THE “X” FACTORS OF PHILIPPINE LEGAL PARADIGM

 In the previous chapters, the reader may ask why we have discussed Western philosophies to
explain Philippine law. The reason is that Philippine law has generally been adapted from the
Western legal system. Yes, we did import our major laws.

Our civil and criminal codes were adaptations from codified Hispanic and Roman laws.
 Our Family Code was influenced by Canon Law.
 Our political constitution was inspired by the American and French liberal constitutions.
 Our commercial laws were wholesale copies of American mercantile laws.
 Jurisprudence and remedial rules on evidence were based on Western empirical and inductive
theories.
 Labor law was partly a concession to socialist elements inspired by Marx’s ideology.
 While international law trends continue to be dominated by Western legal currents.
 Apart from the Calantiao Code, which was found to be a hoax, and the Maragtas Code, which is a
collection of legends of datus, pre-Hispanic Filipinos did not leave a written draft of their laws.
What we have are pass-on traditions of indigenous communities. For the Muslim South under
Shariah law, they have at least the Qur’an as both religious and legal reference. The Spanish
historian Antonio de Morga, in the History of the Philippine Islands, wrote that “the natives’ laws
throughout the islands were made in the same manner, and they followed the traditions and
customs of their ancestors, without anything being written. Some provinces had different customs
than others in some respects. However, they agreed in most, and in all the islands generally the
same usages were followed.”
 Pre-Hispanic customs, so long as they are in line with “natural law” were maintained by the
Spanish, as noted by Morga: “The same customs observed by these natives in their paganism, are
observed by them since they have become Christians, in so far as they are not contrary to natural
law, especially as to their slavery, successions, inheritances, adoptions, wills, and lawful trading.
In their suits, they always allege and prove the custom, and are judged by it, according to royal
decrees to that effect. In other causes which do not involve their customs, and in criminal cases,
the matter is determined by law as among Spaniards.”
 Meanwhile, our laws are now officially drafted and written in English, which carry Western linguistic
paradigm. Our technologies and information network are also communicated in English. Law
students are being trained to be wordsmiths in the spoken and written English. Postgraduate
studies are pursued in Western universities, which entail more immersion with Western concepts,
Western theories, and Western laws.
 Finally, we can only generalize about a “Filipino philosophy” since Filipinos are multicultural and
have no singular unified thought system other than what we already received from the West.
Globalization, immigration, and new ways of living have also overtaken long-held traditions.
Instead, we can only point to patterns or tendencies of thought that characterize the way we live
and the way we make or break rules in the not-so-distant past.

Duty, Interiority, and Community

Filipinos Westerners
value for duties (“katungkulan”) stress on rights
 Eg. the Kartilya ng Katipunan by Emilio Jacinto and the Eg. American-based provisions from
New Decalogue by Apolinario Mabini were duties- the 1935 to the present Constitution
based, worded with “thou shallts” and “thou shall emphasized rights and liberties
nots.”
 Responsibility can be a personal call, even if there is no
written contract or external law.
debt of volition (“utang na loob”)
 tribes such as the Tirurays do not even have a body of
laws, but only a wealth of traditions and customs that
serve as sources of norms
Duty
In the Elements of Filipino Philosophy, Leonardo Mercado

INTERIORITY
Westerners are individualistic
Filipinos tend to be social and communal, seeking harmony (“pakikisama”) with others and with
nature
 private interest, private property, and private affairs can be alien concepts
 usually hold feasts and celebrations where everyone must be welcome
 money and property must be available for lending and borrowing
 land ownership was also communal
 Mother Nature (“inang kalikasan”) is given a personality as the unseen hand and guardian of the
land and the forests.
 The endemic problems of squatting and sidewalk vending on vacant land are due to the rural
mentality that one owns what one in the meantime can occupy, cultivate, and use.

Community
Filipinos have a concept of a reference group or “sakop.”
 Honor or shame, success and failure, are shared by the group where one is identified
 Punishment must be repaid by another member of the sakop (“pambayad utang”). The sakop
stretches, especially for the Ifugaos, to departed loved ones and to future unborn children.
 Loyalties are strong, and dynasties remain, because electorates consider themselves part of the
sakop of a traditional bet, with whom they have established identity and sympathies.
 The local leader is the modern-day chieftain or datu. In as much as chieftains can pass their rule to
their children, so do modern politicians have been similarly entitled.
 The barker, the policeman, and the government officer also consider their office or jurisdiction as
their temporary domains, and their relation to subjects is a relational (non-professional) debt,
which entitle them to the “tong” or personal tax, or to a tip or “lagay.”

Cosmic justice is our version of natural law.
 The concept of retribution and punishment is to even out the status of the offended and the
offender (“patas”).
 Due to the inadequacies of the legal system, people sometimes leave it to “gabâ” or “karma” to
punish the offender in its own time and in the same measure.
 Some deliberately resort to ritualistic curses (“sumpa”), or to sorcery and magic (“mananambal,”
”mangkukulam”) by calling on unseen forces or spirits of nature.

Filipino thinking is also non-dualist and non-scientific
 the penchant for superstitions, herbal healing, metaphysical explanations, poetic intuition, and
beliefs in Bathala na (fatalism)
 animistic and live in a spirit world, whether with pagan spirits or with Christian angels and saints
 calendar is marked with religious holidays and fiestas
 find it difficult to separate affairs of the worldly and the eternal, Church and State, body and soul,
reason and faith
 To resolve disputes, mediation is a preferred mode of reconciliation, since it saves time and money
from a protracted litigation and avoids legal technicalities ****reason why we have a barangay
conciliation law, where amicable settlement of disputes is mandatory before going to courts

THE FILIPINO FAMILY

Some social theorists attribute to religious pressure
 why the Philippines remains to be the only country without a divorce law, or
 why we still mulls on contraception
 why there is hardly any move to legalize same-sex marriage.
ISAGANI CRUZ v. SECRETARY OF ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL RESOURCES
FACTS:
 Petitioners Isagani Cruz and Cesar Europa filed a suit for prohibition and mandamus as citizens and
taxpayers, assailing the constitutionality of certain provisions of Republic Act No. 8371, otherwise
known as the Indigenous People’s Rights Act of 1997 (IPRA) and its implementing rules and
regulations (IRR). The petitioners assail certain provisions of the IPRA and its IRR on the ground that
these amount to an unlawful deprivation of the State’s ownership over lands of the public domain
as well as minerals and other natural resources therein, in violation of the Regalian doctrine
embodied in section 2, Article XII of the Constitution.

ISSUE: Do the provisions of IPRA contravene the Constitution?

RULING:
No, the provisions of IPRA do not contravene the Constitution. Examining the IPRA, there is nothing
in the law that grants to the ICCs/IPs ownership over the natural resources within their ancestral domain.
Ownership over the natural resources in the ancestral domains remains with the State and the rights
granted by the IPRA to the ICCs/IPs over the natural resources in their ancestral domains merely gives
them, as owners and occupants of the land on which the resources are found, the right to the small scale
utilization of these resources, and at the same time, a priority in their large scale development and
exploitation.
Additionally, ancestral lands and ancestral domains are not part of the lands of the public domain.
They are private lands and belong to the ICCs/IPs by native title, which is a concept of private land title that
existed irrespective of any royal grant from the State. However, the right of ownership and possession by
the ICCs/IPs of their ancestral domains is a limited form of ownership and does not include the right to
alienate the same
The Regalian Doctrine dictates that all lands of the public domain belong to the State, that the State
is the source of any asserted right to ownership of land and charged with the conservation of such
patrimony. The doctrine has been consistently adopted under the 1935, 1973, and 1987 Constitutions. All
lands not otherwise appearing to be clearly within private ownership are presumed to belong to the State.
Thus, all lands that have not been acquired from the government, either by purchase or by grant, belong to
the State as part of the inalienable public domain. Necessarily, it is up to the State to determine if lands of
the public domain will be disposed of for private ownership. The government, as the agent of the state, is
possessed of the plenary power as the persona in law to determine who shall be the favored recipients of
public lands, as well as under what terms they may be granted such privilege, not excluding the placing of
obstacles in the way of their exercise of what otherwise would be ordinary acts of ownership.

Office of the Court Administration vs. Judge Floro

Facts:
 This case is made up of three consolidated cases concerning the ability of Judge Floro to serve as a judge
due to mental illness.
 In the First Case, Atty. Florentino Floro first applied for judgeship in 1995 but later withdrew his
application due to an unfavorable psychological evaluation revealing evidence of ego
disintegration and developing psychotic process. He applied again after 3 years but was evaluated
as unfit to be a judge due to his psychological evaluation that exposed more problems.
 However, because of his impressive academic background, the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) allowed
Atty. Floro to seek a second opinion from private practitioners. The second opinion appeared to be
favorable paving the way for Atty. Floro to be appointed as a RTC Judge in Malabon.
 In 1999, he requested an audit of his sala conducted by the OCA. After such audit, the OCA
recommended that their report be considered as an administrative complaint against Judge Floro which the
Court adopted in a resolution that placed him under preventive suspension. The report included
misbehaviors and violations of Judge Floro on various Codes of Judicial Conduct.
 Second Case, is one of the subject matter on the first case. Judge Floro allegedly used/took
advantage of his moral ascendancy to settle and eventually dismiss a Criminal Case (frustrated
homicide) in the guise of settling the civil aspect of the case, by persuading the private complainant
and the accused to sign the settlement without presence of the trial prosecutor.
 The Third Case, concerns a resolution issued by Judge Floro on 11 May 1999 in Special Proceeding
Case No. 315-MN "In Re: Petition To Be Admitted A Citizen Of The Philippines, Mary Ng Nei,
Petitioner." The resolution disposed of the motions for voluntary inhibition of Judge Floro and the
reconsideration of the order denying the petition for naturalization filed by petitioner in that case.

Issue:
WON Judge Floro be relieved of his position as Judge due to a medically disabling condition of the mind.

Ruling:
There is no indication that Judge Floro is anything but an honorable man. And in fact, the Court's
disposition of the 13 charges against him, they have not found him guilty of gross misconduct or acts of
corruption. However, the findings of psychosis by the mental health professionals assigned to his case
indicate gross deficiency in competence and independence. Therefore, the Court is in agreement with the
OCA that Judge Floro cannot remain as RTV Judge because of the findings of mental impairment that
renders him unfit to perform the functions of the office. However, the Court and OCA is not qualified to
conclude that the Judge is insane as in fact the psychologist and psychiatrists in his case never said so.

REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES v. SANDIGANBAYAN, ET AL. G.R. No. 104768, July 21, 2003

Facts:
Immediately upon the success of EDSA Revolution, PCGG was tasked to investigate reports of unexplained
wealth and corrupt practices by AFP personnel, whether in the active service or retired. Therefore,
petitioner Major General Josephus Q. Ramas was investigated for alleged unexplained wealth that was
found in the house of respondent Dimaano, who is disclosed to be Ramas’ mistress.
Equipments/items, communication facilities and money in amount of ₱2,870,000.00 and $50,000 US
Dollars was confiscated in the house of Dimaano.
Dimaano was disclosed that she had no visible means of income and was supported by Ramas, hence, she
cannot claim that she owns the money. It was also noted that Ramas did not declare the amount on his
Statement of Assets and Liabilities. Dimaano is also not able to use the military equipments/items without
the consent of Ramas.
Ramas was recommended to be prosecuted and tried for violation of Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act
and The Act for the Forfeiture of Unlawfully Acquired Property.
However, the petition was dismissed for non-completion of the presentation of its evidence. The
confiscated sum of money, communications equipment, jewelry and land titles were ordered returned to
Elizabeth Dimaano.
Petitioner seeks certiorari to set aside the Resolutions of the Sandiganbayan. Petitioner prays for the grant
of the reliefs sought in its Amended Complaint, or in the alternative, for the remand of this case to the
Sandiganbayan (First Division) for further proceedings allowing petitioner to complete the presentation of
its evidence.
Ramas was recommended to be prosecuted and tried for violation of Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act
and The Act for the Forfeiture of Unlawfully Acquired Property.
However, the petition was dismissed for non-completion of the presentation of its evidence. The
confiscated sum of money, communications equipment, jewelry and land titles were ordered returned to
Elizabeth Dimaano.
Petitioner seeks certiorari to set aside the Resolutions of the Sandiganbayan. Petitioner prays for the grant
of the reliefs sought in its Amended Complaint, or in the alternative, for the remand of this case to the
Sandiganbayan (First Division) for further proceedings allowing petitioner to complete the presentation of
its evidence.

Issues:
1. Whether or not the PCGG has jurisdiction to investigate private respondents.
2. Whether or not the search and seizure conducted by the PCGG at Dimaano’s house was legal.
 3. Whether or not the Bill of Rights under the 1973 Constitution was operative during the
interregnum.

Ruling:

The petition should be dismissed for lack of jurisdiction by the PCGG to conduct the preliminary
investigation. The Ombudsman may still conduct the proper preliminary investigation for violation of
RA No. 1379, and if warranted, the Solicitor General may file the forfeiture petition with the
Sandiganbayan. The right of the State to forfeit unexplained wealth under RA No. 1379 is not subject to
prescription, laches or estoppel.

It was held that the Bill of Rights under the 1973 Constitution was not operative during the
interregnum. However, protection accorded to individuals under the Covenant and the Declaration
remained in effect during the interregnum. Directives and orders issued by government officers were
valid so long as these officers did not exceed the authority granted them by the revolutionary
government.

The raiding team had no legal basis to seize these items without showing that these items could be the
subject of warrantless search and seizure. Clearly, the raiding team exceeded its authority when it
seized these items.

The petition for certiorari is DISMISSED.