D.

PHILIPPINE LEGAL CITATIONS

Considering all the sources of Philippine legal information from the 1900s to present, uniform standard
of Philippine citation is needed for clarity, and consistency. Each individual has his own style and
preference in legal research and writing.

There are available manuals of legal citation as a guide in citing Philippine legal information namely:

Feliciano, Myrna. Philippine Manual of Legal Citations. Q.C.: University of the Philippines Law Complex
(2013) 117p.

Santos-Ong, Milagros. Legal Research and Citations in the Philippines. Manila: Rex Book Store (2013).
208p.

Supreme Court’s Manual of Judicial Writing (2005).

Fundamentals of Decision Writing for Judges. Manila: Philippine Judicial Academy (2009)

Ateneo De Manila School of Law through its Ateneo Law Journal came out with its version of the Legal
Citation Primer (2008) 33p.

The legal citation provided below took into consideration the complexity of Philippine legal
information and a standard for to conform to both international and Philippine citations.

Santos-Ong, Milagros. Legal Research and Citations in the Philippines. Manila: Rex Book Store
(2013).page 80.

Sources of Law:

a. Statutes:

a.1.: Constitution:

Cited by reference to the article, section and the paragraph. The year is placed in parenthesis when the
Constitution is no longer in force.

Example:

Const. (1935), Art. VIII, Sec. 1

Const. (1973), Art. X, Sec. 1

Const, (1987)Art. VIII, Sec. 1

Other legal citations provide that when the current law is cited, the date is not included. Taking into
consideration the number of times the Philippine Constitution was revised, it is important to include the
date. At present, there is a move to revised again the Philippine Constitution either through a
Constitutional Convention (Con-Com) or a Constitutional Assembly (Con-Ass)

a.2. Statutes proper

Laws passed by the Legislative Department from 101 to present are cited as follows:
 a.2.1 Laws 1901-1934

Act No. 136 (1901)

a.2.2. Commonwealth Acts, 1935-1945

Com. Act No. 35 (1935)

a.2.3. Republic Acts, 1946-1972, 1987-present

Rep. Act No. 88 (1946)

a.2.4. Presidential Decrees, September 21, 1972 – February 1986

Pres. Decree No. 442 (1972)

a.2.b. Batas Pambansa, January 1979- February 1, 1986

Batas Blg. 129 (1980)

Citation of Statutes by Sources:

Printed Source

Rep. Act No. 3019 (1960), 57 O.G., No. 22, 4072 (May 29, 1961) or 4 PPGS 85 (Rev. ed., 1978)

The printed sources are the Official Gazette (O.G.) or the Philippine Permanent and General Statutes
(PPGS)

Electronic Sources

Rep. Act No. 3019 (1960), Available at http://www.lawphil.net/statute/repacts (last visited August 29,
2012); www.ombudsman.gov.ph/docs/republicacts ((last visited August 29, 2012);
www.bsp.gov.ph/regulations/laws (last visited August 29, 2012)

a.3. Treaties

This includes treaties entered into by the Philippines whether it be Bilateral or Multilateral. Cited by the
name of the treaty and the date when the treaty was signed.

Example:

Printed source

Philippines Extradition Treaty with the United States, November 27, 1981.

8 PTS 978 - Source

8 cited in the source represents the volume number of the Philippine Treaty Series and 978 is the page
where the treaty was printed.
 Electronic Sources:

Philippines Extradition Treaty with the United States, November 27, 1981, Available at
http://www.lawphil.net/international/treaties/extrad.html ;
http://internationalextraditionblog.com/2011/-06/01/philippines-extradition-treaty-with-the-united-
states last visited December 23, 2014

a.4. Executive/Presidential Issuances

Presidential issuances are cited by the number of the issuance and followed by the date of issuance.
The date is important for each year, the number starts with the first number (No. 1)

a.4.1 Executive Orders

Exec. Order No. 200 (1986)

a.4.2. Proclamations

Proc. No. 1081 (1972)

a.4.3. Administrative Orders

Adm. Order No. 200 (2005)

A.4.4 There are special presidential issuances under Martial law as follows

a.4.4..1 General Orders

Gen. Order No. 1 (1972)

a.4.4.2 Letters of Instructions

L.O.I. No. 2 (1972)

a.4.4.3 Letters of Implementation

L.O. Impl. No. 1 (1972)

a.4.4.4. Letters of Authority

L.O.A. No. 1 (1972)

a.5. Administrative Rules and Regulations

Government offices and agencies promulgate their own rules and regulations. They are cited by the
abbreviation of the name of each agency, followed by the name of the specific rule or regulation. It is
important to indicate the year in parenthesis for each year, the number of the rules and regulations
start with the first number (No.1)

Example:

Administrative Order No. 1 promulgated by the Department of Energy on January 5, 2006 is thus cited
as: DOE Adm. Order No. 1 (2006)
SC Adm. Order No. 1 (2005) is the citation for Supreme Court Administrative Order No. 1 adopted in
2005.

Abbreviations as to the names of the Different Government Agencies are through the Acronyms of the
Agencies, which is also reflected in their website address.

Example are as follows:

Name of Agency Abbreviation Website Address

Department of Agrarian Reform DAR www.dar.gov.ph

Department of Agriculture DA www.da.gov.ph

Department of Budget and Management DBM www.dbm.gov.ph

Department of Education DEPED www.deped.gov.ph

a.6 Ordinances

The laws passed by the city, municipal or provincial government (local government) are in the form of
ordinances. They are cited by providing the name of the city, municipality or the province, followed by
the ordinance number and the date.

Example:

City ordinance no. 1 of the city of Manila passed on June 21, 2004 is cited as : Manila Ordinance No. 1,
June 21, 2004.

a.7. Court Rules

The Rules of Court is cited like any ordinary code by its name, followed by the rule number and section.

Example: Rule of Court, Rule 14, sec.1

The Supreme Court through the proposal of the Committee of Revision of Rules Courts been amended
the Rules of Court by subject, such as Civil Procedure, Criminal Procedure, Evidence, and Special
Proceedings. They are now cited by said amendments as follows:

Criminal Procedure, Rule 115, se. 1 (2000)

Civil Procedure, Rule 70, sec. 1 (1997)

b. Jurisprudence - Court Decisions

b.1. Court decisions from the Supreme Court down to the lower courts can be
identified through their case number and are cited as follows:

Supreme Court decisions - G.R. No. __ date of promulgation

Court of Appeals decisions - C.A.-G.R. NO. ______-R, CV, CR or SP, date of promulgation

Sandiganbayan decisions - Sandiganbayan Crim Case No. ___ date of promulgation

Court of Tax Appeals decisions – CTA Case No. ____ date of promulgation

Metropolitan Trial Courts - Me TC (Place & Branch No.) Civil or Criminal Case No. __________, date
of promulgation

People v. Santiago, Me TC (Quezon City, Branch II) Crim. Case No. 4444, May 10, 2005

· Municipal Trial Court s and Municipal Circuit Trial Courts decisions MTC or MCTC (Place) Criminal or
Civil Case No.______, date of promulgation

· Shari’ah District and Circuit Courts – Shari’ah Dist/Circ. Ct. (Place) Case no. , date of promulgation

For all Each decision of the Supreme Court has a specific G.R. No or General Register No. Each case is
cited with a G.R. No. The L ( G.R. No. L- ) after the word No. In some decisions represents those decision
after the war or L is for Liberation. This will differential those that were decided before the war and
those after.

There are no printed compilation for Sandiganbayan, Court of Tax Appeals and lower court decisions.
The full text of important decisions are found in the internet like the decision of the Sandiganbayan
against former President Joseph Estrada.

b.1.1. The citation of Court decisions depends upon whether the printed court reports are a
primary or a secondary source.

Those found in primary sources such as the Philippine Reports or the Official Gazette are cited by the
family name of the parties, the volume number, Court Report title, page of the court report, and the
year of promulgation in parenthesis.

Example :

Ong v. People , 399 Phil. 686 (2000)

The Ong case is found in volume 399 of the Philippine Reports page 686

Ong v. People , 399 Phil. 686, 688 (2000)

686 is the page where the case started and 688 is the specific page where the doctrine used is
found.
Those found in secondary sources such as the Supreme Court Reports Annotated (SCRA) are cited by
family name of the parties, case no. (G.R. No.), date of promulgation, volume number of the court
reports and page.

Example :

Ong v. People, G.R. No. 139006, November 27, 2000,

346 SCRA 117

b.1.2. The case names are cited using the surnames of the parties

Exception this the general rule of using family names are Islamic, Chinese names which are cited in full.

Those with Christian first names follow the general rule.

Example: Sy Chin v. Tang Ching Heng & Co., 399 Phil. 442 (2000)

When the party is a company, agency corporation, etc., the complete name must be included.

Example: Mactan-Cebu International Airport Authority v. Chiongbian, 399 Phil. 695 (2000)

When the party is the Government of the Philippines are cited as follows:

Government v. ___________________,date of promulgation, Source

Commonwealth v. ________________,date of promulgation, Source

In criminal cases wherein the case if filed for the People of the Philippines, it is cited as

People v. __________________________, date of promulgation, Source

b.1.3 Electronic sources are cited as follows:

Ong v. People, G.R. No. 139006, November 27, 2000, Available at

http://sc.judiciary.gov.ph/jurisprudence/ (last visited December 23, 2014)

b.2. Administrative decisions

Cited by the name of the agency (abbreviated form), case number and date of promulgation

Example is a Civil Service Commission decisión:

Santos v. Dizon, CSC Adm. Case No. 12345, January 6, 2006