Professional Documents
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14.Ermita-Malate Hotel - Motel vs. Manila City
14.Ermita-Malate Hotel - Motel vs. Manila City
14.Ermita-Malate Hotel - Motel vs. Manila City
850
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851
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FERNANDO, J,:
852
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1 The eighteen members are Waldorf Hotel, Hotel Monte Carlo, Golden
Gate Motel, Miami Hotel, Palm Spring Hotel, Flamingo Motel, Holiday
Motel, Rainbow Motel, Palo Alto Hotel, Paradise Hotel, Mayfair Hotel,
Siesta Court, Sun Valley Hotel, Springfield Hotel, New Palace Hotel,
Hotel del Mar, Longbeach Hotel and Ritz Motel.
853
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855
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856
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858
4
least limitable of powers,
5
extending as it does "to all the
great public needs." It would be, to paraphrase another
leading decision, to destroy the very purpose of the state if
it could be deprived or allowed itself to be deprived of its
competence to promote public health,6
public morals, public
safety and the general welfare. Negatively put, police
power is "that inherent and plenary power in the State
which enables it to prohibit all that7 is hurtful to the
comfort, safety, and welfare of society."
There is no question but that the challenged ordinance
was precisely enacted to minimize certain practices hurtful
to public morals. The explanatory note of the then
Councilor Herminio Astorga included as annex to the
stipulation of facts, speaks of the alarming increase in the
rate of prostitution, adultery and fornication in Manila
traceable in great part to the existence of motels, which
"provide a necessary atmosphere for clandestine entry,
presence and exit" and thus become the "ideal haven for
prostitutes and
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4 Cf. Ichong v. Hernandez, (1957) 101 Phil. 1155, at p. 1163. AIso: 'To
Frankfurter the police power, true to its etymology, is the power to shape
policy. It def ies legal definition; as a response to the dynamic aspects of
society, it cannot be reduced to a constitutional formula. The law must be
sensitive to life; in resolving cases. it must not fall back upon sterile
claims; its judgments are not derived from an abstract duel between
liberty and the police power. Instead, in a world of trusts and unions and
large-scale industry, it must meet the challenge of drastic social change.
For him as for Holmes, 'society is more than bargain and business' and the
jurist's art rises to no higher peak than in vindicating interests not
represented by the items in a balance-sheet. In a progressive society, new
interests emerge, new attitudes appear, social consciousness quickens. In
the face of the unknown one cannot choose with certainty. Nor as yet, has
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the whole of truth been brought up from its bottomless well and how f
ragile in scientif ic proof is the ultimate validity of any particular
economic adjustment. Social development is a process of trial and error; in
the making of policy the f ullest possible opportunity must be given for the
play of the human mind. If Congress or legislature does not regulate,
laissez faire—not the individual—must be the regulator. (Hamilton, Pre
view of a Justice (1939) 48 Yale Law Journal, 819).
5 Noble state Bank v. Haskell, 219 U.S. 412.
6 U.S. v. Gomez-Jesus, (1915) 31 Phil. 218.
7 Rubi v. Provincial Board, (1918) 39 Phil. 660.
859
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860
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861
17
the sporting idea of fair play. It exacts fealty "to those
strivings for justice" and judges the act of officialdom of
whatever branch "in the light of reason drawn from
considerations of fairness that reflect18 [democratic]
traditions of legal and political thought." It is not a
narrow or "technical conception with fixed content
19
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19
unrelated to time, place and circumstances," decisions
based on such a clause requiring a "close and perceptive 20
inquiry into fundamental principles of our society."
Questions of due process are not to be treated21
narrowly or
pedantically in slavery to form or phrases.
It would thus be an affront to reason to stigmatize an
ordinance enacted precisely to meet what a municipal
lawmaking body considers an evil of rather serious
proportion an arbitrary and capricious exercise of
authority. It would seem that what should be deemed
unreasonable and what would amount to an abdication of
the power to govern is inaction in the face of an admitted
deterioration of the state of public morals. To be more
specific, the Municipal Board of the City of Manila felt the
need for a remedial measure. It provided it with the
enactment of the challenged ordinance. A strong case must
be found in the records, and, as has been set forth, none is
even attempted here to attach to an ordinance of such
character the taint of nullity for an alleged failure to meet
the due process requirement. Nor does it lend any
semblance even of deceptive plausibility to petitioners'
indictment of Ordinance No. 4760 on due process grounds
to single out such features as the increased fees for motels
and hotels, the curtailment of the area of freedom to
contract, and, in certain particulars, its alleged vagueness.
Admittedly there was a decided increase of the annual
license fees provided for by the challenged ordinance for
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17 Frankfurter, Mr. Justice Holmes and the Supreme Court, (1938) pp.
32-33.
18 Frankfurter, Hannah v. Larche, (1960) 363 U.S. 420, at 487.
19 Cafeteria Workers v. McElroy, (1961) 367 U.S. 1230.
20 Bartkus v. Illinois, (1959) 359 U.S. 121.
21 Pearson v. McGraw, (1939) 308 U.S. 313.
862
both hotels and motels, 150% for the former and over 200%
for the latter, f irst-class motels being required to pay a
P6,000 annual fee and second-class motels, P4,500 yearly.
It has been the settled law however, as far back as 1922
that municipal license fees could be classified into those
imposed for regulating occupations or regular enterprises,
for the regulation or restriction of non-useful occupations
22
or
enterprises and for revenue purposes only. As was
explained more in detail in the above Cu Unjieng case: "(2)
Licenses for non-useful occupations are also incidental to
the police power and the right to exact a fee may be implied
from the power to license and regulate, but in fixing
amount of the license fees the municipal corporations are
allowed a much wider discretion in this class of cases than
in the former, and aside from applying the well-known
legal principle that municipal ordinances must not be
unreasonable, oppressive, or tyrannical, courts have, as a
general rule, declined to interfere with such discretion. The
desirability of imposing restraint upon the number of
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863
24
Moreover, in the equally leading case of Lutz v. Araneta
this Court affirmed the doctrine earlier announced by the
American Supreme Court that taxation may be made to
implement the state's police power. Only the other day, this
Court had occasion to affirm that the broad taxing
authority conferred by the Local Autonomy Act of 1959 to
cities and municipalities is sufficiently plenary to cover a
wide range of subjects with the only limitation that25
the tax
so levied is for public purposes, just and uniform.
As a matter of fact, even without reference to the wide
latitude enjoyed by the City of Manila in imposing licenses
for revenue, it has been explicitly held in one case that
"much discretion is given to municipal corporations in
determining the amount," here the license fee of the
operator of a massage clinic, even26
if it were viewed purely
as a police power measure. The discussion of this
particular matter may fitly close with this pertinent
citation from another decision of significance: "It is urged
on behalf of the plaintiffs-appellees that the enforcement of
the ordinance could deprive them of their lawful occupation
and means of livelihood because they can not rent stalls in
the public markets. But it appears that plaintiffs are also
dealers in refrigerated or cold storage meat, the sale of
which outside the city markets under certain conditions is
permitted. x x x And surely, the mere fact, that some
individuals in the community may be deprived of their
present business or a particular mode of earning a living
cannot prevent the exercise of the police power. As was said
in a case, persons licensed to pursue occupations which
may in the public need and interest be affected by the
exercise of the police power embark in these occupations
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24 98 Phil. 148 (1955), citing Great Atl. & Pac. Tea Co. v. Grosjean, 301
U.S. 412, 81 L. Ed. 1193; U.S. v. Butler, 297 U.S. 1, 80 L. Ed 477;
M'Culloch v. Maryland, 4 Wheat. 316, 4 L. Ed. 579. The Lutz decision was
followed in Republic v. BacolodMurcia Milling, L-19824, July 9, 1966.
25 Ormoc Sugar Co. v. Municipal Board of Ormoc City, L-24322, July
21, 1967.
26 Physical Therapy Organization v. Municipal Board, (1957) 101 Phil.
1142.
864
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27 Co Kian & Lee Ban v. City of Manila, (1955) 96 Phil. 649, 654, citing
City of New Orleans v. Stafford, 27 L. Ann. 417.
28 Rubi v. Provincial Board, (1919) 39 Phil. 660, at 706, citing Hall v.
Geiger-Jones (1916), 242 U.S. 539; Hardie-Tynes Manufacturing Co. vs.
Cruz (1914), 189 Ala. 66.
865
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866
32
measure is wider. How justify then the allegation of a
denial of due process?
Lastly, there is the attempt to impugn the ordinance on
another due process ground by invoking the principle of
vagueness or uncertainty. It would appear/from a recital in
the petition itself that what seems to be the gravamen of
the alleged grievance is that the provisions are too detailed
and specific rather than vague or uncertain. Petitioners,
however, point to the requirement that a guest should give
the name, relationship, age and sex of the companion or
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Judgment reversed.
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