STATUTORY CONSTRUCTION FINAL EXAM QUESTIONS

1.

A. Vito died without a will in Mandaue City, Cebu, leaving one son, Claro, and his wife,
Perfecta. During his marriage, Vito acquired several parcels of land located in the city. Claro
rests his claim to 3/4 of his father's estate on Art. 892 of the New Civil Code which provides that:

If only the legitimate child or descendant of the deceased survives the widow or widower shall
be entitled to one-fourth of the hereditary estate. ... .

Perfecta, on the other hand, cites Art. 996 which provides:

If a widow or widower and legitimate children or descendants are left, the surviving spouse has
in the succession the same share as that of each of the children.

Is Art. 996 applicable to a situation where there is only one child? Explain. (5 pts.)

B. When can the courts disregard surplusage or superfluity in a statute? Explain. (5pts.)

C. The courts disregard surplus age or superfluity in a statute when the meaning of the phrase
or such word is different from the legislative intent or when using its meaning would defeat the
purpose of the law.

2.
A. Aida, Lorna and Fe were charged with a violation of section 39 of the Agricultural Tenancy
Law. It was alleged in the information that in December 1963, in Muñoz, Nueva Ecija the
accused being tenants of Lita in her Riceland, without notice to her or without her consent, pre-
threshed a portion of their respective harvests of five (5) cavans of palay each to her damage in
the amount of P187.50 at P12.50 a cavan. The Agricultural Tenancy Act punishes the pre-
reaping or pre-threshing of palay on a date other that previously set without the consent of the
landlord and the tenant, which prohibition is predicated on a share-tenancy relationship between
the tenant and the landlord. Subsequently, the Agricultural Land Reform Code was enacted,
abolishing share tenancy and replacing it with leasehold tenancy.

Aida, Lorna and Fe filed a motion to quash the information on the ground that there is no law
punishing it. The fiscal opposed the motion. The lower court granted the motion and dismissed
the information in its order. The prosecution appealed from the order of dismissal. The Solicitor
General argues in his brief that the information in this case alleges all the elements of the
offense defined in section 39. Should the order of dismissal be affirmed? Explain. (5 pts.)

3.

A. Commonwealth Act No. 142 or the Anti-Alias Law was enacted by Congress to prevent
confusion and fraud in business transaction. Said law provides that:

“Except as a pseudonym solely for literary, cinema, television, radio or other entertainment
purposes and in athletic events where the use of pseudonym is a normally accepted practice,
no person shall use any name different from the one with which he was baptized for the first
time or in case of an alien, with which he was registered in the bureau of immigration upon
entry; or substitute name as may have been authorized by a competent person.”

Is the isolated use, at one instance, of a name other than a person’s true name to secure a copy
of a document from a government agency, considered as a violation of said law? Explain. (5
pts.)

B. Fredo Corleone, an American tourist, is convicted of the crimes of serious illegal

detention and four counts of rape; the victim is a nine-year-old-girl. With the conviction of
Corleone, the court also awarded moral damages in favour of the victim. However, the
bank where Corleone deposited his foreign currency deposit account) and the Central
Bank refused to honour the writ of attachment, invoking Sec. 8 of RA 6426, as amended,
which provides in part that:
“…foreign currency deposits shall be exempt from attachment, garnishment, or any other order
or process of any court, legislative body, government agency or any administrative body
whatsoever.”

Can the dollar bank deposit in a Philippine bank of a foreign tourist be attached to satisfy the
moral damages awarded in favour of the victim? Explain. (5 pts.)