JURISDICTION

Secretary of Justice vs Lantion, 322 SCRA 160, Jaabuary 28, 2000

Facts : On June 18, 199 , the Department of Justice received from the Department of Foreign Affairs U.S. Note No.
0522 containing a request for the extradition of private respondent Mark Jimenez. Secretary of Justice then ordered a
technical evaluation and assessment of the extradition request.
Pending evaluation, private respondent (Mark Jimenez) through counsel wrote a letter addressed to herein petitioner
requesting copies of official extradition request from the US Government. He requested ample time to comment and
for the matter to be held in abeyance in the meantime.
Secretary of Justice denied the said request specifically invoking our countrys responsibility to the Vienna Convention
on the law of Treaties that every treaty in force is binding upon parties to it and must be performed by them in good
faith. Extradition is a toll of criminal law enforcement and to be effective must be processed expeditiously.
Particularly in this case is the RP-US Extradition Treaty. Extradition is the process by which persons charged with or
convicted of crimes against the law of a State and found in a foreign state are returned by the latter to the former for
trial or punishment.
Pacta sunt servanda requires the parties to a treaty to keep their agreement therein in good faith. The observance of
our countrys legal duties under a treaty is also compelled by Section 2, Article II of the Constitution.
The Philippines renounces war as an instrument of national policy, and adopts the generally accepted principles of
international law as part of the law of the nation.
Under the doctrine of incorporation, rules of international law form part of the law of the land and no further
legislative action is needed to make such rules applicable in the domestic sphere.
After the denial of the request letter, Mark Jimenez filed a petition against herein Secretary of Justice. RTC presiding
Judge Lantion favored Jimenez. Thus, this petition is now at bar.
Issue: Whether or not respondent Judge Lantion acted without or in excess of jurisdiction or with grave abuse of
discretion amounting to lack or excess of jurisdiction in issuing the temporary restraining order to herein petitioner in
performing his legal duties as Secretary of Justice.
Held : NO. The Extradition Law provides Rules of Court shall apply, thus extradite has the basic right of notice and
hearing. The RP-US Extradition Treaty under the Incorporation Clause in case of conflict is not superior over a national
law. International law is given equal standing but not superior to national legislative enactment. The principle lex
posterior degorat oriori takes effect a treaty may repeal a statute and a statute may repeal a treaty. In States where
the constitution is the highest law of the land, such as the Republic of the Philippines, both statutes and treaties may
be invalidated if they are in conflict with the constitution.
Thus, petitioner is ordered to furnish private respondent copies of the extradition request and its supporting papers
and to grant him (Jimenez) a reasonable period within which to file his comment and supporting evidence
There was only a void on some provisions of the RP-US Extradition Treaty as regards to the basic due process right of
a prospective extradite at the evaluation stage of the extradition proceeding.
RTCs decision is rendered moot and academic and herein petition is DISMISSED