3 Inherent Powers of the State: TAKE NOTE THAT THE REGALIAN DOCTRINE IS ENSHRINED IN OUR
PRESENT AND PAST CONSTITUTIONS THE 1987 CONSTITUTION
1. Police Power; PROVIDES UNDER NATIONAL ECONOMY AND PATRIMONY THE 2. Power of Eminent Domain or Power of Expropriation; and FOLLOWING— 3. Power of Taxation > “ Section 2. All lands of the public domain, waters, minerals, coal, Purpose: petroleum, and other mineral oils, all forces of potential energy, fisheries, forests or timber, wildlife, flora and fauna, and other natural resources are 1. for public good or welfare - Police Power owned by the State. With the exception of agricultural lands, all other natural 2. for public use - Power of Eminent Domain resources shall not be alienated. The exploration, development, and 3. for revenue - Power of Taxation utilization of natural resources shall be under the full control and supervision of the State. The State may directly undertake such activities, or it may enter 1. POLICE POWER is the power of promoting the public welfare by into co-production, joint venture, or production-sharing agreements with restraining and regulating the use of both liberty and property of all the Filipino citizens, or corporations or associations at least sixty per centum of people. It is considered to be the most all-encompassing of the three powers. whose capital is owned by such citizens. Such agreements may be for a period It may be exercised only by the government. The property taken in the not exceeding exercise of this power is destroyed because it is noxious or intended for a twenty-five years, renewable for not more than twenty-five years, and under noxious purpose. such terms and conditions as may be provided by law. In cases of water rights It lies primarily in the discretion of the legislature. Hence, the President, and for irrigation, water supply fisheries, or industrial uses other than the administrative boards as well as the lawmaking bodies on all municipal levels, development of water power, beneficial use may be the measure and limit of including the barangay may not exercise it without a valid delegation of the grant.” legislative power. Municipal governments exercise this power by virtue of the > The abovementioned provision provides that except for agricultural lands general welfare clause of the Local Government Code of 1991. Even the courts for public domain which alone may be alienated, forest or timber, and mineral cannot compel the exercise of this power through mandamus or any judicial lands, as well as all other natural resources must remain with the State, the process. exploration, development and utilization of which shall be subject to its full control and supervision albeit allowing it to enter into coproduction, joint Requisites of a valid police measure: venture or production-sharing agreements, or into agreements with foreign- (a.) Lawful Subject – the activity or property sought to be regulated affects the owned corporations involving technical or financial assistance for large-scale public welfare. It requires the primacy of the welfare of the many over the exploration, development, and utilization interests of the few. (b.) Lawful Means – the means employed must be reasonable and must THE 1987 PROVISION HAD ITS ROOTS IN THE 1935 CONSTITUTION conform to the safeguards guaranteed by the Bill of Rights. WHICH PROVIDES— 2. POWER OF EMINENT DOMAIN affects only property RIGHTS. > Section 1. All agricultural timber, and mineral lands of the public domain, It may be exercised by some private entities. The property forcibly taken waters, minerals, coal, petroleum, and other mineral oils, all forces of under this power, upon payment of just compensation, is needed for potential energy and other natural resources of the Philippines belong to the conversion to public use or purpose. State, and their disposition, exploitation, development, or utilization shall be limited to citizens of the Philippines or to corporations or associations at least The taking of property in law may include: sixty per centum of the capital of which is owned by such citizens, subject to - trespass without actual eviction of the owner; any existing right, grant, lease, or concession at the time of the inauguration - material impairment of the value of the property; or of the Government established under this Constitution. Natural resources, - prevention of the ordinary uses for which the property was intended. with the exception of public agricultural land, shall not be alienated, and no license, concession, or lease for the exploitation, development, or utilization The property that may be subject for appropriation shall not be limited to of any of the natural resources shall be granted for a period exceeding twenty- private property. Public property may be expropriated provided there is a five years, renewable for another twenty-five years, except as to water rights SPECIFIC grant of authority to the delegate. Money and a chose in action are for irrigation, water the only things exempt from expropriation. supply, fisheries, or industrial uses other than the development of water Although it is also lodged primarily in the national legislature, the courts have power, in which cases beneficial use may be the measure and limit of the the power to inquire the legality of the right of eminent domain and to grant. determine whether or not there is a genuine necessity therefore. 3. POWER OF TAXATION affects only property rights and may be THE 1973 CONSTITUTION REITERATED THE REGALIAN DOCTRINE exercised only by the government. The property taken under this power shall AS FOLLOWS— likewise be intended for a public use or purpose. It is used solely for the > Section 8. All lands of public domain, waters, minerals, coal, petroleum and purpose of raising revenues, to protect the people and extend them benefits in other mineral oils, all forces of potential energy, fisheries, wildlife, and other the form of public projects and services (I hope so). Hence, it cannot be natural resources of the Philippines belong to the State. With the exception of allowed to be confiscatory, except if it is intended for destruction as an agricultural, industrial or commercial, residential, or resettlement lands of the instrument of the police power. public domain, natural resources shall not be alienated, and no license, It must conform to the requirements of due process. Therefore, concession, or lease for the exploration, or utilization of any of the natural taxpayers are entitled to be notified of the assessment proceedings and to be resources shall be granted for a period exceeding twentyfive years, except as to heard therein on the correct valuation to be given the property. It is also water rights for irrigation, water supply, fisheries, or industrial uses other than subject to the general requirements of the equal protection clause that the development of water power, in which cases, beneficial use may by the rule of taxation shall be uniform and equitable. measure and the limit of the grant. THE REGALIAN DOCTRINE DOESN'T NEGATE NATIVE TITLE. THIS IS Regalian Doctrine IN PURSUANCE TO WHAT HAS BEEN HELD IN CRUZ V. SECRETARY OF ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL RESOURCES All lands of the public domain belong to the State, which is the source of any asserted > Petitioners challenged the constitutionality of Indigenous Peoples Rights right to ownership of land. All lands not otherwise appearing to be clearly within private Act on the ground that it amounts to an unlawful deprivation of the State’s ownership are presumed to belong to the State. [1] All lands not otherwise clearly ownership over lands of the public domain and all other natural resources appearing to be privately-owned are presumed to belong to the State.[2] therein, by recognizing the right of ownership of ICC or IPs to their ancestral domains and ancestral lands on the basis of native title. WHAT IS THE CONCEPT OF JURE REGALIA? > As the votes were equally divided, the necessary majority wasn’t obtained and petition was dismissed and the law’s validity was upheld (REGALIAN DOCTRINE) > Justice Kapunan: Regalian theory doesn’t negate the native title to lands > Generally, under this concept, private title to land must be traced to some held in private ownership since time immemorial, adverting to the landmark grant, express or implied, from the Spanish Crown or its successors, the case of CARINO V. LOCAL GOVERNMENT, where the US SC through American Colonial Government, and thereafter, the Philippine Republic Holmes held: “xxx the land has been held by individuals under a claim of > In a broad sense, the term refers to royal rights, or those rights to which the private ownership, it will be presumed to have been held in the same way King has by virtue of his prerogatives from before the Spanish conquest, and never to have been public land.” > The theory of jure regalia was therefore nothing more than a natural fruit of > Existence of native titie to land, or ownership of land by Filipinos by virtue conquest of possession under a claim of ownership since time immemorial and CONNECTED TO THIS IS THE STATE’S POWER OF DOMINUUM independent of any grant from the Spanish crown as an exception to the > Capacity of the state to own or acquire property—foundation for the early theory of jure regalia Spanish decree embracing the feudal theory of jura regalia > Justice Puno: Carino case firmly established a concept of private land title > This concept was first introduced through the Laws of the Indies and the that existed irrespective of any royal grant from the State and was based on Royal Cedulas the strong mandate extended to the Islands via the Philippine Bill of 1902. The > The Philippines passed to Spain by virtue of discovery and conquest. IPRA recognizes the existence of ICCs/IPs as a distinct sector in the society. It Consequently, all lands became the exclusive patrimony and dominion of the grants this people the ownership and possession of their ancestral domains Spanish Crown. and ancestral lands and defines the extent of these lands and domains > The Law of the Indies was followed by the Ley Hipotecaria or the Mortgage > Justice Vitug: Carino cannot override the collective will of the people Law of 1893. This law provided for the systematic registration of titles and expressed in the Constitution. deeds as well as possessory claims > Justice Panganiban: all Filipinos, whether indigenous or not, are subject to > The Maura Law: was partly an amendment and was the last Spanish land the Constitution, and that no one is exempt from its allencompassing law promulgated in the Philippines, which required the adjustment or provisions registration of all agricultural lands, otherwise the lands shall revert to the State