Group 3

Decisions of the Supreme Court

-highest source of jurisprudence, source of law, aside from the laws of the land

-determines whether a law is constitutional or not

2 classifications:

(i) “Regular Decisions” and extended resolution

-published in court reports either primary or secondary sources

-certification of Chief Justice after each decision is made

(ii) “Minute Resolution”

-with the same effect as the regular decisions

-issued and signed by

A. Respective clerks of Court En Banc; or

B. By any of the 3 Divisions and signed by their respective Clerks of Court

-not published in Court reports

Exemption: those included in the Supreme Court e-library under “RESOLUTIONS”

A. Those that resolve a motion for consideration

B. Those that explain or affirm a decision

C. Administrative matters

 Official Repositories of Decisions of the Supreme Court

 Unofficial Reporting of Decisions of the Supreme Court

Decisions of the Court of Appeals

 Silva vs Mationg 499 SCRA 724 (2006)

 Nepomuceno vs City of Surigao (2008)

Facts:

-petitioner assails the decision of CA affirming with modification RTC Surigao’s decision

-petitioner, Nepomuceno filed a complaint for "Recovery of Real Property and/or its Market
Value" to recover portion of her lot which was occupied, developed and used as a city road by
the city government of Surigao.

-RTC: judgment ordering Surigao to pay Nepomuceno but denying claims for moral and
exemplary damages

-CA: affirmed but modified RTC judgment adding moral damaged of 30,000 and attorneys fee

-petitioner unsatisfied claim that, in fixing the value of their property, justice and equity demand
that the value at the time of actual payment should be the basis, not the value at the time of the
taking as the RTC and CA held, thus this petition.
 -petitioners also assert that the CA decision in Spouses Mamerto Espina, Sr. and Flor Espina v.
City of Ormoc should be applied to this case because of the substantial factual similarity
between the two cases. In that case, the City of Ormoc was directed to institute a separate
expropriation proceeding over the subject property.

Issue: WON

- RTC and CA erred and should apply previous CA decision?

Decision: Petition Denied.

Exemplary damages would have been appropriate had it been shown that the city government
indeed misused its power of eminent domain. In this case, both the RTC and the CA found there
was no socially deleterious action or misuse of power to speak of.

Moreover, petitioners cannot properly insist on the application of the CA decision in Spouses
Mamerto Espina, Sr. and Flor Espina v. City of Ormoc. A decision of the CA does not establish
judicial precedent. A ruling of the CA on any question of law is not binding on this Court. In fact,
the Court may review, modify or reverse any such ruling of the CA.

 Ayala Corporation vs Rosa-Diana Realty, 346 Scra 663 (2000)

 Siliman vs Fontelo-Paalan, 525 Scra 759 (2007)

Decisions of the Sandiganbayan, Court of Tax Appeals, Regional Trial Courts, Metropolitan/Municipal
Trial Courts, Municipal Trial Courts in Cities

1. Sandiganbayan

-only one volume published that covers decisions promulgated from December 1979-1980

2. Court of Tax Appeals (established under RA 1125, with exclusive appellate jurisdiction over tax and
customs cases)

-its decisions are subject to review by SC

-this Tax Court is directed by law to provide for the publication of its decisions in

the Official Gazette in such form and manner as may best be adopted for public

information and use

Ex. of publications on cases of the CTA

-Court of Tax Appeals Digest of Customs and Real Property Tax Cases (1973)

-Court of Tax Appeals Digest of Internal Revenue Code (1971) by Colon

.
3. Regional Trial Courts

-their decisions have not been published in official reports or in books of

secondary authority

-Its judgments on matters of evidence is usually respected, although its opinions are rarely cited
for persuasive influence

- to secure a copy of decisions from this court, one has to request from their respective sala.

4. Metropolitan/Municipal Trial Courts

-decisions have not been published in any official report or publication.

-their respective courts are the only places where their decisions are found.

5. Municipal Trial Courts in Cities

Subordinate Decisions

1. Senate Electoral Tribunal and House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal

-under 1987 Constitution Sec 17,

“provides that the Senate and the House of Representatives shall each have an Electoral
Tribunal, which shall be the sole judge of all contests relating to the election, returns, and
qualifications of their respective Members”

Members: (9 members)

(i) 3 Justices of SC (designated by Chief of Justice)

(ii) 6 either from Senate or House of Representatives (by proportional representation

political parties and the parties or organizations registered under the party-list system)

Senior Justice - to be its Chairman

- decisions:

The House of Representatives has published its Electoral Tribunal Proceedings in its publications,
titled HRET Reports: Final Orders, Resolutions, and Decisions in seven volumes

2. Administrative Agencies Exercising Quasi-Judicial Powers

- are called “subordinate decisions”

 1. Agencies with implied quasi-judicial powers

- agencies with mostly with investigative functions.

Ex.

- Department of Foreign Affairs,

-Commission on Immigration and Deportation

- Office of the President

-Secretary of Justice

-National Wages Council

-Philippine Patents Office

- Bureau of Land Transportation

-Civil Service Commission

-Professional Regulatory Commission

-Tanodbayan

2. Agencies with express quasi-judicial powers

-agencies which are actually given judicial functions over cases which would otherwise go
to the regular courts of justice were it not for the grant of such powers to these agencies

-sometimes characterized with specific appeal procedures under the law

Ex.

-Insurance Commission

- National Labor Relations Commission

-Commission on Elections

-Government Service Insurance System

- Social Security System

-National Seamen Board

-Commission on Audit

- Employees’ Compensation Commission

-Civil Aeronautics Board

3. Publications of Administrative Agencies

-1987 Administrative Code:

 “requires that all GOCC must provide the UP Law Center with 3 certified copies of their rules and
regulations”

The UP Law Center is also required to publish them. Done in the National Administrative
Register.

Computerized Legal Research Services

Foreign Jurisprudence

1. Reliance on Foreign Jurisprudence

PDIC vs Citibank NA, 669 SCRA 191 (2012)

2. Caveat on Foreign Jurisprudence

Sanders vs Veridiano, 162 SCRA 88 (1988)

Garcia vs Comelec, 227 SCRA 100 (1993)

3. Citation and Adoption of Foreign Case Law

MMDA vs Concerned Residents of Manila Bay, 574 SCRA 661 (2008)

Secretary of National Defense vs Manalo, 568 SCRA 1 (2008)

FUNDAMENTAL RESEARCH SKILL: CASE BRIEFING AND SYTHESIS OF CASES

A. Case Briefing

Basic Legal Citation

Legal Citation- It is a standard language that allows one writer to refer to legal authorities with
sufficient precision and generality that others can follow the references

I. Purpose of Legal Citation

-to provide sufficient information to the reader of a brief or memorandum to aid a decision
about which authorities to check as well as in what order to consult them

-to permit efficient and precise retrieval

3 purposes:

-IDENTIFY.

To identify the document and document part to which the writer is referring
-PROVIDE SUFFICIENT INFORMATION.

To provide the reader with sufficient information to find the document or document part in
the sources the reader has available (which may or may not be the same sources as those
used by the writer), and

-FURNISH ADDITIONAL INFORMATION.

To furnish important additional information about the referenced material and its

connection to the writer's argument to assist readers in deciding whether or not to

pursue the reference.

II. Citation Principles

4 categories:

1. Full Address Principles

-principles that specify completeness of the address or identification of a cited document or

document portion in terms that will allow the reader to retrieve it.

2. Other Minimum Content Principles

-Principles that call for the inclusion in a citation of additional information items beyond a
retrieval address i.e.

 the full name of the author of a journal article

 the year a decision was rendered or a book published

3. Compacting Principles

-principles that reduce the space taken up by the information items included in a citation.
i.e. standard abbreviations ("Civil Service Commission" becomes "CSC")

-principles that eliminate redundancy. (If the deciding court is communicated

by the name of the reporter, it need not be repeated in the citation's concluding
parentheses along with the date as it should otherwise be.)

4. Format Principles

-principles about punctuation, typography, order of items within a citation, and the like.
-applies to the optional elements in a citation as well as the mandatory ones.

III. Citation Rules

a. Citing constructions

b. Citing statutes and similar materials

A. Constitution

- cited as: Const. (year), article, section, the paragraph

Ex.

Const. (1987), Art. X, Sec 1, par. 3

B. Legislative enactments

- laws passed by legislative department are cited as follows

A. Acts( Laws 1901-1934)

Act No. 136 (1901)

B. Commonwealth Acts, 1935-1945

Com. Act No. 35 (1935)

C. Republic Acts, 1945-1972, 1987-present

Rep. Act No. 3019 (1960)

D. Presidential Decrees, September 21, 1972-February 1986

Pres. Decree No. 442 (1972)

E. Batas Pambansa, January 1979-February 1, 1986

Batas Pambansa Blg. 129 (1980)

c. Citing administrative materials

- citation: name of agency (abbreviated), case number ,date of promulgation

Ex. Civil Service Commission decision

Cited as: Lidua v. Santiago, CSC Adm. Case No. 12345, November 7, 2000
d. Citing court decisions

-standard citation is: Family name of parties, G.R. No., date of promulgation

- use “v.” not “vs.”

- “People of the Philippines” cited as “People”

-”Republic of the Philippines” is cited ass “Republic”

Ex.

A. Supreme Court Decision:

Cited as: G.R. No. ___ date of promulgation

B. Court of Appeals Decision:

Cited as: C.A.-G.R.NO.____-R, CV, CR or SP, date of promulgation

C. Sandiganbayan decisions:

Cited as: Sandiganbayan Crim. Case No.___ date of promulgation

e. Citing foreign legal materials

A. Treaties

- cited by “name of the treaty and the date when it was signed”

B. Nanana

C.

f. Repeating citations (citations repeatedly used)

-cited in an italicized form

A. “Ibid”

- used for successive citations of

(i) The same volume and the same page

(ii) Exactly the same document

B. “Id.”

- used for successive citations

- citing the same citation but has a different page etc.

Ex.

¹E.m. Fernando. The Constitution of the Philippines. 999 (2d ed., 1977)

²Id. at 1012

³Id. at 500
 C. “Supra”

- used to identify a citation that has been previously cited either same page or
preceding page

Ex.

³ E.M. Fernando, supra at 505

D. Supra note

-used when the citation previously cited is too far

Ex.

¹E.m. Fernando. The Constitution of the Philippines. 999 (2d ed., 1977)

²E.m. Fernando, supra note 1 at 600

Note:

- note 1 means footnote where the book was first cited

- 600 means the specific page of the book that is used

A law school case brief is a student’s digest or condensation of a reported case

There is no “correct” form for a case brief since it is a document that is created to meet the students
needs.

The typical components of a case brief are:

1. Facts- they describe the events between the parties leading to the litigation and tell how the case
before the court that is now deciding it. Include those facts that are relevant to the issue the court
must decide and to the reason for it decision. You will not know which facts are relevant until you
know what the issue or issues are.

-State the plaintiff and defendant

-Basis for plaintiffs suit

-Plaintiff’s rlief

-Include the ruling of the Lower Court and Court of Appeals

2. Issue(s)- it is the question that the court must decide to resolve the dispute between the parties in
the case before it.

-Identify the rule of law that governs the dispute and ask how it should apply to those facts

3. Ruling- it is the court’s decision on the question that is actually before it, but if they do not relate to
the question actually before it, they are dicta.
-provides the answer to the question asked in the issues

-supported by court’s reasoning explaining and supporting the courts decision

B. Synthesizing Cases

More likely, your research for a problem will turn up many cases relevant to the problem. In order to
use the principles that those cases offer to resolve your problem, you must relate the cases to each
other, that is, synthesize them. In that way, you can understand the applicable area of law and then
use the synthesis to analyze your problem.

-process of relating the cases to each other. By this process, we can understand the applicable area
of law and then use the synthesis to analyze the problem

1. Understand the applicable area of law

2. Use the synthesis to analyze the problem

3. Synthesizing is the step between your research and your writing

Santos-Ong, Milagros, Legal Research and Citations of the Philippines (2 nd ed), pp 91-92, 99, 120, 122,
125, 128

Santos, Antonio M., Philippines: Basic Information for Legal Research in the Philippines (2003)

https://www.law.cornell.edu/citation/1-200

Martin, Peter W., Introduction to Basic Legal Citation (2013)