LIBERAL CONSTRUCTION, DEFINED: - Equitable construction as will enlarge the letter of a statute to accomplish its intended purpose, carry

out its intent, r promote justice - Not to mean enlargement of a provision which is clear, unambiguous and free from doubt - It simply means that the words should receive a fair and reasonable interpretation, so as to attain the intent, spirit and purpose of the law

LIBERAL CONTSRUCTION APPLIED, GENERALLY: - Where a statute is ambiguous, the literal meaning of the words used may be rejected if the result of adopting said meaning would be to defeat the purpose of the law - Ut res magis valeat quam pereat that construction is to be sought which gives effect to the whole of the statute its every word

General social legislation - To implement the social justice and protection-to-labor provisions of the Constitution - Construed liberally - Resolve any doubt in favor of the persons whom the law intended to benefit - Includes the ff.: labor laws, tenancy laws, land reforms, and social security laws Case: Tamayo vs Manila Hotel Company, G.R. No. L-8975, June 29, 1957 Facts: Revised Administration Code, as amended by RA 611 SEC. 286. When vacation leave and sick leave may be taken. Vacation leave and sick leave shall be cumulative and any part thereof which may not be taken within the calendar year in which earned may be carried over to the succeeding years, but whenever any officer, employee, or laborer of the Government of the Philippines shall voluntarily resign or be separated from the service through no fault of his own, he shall be entitled to the commutation of all accumulated vacation and/or sick leave to his credit: Provided, that the total vacation leave and sick leave that can accumulate to the credit of any officer or employee shall, in no cause, exceed five months: Provided, further, That the proper Department Head may in his discretion authorize the commutation of the salary that would be received during the period of vacation and sick leave of any appointed officer or employee or teacher or laborer of the Philippine Government and direct its payment on or before the beginning of such leave from the fund out of which the salary would have been paid: Provided, furthermore, That no person whose leave has been commuted following his separation from the service shall be reappointed or reemployed under the Government of the Philippines before the expiration of the leave commuted unless he first refunds the money value of the unexpired portion of the leave commuted. Amended by RA 1081 SEC. 286. When vacation leave and sick leave may be taken. Vacation leave and sick leave shall be cumulative and any part thereof which may not be taken within the calendar year in which earned may be carried over to the succeeding years, but whenever any officer, employee, or laborer of the Government of the Philippines shall voluntarily resign or be separated from the service through no fault of his own, he shall be entitled to the commutation of all accumulated vacation and/or sick leave to his credit: Provided, That the total vacation leave and sick leave that can accumulate to the credit of any officers or employee shall in no case exceed ten months: Provided further, That the proper Department

Head may in his discretion authorize the commutation of the salary that would be received during the period of vacation and sick leave of any appointed officer or employee or teacher or laborer of the Philippine Government and direct its payment on or before the beginning of such leave from the fund out of which the salary would have been paid: Provided, furthermore, That no person whose leave has been commuted following his separation from the service shall be reappointed or reemployed under the Government of the Philippines before the expiration of the leave commuted unless he firsts refunds the money value of the unexpired portion of the leave commuted. Question: Are the employees entitled to their accumulated leave in excess of five months? Answer: NO. It is a rule of statutory construction that courts will and should respect the contemporaneous construction placed upon a statute by the executive officers whose duty it is to enforce it and unless such interpretation is clearly erroneous will ordinarily be controlled thereby. article 1702 of the new Civil Code, which provides that in case of doubt, labor legislation shall be construed in favor of the laborer. As the article is expressly intended to apply in case of doubt, it can have no application where, as in the present case, no doubt exists.

General welfare clause - Two branches: o Attaches to the main trunk of municipal authority relates to such ordinances and regulations as may be necessary to carry into effect and discharge the powers and duties conferred upon local legislative bodies by law o Much more independent of the specific functions enumerated by law authorizes such ordinances as shall seem necessary and proper to provide for the health and safety, promote the prosperity, improve the morals, peace, good order x x x of the LGU and the inhabitants thereof, and for the protection of the property therein - Construed in favor of LGU - Construed with proprietary aspects - Must be elastic and responsive to various social conditions - Must follow legal progress of a democratic way of life Case: Land Bank of the Phils. vs. Republic of the Phils., G.R. No. 150824, February 4, 2008 Facts: OCT No. P-2823 was issued on September 26, 1969 in favor of one Angelito C. Bugayong. The land was initially subdivided into four lots. Bugayong sold all of the four lots to different persons one of those was sold to spouses Lourdes and Candido Du. Afterwards, the spouses Du further caused the subdivision of the land into two (2) lots. They sold one of said lots to spouses Felix and Guadalupe Dayola the other remaining lot was retained by and registered in their names. Subsequently, Du spouses' lot was cancelled and was replaced registered in the name of Lourdes Farms, Inc. subject of this case. Lourdes Farms, Inc. mortgaged this property to petitioner LBP. The validity of OCT No. P-2823 was questioned by the people occupying some of the land it covered. Upon investigation and ocular inspection by the Bureau of Lands it resolved that the sales patent in favor of Bugayong was improperly and illegally issued and that the Director of Lands had no jurisdiction to dispose of the subject land. Upon

recommendation of the former, RP filed a complaint against Bugayong and other present owners and mortgagees of the land, such as Lourdes Farms, Inc. and the latter's mortgagee, petitioner LBP for the cancellation of title/patent and reversion of the land covered by OCT No. P-2823 into the mass of public domain. Issue: WON CA erred in not finding LBPs right to mortgage and interest over the subject land as valid and subsisting under the constitutional guarantee of non-impairment of obligation of contracts Ruling: The constitutional guarantee of non-impairment of contracts may not likewise be used by LBP to validate its interest over the land as mortgagee x x x the state in order to promote the general welfare may interfere with personal liberty, with property, and with business and occupations and that [p]ersons and property may be subjected to all kinds of restraints and burdens, in order to secure the general comfort, health, and prosperity of the state. Recently, we quoted from leading American case, which pronounced that neither property rights nor contract rights are absolute; for government cannot exist if the citizen may at will use his property to the detriment of his fellows, or exercise his freedom of contract to work them harm and that, therefore, [e]qually fundamental with the private right is that of the public to regulate it in the common interest. x x x Preservation of our forest lands could entail intrusion upon contractual rights as in this case but it is justified by the Latin maxims Salus populi est suprema lex and Sic utere tuo ut alienum non laedas, which call for the subordination of individual interests to the benefit of the greater number.

Grant of power to local governments - Old rule: municipal corporations, being mere creatures of law, have only such powers as are expressly granted to them and those which are necessarily implied or incidental to the exercise thereof - New rule: RA 2264 Local Autonomy Act Sec. 12 implied power of a province, a city, or a municipality shall be liberally construed in its favor. Any fair and reasonable doubt as to the existence of the power should be interpreted in favor of the local government and it shall be presumed to exist