FINAL EXAMINATIONS

CONSTITUTIONAL LAW II
Atty. Dianna Louise Wilwayco-Dela Guerra

General Instructions:
1. All answers must be typed. The format of the file shall be as follows:
a. Size: Letter
b. Font: Verdana
c. Font size: 10
d. Margins: 1” on all sides
e. Spacing: line spacing should be single-spaced, with 0 pt spacing before and
after each paragraph
2. All answers must be submitted in portable document format (PDF) with the
following file name format: Consti Finals – [Student Number] (e.g., Consti Finals
– 12345.pdf)
3. Do not write your name in any part of the exam.
4. You are absolutely prohibited from consulting with each other in any manner
during the examination. Any indication that this rule has been violated will mean
that the highest possible score you can receive for that item is half of the points
allocated.
5. Some questions have specific instructions on how the question shall be
answered. Failure to follow these specific instructions shall merit one (1) point
deduction per question.
6. Your answers will be evaluated based on the appropriate application of
constitutional provisions, principles, and jurisprudence.
7. Answer every question based solely on the provisions of the law and issuances
mentioned for each item unless you are expressly allowed to refer to other
existing laws or issuances.
8. Answer every question sequentially in the order it is asked.

I.

In 2018, Republic Act No. 11223 otherwise known as the “Universal Health Care Act” (“RA
11223”) was passed into law. The salient provisions of RA 11223 state:

Section 4. Definition of Terms. – As used in this Act:

(f) Director contributors refer to those who have the capacity to pay premiums,
are gainfully employed and are bound by an employer-employee relationship,
or are self-earning, professional practitioners, migrant workers, including their
qualified dependents, and lifetime members;
***

(o) Indirect contributors refer to all others not included as direct contributors,
as well as their qualified dependents, whose premium shall be subsidized by
the national government, including those who are subsidized as a result of
special laws;

***
Section 5. Population Coverage. – Every Filipino citizen shall be automatically
included into the [National Health Insurance Program (“NHIP”)], hereinafter
referred to as the Program.

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 ***

Section 8. Program Membership. – Membership into the Program shall be

simplified into two (2) types, direct contributors and indirect contributors, as
defined in Section 4 of this Act.

Section 9. Entitlement to Benefits. – Every member shall be granted immediate

eligibility for health benefit package under the Program: Provided, That
PhilHealth Identification Card shall not be required in the availment of any
health service: Provided, further, That no co-payment shall be charged for
services rendered in basic or ward accommodation: Provided, furthermore,
That co-payments and co-insurance for amenities in public hospitals shall be
regulated by the [Department of Health (“DOH”)] and PhilHealth package for
members shall not be reduced.

***
Section 10. Premium Contributions. – For direct contributors, premium rates
shall be in accordance with the following schedule, and monthly income floor
and ceiling:

Year Premium Rate Income Floor Income Ceiling

2019 2.75% P10,000.00 P50,000.00
2020 3.00% P10,000.00 P60,000.00
2021 3.50% P10,000.00 P70,000.00
2022 4.00% P10,000.00 P80,000.00
2023 4.50% P10,000.00 P90,000.00
2024 5.00% P10,000.00 P100,000.00
2025 5.00% P10,000.00 P100,000.00

Provided, That for indirect contributors, premium subsidy shall be gradually

adjusted and included annually in the General Appropriations Act (GAA):
Provided, furthermore, That the DOH, in coordination with PhilHealth, may
request Congress to appropriate supplemental funding to meet targeted
milestones of this Act: Provided, finally, That for every increase in the rate of
contribution of direct contributors and premium subsidy of indirect contributors,
PhilHealth shall provide for a corresponding increase in benefits.

In accordance with RA 11223, PhilHealth implemented the increase in premium rates of

director contributors for the year 2020 from 2.75% to 3.00%.

In February 19, 2020, PhilHealth issued PhilHealth Circular No. 2020-0005, setting out the
premium contribution schedule in the NHIP pursuant to RA 11223 applicable to all direct
contributors. Thereafter, PhilHealth issued PhilHealth Circular No. 2020-0014 setting out the
guidelines on the implementation of the new set of premium contributions in and collection
from payment of Overseas Filipinos Workers (“OFWs”). PhilHealth Circular No. 2020-0014
reiterated that payment and remittance of premium contributions of OFWs is mandatory.

A few days after the publication of PhilHealth Circular No. 2020-0014, several OFWs rallied
on social media against PhilHealth Circular No. 2020-0014. Because of the complaints of
OFWs, the President directed PhilHealth to: (a) indefinitely suspend the increase on premium
contributions of OFWs under RA 11223, and (b) make the premium contributions of OFWs
voluntary. Following the President’s directive, PhilHealth issued Advisory No. 2020-0040,

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which: (a) indefinitely suspended the implementation of the increase in the applicable
premium rates for OFWs, and (b) made the payment of premium contributions of OFWs purely
voluntary.

Is this valid? Discuss your answer in not more than 200 words. (5 points)

II.

Sometime in October 2019, Alfred Benitez entered into a one (1)-lease agreement with
Christy Delos Santos over a condominium unit commencing on November 1, 2019 until
October 31, 2020. Under the lease contract, Alfred was required to issue checks to Christy
on or before the first day of the month for the rent due for that month (e.g., for the month
of January, Alfred is required to issue a check in favor of Christy on or before January 1).
Under the terms of the lease agreement, if the lessee fails to pay any rent due, the lessor has
the option to: (a) impose interest at the rate of 3% per month, compounded monthly, and,
(b) summarily eject the defaulting lessor, without need of any judicial order.

In the meantime, and in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, Congress enacted Republic Act No.
11469 or the Bayanihan To Heal As One Act (“RA 11469”), which granted the President certain
emergency powers. Under Section 4(bb) of RA 11469, the President is empowered to provide
for a minimum of thirty (30)-day grace period on residential rents falling due within the period
of the enhanced community quarantine, without incurring interests, penalties, fees, and other
charges.

To implement the foregoing, the Department of Trade and Industry (“DTI”) issued
Memorandum Circular No. 20-12 (“MC 20-12”). The relevant portions of DTI MC 20-12 state:

Section 3. Concession on Residential and Commercial Rent –

3.1. Concession on Residential Rents – A minimum of thirty (30)-days grace

period shall be granted on residential rents falling due within the period of the
[enhanced community quarantine (“ECQ”)], without incurring interests,
penalties, fees, and other charges.

Where cumulative amount of rents falling due within the ECQ, shall be equally
amortized in the six (6) months following the end of the ECQ, and shall be
added to the rents due on those succeeding months, without interest, penalties,
fees and charges.

3.3 Determination of the 30-day grace period – The minim thirty (30)-days
grace period is determined to be the 30 calendar days following the last due
date of the rent which fell due within the ECQ.

Section 7. Non-Enforcement of Evictions. - No eviction for failure to pay the

residential or commercial rent due may be enforced within the thirty (30)-day
period after the lifting of the [ECQ].

Alfred was one of those severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The company he was
working for was not among the establishments that were allowed to operate during the
enhanced community quarantine. His company could also not continue operating under
alternative working arrangements. As a result, Alfred was laid off from work in March 2020.

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While Alfred was able to pay the rent for March, he was not able to pay the rent due for April.
Christy, who was purely dependent on the lease rentals she received from her tenants,
demanded that Alfred pay the rent due for April, and granted him only a grace period of five
(5) days from the due date within which to pay his rent and, at the same time, demanded
payment of the interest on the unpaid rent due for April. Notwithstanding the grace period
extended by Christy, Alfred was still not able to pay his rent for April. Unable to find a new
job, Alfred was also not able to pay his rent for May. Again, Christy gave him a grace period
of five (5) days to pay and also demanded payment of interest on the unpaid rent due for
both April and May. Alfred was likewise unable to pay his rent within the grace period.

Because of the Alfred’s failure to pay rent for both April and May, Christy invoked the
provisions of their lease contract and: (a) summarily ejected Alfred without filing any case in
court, and (b) demanded that Alfred pay interest for the unpaid rents due for April and May.

Draft a concise legal memorandum identifying all the issues and discussing them. The legal
memorandum should not exceed 500 words (10 points).

III.

Certain parcels of land in Rosario and General Trias, Cavite were reserved and designated as
the Cavite Export Processing Zone (“CEPZ”). Before the Philippine Economic Zone Authority
(“PEZA”) could take possession of certain areas within the CEPZ, several individuals entered
the premises and planted agricultural products without PEZA’s permission. To convince these
settlers to depart peacefully, PEZA paid them financial assistance.

Several years later, Kimmy So, one of the recipients of the financial assistance, filed a
complaint with the Commission on Human Rights (“CHR”) for justice and other reliefs and
remedies. The CHR conducted an investigation on the complaint. She alleged that a PEZA
Project Engineer, who was accompanied by his subordinates and members of the Philippine
National Police (“PNP”), brought a bulldozer and crane to level the area occupied by Kimmy
So.

Thereafter, the CHR issued an order enjoining the PEZA and the PNP and their subordinates
to desist from committing further acts of demolition, terrorism, and harassment.
Notwithstanding the issuance of the CHR order, the same group of people again bulldozed the
area. The CHR issued another injunction order.

A. Was the injunction order of the CHR proper? Discuss your answers in not more than
200 words (5 points).

B. If Congress passes a law empowering the CHR to investigate all violations of social and
economic rights, will such law be valid? Why or why not? Discuss your answers in not
more than 200 words (5 points).

IV.

One of the objectives of Republic Act No. 11332, otherwise known as the Mandatory Reporting
of Notifiable Diseases and Health Events of Public Health Concern Act (“RA 11332”) is to
ensure that public health authorities have the statutory and regulatory authority to declare,
among others, quarantine and isolation, and rapid containment and implementation of
measures for disease prevention and control. Pursuant to RA 11332, the President issued
Presidential Proclamation No. 929, imposing an enhanced community quarantine (“ECQ”)

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throughout Luzon beginning March 16 until April 12, 2020. The imposition of ECQ was
extended until May 15, 2020.

In the meantime, the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infections
Diseases (“IATF”) issued Omnibus Guidelines on the implementation of community quarantine
in the Philippines (“Omnibus Guidelines”).

A. Under the Omnibus Guidelines, mass gatherings, such as movie screenings, concerts,
sporting events, and other entertainment activities, community assemblies, religious
gatherings, and non-essential work gatherings are prohibited for areas under ECQ.

Iglesia ni Panday, a religious group, would like to conduct regular mass in the church for
its devotees not more than five (5) times a week. The church is located in an area under
ECQ. Pastor Koko says that Iglesia ni Panday will conduct mass with the necessary safety
precautions such as following strict social distancing and mandatory use of face masks
during their religious services. He claims that the absolute prohibition on mass gatherings,
including religious gatherings, during the ECQ violates his right to freedom exercise of
religion.

Draft a concise legal memorandum identifying the issues and discussing them. The legal
memorandum should not exceed 500 words (10 points).

B. Section 6(f) of RA 11469 provides:

Section 6. Penalties. – In addition to acts or omissions already penalized by

existing laws, the following offenses shall be punishable with imprisonment of
two (2) months or a fine of not less than Ten thousand pesos (P10,000.00) but
not more than One Million pesos (P1,000,000.00), or both, such imprisonment
and fine, at the discretion of the court:

(f) Individuals or groups creating, perpetrating, or spreading false information

regarding the COVID-19 crisis on social media and other platforms, such
information having no valid or beneficial effect on the population, and are
clearly geared to promote chaos, panic, anarchy, fear, or confusion: and those
participating in cyber incidents that make use or take advantage of the current
crisis situation to prey on the public through scams, phishing, fraudulent
emails, or other similar acts

Anti-COVID is a Philippine-based group of individuals who believe that COVID-19 is an

elaborate political, worldwide hoax that is meant to control people. They firmly believe
that COVID-19 is caused by radiation emitted by 5G signals and that, in any case, it is not
as serious as the government make out to be. They believe that those who died “because
of COVID-19” did not actually die because of the virus, but because of pre-existing health
conditions.

To further bolster their claims, Anti-COVID published several articles on the Internet. They
also created several social media pages discussing why they believe COVID-19 is a hoax.
They also paid for advertisement fees so that their articles and social media pages would
frequently appear whenever a search is conducted in several online search engines.

Law enforcement agencies discovered the social media pages of Anti-COVID and filed a
case against them for violation of Section 6(f) of RA 11469. On the other hand, Anti-

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 COVID claims that Section 6(f) of RA 11469 is unconstitutional, because it violates their
right to free speech.

Rule on the contentions of both parties in not more than 500 words (10 points).

C. The Omnibus Guidelines further provide that only those private establishments involved
in the provision of essential goods and services, and activities in the value chain related
to food and medicine production may be allowed to work or operate with a skeleton
workforce (i.e., public markets, supermarkets, grocery stores, convenience stores,
laundry shops, food preparation establishments insofar as take-out and delivery services,
water-refilling stations, hospitals, medical, dental, and optometry clinics, pharmacies, and
drug stores, manufacturing and processing plants of basic food products, medicine,
medical supplies, devices and equipment, banks, money transfer services and
microfinance institutions (excluding pawnshops), capital markets, power, energy, water,
information technology and telecommunications supplies and facilities, including waste
disposal services, property management and building utility services).

KMG Garments Incorporated (“KMG”) is a company engaged in the manufacture of

garments. KMG was not among the private establishments that were allowed to operate
during the ECQ. KMG believes that the Omnibus Guidelines violate its constitutional rights
under the Bill of Rights. As one of its external lawyers, KMG asked you to prepare a
concise legal memorandum discussing the constitutionality of the foregoing provision of
the Omnibus Guidelines insofar as its rights under the Bill of Rights are affected.

Draft a concise legal memorandum identifying the issues and discussing these. The legal
memorandum should not exceed 500 words (10 points).

V.

Congress passed a law adopting Mandarin as one of the official languages of the Philippines
for purposes of communication and instruction. Under the law, all educational institutions are
required to teach Mandarin to its students.

Draft a concise legal memorandum identifying the issues and discussing these. The legal
memorandum should not exceed 300 words (5 points).

VI.

An Information for qualified theft was filed against the accused, Michael Martinez. During the
course of the trial, Michael filed a motion to dismiss for failure to prosecute the case for a
reasonable length of time. The prosecution opposed the motion, arguing that its failure to
present its witnesses was due to circumstances beyond its control. Deciding on the motion,
the trial court dismissed the case with finality on the ground that Michael’s right to speedy
trial was violated.

After ten (10) months, the same criminal case for qualified theft was refilled against Michael
Martinez, prompting him to file a motion to dismiss invoking his right against double jeopardy.
The prosecution opposed the motion, arguing that the first criminal case for qualified theft
was dismissed with the express consent of the accused as it was, in fact, upon his own motion.
Moreover, it was already able to secure the commitments of its witnesses to appear; hence,
it would be prejudicial for the State if the case were to be dismissed without trial.

Rule on the present motion in not more than 200 words (5 points).

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 VII.

Congress passed a law requiring those who would like to register as voters for the upcoming
2022 national elections to submit, as part of the voter registration process, a 150-word
handwritten essay on any pressing issue in the Philippines. Existing registered voters were
required to validate their registration by requiring them to also submit a 150-word
handwritten essay. Failure to submit the handwritten essay on or before the deadline set by
the Commission on Election will result in such voter being put on “deactivated” status. Those
who are “deactivated” will not be included in the list of voters and will not be allowed to vote
in the upcoming 2022 national elections.

Rule on the constitutionality of the law in not more than 500 words (5 points).

VIII.

Carmen Ojales, a Filipina, married James Smith, an Australian, in 1982. In 1985 and while
living in Australia, Carmen gave birth to a baby girl, whom she named Anne. Australia follows
the principle of jus sanguinis.

Sylvia Adea, also a Filipina, married Paul Campeau, a French citizen, in 1983. In 184, Sylvia
gave birth in France, to a baby boy, whom she named Sherwin. Under the laws of France, a
child is French if at least one parent who is a French citizen.

Anne and Sherwin both settled in the Philippines were they both had successful careers. They
met in 2010 and married in 2017. In March 2020 and while vacationing in Australia, Anne
gave birth to a baby girl, whom they named Dahlia.

A. Anne and Sherwin raised Dahlia in the Philippines. They
where she consistently graduated with honors. As soon
registered as a voter. It is now the year 2058. Dahlia
senator. Is she qualified to run? Discuss your answer
points).
enrolled her in the best schools,
as she turned 18 years old, she
decided she wanted to run as a
in not more than 200 words (5

B. Disregard the facts set out in A above. In 2050, Dahlia became a naturalized citizen of
Argentina. After living in Argentina for 5 years, Dahlia decided to return to the Philippines
and run as a senator in the 2058 elections. What steps should Dahlia take so she can run
for public office? Discuss your answer in not more than 200 words (5 points).

IX.

Assume that the Anti-Terror Bill, as embodied in Senate Bill No. 1083, was enacted into law.
Section 29 of the Anti-Terror Bill provides:

Section 29. Detention Without Judicial Warrant of Arrest. – The provisions of Article
125 of the Revised Penal Code to the contrary notwithstanding, any law
enforcement agent or military personnel, who, having been duly authorized in
writing by the [Anti-Terrorism Council (“ATC”)] has taken custody of a person
suspected of committing any of the acts defined and penalized under Sections 4, 5,
6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12 of this Act, shall, without incurring any criminal liability for
delay in the delivery of detained persons to the proper judicial authorities, deliver
said suspected person to the proper judicial authority within a period of fourteen
(14) calendar days counted from the moment the said suspected person has been

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 apprehended or arrested, detained, and taken into custody by the law enforcement
agent or military personnel. The period of detention may be extended to a
maximum period of ten (10) calendar days if its is established that (1) further
detention of the person/s is necessary to preserve evidence related to the terrorism
or complete the investigation; (2) further detention of the person/s is necessary to
prevent the commission of another terrorism; and (3) the investigation is being
conducted properly and without delay.

Immediately after taking custody of a person suspected of committing terrorism or

any member of a group of persons, organization or association proscribed under
Section 26 hereof, the law enforcement agent or military personnel shall notify in
writing the judge of the court nearest the place of apprehension or arrest of the
following facts: (a) the time, date, and manner of arrest; (b) the location or
locations of the detained suspect/s and (c) the physical and mental condition of the
detained suspect/s. The law enforcement agent or military personnel shall likewise
furnish the ATC and the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) of the written notice
given to the judge.

The head of the detaining facility shall ensure that the detained suspected is
informed of his/her rights as a detainee and shall ensure access to the detainee by
his/her counsel or agencies and entities authorized by law to exercise visitorial
powers over detention facilities.

The penalty of imprisonment of ten (10) years shall be imposed upon the police or
law enforcement agent or military personnel who fails to notify any judge as
provided in the preceding paragraph.

Prepare a legal memorandum discussing the constitutionality of Section 29 of the Anti-Terror

Bill. The legal memorandum should not exceed 750 words (20 points).

You may refer to the attached copy of the Anti-Terror Bill for purposes of drafting your legal
memorandum.