Just like functional perspective, I chose to be practical in choosing the topic of my paper not

only because it is widely applied but it is also timely given the emergence of the people's voices
being more evident than ever. In the present situation of the government, one of the most
notable moves by our state is the convertion of the PDAF to DAP which of course is a result of
the public outcry against the improper use or allegedly missing funds of the government.
This perspective aims to be sensitive to the wants of the society by studying, evaluating and
addressing to the people's reaction and needs. One of the notable improvements where
functional perspective can be related is the enactment of the Anti-Red Tape Act of 2007 where
government facilities and offices became more service-oriented by continuously assiting people
even during lunchtime which is popularly known as "No Noon Break".
I applaud and trully commend this act because I have experienced this first hand during the time
I lost my driver's license in 2014, thinking I was going to have a hard time preparing my papers
and working through all the requirements I came in 12:00 noon to be prepared to wait until
1:00pm thinking they had a noon break but when I arrived there wasn't any line and it only took
me 30 minutes to get everything done.
That is the incident or instance wherein I can relate functional perspective as a personal
experience. I would like to take the opportunity to be thankful that I have been exposed to so
much theories and perspectives where law and jurisprudence can be related to, the vast flow of
information, cases, promulgations, orders, bills and the likes can be dissected and segregated
to the origins of the philosophers' theories and ideas which was at times interrelated to each
other as well whether co-exisitng or conflicting. All throughout the course, I was simply
mindblown by their existence.
The laws that can be related to functional perspective and shall be discussed are the following,
the abolishment of death penalty, city ordinances which prohibits the use of plastic bags and the
most popular law to be or not to be passed which is the "Bangsamoro Basic Law". The
mentioned legislative moves or enactments are inspired by the social phenomenas that have
greatly affected or pushed the variables to at least create these laws and for one to finally
abolish it.
It was in 2006 when the former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo signed the legislation
abolishing the death penalty allegedly it was fueled by the president's visit to Pope Benedict the
XVI. This abolishment of the penalty caused 1,200 prisoner's sentence to be changed to life
imprisonment. I chose this legislation because the move in the abolishment of death penalty
was instigated not only by the voice of the Roman Catholic church but also because the
president is going to meet the Pope, as we all know that the Roman Catholic church is not in
tune with the government's view of death penalty. But it was made possible to go along with
what the church wanted simply because perhaps to appease the Pope or bring along some
good news to the leader of her religion.

From Vatican, we now head to the cities which have enacted ordinances to ban plastic bags in
response to the massive calamities that shook not only Manila but other major parts of the
Philippines as well. The first city to implement plastic ban was Muntinlupa City in 2011, the move
was soon to be followed by major cities such as Pasay and Quezon City and the list goes on
from there. It was an a hasty if not an abrupt response from all the storm and typhoons that
devasted the country and caused massive floods to be blamed on the use of plastic bags. In my
opinion it was not the fault of these bags but rather the improper waste disposal that is viral in
our society, laws which are not followed are more likely to be the cause of floodings and not by
the mere patonization of these re-useable objects.
Lastly, the recent changes in the chances to pass the "Bangsamoro Basic Law" unfortunately, it
was a disheartening turn of events as it was a waste to lose the lives of our both fellow Filipino
Christian and Muslim brothers to a cause which we are never sure where it is headed to. The
history shows that the Bangsamoro people have been neglected by the government for almost
more than a century now, but the "Bangsamoro Basic Law" was to change this and give them
the autonomy of not only forming a government which is under the national government but also
give them freedom as well to manage their resources to a certain extent and also grant them
budget to develop their impverished areas of concern. Well, that was the dream but until the
"Mamasapano Incident" everything chnaged from there some senators and other lawmakers
have expressed their withdrawal of support for the said law.
These mentioned legislations have been greatly affected by social phenomenas and eventually
altered the decision-making and thought-bulding process of our lawmakers. This is how strong
functional perspective's presence is, even though these senators, mayors, legislators don't have
any idea what the theory is all about, they are sure to be in the sphere of that perspective and
living the philosopher's idea of what functional perspective is all about.
As for influence in jurisprudence, we can relate functional perspective in view of jurisprudence to
the cases of Lance Corporal Daniel Smith also known as the "Subic Rape Case" or "People if
the Philippines vs. Chad Carpentier, Dominic Duplantis, Keith Silkwood, and Daniel Smith"
wherein it was a controversial case because at the time the alleged rape was committed it was
during the exisitence of a Visiting Forces Agreement between United States and the Philippines.
The case became an instant media sensation. However in 2009 the accused were acquitted by
the Court of Appeals as Smith could not be found guilty beyond reasonable doubt for rape as
the information filed by the lawyers of the prosecution showing "force and intimidation" was
somewhat questionnable. Functional perspective's presence in the said case lies in the concern
of the public people to the outcome of the case given the existence of the VFA although there
was no clear proof that the Court of Appeals was affcted by the social pressure it was still a
social event that may affect the ongoing case.
Another case worth mentioning is In Re: del Castillo, A.M. No. 10-7-17-SC, October 12, 2010,
this case is about the alleged plagiarism committed by Justice del Castillo and the Supreme
Court held that there was no plagiarism commited in the decision of Vinuya Case. What makes
this case related to Functional Perspective is the initiative of the society to question even the

highest court in the Philippines. Also mentioning the kind of petitioners this case has which was
mostly composed of law professors. It only proves that the justice system of our country is
somewhat free or is in exercise of democracy by making sure that offcials and even justices are
open to scrutiny and will be exposed if unlawful actins are performed by them.