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TANADA v ANGARA

G.R. No. 118295, May 2, 1997

PANGANIBAN, J:

FACTS:

Senators Tanada, et. al (Petitioners) questioned the constitutionality of the concurrence of the
Philippine Senate in the ratification by the President of the Philippines of the Agreement Establishing the
World Trade Organization (WTO Agreement). Petitioners contended that WTO agreement violates the
mandate of the 1987 Constitution to “develop a self-reliant and independent national economy
effectively controlled by Filipinos x x x (to) give preference to qualified Filipinos (and to) promote the
preferential use of Filipino labor, domestic materials, and locally produced goods.” As (1) WTO requires
the Philippines “to place nationals and products of member-countries on the same footing as Filipinos
and local products” and (2) WTO “intrudes, limits and/or impairs” the constitutional powers of both
Congress and the Supreme Court.

ISSUES:

Whether or not provisions of the Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization unduly limit,
restrict, and impair Philippine sovereignty specifically the legislative power which, under Sec. 2, Article
VI, 1987 Philippine Constitution is ‘vested in the Congress of the Philippines.

RULING:

No, the WTO agreement does not unduly limit, restrict, and impair the Philippine sovereignty,
particularly the legislative power granted by the Philippine Constitution.

While sovereignty has traditionally been deemed absolute and all-encompassing on the domestic level,
it is, however subject to restrictions and limitations voluntarily agreed to by the Philippines, expressly or
impliedly, as a member of the family of nations.

The sovereignty of a state therefore cannot in fact and in reality, be considered absolute. Certain
restrictions enter into the picture: (1) limitations imposed by the very nature of membership in the
family of nations and (2) limitations imposed by treaty stipulations. As aptly put by John F. Kennedy,
“Today, no nation can build its destiny alone. The age of self-sufficient nationalism is over. The age of
interdependence is here.”