Chapter VIII: ENDS and EFFECTS of LAW

EQUALITY

THE IDEA of EQUALITY

1. COMMON HUMANITY
 Men are equal in that we belong to a common species homo sapiens who speak a
language, use tools, live in communities and can interbreed despite racial differences.

2. MORAL CAPACITY
 There are other abilities less open to empirical test that makes us all equal being
humans.
 This is the ability or capacity for virtue or achievement at the highest kind of moral
worth.

3. Equal and Unequal Circumstances

 Distributive Justice
- Equality may not always be seen to absolute terms but also terms of fairness and
justice. Example. Providing ramp for differently abled person. Discount for senior citizen,
students and differently abled person.

REQUISITES of VALID CLASSIFICATION

1. It must be based upon SUBSTANTIAL DISTINCTIONS.
2. It must be GERMANE to the purpose of law.
- Germane means related/ significant.
3. It must NOT BE LIMITED TO EXISTING CONDITIONS only.
4. It must APPLY EQUALLY to the members of the SAME CLASS.

VILLAVICENCIO VS. LUKBAN

FACTS
Justo Lukban, respondent and then Mayor of Manila, sent 170 women to Davao. Lukban
claims that the women were to be laborers and was received by Feliciano Yñigo, a

ENDS AND EFFECTS OF LAW

EQUALITY
haciendero, Rafael Castillo, and Francisco Sales, the governor of Davao. The women thought
that they were being transported to another police station, while Yñigo, the haciendero from
Davao, had no idea that the women being sent to them as laborers him were actually
prostitutes. The families of the prostitutes then filed charges against Lukban, Anton
Hohmann, the Chief of Police, and Sales. They prayed for a writ for habeas corpus to a
member of the Supreme Court to be issued against the respondents to compel them to bring
back the 170 women who were deported to Mindanao against their will.
ISSUE
Whether or not the respondent violates equal protection guaranteed by the Constitution.
RULING:
Yes. There is no valid ground to make classification. Although the women sent are
prostitutes, there is no reason to treat them differently from other people. The respondent’s
intention to suppress the social evil was commendable, however, his methods were unlawful.

ICHONG VS. HERNANDEZ

FACTS
The Legislature passed R.A. 1180 (An Act to Regulate the Retail Business). Its purpose was
to prevent persons who are not citizens of the Phil. from having a stranglehold upon the
people’s economic life. It is a provision for the forfeiture of licenses to engage in the retail
business for violation of the laws on nationalization, economic control weights and measures
and labor and other laws relating to trade, commerce and industry.
Lao Ichong, in his own behalf and behalf of other alien residents, corporations and
partnerships affected by the Act, filed an action to declare it unconstitutional for it denies to
alien residents the equal protection of the laws and deprives them of their liberty and property
without due process.
ISSUE
Whether or not the Act deprives the aliens of the equal protection of the laws.
RULING
The law is a valid exercise of police power and it does not deny the aliens the equal
protection of the laws. There are real and actual, positive and fundamental differences
between an alien and a citizen, which fully justify the legislative classification adopted.

HIMAGAN VS. PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES

FACTS

ENDS AND EFFECTS OF LAW

EQUALITY
Himagan is a policeman assigned in Camp Catititgan, Davao City. He was charged for the
murder of and attempted murder. Pursuant to Sec 47 of RA 6975, Himagan was placed into
suspension pending the murder case. The law provides that “Upon the filing of a complaint or
information sufficient in form and substance against a member of the PNP for grave felonies
where the penalty imposed by law is six (6) years and one (1) day or more, the court shall
immediately suspend the accused from office until the case is terminated. Such case shall be
subject to continuous trial and shall be terminated within ninety (90) days from arraignment
of the accused. Himagan assailed the suspension averring that Sec 42 of PD 807 of the Civil
Service Decree, that his suspension should be limited to ninety (90) days. He claims that an
imposition of preventive suspension of over 90 days is contrary to the Civil Service Law and
would be a violation of his constitutional right to equal protection of laws.
ISSUE
Whether or not Sec 47, RA 6975 violates equal protection guaranteed by the Constitution.
RULING
No. The reason why members of the PNP are treated differently from the other classes of
persons charged criminally or administratively insofar as the application of the rule on
preventive suspension is concerned is that policemen carry weapons and the badge of the
law which can be used to harass or intimidate witnesses against them, as succinctly
brought out in the legislative discussions. If a suspended policeman criminally charged with a
serious offense is reinstated to his post while his case is pending, his victim and the witnesses
against him are obviously exposed to constant threat and thus easily cowed to silence by the
mere fact that the accused is in uniform and armed. The imposition of preventive suspension
for over 90 days under Sec 47 of RA 6975 does not violate the suspended policeman’s
constitutional right to equal protection of the laws.

PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES VS. CAYAT

FACTS
Cayat is from Mountain Province and was caught in possession of intoxicating liquor. “Law
prohibits any member of a non-Christian tribe to buy, receive, have in his possession, or
drink, any intoxicating liquors of any kind.” The law, Act No. 1639, exempts only the so-
called native wines or liquors which the members of such tribes have been accustomed to
take.
ISSUE
Whether or not the law denies equal protection to one prosecuted and sentenced for violation
of said law.
RULING
No. It satisfies the requirements of a valid classification, one of which is that the
classification under the law must rest on real or substantial distinctions. The distinction is

ENDS AND EFFECTS OF LAW

EQUALITY
reasonable. The classification between the members of the non- Christian and the members of
the Christian tribes is not based upon accident of birth or parentage but upon the degree of
civilization and culture. The term ‘non-Christian tribes’ refers to a geographical area and
more directly to natives of the Philippines of a low grade civilization usually living in tribal
relationship apart from settled communities. The distinction is reasonable for the Act was
intended to meet the peculiar conditions existing in the non- Christian tribes” The prohibition
is germane to the purposes of the law. It is designed to insure peace and order in and among
the non- Christian tribes has often resulted in lawlessness and crime thereby hampering the
efforts of the government to raise their standards of life and civilization.

ENDS AND EFFECTS OF LAW

EQUALITY