and underrepresented" must belong to the "marginalized and
underrepresented" sector they represent. Similarly, a majority of the members
of sectoral parties or organizations that lack "well-defined political
constituencies" must belong to the sector they represent. The nominees of
sectoral parties or organizations that represent the "marginalized and
underrepresented," or that represent those who lack "well-defined political
constituencies," either must belong to their respective sectors, or must have a
track record of advocacy for their respective sectors. The nominees of national
and regional parties or organizations must be bona-fide members of such
parties or organizations
1. List of nominees shall not include any candidate for any elective
office or a person who has lost his bid for an elective office in the
immediately preceding election. No change shall be allowed after the
list shall have been submitted to the Comelec except in cases where the
nominee dies, or withdraws in writing his nomination, becomes
incapacitated, in which case the name of the substitute nominee shall
be placed last in the list
2. Natural-born citizen of the Philippines, a registered voter, a resident
of the Philippines for at least one year immediately preceding the day
of the election, able to read and write, a bona fide member of the party
or organization which he seeks to represent for at least 90 days
preceding the day of the election, and is at least 25 years of age on the
day of the election. For the youth sector, he must be at least 25 years
of age but not more than 30 years of age on the day of the election. Any
youth representative who attains the age of 30 during his term shall be
allowed to continue in office until the expiration of his term
6. National, regional, and sectoral parties or organizations shall not be
disqualified if some of their nominees are disqualified, provided that they have
at least one nominee who remains qualified
2. Disqualifications
1. Religious organization
2. Foreign organization or receiving support from it
3. Ceased to exist for at least 1 year
4. it fails to participate in the last two preceding elections or fails to obtain at
least 2% of the votes cast under
the party-list system in the two preceding elections for the constituency in
which it has registered
3. Parameters in the allocation of seats (BANAT v. COMELEC, 2009)
1. Twenty percent of the total number of the membership of the House of
Representatives is the maximum number of seats available to party-list
organizations, such that there is automatically one party-list seat for every four
existing legislative districts
1. Formula is “Number of seats available to legislative districts / .80 x
.20 = Number of seats available to party-list representatives”
2. Garnering two percent of the total votes cast in the party-list elections
guarantees a party-list organization one seat. The guaranteed seats shall be
distributed in a first round of seat allocation to parties receiving at least two
percent of the total party-list votes
3. The additional seats, that is, the remaining seats after allocation of the
guaranteed seats, shall be distributed to the party-list organizations including
those that received less than two percent of the total votes. The continued
operation of the two percent threshold as it applies to the allocation of the
additional seats is now unconstitutional because this threshold mathematically
 and physically prevents the filling up of the available party-list seats. The
additional seats shall be distributed to the parties in a second round of seat
allocation according to the two-step procedure laid down in the Decision of 21
April 2009 as clarified in this Resolution
4. The three-seat cap is constitutional. The three-seat cap is intended by the
Legislature to prevent any party from dominating the party-list system. There
is no violation of the Constitution because the 1987 Constitution does not
require absolute proportionality for the party-list system. The well-settled rule
is that courts will not question the wisdom of the Legislature as long as it is
not violative of the Constitution
1. Party-list representatives are proclaimed by the Comelec based on
the list of names submitted by the respective parties, organizations or
coalitions to the Comelec according to their ranking in the list
4. Any elected party-list representative who changes his political party or sectoral
affiliation during his term of office shall forfeit his seat; provided that if he changes
his political party or sectoral affiliation within 6 months before an election, he shall
not be eligible for nomination as party-list representative under his new party or
organization
5. In case of vacancy in the seats reserved for party- list representatives, the vacancy
shall be automatically filled by the next representative from the list of nominees in the
order submitted to the Comelec. If the list is exhausted, the party, organization or
coalition concerned shall submit additional nominees
C. Legislative privileges, inhibitions and disqualifications
1. No increase in salaries shall take effect until after the expiration of the full term of all the members
of the Senate and the House of Representatives approving such increase
2. In all offenses punishable by not more than 6 years of imprisonment, be privileged from arrest
while the Congress is in session
3. Not be held liable in any other place for any speech or debate in the Congress or in any committee
thereof
1. But can be disciplined under the internal rules of the house where he belongs
4. Incompatible office. Cannot hold any other office or employment in the Government or any
subdivision, agency, or instrumentality thereof, including government owned or controlled
corporations or their subsidiaries during his term without forfeiting his seat
1. Unless it is in an ex officio capacity
5. Forbidden office. Cannot be appointed to any office which may have been created or the
emoluments thereof increased during the term for which he was elected
1. Prohibition shall, however, last only for the duration of the term, not tenure, for which the
member of Congress was elected
6. Cannot personally appear as counsel before any court of justice or before the Electoral Tribunals,
or quasi-judicial or other administrative bodies
7. Cannot be directly or indirectly, be interested financially in any contract with, or in any franchise
or special privilege granted by the Government. He shall not intervene in any matter before any office
of the Government for his pecuniary benefit or where he may be called upon to act on account of his
office
1. Members of Congress are prohibited from obtaining loans from government-owned banks
only if it is for a business purpose
8. Section 12, Article VI of the Constitution does not prohibit the enactment of a law which will
benefit the business interests of a member of the Senate or the House of Representatives. It only
requires that if the member of Congress whose business interests will be benefited by the law is the
one who will file the bill, he should notify the House concerned of the potential conflict of interest
D. Quorum and voting majorities
1. Regular session. Congress shall convene once every year on the fourth Monday of July, unless a
different date is fixed by law, and shall continue for such number of days as it may determine until
thirty days before the opening of its next regular session, exclusive of Saturdays, Sundays and legal
holidays
2. Joint sessions:
1. Voting separately:
1. Choosing the President [Sec. 4, Art. VII]
2. Determine President’s disability [Sec. 11, Art. VII]
3. Confirming nomination of the Vice President [Sec. 9, Art. VII]
4. Declaring the existence of a state of war [Sec. 23, Art. VI]
5. Proposing constitutional amendments [Sec. 1, Art. XVII]
 2. Voting jointly: To revoke or extend proclamation suspending the privilege of the writ of
habeas corpus or placing the Philippines under martial law [Sec. 18, Art. VII]
3. Neither House during the sessions of the Congress shall, without the consent of the other, adjourn
for more than three days, nor to any other place than that in which the two Houses shall be sitting
4. The basis in determining the existence of a quorum in the Senate shall be the total number of
Senators who are in the country and within the coercive jurisdiction of the Senate
5. Matters which, under the Constitution, are to be entered in the journal: (a) Yeas and nays on third
and final reading of a bill; (b) Veto message of the President; (c) Yeas and nays on the repassing of
a bill vetoed by the President; and (d) Yeas and nays on any question at the request of 1/5 of members
present
6. Enrolled bill prevails, except as to matters which, under the Constitution, must be entered in the
Journal
E. Discipline of members
1. House may punish its members for disorderly behavior, and, with the concurrence of 2/3 of all its
members, suspend (for not more than sixty days) or expel a member
2. The determination of the acts which constitute disorderly behavior is within the full discretionary
authority of the House concerned, and the Court will not review such determination, the same being
a political question
3. The suspension contemplated in the Constitution is different from the suspension prescribed in the
Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act [RA 3019]. The latter is not a penalty but a preliminary
preventive measure and is not imposed upon the petitioner for misbehavior as a member of Congress
F. Electoral tribunals and the Commission on Appointments
1. Nature
1. Three Supreme Court justices designated by the Chief Justice, and six members of the
house concerned chosen on the basis of proportional representation from the political parties
registered under the party- list system represented therein. The Senior Justice shall be its
Chairman
2. “Disloyalty to the party” and “breach of party discipline” are not valid grounds for the
expulsion of a member. HRET members enjoy security of tenure; their membership may not
be terminated except for a just cause such as the expiration of congressional term, death,
resignation from the political party, formal affiliation with another political party, or removal
for other valid causes
1. A temporary alliance between the members of one political party and another
political party does not authorize a change in the membership of the Commission on
Appointments. Otherwise, the Commission on Appointments will have to be
reorganized as often as votes shift from one side to another in the House of
Representatives
3. The Senate President, as ex officio Chairman, 12 Senators and 12 Members of the House
of Representatives, elected by each House on the basis of proportional representation from
the political parties registered under the party-list system represented therein. The Chairman
shall not vote except in case of a tie
1. Although the 185 members of Progressive Party of the Philippines represent 10.98
seats in the Commission on Appointments, under the ruling in Guingona v. Gonzales,
214 SCRA 789 (1992), a fractional membership cannot be rounded off to full
membership because it will result in over-representation of that political party and
under-representation of the other political parties
4. Political party must have at least two elected senators for every seat in the Commission on
Appointments
2. Powers
1. But the HRET may assume jurisdiction only after the winning candidate (who is a party to
the election controversy) shall have been duly proclaimed, has taken his oath of office and
has assumed the functions of the office, because it is only then that he is said to be a member
of the House
2. The Commission shall act on all appointments submitted to it within 30 session days of
Congress from their submission. The Commission shall rule by a majority vote of its
members. The Commission shall meet only while Congress is in session, at the call of its
Chairman or a majority of all its members
G. Powers of Congress
1. Legislative
a. Legislative inquiries and the oversight functions
1. However, the mere filing of a criminal or an administrative complaint before a court
or a quasi-judicial body should not automatically bar the conduct of legislative inquiry
 2. It should be in accordance with duly published rules of procedure which must be
published
3. A distinction has to be made between the power to conduct inquiries in aid of
legislation, the aim of which is to elicit information that may be used for legislation,
and the power to conduct a question hour, the objective of which is to obtain
information in pursuit of Congress’ oversight function
1. If the appearance is required based on the Question Hour, such is merely
directory and not mandatory
2. However, when the inquiry in which Congress requires their appearance is
“in aid of legislation” under Sec. 21, the appearance is mandatory. When
Congress exercises its power of inquiry, the only way for department heads to
exempt themselves therefrom is by a valid claim of executive privilege. They
are not exempt by the mere fact that they are department heads. Only one
executive official may be exempted from this power — the President — on
whom executive power is vested, hence, beyond the reach of Congress except
through the power of impeachment
1. It should be the President who should invoke executive privilege in
favor of the department heads
4. Legislative oversight is a statutory provision requiring the President or an
administrative agency to present the proposed implementing rules and regulations of
a law to Congress which by itself or through a committee formed by it, retains a "right"
or "power" to approve or disapprove such regulations before they may take effect
b. Bicameral conference committee
1. It is within the power of the Bicameral Conference Committee to include in its
report an entirely new provision that is not found either in the House bill or in the
Senate bill. And if the Committee can propose an amendment consisting of one or two
provisions, there is no reason why it cannot propose several provisions, collectively
considered as “an amendment in the nature of a substitute”, so long as the amendment
is germane to the subject of the bills before the Committee
c. Limitations on legislative power
1. Procedural limitations
1. Only one subject
1. The title is not required to be an index of the contents of the bill. It
is sufficient compliance if the title expresses the general subject, and
all the provisions of the statute are germane to that subject
2. Three readings on separate days
1. It was held that the presidential certification dispensed with the
requirement not only of printing but also that of reading the bill on
separate days
3. A legislative act will not be declared invalid for non-compliance with the
internal rules of the House
i. Limitations on revenue, appropriations, and tariff measures
1. The Constitution does not prohibit the filing in the Senate of a substitute bill
in anticipation of its receipt of the bill from the House, so long as action by the
Senate as a body is withheld pending receipt of the House bill
1. A law is not an appropriate measure if the appropriation of public
funds is not its principal purpose and the appropriation is only
incidental to some other objective. Hence, it may originate in the
Senate
2. While it is the President who proposes the budget, still, the final say on the
matter of appropriation is lodged in Congress. The power of appropriation
carries with it the power to specify the project or activity to be funded under
the appropriation law. It can be as detailed and as broad as Congress wants it
to be
3. The existence of appropriations and the availability of funds are
indispensable requisites to, or conditions sine qua non for, the execution of
government contracts
4. Appropriation must be devoted to a public purpose which must be specified
5. The sum authorized to be released must be determinate, or at least
determinable
1. The presidential decrees providing for the appropriation of funds to
pay the public debt do not violate Section 29(1), Article VI of the
 Constitution. They provide for a continuing appropriation, there is no
constitutional prohibition against this. The presidential decrees
appropriate as much money as is needed to pay the principal, interest,
taxes and other normal banking charges on the loan. Although no
specific amounts are mentioned, the amounts are certain because they
can be computed from the books of the National Treasury
6. Must be supported by funds actually available as certified to by the National
Treasurer, or to be raised by a corresponding revenue proposal included
therein
7. Limitations on the general appropriations law
1. Congress may not increase the appropriations recommended by the
President for the operation of the Government as specified in the
budget
2. The form, content, and manner of preparation of the budget shall be
prescribed by law
3. No provision or enactment shall be embraced unless it relates
specifically to some particular appropriation therein
4. If, by the end of any fiscal year, the Congress shall have failed to
pass the general appropriations bill for the ensuing fiscal year, the
general appropriations law for the preceding fiscal year shall be
deemed re-enacted
8. No law shall be passed authorizing any transfer of appropriations, however,
the President, the President of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of
Representatives, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, and the heads of
Constitutional Commissions may, by law, be authorized to augment any item
in the general appropriation law for their respective offices from savings in
other items of their respective appropriations
ii. Presidential veto and Congressional override
1. If the President disapproves the bill, he shall return the same, with his
objections thereto contained in his Veto Message, to the House of origin
[which shall enter the objections at large in its Journal]. The Veto is overridden
upon a vote of two-thirds of all members of the House of origin and the other
House [Yeas and nays entered in the Journal of each House]
2. No pocket veto. Veto must be made and communicated within 30 days.
Otherwise, deemed signed
3. Partial or item
1. It is allowed only for particular items in an appropriation, revenue
or tariff bill. Also for inappropriate provisions
2. The President cannot veto part of an item in an appropriation bill
while approving the remaining portion of the item
2. Non-legislative
a. Informing function
b. Power of impeachment
1. To initiate through the House of Representatives and, through the Senate, to try all
cases of impeachment against the President, Vice President, the Members of the
Supreme Court, the Members of the Constitutional Commissions and the
Ombudsman, or culpable violation of the Constitution, treason, bribery, graft and
corruption, other high crimes, or betrayal of public trust
2. A public officer who is removable by Impeachment cannot be charged before the
Sandiganbayan with an offense which carries with it the penalty of removal from
office unless he is first impeached. Otherwise, he will be removed from office by a
method other than impeachment
c. Other non-legislative powers
1. By a vote of 2/3 of both Houses in joint session assembled, voting separately,
declare the existence of a state of war
2. Punishment of contumacious witness may include imprisonment, for the duration
of the session. The Senate, being a continuing body, may order imprisonment for an
indefinite period, but principles of due process and equal protection will have to be
considered
3. Board of canvassers in the election of President and Vice-President
1. Congress may validly delegate the initial determination of the authenticity
and due execution of the certificates of canvass to a Joint Congressional
 Committee, composed of members of the House of Representatives and of the
Senate
2. Even after Congress has adjourned its regular session, it may continue to
perform this constitutional duty of canvassing the presidential and vice-
presidential election results without need of any call for a special session by
the President
4. Power to call a special election for President and Vice President
5. Power to judge President’s physical fitness to discharge the functions of the
Presidency
1. To decide whether the President is temporarily disabled in the event he
reassumes his office after the Cabinet, by a majority of vote of its members,
declared that he is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office and
now within five days insists that the President is really unable to discharge the
powers and duties of the presidency
6. Power to revoke or extend suspension of the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus
or declaration of martial law
7. Power to concur in Presidential amnesties. Concurrence of majority of all the
members of Congress
8. Power to concur in treaties or international agreements. Concurrence of at least 2/3
of all the members of the Senate
1. The statement that a treaty which provides tax exemption needs no
concurrence by a majority of all the Members of Congress is true. It is only a
law, not a treaty, granting a tax exemption which requires the concurrence of
a majority of all the Members of Congress
9. Power to confirm certain appointments/nominations made by the President
1. Nomination made by the President in the event of a vacancy in the Office
of Vice President, from among the members of Congress, confirmed by a
majority vote of all the Members of both Houses of Congress, voting
separately
2. Nominations made by the President under Sec. 16, Art. VII, confirmed by
Commission on Appointments
10. Power of impeachment
11. Power relative to natural resources [Sec. 2, Art. XII]
12. Power to propose amendments or revisions to the Constitution

IV. EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT

A. Privileges, inhibitions, and disqualifications

1. Presidential immunity
1. While the President is immune from suit, she may not be prevented from instituting suit
2. Presidential privilege
1. Pertains in the area of military and foreign relations
2. The necessity for withholding the information must be of such a high degree as the public
interest in enforcing that obligation in a particular case. In light of this highly exceptional
nature of the privilege, the Court finds it essential to limit to the President (and to the
Executive Secretary, by order of the President) the power to invoke the privilege
1. The provision in the Executive Order which authorized Department Secretaries to
invoke executive privilege in case senior officials in their departments are asked to
appear in a legislative investigation is unconstitutional. It is upon the President that
executive power is vested. Only the President can make use of Executive Privilege
3. The communications must be received by a close advisor of the President pursuant to the
proximity test
4. Presidential communications privilege applies to decision-making of the President. The
deliberative process privilege applies to decision-making of executive officials. Unlike the
"deliberative process privilege," "the presidential communications privilege" applies to
documents in their entirety and covers final and post decisional matters, as well as pre-
deliberative ones. The deliberative process privilege includes advisory opinions,
recommendations and deliberations comprising part of a process by which governmental
decisions and policies are formulated
3. Inhibitions
1. Shall not receive any other emoluments from the government or any other source
 2. Unless otherwise provided in this Constitution, shall not hold any other office or
employment
1. Vice President may be appointed to the Cabinet, without need of confirmation by
the Commission on Appointments; and the Secretary of Justice is an ex officio member
of the Judicial and Bar Council
2. This prohibition must not, however, be construed as applying to posts occupied by
the Executive officials without additional compensation in an ex-officio capacity, as
provided by law and as required by the primary functions of the said officials’ office.
The ex-officio position being actually and in legal contemplation part of the principal
office, it follows that the official concerned has no right to receive additional
compensation for his services in said position
3. Shall not directly or indirectly practice any other profession, participate in any business, or
be financially interested in any contract with, or in any franchise or special privilege granted
by the government
4. Strictly avoid conflict of interest in the conduct of their office
5. May not appoint spouse or relatives by consanguinity or affinity within the fourth civil
degree as Members of Constitutional Commissions, or the Office of the Ombudsman, or as
Secretaries, Under Secretaries, chairmen or heads of bureaus or offices, including
government-owned or -controlled corporations and their subsidiaries
B. Powers
1. Executive and administrative powers in general
1. No person may be elected President unless he is a natural-born citizen of the Philippines, a
registered voter, able to read and write, at least forty years of age on the day of the election,
and a resident of the Philippines for at least ten years immediately preceding such election
2. The specific grant of executive powers is not inclusive but is merely a limitation upon the
general grant
of executive power
3. President exercises residual powers
2. Power of appointment
a. In general
1. Distinguished from designation in that the latter simply means the imposition of
additional duties, usually by law, on a person already in the public service. It is also
different from the commission in that the latter is the written evidence of the
appointment
1. There is no security of tenure in designation
2. Permanent appointments are those extended to persons possessing the qualifications
and the requisite eligibility and are thus protected by the constitutional guarantee of
security of tenure. Temporary appointments are given to persons without such
eligibility, revocable at will and without the necessity of just cause or a valid
investigation; made on the understanding that the appointing power has not yet
decided on a permanent appointee and that the temporary appointee may be replaced
at any time a permanent choice is made
3. A regular appointment is one made by the President while Congress is in session,
takes effect only after confirmation by the Commission on Appointments, and once
approved, continues until the end of the term of the appointee. An ad interim
appointment is one made by the President while Congress is not in session, takes effect
immediately, but ceases to be valid if disapproved by the Commission on
Appointments or upon the next adjournment of Congress. In the latter case, the ad
interim appointment is deemed “by-passed” through inaction
1. Ad interim appointment is a permanent appointment
4. Limitations
1. The President may not appoint his spouse and relatives by consanguinity or
affinity within the fourth civil degree as Members of the Constitutional
Commissions, as Ombudsman, or as Secretaries, Undersecretaries, chairmen
or heads of bureaus or offices, including government-owned or -controlled
corporations
2. Appointments extended by an acting President shall remain effective unless
revoked by the elected President within ninety days from his assumption of
office
3. The presidential power of appointment may also be limited by Congress
through its power to prescribe qualifications for public office; and the judiciary
 may annul an appointment made by the President if the appointee is not
qualified or has not been validly confirmed
b. Commission on Appointments confirmation
1. A temporary appointment and a designation are not subject to confirmation by the
Commission on Appointments. Such confirmation, if given erroneously, will not
make the incumbent a permanent appointee
2. There is no dispute that when the Commission on Appointments disapproves an ad
interim appointment, the appointee can no longer be extended a new appointment,
inasmuch as the disapproval is a final decision of the Commission in the exercise of
its checking power on the appointing authority of the President
3. But when an ad interim appointment is by-passed because of lack of time or failure
of the Commission on Appointments to organize, there is no final decision by the
Commission to give or withhold its consent to the appointment. Absent such decision,
the President is free to renew the ad interim appointment
4. The President shall nominate, and with the consent of the Commission on
Appointments, appoint the following: [a] Heads of executive departments; [b]
Ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls; [c] Officers of the armed forces
from the rank of colonel or naval captain; and [d] Those other officers whose
appointments are vested in him in the Constitution
1. Congress cannot, by law, require the confirmation of appointments of
government officials other than those enumerated
2. Steps in the appointing process (must all be complied in order to be valid):
1. Nomination by the President;
2. Confirmation by the Commission on Appointments;
3. Issuance of the commission;
4. Acceptance by the appointee
5. He shall also appoint [a] All other officers of the Government whose appointments
are not otherwise provided by law; and [b] Those whom he may be authorized by law
to appoint. These do not require confirmation of the COA
c. Midnight appointments
1. Two months immediately before the next presidential elections and up to the end
of his term, a President or acting President shall not make appointments except
temporary appointments to executive positions when continued vacancies therein will
prejudice public service or endanger public safety
2. There is no law that prohibits local executive officials from making appointments
during the last days of their tenure
3. The President can make appointments to the Supreme Court two months before a
presidential election until the end of his term but not to the rest of the Judiciary like
the Court of Appeals. Under Section 4(1), Article VIII of the Constitution, vacancies
in the Supreme Court shall be filled within ninety (90) days from the occurrence of
the vacancy. Under Section 9, Article VIII of the Constitution, vacancies in the lower
courts shall be filled within ninety (90) days from submission of the list of nominees
d. Power of removal
1. Members of the career service of the Civil Service who are appointed by the
President may be directly disciplined by him provided that the same is for cause and
in accordance with the procedure prescribed by law
2. Members of the Cabinet and such officers whose continuity in office depends upon
the pleasure of the President may be replaced at any time, but legally speaking, their
separation is effected not by removal but by expiration of their term
3. Power of control and supervision
a. Doctrine of qualified political agency
1. The acts of the Secretaries of such departments performed and promulgated in the
regular course of business are, unless disapproved or reprobated by the Chief
Executive presumptively the acts of the Chief Executive
2. Appeal to the President from decisions of subordinate executive officers, including
Cabinet members, completes exhaustion of administrative remedies, except in the
instances when the doctrine of qualified political agency applies
b. Executive departments and offices
1. The President must exercise good faith in carrying out the reorganization of any
branch or agency of the executive department if it is for the purpose of economy or to
make bureaucracy more efficient
 2. Evidence of bad faith in the removal of civil service employees as a result of
reorganization: (a) where there is a significant increase in the number of positions in
the new staffing pattern of the department or agency concerned; (b) where an office is
abolished and another performing substantially the same functions is created; (c)
where incumbents are replaced by those less qualified in terms of status of
appointment, performance and merit; (d) where there is a classification of offices in
the department or agency concerned and the reclassified offices perform substantially
the same functions as the original offices; and (e) where the removal violates the order
of separation
c. Local government units
1. The President exercises only the power of general supervision over local
governments
4. Military powers
1. The ability of the President to require a military official to secure prior consent before
appearing in Congress pertains to a wholly different and independent specie of presidential
authority — the Commander-in-Chief powers of the President
2. Calling out power
1. Whenever it becomes necessary, he may call out such armed forces to prevent or
suppress lawless violence, invasion or rebellion
2. Part of the military powers of the President is the conduct of “saturation drives” or
“aerial target zoning” by members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines
3. President cannot exercise emergency powers without a law from Congress
4. The term “whenever becomes necessary” is a political question
5. The Court said that, in calling out the armed forces, a declaration of a state of
rebellion is an “utter superfluity”. At most, it only gives notice to the nation that such
a state exists and that the armed forces may be called to prevent or suppress it
3. Martial law
1. In cases of invasion or rebellion, when the public safety requires it, he may, for a
period not exceeding sixty days, suspend the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus or
place the Philippines or any part thereof under martial law
2. Duty of President to report action to Congress: within 48 hours, personally or in
writing
3. Congress may revoke [or extend on request of the President] the effectivity of
proclamation by a majority vote of all its members, voting jointly
4. The Supreme Court may review, in an appropriate proceeding filed by any citizen,
the sufficiency of the factual basis of the proclamation of martial law or the suspension
of the privilege of the writ or the extension thereof, and must promulgate its decision
thereon within thirty days from its filing
5. The suspension of the privilege of the writ does not impair the right to bail. The
suspension applies only to persons judicially charged for rebellion or offenses inherent
in or directly connected with invasion. During the suspension of the privilege of the
writ, any person thus arrested or detained shall be judicially charged within three days,
otherwise he shall be released
6. A state of martial law does not suspend the operation of the Constitution, nor
supplant the functioning of the civil courts or legislative assemblies, nor authorize the
conferment of jurisdiction on military courts and agencies over civilians where civil
courts are able to function, nor automatically suspend the privilege of the writ
5. Pardoning power
a. Nature and limitations
1. Cannot be granted in cases of impeachment
2. Cannot be granted in cases of violation of election laws without the favorable
recommendation of the Commission on Elections
3. Can be granted only after conviction by final judgment
4. Cannot be granted in cases of legislative contempt (as it would violate separation
of powers), or civil contempt (as the State is without interest in the same)
5. Cannot absolve the convict of civil liability
6. Cannot restore public officer forfeited
7. First, in this case, the power of executive clemency cannot be delegated for it was
not signed by the President himself but by the Executive Secretary and second, the
power of executive clemency cannot extend to administrative cases in the Judiciary,
because it will violate the principle of separation of powers and impair the power of
 the Supreme Court under Section 6, Article VIII of the Constitution of administrative
supervision over all courts
b. Forms of executive clemency
1. Pardon
1. Plenary
2. Partial
3. Absolute
4. Conditional
1. A judicial pronouncement that a convict who was granted a pardon
subject to the condition that he should not again violate any penal law
is not necessary before he can be declared to have violated the
condition of his pardon. Moreover, a hearing is not necessary before A
can be recommitted to prison. By accepting the conditional pardon. He
agreed that the determination by the President that he violated the
condition of his pardon shall be conclusive upon him and an order for
his arrest should at once issue
5. No need for distinct acts of acceptance
2. Commutation
3. Reprieve, postponement of sentence
4. Parole
5. Amnesty
1. One must admit his guilt of the offense covered by the proclamation;
acceptance is necessary
2. Looks backward and puts into oblivion the offense itself
3. There should be concurrence of majority of all the members of Congress
4. No need for prior conviction
6. Diplomatic power
1. The President may contract or guarantee foreign loans on behalf of the Republic with the
prior concurrence of the Monetary Board, and subject to such limitations as may be provided
by law
1. No need for concurrence of Senate
2. No treaty or international agreement shall be valid and effective unless concurred in by at
least 2/3 of all the members of the Senate
3. Distinguished treaties from executive agreements, thus: (i) international agreements which
involve political issues or changes of national policy and those involving international
arrangements of a permanent character take the form of a treaty; while international
agreements involving adjustment of details carrying out well established national policies and
traditions and involving arrangements of a more or less temporary nature take the form of
executive agreements; and (ii) in treaties, formal documents require ratification, while
executive agreements become binding through executive action
1. Executive agreement should not be contrary to an existing domestic law
2. Establishment of an embassy and consular offices is a treaty
3. The second Executive Agreement which allows the Republic of Kroi Sha to bring
to the Philippines its military complement, warships, and armaments from time may
be subject to the provisions of Section 25 of Article XVIII of the Constitution, which
provides that “foreign bases, troops or facilities shall not be allowed in the Philippines
except under a treaty duly concurred in by the Senate and, when the Congress so
requires, ratified by a majority of the votes cast by the people in a national referendum
held for that purpose, and recognized as a treaty by the of the contracting state”
4. Senate only concurs to treaties. It is the President who ratifies it
5. Power to ban aliens from entering the Philippines
7. Powers relative to appropriation measures
1. The President shall submit to Congress within 30 days from the opening of every regular
session, as the basis of the general appropriations act, a budget of expenditures and sources
of financing, including receipts from existing and proposed revenue measures
a. Validity of transferring savings between departments
8. Delegated powers
9. Veto powers
10. Residual powers
1. The President shall address the Congress at the opening of its regular session. He may also
appear before it at any other time
2. Call Congress to a special session
 3. Power to approve or veto bills
4. To consent to deputation of government personnel by the Commission on Elections
5. To discipline such deputies
11. Executive privilege
12. Emergency powers
1. The proclamation of a state of calamity by the President will have the following legal
effects:
1. The local government units in the Province of Aurora may enact a supplemental
budget for the purchase of supplies and materials or the payment of services to prevent
danger to or loss of life or property. (Section 321, Local Government Code)
2. The five per cent of the estimated revenue from regular sources required to be
appropriated in the budgets of local government units for unforeseen expenditures
may be used in the Province of Aurora. (Section 324(d), Local Government Code]
3. Science and technological personnel of the government in the Province of Aurora
shall be paid hazard allowance. (Section 7(c), Republic Act No. 8439)
4. Public health workers in the Province of Aurora shall be paid hazard allowance
(Section 21, Republic Act No. 7305)
5. The prices of basic necessities in the Province of Aurora shall automatically be
frozen at their prevailing levels or placed under automatic price control. (Section 6(1),
Republic Act No. 7581 entitled The Price Act)
6. A crime committed in the Province of Aurora will be considered as aggravated.
(Article 14(7), Revised Penal Code)
C. Rules of Succession
1. If no President and Vice President chosen nor shall have qualified, or both shall have died or
become permanently disabled: The President of the Senate or, in case of his inability, the Speaker of
the House of Representatives shall act as President until a President or a Vice President shall have
been chosen and qualified. In the event of inability of the officials mentioned, Congress shall, by law,
provide for the manner in which one who is to act as President shall be selected until a President or
a Vice President shall have qualified
2. The Court declared that the elements of a valid resignation are: [1] intent to resign; and [2] act of
relinquishment
3. At 10 o’clock in the morning of the 3rd day after the vacancy occurs, Congress shall convene
without need of a call, and within 7 days enact a law calling for a special election to elect a President
and a Vice President to be held not earlier than 45 nor later than 60 days from the time of such call.
The bill shall be deemed certified and shall become law upon its approval on third reading by
Congress, x x x The convening of Congress cannot be suspended nor the special election postponed,
x x x No special election shall be called if the vacancy occurs within 18 months before the date of
the next presidential election
4. The President shall nominate a Vice president from among the members of the Senate and the
House of Representatives who shall assume office upon confirmation by a majority vote of all the
Members of both Houses of Congress voting separately

V. JUDICIAL DEPARTMENT

A. Concepts
1. Judicial power
1. Includes the duty of the courts of justice to settle actual controversies involving rights which
are legally demandable and enforceable, and to determine whether or not there has been a
grave abuse of discretion amounting to lack or excess of jurisdiction on the part of any branch
or instrumentality of the Government
 2. The Committee on Accountability of Public Officers has no power to investigate the
scandal. Since the scandal is involved in a case pending in court, the investigation will
encroach upon the exclusive domain of the court. To allow the investigation will create the
possibility of conflicting judgments between the committee and the court. If the decision of
the committee were reached before that of the court, it might influence the judgment of the
court; sub judice rule
2. Judicial review; requisites
1. Functions are checking, legitimating and symbolic
2. Actual case or controversy
1. Must not be moot and academic
2. It was held that courts will still decide cases otherwise moot and academic if: (a)
there is a grave violation of the Constitution; (b) there is an exceptional character of
the situation and paramount public interest is involved; (c) the constitutional issues
raised require formulation of controlling principles to guide the bench, the bar and the
public; and (d) the case is capable of repetition yet evasive of review
3. The constitutional question must be raised by the proper party
1. A proper party is one who has sustained or is in imminent danger of sustaining an
injury as a result of the act complained of; locus standi
2. Direct injury test
3. For taxpayers, there must be a claim of illegal disbursement of public funds or that
the tax measure is unconstitutional
4. For voters, there must be a showing of obvious interest in the validity of the election
law in question
5. For concerned citizens, there must be a showing that the issues raised are of
transcendental importance which must be settled early
6. For legislators, there must be a claim that the official action complained of infringes
their prerogatives as legislators
7. Courts will not touch an issue involving the validity of a law unless there has been
a governmental act accomplished or performed that has a direct adverse effect on the
legal right of the person contesting its legality
8. The established rule is that a party can question the validity of a statute only if, as
applied to him, it is unconstitutional. The exception is the so-called ‘facial challenge”.
But the only time a facial challenge to a statute is allowed is when it operates in the
area of freedom of expression. In such instance, the “overbreadth doctrine” permits
a party to challenge the validity of a statute even though, as applied to him, it is not
unconstitutional, but it might be if applied to others Invalidation of the statute “on its
face”, rather than “as applied”, is permitted in the interest of preventing a “chilling
effect” on freedom of expression
9. Void-for-Vagueness. Related to “overbreadth”, this doctrine holds that a law is
facially invalid if men of common intelligence must necessarily guess at its meaning
and differ as to its application. It is subject to the same principles governing the
“overbreadth” doctrine. The Court has stressed that the vagueness doctrine merely
requires a reasonable degree of certainty for the statute to be upheld, not absolute
precision or mathematical exactitude
4. The constitutional question must be raised at the earliest possible opportunity
1. To raise it in the pleadings before a competent court that can resolve the same, such
that, if not raised in the pleadings, it cannot be considered at the trial and, if not
considered in the trial, it cannot be considered on appeal
2. First time before the Court of Appeals, the Supreme Court said that petitioner raised
the issue at the earliest opportunity. He could not raise it in his motion for
reconsideration before the Ombudsman, because the Office of the Ombudsman is
without jurisdiction to entertain questions of the constitutionality of a law
5. The decision on the constitutional question must be determinative of the case itself; lis mota
a. Operative fact doctrine
1. The doctrine of operative facts means that before a law was declared
unconstitutional, its actual existence must be taken into account and whatever was
done while the law was in operation should be recognized as valid
b. Moot questions
c. Political question doctrine
1. As pointed out in Marcos vs. Manglapus, 177 SCRA 668, so as not to disregard
entirely the political question doctrine, the extent of judicial review when political
questions are involved should be limited to a determination of whether or not there
 has been a grave abuse of discretion amounting to lack or excess of jurisdiction on the
part of the official whose act is being questioned. If grave abuse of discretion is not
shown, the courts should not substitute their judgment for that of the official
concerned and decide a matter which by its nature or by law is for the latter alone to
decide
B. Safeguards of Judicial independence
1. The Supreme Court is a constitutional body; it may not be abolished by the legislature
2. The members of the Supreme Court are removable only by impeachment
3. The Supreme Court may not be deprived of its minimum original and appellate jurisdiction;
appellate jurisdiction may not be increased without its advice and concurrence
4. The Supreme Court has administrative supervision over all inferior courts and personnel
5. The Supreme Court has the exclusive power to discipline judges/ justices of inferior courts
6. The members of the Judiciary have security of tenure
7. The members of the Judiciary may not be designated to any agency performing quasi-judicial or
administrative functions
8. Salaries of judges may not be reduced; the Judiciary enjoys fiscal autonomy
1. In downgrading the positions and salary grades of two positions in the Philippine Judicial
Academy, the DBM overstepped its authority and encroached upon the fiscal autonomy of
the Supreme Court and its power of supervision over court personnel, as enshrined in the
Constitution
2. The fiscal autonomy of the Judiciary means that appropriations for the Judiciary may not
be reduced by the legislature below the amount appropriated for the previous year and, after
approval, shall be automatically and regularly released
9. The Supreme Court, alone, may initiate and promulgate the Rules of Court
10. The Supreme Court, alone, may order temporary detail of judges
1. Assignment shall not exceed six months without the consent of the judge concerned
11. The Supreme Court can appoint all officials and employees of the Judiciary
C. Judicial restraint
D. Appointments to the Judiciary
1. Qualifications: Of proven competence, integrity, probity and independence
1. Supreme Court: Natural born citizen of the Philippines, at least 40 years of age, for 15 years
or more a judge of a lower court or engaged in the practice of law in the Philippines
2. Lower Collegiate Courts: Natural born citizen of the Philippines, member of the Philippine
Bar, but Congress may prescribe other qualifications
3. Lower Courts: Citizen of the Philippines, member of the Philippine Bar, but Congress may
prescribe other qualifications
2. Appointed by the President of the Philippines from among a list of at least three nominees prepared
by the Judicial and Bar Council for every vacancy; the appointment shall need no confirmation
3. Any vacancy in the Supreme Court shall be filled within ninety (90) days from the occurrence
thereof
4. For lower courts, the President shall issue the appointment within ninety (90) days from the
submission by the JBC of such list
1. Judicial and Bar Council
1. Composition
1. Ex-officio members: Chief Justice, as Chairman; the Secretary of Justice, and a
representative of Congress
2. Regular members: A representative of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines, a
professor of law, a retired justice of the Supreme Court, and a representative of the
private sector
3. Secretary ex-officio: The Clerk of the Supreme Court
2. The regular members shall be appointed by the President for a term of four [4] years, with
the consent of the Commission on Appointments. They shall receive such emoluments as may
be determined by the Supreme Court
3. May exercise such other functions and duties as the Supreme Court may assign to it
4. The Supreme Court supervises the JBC and provides in the annual budget of the
Court the appropriations of the JBC
E. Supreme Court
1. En banc and division cases
1. En Banc: All cases involving the constitutionality of a treaty, international or executive
agreement, or law; and all other cases which, under the Rules of Court, are to be heard en
banc, including those involving the constitutionality, application or operation of presidential
decrees, proclamations, orders, instructions, ordinances and other regulations. These cases are
 decided with the concurrence of a majority of the members who actually took part in the
deliberations on the issues and voted thereon
1. Cases are “decided”, while matters are “resolved”. On the basis of this distinction,
only “cases” are referred to the Supreme Court en banc for decision whenever the
required number of votes is not obtained
2. No doctrine or principle of law laid down by the court in a decision rendered en
banc or in division may be modified or reversed except by the court sitting en banc
2. Division: Other cases or matters may be heard in division, and decided or resolved with the
concurrence of a majority of the members who actually took part in the deliberations on the
issues and voted thereon, but in no case without the concurrence of at least three (3) such
members
2. Procedural rule-making
1. Promulgate rules concerning the protection and enforcement of constitutional rights,
pleading, practice and procedure in all courts, the admission to the practice of law, the
Integrated Bar, and legal assistance to the underprivileged
2. The rules must provide a simplified and inexpensive procedure for the speedy disposition
of cases; they must be uniform for all courts of the same grade; and must not diminish,
increase or modify substantive rights
3. The rules promulgated by the Supreme Court for the payment of legal fees were in the
exercise of its rule-making power cannot be modified by a law granting an exemption from
payment
3. Administrative supervision over lower courts
1. The investigation conducted by the Ombudsman encroaches into the Supreme Court’s
power of administrative supervision over all courts and its personnel, in violation of the
doctrine of separation of powers
2. The Ombudsman cannot determine for itself and by itself whether a criminal complaint
against a judge or court employee involves an administrative matter. The Ombudsman is duty
bound to have all cases against judges and court personnel filed before it referred to the
Supreme Court
4. Original and appellate jurisdiction
1. No law shall be passed increasing the appellate jurisdiction of the Supreme Court as
provided in the Constitution without its advice and concurrence
2. Original jurisdiction: over cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls,
and over petitions for certiorari, prohibition, mandamus, quo warranto and habeas corpus
3. Appellate jurisdiction: Review, revise, reverse, modify, or affirm on appeal or certiorari as
the law or Rules of Court may provide, final judgments and orders of lower courts in (i) all
cases in which the constitutionality or validity of any treaty, international or executive
agreement, law, presidential decree, proclamation, order, instruction, ordinance or regulation
is in question; (ii) all cases involving the legality of any tax, impost, assessment or toll, or any
penalty imposed in relation thereto; (iii) all cases in which the jurisdiction of any lower court
is in issue; (iv) all criminal cases in which the penalty imposed is reclusion perpetua or higher;
and (v) all cases in which only an error or question of law is involved
4. The Supreme Court has no jurisdiction over the petition the presidential electoral tribunal
is not simply an agency to which the members of the supreme court were assigned. It is not
separate from the supreme court.

VI. CONSTITUTIONAL COMMISSIONS

A. Constitutional safeguards to ensure independence of commissions

1. They are constitutionally created; may not be abolished by statute
2. Each is expressly described as “independent”
3. Each is conferred certain powers and functions which cannot be reduced by statute
4. The Chairmen and members cannot be removed except by impeachment
5. The Chairmen and members are given a fairly long term of office of seven years
1. Rotational Scheme of Appointments. The first appointees shall serve terms of seven, five
and three years, respectively
2. Rotational plan requires two conditions: [i] The terms of the first commissioners should
start on a common date; and [ii] Any vacancy due to death, resignation or disability before
the expiration of the term should be filled only for the unexpired balance of the term
3. The rotational scheme of appointments in the Commissions on Elections refers to the
scheme in which there is a regular recurrence of a two-year interval between the
expiration of terms of the Chairman and the Commissioners
 4. Rotational scheme of appointments also applies to the JBC
6. The Chairmen and members may not be reappointed or appointed in an acting capacity
7. The salaries of the chairman and members are relatively high and may not be decreased during
continuance in office
8. The Commissions enjoy fiscal autonomy
1. But Congress is not prohibited from reducing the appropriations of Constitutional
Commissions below the amount appropriated for them for the previous year
2. The Commission on Human Rights, unlike the three Constitutional Commissions, does not
enjoy fiscal autonomy
9. Each Commission may promulgate its own procedural rules, provided they do not diminish,
increase or modify substantive rights [though subject to disapproval by the Supreme Court]
10. The Chairmen and members are subject to certain disqualifications calculated to strengthen their
integrity
11. The Commissions may appoint their own officials and employees in accordance with Civil
Service Law
B. Powers and functions of each commission
1. Civil Service Commission
1. A Chairman and two Commissioners, who shall be natural-born citizens of the Philippines
and, at the time of their appointment, at least 35 years of age, with proven capacity for public
administration, and must not have been candidates for any elective position in the election
immediately preceding their appointment. They shall be appointed by the President with the
consent of the Commission on Appointments for a term of seven [7] years without
reappointment. In no case shall any member be appointed or designated in a temporary or
acting capacity
2. The Civil Service Commission has the power to hear and decide administrative cases
instituted before it directly or on appeal, including contested appointments
3. The power of the Civil Service Commission includes the authority to recall an appointment
initially approved in disregard of applicable provisions of the Civil Service law and
regulations
4. As the central personnel agency of the Government, to establish a career service and adopt
measures to promote morale, efficiency, integrity, responsiveness, progressiveness and
courtesy in the civil service. To strengthen the merit and rewards system, integrate all human
resources development programs for all levels and ranks, and to institutionalize a management
climate conducive to public accountability
2. Commission on Elections
1. A Chairman and six [6] Commissioners who shall be natural born Filipino citizens, at least
35 years of age, holders of a college degree, and have not been candidates in the immediately
preceding election. Majority, including the Chairman, must be members of the Philippine Bar
who have been engaged in the practice of law for at least ten (10) years. [Sec. 1, Art. IX-C].
They shall be appointed by the President with the consent of the Commission on
Appointments for a term of seven [7] years without reappointment. No member shall be
appointed or designated in a temporary or acting capacity
2. Cases heard in division
1. All election cases, including pre-proclamation contests, originally cognizable by
the Commission in the exercise of its powers
2. Jurisdiction over a petition to cancel a certificate of candidacy
3. Even cases appealed from the Regional Trial Court or the Municipal Trial Court
have to be heard and 4. decided in Division before they may be heard en banc upon
the filing of a motion for reconsideration of the Division decision
4. A petition for certiorari filed with the Commission from a decision of the RTC (or
MTC)
3. Cases heard by the en banc
1. The Comelec en banc may directly assume jurisdiction over a petition to correct
manifest errors in the tabulation or tallying of results. It is a purely administrative
function
2. The power of the Comelec to prosecute cases of violation of election laws involves
the exercise of administrative powers which may be exercised directly by the Comelec
en banc
3. It is the one that resolves the motion for reconsideration involving an electoral
protest decided by the division
4. Only decisions of the Comelec en banc exercised in its quasi-judicial power may be brought
to the Supreme Court on certiorari
 5. Indeed, determinations made by the Comelec which are merely administrative (not quasi-
judicial) in character, may be challenged in an ordinary civil action before trial courts
6. Enforce and administer all laws and regulations relative to the conduct of an election,
plebiscite, initiative, referendum or recall
7. Exclusive original jurisdiction over all contests relating to the election, returns and
qualifications of all elective regional, provincial and city officials. Exclusive appellate
jurisdiction over all contests involving elective municipal officials decided by the RTC. or
involving elective barangay officials decided by the MTC. and decisions therein shall be final,
executory and unappealable
8. Decide, save those involving the right to vote, all questions affecting elections, including
determination of the number and location of polling places. appointment of election officials
and inspectors, and registration of voters
9. Deputize, with the concurrence of the President, law enforcement agencies and
instrumentalities for the exclusive purpose of ensuring free, orderly, honest, peaceful and
credible elections
10. Register, after sufficient publication, political parties, organizations or coalitions which
must present their platform or program of government: accredit citizens’ arms
11. File, upon a verified complaint, or on its own initiative, petitions in court for the inclusion
or exclusion of voters: investigate and, where appropriate, prosecute cases of violations of
election laws
12. Recommend to Congress effective measures to minimize election spending, including
limitation of places where propaganda materials shall be posted, and to prevent and penalize
all forms of election frauds, offenses, malpractice, and nuisance candidates
13. Submit to the President and Congress a comprehensive report on the conduct of each
election, plebiscite, initiative, referendum or recall
3. Commission on Audit
1. A Chairman and two Commissioners, who shall be natural born Filipino citizens, at least
35 years of age, CPAs with not less than 10 years of auditing experience or members of the
Philippine Bar with at least 10 years practice of law, and must not have been candidates in
the election immediately preceding the appointment. At no time shall all members belong to
the same profession [Sec. 1(1), Art. IX-D]. They shall be appointed by the President with the
consent of the Commission on Appointments for a term of seven years without reappointment
2. Examine, audit and settle all accounts pertaining to the revenue and receipts of, and
expenditures or uses of funds and property owned or held in trust or pertaining to, the
Government
1. On post-audit basis: Constitutional Commissions and bodies or offices granted
fiscal autonomy under the Constitution; autonomous state colleges and universities;
other government-owned or controlled corporations and their subsidiaries; and non-
governmental entities receiving subsidy or equity, directly or indirectly, from or
through the Government
2. Temporary or special pre-audit: Where the internal control system of the audited
agency is inadequate
3. Keep the general accounts of Government, and preserve vouchers and supporting papers
for such period as provided by law
4. Authority to define the scope of its audit and examination, establish techniques and methods
required therefor
1. The power of the Commission to define the scope of its audit and to promulgate
auditing rules and regulations and the power to disallow unnecessary expenditures, is
exclusive, but its power to examine and audit is not exclusive
5. Promulgate accounting and auditing rules and regulations, including those for the
prevention and disallowance of irregular, unnecessary, expensive, extravagant or
unconscionable expenditures or uses of government funds or property
6. Jurisdiction of the Commission. No law shall be passed exempting any entity of
Government, or any investment of public funds, from the jurisdiction of the Commission on
Audit
C. Prohibited offices and interests
1. Shall not, during tenure, hold any other office or employment
1. The Chairperson Emilio Melchor’s holding ex-officio of the other offices under the
Executive Order mentioned in the problem would constitute a clear violation of the special
prohibition in Section 2 of Article IX-A of the Constitution, which strictly provides that he
shall, during his tenure, not hold any other office or employment. Said constitutional
provision does not make any distinction among the offices he may not hold, or as to whether
 or not the functions attached to said offices would be primarily related to his duties as
Chairperson of the Civil Service Commission and therefore may be held in an ex-officio
capacity
2. Shall not engage in the practice of any profession
3. Shall not engage in the active management or control of any business which in any way may be
affected by the functions of his office
4. Shall not be financially interested, directly or indirectly, in any contract with, or in any franchise
or privilege granted by the Government, any of its subdivisions, agencies or instrumentalities,
including government-owned or -controlled corporations or their subsidiaries
D. Jurisdiction of each constitutional commission
E. Review of final orders, resolutions, and decisions
1. The provision of the Constitution is clear that what is required is the majority vote of all the
members, not only of those who participated in the deliberations and voted thereon in order that a
valid decision may be made by the Constitutional Commissions
1. Rendered in the exercise of quasi-judicial functions
1. In the case of decisions of the Civil Service Commission, however, Supreme Court Revised
Circular 1-91, as amended by Revised Administrative Circular 1 -95, which took effect on
June 1,1995, provides that final resolutions of the Civil Service Commission shall be
appealable by certiorari to the Court of Appeals within fifteen days from receipt of a copy
thereof. From the decision of the Court of Appeals, the party adversely affected thereby shall
file a petition for review on certiorari under Rule 45 of the Rules of Court
2. Rendered in the exercise of administrative functions

VII. BILL OF RIGHTS

A. Fundamental powers of the state (police power, eminent domain, taxation)

1. Concept, application and limits
1. Police power
1. Lawful subject, public interest
2. Lawful means, means are reasonably necessary, least intrusive and not unduly
oppressive on the rights of individuals
3. May use eminent domain and taxation as an implement
2. Eminent domain
1. Necessity, public use or character
1. When exercised by Congress, political question
2. When exercised by a delegate, justiciable question
1. Unless the grant is of special authority, political question
3. When it disappears, there is no more cogent point for the government’s
retention of the expropriated land
2. Private property
1. May include public utility
2. Excludes money and choses in action
2. Includes those already devoted to public use
3. Taking
1. Must be more than a momentary period
2. May be only such that impose a burden upon the owner without loss of title
and possession
4. Public use
1. Expansive concept to include any usefulness, utility or advantage or what is
productive of general benefit of the public
2. In case of abandonment of intended use, the expropriator should file another
petition for the new purpose. If not, it is then incumbent upon the expropriator
to return the said property to its private owner, if the latter desires to reacquire
the same subject to the return of the just compensation
3. There is no provision in the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law which
subjects the expropriation of agricultural lands by local government units to
the control of the Department of Agrarian Reform and to require approval from
the Department of Agrarian Reform will mean that it is not the local
government unit but the Department of Agrarian Reform who will determine
whether or not the expropriation is for a public use
5. Just compensation
 1. Includes payment within a reasonable time of 5 years from the finality of
the judgment in the expropriation proceedings. Otherwise, owners shall have
the right to recover the property
2. Price is the FMV
1. In cases where a property is not wholly expropriated, the
consequential damages of the remaining property shall be added in the
FMV minus the consequential benefits but in no case the latter exceed
the former
2. Owner is entitled to payment of interest
3. Reckoning point is the date of filing or taking, whichever is earlier
4. The determination of which is a judicial function
6. If exercised by LGUs
1. Ordinance authorizing the local chief executive
2. Previous valid and definite offer
3. Reckoning point of the just compensation is the date of taking
4. In case of urban land reform, expropriation of private lands must be the last
resort. All other lands should first be exhausted. Small property owners are
exempt
5. Small property owners are [1] owners of residential lands with an area not
more than 300 square meters in urbanized cities and not more than 800 square
meters in other urban areas; and [2] they do not own residential property other
than the same. In this case, the respondents fall within the classification of
small property owners
3. Taxation
1. Inherent limitations
1. Public purpose
2. Exemption of government from taxation
3. Non-delegability of power
4. International comity
5. Territoriality or situs
2. Constitutional limitations
1. Due process clause
2. Equal protection clause
3. Uniformity, equitability and progressivity
4. Non-impairment of contracts
5. Non-imprisonment for non-payment of poll tax
6. Revenue and tariff bills must originate in the House
7. Non-infringement of religious freedom
8. Exemption from real property tax on those ADE used for religious,
charitable and educational purposes
9. Majority vote of all members of Congress for tax exemption
10. Non-impairment of the SC’s jurisdiction in tax cases
11. Tax exemptions to non-stock, non-profit educational institutions
3. Double taxation is not allowed if it violates the equal protection clause
2. Requisites for valid exercise
3. Similarities and differences (Police Power, Eminent Domain and Taxation)
1. As to purpose: self-preservation, public use, public necessity)
2. As to nature of the property involved: noxious, wholesome, wholesome
3. As to compensation: altruistic feeling, just compensation, protection and improvements
4. As to scope: liberty and property, property, property
5. As to exercising authority: government, may be to private entities, government
4. Delegation
1. Police power may be exercised upon valid delegation by President, administrative bodies
and law-making bodies of LGUs
2. Eminent domain may be exercised upon valid delegation by President, law-making bodies
of LGUs, public corporations, quasi-public corporations and administrative bodies
3. Taxation may be exercised upon valid delegation by President, law-making bodies of
LGUs, public corporations, quasi-public corporations and administrative bodies
B. Private acts and the Bill of Rights
1. Violation must be by the State
2. If violation is by a private individual, still liable but under the Civil Code
C. Due process – the rights to life, liberty & property
 1. Relativity of due process
1. Due process is flexible and calls for such procedural protections as the particular situation
demands
2. Procedural and substantive due process
1. Substantive due process
1. Valid law
2. Valid governmental objective, lawful subject
3. Lawful manner, lawful means
4. Reasonably necessary, not oppressive, least intrusive
5. Publication
6. Due process includes the right to decisional privacy, which refers to the ability to
make one’s own decisions and to act on those decisions, free from governmental or
other unwanted interference. Forbidding the use of artificial methods of contraception
infringes on the freedom of choice in matters of marriage and family life
2. Procedural due process
1. In judicial process
1. Impartial court or tribunal
2. Jurisdiction over the person and subject matter
3. Prior opportunity to be heard
4. Judgment upon lawful hearing and based on evidence
2. Administrative due process
1. Right to hearing
2. Tribunal must act on its own independent consideration
3. Tribunals considers the evidence
4. Evidence is substantial
5. Decision must have something to support itself
6. Decision is based on evidence
7. Decision must be such that the parties will know its issued and reason
8. Applies to an extradite but not in the evaluation stage
3. Constitutional and statutory due process
4. Hierarchy of rights
1. Freedom of expression is higher than property rights
2. Freedom of religion is higher than contract rights
3. Civil rights are superior than property rights
5. Judicial standards of review
6. Void-for-vagueness doctrine
1. Only applies to violations of fundamental freedoms
2. When a statute is so vague that man of common intelligence must necessarily guess as to
its meaning and differ as to its application, it is void
D. Equal protection
1. Concept
2. Requisites for valid classification
1. Substantial distinctions
2. Applies equally to all members of the same class
3. Germane to the purposes of the law
4. Not confined to existing conditions only
3. Standards of judicial review
a. Rational Basis Test
1. Law is presumed valid
2. It is enough that there is a valid or legitimate governmental objective
3. Classification must be rationally related to the legislative purpose
4. Same to dangerous tendency doctrine
b. Strict Scrutiny Test
1. Applies when fundamental rights are threatened
2. Law is presumed unconstitutional
3. There should be a compelling state interest; compelling state interest test
4. Law must be the least restrictive or intrusive means
5. Same to clear and present danger rule
c. Intermediate Scrutiny Test
1. Used in evaluating classifications based on gender and legitimacy
2. Government must show that the challenged classification serves as important state
interest and that the classification is at least substantially related to serving that interest
E. Searches and seizures
1. Concept
1. May only be invoked by the person whose right was violated
2. Included to search and seizure are:
1. Subject of the offense
2. Fruits of the offense
3. Used or intended to be used in the offense
3. The illegally seized object must be returned if not a prohibited object
2. Warrant requirement; requisites for a valid warrant
1. Probable cause
2. Determined personally by the judge
1. In the form of searching questions and answers
2. Under oath
3. In writing
4. Only on facts personally known to complainant and witnesses
5. Attached to the record the sworn statements and affidavits
6. Must be independent from that of the fiscal
3. Personal examination under oath or affirmation of the complainant and witnesses
1. Not routinary or pro forma. Must be probing and extensive
2. In case of warrant of arrest, may not be done personally
1. But must be independent from that of the fiscal
4. Personal knowledge of complainant and witnesses
5. Must describe particularly the place to be searched and the persons or things to be seized
1. Officer must be able to ascertain and identify the place with reasonable effort
1. Technical description need not be given
2. As specific as the circumstances will allow
2. John Doe warrant is adequate if there are description personae
6. Must only for one specific offense
1. Scatter shot warrant is not allowed
3. Warrantless searches
1. Waiver, cannot be done by another person
2. Search incidental to a lawful arrest
1. Only within the immediate control
2. Must be done immediately
3. Searches of vessel and aircraft for violation of fishery, immigration and customs laws
4. Customs searches
1. Not available in dwelling places
5. Inspection of buildings for fire, sanitary and building regulations
6. Visual search at checkpoints
1. Extensive search is allowed when there is probable cause
7. Conduct of aerial target zoning and saturation drives in the exercise of the calling out power
of the President
8. Stop and frisk
1. In the light of the police officer’s experience and surrounding circumstances to
warrant a belief that a person has weapons concealed
2. Only tap on the outer garments
3. Officer must introduce himself
9. Plain view
1. Prior valid intrusion
2. Inadvertently discovered
3. Immediately apparent
4. No further search is done
10. Exigent circumstances
4. Warrantless arrests
1. In flagrante delicto
1. In his presence; through the senses
2. Hot pursuit
1. Offense had just been committed
2. Probable cause based on personal knowledge of the facts and circumstances
1. Reliable information is not sufficient
3. Arrest of an escapee
4. Membership in organizations like NPA; continuing offense
 5. Waiver
5. Administrative arrests
1. Warrant of arrest may be issued by administrative authorities only for the purpose of
carrying out a final finding of a violation of law as when there is a final decision of the
administrative authorities and not for the sole purpose of investigation
6. Drug, alcohol, and blood tests
1. It must be random and suspicionless
F. Privacy of communications and correspondence
1. Private and public communications
1. Requisites
1. Subjective; person has exhibited an actual expectation of privacy
2. Objective; expectation is one that society is prepared to recognize as reasonable
2. Three strands
1. Locational or situational, privacy felt in the physical space
2. Informational, right to control information about oneself
1. Right not to have private information disclosed
2. Right to live freely without surveillance and intrusion
3. Decisional, right to make fundamental choices with respect to personal reproductive
autonomy
3. Pre-trial detainees and convicted prisoners have a diminished expectation of privacy
4. Letters and sealed packages in the mails may be examined only as to their external
appearance
2. Intrusion, when allowed
1. By lawful order of court
2. When public safety or public order requires otherwise as provided by law
3. Human Security Act, upon order of the CA
3. Writ of habeas data
G. Freedom of expression
1. Concept and scope
1. Every form of expression
2. Includes right to an audience in the sense that the state cannot prohibit the people from
hearing what a person has to say
3. Right to impartial trial of accused prevails over freedom of the press
4. But there is proscription of public comments on pending litigation; sub judice rule
a. Prior restraint (censorship)
b. Subsequent punishment
2. Content-based and content-neutral regulations
a. Tests
1. Content-based regulations
1. Strict scrutiny test
2. Heavy presumption of unconstitutionality
3. Tested for possible overbreadth and vagueness
4. Clear and present danger rule
5. Compelling state interest
2. Content-neutral regulations
1. Intermediate approach; O’Brien Test
2. Important or substantial governmental interest
3. Dangerous tendency rule
4. Balancing of interests rule
b. Applications
3. Facial challenges and the overbreadth doctrine
1. A facial challenge is allowed to be made to a vague statute and to one which is overbroad
because of possible “chilling effect” upon protected speech
2. A governmental purpose may not be achieved by means which sweep unnecessarily
broadly and thereby invade the area of protected freedoms
3. It Applies Both To Free Speech Case And Penal Statutes. However, A Facial Challenge
On The Ground Of Overbreadth Can Only Be Made In Free Speech Cases Because Of Its
Chilling Effect Upon Protected Speech. A Facial Challenge On The Ground Of Overbreadth
Is Not Applicable To Challenge On The Ground Of Overbreadth Is Not Applicable To Penal
Statutes, Because In General They Have An In Terrorem Effect
4. A Facial Challenge On The Ground Of Vagueness Can Be Made Only In Free Speech
Cases. It Does Not Apply To Penal Statutes
 4. Tests
5. State regulation of different types of mass media
1. Freedom of television and radio broadcasting is somewhat lesser in scope than the freedom
accorded to newspaper and print media because of the physical limitations of the broadcast
spectrum, the government must, of necessity, allocate broadcast frequencies to those wishing
to use them
2. As to art and obscenity, movies, compared to other media of expression, have greater
capacity for evil and are consequently subject to more regulations
3. Tests of obscenity
1. Miller test, whether the average person applying contemporary community
standards, would find that the work, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest
2. Appeal to prurient interest
3. Corrupting tendency test
6. Commercial speech
1. It has not been accorded the same level of protection as that given to what is called core
speech such as political speech
2. It must not be false or misleading and should not propose an illegal transaction
7. Private vs. government speech
1. As of criticism of an official conduct is not libel as long as their comments are made in
good faith and with justifiable ends even if such views are found to be inaccurate or erroneous;
fair comment
8. Heckler’s veto
1. The government cannot grant power to a private actor, the heckler, to unilaterally silence a
speaker because of a concern for the violent reaction by the heckler
H. Freedom of religion
1. Non-establishment clause
a. Concept and basis
1. State cannot set-up a church
2. Cannot aid or prefer one or all religion
3. Cannot influence a person to profess a belief
4. Manifestations
1. Exemption from real property taxes the properties used ADE for religious
purposes
2. Optional religious instruction in public elementary and high schools
1. Must be without cost to the government
3. Citizenship requirement of ownership of educational institutions except
those established by religious groups and mission boards
4. Appropriation allowed where ecclesiastic is employed in armed forces, in a
penal institution or in a government-owned orphanage or leprosarium
1. Enumeration is exclusive
b. Acts permitted and not permitted by the clause
c. Test
1. Strict neutrality or separation
2. Benevolent neutrality or accommodation
1. Phils. adheres to this
2. Court will strive to accommodate religious beliefs and practices when it can
within flexible constitutional limits
2. Free exercise clause
1. Freedom to believe is absolute
2. Freedom to act on one’s belief is subject to regulation
3. Tests
a. Clear and Present Danger Test
b. Compelling State Interest Test
1. State must use the least intrusive means to achieve it
c. Conscientious Objector Test
1. Persons who are conscientiously opposed to participation in war in any form by
reason of religious training and belief may be exempted from combatant training and
service in the armed forces
2. Requisites
1. Belief in God or some parallel belief
2. Religion must involve a moral code
3. Demonstrative sincerity
 4. Associational ties
I. Liberty of abode and freedom of movement
1. Limitations
1. Liberty of abode may be impaired only upon lawful order of the court and within the limits
prescribed by law
2. Right to travel may be curtailed even by administrative authorities in the interest of national
security, public safety or public health as may be provided by law
3. Court has power to prohibit a person admitted to bail from leaving the Phils.
2. Right to travel
a. Watch-list and hold departure orders
3. Return to one’s country
1. Not included in the right to travel. It only includes:
1. From Phils. to another country
2. Within the Phils.
2. Every sovereign nation has the power to forbid the entrance of foreigners within its
dominions or to admit them only in such cases and upon such conditions as it may see fit to
prescribe
J. Right to information
1. Limitations
1. This right is only available to citizens
2. Mandamus is remedy in case of denial
3. Information must be of public interest
4. Criminal matters or classified law enforcement matters
5. Confidential matters, those affecting national security involving state secrets regarding
military, diplomatic matters, inter-government exchanges prior to conclusion of treaties and
executive agreements
6. Exercise is subject to reasonable regulations to protect its integrity and prevent disruption
of government operations
7. Trade secrets and banking transactions
8. Law officers do not concern themselves with the motives, reasons and objects of the
persons seeking access to the records unless it is clear that the purpose of the examination is
unlawful or sheer, idle curiosity
2. Publication of laws and regulations
3. Access to court records
1. Need not be matters of public interest
2. May be restricted on showing of good cause
3. Judicial privilege is applicable only if the information arose from the performance of
official adjudicatory functions
4. Records of cases that are pending for decision are privileged except only for pleadings,
orders and resolutions that are available to the public
4. Right to information relative to:
a. Government contract negotiations
1. Parties cannot stipulate that the terms thereof should be considered confidential
b. Diplomatic negotiations
2. Inter-government exchanges prior to conclusion of treaties and executive
agreements may be restricted
K. Right of association
1. If assembly is to be held at a public place, permit for the use of such place and not for the assembly
itself may be validly required. Power of local officials is merely for regulation and not for prohibition
2. Procedure under BP 880
1. Application for permit filed before the mayor within 5 working days before the scheduled
assembly
1. If to be held in school premises, filed before the school authorities
2. Posted in the city or municipal building
3. Decision of the mayor within 2 working days from filing. Otherwise, deemed approved
1. If denied or modified, the applicant may contest the decision in an appropriate court
2. Clear and present danger test is to be applied
3. Auspices test, inquired into the nature of the people composing the assembly
3. Permit is not necessary if meeting is to be held in:
1. Private place
2. Campus of a government-owned or operated educational institution
3. Freedom park
 4. Demonstrators are enjoined from holding any activity within a radius of 200 meters from a court
5. Right to association does not preclude the imposition of relevant qualifications for membership
6. Only the leader or organizer can be arrested without a warrant during the rally for holding a rally
without a permit, but no person can be arrested for merely participating in or attending the rally if it
was peaceful (Section 13(a), BP 880). The rally should just be peacefully dispersed (Section 12, BP
880)
L. Eminent domain
1. Concept
2. Expansive concept of “public use”
3. Just compensation
a. Determination
b. Effect of delay
4. Abandonment of intended use and right of repurchase
5. Miscellaneous application
M. Contract clause
1. Must be an onerous contract and not mere privilege like a franchise
2. Impairment is anything that diminishes the efficacy of a contract. Degree is immaterial as long as
the original rights of either party are changed
3. Police power is the exceptions
1. Contemporary application of the contract clause
N. Legal assistance and free access to courts
1. Extended only to natural persons
2. Mandatory legal aid (BM 2012)
1. Exemptions
1. Government employees not allowed to practice law
2. Those not allowed to appear in court
3. Those who do not appear in courts and quasi-judicial bodies
2. Covers criminal, civil and administrative cases involving indigent and pauper litigants
3. Minimum of 60 hours in a year, 5 hours per month
4. Must secure from Clerk of Court a certificate
5. Indicate in all pleadings the number and date of issue
6. Failure will render him member not in good standing
7. Failure for 3 consecutive years, subject to disciplinary action
O. Rights of suspects
1. Availability
1. Custodial investigation, deprivation of freedom
2. Includes the practice of issuing invitations
3. Investigation must no longer be a general inquiry and focus on a particular suspect.
Accusatory rather than investigatory
4. Police line-up is not considered part of custodial investigation because it is only
investigatory
5. The receipt is not admissible in evidence. According to the ruling in People vs. Mirantes,
209 SCRA 179, such receipt is in effect an extrajudicial confession of the commission of an
offense. Hence, if it was signed without the assistance of counsel, in accordance with Section
12(3), Article IV of the Constitution, it is inadmissible in evidence
2. Requisites
1. Right to be informed of his right to remain silent and counsel
1. Effective communication which results to understanding
2. Right to be reminded that if he waives his right to remain silent, anything he says can and
will be used against him
3. Right to remain silent
4. Right to have competent and independent counsel preferably of his own choice
5. Right to be provided with counsel if the person cannot afford one
1. Suspect has final choice, may reject the counsel chosen for him
6. No torture, force, violence, intimidation
7. No secret detention, solitary, incommunicado
8. Exclusionary rule
3. Waiver
1. Requisites of admissible extrajudicial confession
1. With assistance of counsel
2. In writing
3. Voluntary
 4. Express
5. Signed
6. Do not apply to spontaneous statements which were given without questioning
2. Right to be informed cannot be waived and the right to counsel when making the waiver
3. Waiver must be in writing and in the presence of counsel
P. Rights of the accused
1. Criminal due process
1. Court of competent jurisdiction
2. Orderly processes of law
3. Notice and opportunity to be heard
4. Judgment within authority of law
2. Bail
1. Invoked once person is in the custody of the law, deprived of freedom
1. Even if not formal charges have yet been filed
2. Suspension of the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus does not suspend the right to bail
3. Extraditees can bail if it is shown by clear and convincing evidence that he is not a flight
risk or there exist special, humanitarian and compelling circumstances
4. When a matter of right
1. Before conviction of RTC
2. A minor charged with a crime punishable with reclusion perpetua is entitled to bail
as a matter of right. Bail is a matter of discretion for a minor charged with an offense
punishable with life imprisonment, because Article 68 of the Revised Penal Code is
inapplicable and he is not entitled to the privileged mitigating circumstance under it.
5. When discretionary
1. After conviction by RTC
6. When denied
1. Before conviction of RTC and offense is punishable by reclusion perpetua or life
imprisonment and the evidence of guilt if strong
2. After conviction of RTC of reclusion perpetua or life imprisonment
3. After conviction of RTC and any of the following circumstances is present:
1. Accused is recidivist, quasi-recidivist, habitual delinquent, reiteracion
2. Previous escaped or violated conditions of bail
3. Committed offense while on probation or pardon
4. Flight risk
5. Accused may commit other crime
5. Standards of fixing bail
1. Financial ability
2. Nature of offense
3. Penalty of offense
4. Character and reputation of accused
5. Probability of appearance in trial
6. Age and health of accused
7. Weight of evidence against accused
8. Forfeiture of other bail
9. Fugitive from justice
10. Pendency of other cases
3. Presumption of innocence
1. Equipoise rule
2. The presumption of innocence stands until the contrary is proved. It may be overcome by
a contrary presumption founded upon human experience. The presumption that RR is the one
who stole the cattle of OZ is logical, since he was found in possession of the stolen cattle. RR
can prove his innocence by presenting evidence to rebut the presumption. The burden of
evidence is shifted to RR, because how he came into possession of the cattle is peculiarly
within his knowledge
4. Right to be heard
5. Assistance of counsel
1. Rights prior to arraignment
1. Inform right to have attorney
2. Assign attorney de officio is he desires and is unable to employ one
3. Grant reasonable time if he desires to procure and attorney of his own
6. Right to be informed
1. Description over designation
 7. Right to speedy, impartial and public trial
1. Relative
2. When proceedings are attended by vexatious, capricious and oppressive delays
3. When unjustified postponements are asked and secured
4. When without cause or justifiable motive a long period is allowed to elapse without the
party having his case tried
5. There must be allegation and proof of the impaired capacity of a judge to render a bias-free
decision. Mere fear of possible undue influence is not tantamount to actual prejudice resulting
in the deprivation of the right to a fair trial
8. Right of confrontation
1. If cross-examination actually commence but for lack of material time it was not completed
and the witness in the meantime dies before cross-examination could be resumed, so much of
the testimony as had already been covered by cross-examination is admissible
9. Compulsory process
1. Through subpoena duces tecum and ad testificandum
2. Requisites
1. Evidence is material
2. Accused is guilty of no neglect in previously obtaining attendance of said witness
3. Evidence will be available at the time desired
4. No similar evidence could be obtained
10. Trial in absentia
1. Requisites
1. Accused has already been arraigned
2. Has been duly notified of the trial
3. His failure to appear is unjustified
2. Mandatory presence of accused
1. Arraignment
2. During trial for identification unless he has already stipulated on his identity during
the pre-trial
3. During promulgation of sentence unless for a light offense
Q. Writ of habeas corpus
1. Grounds
1. Deprivation of liberty
2. When court has no jurisdiction to impose the sentence
3. When excessive penalty is imposed
2. Does not apply when:
1. When there is already a charge in court
2. There is absence of preliminary investigation
3. There is already release
1. Unless there are still involuntary restraints
R. Writs of amparo, habeas data, and kalikasan
1. Writ of amparo
1. Available when right to life, liberty and security is violated or threatened with a violation
with an unlawful act or omission of a public official or employee or of a private individual or
entity
2. When a criminal action has been commenced, no separate petition for the writ shall be
filed. The reliefs under the writ shall be available by motion in the criminal case
3. There is no determination of administrative, civil or criminal liability in amparo and habeas
data proceedings
4. Includes enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings
5. There must be authorization, support or acquiescence or the State or a political organization
6. Presumption of regularity cannot be invoked
7. Command responsibility is applicable only for purposes of determining accountability, not
liability
8. Although the writ of amparo does not pinpoint criminal culpability for a disappearance, it
determines responsibility, for the purpose of imposing the appropriate remedy. Responsibility
refers to the extent the actors have been established to have participated in an enforced
disappearance, as a measure of the remedy, to be crafted, such as the directive to file the
appropriate criminal and civil cases against the responsible parties
2. Writ of habeas data
1. Right to privacy in life, liberty or security is violated or threatened by an unlawful act or
omission of a public official or employee or private individual or entity engaged in the
 gathering, collecting or storing of data or information regarding the person, family home and
correspondence of the aggrieved party
3. Writ of kalikasan
1. Constitutional right to a balanced and healthful ecology is violated or threatened with
violation by an unlawful act or omission of a public official or employee or private individual
or entity involving environmental damage of such magnitude as to prejudice the life, health
or property of inhabitants in two or more cities or provinces
S. Self-incrimination clause
1. Scope and coverage
1. Applies only to testimonial compulsion and production of documents, papers and chattels
in court
2. No, Ong cannot refuse to answer the question on the ground that he would incriminate
himself, since the law grants him immunity and prohibits the use against him in a criminal
prosecution of the testimony or evidence produced by him. As stated by the United States
Supreme Court in Brown vs. Walker, 161 U.S. 591, 597, what the constitutional prohibition
against self-incrimination seeks to prevent is the conviction of the witness on the basis of
testimony elicited from him. The rule is satisfied when he is granted immunity
a. Foreign laws
1. Alienmae cannot invoke her right against self-incrimination even if the fear of
incrimination is in regard to her foreign law. Under the territoriality principle, the
general rule is that a state has jurisdiction over all persons and property within its
territory. The jurisdiction of the nation within its own territory is necessary, exclusive,
and absolute. However, the are a few exceptions on when a state cannot exercise
jurisdiction even within its own territory, to wit: 1) foreign states, head of states,
diplomatic representatives, and consults to a certain degree; 2) foreign state property;
3) acts of state; 4) foreign merchant vessels exercising rights of innocent passage or
arrival under stress; 5) foreign armies passing through or stationed in its territories
with its permission; and 6) such other persons or property, including organisations
like the United Nations, over which it may, by agreement, waive jurisdiction. Seeing
that the circumstances surrounding Alienmae do not fall under those exceptions, that
she is a foreign tourist who received a complaint for fraud, such principle of
territoriality can be exercised by the State to get the information it needs to proceed
with the case.
2. Application
1. Availability
1. Criminal proceedings
2. All governmental proceedings
3. Civil actions
4. Administrative actions if nature of penalty partakes of a criminal proceeding
5. Legislative investigations
2. Who may invoke
1. Accused, he may refuse to take the witness stand. If he takes, he can still invoke if
an incriminating question is asked which is not related to his testimony
2. Witness, only when an incriminating question is propounded
3. Immunity statutes
1. Transactional immunity, immune from criminal prosecution for an offense to which such
compelled testimony relates
2. Use and fruit immunity statutes, prohibits the use of the witness’ compelled testimony and
its fruits in any manner in connection with the criminal prosecution of the witness
T. Involuntary servitude and political prisoners
1. Exceptions to involuntary servitude
1. Punishment for a crime
2. Service in defense of State
3. Naval enlistment
4. Posse commitatus
5. Return to work order in industries affected with public interest
U. Excessive fines and cruel and inhuman punishments
1. When penalty is disproportionate to the nature of the offense as to shock the senses of the
community
V. Non-imprisonment for debts
1. Includes non-imprisonment for poll tax
W. Double jeopardy
 1. Requisites
1. Valid complaint or information
2. Competent court
3. Pleaded
4. Acquitted or convicted or dismissed without express consent
1. Even if with express consent if based on speedy trial or through demurrer
5. Crimes covered
1. Same offense
2. Necessarily includes, higher
3. Necessarily included, lower
6. Where the offenses charged are penalized either by different sections of the same statute or
by different statutes, the important inquiry relates to the identity of offenses charged
7. Where one is punished by law and an ordinance, the inquiry is on the identity of the acts
8. Doctrine of supervening event, no double jeopardy
1. Graver offense developed due to supervening facts arising from the same act or
omission
2. Facts constituting the graver offense arose or discovered only after the filing of the
former complaint or information
2. Motions for reconsideration and appeals
1. Generally, it is not allowed in case of conviction because of double jeopardy
2. Exceptions
1. Court gravely abused its discretion
2. Mistrial or sham trial and denial of due process on the State
3. Dismissal with consent of accused
X. Ex post facto laws and bills of attainder
1. Kinds of ex post facto laws
1. Law making an act criminal which was not so before its passage
2. Law aggravating the penalty for a crime committed before its passage
3. Law inflicting a greater or more severe penalty
4. Law altering the legal rules of evidence and allowing the receipt of less or different
testimony than what the law required at the time of commission
5. Law assuming to regulate civil rights and remedies only, in effect imposes a penalty of
deprivation of right for something which when done was lawful
6. Law depriving accused of some lawful protection to which he had been entitled
2. Characteristics of ex post facto laws
1. Refers to criminal matters
1. Applies to criminal procedural laws
2. Retroactive
3. Prejudicial to the accused
3. Bill of attainder is an act that inflicts punishment without trial

VIII. CITIZENSHIP

A. Who are Filipino citizens

1. Under the 1987 Constitution
1. Citizens at the time of the adoption of the 1987 Constitution
2. Fathers or mothers are citizens
1. The father or mother may be a natural-born Filipino or a Filipino by naturalization
or by election. The only important consideration here was that the mother must be a
Filipino at the time of the birth of the child
3. Born before January 17, 1973, of Filipino mothers, who elect Philippine Citizenship upon
reaching the age of majority
1. This refers to those born under the 1935 Constitution
4. Naturalized
2. Under the 1973 Constitution
1. At the time of adoption
2. Fathers or mothers are citizens
1. The father or mother may be a natural-born Filipino or a Filipino by naturalization
or by election. The only important consideration here was that the mother must be a
Filipino at the time of the birth of the child
3. Elect pursuant to the 1935 Constitution
4. Naturalized
 3. Under the 1935 Constitution
1. At the time of the adoption. Those who are citizens pursuant to the Phil. Bill of 1902. En
Masse Filipinization of all Spanish subjects
1. If he was 1) a subject of Spain on 11 April 1899, 2) residing in the Philippines on
said date, and, 3) since that date, not a citizen of some other country
2. Elected before to Public Office
3. Fathers are citizen
4. Mothers are citizen but elect upon majority
1. Only refers to legitimate children, wherein mother is Filipino but father is alien. If
illegitimate, he follows the citizenship of the mother, hence, he is a Filipino citizen
2. It is enough that the mother is Filipino upon marriage
3. The election may be implied through voting
4. Election must be within 3 years after reaching 21 unless there is reasonable delay
5. Election is expressed in a statement and sworn to by the party before any official
authorized to administer oaths. Statement to be filed with the nearest Civil Registry
with Oath of Allegiance to the Constitution and the Government of the Philippines
6. The omission of the statutory requirement of registration of the documents of
election should not result in the obliteration of the right to Philippine citizenship. It
does not negate the permanent fact that the mother is Filipino. The lacking
requirements may still be complied with subject to the imposition of appropriate
administrative penalties
5. Naturalized
4. Citizenship of foundlings
1. Section 2 of 1961 International Convention- Under Art. 2 of the 1961 International
Convention on Statelessness, “[a] foundling found in the territory of a Contracting State shall,
in the absence of proof to the contrary, be considered to have been born within the territory
of parents possessing the nationality of that State”
2. Philippines is not a signatory or a “Contracting State” in this treaty. However, the treaty
possesses the two elements of a generally accepted principle of international law because the
grant of nationality to a foundling is an “established, widespread and consistent practice” of
many states since 1961 to the present
3. 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), to which the Philippines is a
signatory and which our Supreme Court has consistently enforced, “Everyone has a right to a
nationality.” Thus, a denial of nationality or citizenship to Senator Poe would be a plain
violation of the UDHR
4. Principle of Effective Nationality. The question arises, who then had the power to grant
Nottebohm diplomatic protection? It would be the nationality of the country in which he is
habitually and principally resident or the nationality of the country with which in the
circumstances he appears to be in fact most closely connected
B. Modes of acquiring citizenship
1. By birth
1. Jus sanguinis
2. Jus soli
2. By naturalization
3. By marriage
C. Naturalization and denaturalization
1. Congressional naturalization
2. Judicial naturalization
1. In accordance to CA 473 and RA 530
3. Administrative naturalization
1. In accordance to RA 9139
2. It applies to those born in the Philippines
4. Also by virtue of derivative citizenship through CA 473, RA 9139, RA 9255
1. Lost if certificate is cancelled due to intrinsic validity
2. According to Mo Ya Lim Yao v. Commissioner of Immigration, 41 SCRA 292, under
Section 15 of the Revised Naturalization Law, a foreign woman who marries a Filipino citizen
becomes a Filipino citizen provided she possesses none of the disqualifications for
naturalization. A foreign man who marries a Filipino citizen does not acquire Philippine
citizenship. However, under Section 3 of the Revised Naturalization Act, in such a case the
residence requirement for naturalization will be reduced from ten (10) to five (5) years
 5. It may be cancelled but only by the State through direct proceeding. A certificate of naturalization
may be cancelled at any time if it was fraudulently obtained by misleading the court regarding the
moral character of the petitioner
D. Dual citizenship and dual allegiance
1. Citizenship retention under RA 9255
1. But this does not allow dual allegiance because of the oath
2. No law with regard to dual allegiance. Not self-executory
3. Dual citizenship by birth pursuant to jus soli
4. Filipino citizen who marries an alien retains his/her citizenship, unless by his/her act or omission
he/she is deemed, under the law to have renounced it
5. Can be renounced by filing a COC but this only applies to dual citizens by birth or by operation of
law such as marriage to a foreigner. Otherwise, the mere filing of the certificate of candidacy is not
sufficient. Section 5 of RA 9225 categorically requires the individual to state in clear and unequivocal
terms that he is renouncing all foreign citizenship
6. Dual citizens by naturalization are required to take not only the oath of allegiance to the Republic,
but also to personally renounce foreign citizenship in order to qualify as candidate for public office.
If after he had renounced his foreign citizenship, he should still use his foreign passport, he is divested
of his Filipino citizenship. However, by representing himself as a foreign citizen, he voluntarily and
effectively reverted to his status as a dual citizen. Such reversion is not retroactive - it takes place the
moment he represents himself as a foreign citizen by using his foreign passport. As dual citizen, he
is qualified to vote, but by express disqualification under Sec. 40(d) of the LGC, he is not qualified
to run for a local elective office
E. Loss and re-acquisition of Philippine citizenship
1. Citizenship is lost pursuant to CA 36
1. Naturalization to a foreign country
2. Express renunciation
3. Subscribing to oath of allegiance to a foreign country
1. A Filipino may not divest himself of Philippine citizenship in any manner while the
Republic of the Philippines is at war with any country
4. Rendering service to the armed forces of a foreign country and taking oath of allegiance
5. Cancellation of certificate of naturalization
6. Deserter of the armed forces in times of war
2. Repatriation through RA 8171, PD 725 in the Special Committee on Naturalization and take oath.
Then register to LCR and Bureau of Immigration. Otherwise, repatriation is ineffectual
1. Applicable to women who lost their citizenship due to marriage and natural born citizens
who lost their citizenship for some reason and due to political and economic necessity
2. Retroacts to the time of filing
3. The repatriation of a mother entitle her minor son to a declaration that he is entitled to
Philippine citizenship
3. Reacquisition under RA 9255
1. Natural-born citizens of the Philippines who had lost their Philippine citizenship by reason
of their naturalization as citizens of a foreign country would be deemed to have re-acquired
Philippine citizenship upon taking an oath of allegiance to the Republic, and that their children
whether legitimate, illegitimate or adopted, below eighteen (18) years of age, shall be deemed
citizens of the Philippines
2. Shirley will not become a Filipino citizen, because under Republic Act No. 9225, Warlito’s
reacquisition of Philippine citizenship did not extend its benefits to Shirley. She should
instead file with the Bureau of Immigration a petition for the cancellation of her alien
certificate of registration on the ground that in accordance with Section 15 of the
Naturalization Law, because of her marriage to Warlito, she should be deemed to have
become a Filipino citizen. She must allege and prove that she possesses none of the
disqualifications to become a naturalized Filipino citizen
F. Natural-born citizens and public office
1. Natural-born citizens are those who are citizens of the Philippines from birth without having to
perform any act to acquire or perfect their Philippine citizenship. Those who elect Philippine
citizenship in accordance with paragraph (3), Section 1 hereof shall be deemed natural-born citizens
2. Includes repatriation of former natural born citizens

IX. LAW ON PUBLIC OFFICERS

A. General principles
1. Characteristics of public office (all may not be present)
 1. Delegation of sovereign functions (Sir: Most important/Indispensable)
2. Creation of law and not by contract
3. An oath
4. Salary/Compensation (but, incl. honorary)
5. Continuance of the position
6. Scope of duties
7. Designation of the position as an office
2. The Office of the Ombudsman exercises jurisdiction over public officials/employees of GOCCs
with original charters
1. Apply the control test and economic viability test
3. Public office is personal to the incumbent and is not a property which passes to his heirs. The heirs
may NO longer prosecute the deceased protestee’s counterclaim for damages against the protestant
for that was extinguished when death terminated his right to occupy the contested office
1. However, an incumbent’s right to office may be considered “property” within the
protection due process in controversies relating to the question as to who of two (2) persons
is entitled thereto. This is because of the emolument attached to it
B. Modes of acquiring title to public office
C. Modes and kinds of appointment
1. Under Civil Service, Midnight appointment is permitted BUT not in bulk. In Nazareno, there were
60-80 employees appointed within the 2 months before the election day until the end of term
2. May a person be compelled to accept an office? Generally, no. But an elected official who refuses
without valid motive to be sworn in shall be held criminally liable under Sec. 234 of the RPC.
EXCEPTION: Compulsory military and civil service under Sec. 4, Art. 2 of the 1987 Constitution
and pursuant to the National Defense Act
3. Appointment is essentially an executive power; residual powers of the President
4. It is generally required to be in writing
5. Requisites
1. That the appointing authority is vested with that power,
2. The appointee possesses all the qualifications (including civil service eligibility, and none
of the disqualifications,
3. The position is vacant,
4. The appointment is approved by the CSC,
5. The appointee accepts by taking the oath and discharges the functions
6. The appointing authority is given ample discretion in the selection and appointment of qualified
persons to vacant positions, provided that the exercise thereof is in good faith for the advancement
of the employer’s interest and not for the purpose of defeating or circumventing the rights of the
employees under special laws or under valid agreements and provided further that such prerogatives
are not exercised in a malicious, harsh, oppressive, vindictive or wanton manner, or out of malice or
spite
7. Civil Service Commission has no power of appointment except over its own personnel. Neither
does it have the authority to review the appointments made by other offices except only to ascertain
if the appointee possesses the required qualifications. The determination of who among aspirants with
the minimum statutory qualifications should be preferred belongs to the appointing authority and not
the Civil Service Commission. It cannot disallow an appointment because it believes another person
is better qualified and much less can it direct the appointment of its own choice
1. The Civil Service Commission may, however, approve as temporary an appointment
intended to be permanent where the appointee does not possess the requisite eligibility, and
the exigency of the service demands that the position be filled up, even in a temporary
capacity
8. One who is next-in-rank is entitled to preferential consideration for promotion to the higher
vacancy but it does not necessarily follow that he and no one else can be appointed. The rule neither
grants a vested right to the holder nor imposes a ministerial duty on the appointing authority to
promote such person to the next higher position
9. Appointment is the selection by the proper authority of an individual who is to exercise the
functions of a given office. Designation, on the other hand, connotes merely the imposition of
additional duties, usually by law, upon a person already in the public service by virtue of an earlier
appointment (or election). = No security of tenure (holding of office is merely temporary) and No
additional benefits
10. Permanent – the appointee meets all the qualifications and requirements including the appropriate
eligibility requirement (civil service eligibility requirement); it lasts until lawfully terminated.
Temporary – the appointee meets all the requirements for the position except the appropriate civil
 service eligibility. It shall not exceed 12 months and employment ends ipso facto with or without
qualified replacement
1. Acquisition of the appropriate civil service eligibility by a temporary appointee will not
ipso facto convert the temporary appointment into a permanent one; a new appointment is
necessary
2. The acceptance by the petitioner of a temporary appointment resulted in the termination of
official relationship with his former permanent position. When the temporary appointment
was not renewed, the petitioner had no cause to demand reinstatement thereto
11. Nepotism. An original appointment cannot be validly issued to one who is related within the third
degree of consanguinity or affinity to the recommending or appointing authority. Exceptions:
Employment in confidential capacity, teacher, physician or AFP member. The original appointment
— and all subsequent personnel actions, such as promotion, transfer, reinstatement, etc., must
conform with the rule against nepotism
D. Eligibility and qualification requirements
1. Congress cannot impose conditions of eligibility inconsistent with constitutional provisions
2. Qualification must be germane to the position (“reasonable relation rule”)
3. Cannot prescribe qualifications so detailed as to amount to making an appointment in usurpation
of executive power
4. Unlike residence and age qualifications, the qualification of “citizenship” for local elective officials
under the Local Government Code of 1991 must only be possessed at the time the candidate becomes
“elective official” by his valid proclamation and at the start of his term
5. Property qualification is inconsistent with the essence and nature of a republican system ordained
in the Constitution and the principles of social justice underlying the same. Filing fee for certificate
of candidacy is valid; not property qualification
6. RPC, Art 36. Pardon; its effect – A pardon shall not work the restoration of the right to hold public
office, or the right of suffrage, unless such rights be expressly restored by the terms of the pardon
1. A pardon looks to the future. It is not retrospective. It affords no relief for what has been
suffered by the offender. It does not impose upon the government any obligation to make
reparation for what has been suffered. This would explain why petitioner, though pardoned,
cannot be entitled to receive backpay for lost earnings and benefits. Cannot also be reinstated
E. Disabilities and inhibitions of public officers
1. No candidate who has lost in any election shall, within one year after such election, be appointed
to any office in the Government or any government owned or controlled corporation or in any of their
subsidiaries
2. No elective official shall be eligible for appointment or designation in any capacity to any public
office or position during his tenure
3. Unless otherwise allowed by law or by the primary functions of his position, no appointive official
shall hold any other office or employment in the Government or any subdivision, agency or
instrumentality thereof, including government-owned or controlled corporations or their subsidiaries
1. May hold an ex officio position as long as no additional compensation
4. No officer or employee in the civil service shall engage, directly or indirectly, in any electioneering
or partisan political campaign
5. No elective or appointive public officer or employee shall receive additional, double, or indirect
compensation, unless specifically authorized by law, nor accept without the consent of the Congress,
any present, emolument, office or title of any kind from any foreign government
F. Powers and duties of public officers
1. Under the doctrine of necessary implication, all powers necessary for the effective exercise of the
express powers are deemed impliedly granted
2. Mandamus will not lie against a discretionary power. But where there is grave abuse of discretion,
manifest injustice or palpable excess of authority equivalent to a denial of a settled right to which the
petitioner is entitled, and where there is no other plain, speedy or adequate remedy, the writ of
mandamus will issue
1. It may also be issued to compel the exercise of discretion
3. General or constitutional duties
1. To be accountable to the people; to serve them with utmost responsibility, integrity, loyalty
and efficiency; to act with patriotism and justice; and to lead modest lives
2. To submit a declaration under oath of his assets, liabilities and net worth upon assumption
of office and as often thereafter as may be required by law
3. To owe the State and the Constitution allegiance at all times
G. Rights of public officers
 1. The Commission on Audit has the authority to order the withholding of an officer’s salary and
other emoluments up to the amount of his alleged shortage, but not to apply the withheld amount to
the alleged shortage for which her liability is still being litigated
2. The well-settled ruled is that the money value of the terminal leave of a retiring government official
shall be computed at the retiree’s highest monthly salary
H. Liabilities of public officers
1. When performing official functions, public officers are liable only in case of malice, bad faith,
gross negligence
2. Heads are liable for acts of subordinates only when he has “authorized by written order the act
complained of”
3. Sec 24 of LCG of 1991 provides: Liability for Damages. – Local government units and their
officials are not exempt from liability for death or injury to persons or damage to property
4. Basic in the law of public officers is three-fold liability rule, which states that the wrongful acts or
omissions of a public officer may give rise to civil, criminal and administrative liability. An action
for each can proceed independently of the others
5. Arias Doctrine. We would be setting a bad precedent if a head of office plagued by all too common
problems-dishonest or negligent subordinates, overwork, multiple assignments or positions, or plain
incompetence is suddenly swept into a conspiracy conviction simply because he did not personally
examine every detail, painstakingly trace every step from inception, and investigate the motives of
every person involved in a transaction before affixing, his signature as the final approving authority
6. Afonso Doctrine. A public official’s foreknowledge of facts and circumstances that suggested an
irregularity constitutes an added reason to exercise a greater degree of circumspection before signing
and issuing public documents. By failing to prevent the irregularity that a superior had reason to
suspect all along or to take immediate steps to rectify, the superior will be held liable
7. Dishonesty, in order to warrant dismissal, need not be committed in the course of the performance
of duty by the person charged. The private life of an employee cannot be segregated from his public
life. Dishonesty inevitably reflects on the fitness of the officer or employee to continue in office and
the discipline and morale of the service
8. Administrative offenses do not prescribe
9. Heads of ministries, agencies and instrumentalities, provinces, cities and municipalities have
jurisdiction to investigate and decide matters involving disciplinary action against officers and
employees under their jurisdiction. Their decision shall be final in case the penalty imposed is
suspension of not more than 30 days or fine in an amount not exceeding 30 days salary. In other
cases, the decision shall be initially appealed to the department head and finally to the Civil Service
Commission and pending appeal, the same shall be executory except when the penalty is removal, in
which case the same shall be executory only after confirmation by the department head
10. The Supreme Court sustained the right of the Civil Service Commission to appeal to the Supreme
Court the decision of the Court of Appeals exonerating the respondent and reversing the Civil Service
Commission’s decision which found Dacoycoy guilty of nepotism and ordered his dismissal from the
service. This decision overrules prior decisions holding that the Civil Service Law does not
contemplate a review of decisions exonerating officers or employees from administrative charges
11. The Rules of Court provide that a petition for reinstatement (after illegal ouster or dismissal), or
the recovery of the public office, must be instituted within one (1) year from the date the petitioner
is unlawfully ousted from his office
1. Preventive suspension and back salaries
1. The payment of back wages during the period of suspension of a civil servant who is
subsequently reinstated is proper only if he is found innocent of the charges and the
suspension is unjustified
2. Compensation is due only for the period of preventive suspension pending appeal should
the employee be ultimately exonerated, not for the period of preventive suspension pending
investigation
3. It was then held that the employee has no right to compensation during preventive
suspension pending investigation, even if he is exonerated, because in order to be entitled to
payment of back salaries, it is not enough that an employee be exonerated of the charges
against him. In addition, it must be shown that his suspension is unjustified
4. If the investigation is not finished and a decision is not rendered within a period of 90 days,
the suspension will be lifted and the respondent will automatically be reinstated
5. The authority to preventively suspend is exercised concurrently by the Ombudsman,
pursuant to R.A. 6770; the same law authorizes a preventive suspension of six months
6. Suspension from office under Republic Act 3019 refers to any office that the respondent is
presently holding and not necessarily to the one which he hold when he committed the crime
with which he is charged
 2. Illegal dismissal, reinstatement and back salaries
1. An illegally dismissed government employee who is later ordered reinstated is entitled to
back wages and other monetary benefits from the time of his illegal dismissal up to his
reinstatement
2. A civil service employee illegally terminated from the service is entitled to back salaries
limited only to a maximum of five years salary, not to full back salaries from her illegal
termination up to reinstatement
I. Immunity of public officers
1. Mistakes concededly committed by public officers are not actionable absent any clear showing
that they were motivated by malice or gross negligence amounting to bad faith
J. De facto officers
1. A de jure officer is a one who is in all respects legally appointed or elected and qualified to exercise
the office. The election or appointment complied with ALL the requirements of law
2. De facto officer v. usurper
1. Color of right or title to the office or has apparent authority to hold the office and has done
so in good faith, neither lawful title nor color of right or title to the office
2. Valid as if it was done by a de jure officer, absolutely null and void
3. Removed through a direct proceeding only, may be attacked collaterally
3. A de facto public officer cannot be made to reimburse funds disbursed during his term of office
because his acts are as valid as those of a de jure officer. Moreover, as a de facto officer, he is entitled
to emoluments for actual services rendered
4. An incumbent of a public office may recover from a de facto officer the salary received by the
latter during the time of his wrongful tenure, even though he (the de facto officer occupied the office
in good faith and under color of title. A de facto officer, not having a good title, takes the salaries at
his risk and must, therefore, account to the de jure officer for whatever salary he received during the
period of his wrongful tenure
5. The Supreme Court has allowed a de facto officer to receive emoluments for actual services
rendered but only when there is no de jure officer. Example with de facto but without de jure is when
the law creating an office is declared thereafter as unconstitutional
5. As GR, the de jure officer cannot recover from the government, but only from the de facto officer,
the salary it had paid to the latter. But, he can recover the salary from the government or the de facto
officer, if the government continues to pay the de facto officer even after notice of adjudication of
the title to the de jure officer, the amount so paid after the adjudication and notice
6. If the basis for disapproval is not “violation of civil service law”, say lack of qualification, the
appointee is entitled to a salary. However, if the disapproval by the CSC is on the ground the
appointment was made in violation of civil service law, the appointing authority shall be personally
held liable for the salary of the appointee
K. Termination of official relation
1. Expiration of term or tenure
1. When a public officer holds office at the pleasure of the appointing authority, his being
replaced shall be regarded as termination through expiration of term, not removal
2. Reaching the age limit
3. Resignation
1. A “courtesy resignation” lacks the element of voluntariness and is, therefore, not a valid
resignation
2. Resignation is not complete until accepted by proper authority
4. Recall
5. Removal
6. Abandonment
7. Acceptance of an incompatible office
8. Abolition of office
9. Prescription of the right to office
10. Impeachment
11. Death
12. Failure to assume elective office within six months from proclamation
1. The office of any official elected who fails or refuses to take his oath of office within six
months from his proclamation shall be considered vacant, unless said failure is for a cause or
causes beyond his control
13. Conviction of a crime
14. Filing of a certificate of candidacy
L. The Civil Service
1. Scope
 1. Embraces all branches, subdivisions, instrumentalities and agencies of the Government,
including government- owned and controlled corporations with original charters
2. Government- owned or controlled corporations organized under the Corporation Code are
not covered by the Civil Service Law but by the Labor Code, because only government-owned
or controlled corporations with original charters are covered by the Civil Service
2. Appointments to the civil service
1. Career
1. Merit and fitness test [competitive exam] or highly technical qualification;
2. Security of Tenure; and
1. Security of tenure in the Career Executive Service pertains only to rank, not
to the position to which the employee may be appointed
3. Opportunity for Advancement to higher career position
4. The career service include:
1. Open career positions for appointment to which prior qualifications in an
appropriate examination is required;
2. Closed career positions which are scientific or highly technical in nature;
3. Positions in the career executive service;
4. Career officers other than those in the career executive service, who are
appointed by the President;
5. Commissioned officers and enlisted men of the Armed Forces;
6. Personnel of government - owned or controlled corporations, whether
performing governmental or proprietary functions, who do not fall under the
non-career service; and
7. Permanent laborers, whether skilled, semiskilled, or unskilled
2. Non-career
1. Not based on competitive exam nor highly technical qualification;
2. Tenure is limited by law or co-terminus with appointing authority
3. They have NO SECURITY OF TENURE, may be removed anytime UNLESS they
have been issued CESO rank by the President
4. Policy determining, primarily confidential or highly technical
1. Apply the proximity rule to determine whether the position is primarily
confidential. There must be close intimate relationship with the occupant
which ensures freedom of discussion without fear or embarrassment or
misgivings of possible betrayal of personal trust or confidential matters of state
3. Both the appointing authority and the appointee are the real parties in interest, and both
have legal standing, in a suit assailing a Civil Service Commission (CSC) order disapproving
an appointment
4. Where the appointment is to the career service of the Civil Service, attestation by the Civil
Service Commission is required. An appointment to the career service of the Civil Service is
not deemed complete until attestation/ approval by the Civil Service Commission. The
Omnibus Rules Implementing Book V, E.O. 292, provides that an appointment not submitted
to the Civil Service Commission within 30 days from issuance shall be ineffective
3. Personnel actions
1. Disciplinary cases, and cases involving “personnel action” affecting employees in the Civil
Service, including “appointment through certification, promotion, transfer, reinstatement,
reemployment, detail, reassignment, demotion and separation”, as well as employment status
and qualification standards, are within the exclusive jurisdiction of the Civil Service
Commission
2. Career Executive Service personnel can be shifted from one office to another without
violating their right to security of tenure, because their status and salaries are based on their
ranks and not on the positions to which they are assigned
M. Accountability of public officers
1. Impeachment
1. Since the verified complaint was filed by 200 members of the house of representatives and
they constituted at least one third of its Members, it need not undergo the procedure in
paragraph 2, section 3, article XI of the Constitution. The verified complaint constitutes the
article of impeachment, and the trial by the senate should proceed forthwith
2. The following are the grounds for Impeachment:
1. culpable violation of the constitution
2. Treason
3. Bribery
4. Graft and Corruption
 5. Other high crimes; and
6. betrayal of public trust
3. The one-year bar rule is to be reckoned from the time the impeachment complaint is
referred to the Committee on Justice
2. Ombudsman (Sections 5 to 14, Article XI of the 1987 Constitution, in relation to R.A. No.
6770, or otherwise known as "The Ombudsman Act of 1989.")
a. Functions
1. The Constitution, Section 15 of the Ombudsman Act of 1989 and Section 4 of the
Sandiganbayan Law, as amended, do not give to the Ombudsman exclusive
jurisdiction to investigate offenses involving public officers or employees but is
concurrent with other government investigating agencies such as provincial, city and
state prosecutors. However, the Ombudsman, in the exercise of its primary jurisdiction
over cases cognizable by the Sandiganbayan, may take over, at any stage, from any
investigating agency of the government, the investigation of such cases
2. The Office of the Ombudsman exercises jurisdiction over public officials/employees of
GOCCs with original charters
1. Apply the control test and economic viability test
3. It has concurrent jurisdiction with the Office of the President and local Sanggunian to
investigate complaints over local officials
4. Ombudsman and President has administrative disciplinary power over the deputy
ombudsman and special prosecutor
5. Since the complaint refers to the performance of the duties of judge red, ombudsman grey
should not act on it and should not act on it and should refer it to the supreme court. His
investigation will encroach upon the exclusive power of administrative supervision of the
supreme court over all courts
6. The ombudsman can investigate crime or offenses committed by public officers which are
not connected with the performance of their duties. Under section 13(1) article XI of the
constitution, the ombudsman can investigate any act or omission of a public official which is
illegal
7. The Office of the Special Prosecutor may file an information against a public officer for
graft only when authorized by the Ombudsman
8. Under Section 15(3] of the Ombudsman Act, the Ombudsman has the power to ensure
compliance with the imposition of penalty on public officers it finds at fault by virtue of its
disciplinary authority. Its orders are mandatory
b. Judicial review in administrative proceedings
c. Judicial review in penal proceedings
3. Sandiganbayan
4. Ill-gotten wealth
1. Article XI, Section 15 of the Constitution provides that the right of the State to recover
properties unlawfully acquired by public officials or employees, or from them or from their
nominees or transferees, shall not be barred by prescription
N. Term limits
1. A public officer whose term of office has expired or whose service have been terminated is allowed
to continue holding office until his successor is appointed or chosen and has qualified; exceptions
1. Law expressly prohibits hold-over capacity (like temporary appointments)
2. The law implies a prohibition on holdover like when it fixed the term

X. ADMINISTRATIVE LAW

A. General principles
1. Study of admin law involves the study of organization. Powers of agencies and their relationships
with one another
B. Administrative agencies
1. Definition
1. DEPARTMENT – executive department created by law
2. BUREAU – principal subdivision of a Department
3. OFFICE – functional office of a Bureau including regional office; position held with
functions defined by law
4. INSTRUMENTALITY – agency of the National Government not integrated with the
Departmental framework vested with special functions, with corporate powers, special funds,
enjoying operational autonomy including regulatory agencies, chartered institutions and
GOCCs
 5. CHARTERED INSTITUTIONS – under a special charter, with specific constitutional
objective
1. Includes state universities and colleges
6. GOCC - agency organized as a stock or non-stock corporation, vested with functions
relating to public needs whether governmental or proprietary in nature, and owned by the
government directly or indirectly through its instrumentality either wholly or to the extent of
at least 51% of the capital stock in the case of stock
corporation
2. Manner of creation
1. Under Section 17 of Article 7, the President has control over departments, bureaus, and
offices. Meaning it is only up to agencies within the department framework that this power of
control can be exercised; power of control; residual powers; continuing authority
2. The power to create a new office, meaning not existing office, is not anymore a power of
the President under control power but it may be justified as long as it is:
1. An Ad Hoc office
2. It pertains to the so-called faithful execution clause
1. Not under the control power
3. Who can create an office?
1. Constitution
2. Law
3. By authority of law
4. The president can only create an office within an already existing office if it involves
internal reorganization within the OPT, office of the president proper. OPP includes:
1. Private office
2. Executive office
3. Common staff support system
4. Presidential special assistants or advisers system
5. If the newly created office has substantially new, different or additional functions, duties
or powers, so that it may be said in fact to create an office different from the one abolished,
even though it embraces all or some of the duties of the old office it will be considered as an
abolition of one office and the creation of a new or different one. The same is true if one office
is abolished and its duties, for reasons of economy are given to an existing officer or office
6. Reorganization is done in good faith if it is either for the purpose of economy or efficiency
7. When the purpose is to abolish a department or an office or an organization and to replace
it with another one, the lawmaking authority should specifically say so
8. Evidence of bad faith in reorganization or abolition
1. Where there is a significant increase in the number of positions in the new staffing
pattern of the department or agency concerned;
2. Where an officer is abolished and other performing substantially the same functions
is created;
3. Where incumbents are replaced by those less qualified in terms of status of
appointment, performance and merit;
4. Where there is a reclassification of offices in the department or agency concerned
and the
reclassified offices perform substantially the same function as the original officers;
5. Where the removal violates the order of separation provided in Section 3 hereof
which is:
1. Casual employees with less than five (5) years of government service;
2. Casual employees with five (5) years or more of government service;
3. Employees holding temporary appointments; and
4. Employees holding permanent appointments: Provided, That those in the
same category as enumerated above, who are least qualified in terms of
performance and merit shall be laid first, length of service notwithstanding
9. A valid abolition does not amount to violation of security of tenure. There is no removal
3. Kinds
1. By said attachment, CESB was not made to fall within the control of respondent
Commission. Under the Administrative Code of 1987, the purpose of attaching one
functionally inter-related government agency to another is to attain "policy and program
coordination”
1. CESB can only be abolished by Congress
2. As to “management of personnel” an attached agency is generally free from departmental
control and interference. Necessarily so because interfering with personnel matter is not
 necessary in achieving “policy and program coordination” which is the essence of the
relationship of “attachment”
C. Powers of administrative agencies
1. Quasi-legislative (rule-making) power
1. The Order is applicable to the general public
a. Kinds of administrative rules and regulations
b. Requisites for validity
1. If involves rate-fixing, there must be publication of at least 2 weeks in the
newspaper and then public hearing
1. But the moment someone contest it, it becomes quasi-judicial proceeding
(becomes contested proceeding)
2. No notice and hearing required for Quasi-Legislative Rules. Exception would be:
1. Required by law
2. It ADDS BURDEN to those affected
3. Interpretation of rules does not, as a general rule, require publication, in order to
comply with administrative due process. Also, “rules” are generally binding on courts,
unlike “interpretations” of rules which are at best “advisory” subject always to judicial
interpretation
4. What need NOT be published, although, it is better to just publish anyway, are:
1. Interpretative rules
2. Internal rules
3. Letters of instructions to subordinates
5. Requisites for validity
1. AUTHORIZED BY CONGRESS
2. WITHIN THE SCOPE OF AUTHORITY (NOT ULTRA VIRES)
1. The liberality principle has been applied, for as long as it is related
to the statute then the administrative rule can actually provide for a
subject even if it is not expressly mentioned in the statute
3. IN ACCORDANCE WITH PRESCRIBED PROCEDURE
4. FAIR AND REASONABLE
6. Take note ha, publication need not be in full. In fact, publication can be done
omitting certain portions of the rule. There are rules that are really lengthy so there is
no requirement that everything should be published. That's the general rule. Exception
lang is if the Rule carries a penal provision. The Admin Code requires that no matter
how lengthy the Rule may be that the full text should be published. In case of Rules
lang that have penal provisions
7. Implementing rule may provide a provision not found in the statute as long as it is
germane to the purposes of the law
8. It should be filed in the Office of the National Administrative Register of the UP
Law Center in 3 copies. Otherwise, they are ineffective
2. Quasi-judicial (adjudicatory) power
1. The Order is applicable only to the parties of the case
2. There is an implied power to promulgate procedural rules
1. Valid until disapproved by the SC
2. Rules of Court applies suppletorily
3. Even if the law does not expressly provide for it, a quasi-judicial body may divide itself
into several divisions and assign to it the power conferred upon the body
4. While the law does not expressly grant the Pollution Adjudication Board (PAB) the power
to issue a “cease and desist order,” the power is however “implied” in the express power to
regulate and adjudicate pollution cases, without which the PAB becomes toothless; implied
power to enforce decision
5. The Administrative Code however require quasi-judicial bodies to still state the facts and
the law upon which the decision is based
1. The OPP may make a memorandum decision adopting the decision of the
subordinate
6. Subpoena and contempt powers
1. Not being inherent, can be exercised only if first, it is allowed by law and second,
must be in connection with the matter they (administrative bodies) are authorized to
investigate
2. If not granted such power by law, it can seek the aid of the RTC
3. If the agency has been created by congress other than the administrative
code, then, there should be a grant at least that power to take testimony of
 evidence. Without that power, that agency cannot even seek the aid of the court
similar to the power granted to administrative agencies created by the
administrative code. Dili ni investigation ha
a. Administrative due process
1. What is required is only opportunity to be heard or opportunity to seek
reconsideration
2. Requisites under Ang Tibay v. CIR
1. Right to Hearing
2. Tribunal must consider evidence presented
3. Decision must have something to support itself
4. Evidence must be substantial
5. Decision must be based on the evidence adduced at the hearing or at least
contained in the record and disclosed to the parties
6. The Board or its judges must act on its or their independent consideration
of the facts and the law of the case, and not simply accept the views of a
subordinate in arrive at a decision
7. Decision must be rendered in such a manner that the parties to the
controversy can know the various issues involved and the reasons for the
decision rendered
3. Exceptions to prior notice and hearing
1. Summary Abatement of Nuisance per se (police power)
2. Preventive Suspension (it is not a penalty)
3. Padlocking of filthy restaurants, theaters, etc. (they are actually nuisance per
se)
4. Cancellation of Passport of accused (pragmatism, accused may escape)
5. Summary distraint and levy (lifeblood theory of taxation; need for taxes)
6. Grant of Provisional Authority (temporary only)
4. What is required is “substantial evidence” which means “such relevant evidence as
a reasonable mind might accept as adequate to support a conclusion”
1. Affidavits must be received with caution for being self-serving. There must
be some other relevant evidence to corroborate such affidavits
5. So long as the actual decision on the merits of the cases is made by the officer
authorized by law to decide, the power to hold a hearing on the basis of which his
decision will be made can be delegated and is not offensive to due process
b. Administrative appeal and review
1. Doctrine of exhaustion of administrative remedies is applicable
2. Quasi-Judicial decisions are brought to CA generally, some to SC, on pure
questions of law. Our fundamental rule here is that decisions of Quasi-Judicial Bodies
are treated like decisions of Regional Trial Courts. So co-equal with the RTC. Only
generally because it is not applicable to all cases. DARAB cases for example. The
decision of DARAB is under Quasi-Judicial, but they are brought to the RTC
3. Policy of court for Quasi-judicial powers is that generally the court will not entertain
factual findings, only when there is clear showing of capricious or whimsical
judgment, grave abuse of discretion, not uniform pronouncement of courts, or clear
mistakes of fact, clear error in the appreciation of the facts
c. Administrative res judicata
1. It is applicable to quasi-judicial proceedings
2. Exception is in the case of administrative adjudication on citizenship. Because apart
from looking at the sameness of causes of action, issues and identity of parties, we
add three more requirements.
1. The adjudication of citizenship must have been done by the SC;
2. It should be the main issue in the case; and
3. The SolGen must have taken a direct and active part in the proceedings
3. Fact-finding, investigative, licensing, and rate-fixing powers
D. Judicial recourse and review
1. If quasi-legislative as you know, you go to the RTC lang. Not MTC because if you seek for the
nullification of a rule, the cause of action is incapable of pecuniary estimation. So you go to the RTC
not with the MTC
2. For quasi-judicial acts
1. Rule 43 (to the CA) (excluding Labor Code decisions) (Petition for Review) (Mixed
Questions of FACTS and LAW)
 1. Because for Labor Code decisions, as you know NLRC, Labor Arbiter, NLRC, then
no more appeal. That’s why the remedy
is Certiorari under Rule 65, you go to the CA
2. Rule 45 (to the SC) (Pure Question of LAW)
3. Rule 65 (to the CA [following Hierarchy of Courts Doctrine]) (Graves Abuse of Discretion
amounting to…)
1. Doctrine of primary administrative jurisdiction
1. APPLICABILITY: WHEN REGULAR COURTS HAVE ALSO CONCURRENT
JURISDICTION OVER THE SUBJECT MATTER
2. RULE: THE REGULAR COURT REFERS THE MATTER TO THE
ADMINISTRATIVE AGENCY WHICH HAS THE COMPETENCE TO RESOLVE THE
CONTROVERSY (ORDINARILY REQUIRING EXPERTISE OR SKILL).
3. EFFECT: THE JUDICIAL PROCEEDING IS SUSPENDED PENDING REFERRAL TO
THE QJ BODY
2. Doctrine of exhaustion of administrative remedies
1. APPLICABILITY: WHEN REFERRAL TO ADMINISTRATIVE AGENCIES AND
RESORT TO ADMINISTRATIVE REMEDIES ARE MADE CONDITION PRECENDENT
BEFORE THE CONTROVERSY CAN BE BROUGHT TO THE COURT
2. RULE: THE REGULAR COURT WILL DISMISS THE CASE IF THERE IS NON-
COMPLIANCE
3. EFFECT: DISMISSAL WITHOUT PREJUDICE
4. Even if there is non-compliance of prior exhaustion of administrative remedies, and the
other party failed to invoke this ground for dismissal, the court can still continue and exercise
jurisdiction. This will not affect the court’s jurisdiction because this is subject to waiver
5. The failure to exhaust administrative remedies does not affect the jurisdiction of the court
but results in the lack of a cause of action, because a condition precedent that must be satisfied
before action can be filed was not fulfilled
6. Exceptions
1. Pure Question of Law
2. Agency is estopped
3. Act is patently illegal
4. Urgent need for judicial intervention
5. Small Claims
6. Irreparable Damage will be suffered
7. No other plain, speedy, and adequate remedy
8. Strong public interest
9. Private Land
10. Quo Warranto
3. Doctrine of finality of administrative action

XI. ELECTION LAW

A. Suffrage
1. Includes within its scope: election, plebiscite, initiative and referendum
2. It is a privilege and an obligation
B. Qualification and disqualification of voters
1. All citizens of the Philippines not otherwise disqualified by law who are at least eighteen (18) years
old age and who shall have resided in the Philippines for at least one (1) year and in the place wherein
they propose to vote for at least six (6) months immediately preceding the election
2. The following shall be disqualified from registering:
1. Sentenced by final judgment to suffer imprisonment of not less than one (1) year, such
disability not having been removed by plenary pardon or amnesty; Provided, however, That
any person disqualified to vote under this paragraph shall automatically reacquire the right to
vote upon expiration of 5 years after service of sentence
2. Has been adjudged by final judgment of having committed any crime involving disloyalty
to the duly constituted government such as a rebellion sedition, violation of the firearms laws
or any crime against national security, unless restored to his full civil and political rights in
accordance with law: Provided, that shall automatically reacquire the right to vote upon
expiration of 5 years after service of sentence; and
3. Insane or incompetent persons declared as such by competent authority unless subsequently
declared by proper authority that such person is no longer insane or incompetent
 3. R.A. 9189 (The Overseas Absentee Voting Act of 2003), which provides that among those
disqualified to vote is an immigrant or a permanent resident (of another country) who is recognized
as such in the host country, unless he/she executes an affidavit declaring the he/ she shall resume
actual, physical, permanent residence in the Philippines not later than three years from approval of
his/her registration under the said Act, and that he/she had not applied for citizenship in another
country. Their failure to return “shall be cause for the removal” of their names “from the National
Registry of absentee voters and his/her permanent disqualification to vote in absentia”
C. Registration of voters
1. Any voter, candidate or representative of a registered political party may challenge in writing any
application for registration, stating the grounds therefor. The challenge shall be under oath and be
attached to the application, together with the proof of notice of hearing to the challenger and the
applicant
2. Will registration of a voter in a place other than his residence of origin result to abandonment of
resident? (No, according to Perez vs. Comelec, 317 SCRA 641)
3. Will the act of voting by a voter in a place other than his residence or origin result to abandonment
of residence? (Not necessarily, according to Domino vs. Comelec, 310 SCRA 641)
4. Registration does not confer the right to vote; it is but a condition precedent to the exercise of the
right. Registration is a regulation, not a qualification
5. System of Continuing Registration. The personal filing of application of registration of voters shall
be conducted daily in the office of the Election Officer during regular office hours. No registration
shall, however, be conducted during the period starting 120 days before a regular election and 90
days before a special election
6. One of the causes for deactivation is failure to vote in the two successive preceding regular
elections as shown by their voting records (for this purpose, regular elections do not include the
Sangguniang Kabataan elections)
7. In the case of illiterate and disabled voters, their voter’s affidavit may be prepared by any relative
within the fourth civil degree of consanguinity or affinity or by any member of the board of election
inspectors who shall prepare the affidavit in accordance with the data supplied by the applicant
D. Inclusion and exclusion proceedings
1. The Municipal and Metropolitan Trial courts shall have original and exclusive jurisdiction over all
cases of inclusion and exclusion of voters in their respective cities or municipalities. Decisions of the
Municipal or Metropolitan Trial Courts may be appealed by the aggrieved party to the RTC within 5
days from receipt of notice thereof. Otherwise, said decision shall become final and executory. The
regional trial court shall decide the appeal within 10 days from the time it is received and the decision
shall immediately become final and executory. No motion for reconsideration shall be entertained
E. Political parties
1. Jurisdiction of the COMELEC over political parties
1. COMELEC may resolve matters involving the ascertainment of the identity of the political
party and its legitimate officers
2. Registration
1. If a party-list group failed to obtain at least 2% votes in the last two preceding elections,
still qualified to participate in the next party-list election? While textually it’s a ground for
DQs of party-list groups, remember what happened in Banat vs. Comelec case. In Banat, it
allowed giving of seats to party lists who did not qualify the 2% seat. Because of such ruling
in computing the additional seats – in Phil. Guardians vs. Comelec, Sec 6 should now be
understood in light of Banat ruling – not failure to get 2% BUT failure to get a seat. This
means those getting less than 2% may or may not get a seat
2. To determine the total valid votes cast for the party-list system, it shall include the votes
cast for party-list groups whose name are in the ballot but are subsequently disqualified. Party-
list groups in the ballot but whose disqualification attained finality prior to the elections and
whose disqualifications was reasonably made known by the COMELEC to the voters prior to
such elections should not be included in the divisor. The divisor shall also not include votes
that are declared spoiled or invalid
F. Candidacy
1. Qualifications of candidates
1. The qualifications in the LGC refer to that of “Elective” Officials (and not of “Candidates”),
hence, these qualifications need to be possessed by the official not at the time he filed his
certificate of candidacy BUT at the time he takes his oath of office ad assumes his post
2. Proof of Non-Abandonment of Domicile:
1. Animus manendi – (intent to remain)
2. Animus revertendi - (intent to return)
3. Proof of Abandonment of Old Domicile:
 1. Actual Physical Presence in the New Domicile,
2. Animus Manendi in the new domicile, and
3. Animus non-revertendi to domicile of origin
4. Becoming a permanent immigrant (“greencard holder”) to the US constitutes abandonment
of residency
5. Approval of voter registration does not presuppose six-month residency in the place prior
to registration
6. Disqualifications
1. Sentenced by final judgment
1. Moral turpitude
2. One year or more of imprisonment, within 2 years after service of sentence
3. UNLESS, the crime for which had been convicted carries with it as principal
or accessory penalty perpetual disqualification under RPC
4. The phrase “within 2 years after serving sentence” should have been
interpreted and understood to apply BOTH to those who have been sentenced
by final judgment for an offense involving moral turpitude and to those who
have been sentenced by final judgment for an offense punishable by one (1)
year or more of imprisonment
5. Those who have not served their sentence by reason of a grant of probation
which, we reiterate, should not be equated with service of sentence, should not
likewise be disqualified from running for a local elective office because the
two-year period of ineligibility under Sec 40 (a) of the LGC does not even
begin to run
2. Removed from office as a result of administrative case (prospective application
only; any “office”)
1. Includes appointive offices
3. Convicted by final judgment for violating the oath of allegiance to the Republic
4. Those with dual citizenship
1. Arnado, by using his US passport after renouncing his American citizenship,
has recanted the same Oath of Renunciation he took. Arnado’s category of
dual citizenship is that by which foreign citizenship is acquired through a
positive act of applying for naturalization. This is distinct from those
considered dual citizens by virtue of birth, who are not required by law to take
the oath of renunciation as the mere filing of the certificate of candidacy
already carries with it an implied renunciation of foreign citizenship
2. Dual citizens by naturalization, on the other hand, are required to take not
only the Oath of Allegiance to the Republic of the Philippines but also to
personally renounce foreign citizenship in order to qualify as a candidate for
public office
5. “Fugitive from justice” includes not only those who flee after conviction to avoid
punishment but likewise who, after being charged, flee to avoid prosecution”
1. When there is knowledge by the fleeing subject of an already instituted
indictment, or promulgated judgment of conviction
6. Section 2175 of the Old Admin Code stated: “In no case shall there be elected or
appointed to a municipal office ecclesiastics, soldiers in active service, persons
receiving salaries or compensation from provincial or national funds, or contractors
for public works of the municipality
1. It must be noted that the provision disqualifying ecclesiastics from holding
local appointive or elective position refers to municipal" positions only.
Hence, there seems to be no controversy for an ecclesiastic to be elected
Governor of a province like in the case of Roman Catholic Priest Eddie
Panlilio of Pampanga
2. Filing of certificates of candidacy
a. Effect of filing
1. Any person holding a public appointive office or position, including active
members of the armed forces, and officers, and employees in GOCC, shall be
considered ipso facto resigned from his/her office and must vacate the same at the
start of the day of the filing of his/her certification of candidacy
2. Substantial distinctions exist between elective and appointive officials. The
former(elective) occupy their office by virtue of the mandate of the electorate while
the latter(appointive) by virtue of their designation thereto by an appointing authority.
 The former are obviously engaged in partisan political activities while the latter are
strictly prohibited from engaging in partisan political activity
3. If he files certificate of candidacy for more than one office, he shall not be eligible
for any of them. But, before expiration of the period for filing of certificate of
candidacy, the person who has filed more than one certificate of candidacy may
declare under oath the office for which he desires to be eligible
b. Substitution of candidates
1. Substitution is allowed only in cases where there is partisan election (via political
parties). But in barangay elections which is not partisan, in theory, it is not allowed
2. If the official candidate dies, withdraws or is disqualified for any cause, any person
belonging to same party and certified by said party may replace the candidate
1. But not when COC is denied or cancelled due to lack of eligibility. There is
no valid COC to substitute with
3. In case of death or disqualification, the substitute has until midday of the election
day to file the COC. In case of withdrawal, the substitute is usually required the file
the COC much earlier.
1. If the candidate withdraws after the printing, the name of the substitute
candidate can no longer be accommodated in the ballot and a vote for the
substitute will just be waster
4. In case of death/disqualification, it should be the same family name
c. Ministerial duty of COMELEC to receive certificates
1. While the Commission may look into patent defects in the certificate, it may not go
into matters not appearing on their face. Accordingly, the Comelec may not, by itself,
without proper proceedings, deny due course to or cancel a certificate of candidacy
filed in due form
d. Nuisance candidates
1. The Comelec may, motu proprio, or upon verified petition of an interested party,
refuse to give due course to or cancel a certificate of candidacy if it is shown that the
said certificate was filed:
1. To put the election process in mockery or disrepute;
2. To cause confusion among the voters by the similarity of the names of the
registered candidates; or
3. By other circumstances or acts which clearly demonstrate that the candidate
has no bona fide intention to run for the office for which the certificate has
been filed, and thus prevent a faithful determination of the true will of the
electorate
e. Petition to deny or cancel certificates of candidacy
f. Effect of disqualification
1. Any candidate who has been declared by final judgment to be disqualified shall not
be voted for and votes cast for him shall not be counted. If before the election he is
not declared by final judgment to be disqualified and he is voted for and he receives
the winning number of votes, the hearing on the question of disqualification should
continue. Upon motion of the complainant or any intervenor, the court or the
Commission on Elections may order the suspension of the proclamation of the
winning candidate if the evidence of his guilt is strong
g. Withdrawal of candidates
1. The withdrawal of the withdrawal, for the purpose of reviving the certificate of
candidacy, must be made within the period provided by law for the filing of
certificates of candidacy
2. There is nothing in Sec. 73, B.P. 881, which mandates that the affidavit of
withdrawal must be filed with the same office where the certificate of candidacy to be
withdrawn was filed. Thus, it can be filed directly with the main office of the Comelec,
the office of the regional election director concerned, the office of the provincial
election supervisor of the province to which the municipality belongs, or the office of
the municipal election officer of the municipality
G. Campaign
1. Premature campaigning
1. Only after said person officially becomes a candidate, at the start of the campaign period,
can his/her disqualification be sought for acts constituting premature campaigning
2. Prohibited contributions
 1. If done for the purpose of enhancing the chances of aspirants for nomination for candidacy
to a public office by a political party, etc., it shall not be considered as election campaign or
partisan political activity
3. Lawful and prohibited election propaganda
1. But this evil does not obtain in a plebiscite, because in a plebiscite the electorate is asked
to vote for or against issues, not candidates
4. Limitations on expenses
5. Statement of contributions and expenses
1. Every candidate and treasurer of the political party shall, within 30 days after the day of
the election, file in duplicate with the offices of the Commission, the full, true and itemized
statement of all contributions and expenditures in connection with the election
2. No person elected to any public office shall enter upon the duties of his office until he has
filed the statement of contributions and expenditures herein required. The same prohibition
shall apply if the political party that nominated the winning candidate fails to file the statement
required herein
3. The Supreme Court said that the requirement to file the statement covers even those who
withdrew as candidates after having filed their certificates, because Sec. 14, R.A. 7166, does
not make any distinction
H. Board of Election Inspectors and Board of Canvassers
1. Composition
1. A chairman, a member and a poll clerk, who must be public school teachers. A member
must be of good moral character and irreproachable reputation, a registered voter of the City
or municipality, never been convicted of any election offense or any other crime punishable
by more than 6 months imprisonment, able to speak and write English or the local dialect
2. Disqualification, (a) Must not be related within the 4th civil degree by consanguinity or
affinity to any member of the BEI or to any candidate to be voted for in the polling place, (b)
Must not engage in any partisan political activity
2. Powers
I. Remedies and jurisdiction in election law
1. Petition not to give due course to or cancel a certificate of candidacy
1. It was further held in the said case that while provisions relating to certificates of candidacy
are mandatory in terms, it is an established rule of interpretation as regards election law, that
mandatory provisions requiring certain steps before elections will be construed as directory
after the elections, to give effect to the will of the electorate
2. In Sec 78, petition to deny due course or cancellation of COC due to misrepresentation on
material allegation (“material” if it involves eligibility), this affects the COC so those casts to
that person is considered stray. Thus, the second placer is actually the first placer. Hence,
rejection of the 2nd placer rule does not apply
3. The material misrepresentation under Section 78 of the OEC refers to qualifications for
elective office. Aside from the requirement of materiality, a false representation under Section
78 must consist of a “deliberate attempt to mislead, misinform, or hide a fact which would
otherwise render a candidate ineligible.” In other words, it must be made with an intention to
deceive the electorate as to one’s qualifications for public office
4. It must be filed within 25 days from the filing of the COC and shall be decided, after due
notice and hearing, not later than 15 days before the election
5. While the certificate of candidacy is required to be under oath, the election of a candidate
cannot be annulled on the sole ground of formal defects in his certificate, such as lack of the
required oath
2. Petition for disqualification
1. In Sec 68 or 12, refers in conduct in violation of election laws (e.g vote-buying, terrorism,
use of public funds for campaign), the candidate has actually filed a valid candidacy but
disqualified. If disqualified and COMELEC proclaimed the 2nd placer, this is a violation of
the rejection of the 2nd placer rule. (IOW, 2nd placer should not be declared instead
succession should apply)
2. The second placer may assume if the electorate was fully aware in fact and in law of the
candidate’s disqualification as to bring such awareness within the realm of notoriety but the
electorate still cast the plurality of the votes in favor of the ineligible candidate
1. This applies when the disqualification order occurs prior to election
3. Petition to declare failure of elections
1. Before the COMELEC can act on a verified petition for the declaration of a failure of
election, two conditions must first concur:
 1. That no voting has taken place on the date fixed by law or even if there was, the
election results in a failure to elect, AND
1. Failure to Elect – there is vote but when there is failure to ascertain because
not counted
2. The votes not cast would affect the result of the election
4. Pre-proclamation controversy
1. The Comelec can suspend proclamation only when evidence of the winning candidate’s
guilt is strong
2. A pre-proclamation controversy refers to any question pertaining to or affecting the
proceedings of the board of canvassers which may be raised by any candidate or by any
registered political party or coalition of political parties before the board or directly with the
Comelec, or any matter raised under Sections 233, 234, 235 and 236 in relation to the
preparation, transmission, receipt, custody and appreciation of the election returns
3. No pre-proclamation cases in election of national officials
4. But where the resolution of the issues raised would require the Comelec to “pierce the veil”
of election returns that appear prima facie regular, the remedy is a regular election protest
5. The Comelec has exclusive jurisdiction over pre-proclamation cases
6. Under Comelec rules, if the petition involves the illegal composition of the Board of
Canvassers, it must be filed immediately when the Board begins to act as such, or at the time
of the appointment of the member whose capacity as such is objected to
7. Errors in appreciation of ballots by the BEI are proper subject for an election protest and
not for a pre-proclamation contest
5. Election protest
1. Original: Regional, Provincial, City Official
2. Appellate: Mun. (RTC); Barangay (MTC)
1. Comelec can issue writs of Certiorari, Prohibition, and Mandamus but only in the
exercise of its exclusive appellate jurisdiction. This power is concurrent with the SC,
so the tribunal that takes jurisdiction first shall exercise exclusive jurisdiction over the
case. But, note now of SC’s mandate to observe “hierarchy of courts”
2. A motion for the reconsideration of the RTC decision is a prohibited pleading, and
does not interrupt the running of the 5-day period for appeal. But the Comelec cannot
deprive the RTC of its competence to order execution of its decision pending appeal
3. But in the absence of any express provision in the governing law, it is the Regional
Trial Court, a court of general jurisdiction, which has jurisdiction over controversies
involving election of members of the Sangguniang Kabataan
3. In division first, before en banc rule (upon MR)
1. Applicable only when COMELEC is asked to exercise adjudicatory function (QJ).
Hence, when exercising purely admin function, need not be in division
2. “Correction of manifest errors” is purely admin (includes mere mathematical
calculation), hence, en banc may decide. But not in SANDOVAL CASE (where the
issue was not the correction of manifest error but foremost whether or not there was
manifest error) where the Supreme Court said it requires adjudicative function, hence,
must be decided in division by the COMELEC
4. Decision is Final and Executory, hence, remedy is Certiorari (Rule 64; 30 days)
5. Considering that election contest is imbued with public interest, unlike in an ordinary suit,
the death of the protestant does not extinguish an election contest. The candidate who is likely
to succeed had the protestant been declared the winner, like a vice-elect, will be the real party
in interest
6. “Execution pending appeal” allowed in election cases. It is allowed if there are valid and
special reasons to grant the motion for execution pending appeal, and provided that the motion
for execution is filed within the period to appeal. Besides, the pendency of an election contest
is not a sufficient basis to enjoin one who has been proclaimed as duly elected from assuming
office as required of him by law, otherwise the efficiency of public administration would be
impaired
7. Where what is involved is the correctness of the number of votes of each candidate, the
best and most conclusive evidence are the ballot themselves. But, where the ballots cannot be
produced or are not available, the election returns would be the best evidence, as they are used
in the canvass of votes
8. Once a winning candidate has been proclaimed, taken his oath, and assumed office as a
Member of the House of Rep., the jurisdiction of the HRET begins over the election contests
relating to his election, returns and qualifications and mere allegation as to the invalidity of
her proclamation does not divest the Electoral Tribunal of its jurisdiction. The Codilla
 doctrine applies only when the proclamation itself is void as when due process had not been
observed, in which case, the COMELEC will not be divested of its jurisdiction despite the
fact that a proclamation had been made
9. Requisites for an election protest
1. Must be filed by any candidate who has filed a certificate of candidacy and has been
voted upon for the same office
2. On grounds of fraud, terrorism, irregularities or illegal acts committed before,
during or after the casting and counting of votes
3. Within ten days from proclamation of the results of the election
1. The period for filing an election protest is suspended during the pendency
of a pre-proclamation controversy
10. As a general rule, the filing of an election protest or quo warranto precludes the subsequent
filing of a pre-proclamation controversy or amounts to an abandonment of one earlier filed
6. Quo warranto
1. May be filed by any registered voter in the constituency
2. On grounds of ineligibility or disloyalty to the Republic of the Philippines
3. Within ten (10) days from proclamation of the results of the election
4. In an elective office: the issue is eligibility of the officer-elect; the court or tribunal cannot
declare the protestant (or the candidate who the second highest number of votes) as having
been elected. In an appointive office: the issue is the legality of the appointment; the court
determines who of the parties has legal title to the office
J. Prosecution of election offenses (EXCLUDE: penal provisions)
1. The Constitution has not made this power exclusive to the Comelec. Hence, the Comelec may, by
law, exercise concurrent jurisdiction with other prosecuting arms of the government in the
investigation and prosecution of election offenses as provided for in RA 9369
2. The DOJ now conducts preliminary investigation of election offenses concurrently with the
Comelec and no longer as mere deputies
3. But it is not the duty of the Comelec, as investigator and prosecutor, to gather proof in support of
a complaint filed before it
4. The courts shall likewise give preference to election offenses over all other cases, except petitions
for a writ of habeas corpus. Cases shall be decided within thirty (30) days from submission
5. Prescription is 5 years from date of commission
INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING LAWS:
Omnibus Election Code of the Philippines (B.P. Blg. 881 as amended)
Election Automation Law (R.A. No. 8436 as amended by R.A. No. 9369)

XII. LOCAL GOVERNMENTS

A. Public corporations
1. Concept
1. A public corporation is one that is organized for government of a portion of a state, such as
a local government unit. It is created for public purpose
2. Two Tests:
1. Purpose Test – if for governance, public; otherwise, private.
2. Relation Test – to assist the state in the administration of its public function, public;
otherwise, private
3. The BSP still remains an instrumentality of the national government. It is a public
corporation (this is declared in CA no. 111 itself) created by law for a public purpose, attached
to the DECS pursuant to its Charter and the Administrative Code of 1987
1. BSP and COA now classified as “sui generis” GOCC by the Governance
Commission
4. Authorities are of the view that the purpose of the corporation cannot be taken as a safe
guide, for the fact is that almost all corporations are nowadays created to promote the interest,
good, or convenience of the public. The true criterion, therefore, to determine whether a
corporation is public or private is found in the totality of the relation of the creation to the
State. If the corporation is created by the State as the latter’s own agency or instrumentality
to help in carrying out its governmental functions, then that corporation is considered public;
otherwise, it is a private
a. Distinguished from government-owned or controlled corporations
2. Classifications
a. Quasi-corporations
 1. A private corporation that renders public service or supplies public wants, such as
utility companies. It combines the elements of both public and private. Though
organized for private profit, they are compelled by law or contract to render public
service
b. Municipal corporations
1. Body politic and corporate constituted by the incorporation of the inhabitants for
purposes of local government thereof. Recently referred to as “local governments”
2. De Jure created with all the elements of a municipal corporation being present.
3. De Facto where there is colorable compliance with the requisites of a de jure
municipal corporation
1. Cannot be challenged collaterally
2. Their acts are valid; operative fact doctrine
3. May become de jure by subsequent act when included in the Ordinance
(Appendix) to the 1987 Constitution
4. Another act that makes them de jure is Sec 442 (d), LGC: Municipalities
existing as of the date of the effectivity of this Code shall continue to exist and
operate as such. Existing municipal districts organized pursuant to presidential
issuances or Executive Orders and which have their respective set of elective
municipal officials holding office at the time of the effectivity of this Code
shall henceforth be considered as regular municipalities
5. Requisites in order to be a de facto public corporation
1. Valid law authorizing incorporation
2. Attempt in good faith to organize it
3. Colorable compliance with law
4. Assumption of corporate powers
4. Corporation by prescription
5. Corporation by estoppel. A municipal corporation by estoppels is a corporation
which is so defectively formed as not to be a de facto corporation but is considered a
corporation in relation to someone who dealt with it and acquiesced in its exercise of
its corporate functions or entered into a contract with it
B. Municipal corporations
1. Elements
1. Legal creation or incorporation
2. Corporate name
3. Inhabitants
4. Territory
2. Nature and functions
1. Governmental – (also public or political) administering the powers of the state and
promoting the public welfare
2. Proprietary (also called private or corporate) exercised for the special benefit and advantage
of the community
3. Requisites for creation, conversion, division, merger, or dissolution
1. Law
2. Plebiscite
1. The Supreme Court ruled that plebiscite was required even in cases of “conversion.”
It is precisely for this reason that the Constitution requires the approval of the people
in the political units “directly affected”
2. Component City to Highly Urbanized City. Will plebiscite be also held for
province? YES. There is substantial alteration of boundaries
3. Compliance with Criteria on Income, Land and/or Population
1. If municipality, comply the three (income, land, population) but not for province
(Annual Income of 20M AND Territory of 2,000 sq. km OR Population of 250,000
inhabitants)
2. For provinces, do not just limit to locally generated income but also include IRA
allotment
3. SC, through J. Nachura, ruled that Congress intended to apply the exemption on
land area requirements enjoyed by municipalities and cities which have islands as
territories to the Province (Province of Dinagat). Note of J. Carpio’s Dissent that the
majority opinion will allow the creation of a province with only one (1) unit (say a
municipality) instead of various component LGUs
 4 League of Cities case. The 16 cityhood bills were exempted from RA 9009 which
increased the income requirement to 100M, locally generated income (IRA excluded).
This is because the cityhood bills were introduced in Congress prior to passage of RA
9009
4. Sec 9, RA 7160 – “The law or ordinance abolishing a local government unit shall specify
the province, city, municipality or barangay with which the local government unit sought to
be abolished will be incorporated or merged”
5. Ground for abolition is when its income, population or land area has been irreversibly
reduced to less than the minimum standards as certified by the agencies concerned
6. In case of barangays except in Metro Manila and in cultural communities, the abolition
may be done by the Sanggunian concerned
7. When the law is silent, the beginning of corporate existence is at the time of the election of
the chief executive and majority of the Sanggunian
C. Principles of local autonomy
1. It is the President not the national government; Congress exercises control, not just general
supervision. The Judiciary exercises judicial review (nullify ordinance or GAD for acts of LGU
officials)
2. Is the decentralization granted to LGU the same as autonomous regions? Still decentralization of
administration because there is an organic act passed by Congress which is limited by the Constitution
and defined some certain powers only (e.g. ancestral, maritime, etc.). But the autonomous region may
have higher degree of autonomy than other LGUs
3. There is decentralization of administration when the central government delegates administrative
powers to political subdivisions in order to broaden the base of government power and in the process
to make local governments “more responsive and accountable,” and “ensure their fullest development
as self-reliant communities and make them more effective partners in the pursuit of national
development and social progress.” Decentralization of Power, on the other hand, involved an
abdication of political power in favor of local governments units declared to be autonomous. In that
case, the autonomous government is free to chart its own destiny and shape its future with minimum
intervention from central authorities
4. If from GAA or special appropriation or foreign funds where the LGU is not identified as
implementing agency then the national government can implement the project immediately
5. Review power of mother Sanggunian
1. If by Sangguniang panlalawigan, ground is if ultra vires
2. If by Sangguniang panlungsod or bayan, grounds are not consistent with law or city or
municipal ordinances
3. Veto power of chief executive, grounds are ultra vires and prejudicial to the public welfare
4. The local legislative assembly can override the veto of the local chief executive by two-
thirds (2/3) vote of all its members. A second veto is void
5. An ordinance vetoed by the local chief executive shall be deemed approved if he does not
communicate his veto to the local legislative assembly within fifteen (15) days in the case of
a province and ten (10) days in the case of a city or a municipality
6. No project or program shall be implemented by government authorities unless the consultation in
Section 2 (C) and 26 of the LGC and prior approval of the Sanggunian concerned obtained, provided
that occupants affected shall be given relocation site. This refers to projects that:
1. May cause pollution;
2. May bring about climatic change;
3. May cause the depletion of non-renewable resources;
4. May result in loss of crop land, rangeland, or forest cover;
5. May eradicate certain animal or plant species from the face of the planet; and
6. Other projects or programs that may call for the eviction of a particular group of people
residing in the locality where these will be implemented
7. LOCAL FISCAL AUTONOMY: Local governments have the power to create their own their own
sources of revenue in addition to their equitable share in the national taxes release by the national
government, as well as the power to allocate their resources in accordance with their own priorities
1. IRA shall be automatically released and shall not be subject to any lien or holdback
8. All governors, city and municipal mayors are prohibited from practicing their profession or
engaging in any occupation other than the exercise of their functions as local chief executives.
Sanggunian members may practice their professions, engage in any occupation, or teach in schools
except during session hours. However, Sanggunian members who are also members of the Bar are
subject to certain limitations when they practice law. A Doctor of Medicine, whether local chief
executive or not, may practice medicine in times of emergency provided he does not receive
compensation
 9. The entire membership must be taken into account in computing the quorum of the Sangguniang
panlalawigan. The vice-mayor shall be included in the computation of the quorum because under the
Local Government Code of 1991, the Sangguniang Panlungsod "shall be composed Of the city vice-
mayor as presiding officer, the regular Sanggunian members, the president of the city chapter of the
liga ng mga barangay, the president of the pederasyon ng mga Sangguniang Kabataan, and the
sectoral representatives, as members"
10. There is no provision in the Constitution, the Local Government Code, or any law expressly
granting local legislative bodies the power to subpoena witnesses. There is likewise no provision in
the Constitution, the Local Government Code, or any other laws granting local legislative bodies the
power to cite for contempt
11. The following are the main sources of revenues of local government units under the constitution:
1. Taxes, fees, and charges. (Section 5, Article X)
2. Share in the national taxes. (Section 6, Article X)
3. Share in the proceeds of the utilizations and development of the national wealth within their
areas. (Section 7, Article X)
D. Powers of local government units (LGUs)
1. Police power (general welfare clause)
1. Basically a delegated power both in its general and specific sense, unlike in taxation power
where the “general power to tax” is constitutionally guaranteed
2. Requisites for validity
1. Must not contravene the Constitution and statute
2. Not unfair and oppressive
3. Not partial or discriminatory
4. Not prohibited but only regulate lawful trade
5. Consistent with public policy
6. Not unreasonable
7. Lawful subject
8. Lawful means
1. Reasonably necessary
2. Least intrusive
3. Not unduly oppressive
3. Tests
1. Rational basis test; valid governmental objective; presumed constitutional
2. Strict scrutiny test; compelling state interest; presumed unconstitutional
1. This is applicable when what is sought to be regulated are fundamental
rights
4. Zoning Ordinance is a police measure. It prevails over contractual obligations. Therefore,
parties to a contract who may be affected by zoning ordinances cannot invoke the
constitutional right against "impairment of obligations and contracts" because in
constitutional law, police power prevails over the "non-impairment clause"
5. The exercise of the power to issue business permit is a delegated police power and hence,
discretionary in nature. A mayor cannot, therefore, be compelled by mandamus to issue a
business permit
6. LGU cannot abate a nuisance if it is not a nuisance per se. A case should be filed in court
7. Under Sec. 149 (c) of the Local Government Code, however, the penalty for the violation
of a municipal ordinance cannot exceed a fine of PI,000.00 or imprisonment for six months,
or both at the discretion of the court
8. The ordinance was apparently enacted pursuant to Article X. Sec. 7 of the Constitution,
which entitles local governments to an equitable share in the proceeds of the utilization and
development of the national wealth within their respective areas. However, this should be
made pursuant to law. A law is needed to implement this provision and a local government
cannot constitute itself unto a law. In the absence of a law the ordinance in question is invalid
2. Eminent domain
1. General requirements
1. Necessity (national vs. local)
1. If the genuine public necessity of expropriation of a private land ceases or
disappears, then there is no more cogent point for the government’s retention
of the expropriated land. The same legal situation should hold if the
government devotes the property to another public use very much different
from the original or deviates from the declared purpose to benefits another
private person
2. Private Property
 3. Taking
4. Public Use
1. The expropriator should commit to use the property pursuant to the purpose
stated in the petition for expropriation filed, failing which, it should file
another petition for the new purpose. If not, it is then incumbent upon the
expropriator to return the said property to its private owner, if the latter desires
to reacquire the same
2. It’s always subject to public use so not in fee simple
5. Just Compensation
1. Value of Just Compensation is “at the time of taking”; unlike other “at the
time of taking or filing of complaint, whichever is earlier”
2. The landowner is entitled to recover possession of the property expropriated
if the government fails to fully pay just compensation to the owner within a
period of five (5) years from the finality of the judgment in an expropriation
proceeding
6. Due Process
2. Specific requirements
1. An ordinance is enacted by the local legislative council authorizing the local chief
executive, in behalf of the local government unit, to exercise the power of eminent
domain or pursue expropriation proceedings over a particular private property. (Sir:
owner should be identified)
2. For public use, purpose or welfare, or for the benefit of the poor and the landless
3. There is payment of just compensation, as required under Section 9, Article III of
the Constitution and other pertinent laws
4. A valid and definite offer has been previously made to the owner of the property
sought to be expropriated, but said offer was NOT accepted
3. If for the purpose of urban development and housing
1. Priorities in the acquisition of land shall be complied with as mandated by RA no.
7279 (Urban Development and Housing Act of 1992) (meaning: private lands should
be last in the election of land) (Sec 9 of RA 7279)
2. Expropriation shall be resorted to only when other modes of acquisition have been
exhausted (Sec 10, RA 7279)
3. Small property owners are exempt. Small property owners are [1] owners of
residential lands with an area not more than 300 square meters in urbanized cities and
not more than 800 square meters in other urban areas; and [2] they do not own
residential property other than the same. In this case, the respondents fall within the
classification of small property owners
4. Before a local government unit may enter into the possession of the property sought to be
expropriated, it must:
1. File a complaint for expropriation sufficient in form and substance in the proper
court and
2. Deposit with the said court at least 15% of the property’s fair market value based
on its current tax declaration
3. The law does NOT make the determination of a public purpose a condition the
determination of a public purpose a condition precedent to the issuance of a writ of
possession
5. Prohibition is generally not proper in Eminent Domain. The interest of the affected
landowner is thus made subordinate to the power of the State. Only when the landowners are
not given their just compensation for the taking of their property or when there has been no
agreement on the amount of just compensation may the remedy of prohibition become
available
3. Taxing power
4. Closure and opening of roads
1. The closure of a road, alley, park or square presupposes an exercise of police power. Hence,
for any loss or inconvenience caused to a property owner, is a "damnum absque injuria"
2. To convert a barrio road into patrimonial property, the law requires the LGU to enact an
ordinance, approved by at least two-thirds (2/3) of the Sanggunian members, permanently
closing the road. A resolution will not suffice
3. Temporary closure
1. Urgent (actual emergency, fiesta celebrations, public works, repairs of public
works, public rallies and the like)
1. Applies to national and local roads
 2. Only by a written order of the Local Chief Executive stating the REASON
and DURATION
2. Non-urgent
1. Applies to local roads only
2. Only by an ordinance enacted by a majority vote
4. Permanent closure
1. Ordinance (2/3 of ALL members)
2. Provide for adequate substitute for the facility
3. Provisions for the maintenance of public safety
4. If what is involve is a freedom park, provision for relocation/new site
5. Due process (already complied with by sec. 21)
6. Circumstance show that the property is no longer intended or necessary for public
use
5. The cancellation of the lease and the removal of the stalls are valid. As held in Macasiano
vs. Diokno, 212 SCRA 464. The lease of public streets is void, since they are reserved for
public use and are outside the commerce of man
5. Legislative power
a. Requisites for valid ordinance
b. Local initiative and referendum
6. Corporate powers
a. To sue and be sued
b. To acquire and sell property
c. To enter into contracts
i. Requisites
1. The local government unit must have the power to enter into the particular
contract;
1. Like when there is non-compliance of the required public bidding
2. There must be prior authorization by the Sanggunian concerned, and a
legible copy of the contract shall be posted at a conspicuous place in the
provincial capitol or the city, municipal or barangay hall;
1. A separate prior authorization is no longer required if the specific
projects are covered by appropriations of the LGU. The appropriation
ordinance passed by the Sanggunian is the local chief executive's
authority to enter into a contract implementing the project
2. If the project or program is identified in the appropriation ordinance
in sufficient detail, then there is no more need to obtain a separate or
additional authority from the Sanggunian. In such case, the project and
the cost are already identified and approved by the Sanggunian through
the appropriation ordinance
3. If the contract involves the expenditure of public funds, there should be
actual appropriation AND a certificate of availability of funds by the treasurer
of the local government unit (except in the case of a contract for supplies to be
carried in stock)
4. The contract must conform with the formal requisites of written contracts
prescribed by law
ii. Ultra vires contracts
1. When a contract is entered into without compliance with (A) and (C)
requisites, the same is ultra vires and is null and void. Such contract cannot be
ratified or validated
2. Ratification of defective municipal contracts is possible only when there is
non-compliance with (B) and (D) requirements. Ratification may either be
express or implied
7. Liability of LGUs
1. LGU is considered as a private person liable ex contractu. But, the rule applies only when
the contract is within the authority of the LGU (intra vires), otherwise, if LGU has no authority
(ultra vires), it cannot be held liable ex contractu because a void contract cannot be cured, not
even by the application of the Doctrine of Estoppel. Doctrine of Estoppel will not apply to
void contracts as when the LGU already received benefits because it will only validate an
otherwise void contract
2. Under Section 24 of the Local Government Code, local government units and their officials
are not exempt from liability for death or injury to persons or damage to property
 3. Jurisprudence teaches that for liability to arise under Article 2189 of the Civil Code,
ownership of the roads, streets, bridges, public buildings and other public works, is not a
controlling factor, it being sufficient that a province, city or municipality has control or
supervision thereof
4. Public officials can be held personally accountable for acts claimed to have been performed
in connection with official duties where they have acted ultra vires or where there is a showing
of bad faith
5. One of the available remedies to enforce favorable monetary judgment against a local
government unit is to levy on the patrimonial properties of the judgment local government
unit
6. But, if the local government does not have patrimonial properties, the remedy of the
judgment creditor is to file a petition for mandamus to compel it to appropriate money to
satisfy the judgment
8. Settlement of boundary disputes
1. Boundary disputes between and among local government units shall, as much as possible,
be settled amicably
2. Boundary disputes involving two (2) or more barangays in the same city or municipality
shall be referred for settlement to the Sangguniang panlungsod or sangguniang bayan
concerned
3. Boundary disputes involving two (2) or more municipalities within the same province shall
be referred for settlement to the sangguniang panlalawigan concerned
4. Boundary disputes involving municipalities or component cities of different provinces shall
be jointly referred for settlement to the sanggunians of the province concerned
5. Boundary disputes involving a component city or municipality on the one hand and a highly
urbanized city on the other, or two (2) or more highly urbanized cities, shall be jointly referred
for settlement to the respective sanggunians of the parties
6. In the event the sanggunian fails to effect an amicable settlement within sixty (60) days
from the date the dispute was referred thereto, it shall issue a certification to that effect
7. Thereafter, the dispute shall be formally tried by the sanggunian concerned which shall
decide the issue within sixty (60) days from the date of the certification referred to above.
(Sec. 118, LGC)
8. Within the time and manner prescribed by the Rules of Court, any party may elevate the
decision of the sanggunian concerned to the proper Regional Trial Court having jurisdiction
over the area in dispute. The Regional Trial Court shall decide the appeal within one (1) year
from the filing thereof. Pending final resolution of the disputed area prior to the dispute shall
be maintained and continued for all legal purposes. (Sec. 119, LGC)
9. As long as the island is claimed by different local government units, there exists a
"boundary dispute"
10. Since Passi is an independent component city, while Duenas is a municipality, the
procedure in Section 118 of the Local Government Code does not apply to them. Since there
is no law providing for the jurisdiction of any court or quasi-judicial agency over the
settlement of their boundary dispute, the Regional Trial Court has jurisdiction to adjudicate
it. Under Section 19 (6) of the Judiciary Reorganization Act, the Regional Trial Court has
exclusive original jurisdiction in all cases not within the exclusive jurisdiction of any court or
quasi-judicial agency
9. Succession of elective officials
1. The appointee shall come from the same political party as that of the Sanggunian member
who caused the vacancy
2. The appointee must have nomination and a certificate of Membership (bona fide
membership) from the highest official of the political party concerned
3. The ouster of a de facto officer cannot create a permanent vacancy as contemplated in the
Local Government Code. There is no Vacancy to speak of as the de jure officer, the rightful
winner in the elections, has the legal right to assume the position
4. The creation of a temporary vacancy in the office of the Governor creates a corresponding
temporary vacancy in the office of the Vice Governor whenever the latter acts as Governor
by virtue of such temporary vacancy
5. It is A who should be proclaimed as winner, because he was the one who obtained the
highest number of votes for the position of mayor, but a notation should be made that he died
for the purpose of applying the 'rule on succession to office. B cannot be proclaimed, because
the death of the candidate who obtained the highest number of votes does not entitle the
candidate who obtained the next highest number of votes to be proclaimed the winner, since
 he was not the choice of the electorate. X is not entitled to be proclaimed elected as mayor,
because he ran for the Sangguniang Bayan
6. Under Section 44 of the Local Government Code, it is the vice mayor who should succeed
in case of permanent vacancy in the office of the mayor. It is only when the position of the
vice mayor is also vacant that the member of the Sangguniang Bayan who obtained the highest
number of votes will succeed to the office of mayor
7. Under Section 45 of the Local Government Code, in case of a permanent vacancy
in the Sangguniang Bayan created by the cessation in office of a member who does not
belong to any political party, the Governor shall appoint qualified person recommended
by the Sangguniang Bayan
8. In accordance with Section 45 of the Local Government Code, the vacancy should be filled
by appointment by the President of the nominee of the political party of Benito since his
elevation to the position of Vice-Governor created the last vacancy in the Sangguniang
Panlalawigan. If Benito does not belong to any political party, a qualified person
recommended by the Sangguniang Panlalawigan should be appointed
10. Discipline of local officials
a. Elective officials
i. Grounds
ii. Jurisdiction
1. Office of the President – Province, HUC & City
2. Sangguniang Panlalawigan – Municipality (appealable to the Office of the
President)
3. Sangguniang Panlungsod or Sangguniang Bayan – Barangay [final and
executory
4. Concurrent Jurisdiction with Ombudsman the body where the complaint is
filed first, and which opts to take cognizance of the case, acquires jurisdiction
to the exclusion of other tribunals exercising concurrent jurisdiction
5. Investigation shall commence 10 days after respondent answers
6. Investigation shall be held only in the place where the respondent holds
office
7. Period of Investigation (90 days). Period to Decide (30 days)
iii. Preventive suspension
1. No investigation within 90 days immediately prior to local election and no
preventive suspension shall be imposed within said period (if already imposed
ipso facto lifted
2. It is not a penalty, hence invocation of due process is generally not
appropriate
3. The sole objective of an administrative suspension is “to prevent the accused
from hampering the normal course of the investigation with his influence and
authority over possible witnesses or to keep him off the records and other
evidence” and “to assist prosecutors in firming up a case, if any, against an
erring local official.”
4. Authority
1. President, in the case of HUC and ICC
2. Governor, in the case of CC and Mun;
3. Mayor; in the case of Barangay
5. Requirements
1. Issues have already been joined;
2. Evidence of guilt is strong given the gravity of the offense, a
respondent might influence witnesses or pose a threat to
records/evidence
6. Penalty of Suspension shall not exceed the unexpired term or a period of 6
months per administrative case, nor a bar to a candidacy
7. Execution Pending Appeal. The respondent shall be considered as having
been placed under preventive suspension during the pendency of the appeal in
the event he wins such appeal. He shall be paid his salary and benefits if the
appeal exonerates him
iv. Removal
1. Unlike the old law, removal of a local elective official can only be done by
regular courts (RTC, CA, or Sandiganbayan), not anymore by the Office of the
President through the DILG. The rule which confers to the proper courts the
 power to remove an elective local official from office is intended as a check
against any capriciousness or partisan activity by the disciplining authority
v. Administrative appeal
1. Office of the President, in case of decision of SP of Province, HUC and ICC;
2. SP of Province, in the case of decision of SP of CC and municipality
vi. Doctrine of condonation
1. A public official cannot be removed from office for administrative
misconduct committed during a prior term, since his re-election to the office
operates as a condonation of the officer’s previous misconduct to the extent of
cutting off his right to remove him therefor.
2. It applies only to administrative case for misconduct, so the official may
still be held criminally or civilly liable for the same act. (Cf: Three-fold
Liability Rule)
3. In Carpio-Morales vs. Court of Appeals (November 2015), however, the
Principle of Condonation (popularly known as the Aguinaldo Doctrine) has
been declared no longer controlling. The Supreme Court said: Note that the
doctrine of stare decisis does not preclude this Court from revisiting existing
doctrine. In this case, the Court agrees with the Ombudsman that since the
time Pascual was decided, the legal landscape has radically shifted. Again,
Pascual was a 1959 case decided under the 1935 Constitution which dated
provisions do not reflect the experience of the Filipino People under the 1973
and 1987 Constitutions. Therefore, the plain difference in setting, including,
of course, the sheer impact of the condonation doctrine on public
accountability, calls for Pascual's judicious re-examination
b. Appointive officials
11. Recall
1. Ground is loss of trust and confidence
2. There is only one mode of initiating recall: By the Registered Voters (following certain
percentage)
3. Recall election should only be once during the term of the official. (Note of “election”, not
“proceeding”)
4. No recall (election) shall take place within one (1) year from date of official’s assumption
to office or one (1) year immediately preceding a regular election (day of election and that
election affecting the office of the official concerned)
5. Official subject of the recall is automatically a candidate and cannot resign during the recall
process
6. According to Section 72 of the Local Government Code, the recall of an elective local
official shall take effect upon the election and proclamation of a successor in the person of
the candidate receiving the highest number of votes cast during the election on recall
12. Term limits
1. Three years except barangay officials because fixed by law
2. “Hold-over Principle” validly applies to barangay officials ONLY
3. Three-term limit rule
1. That the official concerned has been elected for three consecutive terms in the same
local government post and
2. He has fully served three consecutive terms
3. Voluntary Renunciation is not considered an interruption like resignation
4. When an official is defeated in an election protest and said decision becomes final
after said official had served the full term for said office, then his loss in the election
contest does not constitute an interruption since he has managed to serve the term from
start to finish. His full service, despite the defeat, should be counted in the application
of term limits because the nullification of his proclamation came after the expiration
of the term
5. "Interruption" of a term exempting an elective official from the three-term limit rule
is one that involves no less than the involuntary loss of title to office. An officer who
is preventively suspended is simply barred from exercising the functions of his office
but title to office is not lost
6. Manuel is not eligible to run as mayor of the City of Tuba. While it acquired a new
corporate existence separate and distinct from that of the municipality, this does not
mean that for the purpose of applying the constitutional provision on term limitations,
the office of the municipal mayor should be considered as different from the office of
the city mayor. The framers of the Constitution intended to avoid the evil of a single
 person accumulating excessive power over a particular territorial jurisdiction as a
result of a prolonged stay in the same office. To allow Manuel to vie for the position
of city mayor after having served for three consecutive terms as a municipal mayor
will defeat the intent of the framers of the Constitution

XIII. NATIONAL ECONOMY AND PATRIMONY

A. Regalian doctrine
B. Nationalist and citizenship requirement provisions
1. The national patrimony refers not only to our natural resources but also to our cultural heritage
2. The ownership and management of mass media shall be limited to citizens of the Philippines, or
to corporations, cooperatives or associations, wholly- owned and managed by such citizens
3. The participation of foreign investors in the governing body of entities in such industry shall be
limited to their proportionate share in the capital thereof, and all the executive and managing officers
of such entities must be citizens of the Philippines”
4. Under the Constitution, aliens may acquire equity but cannot participate in the management of
business entities engaged in the following activities:
1. Public utilities (Section 11, Article XII)
2. Education (Section 4(2), Article XIV1
3. Advertising (Section 11(2), Article XVI)
5. At least sixty per cent (60%) of the equity of the entities engaged in the following business must
be owned by Filipino citizens under the Constitution
1. Co-production, joint venture, or production- sharing agreement with the State
for the exploration, development, and utilization of natural resources (Section 2, Article
XII)
2. Operation of a public utility (Section 11, Article XII)
3. Education (Section 4(2), Article XIV)
6. At least seventy percent (70%) of the equity of business entities engaged in advertising must be
owned by Filipino citizens under the Constitution. (Section 11(2), Article XVI)
C. Exploration, development, and utilization of natural resources
1. Associations at least 60% of whose capital is Filipino owned. Agreements shall not exceed a period
of 25 years, renewable for another 25 years
2. The President cannot authorize the Bureau of Fisheries to enter into a memorandum of agreement
allowing Thai fishermen to fish within the exclusive economic zone of the Philippines, because the
Constitution reserves to Filipino citizens the use and enjoyment of the exclusive economic zone of
the Philippines
3. The State shall protect the rights of subsistence fishermen, especially of local communities, to the
preferential use of the communal marine and fishing resources, both inland and offshore. It shall
provide support to such fishermen through appropriate technology and research, adequate financial,
production, and marketing assistance, and other services. The State shall also protect, develop, and
conserve such resources. The protection shall extend to offshore fishing grounds of subsistence
fishermen against foreign intrusion. Fish workers shall receive a just share from their labor in the
utilization of marine and fishing resources
4. The President can enter into a memorandum of agreement with a Thai oil corporation involving
technical and financial assistance for the exploration and exploitation of minerals, but there should
be no joint venture. Section 2, Article XII of the Constitution authorizes the President to enter into
agreements with foreign-owned corporations involving technical or financial assistance for the
exploration, development, and utilization of minerals. However, the same provision states the joint
venture for the exploration, development and utilization of natural resources may be undertaken only
with Filipino citizens, or corporations or associations at least sixty per cent of whose capital is owned
by Filipino citizen
D. Franchises, authority, and certificates for public utilities
1. Franchise, certificate or any other form of authorization for the operation of a public utility: Only
to citizens of the Philippines, or corporations at least 60% of whose capital is Filipino-owned
2. A franchise, certificate or authorization shall not be exclusive nor for a period more than 50 years,
and shall be subject to amendment, alteration or repeal by Congress. All executive and managing
officers must be Filipino citizens
3. However, it does not require a franchise before one can own the facilities needed to operate a
public utility so long as it does not operate them to serve the public
4. A public utility is a business or service engaged in regularly supplying the public with some
commodity or service of public consequence, such as electricity, gas, water, transportation, telephone
or telegraph service. To constitute a public utility, the facility must be necessary for the maintenance
 of life and occupation of the residents. As the name indicates, “public utility” implies public use and
service to the public
E. Acquisition, ownership and transfer of public and private lands
1. Thus, before any land may be classified from the forest group and converted into alienable or
disposable land for agricultural or other purposes, there must be a positive act from the Government.
The mere fact that a title was issued by the Director of Lands does not confer ownership over the
property covered by such title where the property is part of the public forest
2. Under the Regalian Doctrine, all lands not otherwise clearly appearing to be privately owned are
presumed to belong to the State. In our jurisdiction, the task of administering and disposing lands of
the public domain belongs to the Director of Lands and, ultimately, the Secretary of Environment
and Natural Resources. The classification of public lands is, thus, an exclusive prerogative of the
Executive Department through the Office of the President. Courts have no authority to do so
3. Alienable lands of the public domain [which shall be limited to agricultural lands]: Only Filipino
citizens may acquire not more than 12 hectares by purchase, homestead or grant; or lease not more
than 500 hectares. Private corporations may lease not more than 1,000 hectares for 25 years,
renewable for another 25 years
4. To prove that the land subject of an application for registration is alienable, an applicant must
conclusively establish the existence of a positive act of the government such as a presidential
proclamation or an executive order or administrative action, investigation reports of the Bureau of
Lands investigator, or a legislative act or statute. Until then, the rules on confirmation of imperfect
title do not apply
5. A certification of the Community Environment and Natural Resources Officer (CENRO) in the
DENR stating that the land subject of an application is found to be within the alienable and disposable
site in a land classification project map is sufficient evidence to show the real character of the land
subject of the application
6. Foreshore land is that part of the land which is between the high and low water, and left dry by the
flux and reflux of the tides. It is part of the alienable land of the public domain and may be disposed
of only by lease and not otherwise
7. Private corporations or associations may not hold such alienable lands of the public domain except
by lease
8. Foreigners cannot own any land. An action to recover the property sold filed by the former owner
will lie, the pari delicto ruling having been abandoned. A lease for 99 years, with a 50-year option to
purchase the property if and when Wong Heng would be naturalized, is a virtual surrender of all
rights incident to ownership, and therefore, invalid
9. Thus, for a religious corporation sole to acquire lands, it must appear that at least 60% of the
faithful or its members are citizens of the Philippines in order to comply with the citizenship
requirement. land tenure is not indispensable to the free exercise and enjoyment of religious
profession of worship. The religious corporation can own private land only if it is at least sixty per
cent owned by Filipino citizens
10. However, land sold to an alien which was later transferred to a Filipino citizen — or where the
alien later becomes a Filipino citizen — can no longer be recovered by the vendor, because there is
no longer any public policy involved
11. Exceptions; instances when a foreigner may own land
1. Hereditary Succession. This does not apply to testamentary dispositions
2. A natural born citizen of the Philippines who has lost his Philippine citizenship may be a
transferee of private lands, subject to limitations provided by law
3. B.P 185 has now been amended by R.A. 8179 which has increased the maximum area of
private land which the former natural-born Filipino citizen may acquire to 5,000 square
meters for urban land and 3 hectares for rural land. Furthermore, such land may now be used
for business and for other purposes
12. A declaration that John Smith is entitled to a conjugal share in the land will violate the prohibition
against the conveyance of private lands to aliens embodied in Section 7, Article XII of the
Constitution. The Deed of Sale cannot be annulled. As held in Cheesman vs. Intermediate Appellate
Court 193 SCRA 93, to accord to John Smith, an alien, the right to have a decisive vote as to the
disposition of the land would permit an indirect circumvention of the constitutional prohibition
against the acquisition of private lands by aliens
13. Under Section 8, Article XII of the Constitution, a natural-born Filipino citizen who lost his
Philippine citizenship may acquire private land only and cannot acquire public land
14. A foreign corporation can lease private lands only and cannot lease public land
F. Practice of professions
1. The practice of all professions in the Philippines shall be limited to Filipino citizens, save in cases
prescribed by law
G. Organization and regulation of corporations, private and public
H. Monopolies, restraint of trade and unfair competition

XIV. SOCIAL JUSTICE AND HUMAN RIGHTS

A. Concept of social justice

1. Social justice means that the State should assist the underprivileged. Without such help, they might
not be able to secure justice for themselves
2. Since the provision on social justice in the 1987 Constitution covers all phases of national
development, it is not limited to the removal of socio-economic inequities but also includes political
and cultural inequities
3. Social justice was defined as “neither communism nor despotism, nor atomism, nor anarchy, but
the humanization of laws and the equalization of social and economic forces by the State so that
justice in its rational and objectively secular conception may at least be approximated
B. Commission on Human Rights
1. Composed of a Chairman and four members who must be natural-born citizens of the Philippines
and a majority of whom shall be members of the Bar. The term of office and other qualifications and
disabilities of the Members of the Commission shall be provided by law
2. The power to appoint the Chairman and members of the Commission is vested in the President of
the Philippines, without need of confirmation by the Commission on Appointments
3. It does not enjoy fiscal autonomy
4. Having merely the power to investigate, the Commission cannot and should not “try and resolve
on the merits”
5. The Commission on Human Rights, not being a court of justice, cannot issue writs of injunction
or a restraining order against supposed violators of human rights
6. Human rights are broader in scope than civil and political rights. They also include social,
economic, and cultural rights. Human rights in here in persons from the fact of their humanity. Every
man possesses them everywhere and at all times simply because he is a human being. On the other
hand, some civil and political rights are not natural rights. They exist because they are protected by
a constitution or granted by law. For example, the liberty to enter into contracts is not a human right
but is a civil right
7. The Commission on Human Rights has the power to investigate all forms of human rights
violations involving civil and political rights and to monitor the compliance by the government with
international treaty obligations on human rights. The Commission on Human Rights has no power to
decide cases involving violations of civil and political rights. It can only investigate them and then
refer the matter to the appropriate government agency
8. Its power to cite for contempt should be understood to apply only to violations of its adopted
operational guidelines and rules of procedure essential to carry out its investigatorial powers, which
it is constitutionally authorized to adopt
9. The demolition of the structures does not involve a violation of human rights. The structures were
illegally constructed, impede the flow of traffic, and pose a danger to life and limb. Demolition of
shanties of squatters is not a violation of human rights

XV. EDUCATION, SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, ARTS, CULTURE AND SPORTS

1. Educational institutions should be solely owned by Filipino citizens or corporations 60% Filipino-owned,
except those established by religious groups or mission boards, but Congress may increase required Filipino
equity participation. But control and administration should be vested in citizens of the Philippines
2. No educational institution shall be established exclusively for aliens, and no group of aliens shall
comprise more than 1/3 of the enrolment in any school, except schools for foreign diplomatic personnel and
their dependents, and for other foreign temporary residents
3. Highest budgetary priority to education is only directory
4. It was held that financial assistance to a sectarian school violates the prohibition against the establishment
of religion if it fosters an excessive government entanglement with religion. Since the school requires its
students to take at least three hours a week of religious instructions, to ensure that the financial assistance
will not be used for religious purposes, the government will have to conduct a continuing surveillance. This
involves excessive entanglement with religion
1. If the assistance would be in the form of laboratory equipment in chemistry and physics, it will be
valid. The purpose of the assistance is secular, i.e., the improvement of the quality of tertiary
education. Any benefit to religion is merely incidental. Since the equipment can only be used for a
secular purpose, it is religiously neutral
5. At the option expressed in writing by the parents or guardians, religion shall be allowed to be taught to
their children or wards in public elementary and high schools within the regular class hours by instructors
designated or approved by the religious authorities to which the children or wards belong, without additional
cost to the Government
6. Article XIV, section 7 of the Constitution provides that: “For purposes of communication and instruction,
the official languages of the Philippines are Filipino, and until otherwise provided by law, English.” Filipino
is a permanent official language that cannot be otherwise be changed by law. On the other hand, Congress
may change English as an official language for purposes of communication and instruction
7. Under Section 7 of Presidential Decree No. 451, as a condition to the grant of any increase in tuition,
private schools with a total enrollment of at least 1,000 are required to provide scholarships to poor but
deserving students at the rate of one scholarship for every 500 students enrolled
8. Under Section 7 of Presidential Decree No. 44 the grant of scholarships by private schools to the students
with scholastic distinctions is left to the determination of the private schools
A. Academic freedom
1. The freedom of the university to determine “who may teach; what may be taught, how it shall be
taught; and who may be admitted to study”
2. If the school has the freedom to determine whom to admit, logic dictates that it also has the right
to determine whom to exclude or expel, as well as to impose lesser sanctions such as suspension
3. Limitations
1. The dominant police power of the State; and
2. The social interests of the community
4. The Court held that the students do not shed their constitutionally-protected rights of free
expression at the school gates. Accordingly, the only valid grounds to deny readmission of students
are academic deficiency and breach of the school’s reasonable rules of conduct
5. Minimum standards of procedural due process must be satisfied: (i) the students must be informed
in writing of the nature and cause of the accusation against them; (ii) they shall have the right to
answer the charges against them, with the assistance of counsel, if desired; (iii) they shall be informed
of the evidence against them; (iv) they shall have the right to adduce evidence in their own behalf;
and (v) the evidence must be duly considered by the investigating committee or official designated
by the school authorities to hear and decide the case
6. The right to choose a profession or course of study is subject to fair, reasonable and equitable
admission and academic requirements. Requiring that those who will enroll in a College of Dentistry
should pass the National Entrance Test is valid, because it is intended to ensure that only those who
are qualified to be dentists are admitted for enrollment.
7. If an assembly will be held by students in school premises, permit must be sought from the school
authorities, who are devoid of the power to deny such request arbitrarily or unreasonably. In granting
such permit, there may be conditions as to the time and place of the assembly to avoid disruption of
classes or stoppage of work of the non-academic personnel
8. 1987 Constitution states that “Academic freedom shall be enjoyed in all institutions of higher
learning.” The change in the text means that academic freedom will not only be enjoyed by the
institutions of higher learning, but also by those who make them up such as teachers, students and
researchers

XVI. PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL LAW

A. Concepts
1. Obligations erga omnes
1. Obligations of a state to the international community as a whole
1. Outlawing of acts of aggressions;
2. The outlawing of genocide;
3. Protection from slavery; and
4. Protection from racial discrimination
5. [see Barcelona Traction Case], obligation to respect right to self-determination
6. [see The Case Concerning East Timor and Construction of a Wall Case; obligation
to prohibit torture [Prosecutor vs. Furundzija)
2. Jus cogens
1. A norm accepted and recognized by the international community of States as a whole as a
norm from which no derogation is permitted and which can be modified only by a subsequent
norm of general international law having the same character
2. Examples
1. Prohibition on the use of force,
2. Genocide,
 3. Slavery,
4. Gross violation of the right of people to self-determination,
5. Racial discrimination, and
6. Torture
3. Concept of ex aequo et bono
1. There is a principle of law applicable to the dispute but the parties found the law to be not
reasonable or applicable, hence, agreed not to apply the law and apply equity instead
2. NON LIQUET – not clear so in consequence of this principle ICJ can make use of equitable
principles to avoid vacuum on PIL
B. Relationship between international and national law
1. Monism adopts incorporation
2. Dualism adopt transformation
1. Strong transformation, through legislative acts
2. Weak transformation, through executive and judicial acts
C. Sources of obligations in international law
1. Section 101, Restatement (Third) of the Law by the American Law Institute of Foreign Relations
Law of the United States (1987): rules and principles of general application dealing with the conduct
of states and of international organizations and with their relations inter se as well as with some of
their relations with persons, whether natural or juridical”
2. Regimes of PIL
1. War
1. Jus ad Bellum (legality of engaging in war); Sir: when may use force
2. Jus in Bello (legality of conduct of war); Sir: as long as there is armed conflict
2. Peace
1. Law of Treaties
2. Law of the Sea
3. Diplomatic Relations, etc.
3. Neutrality
1. Governs the conduct of states not engaged in war
3. Formal sources – manner by which it was established in the legitimacy of that international law;
like treaty, legislation, state practice
4. Material sources - substantive content of international law; that’s where we can find the law
5. Primary sources, law creating sources
1. International Conventions
1. Other terms: treaty, agreement, pact, understanding, protocol, charter, state, act,
covenant, declaration, engagement, arrangement, accord, regulation and provision
2. Convention and treaties may develop to customary international laws. This applies
to law-making treaties only. Contract-treaties are still binding but they do not develop
to customary international law – being temporary in character (ad hoc)
2. International Custom
1. OBJECTIVE element – state practice
1. The act must be official
2. The act must be done by a state which may be affected by the norm –
relevant state practice principle
3. Duration, consistency, repetition, and generality requirements
4. Instant customary international law. Short Passage of time is not necessarily
a bar to the formation of customary international law. What is controlling is
that the state practice, including that of states whose interests are specially
affected, must be extensive and virtually uniform with regard to the provision
in such a way as to show a general recognition that it is a binding law. Like in
the case of the attack on the World Trade Center in NY which prompted to the
instant customary law classifying the attack as an armed attack justifying
collective self-defense
2. SUBJECTIVE element – opinio juris sive necessitates
1. Opinio Juris may be deduced from the attitude of the parties concerned and
that of states to certain General Assembly Resolutions
2. Custom – is a practice that states believed themselves to be under a legal
obligation to follow (opinio juris) [ex. State immunity] Usage or Comity – is
a practice that states generally follow without believing themselves legally
bound to do so. [ex. Alternat]
3. Abstention by a state may be interpreted as a tacit recognition of a norm
 4. A protest against a norm cannot bar the formation of customary int’l law as long as
there is consistency, uniformity and generality. Persistent Dissenter/Objector
Principle – to be exempt from CIL. It requires:
1. Must objected to the application at the outset (or formation or inception);
2. Dissent should be categorical and consistent
3. General Principles of Law
1. “Law” can refer to both “international law” and “municipal law elevated as
international law” (common municipal law). Examples: estoppel, good faith,
exhaustion of local remedies, prescription, etc.
2. Actio popularis (the action to obtain remedy by a person or a group in the name of
the general public without being, or directly representing, the victim) is NOT
recognized as a general principle of law
6. Secondary sources, law determining sources
1. Judicial decisions
2. Teachings of most highly qualified publicist
1. Example is the International Law Commission
7. Stare decisis do not apply. PIL is common law
8. Even if transposed to a convention law, customary international law may exist WITH convention
law. Hence, there can be overlapping of sources
9. Except for jus cogens (peremptory and non-derogable norms of general international law), one
source is not to be treated as always superior to the other. The sources of international law are not
therefore arranged in a strict hierarchical order
D. Subjects
1. Those that enjoy international legal personality and being capable of possessing international rights
and duties, including the right to bring international claims
2. Meaning of “International Legal Personality.” “The ability to possess international rights and
duties and the power to sustain these rights by bringing international claims”. While it is conceded
that original international legal personality belongs to the main actors of international law, namely
states, the UN had international legal personality through the fact that its member states, by the very
fact of creating such an organization, must have transferred some of their powers over the
organization. (“Derivative International Legal Personality”)
3. The ICJ can acquire jurisdiction over parties only with their consent. In the case of Iran and the
United States, that consent may be expressed in 3 ways:
1. Compromise, in which states voluntarily submit to ICJ jurisdiction in relation to a
specific dispute;
2. Compulsory jurisdiction under the Optional Clause, in which a state may in advance declare
that it will be subject to ICJC jurisdiction in future disputes, subject to reservation; and
3. Compromissory clauses in multilateral treaties, wherein States-Parties to a treaty
undertake to resolve all disputes arising under that treaty through the ICJ
4. The following are the limitations on the jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice under its
Statute:
1. Only states may be parties in cases before it. (Article 34)
2. The consent of the parties is needed for the court to acquire jurisdiction over a case. (Article
36)
1. States
2. International organizations
1. UN, WTO, multinational companies, ICRC, Greenpeace, Amnesty International
3. Individuals
1. Protected persons of IHL, insurgents and national liberation movements, minorities
E. Basic principles of diplomatic and consular law
1. For incumbent head of state, immunity is absolute. “In personae” – immunity attaches to him
regardless the act as opposed to “materiae” – only to acts whether in official capacity or not
2. The ICJ said that immunity for current foreign ministers is absolute, even for international crimes
– there is no exception to head of state immunity for all violations of international law (including jus
cogens, customary international law, etc)
3. Scope of Diplomatic Personal Inviolability
1. Private Residence (whether owned or not, hotel room or apartment)
2. Papers and Correspondence
3. Property (unless otherwise provided in Sec 1, Art 31)
4. As witness (art 31)
5. Processes (Art 31)
6. Extends to members of the family (Art. 37)
 7. Extends to administrative and technical staff and their member of the family in criminal
jurisdiction (Art 36)
8. Extends to civil and administrative jurisdiction over the foregoing persons and to members
of the service staff when acts are intra vires
9. Does not cover jurisdiction of sending state (Art 31)
4. The premises of a foreign diplomatic mission are inviolable and no person, even a member of the
government of the receiving state, may enter the premises without the authority of the mission. The
receiving state has in fact the duty to protect the mission against intrusion or damage and to prevent
disturbances of the peace of the mission or impairment of its dignity
1. Duty of the receiving state to refrain from entering the premises without the consent of the
head of mission
2. Duty of the receiving State to protect the premises against any intrusion, damage,
disturbance, etc.
3. States can waive their inviolability. Waiver must be express
4. Theories behind inviolability of embassies and consulates: “extraterritoriality”,
“representational” and “functional necessity”
5. In terms of criminal jurisdiction, diplomatic agents have total immunity from the law of the
receiving state to declare the diplomat persona non grata. The immunity from criminal jurisdiction
applies to any offense committed by the diplomat whether official or not. In terms of civil jurisdiction,
diplomats are immune from the civil jurisdiction of the receiving state except in three (3) cases
1. Pertained to private immovable property held by the ambassador not in behalf of the
sending state;
2. His capacity as executor or administrator, legatee held not in behalf of sending state,
3. Involved commercial acts and not in behalf of sending state
6. As for CONSULS, however, although they enjoy more or less the same immunities and privileges
as diplomats, their immunity from criminal and civil jurisdiction extends to their official acts only
7. Under Article 27 of VCDR, a receiving state shall permit and protect the free communication on
behalf of the mission for all official purposes. Such official communication shall not be interfered
with. The diplomatic bag shall not be opened or detained. The use of sniffer dogs and external
examination of the bag is, however, permitted customarily per ILC Draft Articles. A reasonable
suspicion that the bag contains illegal article will also allow the authorities to have the bag opened in
the presence of a representative of the sending state. The bag, however, must bear visible external
marks of its character and contain only diplomatic documents or official articles. (What about
electronic examinations? See Art 28 of the 1989 ILC Draft Articles on Diplomatic Courier and
Diplomatic Bag: “directly or indirectly”)
8. Exequatur is an authorization from the receiving' state admitting the head of a consular post to the
exercise of his functions. For example, if the Philippines appoints a consul general for New York, he
cannot start performing his functions unless the President of the United States issues an exequatur to
him
9. Ambassador Gaylor cannot invoke his diplomatic immunity. In accordance with Paragraph 1,
Article 31 of Vienna Convention of Diplomatic Relations, since State Paradise is not his receiving
state, he does not enjoy diplomatic immunity within its territory. Under Paragraph 1, Article 40 of
the Vienna Convention of diplomatic Relations, he cannot be accorded diplomatic immunity in State
Paradise, because he is not passing through it to take up or return to his post or to return to State
Paradise
1. Under Article 40 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, if a diplomatic agent
is in the territory of a third State, which has granted him a passport visa if such visa was
necessary, while proceeding to take up his post, the third State shall accord him inviolability
and such other immunities as may be required to ensure his transit
10. However, as secretary in the American Embassy, X enjoys diplomatic Immunity from criminal
prosecution. As secretary, he is a diplomatic agent. Under Paragraph 1 of Article 31 of the Vienna
Convention on Diplomatic Relations, a diplomatic agent enjoys immunity from the criminal
Jurisdiction of the receiving State
11. Under Article 37 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, members of the
administrative and technical staff of the diplomatic mission shall, if they are not nationals of or
permanent residents in the receiving State, enjoy the privileges and immunities specified in Article
29. Under Article 9 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, the remedy is to declare the
high -ranking officials and rank-and-file employees personae non grata and ask them to leave
12. As an official of the World Health Organization, Dr. Velen enjoyed diplomatic immunity and this
included exemption from duties and taxes. Since diplomatic immunity involves a political question,
where a plea of diplomatic immunity is recognized and affirmed by the Executive Department, it is
the duty of the court to accept the claim of immunity
F. General principles of treaty law
1. 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (VCLT) [entered into force on Jan 27, 1980].
VCLT applies only to treaties after entry into force
1. But its provisions may still apply because it is a CIL
2. A treaty per VCLT is “an international agreement concluded between States in written form and
governed by international law, whether embodied in a single instrument or in two or more related
instruments, and whatever its particular designation”
1. The elements of a treaty are:
1. International agreement
2. Entered by States
3. In writing
4. Governed by International Law (only law-making treaties)
2. But its provisions may still apply because it is a CIL
3. A State is obliged to refrain from acts which would defeat the object and purpose of a treaty when:
1. It has signed the treaty subject to ratification, acceptance or approval, until it shall have
made its intention clear not to become a party to the treaty; or
2. It has expressed its consent to be bound by the treaty, pending the entry into force of the
treaty and provided that such entry into force is not unduly delayed.
3. If not yet entered into force, merely a signatory; If entered into force, party
4. Article 11: “Consent of the State to be bound by a treaty may be expressed by signature (Art 12),
exchange or instruments (Art 13) constituting a treaty, ratification, acceptance, approval (Art 14) or
accession (Art 14) or by any other means if so agreed
1. Ratification occurs only when instruments of ratification are exchanged between the
contracting states or are deposited with the depositary (Arts 2 (1)(b) and 16)
2. By Accession, a third state which did not take part in the negotiation, consents to be bound
by the treaty and ratifies it
5. Reservation is not allowed when treaty does not allow it or reservation is incompatible with the
purpose. A state which makes a reservation and objected by some states may still be considered as a
party to the treaty but it is not a party with regard to those states who objected
6. “Secret treaties” are those not registered with UN. It cannot be invoked by the parties before any
organ in UN because not published by the secretariat but still binding between parties
7. Article 102 (1) of the UN Charter: “every treaty entered into by any Member of the UN after the
Charter comes into force shall as soon as possible be registered with the Secretariat and published by
it
8. Interpretation of Treaties
1. Basic Rules:
1. Text of the Treaty (ordinary meaning + context + object and purpose of the treaty)
2. Intent of the Parties
3. Object and Purpose of the Treaty (Teleological; Principle of Effectiveness)
2. Means of Interpretation:
1. Preparatory works (travaux preparatoires)
2. Circumstances of Conclusion (contemporaneity)
9. A State may not invoke the fact that its consent to be bound by a treaty has been expressed in
violation of a provision of its internal law regarding competence to conclude treaties as invalidating
its consent unless that violation was manifest and concerned a rule of its internal law of fundamental
importance
10. A person is considered as representing a State for the purpose of…expressing the consent of the
State to be bound by a treaty if:
1. He produces appropriate full powers; or
2. It appears from the practice of the States concerned or from other circumstances that their
intention was to consider that person as representing the State for such purposes and to
dispense with full powers
11. Article 48 declares that a state may only invoke an error in a treaty as invalidating its consent to
be bound by the treaty, if the error relates to a fact or situation which was assumed by that state to
exist at the time when the treaty was concluded and formed an essential basis of its consent to be
bound by the treaty. But if the state knew or ought to have known of the error or if it contributed to
that error then it cannot afterwards free itself from the obligation of observing the treaty by pointing
to that error
1. The plea of error cannot be allowed as an element vitiating consent if the party advancing
it contributed by its own conduct to the error, or could have avoided it, or if the circumstances
were such as to put that party on notice of a possible error
 12. Where a state consents to be bound by a treaty as a result of the fraudulent conduct of another
negotiating state, that state may under article 49 invoke the fraud as invalidating its consent to be
bound. Where a negotiating state directly or indirectly corrupts the representative of another state in
order to obtain the consent of the latter to the treaty that corruption may under article 50 be invoked
as invalidating the consent to be bound
13. A treaty is void if its conclusion has been procured by the threat or use of force in violation of the
principles of international law embodied in the Charter of the United Nations
14. A material breach of a bilateral treaty by one of the parties entitles the other to invoke the breach
as a ground for terminating the treaty or suspending its operation in whole or in part
15. A party may invoke the impossibility of performing a treaty as a ground for terminating or
withdrawing from it if the impossibility results from the permanent disappearance or destruction of
an object indispensable for the execution of the treaty. If the impossibility is temporary, it may be
invoked only as a ground for suspending the operation of the treaty
14. A fundamental change of circumstances which has occurred with regard to those existing at the
time of the conclusion of a treaty, and which was not foreseen by the parties, may not be invoked as
a ground for terminating or withdrawing from the treaty unless:
1. The existence of those circumstances constituted an essential basis of the consent of the
parties to be bound by the treaty; and
2. The effect of the change is radically to transform the extent of obligations still to be
performed under the treaty
15. The authority of the Senate over treaties is limited to concurrence (Art. VIII, sec. 21 of the 1987
Constitution). There being no express constitutional provision regulating the termination (or
abrogation) of treaties, it is presumed that the power of the President over treaty agreements and over
foreign relations includes the authority to “abrogate” (or more properly referred as “terminate”)
treaties. The termination of the treaty by the President without the concurrence of the Senate is not
subject to constitutional attack, there being no Senate authority to that effect. The Philippines is a
party to the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties. Hence, the said Convention thus becoming
part of Philippine Law governs the act of the President in terminating (or abrogating) the treaty.
Article 54 of this Convention provides that a treaty may be terminated “at any time by consent of all
the parties”
G. Nationality and statelessness
1. Elements of a State
1. Permanent population
2. Defined territory
1. “Sufficient consistency”, not “accurate definition”;
2. Effective Control Test
3. Meaning of Territorial Sovereignty, it refers to the right to exercise in a territory, to
the exclusion of any other state, the functions of a state. It must be open and public.
Discovery could only exist as an inchoate title, as a claim to establish sovereignty by
effective occupation
3. Government
1. Effective Control Test: sovereignty, not legitimacy, required; but mere existence of
government is not sufficient
2. “Stable political organization” test. Exercise government powers without the aid of
foreign forces
3. The required Level of Effectiveness depends on different conditions (see Crawford,
2006). Sir: If secession, higher level of effectiveness is required
4. However, it is argued that in case of temporary deprivation of effective control, the
state (“failed state”) does not cease to exist. (e.g. Congo, Rwanda and Somalia)
5. Recognition is a political question and largely involves discretion of the Executive.
Recognition is not an element of State
6. Tobar or Wilson Doctrine: precludes recognition of any government established by
revolutionary means until constitutional reorganization by free election of
representatives
7. Stimson Doctrine: no recognition of a government established through external
aggression. (adopted by the League of Nations)
8. Estrada Doctrine: If a government was established through political upheaval, a
state may not issue a declaration giving recognition to such government, but may
merely accept whatever government is in effective control without raising the issue of
recognition. Dealing or not dealing with the government is not a judgment on the
legitimacy of the said government
 9. The more acceptable on recognition is the Estrada Doctrine. Under the Act of State
Doctrine – no state is permitted to inquire on the validity of official acts of other states.
State should respect acts of other states
10. The declaratory theory of recognition is a theory according to which recognition
of a state is merely an acknowledgment of the fact of its existence. In other words, the
recognized state already exists and can exist even without such recognition
11. De facto recognition is provisional; de jure recognition is relatively permanent;
De facto recognition does not vest title in the government to its properties abroad; de
jure recognition does; De facto recognition is limited to certain juridical relations; de
jure recognition brings about full diplomatic relations
4. Capacity to enter into relations with other States
1. The political existence of the State is independent of recognition by the other States.
Even before recognition, the State has the right to defend its integrity and
independence
2. “Limited Capacity” to enter into international relations does not prevent the
existence of a State
2. Effective Nationality Theory (Nottenbohm Case) and the Right to Diplomatic Protection.
Nationality alone cannot establish link. It must be effective nationality
3. Principle of “uti possidetis juris.” A general rule of international law, it states that the boundaries
of colonial territories ought to become international boundaries when those territories attained
independence unless altered by agreement
4. International law does not specifically authorize nor prohibit unilateral secession. But, states have
the implied duty (erga omnes) to recognize peoples’ “right to self-determination.” Right to self-
determination must be exercised within the framework of sovereign states and consistent with
territorial integrity of those states (“right to internal self-determination”) vs. “Right to external self-
determination” (unilateral secession)
5. “The international law right to self-determination only generates, at best, a right to external self-
determination in situations:
1. Of former colonies;
2. Where a people is oppressed, as for example under foreign military occupation; or
3. Where a definable group is denied meaningful access to government to pursue their
political, economical, social, and cultural development” (meaning, where the people have
been denied the right to internal self-determination)
6. State succession
1. This involves substitution of new sovereign over a territory. This happens in cases of:
Cession, Annexation, Merger, consolidation and decolonization
2. Slate Doctrine – the successor state has the right whether to accept obligations of
predecessor state
3. Government succession – if peaceful through constitutional change, all obligations are
inherited. But if non peaceful like revolution, successor state has the option to personal and
political obligations whether or not to assume them
4. Effects of state succession
1. Transfer of allegiance of inhabitants
2. Political laws, automatically abrogated; non-political laws, deemed continued
unless expressly repealed or inconsistent with domestic laws of new sovereign
3. Public property, acquired; torts liability, not acquired; new sovereign has option to
assume liability
4. Treaties of predecessor state, not binding on new sovereign except those dealing
with local rights and affecting territory (e.g. servitudes and boundaries)
7. An association is formed when two states of unequal power voluntarily establish durable links.
The associate delegates certain responsibilities to the other, the principal, while maintaining its status
as a state. It is an association between sovereigns. The associated state arrangement has usually been
used as a transitional device of former colonies on their way to full independence
1. For an association to be lawful, it must comply with the general conditions prescribed in
UN General Assembly Resolution 1541 (XV) of 14 December 160: (1) the population must
consent to the association; and (2) the association must promote the development and well-
being of the dependent state (the non-self-governing territory). Association is subject to UN
approval
8. The consequences of statelessness are the following:
1. No State can intervene or complain in behalf of a stateless person for an international
delinquency committed by another State in inflicting injury upon him
 2. He cannot be expelled by the State if he is lawfully in its territory except on grounds of
national security or public order
3. He cannot avail himself of the protection and benefits of citizenship like securing for
himself a passport or visa and personal documents
4. Under the Convention in Relation to the Status of Stateless Person, the Contracting States
agreed to accord to stateless persons within their territories treatment at least as favorable as
that accorded to their nationals. The Convention also provides for the issuance of identity
papers and travel documents to stateless person
5. In the Convention on the Conflict of Nationality Laws of 1930, the Contracting States
agreed to accord nationality to persons born in their territory who would otherwise be
stateless. The Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness of 1961 provides that if the law
of the contracting States results in the loss of nationality as a consequence of marriage or
termination of marriage, such loss must be conditional upon possession or acquisition of
another nationality
H. Doctrine of state responsibility
1. There is an internationally wrongful act of a State when conduct consisting of an action or
omission:
1. Is attributable to the State under international law; and
2. Constitutes a breach of an international obligation of the State
2. In order to impute the act as the Act of the State, it must refer to the government, its organ or any
of its apparatus. It is still possible for a State to be held liable even if the act is committed by a private
individual. Ex: The State encourages the commission of the act by the private individual, it may still
be considered as the act of the State
3. Even for Ultra Vires acts, the State may still be held liable
4. The appropriate remedy available to the family of A is to seek diplomatic protection from Great
Britain to press a claim for reparation. (Brownlie, Principles of Public International Law, 7th ed., pp.
460 and 477-478.) However, in order that the claim will be allowable under customary international
law, the family of A must first exhaust the legal remedies available in Thailand
5. Unless it clearly appears that the government has failed to use promptly and with appropriate force
its constituted authority it cannot be held responsible for the acts of rebels, for the rebels are not its
agents and their acts were done without its volition. In this case, government troopers immediately
pursued the rebels and killed several of them
6. The new government may be held responsible if it succeeds in overthrowing the government.
Victorious rebel movements are responsible for the illegal acts of their forces during the course of
the rebellion. The acts of the rebels are imputable to them when they assumed as duly constituted
authorities of the state
I. Jurisdiction of States
1. Basis of jurisdiction
a. Territoriality principle
1. Subjective territoriality, from outside to Phils.
2. Objective territoriality, from Phils to outside
b. Nationality principle and statelessness
1. Active nationality
2. Passive nationality
c. Protective principle
d. Universality principle
e. Passive personality principle
2. Exemptions from jurisdiction
a. Act of State doctrine
1. The immunity of the sovereign is recognized only with regard to public acts of acts
jure imperii of a state, but not with regard to private acts or acts jure gestionis
2. In US and British cases favor Nature Test in looking at the contract whether it is
jure imperii and jure gestionis. In Phils, not known which but most likely Purpose Test
(See below). Nature Test – if a contract can be performed by private individual, then
jure gestionis like lease contract
3. According to the Holy See vs. Rosario, 238 SCRA 524, in Public International Law,
when a State wishes to plead sovereign immunity in a foreign court, it requests the
Foreign Office of the State where it is being sued to convey to the court that it is
entitled to immunity. In the Philippines, the practice is for the foreign government to
first secure an executive endorsement of its claim of sovereign immunity. In some
cases, the defense of sovereign Immunity is submitted directly to the local court by
 the foreign government through counsel by filing a motion to dismiss on the ground
that the court has no jurisdiction over its person
b. International organizations and its officers
J. Treatment of aliens
1. Extradition
a. Fundamental principles
1. Elements of extradition
1. Treaty
2. The Person to be extradited had been charged or convicted of extraditable
offense
3. Extraditable offense is either (1) Listed or (2) covered by “Double or Dual
Criminality Principle/Clause”
2. Dual purposes: 1. Prosecution, 2. Execution
3. Could not cover “political offenses”
1. ATTENTAT CLAUSE. This is a provision in an extradition treaty which
provides that the assassination of the head of a foreign government or any
member of his family should not be considered as a political offense, hence
extraditable
4. Rule of specialty. An extradited fugitive is subject to prosecution. only for those
offenses for which he or she was surrendered
5. Ker-Frisbie Doctrine. Defendants may be tried regardless of whether their presence
before the court was secured from outside its territorial jurisdiction by means other
than pursuant to a valid extradition; male captus bene detentus
6. An extradition treaty applies to crimes committed before its affectivity unless the
extradition treaty expressly exempts them. The prohibition against ex post facto laws
in Section 22, Article III of the Constitution applies to penal laws only and does not
apply to extradition treaties. Extradition treaty is not a criminal law
b. Procedure
c. Distinguished from deportation
1. In deportation, it is a unilateral act which does not require a treaty and destination
of deportee is irrelevant
2. Extradition is effected for the benefit of the state to which the person being
extradited will be surrendered because he is a fugitive criminal in that state, while
deportation is effected for the protection of the State expelling an alien because his
presence is not conducive to the public good
K. International Human Rights Law
1. Universal Declaration of Human Rights
1. Interrelated, interdependent and indivisible
2. First generation, civil and political rights
3. Second generation, economic, social and cultural rights
4. Third generation: right to peace, clean environment, self-determination, common heritage
of mankind, development and minority rights
5. Limitations should only be based on the respect for the rights of others and the requirements
of morality, public order, general welfare. Rights cannot be exercised contrary to the
principles of the UN
6. Not a legally binding instrument except those already become CIL
2. International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
1. Rights that cannot be derogated
1. Right to life
2. Freedom from torture and inhuman punishment
3. Freedom from enslavement and servitude
4. Protection from imprisonment for inability to fulfill contractual obligations
5. Protection from ex post factor laws
6. Right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law
7. Freedom of thought, conscience and religion
2. In countries which have not abolished the death penalty, sentence of death may be imposed
only for the most serious crimes in accordance with the law in force at the time of the
commission of the crime
3. International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
L. Basic principles of international humanitarian law
1. Categories of armed conflicts
a. International armed conflicts
 1. Governed by the Geneva Conventions and Additional Protocol I
2. No need to be protracted
b. Internal or non-international armed conflict
1. Restricted to the territory of a single State
2. Between armed forces and armed groups or between armed groups
3. Must be protracted
4. Governed by Common Article 3 to the Four Geneva Conventions and by Additional
Protocol II
5. Internationalized armed conflict
1. Another state intervenes
2. Some of the participants acted on behalf of that other state
c. War of national liberation
1. A conflict in which peoples are fighting against colonial domination or alien
occupation and against racist regime in the exercise of their right to self-determination
2. R.A. 9851 (Philippine Act on Crimes Against International Humanitarian Law, Genocide,
and Other Crimes Against Humanity)
1. Phils. is a party to the Rome Statute
1. Principle of complementarity that the Rome Statute or the ICC exercises jurisdiction
only as complementary to national or domestic jurisdiction and as much as possible it
must yield to an on-going investigation or prosecution of crimes committed within a
territory of a State
2. The jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice pertains to international
responsibility in the concept of civil liability, while that of the International Criminal
Court pertains to criminal liability. While States are the subject of law in international
responsibility under the jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice, the criminal
liability within the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court pertains to
individual natural person
2. Jurisdiction is with RTC provided:
1. Accused is a Filipino citizen
2. Accused, regardless of citizenship or residence, is present in the Philippines
3. Accused has committed the said crime against a Filipino citizen
3. Presidential and parliamentary immunity does not apply
4. Genocide, war crimes, wars against humanity and acts of aggression. These attacks must
have been made in such a manner that it may constitute either a widespread attack or a
systematic attack
1. War crimes also usually are committed in an international armed conflict
2. "Genocide" means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in
whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such: (a) Killing
members of the group; (b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the
group; (c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring
about its physical destruction in whole or in part; (d) Imposing measures intended to
prevent births within the group; (e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to
another group
3. Use of nuclear weapons
1. Unanimous, on the principle that “there is in neither customary nor conventional
international law any specific authorization of the threat or use of nuclear weapons”
2. Unanimous on the principle that “a threat or use of nuclear weapons should also be
compatible with the requirements of the international law applicable to armed conflict and
IHL as well as specific obligations under treaties dealing with nuclear weapons”
3. 7-7, on the principle that “while the threat or use of nuclear weapons would generally be
contrary to the rules of IHL in armed conflict, the Court cannot conclude definitively whether
it would be lawful or unlawful in an extreme circumstance of self-defense, in which the very
survival of the State would be at stake”
4. Unanimous, on the principle that there exists an obligation to pursue in good faith towards
nuclear disarmament
4. Elements of a belligerent force
1. Commanded by a person responsible for his subordinates
2. Fixed distinctive emblem recognizable at a distance
3. Carry arms openly
4. Conduct their operations in accordance with the laws and customs of war
5. Recognition of belligerency is the formal acknowledgment by a third party of the existence
of a state of war between the central government and a portion of that state. Belligerency
 exists when a sizeable portion of the territory of a state is under the effective control of an
insurgent community which is seeking to establish a separate government and the insurgents
are in de facto control of a portion of the territory and population, have a political
organization, are able to maintain such control, and conduct themselves according to the laws
of war
5. Retorsion is a retaliation that do not constitute a legal ground of offense while reprisal denotes the
seizing of property or persons by way of retaliation
6. Divisions of the laws of war
1. Jus ad bellum, conditions under which one may resort to war
1. Jus contra bellum, law on prevention of war
2. Instances when use of force is legitimate
1. Collective decision of the UN. Under art. 42 of the UN Charter, should the
Security Council consider that pacific methods of settling disputes are
inadequate, it may take such action by air, sea, or land forces as may be
necessary to maintain or restore international peace and security. Such action
may include demonstrations, blockade, and other operations by air, sea, or land
forces of members of the UN
2. Self-defense, individual or collective
1. There must be an armed attack
2. Country Y may exercise the right of self-defense, as provided under
Article 51 of the UN Charter “until the Security Council has taken
measure necessary to maintain international peace and security”. Self-
defense enables Country Y to use force against Country X as well as
against the Ali Baba organization
3. No rule of international law gives a state resorting to war allegedly
in self-defense the right to determine with a legally conclusive effect
the legality of such action
4. The Philippine action cannot be justified as self- defense. Self-
defense is an act of State by reason of an armed attack by another State.
The acts of terrorism in this case were acts of a private group and
cannot be attributed to Asyaland, which does not support the Emerald
Brigade. Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations has no
applicability, because self-defense in Article 51 contemplates a
response to a legitimate armed attack by a State against another State.
The attack by the Emerald Brigade is an attack by a private group
without authority or as an organ of Asyaland
3. Whether simple or composite, a State is said to be neutralized where its
independence and integrity are guaranteed by an international convention on the
condition that such State obligates itself never to take up arms against any other State,
except for self-defense, or enter into such international obligations as would indirectly
involve it in war. A State seeks neutralization where it is weak and does not wish to
take an active part in international politics. The power that guarantee its neutralization
may be motivated either by balance of power considerations or by the desire to make
the weak state a buffer between the territories of the great powers
4. Firstly, neutrality obtains only during war, whereas neutralization is a condition that
applies in peace or in war. Secondly, neutralization is a status created by means of
treaty, whereas neutrality is a status created under international law, by means of a
stand on the part of a state not to side with any of the parties at war. Thirdly, neutrality
is brought about by a unilateral declaration by the neutral State, while neutralization
cannot be effected by unilateral act, but must be recognized by other States
2. Jus in bello, governs the conduct of belligerents during a war and obligations of neutral
parties
1. Principles of Proportionality, the group/armed force must only use such amount of
weapon/kind of weapon that is necessary to accomplish military objective
2. Military Necessity, Attacks must be limited strictly to military objectives and whose
total or partial destruction, capture or neutralization offers a definite military
advantage
3. Principle of distinction, combatants must at all times distinguish between civilian,
civilian objects and military target
4. Reden, Jolan and Andy are not combatants and are not entitled to treatment as
prisoners of war, because they are mercenaries. Article 47 of the Protocol I to the
Geneva Conventions of 1949 provides: “A Mercenary shall not have the right to be
 combatant or a prisoner of war.” Pursuant to Article 47 of Protocol I of the Geneva
Conventions of 1949, Reden, Jolan and Andy are mercenaries, because they were
recruited to fight in an armed conflict, they in fact took direct part in the hostilities,
they were motivated to take part in the hostilities essentially by the desire for private
gain and in fact was promised a handsome salary by the Moslems, they were neither
nationals of a party to the conflict nor residents of territory controlled by a party to the
conflict, they are not members of the armed forces of a party to the conflict, and they
were not sent by a state which is not a party to the conflict on official duty as members
of its armed forces
5. The captured civilians are prisoners of war. Under Article 4 of the Geneva
Convention relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War, Inhabitants of a non-
occupied territory, who on the approach of the enemy spontaneously take up arms to
resist the invading forces, without having had time to form themselves into regular
armed forces, provided they carry arm openly and respect the laws and customs of
war, are considered prisoners of war if they fall into the power of the enemy
7. Principle of command responsibility, a superior or a commander who did not even order the
commission of the crime but may be held liable because of his failure to either: a) PREVENT, if he
knew of the plot before it was actually committed or b) his FAILURE TO PUNISH after the crime
has been committed
M. Law of the sea
1. Baselines
1. Low water mark method is used in non-archipelagic states
2. Archipelagic states
a. Straight archipelagic baselines
1. The line should not depart from the natural contours of the archipelago
2. As to water and land ratio, between 1:1 up to 9:1 (water to land)
3. Each straight line should not exceed 100 nautical miles
4. Identify the outermost points of the outermost islands including dry reefs
b. Archipelagic waters
1. Subject to the right of innocent passage of foreign ships just like “territorial sea.”
This is peculiar to Archipelagic sea, which if internal waters cannot be
c. Archipelagic sea lanes passage
d. Regime of islands
1. The basis of the Philippine claim is effective occupation of a territory not subject
to the sovereignty of another state. The Japanese forces occupied the Spratly Island
group during the Second World War. However, under the San Francisco Peace Treaty
of 1951 Japan formally renounced all right and claim to the Spratlys. The San
Francisco Treaty or any other international agreement, however, did not designate any
beneficiary state following the Japanese renunciation of right. Subsequently, the
Spratlys became terra nullius and was occupied by the Philippines in the title of
sovereignty. Philippine sovereignty was displayed by open and public occupation of
a number of islands by stationing of military forces. by organizing a local government
unit, and by awarding petroleum drilling rights, among other political and
administrative acts. In 1978, it confirmed its sovereign title by the promulgation of
Presidential Decree No. 1596, which declared the Kalayaan Island Group part of
Philippine territory
3. Internal waters
1. Coastal state has the authority to prohibit entry into its internal waters. The only exception
would be ships in distress and that is part of the concept of force majeure
4. Territorial sea
1. Limitation to territorial sea, right of innocent passage by foreign ships which must be
continuous and expeditious
1. Submarines must navigate on the surface and show their flag
2. Under the UNCLOS, warships enjoy a right of innocent passage. It appearing that
the portion of Epsilon’s territorial sea in question is a strait used for international
navigation, Epsilon has no right under international law to suspend the right of
innocent passage. Article 45(2) of the UNCLOS is clear in providing that there shall
be no suspension of innocent passage through straits used for international navigation.
On the assumption that the straits in question is not used for international navigation,
still the suspension of innocent passage by Epsilon cannot be effective because
suspension is required under international law to be duly published before it can take
effect. There being no publication prior to the suspension of innocent passage by
 Beta’s warship, Epsilon’s act acquires no validity. Moreover, Epsilon’s suspension of
innocent passage may not be valid for the reason that there is no showing that it is
essential for the protection of its security. The actuation of Beta’s warship in resorting
to delayed passage is for cause recognized by the UNCLOS as excusable, i.e., for the
purpose of rendering assistance to persons or ship in distress, as provided in Article
18(2) of the UNCLOS. Hence, Beta’s warship complied with the international law
norms on right of innocent passage
2. If the coast of two states are opposite or adjacent to each other, neither of them is entitled,
failing agreement between them to the contrary, to extend its territorial sea beyond the median
line every point of which is “equidistant” from the nearest points on the baselines. This is also
applicable in the case of continental shelf
3. In the case of foreign public vessel (usually warships), where they entered lawfully into the
territorial sea (which presupposes they obtained the consent of the state), no jurisdiction may
be had on them because they are considered part of the territory of the other state. This is what
is called “floating territory.” But note: this presupposes that the foreign public vessel is not
engaged in commercial activities
4. For foreign merchant vessels, there is full civil jurisdiction. As to criminal jurisdiction, it
is optional on the part of the state to exercise criminal jurisdiction because there are 2 theories
on the exercise of criminal jurisdiction on foreign ships. There’s the English rule and the
French rule (aka flag-state rule)
5. It extends 12nm from the baseline; low water mark; straight baseline method
6. Hot pursuit, the offending vessel must have the commenced the commission of the crime
in the territorial waters. It ends when the offending vessel enters the territorial waters of
another
5. Exclusive economic zone
1. International waters is different form high seas. Any zone beyond 12 nm of the territorial
sea is already international waters. High seas comes after 200 nm of the exclusive economic
zone. Beyond 12 nm which here refers to the contiguous, exclusive economic zone and below
that the continental shelf, are no longer part of the territory of the state. That’s why after the
territorial sea, you already consider that as international water
2. High seas will have to be governed by two sets of legal systems: (1) International law and
(2) Law of the flag state
1. It must be shown that the place of registration must have exercised some authorities,
administrative mostly, on the vessel. If there is no exercise of authority over the vessel,
it’s a flag of convenience- para lang registration, and that should not be considered as
the place of registration for the purposes of determining flag of the state rule
3. Contiguous zone
1. Extends 12 nm from the baselines
2. Coastal state is allowed to exercise jurisdiction for purposes of preventing
infringement of customs laws, fiscal, immigration, and sanitary regulations
4. ECC extends 200 nm from the baselines. Coastal state has sovereign rights over all the
economic resources of the sea, seabed, and subsoil which includes not only fish but also
minerals beneath the seabed. However, if the coastal state is unable to fully exploit the
resources, it must make arrangement to share the surplus with other states
5. Coastal states have rights to the ECC as to:
1. Sovereign rights for the purpose of exploring and exploiting, conserving and
managing the natural resources, whether living or non-living, if the waters superjacent
to the sea-bed and of the seabed and subsoil, and with regard to other activities for the
economic exploitation and exploration of the zone, such as the production of energy
from the water, currents and winds;
2. Jurisdiction as provided in the relevant provisions of the Convention with regard
to: i) the establishment and use of artificial islands, installations and structures; ii)
marine scientific research; and iii) the protection and preservation of the marine
environment;
3. Other rights and duties provided for in the Convention. {Article 56 of the
Convention of the Law of the Sea
6. Continental shelf
a. Extended continental shelf
1. Consists of the seabed and the subsoil of the submarine areas that extend beyond
its territorial sea throughout the natural prolongation of its land territory to the outer
edge of the continental margin, or to a distance of 200nm, whichever is greater. But,
 it shall not exceed 350nm from the baseline in case the natural prolongation exceeds
more than 200nm
2. Coastal state’s rights are limited to harvesting of mineral and other “non-living”
materials in the subsoil and “living things attached to the shelf”
7. International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea
N. Basic principles of international environmental law
1. Precautionary principle
1. Principle 15. In order to protect the environment, the precautionary approach shall be
widely applied by States according to their capabilities. Where there are threats of serious or
irreversible damage, lack of full scientific certainty shall not be used as a reason for
postponing cost-effective measures to prevent environmental degradation.
2. Responsibility and prevention principle
1. Principle 2. States have, in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations and the
principles of international law, the sovereign right to exploit their own resources pursuant to
their own environmental and developmental policies, and the responsibility to ensure that
activities within their jurisdiction or control do not cause damage to the environment of other
States or of areas beyond the limits of national jurisdiction.
3. Sustainable development
1. Intra and inter-generational responsibility
2. Conservation
3. Integration
4. Polluter pays principle
1. Whoever causes pollution or damage to the environment shall pay for its remediation or
cleanup. Same concept even in civil law

IMPORTANT NOTES:

The listing of covered topics is not intended and should not be used by law schools as a course
outline. This listing has been drawn up for the limited purpose of ensuring that the Bar candidates are
guided on the coverage of the 2018 Bar Examinations.

All laws, rules, issuances, and jurisprudence pertinent to every subject and its listed topics as of
June 30, 2017 are examinable materials within the coverage of the 2018 Bar Examinations.

Principles of law are not covered by the cut-off period stated herein.