LEGAL ASPECTS IN TOURISM

& HOSPITALITY
Prepared by:

ATTY. CARMIE TATOY DOLORICA

Introduction to Law on
Tourism and Hospitality
Law
Law is a system of rules that a society or government develops in order
to deal with crime, business agreements, and social relationships. The
law can also be used to refer to the people who work in this system.

-Collins (retrieved, 2018)

Law
Law is a binding custom or practice of a community: a rule or conduct
or action prescribed or formally recognized as binding or enforced by a
controlling authority.

-Webster
Law
Ø A rule of conduct, just, obligatory, promulgated by legitimate
authority, and of common observance and benefit.
Ø It is a rule of action or any system of uniformity
➢ It determines not only the activities of men as rational beings
but also the movements or motions of all objects of creation.
➢ It is a system of rules that govern a society with the intention
of maintaining social order, upholding justice and preventing harm
to individuals and property.
Characteristics of Law
1. Rule of human conduct
2. Just and obligatory
3. Promulgated by competent authority
4. It must be observed by all.
Tourism Law
• It is defined as a body of rules or principles of action which deals with
the regulation, authority, relations and obedience and manners of a
society involved in tourist travel and accomodation. It includes
persons travelling from place to place for pleasure and business
establishments or persons engaged in the occupation of providing
various services for tourist.
Tourism Laws
A combination of state, local, and international laws that control the
different facets and functions of the travel industry.
The United Nations World Tourism Organization has maintained that
tourism laws are necessary to provide a regulatory framework for the
proper development and management of tourism activities to aid in
the conservation of natural resources and the preservation of cultural
traditions.
Tourism
A social, cultural and economic phenomenon which entails the
movement of people to countries or places outside their usual
environment for personal or business/professional purposes. These
people are called visitors (which may be either tourists or excursionists;
residents or non-residents) and tourism has to do with their activities,
some of which imply tourism expenditure. (United Nations World
Tourism Organization (UNWTO) )
Tourism
• Tourism is the activities of people traveling to and staying in places
outside their usual environment for leisure, business or other
purposes for not more than one consecutive year.
Hospitality Laws
Hospitality laws deal with food service, travel, and lodging industries.
Kinds of Laws
According to purpose:

1. Substantive Law- It creates, defines, and regulates rights and duties

that can give rise to a cause of action.

2. Adjective Law- Thi provides the methods of aiding and protecting

certain rights.
Kinds of Laws

According to scope:

1. Public Law- This law applies to all of the state or to particular class of
persons in the state, with equal force and obligation. (Examples:
Political Law, Criminal Law, International Law)

2. Private Law- This law relates to particular class of persons or things.

(Examples: Mercantile/ Commercial Law, Maritime Law, Civil Law)
Constitution
It is the basic principles and laws of a nation, state, or social group that
determine the powers and duties of the government and guarantee
certain rights to the people in it. It is a written instrument embodying
the rules of a political or social organization.
Doctrine of Constitutional Supremacy
If the law or contract violates any norm of the constitution, that law or
contract whether promulgated by the legislative or by the executive
branch or entered into by private persons for private purposes is null
and void and without any force and effect.
Doctrine of Constitutional Supremacy

The Constitution is the basic and paramount law to which all other laws
must conform and to which all persons, including the highest officials
of the land, must defer.
Statutes
These are formal written enactment of a legislative authority that
governs a city, state, or country. It typically commands or prohibits
something, or declare a policy. These are rules made by legislative
bodies.
Treaty
A compact made between two or more independent nations with a
view to the public welfare. ( Adolfo v. CFI, 34 SCRA 169)

(e.g. Extradition Treaty, UNCLOS)

Treaty
• Treaties which the Philippines enters into with other states have the
same force of authority as legislative enactments.
Jurisprudence
Judicial decisions applying to or interpreting the laws or the
Constitution shall form a part of the legal system of the Philippines.

(Read: Manila Prince Hotel vs. GSIS, Manila Hotel Corporation

Committee on Privatization and Office of the Government Corporate
Counsel, G.R. No. 122156, February 3, 1997)
Customs and Traditions as Bases of Law
The State shall recognize, respect, and protect the rights of indigenous
cultural communities to preserve and develop their cultures and
traditions.
-1987 Constitution

Customs must be proven as a fact according to the rules of evidence.

Provisions in the Constitution
Relevant to Tourism and
Hospitality
• “Within the territorial jurisdiction and subject to the provisions of this
Constitution and national laws,the organic power of autonomous
regions shall provide for legislative powers over: (6) Economic, social,
and tourism development.”

- Article X, Section 20 of 1987 Constitution

Article I- National Territory
The national territory comprises the Philippine archipelago, with all the
islands and waters embraced therein, and all other territories over
which the Philippines has sovereignty or jurisdiction, consisting of its
terrestrial, fluvial, and aerial domains, including its territorial sea, the
seabed, the subsoil, the insular shelves, and other submarine areas.
The waters around, between, and connecting the islands of the
archipelago, regardless of their breadth and dimensions, form part of
the internal waters of the Philippines.
CONTIGUOUS
Assignment
Watch West Philippine Sea Documentary 1-3 Kalayaan, Karapatan sa
Karagatan
Three Inherent Powers of the Government
1. Police Power
2. Power of Eminent Domain
3. Power of Taxation
Police Power
It is the power of the government to regulate laws and properties for
public purpose.
Example
As an exercise of police power, the government can order the closure of
business establishment if it finds that such is loathsome or harmful to
the public.
Power of Eminent Domain
It is the power of the government to forcibly acquire private property
for public purpose and after payment of just compensation.
The government can only order the demolition of busine ss
establishment directly affected by its project after giving just
compensation to the owners of the mentioned business establishment.
Power of Taxation
The power of taxation is the power of the governmen to acquire
revenues.

Relevant to this is the power to destroy.

Power of Taxation
In order to limit the establishment of business which may be front for
prostitution, the government could regulate it by means of imposing
higher taxes. Same is true with cigarettes and other alcoholic beverages
to which the government has been imposing taxes.
City of Manila vs. Judge Perfecto Laguio
FACTS:
- On March 30, 1993, Mayor Lim signed into law Ord 7783 entitled AN
ORDINANCE PROHIBITING THE ESTABLISHMENT OR OPERATION OF BUSINESS
PROVIDING CERTAIN FORMS OF AMUSEMENT, ENTERTAINMENT, SERVICES AND
FACILITIES IN THE ERMITA-MALATE AREA, PRESCRIBING PENALTIES FOR
VIOLATION THEREOF, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES.
-Manila Tourist Development Corporation avers that the ordinance is invalid
since it includes motels and hotels in the enumeration of places offering
amusement or entertainment. It also avers that under the LGC, LGU can only
regulate motels but cannot prohibit their operations.
- The City reiterates that the Ordinace is a valid exercise of police power and
emphasized that the purpose of the law is t promote morality in the City.
City of Manila vs. Judge Perfecto Laguio
ISSUE:
Whether or not Ordinance 7783 is valid.
City of Manila vs. Judge Perfecto Laguio
RULING:
-The ordinance is null and void.
-The SC noted that for an ordinance to be valid, it must not only be
within the corporate powers of the local government unit to enact and
must be passed according to the procedure prescribed by law, it must
also conform to the following substantive requirements:
1. It must not contravene the Constitution or any statute;
2. It must not be unfair and oppressive;
3. It must not be partial or discriminatory;
City of Manila vs. Judge Perfecto Laguio
4. It must not prohibit but may regulate trade;
5. It must be general and consistent to the public policy;
6. It must be unreasonable.
City of Manila vs. Judge Perfecto Laguio
-The police power of the City, however broad and far-reaching, is
subordinate to the constitutional limitations thereon; and is subject to
the limitation that its exercise must be reasonable and for the public
good.

-The enactment of Ordinance is an invalid exercise of delegated power

as it is unconstitutional and repugnant to general laws.
BILL OF RIGHTS (Article II, 1987 Constitution)
T h e s e r i e s o f p re s c r i p t i o n s s e tt i n g fo r t h t h e f u n d a m e nta l
civil and political rights of the individuaL, and imposing
limitations on the powers of government as a means of
s e c u r i n g t h e e n j o y m e nt o f t h o s e r i g ht s .
BILL OF RIGHTS
It is sometimes called a declaration of rights or a
charter of rights, and gives the list of most important
r i g ht s to t h e c i t i ze n s o f a c o u nt r y.
Section 1
No person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due
process of law, nor shall any person be denied the equal protection of
laws.
Meaning of Life,
Liberty and
Property.

Life Liberty Property

It includes the right of The right to exist and Anything that can come
an individual to use his the right to be free under the right of
o her body in its from arbitrary personal ownership and be the
completeness, free from restraint or servitude. subject of contract.
dismemberment, and
extends to the use of
God-given faculties
which make life
enjoyable.
Due Process of Law
• “A law which hears before it condemns, which proceeds upon inquiry
and renders judgment only after trial.”

• “Responsiveness to the supremacy of reason, obedience to the

dictates of justice.”
Two-Fold Aspect of Due Process of Law
1. Procedural Due Process
It refers to the method by which the law is enforced. In this particular
process, hearing is necessary before condemnation. The condemnation
proceeds only upon inquiry of the needed facts, and judgment is to be
given only after trial.

2. Substantive Due Process

It requires the fairness, justness, and reasonableness of the law itself.
Equal Protection of Laws
All persons subject to legislation should be treated alike, under like
circumstances and conditions both in the privileges conferred and
limitations imposed.

Read: Maranaw Hotel & Resort Corporation (Century Park Sheraton

Manila) vs. National Labor Relations Commission and Cito Betilla
Section 2
The right of the people to be secured in their persons, houses, papers,
and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures of whatever
nature and for any purpose shall be inviolable, and no search warrant
or warrant of arrest shall issue, except upon probable cause to be
determined personally by a judge after examination under oath or
affirmation of the complainant and the witnesses he may produce,
particularly decribing the place to be searched, or the persons or things
to be seized.
Search Warrant
Search warrant is an order in writing, issued in the name of the People
of the Philippines, signed by a Judge and directed to a peace officer,
commanding him to search for a certain personal property and bring it
before the court (Rules of Court, Rule 126, Sec. 1).
Warrant of Arrest
Warrant of arrest is issued upon the probable cause to be determined
personally by the judge after examination under oath affirmation of the
complainant and the witnesses he may produce and particularly
describing the person to be arrested. (Rules of Court, Rule 113, Sec. 1)
Warrantless Search and Seizure, when allowed?

1. There is consent or waiver;

2. Search incident to a lawful arrest;
3. In case of contraband or forfeited goods, being transported by ship,
automobile or other vehicle, where the officer making it has
reasonable cause for believing that the latter contains them, in view of
the difficulty attendant to securing a search warrant;
4. Plain view or open to eye and hand;
Warrantless Search and Seizure, when allowed?

5. Incidental to inspection, supervision and regulation in the exercise of

police power such as inspection of restaurants by health officers, of
factories by labor inspectors, etc;
6. Routinary searches usually made at the border ports or at ports of
entry in the interest of national security and for the proper
enforcement of customs and immigration laws.
Warrantless Arrest, when allowed?
1. When in his presence, the person to be arrested has committed, is
actually committing, or is attempting to commit an offense;
2. When an offense has in fact just been committed and he has
personal knowledge of facts indicating that the person to be arrested
has committed it; and
3. When the person to be arrested is a prisoner who has escaped f a
penal establishment or place where he is serving final judgment or
temporarily confined while his case is pending, or has escaped while
being transferred from one confinement to another. (Sec. 5, Rule 113,
Rules of Court)
Section 3
1. The privacy of communication and correspondence shall be
inviolable except upon lawful order of the court, or when public safety
or order requires otherwise as prescribed by law.

2. Any evidence obtained in violation of this or the preceding section

shall be inadmissible for any purpose in any proceeding.
Query:
A and his paramour B entered in SUGOD motel located along Avenida
without them knowing that C, the legal wife of A has been spying on
them. Upon their entry in room 69, C approached the front desk officer
in order to get some necessary information about A and B. If you are
the front desk officer, would you give C her desired information about
A and B? Explain.
Section 4
No law shall be passed abridging the freedom of speech, of expression,
or of the press, or of the right of the people peaceably to assemble and
petition the government for the redress of their grievances.
Section 5
No law shall be made respecting the establishment of religion, or
prohibiting the free exercise thereof. The free exercise and enjoyment
of religious profession and worship, without discrimination or
preference shall forever be allowed. No religious test shall be required
for the exercise of civil or political rights.
Section 6
The liberty of abode and changing of the same within the limits
prescribed by law shall not be impaired except upon lawful order of the
court. Neither shall the right to travel be impaired except in the interest
of national security, public safety or public health, as may be provided
by law.
Section 8
The right of the people, including those employed in the public and
private sectors, to form unions, associations, or societies for purposes
not contrary to law shall not be abridged.
Section 9
Private property shall not be taken for public use without just
compensation.
Citizenship
Membership in the political community whichis more or less
permanent in nature.
Who are Citizens of the Philippines? (Article IV,
Section 1 of the 1987 Constitution)
1. Those who are citizens of the Philippines at the time of the adoption
of this Constitution;
2. Those whose fathers or mothers are citizens of the Philippines;
3. Those born before January 17, 1973, of Filipino mothers, who had
elected Philippine citizenship upon reaching the age of majority;and
4. Those who are naturalized in accordance with law.
Natural-born Citizens
Natural born citizens are those who are citizens of the Philippines from
birth, without having to perform any act to acquire or to perfect their
Philippine citizenship. Those who elect Philippine citizenship in
accordance with paragraph (3) section 1 hereof shall be deemed
natural-born citizens.
Modes of Acquiring Citizenship
• 1. Jus Sanguinis- It means that the citizenship of a person is acquired
by blood relationship, as when a child is born by Filipino parents,
whereever he may be born.

• 2. Jus soli- The citizenship of a person is determined by the place of

birth.

• 3. Naturalization- It is a process whether judicial or administrative by

which a state places the imprint of a native citizen when he adopts an
alien and gives him the imprint and endowment of a citizen of that
country.
R.A. 9225 (An Act Making the Citizenship of
Philippine Citizens Who Acquire Foreign
Citizenship Permanent)
• This took effect on September 17, 2002.

• It declares as policy of the State that all Philippine citizens who

become citizens of another country shall be deemed not to have lost
their Philippine citizenship under the conditions of this Act.
Natural-born citizens of the Philippines who have lost their Philippine
citizenship by reason of their naturalization as citizen of a foreign
country are deemed to have reacquired Philippine citizenship upon
taking the oath of allegiance to the Republic.
Repatriation
It allows the person to recover or return to his original status before he
lost his Philippine citizenship.
National Economy and Patrimony
• The national economy and patrimony provision of the 1987
Constitution plays a significant role in boosting the conservation of
resources that we have as a tropical country. Such would be necessary
for the development of Philippine tourism industry.
The Constitution provides the following goals of
the national economy which could directly affect
the present situation of the cases involving
tourism.

• 1. A more equitable distribution of opportunities, income and wealth;

• 2. Sustained increase in the amount of goods and services produced
by the nation for the benefit of the people; and
• 3. An expanding productivity as the key to raising the quality of life for
all especially the underprivileged.
• To attain the goals of the national economy, the State shall promote
industrialization and full employment based on sound agricultural
development and agrarian reform through industries that make full
and efficient use of human and natural resources, and whichare
competitive in both domestic and foreign markets. However, the State
shall protect Filipino enterprises against foreign competition and
trade practices ( Section 1, Articles XII, 1987 Constitution).
Nationalized Industries through Capital Restriction

1. Certain areas of investment shall be reserved by Congress to citizens of the

Philippines or to corporations or associations at least 60% of whose capital, or
higher, is owned by Filipinos ( Section 10, Article XII, 1987 Constitution).
2. The Congress shall enact measures that will encourage formation and
operation of enterprises whose capital is wholly owned by Filipinos.
3. In the grant of rights, privileges and concessions covering the national
economy and patrimony, preference be given to qualified Filipinos.
4. The state shall regulate and exercise authority over foreign investment within
its national jurisdiction and in accordace with its national goals and priorities.
5. No franchise, certificate, or any other form of authorization for the operation
of a public utility shall be granted except to the citizens of the Philippines or to
corporations or associations organized under the laws of the Philippines at least
60 per centum of whose capital is owned by such citizens (Section 11, Article
XII, 1987 Constitution).
6. The state shall encourage equity participation in public utilities by the general
public. The participation of the foreign investor in the governing body of any
public utility enterprise shall be limited to their proportionate share in its
capital, and all the executive and managing officers of such corporation or
association must be citizens of the Philippines.
7. The state shall promote the preferential use of Filipino labor, domestic
materials and locally produced good, and adopt measures that help make them
competitive.