Constitutional Law Reviewer

Chapter 1: Introduction

Constitutional law: study of the maintenance of the proper balance between the
authority (tyranny) as represented by the 3 inherent powers of the state and
liberty (anarchy) as guaranteed by the bill of rights
Equilibrium between authority and liberty
Goal: well-ordered society based on the inviolability of rights which may
nevertheless be regulated for the common good (co-existence)

Chapter 2: The Nature of the Constitution

Constitution: the written instrument enacted by direct action of the people by

which the fundamental power of the government are established, limited and
defined, and by which those powers are distributed among several departments
for their safe and useful exercise for the benefit of the body politic
Purpose: prescribe the permanent framework of a system of government, to
assign to the several departments their respective powers and duties, and to
establish certain fixed principles on which the government is founded
Individual rights: constitution merely recognizes and protect these rights and
does not bring them into existence
Supremacy: constitution is the basic and paramount law to which all other laws
must conform and to which all persons, including the highest official of the land,
must defer
Written (broad, brief, definite), conventional and rigid constitution
Essential parts: liberty, government, sovereignty
Amendment: isolated or piecemeal change only
Revision: revamp or rewriting of the whole instrument
2 steps: proposal and ratification
Proposal: directly by the congress or by constitutional convention
If amendment, better if by direct legislative action (vote of at least 3/4 of all the
members of the congress)
o Avoid unnecessary expenditure of public funds and time that the calling of
a constitutional convention will entail
If revision, constitutional convention (vote of 2/3 of all the members of the
congress)
Imbong v. Comelec: congress may call constitutional convention
Section 2 of Article XVII: amendment through people initiative upon petition of at
least 12% of the total number of registered voters, of which every legislative
district must be represented by at least 3% of the registered voters therein; no
amendment within 5 years after ratification
Frantz v. Autry: constitutional convention must be considered independent of and
co-equal with other departments of the government (Mabang v. Lopez Vito)

Ratification:majority of the votes cast in a plebiscite held not earlier than 60 days
nor later than 90 days after the approval of such change in the congress or the
constitutional convention or after the certification by the Comelec the sufficiency
of the petition under section 2
Adoption of amendments to the constitution is regarded now as subject to judicial
review

Chapter 3: The Constitution and the Courts

Requisites of judicial inquiry: actual case/controversy, must be raised by the

proper party, raised at earliest possible opportunity, decision of the constitutional
question must be necessary to the determination of the case itself
Actual case: involves a conflict of legal rights, an assertion of opposite legal
claims susceptible of judicial adjudication
Must not be moot or academic or based on extra-legal or other similar
consideration not cognizable by a court of justice
Proper party: one who has sustained or is in immediate danger of sustaining an
injury as a result of the act complained of
Emergency Power Case: permissible for an ordinary taxpayer, or a group of
taxpayers, to raise the question of the validity of an appropriation law
Earliest opportunity
o Criminal cases: raised any time in the discretion of the court
o Civil cases: raised at any stage if it is necessary to the determination of
the case itself
o Every case except estoppel: raised at any stage if it involves the
jurisdiction of the court
Necessity: Laurel v. Garcia, the court will not pass upon a constitutional question
although properly presented by the record if the case can be disposed of on
some other ground such as the application of a statute or general law
Effects of declaration of unconstitutionality: orthodox view and modern view
Orthodox view: not a law; confers no rights, imposes no duties; affords no
protection; creates no office; inoperative, as if it has not been
Modern view: does not annul or repeal the statute if it finds it in conflict with the
constitution; simply refuses to recognize it and determines the rights of the
parties just as if such statute had no existence

Chapter 4: Fundamental Powers of the State

Police power, power of eminent domain, power of taxation

Inherent, indispensable, methods by which the state interferes with private rights,
presuppose an equivalent compensation for the private rights interfered with,
exercised primarily by the legislative

Chapter 5: Police Power

Power of promoting the public welfare by restraining and regulating the use of
liberty and property
Most pervasive, the least limitable, and the most demanding
Salus populi est suprema lex: Subordination of individual benefit to the interests
of the greater number
May not be bargained away through the medium of a contract or even a treaty
Stone v. Mississippi: franchise which they claimed allowed them to sell lottery
tickets for 25 years. After 3 years, all forms of gambling. Impairment of contract?
No!
Ichong v Hernandez: enforcement of Retail Trade Nationalization Law,
inconsistent with the treaty of amity between Philippines and China. SC? No
conflict!
Dynamic
May sometime use the taxing power as an implement for the attainment of a
legitimate police objective
Powell v. Pennsylvania: margarine industry, mistaken as butter and processed in
an unsanitary manner. Imposed an exorbitant tax
Lutz v. Araneta: imposition of a special tax on sugar producers for the purpose of
creating a special fund to be used for the rehabilitation of the sugar industry
Lodged primarily in the national legislature, delegation
Test: interests of the public require the exercise of the police power and means
employed are reasonably necessary for the accomplishment of the purpose and
not unduly oppressive upon individuals
Department of Education v. San Diego: regulation disqualifying any person who
has failed the National Medical Admission Test 3 times from taking it again
Telecommunications and Broadcast Attorneys of the Philippines v. Comelec:
validity of section 92 of BP Blg. 881 requiring radio and tv stations to give free air
time to the respondent to be used as the Comelec hour for broadcasting
information regarding the candidates in the 1998 elections. Without due process
of law and payment of just compensation, violating equal protection clause and
provision of their franchise? Companies do not own airwaves and frequencies!
Franchise is a mere privilege
Ople v. Torres: AO by Ramos establishing a National Computerized Identification
Reference System for the expressed purpose of facilitating transactions with the
government. Controlling citizen through their privacy? 86 votes, invalid police
measure
Must be pursued through a lawful method

Chapter 6: Eminent Domain

Upon payment of just compensation, forcibly acquire the needed property in

order to devote it to the intended public use
Also called as power of expropriation

Compulsory sale to the state

Lodged primarily in the national legislature , delegations
Destruction is not the same with eminent domain; may validly undertaken even
by private individuals
American Print Works v. Lawrence: mayor of New York was sued for damages by
the owner of a building which he had ordered blasted to stay the great fire of
1853. Not under expropriation! Right of necessity, of self-preservaion
Republic of the Philippines v. La Orden de PP, Benedictinos de Filipinas:
expropriation of a portion of the property of the defendant along Mendiola.
Contention: no necessity, could pass through different site with less expense.
Granted the motion, not of extreme necessity
Anything that can come under the dominion of man is subject to expropriation
except for money and choses of action
o Chose of action: personal right not reduced into possession but
recoverable by a suit at law, a right toreceive, demand or recover a debt,
demand or damages on a cause of action ex contractu of for a tort or
omission of duty
Property already devoted to public use is still subject to expropriation
Republic of the Philippines v. PLDT: right of bureau of telecommunications to
demand interconnection between the government telephone system abd that of
the PLDT, so the former can use of the lines and facilities of the PLDT. SC
overruled the defendants objections
Taking: imports a physical dispossession of the owner; connotes without actual
eviction, material impairment of the value of the property or prevention of the
ordinary use for which the property was intended
US v. Causby: government planes fly over private property at such a low altitude
as to practically touch the tops of the trees thereon, there is intrusion onto the
superjacent rights of the owner as to entitle him to payment of just compensation
although there is no divestiture of title
Not every taking is compensable
Requisites:
o Expropriator must enter a private property
o Entry must be for more than a momentary period
o Entry must be under warrant or color of legal authority
o Property must be devoted to public use or otherwise informally
appropriated or injuriously affected
o Utilization of the property for public use must be in such a way as to oust
the owner and deprive him of beneficial enjoyment of the property
Public use: any use directly available to the general public as a matter of right
and not merely a forbearance or accommodation
Just compensation: full and fair equivalent of the property taken from the private
owner by the expropriator

Property taken should be assessed as of the time of the taking, which usually
coincides with the commencement of the expropriation proceedings
Owner is entitled to payment of interest from the time of the taking until just
compensation is actually paid to hi,
Interest must be claimed
Title of the property shall not be transferred until after actual payment of just
compensation is made to the owner

Chapter 7: Taxation

Enforced proportional contributions from persons and property, levied by the

state by virtue of its sovereignty, for the support of government and for all public
needs
According to their ability to pay and on the basis of as scientific a classification as
possible
Equitable sharing among the people of the expenses to be incurred for their
common protection and benefit
Importance: unavoidable obligation of the government to protect the people and
extend them benefits in the form of public projects and services
People are subjected to the reciprocal duty of sharing the expenses to be
incurred therefor through the payment by them of taxes
Pervasive: it reaches even the citizen abroad and his income earned from
sources outside his state
The power to tax includes the power to destroy (police power)
If solely for the purpose of raising revenues, it cannot be allowed to confiscate or
destroy
Primarily vested in the national legislature
Subject to the requirements of due process
Due process does not require previous notice and hearing before a law
prescribing fixed or specific taxes on certain articles may be enacted
The rule of taxation shall be uniform and equitable
Uniformity: persons or things belonging to the same class shall be taxed at the
same rate
Equality: ta shall be strictly proportional to the relative value of the property
No provision in the constitution specifically prohibiting double taxation
Double taxation: additional taxes are laid on the same subject by the same taxing
jurisdiction during the same taxing period and for the same purpose
Double taxation will not be allowed if it results in a violation of the equal
protection clause
For public purpose
Tax exemptions: constitutional or statutory
Contitutional: article VI, section 28 (3), charitable institutions, churches and
parsonages or convents appurtenant, mosques, non-profit cemeteries and all

lands, buildings, and improvements actually, directly, and exclusively used for
religious, charitable or educational purposes
Considerable assistance to the state in the improvement of morality of the
people and the care of the indigent and the handicapped
Lladoc v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue: parish priest accepted Php 10,000
donation to be used for the construction of the church. Imposed tax? Rejected
contention!
Statutory exemptions are granted in the discretion of the legislature
Not be lightly extended since they will represent a loss of revenue to the
government
Casanova v. Hord: regarding mines and obligations. Collecting additional taxes?
Infringing the impairment clause (between plaintiff and Spanish government)

Chapter 8: Due Process of Law

No man shall be taken or imprisoned or disseized or outlawed, or in any manner

destroyed; nor shall we go upon him, nor send upon him, but by the lawful
judgment of his peers or by the law of the land
Dartmouth College Case: the general law, a law which hears before it condemns,
which proceeds upon inquiry and renders judgment only after trial
No person shall be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law
Dynamic and resilient, adaptable to every situation calling for its application
Enlarges the rights of the individual to his life, liberty and property
Responsiveness to the supremacy of reason, obedience to the dictates of justice
The embodiment of the sporting idea of fair play
Guaranty against the arbitrariness on the part of the government
Protects all persons, natural or artificial
Deprive: to take away forcibly, to prevent from possessing, enjoying or using
something
Not permissible for the government to deprive the individual of any part of his
body and this is true even if it be as punishment for crime
Liberty is the freedom to do right and never wrong
A person is free to act but he may exercise his rights only in such a manner as
not to injure the rights of others
One cannot have a vested right to a public office
Substantive due process: requires the intrinsic validity of the law in interfering
with the rights of the person to his life, liberty, and property
o Whether or not it is a proper exercise of legislative power
Ichong v. Hernandez: retail trade nationalization law, denied due process by
depriving them of livelihood? SC held that the law is a valid exercise of police
power
Procedural due process: hears before it condemns, which proceeds upon inquiry
and renders judgment only after trial

Requirements in judicial proceedings:

o There must be an impartial court or tribunal clothed with judicial power to
hear and determine the matter before it
o Jurisdiction must be lawfully acquired over the person of the defendant
and over the property which is the subject matter of the proceeding
o Defendant must be given an opportunity to be heard
o Judgment must be rendered upon lawful hearing
Appeal: not essential to the right to a hearing
o Article VIII, section 5 (2)
o Exceptions: cancellation of passport of a person sought for the
commission of a crime, preventive suspension of a civil servant facing
administrative charges, distraint of properties for tax delinquency,
padlocking of restaurants found to be insanitary or of theaters showing
obscene movies, abatement of nuisances per se (immediate danger to
welfare of the community)
Administrative due process requisites
o Right to a hearing, which includes the right to present ones case and
submit evidence in support thereof
o Tribunal must consider the evidence presented
o Decision must have something to support itself
o Evidence must be substantial
o Decision must be rendered on the evidence presented at the hearing
o Tribunal body or body or any of its judges must act on its or his own
independent consideration of the law and facts of the controversy and not
simply accept views of a subordinate in arriving at a decision
o Board or body should in all controversial questions, render its decision in
such a manner that the parties to the proceeding can know the various
issues involved, and the reason for the decision rendered

Chapter 9: Equal Protection

Embraced in concept of due process

Provide for a more specific guaranty against any form of undue favoritism or
hostility from the government
To provide for more adjustability to the swiftly moving facts of our changing
society
All persons or things similarly situated should be treated alike, both as to rights
conferred and responsibilities imposed
Similar objects should not be treated differently, so as to give undue favor to
some and unjustly discriminate against others
Law be enforced and applied equally

Yick Wo v. Hopkins: ordinance authorizing board of supervisors to license the

establishment of laundries in an American city, annulled by US SC because
Chinese applicants were rejected
Available to all persons natural as well as juridical
Artificial persons, entitled to the protection only insofar as their property is
concerned
Does not require the universal application of the laws
Not required to provide for equality among all persons if they are not similarly
situated
Legislature is allowed to classify the subjects of legislation
If classification is reasonable, law may operate only on some and not all of the
people without violating the equal protection clause
Classification: grouping of persons or things similar to each other in certain
particulars and different from all others in these same particulars
Requirements
o Based upon substantial distinctions
o Germane to the purposes of the law
o Not be limited to existing conditions only
o Apply equally to all members of the class
International School Alliance of Educators v. Quisumbing: local-hire faculty
members of the International School complained against the better treatment of
their colleagues who have hired abroad
DECS case: 3 flunk is not violating the equal protection clause

Chapter 10: Searches and Seizures

Ordinary citizens enjoys the right against official intrusion and is master of all the
surveys within the domain and privacy of his own home
Available to all persons including aliens whether accused of crime or not
Artificial persons: may be required to open their books of accounts for
examination by the state in the exercise of the police power or power of taxation
Personal and may be invoked only by the person entitled to it
Requisites of valid warrant:
o Based upon probable cause
o Probable cause must be determined personally by the judge (judges by all
level)
o Determination must be made after examination under oath or affirmation
of the complainant and the witnesses he may produce should be based on
their own personal knowledge)
o Particularly describe the place to be searched and the persons or things to
be seized

Probable cause: facts of circumstances antecedent to the issuance of the

warrant that in themselves are sufficient to induce a cautious man to rely on them
and act in pursuance thereof
Consists of reasonable ground of suspicion supported by circumstances
sufficiently strong in themselves to warrant a cautious man in believing accused
to be committing the offense or to be guilty of the offense
Must refer to only one specific offense
Burgos Case: SC rejected the application for search warrant filed by 2 military
officers on the basis of the evidence gathered and collated by our unit
Articles particularly described in the warrant can be seized and no other property
can be taken thereunder unless it is prohibited by law
Properties subject to seizure
o Property subject to the offense
o Property stolen or embezzled and other proceeds or fruits of the offense
o Property used or intended to be used as the means of committing an
offense
Articles illegally seized are not admissible as evidence
Warrantless searches and seizures
o When such person has in fact just committed, is actually committing, or is
attempting to commit an offense in his presence
o 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
o When the person to be arrested is a prisoner who has escaped from 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
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

Chapter 11: Liberty of Abode and Travel

o Purpose: to further emphasize the individuals liberty as safeguarded in general
terms by the due process clause
o Right to choose ones residence, to leave it whenever he pleases, and to travel
wherever he wills
o Limitations: upon lawful order of the court, national security, public safety or
public health as may be provided by law
o Villavicencio v. Lukban: mayor of Manila deported some hundred seventy women
of ill-repute to Davao, not sustained!
Chapter 12: Freedom of Religion

Religion: any specific system of belief, worship, conduct, etc. often involving a
code of ethics and a philosophy
The existence of a Divine Being is not necessarily inherent in religion
Includes rejection of religion
Embraces matters of faith and dogma, as well as doubt, agnosticism and atheism
Separation of the church and state
No law shall be made respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the
free exercise thereof
Avoid encroachments by one against the other because of a misunderstanding of
the limits of their respective exclusive jurisdictions
Not a wall of hostility
State recognizes the beneficent influence of religion in the enrichment of the
nations life
Constitutional prohibition against religious test is aimed against clandestine
attempts on the part of the government to prevent a person from exercising his
civil or political rights because of his religious beliefs

Chapter 13: Freedom of Expression

At once the instrument and the guaranty and the bright consummate flower of all
liberty
Embraces a number of cognate rights all aimed at insuring the free and effective
communication of ideas from mid to mind
Available only insofar as it is exercised for the discussion of matters affecting the
public interest
Sovereignty resides in the people
Every citizen has a right to offer his views and suggestions in the discussion of
the common problems of the community or the nation
Right and duty
Includes the right to be silent
Include the right to an audience but it is not demandable against those unwilling
to listen
Right to listen and right not to listen
Language whether oral or written, symbolism
Elements
o Freedom from precious restraint or censorship
o Freedom from subsequent punishment
Censor assumes the unlikely role of political, moral, social, and artistic arbiter for
the people, usually applying only his own subjective standards in determining
what is good and what is not good for them
Not lawful to require the obtention from the authorities of a speakers permit
before a person may deliver a speech or the previous submission of the speech
for their approval

Subject to the police power and may be properly regulated in the interest of the
public
Clear and present danger rule: whether the words are used in such
circumstances and are of such a nature as to create a clear and present danger
that they will bring about the substantive evils that the state has a right to prevent
o Question of proximity and degree
Dangerous Tendency Doctrine: if the words uttered create a dangerous tendency
which the state has a right to prevent, then such words are punishable.
o Not necessary that some definite or immediate acts of force, violence, or
unlawfulness be advocated
o Not necessary that the language used be reasonably calculated to incite
persons to acts of force, violence or unlawfulness
o Enough? Bring about substantive evil
Balance Interest Test: when particular conduct is regulated in the interest of
public order, and the regulation results in an indirect, conditional, partial
abridgement of speech, the duty of the courts is to determine which of the two
conflicting interests demands the greater protection under the particular
circumstances presented
Right of assembly is important to freedom of expression because public issues
are better resolved after an exchange of views among citizens meeting with each
other for the purpose
o Not subject to censorship
Test: purpose which it is held, regardless of the auspicies under which it is
organized
Malabanan v. Ramento: several student leaders were suspended for 1 year when
they held a demonstration in the premises of a university outside the area
permitted by the school authorities which disrupted classes and disturbed work of
the admin personnel. Moot and academic
Right of association: purposes not contrary to law
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