Political Law

Nachura Pre Week

LOCAL GOVERNMENT UNIT
Local autonomy
-

local autonomy is decentralization of power or administration

o Decentralization of power is application of national govt. of governmental
powers in favor of LGUs and that is required to a unitary form of
government
o Decentralization of administration is simply giving administrative
authority to LGU to broaden the scope of governmental powers

City of General Santos v. COA

- the local autonomy grants the LGU the power to streamline and re-organize,
including the power to create enticings, so that each employee may retire
even before reaching the compulsory retirement age. This is part of the
power under the general welfare clause
(?) v. Board of Directors of NAPOCOR
- SC said that when a LGU streamlines or reorganizes, it should be done in
good faith. SC commented on the General Santos case, SC said that even a
city may create enticings, nonetheless it cannot provide for a supplementary
retirement system of its employees because it will violate the GSIS law
Manner of creating LGU
-

LGUs are created by law, except the barangay, which is created either by law
or by an ordinance passed by the Sangguniang Panglalawigan or
Sangguniang Panglungsod, as the case may be

Sena v. COMELEC
- Congress may delegate the power to create municipalities and barangays but
not the power to create provinces and cities.
- Under the Constitution, a province once created automatically gets to have a
congressional district. A city with a population of 250,000 also becomes a
congressional district.
- The creation of a congressional district is a power that cannot be delegate by
Congress to any other government agency because it is a power of
apportionment and thus exclusive to the Congress
Miranda v. Aguirre
- Re: a law passed by Congress converting the city of Santiago to an
independent component city to a component city
- The law is unconstitutional because it did not provide for a plebiscite
Gov. Aurelio Umali v. COMELEC

SC held that the conversion of the city of Cabanatuan into a highly urbanized
city requires a plebiscite at which the registered voters of the entire province
of Nueva Ecija must participate
The political unit referred to in the LGC refers to the entire province if you are
talking of an independent component city becoming a highly urbanized city

Verifiable indicators of viability and projective capacity to provide services

-

3 factors (to create cities, provinces, municipalities, etc)*:

1. population
2. income
3. land area
*LGC said that it is possible for the LGU to be created as long as it complies
with the income requirement and one of the other two requirements. It is the
income requirement that is mandatory.

League of Cities v. COMELEC

- re: conversion of 16 municipalities into a city
- SC held that the law creating the 16 municipalities are valid and they are
considered cities.
- The 16 municipalities had charters that were filed during the 11 th Congress,
and the House of Representatives approved most them already
- When RA 9009 was passed, which increased the income requirement from
20M to 100M, it was with the understanding that the 16 municipalities that
have their requests pending will be exempt because that is an argument that
is not at all backed up by law.
- In any event, each of the laws converting the 16 municipalities, each contain
an exempting clause, which exempts them from RA 9009. Because of these
exempting clauses, in effect this amended RA 9009 and effectively amended
the local government code
- It was completely arbitrary on the part of congress to raise the income
requirement to 100m because it did not raise the income requirement of
other LGUs like highly urbanized cities (which only requires 50 M)
- These laws are actually a recognition of the status of these municipalities and
that their becoming cities in effect vests them the authority to become
effective partners of the national government
Navarro v. Exec Secretary
- Re: creation of province of Dinagat
- Issue: land area
- Dinagat did not comply with land area requirement, however, it argued that
under the LGU, there is a provision on the creation of municipality which
identically state that if a city or municipality consist of several islands, it need
not comply with the land area requirement
- SC said there is no rhyme or reason why the LGC should exempt cities or
municipalities from the requirement of land area while not exempting
provinces
- SC looked into the IRR of LGC, and it ruled that a province that consist of 2
islands need not comply with the land area requirement

ADMINISTRATIVE LAW
Requisites for valid IRR
1. Must be promulgated under authority
2. Must be within the scope and purview of the law
3. Must be reasonable
4. Must be published
2 additional requisites
1. It must state that violation of IRR is punishable
2. The law itself and the IRR must prescribe the penalty or the violation
2nd requisite: within the scope and purview of the law
- all jurisprudence that we have seen fall to the fact that an IRR cannot go
beyond what the law provides.
- Going back to the case of Navarro, If the law is silent on provinces, then IRR
should not provide a new exempting rule from the land area requirement so
in this case (wherein the ponente is Justice Nachura himself), the SC said that
we are looking at the true legislative intent and the correct legislative intent
is found in the IRR and not in the law and so we must yield to the IRR than
the law itself
General Welfare Clause
- Congressional grant of police power
- Delegation of police power by congress to the LGUs (Sec. 16)
Rimando v. Nagilian (?)
- A mayor cannot be compelled by mandamus to issue business permit
Calayan v. Gov. Tan (?)
- Provincial governor cannot exercise the calling out power nor vest this power
to any private police force. Under the Constitution, there is only one national
police force which is the Philippine National Police.
Valentino Legaspi v. City of Cebu
- Re: the validity of the ordinance that punished illegal parking and clamping
wheels in Cebu
- SC: Ordinance is valid as traffic has become a major pain and deter the
progress of the city
Requisites for a valid ordinance
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

must
must
must
must
must
must

not contravene the Constitution and statute

not be unfair or oppressive
not be partial or discriminatory
not be unreasonable
not prohibit although it may regulate trade
be general in application and consistent with public policy

Pandacan Oil Depot Case

- First case: Mayor Atienza re: the validity of Ordinance No. 8027 which
reclassify Pandacan area from industrial to commercial effectively removing
the oil depot.
- SC saw the validity of the ordinance; it was intended to protect the safety and
security of the ordinance. It complies with the requisites for a valid ordinance.
- SC also issued mandamus saying that it is a mandatory duty of the mayor to
enforce an ordinance such as this
- Second case: Mayor Lim re: validity of Ordinance 8187 which reclassifies
Pandacan from commercial to industrial effectively allowing the Pandacan oil
depot to operate
- SC said this is unconstitutional because the ostensible purpose, which is to
promote the general welfare of the inhabitants through economic benefits,
cannot override the danger to life and property arising from the presence of
the oil depot
Power of Devolution
-

the act by which the national government confers powers and functions to
LGUs
when a power is devolved to a LGU, the national agency ceases to perform its
functions -- the personnel and the equipment of the national agency charged
with the function will now be turned over to the LGU, which means that you
devolve not only the power but also the personnel

Civil Service Commission v. Dr. Angeles Yu

- the devolution of power includes the devolution of personnel. this is
mandatory. It means that the employees of the national agency will also be
employed by the LGU.
- The only way the LGU can evade its duty is when it is administratively not
viable to accept the employees, such as when it will result to duplication of
functions
Power of reclassification
-

when we look at the LGC provisions on re-classification, we see that LGUs are
empowered basically to classify and re-classify agricultural land into
residential industrial and commercial lands, effectively exempting some
agricultural lands from the agrarian reform law

Chamber of Real Estate Mills Association v. DAR

- SC finally distinguished between reclassification(power granted to LGU) and
conversion (power granted to DAR)
- Conversion is the act of changing the use of a piece of agricultural land to
some other use with the approval of DAR
- Reclassification is the act of specifying how an agricultural land may be
devoted to non-agricultural uses
- Re-classification by a municipality or LGU must be approved by the DAR in
order to convert the agricultural land into non-agricultural land. This is

actually provided in the LGC, it provides that the provisions on reclassification do not amend or replace the provisions of agrarian reform law
Power to discipline (of elected local govt. official)
-

Administrative jurisdiction over elected local officials is vested in the

president, provincial governor, city mayor, or municipal mayor, as the case
may be
if an administrative case is filed, the president, etc. may preventively
suspend the local government official for 60 days for every administrative
charge, provided that if there are many admin charges, he cannot be
suspended for more than 90 days if the charges were already existing at the
time of the first suspension

Rios v. SB
- When an elected local government official faces a criminal charge before
Sandiganbayan and it issues an order of preventive suspension, the
suspension is not for 90 days but for 60 days, so it will be consistent in the
rule when a local govt. official faces administrative charge
- BUT the power to preventively suspend is concurrent with the Ombudsman
and the Ombudsman can preventively suspend for 6 months
Penalties
Penalty of suspension
- the suspension shall not last more than six months and in no case shall last
beyond the term of office, and it will not work to deprive the public officer to
seek election
Penalty of removal from office
- An elected local official can be removed from office form an administrative
infraction only upon a proper order of the court
- The Ombudsman has the power to remove public officials appointed or
elected
- The power of removal is immediately executory, unless appealed to the CA
and a TRO was issued
- If the Ombudsman files charges for a criminal case, appeal is to the SC
Boundary dispute
-

When there is dispute between municipality and independent component

city, there is nothing in the LGC that covers the dispute, it is the court that
will cover the controversy

Undue Delegation
Jesus Garcia v. Rey Allan (?)
- Re: Delegation of authority on RA 9262 (VAWC)
- Brgy. Chairman is granted authority to issue Brgy. protection order

Is there undue delegation? No. The provision is valid because what the brgy
chairman does when he issues a brgy protection order is to order the
respondent to desist from doing violence and making any threat to the
women or children. SC said there is nothing judicial in this; it is essentially
executive in character and therefore it may be exercised precisely by the
brgy. Chairman.

ELECTION LAWS
GMA Network v. COMELEC
- Purpose of suffrage is for the people to choose their leaders and in the
exercise of this right, they should have access to what the candidates say
- Issue: W/N the COMELEC resolution reducing the radio and television airtime
of candidates reasonable?
- No. It violates the peoples right to suffrage because the people will be
deprived to know what the candidates say. Also, there is no compelling state
interest that will justify the resolution
When SC can review by CERTIORARI a COMELECs Decision
1. COMELECs decision En banc
2. Decision rendered by the COMELEC in its quasi-judicial function
Diocese of Bacolod v COMELEC
- Bishop placed a tarpaulin Team Patay; Team Buhay (in re RH Bill)
- Local COMELEC official issued a notice asking the bishop to take down the
tarpaulin but the bishop did not do so
- the COMELEC then wrote a letter saying that the tarpaulin must be removed
otherwise appropriate criminal charges for an election offense will be filed
against the bishop and all those involved.
- Bishop filed with SC a petition for certiorari and prohibition
- SC: notice and letter of the COMELEC were not issued in the exercise of quasijudicial powers. Issue is a violation of a fundamental right to free expression.
- SC did not rely on the exercise of certiorari jurisdiction but on SC
constitutional jurisdiction over cases on original action for certiorari because
what is involved is a violation of a fundamental constitutional right.
Parameters used by COMELEC in allowing political parties to participate in
the party list election
1. Three groups can participate - national, regional, and sectoral
2. Regional and national parties need not represent the marginalized or underrepresented sectors
3. Political parties, whether major or not, may participate by registering
provided it does not field in candidates for a congressional district election
4. Sectoral
parties
may
either
be
representing
marginalized
or
underrepresented sectors or advocates of such sectors
5. Majority of the members must be members of the sector
6. Disqualification of one or two of the nominees will not affect the qualification
of the party

Dual Citizens
-

Candidate must renounced expressly his foreign citizenship (Sec. 5, RA 9225)

What is the effect of using the foreign passport after the renunciation? The
candidate reverts to be a dual citizen and ceases to be a candidate

Exceptions to the ministerial powers of COMELEC

1. Over Nuisance candidate
Martinez v. HRET and Dela Cruz v. COMELEC
o The votes obtained by a nuisance candidate may be counted in favor
of a principal candidate with the same surname
2. Over a petition for not giving due course in the cancellation of certificate of
candidacy
o Note: false representation made in the certificate of candidacy is the
crucial point. If the candidate files a certificate under oath, it is saying
that he possesses all the qualifications for the position, hence, if there
is one qualification that he did not possess, his certificate of candidacy
may be cancelled or may not be given due course.
Laguerte v. COMELEC
o False representation of a nickname is not a ground for disqualification
because it is not included in the qualifications required of a candidate
3. Disqualification on grounds enumerated in Sec. 68 of the Omnibus Election
Code
o Disqualification under Sec. 68 and under Sec. 78
o Sec. 78 not a candidate at all so the votes are all stray votes and
therefore null and void
o Sec. 68 no question on eligibility but prohibited to run because of
having committed a violation of election laws
Ortega v. COMELEC (in applying Sec. 68)
o When a candidate who obtains the highest number of votes is
disqualified, the candidate who obtained the second highest no. of
votes cannot be proclaimed because it will disenfranchise voters who
voted to the candidate who obtained the highest number of votes.
ADMINISTRATIVE LAW
Administrative due process
-

The right to counsel is not truly imperative in an admin case

If the charges fail to specify the precision as to the exact violation of the law,
that is of no moment, as long as there is enough restriction of the effects
because after all, all that is necessary is to inform the respondent of the
nature and the cause of the accusation against him in order for him to be
able to answer intelligently

Administrative action: reconciliation or desistance will not affect the case at all,
what must be protected in an admin case is public service

When doctrine of primary administrative jurisdiction will NOT apply

1. Administrative agency does not execerise quasi-judicial or adjudicatory
functions
2. When the issues presented do not require the expertise, skill, or knowledge of
the administrative agency
LAW ON PUBLIC OFFICERS
Liban v. Gordon
- Re: the scope of civil service
- Issue: W/N Red Cross is a public corporation and in the scope of Civil Service
- It is sui generis, neither an agency of govt. nor strictly a private corporation
Boy Scouts of the Philippines vs COA
- Boy Scouts of the Philippines is a public corporation attached to the DEPED
Career Executive Service
Requisites to become the member of CES
1. Pass the Career Service Exam
2. CESO eligibility
3. Possess requirements by the CESO court
4. Must be appointed by the President of the Philippines (most important
requirement)

Preventive Suspension and right to salary

-

During investigation, if exonerated, the officer is not entitled to back salaries

because preventive suspension is justified under the law
If convicted and removed from service, the suspension during appeal
becomes unjustified and therefore the officer is entitled to recover back
salaries
Note: Maximum amount of back wages is equivalent to 5 years of salary

CONSTITUTIONAL LAW
Arrigo v. Stan Smith (?)
- re USSR guardian; destruction of Tubataha reef
- locus standi; did the Reverend have personality to institute the action? Yes. A
citizen has a public right to a balanced and healthful ecology; a right existing
at the beginning of time, and of transcendental importance and
intergenerational implications (taken from the old case of Oposa v. Paterno (?)
wherein Atty. Oposa used his children as plaintiffs on an environmental case
and argued that they can file a case for the future generation because the
right to a balanced and healthful ecology is intergenerational)
Suit against navy officials re immunity from suit
- re: navy officials performing acts in behalf of the United States

when the petitioners raised the issue of VFA which contains the waiver of
immunity
SC: waiver of immunity only applies to criminal cases (note that the case filed
is a case under Writ of Kalikasan)

Maria Carolina Araullo v. Benigno Aquino III (not explained)

Pork barrel system
-

SC declared as unconstitutional the provisions of 2013 PDAF and the lump

sum appropriations in the Malampaya fund and the social fund for being
violation of non-delegation of legislative powers

Imbong v. Ochoa (not explained)

Deliberative process privilege
- re: resolution requesting for the production of documents and for the
appearance of SC officials before the impeachment court during CJ Coronas
impeachment
- It is the equivalent of the executive privilege of the President which is
enjoyed by the justices of the SC.
- It is the privilege not to disclose any information or communication so the
members of the SC can discuss fully the issues at bar.

--GOOD LUCK!--