G.R. No.

L-5270

January 15, 1910

THE UNITED STATES, plaintiff-appellee,

vs.
H. N. BULL, defendant-appellant.
Bruce & Lawrence, for appellant.
Office of the Solicitor-General Harvey, for appellee.
ELLIOTT, J.:
The appellant was convicted in the Court of First Instance of a violation of section 1 of Act No. 55, as
amended by section 1 of Act No. 275, and from the judgment entered thereon appealed to this court,
where under proper assignments of error he contends: (1) that the complaint does not state facts
sufficient to confer jurisdiction upon the court; (2) that under the evidence the trial court was without
jurisdiction to hear and determine the case; (3) that Act No. 55 as amended is in violation of certain
provisions of the Constitution of the United States, and void as applied to the facts of this case; and
(4) that the evidence is insufficient to support the conviction.
The information alleges:
That on and for many months prior to the 2d day of December, 1908, the said H. N. Bull was
then and there master of a steam sailing vessel known as the steamship Standard, which
vessel was then and there engaged in carrying and transporting cattle, carabaos, and other
animals from a foreign port and city of Manila, Philippine Islands; that the said accused H. N.
Bull, while master of said vessel, as aforesaid, on or about the 2d day of December, 1908,
did then and there willfully, unlawfully, and wrongly carry, transport, and bring into the port
and city of Manila, aboard said vessel, from the port of Ampieng, Formosa, six hundred and
seventy-seven (677) head of cattle and carabaos, without providing suitable means for
securing said animals while in transit, so as to avoid cruelty and unnecessary suffering to the
said animals, in this, to wit, that the said H. N. Bull, master, as aforesaid, did then and there
fail to provide stalls for said animals so in transit and suitable means for trying and securing
said animals in a proper manner, and did then and there cause some of said animals to be
tied by means of rings passed through their noses, and allow and permit others to be
transported loose in the hold and on the deck of said vessel without being tied or secured in
stalls, and all without bedding; that by reason of the aforesaid neglect and failure of the
accused to provide suitable means for securing said animals while so in transit, the noses of
some of said animals were cruelly torn, and many of said animals were tossed about upon
the decks and hold of said vessel, and cruelly wounded, bruised, and killed.
All contrary to the provisions of Acts No. 55 and No. 275 of the Philippine Commission.
Section 1 of Act No. 55, which went into effect January 1, 1901, provides that
The owners or masters of steam, sailing, or other vessels, carrying or transporting cattle,
sheep, swine, or other animals, from one port in the Philippine Islands to another, or from
any foreign port to any port within the Philippine Islands, shall carry with them, upon the
vessels carrying such animals, sufficient forage and fresh water to provide for the suitable
sustenance of such animals during the ordinary period occupied by the vessel in passage
from the port of shipment to the port of debarkation, and shall cause such animals to be
provided with adequate forage and fresh water at least once in every twenty-four hours from
the time that the animals are embarked to the time of their final debarkation.

By Act No. 275, enacted October 23, 1901, Act No. 55 was amended by adding to section 1 thereof
the following:
The owners or masters of steam, sailing, or other vessels, carrying or transporting cattle,
sheep, swine, or other animals from one port in the Philippine Islands to another, or from any
foreign port to any port within the Philippine Islands, shall provide suitable means for
securing such animals while in transit so as to avoid all cruelty and unnecessary suffering to
the animals, and suitable and proper facilities for loading and unloading cattle or other
animals upon or from vessels upon which they are transported, without cruelty or
unnecessary suffering. It is hereby made unlawful to load or unload cattle upon or from
vessels by swinging them over the side by means of ropes or chains attached to the thorns.
Section 3 of Act No. 55 provides that
Any owner or master of a vessel, or custodian of such animals, who knowingly and willfully
fails to comply with the provisions of section one, shall, for every such failure, be liable to pay
a penalty of not less that one hundred dollars nor more that five hundred dollars, United
States money, for each offense. Prosecution under this Act may be instituted in any Court of
First Instance or any provost court organized in the province or port in which such animals
are disembarked.
1. It is contended that the information is insufficient because it does not state that the court was
sitting at a port where the cattle were disembarked, or that the offense was committed on board a
vessel registered and licensed under the laws of the Philippine Islands.
Act No. 55 confers jurisdiction over the offense created thereby on Courts of First Instance or any
provost court organized in the province or port in which such animals are disembarked, and there is
nothing inconsistent therewith in Act No. 136, which provides generally for the organization of the
courts of the Philippine Islands. Act No. 400 merely extends the general jurisdiction of the courts
over certain offenses committed on the high seas, or beyond the jurisdiction of any country, or within
any of the waters of the Philippine Islands on board a ship or water craft of any kind registered or
licensed in the Philippine Islands, in accordance with the laws thereof. (U.S. vs. Fowler, 1 Phil. Rep.,
614.) This jurisdiction may be exercised by the Court of First Instance in any province into which
such ship or water upon which the offense or crime was committed shall come after the commission
thereof. Had this offense been committed upon a ship carrying a Philippine registry, there could have
been no doubt of the Jurisdiction of the court, because it is expressly conferred, and the Act is in
accordance with well recognized and established public law. But the Standard was a Norwegian
vessel, and it is conceded that it was not registered or licensed in the Philippine Islands under the
laws thereof. We have then the question whether the court had jurisdiction over an offense of this
character, committed on board a foreign ship by the master thereof, when the neglect and omission
which constitutes the offense continued during the time the ship was within the territorial waters of
the United States. No court of the Philippine Islands had jurisdiction over an offenses or crime
committed on the high seas or within the territorial waters of any other country, but when she came
within 3 miles of a line drawn from the headlines which embrace the entrance to Manila Bay, she
was within territorial waters, and a new set of principles became applicable. (Wheaton, Int. Law
(Dana ed.), p. 255, note 105; Bonfils, Le Droit Int., sec 490et seq.; Latour, La Mer Ter., ch. 1.) The
ship and her crew were then subject to the jurisdiction of the territorial sovereign subject through the
proper political agency. This offense was committed within territorial waters. From the line which
determines these waters the Standard must have traveled at least 25 miles before she came to
anchor. During that part of her voyage the violation of the statue continued, and as far as the
jurisdiction of the court is concerned, it is immaterial that the same conditions may have existed
while the vessel was on the high seas. The offense, assuming that it originated at the port of

departure in Formosa, was a continuing one, and every element necessary to constitute it existed
during the voyage across the territorial waters. The completed forbidden act was done within
American waters, and the court therefore had jurisdiction over the subject-matter of the offense and
the person of the offender.
The offense then was thus committed within the territorial jurisdiction of the court, but the objection
to the jurisdiction raises the further question whether that jurisdiction is restricted by the fact of the
nationality of the ship. Every. Every state has complete control and jurisdiction over its territorial
waters. According to strict legal right, even public vessels may not enter the ports of a friendly power
without permission, but it is now conceded that in the absence of a prohibition such ports are
considered as open to the public ship of all friendly powers. The exemption of such vessels from
local jurisdiction while within such waters was not established until within comparatively recent times.
In 1794, Attorney-General Bradford, and in 1796 Attorney-General Lee, rendered opinions to the
effect that "the laws of nations invest the commander of a foreign ship of war with no exemption from
the jurisdiction of the country into which he comes." (1, Op. U.S. Attys. Gen., 46, 87.) This theory
was also supported by Lord Stowell in an opinion given by him to the British Government as late as
1820. In the leading case of the Schooner Exchange vs.McFadden (7 Cranch (U.S.), 116, 144),
Chief Justice Marshall said that the implied license under which such vessels enter a friendly port
may reasonably be construed as "containing exemption from the jurisdiction of the sovereign within
whose territory she claims the rights of hospitality." The principle was accepted by the Geneva
Arbitration Tribunal, which announced that "the priviledge of exterritoriality accorded to vessels of
war has been admitted in the law of nations; not as an absolute right, but solely as a proceeding
founded on the principle of courtesy and mutual deference between nations."
(2 Moore, Int. Law Dig., secs. 252 and 254; Hall, Int. Law, sec. 55; Taylor, Int. Law, sec. 256;
Ortolan, Dip de la Mer, 2. C.X.)
Such vessels are therefore permitted during times of peace to come and go freely. Local official
exercise but little control over their actions, and offenses committed by their crew are justiciable by
their own officers acting under the laws to which they primarily owe allegiance. This limitation upon
the general principle of territorial sovereignty is based entirely upon comity and convenience, and
finds its justification in the fact that experience shows that such vessels are generally careful to
respect local laws and regulation which are essential to the health, order, and well-being of the port.
But comity and convenience does not require the extension of the same degree of exemption to
merchant vessels. There are two well-defined theories as to extent of the immunities ordinarily
granted to them, According to the French theory and practice, matters happening on board a
merchant ship which do not concern the tranquillity of the port or persons foreign to the crew, are
justiciable only by the court of the country to which the vessel belongs. The French courts therefore
claim exclusive jurisdiction over crimes committed on board French merchant vessels in foreign
ports by one member of the crew against another. (See Bonfils, Le Droit Int. (quat. ed.), secs. 624628; Martens, Le Droit Int., tome 2, pp. 338, 339; Ortolan, Dip. de la Mer, tit. 1, p. 292; Masse, Droit
Int., tome 2, p. 63.) Such jurisdiction has never been admitted or claim by Great Britain as a right,
although she has frequently conceded it by treaties. (Halleck, Int. Law (Baker's ed.), vol. 1, 231;
British Territorial Waters Act, 1878.) Writers who consider exterritoriality as a fact instead of a theory
have sought to restrict local jurisdiction, but Hall, who is doubtless the leading English authority, says
that
It is admitted by the most thoroughgoing asserters of the territoriality of merchant vessels
that so soon as the latter enter the ports of a foreign state they become subject to the local
jurisdiction on all points in which the interests of the country are touched. (Hall, Int. Law, p.
263.)
The United States has adhered consistently to the view that when a merchant vessel enters a
foreign port it is subject to the jurisdiction of the local authorities, unless the local sovereignty has by

act of acquiescence or through treaty arrangements consented to waive a portion of such

jurisdiction. (15 Op. Attys. Gen., U. S., 178; 2 Moore, Int. Law Dig., sec. 204; article by Dean
Gregory, Mich. Law Review, Vol. II, No. 5.) Chief Justice Marshall, in the case of the Exchange, said
that
When merchant vessels enter for the purpose of trade, in would be obviously in convinient
and dangerous to society and would subject the laws to continual infraction and the
government to degradation if such individual merchants did not owe temporary and local
allegiance, and were not amendable to the jurisdiction of the country.
The Supreme Court of the United States has recently said that the merchant vessels of one country
visiting the ports of another for the purpose of trade, subject themselves to the laws which govern
the ports they visit, so long as they remain; and this as well in war as in peace, unless otherwise
provided by treaty. (U. S. vs. Diekelman, 92 U. S., 520-525.)
Certain limitations upon the jurisdiction of the local courts are imposed by article 13 of the treaty of
commerce and navigation between Sweden and Norway and the United States, of July 4, 1827,
which concedes to the consul, vice-consuls, or consular agents of each country "The right to sit as
judges and arbitrators in such differences as may arise between the captains and crews of the
vessels belonging to the nation whose interests are committed to their charge, without the
interference of the local authorities, unless the conduct of the crews or of the captains should disturb
the order or tranquillity of the country." (Comp. of Treaties in Force, 1904, p. 754.) This exception
applies to controversies between the members of the ship's company, and particularly to disputes
regarding wages. (2 Moore, Int. Law Dig., sec. 206, p. 318; Tellefsen vs. Fee, 168 Mass., 188.) The
order and tranquillity of the country are affected by many events which do not amount to a riot or
general public disturbance. Thus an assault by one member of the crew upon another, committed
upon the ship, of which the public may have no knowledge whatever, is not by this treaty withdrawn
from the cognizance of the local authorities.
In 1876 the mates of the Swedish bark Frederike and Carolina engaged in a "quarrel" on board the
vessel in the port of Galveston, Texas. They were prosecuted before a justice of the peace, but the
United States district attorney was instructed by the Government to take the necessary steps to have
the proceedings dismissed, and the aid of the governor of Texas was invoked with the view to "guard
against a repetition of similar proceedings." (Mr. Fish, Secretary of State, to Mr. Grip, Swedish and
Norwegian charged, May 16, 1876; Moore, Int. Law Dig.) It does not appear that this "quarrel" was of
such a nature as to amount to a breach of the criminal laws of Texas, but when in 1879 the mate for
the Norwegian bark Livingston was prosecuted in the courts of Philadelphia County for an assault
and battery committed on board the ship while lying in the port of Philadelphia, it was held that there
was nothing in the treaty which deprived the local courts of jurisdiction.
(Commonwealth vs. Luckness, 14 Phila. (Pa.), 363.) Representations were made through diplomatic
channels to the State Department, and on July 30, 1880, Mr. Evarts, Secretary of State, wrote to
Count Lewenhaupt, the Swedish and Norwegian minister, as follows:
I have the honor to state that I have given the matter careful consideration in connection with
the views and suggestion of your note and the provisions of the thirteenth article of the treaty
of 1827 between the United States and Sweden and Norway. The stipulations contained in
the last clause of that article . . . are those under which it is contended by you that jurisdiction
is conferred on the consular officers, not only in regard to such differences of a civil nature
growing out of the contract of engagement of the seamen, but also as to disposing of
controversies resulting from personal violence involving offense for which the party may be
held amenable under the local criminal law.

This Government does not view the article in question as susceptible of such broad
interpretation. The jurisdiction conferred upon the consuls is conceived to be limited to their
right to sit as judges or abitrators in such differences as may arise between captains and
crews of the vessels, where such differences do not involve on the part of the captain or
crew a disturbance of the order or tranquillity of the country. When, however, a complaint is
made to a local magistrate, either by the captain or one or more of the crew of the vessel,
involving the disturbance of the order or tranquillity of the country, it is competent for such
magistrate to take cognizance of the matter in furtherance of the local laws, and under such
circumstances in the United States it becomes a public duty which the judge or magistrate is
not at liberty voluntarily to forego. In all such cases it must necessarily be left to the local
judicial authorities whether the procedure shall take place in the United States or in Sweden
to determine if in fact there had been such disturbance of the local order and tranquillity, and
if the complaint is supported by such proof as results in the conviction of the party accused,
to visit upon the offenders such punishment as may be defined against the offense by the
municipal law of the place." (Moore, Int. Law Dig., vol. 2, p. 315.)
The treaty does not therefore deprive the local courts of jurisdiction over offenses committed on
board a merchant vessel by one member of the crew against another which amount to a disturbance
of the order or tranquillity of the country, and a fair and reasonable construction of the language
requires un to hold that any violation of criminal laws disturbs the order or traquillity of the country.
The offense with which the appellant is charged had nothing to so with any difference between the
captain and the crew. It was a violation by the master of the criminal law of the country into whose
port he came. We thus find that neither by reason of the nationality of the vessel, the place of the
commission of the offense, or the prohibitions of any treaty or general principle of public law, are the
court of the Philippine Islands deprived of jurisdiction over the offense charged in the information in
this case.
It is further contended that the complaint is defective because it does not allege that the animals
were disembarked at the port of Manila, an allegation which it is claimed is essential to the
jurisdiction of the court sitting at that port. To hold with the appellant upon this issue would be to
construe the language of the complaint very strictly against the Government. The disembarkation of
the animals is not necessary in order to constitute the completed offense, and a reasonable
construction of the language of the statute confers jurisdiction upon the court sitting at the port into
which the animals are bought. They are then within the territorial jurisdiction of the court, and the
mere fact of their disembarkation is immaterial so far as jurisdiction is concerned. This might be
different if the disembarkation of the animals constituted a constitutional element in the offense, but it
does not.
It is also contended that the information is insufficient because it fails to allege that the
defendant knowingly andwillfully failed to provide suitable means for securing said animals while in
transit, so as to avoid cruelty and unnecessary suffering. The allegation of the complaint that the act
was committed willfully includes the allegation that it was committed knowingly. As said in
Woodhouse vs. Rio Grande R.R. Company (67 Texas, 416), "the word 'willfully' carries the idea,
when used in connection with an act forbidden by law, that the act must be done knowingly or
intentionally; that, with knowledge, the will consented to, designed, and directed the act." So in
Wong vs. City of Astoria (13 Oregon, 538), it was said: "The first one is that the complaint did not
show, in the words of the ordinance, that the appellant 'knowingly' did the act complained of. This
point, I think, was fully answered by the respondent's counsel that the words 'willfully' and
'knowingly' conveyed the same meaning. To 'willfully' do an act implies that it was done by design
done for a certain purpose; and I think that it would necessarily follow that it was 'knowingly' done."
To the same effect is Johnson vs. The People (94 Ill., 505), which seems to be on all fours with the
present case.

The evidence shows not only that the defendant's acts were knowingly done, but his defense rests
upon the assertion that "according to his experience, the system of carrying cattle loose upon the
decks and in the hold is preferable and more secure to the life and comfort of the animals." It was
conclusively proven that what was done was done knowingly and intentionally.
In charging an offense under section 6 of General Orders, No. 58, paragraph 3, it is only necessary
to state the act or omission complained of as constituting a crime or public offense in ordinary and
concise language, without repitition. It need not necessarily be in the words of the statute, but it must
be in such form as to enable a person of common understanding to know what is intended and the
court to pronounce judgment according to right. A complaint which complies with this requirement is
good. (U.S. vs. Sarabia, 4 Phil. Rep., 556.)
The Act, which is in the English language, impose upon the master of a vessel the duty to "provide
suitable means for securing such animals while in transit, so as to avoid all cruelty and unnecessary
suffering to the animals." The allegation of the complaint as it reads in English is that the defendant
willfully, unlawfully, and wrongfully carried the cattle "without providing suitable means for securing
said animals while in transit, so as to avoid cruelty and unnecessary suffering to the said animals in
this . . . that by reason of the aforesaid neglect and failure of the accused to provide suitable means
for securing said animals were cruelty torn, and many of said animals were tossed about upon the
decks and hold of said vessels, and cruelty wounded, bruised, and killed."
The appellant contends that the language of the Spanish text of the information does not charge him
with failure to provide "sufficient" and "adequate" means. The words used are "medios suficientes"
and "medios adecuados." In view of the fact that the original complaint was prepared in English, and
that the word "suitable" is translatable by the words "adecuado," "suficiente," and "conveniente,"
according to the context and circumstances, we determine this point against the appellant,
particularly in view of the fact that the objection was not made in the court below, and that the
evidence clearly shows a failure to provide "suitable means for the protection of the animals."
2. The appellant's arguments against the constitutionality of Act No. 55 and the amendment thereto
seems to rest upon a fundamentally erroneous conception of the constitutional law of these Islands.
The statute penalizes acts and ommissions incidental to the transportation of live stock between
foreign ports and ports of the Philippine Islands, and had a similar statute regulating commerce with
its ports been enacted by the legislature of one of the States of the Union, it would doubtless have
been in violation of Article I, section 3, of the Constitution of the United States. (Stubbs vs. People
(Colo.), 11 L. R. A., N. S., 1071.)
But the Philippine Islands is not a State, and its relation to the United States is controlled by
constitutional principles different from those which apply to States of the Union. The importance of
the question thus presented requires a statement of the principles which govern those relations, and
consideration of the nature and extent of the legislative power of the Philippine Commission and the
Legislature of the Philippines. After much discussion and considerable diversity of opinion certain
applicable constitutional doctrines are established.
The Constitution confers upon the United States the express power to make war and treaties, and it
has the power possessed by all nations to acquire territory by conquest or treaty. Territory thus
acquired belongs to the United States, and to guard against the possibility of the power of Congress
to provide for its government being questioned, the framers of the Constitution provided in express
terms that Congress should have the power "to dispose of and make all needful rules and
regulations respecting territory and other property belonging to the United States." (Art. IV, sec. 3,
par. 3.) Upon the acquisition of the territory by the United States, and until it is formally incorporated
into the Union, the duty of providing a government therefor devolves upon Congress. It may govern

the territory by its direct acts, or it may create a local government, and delegate thereto the ordinary
powers required for local government. (Binns vs. U. S., 194 U. S., 486.) This has been the usual
procedure. Congress has provided such governments for territories which were within the Union,
and for newly acquired territory not yet incorporated therein. It has been customary to organize a
government with the ordinary separation of powers into executive, legislative, and judicial, and to
prescribe in an organic act certain general conditions in accordance with which the local government
should act. The organic act thus became the constitution of the government of the territory which
had not been formally incorporated into the Union, and the validity of legislation enacted by the local
legislature was determined by its conformity with the requirements of such organic act. (National
Bank vs. Yankton, 11 Otto (U. S.), 129.) To the legislative body of the local government Congress
has delegated that portion of legislative power which in its wisdom it deemed necessary for the
government of the territory, reserving, however, the right to annul the action of the local legislature
and itself legislate directly for the territory. This power has been exercised during the entire period of
the history of the United States. The right of Congress to delegate such legislative power can no
longer be seriously questioned. (Dorr vs. U. S., 195 U. S., 138; U. S. vs. Heinszen, 206 U. S., 370,
385.)
The Constitution of the United States does not by its own force operate within such territory,
although the liberality of Congress in legislating the Constitution into contiguous territory tended to
create an impression upon the minds of many people that it went there by its own force.
(Downes vs. Bidwell, 182 U. S., 289.) In legislating with reference to this territory, the power of
Congress is limited only by those prohibitions of the Constitution which go to the very root of its
power to act at all, irrespective of time or place. In all other respects it is plenary. (De
Lima vs. Bidwell, 182 U. S., 1; Downes vs. Bidwell, 182 U. S., 244; Hawaii vs. Mankichi, 190 U. S.,
197; Dorr vs. U. S., 195 U. S., 138; Rassmussen vs. U. S., 197 U. S., 516.)
This power has been exercised by Congress throughout the whole history of the United States, and
legislation founded on the theory was enacted long prior to the acquisition of the present Insular
possessions. Section 1891 of the Revised Statutes of 1878 provides that "The Constitution and all
laws of the United States which are not locally inapplicable shall have the same force and effect
within all the organized territories, and in every Territory hereafter organized, as elsewhere within the
United States." When Congress organized a civil government for the Philippines, it expressly
provided that this section of the Revised Statutes should not apply to the Philippine Islands. (Sec. 1,
Act of 1902.)
In providing for the government of the territory which was acquired by the United States as a result
of the war with Spain, the executive and legislative authorities have consistently proceeded in
conformity with the principles above state. The city of Manila was surrendered to the United States
on August 13, 1898, and the military commander was directed to hold the city, bay, and harbor,
pending the conclusion of a peace which should determine the control, disposition, and government
of the Islands. The duty then devolved upon the American authorities to preserve peace and protect
person and property within the occupied territory. Provision therefor was made by proper orders, and
on August 26 General Merritt assumed the duties of military governor. The treaty of peace was
signed December 10, 1898. On the 22d of December, 1898, the President announced that the
destruction of the Spanish fleet and the surrender of the city had practically effected the conquest of
the Philippine Islands and the suspension of the Spanish sovereignty therein, and that by the treaty
of peace the future control, disposition, and government of the Islands had been ceded to the United
States. During the periods of strict military occupation, before the treaty of peace was ratified, and
the interim thereafter, until Congress acted (Santiago vs. Noueral, 214 U.S., 260), the territory was
governed under the military authority of the President as commander in chief. Long before Congress
took any action, the President organized a civil government which, however, had its legal
justification, like the purely military government which it gradually superseded, in the war power. The

military power of the President embraced legislative, executive personally, or through such military
or civil agents as he chose to select. As stated by Secretary Root in his report for 1901
The military power in exercise in a territory under military occupation includes executive,
legislative, and judicial authority. It not infrequently happens that in a single order of a military
commander can be found the exercise of all three of these different powers the exercise
of the legislative powers by provisions prescribing a rule of action; of judicial power by
determination of right; and the executive power by the enforcement of the rules prescribed
and the rights determined.
President McKinley desired to transform military into civil government as rapidly as conditions would
permit. After full investigation, the organization of civil government was initiated by the appointment
of a commission to which civil authority was to be gradually transferred. On September 1, 1900, the
authority to exercise, subject to the approval of the President. "that part of the military power of the
President in the Philippine Islands which is legislative in its character" was transferred from the
military government to the Commission, to be exercised under such rules and regulations as should
be prescribed by the Secretary of War, until such time as complete civil government should be
established, or congress otherwise provided. The legislative power thus conferred upon the
Commission was declared to include "the making of rules and orders having the effect of law for the
raising of revenue by taxes, customs duties, and imposts; the appropriation and expenditure of
public funds of the Islands; the establishment of an educational system to secure an efficient civil
service; the organization and establishment of courts; the organization and establishment of
municipal and departmental government, and all other matters of a civil nature which the military
governor is now competent to provide by rules or orders of a legislative character." This grant of
legislative power to the Commission was to be exercised in conformity with certain declared general
principles, and subject to certain specific restrictions for the protection of individual rights. The
Commission were to bear in mind that the government to be instituted was "not for our satisfaction or
for the expression of our theoretical views, but for the happiness, peace, and prosperity of the
people of the Philippine Island, and the measures adopted should be made to conforms to their
customs, their habits, and even their prejudices, to the fullest extent consistent with the
accomplishment of the indispensable requisites of just and effective government." The specific
restrictions upon legislative power were found in the declarations that "no person shall be deprived
of life, liberty, or property without due process of law; that private property shall not be taken for
public use without just compensation; that in all criminal prosecutions the accused shall enjoy the
right to a speedy and public trial, to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation, to be
confronted with the witnesses against him, to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in
his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense; that excessive bail shall not be
required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishment inflicted; that no person
shall be put twice in jeopardy for the same offense or be compelled in any criminal case to be a
witness against himself; that the right to be secure against unreasonable searches and seizures
shall not be violated; that neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall exist except as a punishment
for crime; that no bill of attainder or ex post facto law shall be passed; that no law shall be passed
abridging the freedom of speech or of the press or of the rights of the people to peaceably assemble
and petition the Government for a redress of grievances; that no law shall be made respecting an
establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, and that the free exercise and
enjoyment of religious profession and worship without discrimination or preference shall forever be
allowed."
To prevent any question as to the legality of these proceedings being raised, the Spooner
amendment to the Army Appropriation Bill passed March 2, 1901, provided that "all military, civil, and
judicial powers necessary to govern the Philippine Islands . . . shall until otherwise provided by
Congress be vested in such person and persons, and shall be exercised in such manner, as the
President of the United States shall direct, for the establishment of civil government, and for

maintaining and protecting the inhabitants of said Islands in the free enjoyment of their liberty,
property, and religion." Thereafter, on July 4, 1901, the authority, which had been exercised
previously by the military governor, was transferred to that official. The government thus created by
virtue of the authority of the President as Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy continued to
administer the affairs of the Islands under the direction of the President until by the Act of July 1,
1902, Congress assumed control of the situation by the enactment of a law which, in connection with
the instructions of April 7, 1900, constitutes the organic law of the Philippine Islands.
The Act of July 1, 1902, made no substancial changes in the form of government which the
President had erected. Congress adopted the system which was in operation, and approved the
action of the President in organizing the government. Substantially all the limitations which had been
imposed on the legislative power by the President's instructions were included in the law, Congress
thus extending to the Islands by legislative act nor the Constitution, but all its provisions for the
protection of the rights and privileges of individuals which were appropriate under the conditions.
The action of the President in creating the Commission with designated powers of government, in
creating the office of the Governor-General and Vice-Governor-General, and through the
Commission establishing certain executive departments, was expressly approved and ratified.
Subsequently the action of the President in imposing a tariff before and after the ratification of the
treaty of peace was also ratified and approved by Congress. (Act of March 8, 1902; Act of July 1,
1902; U.S. vs. Heinszen, 206 U.S., 370; Lincoln vs. U.S., 197 U.S., 419.) Until otherwise provided by
law the Islands were to continue to be governed "as thereby and herein provided." In the future the
enacting clause of all statutes should read "By authority of the United States" instead of "By the
authority of the President." In the course of time the legislative authority of the Commission in all
parts of the Islands not inhabited by Moros or non-Christian tribes was to be transferred to a
legislature consisting of two houses the Philippine Commission and the Philippine Assembly. The
government of the Islands was thus assumed by Congress under its power to govern newly acquired
territory not incorporated into the United States.
This Government of the Philippine Islands is not a State or a Territory, although its form and
organization somewhat resembles that of both. It stands outside of the constitutional relation which
unites the States and Territories into the Union. The authority for its creation and maintenance is
derived from the Constitution of the United States, which, however, operates on the President and
Congress, and not directly on the Philippine Government. It is the creation of the United States,
acting through the President and Congress, both deriving power from the same source, but from
different parts thereof. For its powers and the limitations thereon the Government of the Philippines
looked to the orders of the President before Congress acted and the Acts of Congress after it
assumed control. Its organic laws are derived from the formally and legally expressed will of the
President and Congress, instead of the popular sovereign constituency which lies upon any subject
relating to the Philippines is primarily in Congress, and when it exercise such power its act is from
the viewpoint of the Philippines the legal equivalent of an amendment of a constitution in the United
States.
Within the limits of its authority the Government of the Philippines is a complete governmental
organism with executive, legislative, and judicial departments exercising the functions commonly
assigned to such departments. The separation of powers is as complete as in most governments. In
neither Federal nor State governments is this separation such as is implied in the abstract statement
of the doctrine. For instance, in the Federal Government the Senate exercises executive powers,
and the President to some extent controls legislation through the veto power. In a State the veto
power enables him to exercise much control over legislation. The Governor-General, the head of the
executive department in the Philippine Government, is a member of the Philippine Commission, but
as executive he has no veto power. The President and Congress framed the government on the
model with which Americans are familiar, and which has proven best adapted for the advancement
of the public interests and the protection of individual rights and priviliges.

In instituting this form of government of intention must have been to adopt the general constitutional
doctrined which are inherent in the system. Hence, under it the Legislature must enact laws subject
to the limitations of the organic laws, as Congress must act under the national Constitution, and the
States under the national and state constitutions. The executive must execute such laws as are
constitutionally enacted. The judiciary, as in all governments operating under written constitutions,
must determine the validity of legislative enactments, as well as the legality of all private and official
acts. In performing these functions it acts with the same independence as the Federal and State
judiciaries in the United States. Under no other constitutional theory could there be that government
of laws and not of men which is essential for the protection of rights under a free and orderly
government.
Such being the constitutional theory of the Government of the Philippine Islands, it is apparent that
the courts must consider the question of the validity of an act of the Philippine Commission or the
Philippine Legislature, as a State court considers an act of the State legislature. The Federal
Government exercises such powers only as are expressly or impliedly granted to it by the
Constitution of the United States, while the States exercise all powers which have not been granted
to the central government. The former operates under grants, the latter subject to restrictions. The
validity of an Act of Congress depends upon whether the Constitution of the United States contains a
grant of express or implied authority to enact it. An act of a State legislature is valid unless the
Federal or State constitution expressly or impliedly prohibits its enaction. An Act of the legislative
authority of the Philippines Government which has not been expressly disapproved by Congress is
valid unless its subject-matter has been covered by congressional legislation, or its enactment
forbidden by some provision of the organic laws.
The legislative power of the Government of the Philippines is granted in general terms subject to
specific limitations. The general grant is not alone of power to legislate on certain subjects, but to
exercise the legislative power subject to the restrictions stated. It is true that specific authority is
conferred upon the Philippine Government relative to certain subjects of legislation, and that
Congress has itself legislated upon certain other subjects. These, however, should be viewed simply
as enactments on matters wherein Congress was fully informed and ready to act, and not as
implying any restriction upon the local legislative authority in other matters. (See Opinion of Atty.
Gen. of U. S., April 16, 1908.)
The fact that Congress reserved the power to annul specific acts of legislation by the Government of
the Philippine tends strongly to confirm the view that for purposes of construction the Government of
the Philippines should be regarded as one of general instead of enumerated legislative powers. The
situation was unusual. The new government was to operate far from the source of its authority. To
relieve Congress from the necessity of legislating with reference to details, it was thought better to
grant general legislative power to the new government, subject to broad and easily understood
prohibitions, and reserve to Congress the power to annul its acts if they met with disapproval. It was
therefore provided "that all laws passed by the Government of the Philippine Islands shall be
reported to Congress, which hereby reserves the power and authority to annul the same." (Act of
Congress, July 1, 1902, sec. 86.) This provision does not suspend the acts of the Legislature of the
Philippines until approved by Congress, or when approved, expressly or by acquiescence, make
them the laws of Congress. They are valid acts of the Government of the Philippine Islands until
annulled. (Miners Bank vs. Iowa, 12 How. (U. S.), 1.)
In order to determine the validity of Act No. 55 we must then ascertain whether the Legislature has
been expressly or implication forbidden to enact it. Section 3, Article IV, of the Constitution of the
United States operated only upon the States of the Union. It has no application to the Government of
the Philippine Islands. The power to regulate foreign commerce is vested in Congress, and by virtue
of its power to govern the territory belonging to the United States, it may regulate foreign commerce
with such territory. It may do this directly, or indirectly through a legislative body created by it, to

which its power in this respect if delegate. Congress has by direct legislation determined the duties
which shall be paid upon goods imported into the Philippines, and it has expressly authorized the
Government of the Philippines to provide for the needs of commerce by improving harbors and
navigable waters. A few other specific provisions relating to foreign commerce may be found in the
Acts of Congress, but its general regulation is left to the Government of the Philippines, subject to
the reserved power of Congress to annul such legislation as does not meet with its approval. The
express limitations upon the power of the Commission and Legislature to legislate do not affect the
authority with respect to the regulation of commerce with foreign countries. Act No. 55 was enacted
before Congress took over the control of the Islands, and this act was amended by Act No. 275 after
the Spooner amendment of March 2, 1901, was passed. The military government, and the civil
government instituted by the President, had the power, whether it be called legislative or
administrative, to regulate commerce between foreign nations and the ports of the territory.
(Cross vs. Harrison, 16 How. (U.S.), 164, 190; Hamilton vs. Dillin, 21 Wall. (U.S.), 73, 87.) This Act
has remained in force since its enactment without annulment or other action by Congress, and must
be presumed to have met with its approval. We are therefore satisfied that the Commission had, and
the Legislature now has, full constitutional power to enact laws for the regulation of commerce
between foreign countries and the ports of the Philippine Islands, and that Act No. 55, as amended
by Act No. 275, is valid.
3. Whether a certain method of handling cattle is suitable within the meaning of the Act can not be
left to the judgment of the master of the ship. It is a question which must be determined by the court
from the evidence. On December 2, 1908, the defendant Bull brought into and disembarked in the
port and city of Manila certain cattle, which came from the port of Ampieng, Formosa, without
providing suitable means for securing said animals while in transit, so as to avoid cruelty and
unnecessary suffering to said animals, contrary to the provisions of section 1 of Act No. 55, as
amended by section 1 of Act No. 275. The trial court found the following facts, all of which are fully
sustained by the evidence:
That the defendant, H. N. Bull, as captain and master of the Norwegian steamer known as
the Standard, for a period of six months or thereabouts prior to the 2d day of December,
1908, was engaged in the transportation of cattle and carabaos from Chines and Japanese
ports to and into the city of Manila, Philippine Islands.
That on the 2d day of December, 1908, the defendant, as such master and captain as
aforesaid, brought into the city of Manila, aboard said ship, a large number of cattle, which
ship was anchored, under the directions of the said defendant, behind the breakwaters in
front of the city of Manila, in Manila Bay, and within the jurisdiction of this court; and that
fifteen of said cattle then and there had broken legs and three others of said cattle were
dead, having broken legs; and also that said cattle were transported and carried upon said
ship as aforesaid by the defendant, upon the deck and in the hold of said ship, without
suitable precaution and care for the transportation of said animals, and to avoid danger and
risk to their lives and security; and further that said cattle were so transported abroad said
ship by the defendant and brought into the said bay, and into the city of Manila, without any
provisions being made whatever upon said decks of said ship and in the hold thereof to
maintain said cattle in a suitable condition and position for such transportation.
That a suitable and practicable manner in which to transport cattle abroad steamship coming
into Manila Bay and unloading in the city of Manila is by way of individual stalls for such
cattle, providing partitions between the cattle and supports at the front sides, and rear
thereof, and cross-cleats upon the floor on which they stand and are transported, of that in
case of storms, which are common in this community at sea, such cattle may be able to
stand without slipping and pitching and falling, individually or collectively, and to avoid the
production of panics and hazard to the animals on account or cattle were transported in this

case. Captain Summerville of the steamship Taming, a very intelligent and experienced
seaman, has testified, as a witness in behalf of the Government, and stated positively that
since the introduction in the ships with which he is acquainted of the stall system for the
transportation of animals and cattle he has suffered no loss whatever during the last year.
The defendant has testified, as a witness in his own behalf, that according to his experience
the system of carrying cattle loose upon the decks and in the hold is preferable and more
secure to the life and comfort of the animals, but this theory of the case is not maintainable,
either by the proofs or common reason. It can not be urged with logic that, for instance, three
hundred cattle supports for the feet and without stalls or any other protection for them
individually can safely and suitably carried in times of storm upon the decks and in the holds
of ships; such a theory is against the law of nature. One animal falling or pitching, if he is
untied or unprotected, might produce a serious panic and the wounding of half the animals
upon the ship if transported in the manner found in this case.
The defendant was found guilty, and sentenced to pay a fine of two hundred and fifty pesos, with
subsidiary imprisonment in case of insolvency, and to pay the costs. The sentence and judgment is
affirmed. So ordered.

G.R. No. L-45685

November 16, 1937

THE PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS and HONGKONG & SHANGHAI BANKING
CORPORATION,petitioners,
vs.
JOSE O. VERA, Judge . of the Court of First Instance of Manila, and MARIANO CU
UNJIENG, respondents.
Office of the Solicitor General Tuason and City Fiscal Diaz for the Government.
De Witt, Perkins and Ponce Enrile for the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation.
Vicente J. Francisco, Feria and La O, Orense and Belmonte, and Gibbs and McDonough for
respondent Cu Unjieng.
No appearance for respondent Judge.

LAUREL, J.:
This is an original action instituted in this court on August 19, 1937, for the issuance of the writ
of certiorari and of prohibition to the Court of First Instance of Manila so that this court may review
the actuations of the aforesaid Court of First Instance in criminal case No. 42649 entitled "The
People of the Philippine Islands vs. Mariano Cu Unjieng, et al.", more particularly the application of
the defendant Mariano Cu Unjieng therein for probation under the provisions of Act No. 4221, and
thereafter prohibit the said Court of First Instance from taking any further action or entertaining
further the aforementioned application for probation, to the end that the defendant Mariano Cu
Unjieng may be forthwith committed to prison in accordance with the final judgment of conviction
rendered by this court in said case (G. R. No. 41200). 1
Petitioners herein, the People of the Philippine and the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking
Corporation, are respectively the plaintiff and the offended party, and the respondent herein Mariano
Cu Unjieng is one of the defendants, in the criminal case entitled "The People of the Philippine
Islands vs. Mariano Cu Unjieng, et al.", criminal case No. 42649 of the Court of First Instance of
Manila and G.R. No. 41200 of this court. Respondent herein, Hon. Jose O. Vera, is the Judge ad
interim of the seventh branch of the Court of First Instance of Manila, who heard the application of
the defendant Mariano Cu Unjieng for probation in the aforesaid criminal case.
The information in the aforesaid criminal case was filed with the Court of First Instance of Manila on
October 15, 1931, petitioner herein Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation intervening in the
case as private prosecutor. After a protracted trial unparalleled in the annals of Philippine
jurisprudence both in the length of time spent by the court as well as in the volume in the testimony
and the bulk of the exhibits presented, the Court of First Instance of Manila, on January 8, 1934,
rendered a judgment of conviction sentencing the defendant Mariano Cu Unjieng to indeterminate
penalty ranging from four years and two months of prision correccional to eight years of prision
mayor, to pay the costs and with reservation of civil action to the offended party, the Hongkong and
Shanghai Banking Corporation. Upon appeal, the court, on March 26, 1935, modified the sentence
to an indeterminate penalty of from five years and six months of prision correccional to seven years,
six months and twenty-seven days ofprision mayor, but affirmed the judgment in all other respects.
Mariano Cu Unjieng filed a motion for reconsideration and four successive motions for new trial
which were denied on December 17, 1935, and final judgment was accordingly entered on
December 18, 1935. The defendant thereupon sought to have the case elevated oncertiorari to the
Supreme Court of the United States but the latter denied the petition
for certiorari in
November, 1936. This court, on
November 24, 1936, denied the

petition subsequently filed by the defendant for leave to file a second alternative motion for
reconsideration or new trial and thereafter remanded the case to the court of origin for execution of
the judgment.
The instant proceedings have to do with the application for probation filed by the herein respondent
Mariano Cu Unjieng on
November 27, 1936, before the trial court, under the provisions of Act
No. 4221 of the defunct Philippine Legislature. Herein respondent Mariano Cu Unjieng states in his
petition, inter alia, that he is innocent of the crime of which he was convicted, that he has no criminal
record and that he would observe good conduct in the future. The Court of First Instance of Manila,
Judge Pedro Tuason presiding, referred the application for probation of the Insular Probation Office
which recommended denial of the same June 18, 1937. Thereafter, the Court of First Instance of
Manila, seventh branch, Judge Jose O. Vera presiding, set the petition for hearing on April 5, 1937.
On April 2, 1937, the Fiscal of the City of Manila filed an opposition to the granting of probation to the
herein respondent Mariano Cu Unjieng. The private prosecution also filed an opposition on April 5,
1937, alleging, among other things, that Act No. 4221, assuming that it has not been repealed by
section 2 of Article XV of the Constitution, is nevertheless violative of section 1, subsection (1),
Article III of the Constitution guaranteeing equal protection of the laws for the reason that its
applicability is not uniform throughout the Islands and because section 11 of the said Act endows the
provincial boards with the power to make said law effective or otherwise in their respective or
otherwise in their respective provinces. The private prosecution also filed a supplementary
opposition on April 19, 1937, elaborating on the alleged unconstitutionality on Act No. 4221, as an
undue delegation of legislative power to the provincial boards of several provinces (sec. 1, Art. VI,
Constitution). The City Fiscal concurred in the opposition of the private prosecution except with
respect to the questions raised concerning the constitutionality of Act No. 4221.
On June 28, 1937, herein respondent Judge Jose O. Vera promulgated a resolution with a finding
that "las pruebas no han establecido de unamanera concluyente la culpabilidad del peticionario y
que todos los hechos probados no son inconsistentes o incongrentes con su inocencia" and
concludes that the herein respondent Mariano Cu Unjieng "es inocente por duda racional" of the
crime of which he stands convicted by this court in G.R. No. 41200, but denying the latter's petition
for probation for the reason that:
. . . Si este Juzgado concediera la poblacion solicitada por las circunstancias y la historia
social que se han expuesto en el cuerpo de esta resolucion, que hacen al peticionario
acreedor de la misma, una parte de la opinion publica, atizada por los recelos y las
suspicacias, podria levantarse indignada contra un sistema de probacion que permite atisbar
en los procedimientos ordinarios de una causa criminal perturbando la quietud y la eficacia
de las decisiones ya recaidas al traer a la superficie conclusiones enteramente differentes,
en menoscabo del interes publico que demanda el respeto de las leyes y del veredicto
judicial.
On July 3, 1937, counsel for the herein respondent Mariano Cu Unjieng filed an exception to the
resolution denying probation and a notice of intention to file a motion for reconsideration. An
alternative motion for reconsideration or new trial was filed by counsel on July 13, 1937. This was
supplemented by an additional motion for reconsideration submitted on July 14, 1937. The aforesaid
motions were set for hearing on July 31, 1937, but said hearing was postponed at the petition of
counsel for the respondent Mariano Cu Unjieng because a motion for leave to intervene in the case
as amici curiae signed by thirty-three (thirty-four) attorneys had just been filed with the trial court.
Attorney Eulalio Chaves whose signature appears in the aforesaid motion subsequently filed a
petition for leave to withdraw his appearance as amicus curiae on the ground that the motion for
leave to intervene as amici curiae was circulated at a banquet given by counsel for Mariano Cu

Unjieng on the evening of July 30, 1937, and that he signed the same "without mature deliberation
and purely as a matter of courtesy to the person who invited me (him)."
On August 6, 1937, the Fiscal of the City of Manila filed a motion with the trial court for the issuance
of an order of execution of the judgment of this court in said case and forthwith to commit the herein
respondent Mariano Cu Unjieng to jail in obedience to said judgment.
On August 7, 1937, the private prosecution filed its opposition to the motion for leave to intervene
as amici curiaeaforementioned, asking that a date be set for a hearing of the same and that, at all
events, said motion should be denied with respect to certain attorneys signing the same who were
members of the legal staff of the several counsel for Mariano Cu Unjieng. On August 10, 1937,
herein respondent Judge Jose O. Vera issued an order requiring all parties including the movants for
intervention as amici curiae to appear before the court on August 14, 1937. On the last-mentioned
date, the Fiscal of the City of Manila moved for the hearing of his motion for execution of judgment in
preference to the motion for leave to intervene as amici curiae but, upon objection of counsel for
Mariano Cu Unjieng, he moved for the postponement of the hearing of both motions. The
respondent judge thereupon set the hearing of the motion for execution on August 21, 1937, but
proceeded to consider the motion for leave to intervene as amici curiae as in order. Evidence as to
the circumstances under which said motion for leave to intervene as amici curiae was signed and
submitted to court was to have been heard on August 19, 1937. But at this juncture, herein
petitioners came to this court on extraordinary legal process to put an end to what they alleged was
an interminable proceeding in the Court of First Instance of Manila which fostered "the campaign of
the defendant Mariano Cu Unjieng for delay in the execution of the sentence imposed by this
Honorable Court on him, exposing the courts to criticism and ridicule because of the apparent
inability of the judicial machinery to make effective a final judgment of this court imposed on the
defendant Mariano Cu Unjieng."
The scheduled hearing before the trial court was accordingly suspended upon the issuance of a
temporary restraining order by this court on August 21, 1937.
To support their petition for the issuance of the extraordinary writs of certiorari and prohibition, herein
petitioners allege that the respondent judge has acted without jurisdiction or in excess of his
jurisdiction:
I. Because said respondent judge lacks the power to place respondent Mariano Cu Unjieng under
probation for the following reason:
(1) Under section 11 of Act No. 4221, the said of the Philippine Legislature is made to apply
only to the provinces of the Philippines; it nowhere states that it is to be made applicable to
chartered cities like the City of Manila.
(2) While section 37 of the Administrative Code contains a proviso to the effect that in the
absence of a special provision, the term "province" may be construed to include the City of
Manila for the purpose of giving effect to laws of general application, it is also true that Act
No. 4221 is not a law of general application because it is made to apply only to those
provinces in which the respective provincial boards shall have provided for the salary of a
probation officer.
(3) Even if the City of Manila were considered to be a province, still, Act No. 4221 would not
be applicable to it because it has provided for the salary of a probation officer as required by
section 11 thereof; it being immaterial that there is an Insular Probation Officer willing to act

for the City of Manila, said Probation Officer provided for in section 10 of Act No. 4221 being
different and distinct from the Probation Officer provided for in section 11 of the same Act.
II. Because even if the respondent judge originally had jurisdiction to entertain the application for
probation of the respondent Mariano Cu Unjieng, he nevertheless acted without jurisdiction or in
excess thereof in continuing to entertain the motion for reconsideration and by failing to commit
Mariano Cu Unjieng to prison after he had promulgated his resolution of June 28, 1937, denying
Mariano Cu Unjieng's application for probation, for the reason that:
(1) His jurisdiction and power in probation proceedings is limited by Act No. 4221 to the
granting or denying of applications for probation.
(2) After he had issued the order denying Mariano Cu Unjieng's petition for probation on
June 28, 1937, it became final and executory at the moment of its rendition.
(3) No right on appeal exists in such cases.
(4) The respondent judge lacks the power to grant a rehearing of said order or to modify or
change the same.
III. Because the respondent judge made a finding that Mariano Cu Unjieng is innocent of the crime
for which he was convicted by final judgment of this court, which finding is not only presumptuous
but without foundation in fact and in law, and is furthermore in contempt of this court and a violation
of the respondent's oath of office as ad interim judge of first instance.
IV. Because the respondent judge has violated and continues to violate his duty, which became
imperative when he issued his order of June 28, 1937, denying the application for probation, to
commit his co-respondent to jail.
Petitioners also avers that they have no other plain, speedy and adequate remedy in the ordinary
course of law.
In a supplementary petition filed on September 9, 1937, the petitioner Hongkong and Shanghai
Banking Corporation further contends that Act No. 4221 of the Philippine Legislature providing for a
system of probation for persons eighteen years of age or over who are convicted of crime, is
unconstitutional because it is violative of section 1, subsection (1), Article III, of the Constitution of
the Philippines guaranteeing equal protection of the laws because it confers upon the provincial
board of its province the absolute discretion to make said law operative or otherwise in their
respective provinces, because it constitutes an unlawful and improper delegation to the provincial
boards of the several provinces of the legislative power lodged by the Jones Law (section 8) in the
Philippine Legislature and by the Constitution (section 1, Art. VI) in the National Assembly; and for
the further reason that it gives the provincial boards, in contravention of the Constitution (section 2,
Art. VIII) and the Jones Law (section 28), the authority to enlarge the powers of the Court of First
Instance of different provinces without uniformity. In another supplementary petition dated
September 14, 1937, the Fiscal of the City of Manila, in behalf of one of the petitioners, the People of
the Philippine Islands, concurs for the first time with the issues raised by other petitioner regarding
the constitutionality of Act No. 4221, and on the oral argument held on October 6, 1937, further
elaborated on the theory that probation is a form of reprieve and therefore Act. No. 4221 is an
encroachment on the exclusive power of the Chief Executive to grant pardons and reprieves. On
October 7, 1937, the City Fiscal filed two memorandums in which he contended that Act No. 4221
not only encroaches upon the pardoning power to the executive, but also constitute an unwarranted
delegation of legislative power and a denial of the equal protection of the laws. On October 9, 1937,

two memorandums, signed jointly by the City Fiscal and the Solicitor-General, acting in behalf of the
People of the Philippine Islands, and by counsel for the petitioner, the Hongkong and Shanghai
Banking Corporation, one sustaining the power of the state to impugn the validity of its own laws and
the other contending that Act No. 4221 constitutes an unwarranted delegation of legislative power,
were presented. Another joint memorandum was filed by the same persons on the same day,
October 9, 1937, alleging that Act No. 4221 is unconstitutional because it denies the equal protection
of the laws and constitutes an unlawful delegation of legislative power and, further, that the whole
Act is void: that the Commonwealth is not estopped from questioning the validity of its laws; that the
private prosecution may intervene in probation proceedings and may attack the probation law as
unconstitutional; and that this court may pass upon the constitutional question in prohibition
proceedings.
Respondents in their answer dated August 31, 1937, as well as in their oral argument and
memorandums, challenge each and every one of the foregoing proposition raised by the petitioners.
As special defenses, respondents allege:
(1) That the present petition does not state facts sufficient in law to warrant the issuance of
the writ of certiorari or of prohibition.
(2) That the aforesaid petition is premature because the remedy sought by the petitioners is
the very same remedy prayed for by them before the trial court and was still pending
resolution before the trial court when the present petition was filed with this court.
(3) That the petitioners having themselves raised the question as to the execution of
judgment before the trial court, said trial court has acquired exclusive jurisdiction to resolve
the same under the theory that its resolution denying probation is unappealable.
(4) That upon the hypothesis that this court has concurrent jurisdiction with the Court of First
Instance to decide the question as to whether or not the execution will lie, this court
nevertheless cannot exercise said jurisdiction while the Court of First Instance has assumed
jurisdiction over the same upon motion of herein petitioners themselves.
(5) That upon the procedure followed by the herein petitioners in seeking to deprive the trial
court of its jurisdiction over the case and elevate the proceedings to this court, should not be
tolerated because it impairs the authority and dignity of the trial court which court while sitting
in the probation cases is "a court of limited jurisdiction but of great dignity."
(6) That under the supposition that this court has jurisdiction to resolve the question
submitted to and pending resolution by the trial court, the present action would not lie
because the resolution of the trial court denying probation is appealable; for although the
Probation Law does not specifically provide that an applicant for probation may appeal from
a resolution of the Court of First Instance denying probation, still it is a general rule in this
jurisdiction that a final order, resolution or decision of an inferior court is appealable to the
superior court.
(7) That the resolution of the trial court denying probation of herein respondent Mariano Cu
Unjieng being appealable, the same had not become final and executory for the reason that
the said respondent had filed an alternative motion for reconsideration and new trial within
the requisite period of fifteen days, which motion the trial court was able to resolve in view of
the restraining order improvidently and erroneously issued by this court.
lawphi 1.net

(8) That the Fiscal of the City of Manila had by implication admitted that the resolution of the
trial court denying probation is not final and unappealable when he presented his answer to
the motion for reconsideration and agreed to the postponement of the hearing of the said
motion.
(9) That under the supposition that the order of the trial court denying probation is not
appealable, it is incumbent upon the accused to file an action for the issuance of the writ
ofcertiorari with mandamus, it appearing that the trial court, although it believed that the
accused was entitled to probation, nevertheless denied probation for fear of criticism
because the accused is a rich man; and that, before a petition for certiorari grounded on an
irregular exercise of jurisdiction by the trial court could lie, it is incumbent upon the petitioner
to file a motion for reconsideration specifying the error committed so that the trial court could
have an opportunity to correct or cure the same.
(10) That on hypothesis that the resolution of this court is not appealable, the trial court
retains its jurisdiction within a reasonable time to correct or modify it in accordance with law
and justice; that this power to alter or modify an order or resolution is inherent in the courts
and may be exercise either motu proprio or upon petition of the proper party, the petition in
the latter case taking the form of a motion for reconsideration.
(11) That on the hypothesis that the resolution of the trial court is appealable as respondent
allege, said court cannot order execution of the same while it is on appeal, for then the
appeal would not be availing because the doors of probation will be closed from the moment
the accused commences to serve his sentence (Act No. 4221, sec. 1; U.S. vs. Cook, 19 Fed.
[2d], 827).
In their memorandums filed on October 23, 1937, counsel for the respondents maintain that Act No.
4221 is constitutional because, contrary to the allegations of the petitioners, it does not constitute an
undue delegation of legislative power, does not infringe the equal protection clause of the
Constitution, and does not encroach upon the pardoning power of the Executive. In an additional
memorandum filed on the same date, counsel for the respondents reiterate the view that section 11
of Act No. 4221 is free from constitutional objections and contend, in addition, that the private
prosecution may not intervene in probation proceedings, much less question the validity of Act No.
4221; that both the City Fiscal and the Solicitor-General are estopped from questioning the validity of
the Act; that the validity of Act cannot be attacked for the first time before this court; that probation in
unavailable; and that, in any event, section 11 of the Act No. 4221 is separable from the rest of the
Act. The last memorandum for the respondent Mariano Cu Unjieng was denied for having been filed
out of time but was admitted by resolution of this court and filed anew on
November 5, 1937.
This memorandum elaborates on some of the points raised by the respondents and refutes those
brought up by the petitioners.
In the scrutiny of the pleadings and examination of the various aspects of the present case, we
noted that the court below, in passing upon the merits of the application of the respondent Mariano
Cu Unjieng and in denying said application assumed the task not only of considering the merits of
the application, but of passing upon the culpability of the applicant, notwithstanding the final
pronouncement of guilt by this court. (G.R. No. 41200.) Probation implies guilt be final judgment.
While a probation case may look into the circumstances attending the commission of the offense,
this does not authorize it to reverse the findings and conclusive of this court, either directly or
indirectly, especially wherefrom its own admission reliance was merely had on the printed briefs,
averments, and pleadings of the parties. As already observed by this court in Shioji vs.
Harvey ([1922], 43 Phil., 333, 337), and reiterated in subsequent cases, "if each and every Court of
First Instance could enjoy the privilege of overruling decisions of the Supreme Court, there would be

no end to litigation, and judicial chaos would result." A becoming modesty of inferior courts demands
conscious realization of the position that they occupy in the interrelation and operation of the
intergrated judicial system of the nation.
After threshing carefully the multifarious issues raised by both counsel for the petitioners and the
respondents, this court prefers to cut the Gordian knot and take up at once the two fundamental
questions presented, namely, (1) whether or not the constitutionality of Act No. 4221 has been
properly raised in these proceedings; and (2) in the affirmative, whether or not said Act is
constitutional. Considerations of these issues will involve a discussion of certain incidental questions
raised by the parties.
To arrive at a correct conclusion on the first question, resort to certain guiding principles is
necessary. It is a well-settled rule that the constitutionality of an act of the legislature will not be
determined by the courts unless that question is properly raised and presented inappropriate cases
and is necessary to a determination of the case; i.e., the issue of constitutionality must be the very lis
mota presented. (McGirr vs. Hamilton and Abreu [1915], 30 Phil., 563, 568; 6 R. C. L., pp. 76, 77; 12
C. J., pp. 780-782, 783.)
The question of the constitutionality of an act of the legislature is frequently raised in ordinary
actions. Nevertheless, resort may be made to extraordinary legal remedies, particularly where the
remedies in the ordinary course of law even if available, are not plain, speedy and adequate. Thus,
in Cu Unjieng vs. Patstone ([1922]), 42 Phil., 818), this court held that the question of the
constitutionality of a statute may be raised by the petitioner in mandamusproceedings (see, also, 12
C. J., p. 783); and in Government of the Philippine Islands vs. Springer ([1927], 50 Phil., 259
[affirmed in Springer vs. Government of the Philippine Islands (1928), 277 U. S., 189; 72 Law. ed.,
845]), this court declared an act of the legislature unconstitutional in an action of quo
warranto brought in the name of the Government of the Philippines. It has also been held that the
constitutionality of a statute may be questioned inhabeas corpus proceedings (12 C. J., p. 783;
Bailey on Habeas Corpus, Vol. I, pp. 97, 117), although there are authorities to the contrary; on an
application for injunction to restrain action under the challenged statute (mandatory, see Cruz vs.
Youngberg [1931], 56 Phil., 234); and even on an application for preliminary injunction where the
determination of the constitutional question is necessary to a decision of the case. (12 C. J., p. 783.)
The same may be said as regards prohibition and certiorari.(Yu Cong Eng vs. Trinidad [1925], 47
Phil., 385; [1926], 271 U. S., 500; 70 Law. ed., 1059; Bell vs. First Judicial District Court [1905], 28
Nev., 280; 81 Pac., 875; 113 A. S. R., 854; 6 Ann. Cas., 982; 1 L. R. A. [N. S], 843, and cases cited).
The case of Yu Cong Eng vs. Trinidad, supra, decided by this court twelve years ago was, like the
present one, an original action for certiorari and prohibition. The constitutionality of Act No. 2972,
popularly known as the Chinese Bookkeeping Law, was there challenged by the petitioners, and the
constitutional issue was not met squarely by the respondent in a demurrer. A point was raised
"relating to the propriety of the constitutional question being decided in original proceedings in
prohibition." This court decided to take up the constitutional question and, with two justices
dissenting, held that Act No. 2972 was constitutional. The case was elevated on writ of certiorari to
the Supreme Court of the United States which reversed the judgment of this court and held that the
Act was invalid. (271 U. S., 500; 70 Law. ed., 1059.) On the question of jurisdiction, however, the
Federal Supreme Court, though its Chief Justice, said:
By the Code of Civil Procedure of the Philippine Islands, section 516, the Philippine supreme
court is granted concurrent jurisdiction in prohibition with courts of first instance over inferior
tribunals or persons, and original jurisdiction over courts of first instance, when such courts
are exercising functions without or in excess of their jurisdiction. It has been held by that
court that the question of the validity of the criminal statute must usually be raised by a
defendant in the trial court and be carried regularly in review to the Supreme Court.
(Cadwallader-Gibson Lumber Co. vs. Del Rosario, 26 Phil., 192). But in this case where a

new act seriously affected numerous persons and extensive property rights, and was likely to
cause a multiplicity of actions, the Supreme Court exercised its discretion to bring the issue
to the act's validity promptly before it and decide in the interest of the orderly administration
of justice. The court relied by analogy upon the cases of Ex parteYoung (209 U. S., 123;52
Law ed., 714; 13 L. R. A. [N. S.] 932; 28 Sup. Ct. Rep., 441; 14 Ann. Ca., 764; Traux vs.
Raich, 239 U. S., 33; 60 Law. ed., 131; L. R. A. 1916D, 545; 36 Sup. Ct. Rep., 7; Ann. Cas.,
1917B, 283; and Wilson vs. New, 243 U. S., 332; 61 Law. ed., 755; L. R. A. 1917E, 938; 37
Sup. Ct. Rep., 298; Ann. Cas. 1918A, 1024). Although objection to the jurisdiction was raise
by demurrer to the petition, this is now disclaimed on behalf of the respondents, and both
parties ask a decision on the merits. In view of the broad powers in prohibition granted to that
court under the Island Code, we acquiesce in the desire of the parties.
The writ of prohibition is an extraordinary judicial writ issuing out of a court of superior jurisdiction
and directed to an inferior court, for the purpose of preventing the inferior tribunal from usurping a
jurisdiction with which it is not legally vested. (High, Extraordinary Legal Remedies, p. 705.) The
general rule, although there is a conflict in the cases, is that the merit of prohibition will not lie
whether the inferior court has jurisdiction independent of the statute the constitutionality of which is
questioned, because in such cases the interior court having jurisdiction may itself determine the
constitutionality of the statute, and its decision may be subject to review, and consequently the
complainant in such cases ordinarily has adequate remedy by appeal without resort to the writ of
prohibition. But where the inferior court or tribunal derives its jurisdiction exclusively from an
unconstitutional statute, it may be prevented by the writ of prohibition from enforcing that statute. (50
C. J., 670; Ex parte Round tree [1874, 51 Ala., 42; In re Macfarland, 30 App. [D. C.], 365; Curtis vs.
Cornish [1912], 109 Me., 384; 84 A., 799; Pennington vs. Woolfolk [1880], 79 Ky., 13; State vs.
Godfrey [1903], 54 W. Va., 54; 46 S. E., 185; Arnold vs. Shields [1837], 5 Dana, 19; 30 Am. Dec.,
669.)
Courts of First Instance sitting in probation proceedings derived their jurisdiction solely from Act No.
4221 which prescribes in detailed manner the procedure for granting probation to accused persons
after their conviction has become final and before they have served their sentence. It is true that at
common law the authority of the courts to suspend temporarily the execution of the sentence is
recognized and, according to a number of state courts, including those of Massachusetts, Michigan,
New York, and Ohio, the power is inherent in the courts (Commonwealth vs. Dowdican's Bail [1874],
115 Mass., 133; People vs. Stickel [1909], 156 Mich., 557; 121 N. W., 497; People ex rel. Forsyth vs.
Court of Session [1894], 141 N. Y., 288; Weber vs. State [1898], 58 Ohio St., 616). But, in the
leading case of Ex parte United States ([1916], 242 U. S., 27; 61 Law. ed., 129; L. R. A., 1917E,
1178; 37 Sup. Ct. Rep., 72; Ann. Cas. 1917B, 355), the Supreme Court of the United States
expressed the opinion that under the common law the power of the court was limited to temporary
suspension, and brushed aside the contention as to inherent judicial power saying, through Chief
Justice White:
Indisputably under our constitutional system the right to try offenses against the criminal laws
and upon conviction to impose the punishment provided by law is judicial, and it is equally to
be conceded that, in exerting the powers vested in them on such subject, courts inherently
possess ample right to exercise reasonable, that is, judicial, discretion to enable them to
wisely exert their authority. But these concessions afford no ground for the contention as to
power here made, since it must rest upon the proposition that the power to enforce begets
inherently a discretion to permanently refuse to do so. And the effect of the proposition urged
upon the distribution of powers made by the Constitution will become apparent when it is
observed that indisputable also is it that the authority to define and fix the punishment for
crime is legislative and includes the right in advance to bring within judicial discretion, for the
purpose of executing the statute, elements of consideration which would be otherwise
beyond the scope of judicial authority, and that the right to relieve from the punishment, fixed

by law and ascertained according to the methods by it provided belongs to the executive
department.
Justice Carson, in his illuminating concurring opinion in the case of Director of Prisons vs. Judge of
First Instance of Cavite (29 Phil., 265), decided by this court in 1915, also reached the conclusion
that the power to suspend the execution of sentences pronounced in criminal cases is not inherent in
the judicial function. "All are agreed", he said, "that in the absence of statutory authority, it does not
lie within the power of the courts to grant such suspensions." (at p. 278.) Both petitioner and
respondents are correct, therefore, when they argue that a Court of First Instance sitting in probation
proceedings is a court of limited jurisdiction. Its jurisdiction in such proceedings is conferred
exclusively by Act No. 4221 of the Philippine Legislature.
It is, of course, true that the constitutionality of a statute will not be considered on application for
prohibition where the question has not been properly brought to the attention of the court by
objection of some kind (Hill vs. Tarver [1901], 130 Ala., 592; 30 S., 499; State ex rel. Kelly vs. Kirby
[1914], 260 Mo., 120; 168 S. W., 746). In the case at bar, it is unquestionable that the constitutional
issue has been squarely presented not only before this court by the petitioners but also before the
trial court by the private prosecution. The respondent, Hon. Jose O Vera, however, acting as judge
of the court below, declined to pass upon the question on the ground that the private prosecutor, not
being a party whose rights are affected by the statute, may not raise said question. The respondent
judge cited Cooley on Constitutional Limitations (Vol. I, p. 339; 12 C. J., sec. 177, pp. 760 and 762),
and McGlue vs. Essex County ([1916], 225 Mass., 59; 113 N. E., 742, 743), as authority for the
proposition that a court will not consider any attack made on the constitutionality of a statute by one
who has no interest in defeating it because his rights are not affected by its operation. The
respondent judge further stated that it may not motu proprio take up the constitutional question and,
agreeing with Cooley that "the power to declare a legislative enactment void is one which the judge,
conscious of the fallibility of the human judgment, will shrink from exercising in any case where he
can conscientiously and with due regard to duty and official oath decline the responsibility"
(Constitutional Limitations, 8th ed., Vol. I, p. 332), proceeded on the assumption that Act No. 4221 is
constitutional. While therefore, the court a quo admits that the constitutional question was raised
before it, it refused to consider the question solely because it was not raised by a proper party.
Respondents herein reiterates this view. The argument is advanced that the private prosecution has
no personality to appear in the hearing of the application for probation of defendant Mariano Cu
Unjieng in criminal case No. 42648 of the Court of First Instance of Manila, and hence the issue of
constitutionality was not properly raised in the lower court. Although, as a general rule, only those
who are parties to a suit may question the constitutionality of a statute involved in a judicial decision,
it has been held that since the decree pronounced by a court without jurisdiction is void, where the
jurisdiction of the court depends on the validity of the statute in question, the issue of the
constitutionality will be considered on its being brought to the attention of the court by persons
interested in the effect to be given the statute.(12 C. J., sec. 184, p. 766.) And, even if we were to
concede that the issue was not properly raised in the court below by the proper party, it does not
follow that the issue may not be here raised in an original action of certiorari and prohibitions. It is
true that, as a general rule, the question of constitutionality must be raised at the earliest opportunity,
so that if not raised by the pleadings, ordinarily it may not be raised at the trial, and if not raised in
the trial court, it will not considered on appeal. (12 C. J., p. 786. See, also, Cadwallader-Gibson
Lumber Co. vs. Del Rosario, 26 Phil., 192, 193-195.) But we must state that the general rule admits
of exceptions. Courts, in the exercise of sounds discretion, may determine the time when a question
affecting the constitutionality of a statute should be presented. (In re Woolsey [1884], 95 N. Y., 135,
144.) Thus, in criminal cases, although there is a very sharp conflict of authorities, it is said that the
question may be raised for the first time at any stage of the proceedings, either in the trial court or on
appeal. (12 C. J., p. 786.) Even in civil cases, it has been held that it is the duty of a court to pass on
the constitutional question, though raised for the first time on appeal, if it appears that a
determination of the question is necessary to a decision of the case. (McCabe's Adm'x vs. Maysville

& B. S. R. Co., [1910], 136 ky., 674; 124 S. W., 892; Lohmeyer vs. St. Louis Cordage Co. [1908],
214 Mo., 685; 113 S. W. 1108; Carmody vs. St. Louis Transit Co., [1905], 188 Mo., 572; 87 S. W.,
913.) And it has been held that a constitutional question will be considered by an appellate court at
any time, where it involves the jurisdiction of the court below (State vs. Burke [1911], 175 Ala., 561;
57 S., 870.) As to the power of this court to consider the constitutional question raised for the first
time before this court in these proceedings, we turn again and point with emphasis to the case of Yu
Cong Eng vs. Trinidad, supra. And on the hypotheses that the Hongkong & Shanghai Banking
Corporation, represented by the private prosecution, is not the proper party to raise the constitutional
question here a point we do not now have to decide we are of the opinion that the People of
the Philippines, represented by the Solicitor-General and the Fiscal of the City of Manila, is such a
proper party in the present proceedings. The unchallenged rule is that the person who impugns the
validity of a statute must have a personal and substantial interest in the case such that he has
sustained, or will sustained, direct injury as a result of its enforcement. It goes without saying that if
Act No. 4221 really violates the constitution, the People of the Philippines, in whose name the
present action is brought, has a substantial interest in having it set aside. Of grater import than the
damage caused by the illegal expenditure of public funds is the mortal wound inflicted upon the
fundamental law by the enforcement of an invalid statute. Hence, the well-settled rule that the state
can challenge the validity of its own laws. In Government of the Philippine Islands vs. Springer
([1927]), 50 Phil., 259 (affirmed in Springer vs. Government of the Philippine Islands [1928], 277
U.S., 189; 72 Law. ed., 845), this court declared an act of the legislature unconstitutional in an action
instituted in behalf of the Government of the Philippines. In Attorney General vs. Perkins ([1889], 73
Mich., 303, 311, 312; 41 N. W. 426, 428, 429), the State of Michigan, through its Attorney General,
instituted quo warranto proceedings to test the right of the respondents to renew a mining
corporation, alleging that the statute under which the respondents base their right was
unconstitutional because it impaired the obligation of contracts. The capacity of the chief law officer
of the state to question the constitutionality of the statute was though, as a general rule, only those
who are parties to a suit may question the constitutionality of a statute involved in a judicial decision,
it has been held that since the decree pronounced by a court without jurisdiction in void, where the
jurisdiction of the court depends on the validity of the statute in question, the issue of constitutionality
will be considered on its being brought to the attention of the court by persons interested in the effect
to begin the statute. (12 C.J., sec. 184, p. 766.) And, even if we were to concede that the issue was
not properly raised in the court below by the proper party, it does not follow that the issue may not be
here raised in an original action of certiorari and prohibition. It is true that, as a general rule, the
question of constitutionality must be raised at the earliest opportunity, so that if not raised by the
pleadings, ordinarily it may not be raised a the trial, and if not raised in the trial court, it will not be
considered on appeal. (12 C.J., p. 786. See, also, Cadwallader-Gibson Lumber Co. vs. Del Rosario,
26 Phil., 192, 193-195.) But we must state that the general rule admits of exceptions. Courts, in the
exercise of sound discretion, may determine the time when a question affecting the constitutionality
of a statute should be presented. (In re Woolsey [19884], 95 N.Y., 135, 144.) Thus, in criminal
cases, although there is a very sharp conflict of authorities, it is said that the question may be raised
for the first time at any state of the proceedings, either in the trial court or on appeal. (12 C.J., p.
786.) Even in civil cases, it has been held that it is the duty of a court to pass on the constitutional
question, though raised for first time on appeal, if it appears that a determination of the question is
necessary to a decision of the case. (McCabe's Adm'x vs. Maysville & B. S. R. Co. [1910], 136 Ky.,
674; 124 S. W., 892; Lohmeyer vs. St. Louis, Cordage Co. [1908], 214 Mo. 685; 113 S. W., 1108;
Carmody vs. St. Louis Transit Co. [1905], 188 Mo., 572; 87 S. W., 913.) And it has been held that a
constitutional question will be considered by an appellate court at any time, where it involves the
jurisdiction of the court below (State vs. Burke [1911], 175 Ala., 561; 57 S., 870.) As to the power of
this court to consider the constitutional question raised for the first time before this court in these
proceedings, we turn again and point with emphasis to the case of Yu Cong Eng. vs. Trinidad,
supra. And on the hypothesis that the Hongkong & Shanghai Banking Corporation, represented by
the private prosecution, is not the proper party to raise the constitutional question here a point we
do not now have to decide we are of the opinion that the People of the Philippines, represented

by the Solicitor-General and the Fiscal of the City of Manila, is such a proper party in the present
proceedings. The unchallenged rule is that the person who impugns the validity of a statute must
have a personal and substantial interest in the case such that he has sustained, or will sustain, direct
injury as a result of its enforcement. It goes without saying that if Act No. 4221 really violates the
Constitution, the People of the Philippines, in whose name the present action is brought, has a
substantial interest in having it set aside. Of greater import than the damage caused by the illegal
expenditure of public funds is the mortal wound inflicted upon the fundamental law by the
enforcement of an invalid statute. Hence, the well-settled rule that the state can challenge the
validity of its own laws. In Government of the Philippine Islands vs. Springer ([1927]), 50 Phil., 259
(affirmed in Springer vs. Government of the Philippine Islands [1928], 277 U.S., 189; 72 Law. ed.,
845), this court declared an act of the legislature unconstitutional in an action instituted in behalf of
the Government of the Philippines. In Attorney General vs. Perkings([1889], 73 Mich., 303, 311, 312;
41 N.W., 426, 428, 429), the State of Michigan, through its Attorney General, instituted quo warranto
proceedings to test the right of the respondents to renew a mining corporation, alleging that the
statute under which the respondents base their right was unconstitutional because it impaired the
obligation of contracts. The capacity of the chief law officer of the state to question the
constitutionality of the statute was itself questioned. Said the Supreme Court of Michigan, through
Champlin, J.:
. . . The idea seems to be that the people are estopped from questioning the validity of a law
enacted by their representatives; that to an accusation by the people of Michigan of
usurpation their government, a statute enacted by the people of Michigan is an adequate
answer. The last proposition is true, but, if the statute relied on in justification is
unconstitutional, it is statute only in form, and lacks the force of law, and is of no more saving
effect to justify action under it than if it had never been enacted. The constitution is the
supreme law, and to its behests the courts, the legislature, and the people must bow . . . The
legislature and the respondents are not the only parties in interest upon such constitutional
questions. As was remarked by Mr. Justice Story, in speaking of an acquiescence by a party
affected by an unconstitutional act of the legislature: "The people have a deep and vested
interest in maintaining all the constitutional limitations upon the exercise of legislative
powers." (Allen vs. Mckeen, 1 Sum., 314.)
In State vs. Doane ([1916], 98 Kan., 435; 158 Pac., 38, 40), an original action (mandamus) was
brought by the Attorney-General of Kansas to test the constitutionality of a statute of the state. In
disposing of the question whether or not the state may bring the action, the Supreme Court of
Kansas said:
. . . the state is a proper party indeed, the proper party to bring this action. The state is
always interested where the integrity of its Constitution or statutes is involved.
"It has an interest in seeing that the will of the Legislature is not disregarded,
and need not, as an individual plaintiff must, show grounds of fearing more
specific injury. (State vs. Kansas City 60 Kan., 518 [57 Pac., 118])." (State vs.
Lawrence, 80 Kan., 707; 103 Pac., 839.)
Where the constitutionality of a statute is in doubt the state's law officer, its Attorney-General,
or county attorney, may exercise his bet judgment as to what sort of action he will bring to
have the matter determined, either by quo warranto to challenge its validity (State vs.
Johnson, 61 Kan., 803; 60 Pac., 1068; 49 L.R.A., 662), by mandamus to compel obedience
to its terms (State vs. Dolley, 82 Kan., 533; 108 Pac., 846), or by injunction to restrain
proceedings under its questionable provisions (State ex rel. vs. City of Neodesha, 3 Kan.
App., 319; 45 Pac., 122).

Other courts have reached the same conclusion (See State vs. St. Louis S. W. Ry. Co. [1917], 197
S. W., 1006; State vs. S.H. Kress & Co. [1934], 155 S., 823; State vs. Walmsley [1935], 181 La.,
597; 160 S., 91; State vs. Board of County Comr's [1934], 39 Pac. [2d], 286; First Const. Co. of
Brooklyn vs. State [1917], 211 N.Y., 295; 116 N.E., 1020; Bush vs. State {1918], 187 Ind., 339; 119
N.E., 417; State vs. Watkins [1933], 176 La., 837; 147 S., 8, 10, 11). In the case last cited, the
Supreme Court of Luisiana said:
It is contended by counsel for Herbert Watkins that a district attorney, being charged with the
duty of enforcing the laws, has no right to plead that a law is unconstitutional. In support of
the argument three decisions are cited, viz.: State ex rel. Hall, District Attorney, vs. Judge of
Tenth Judicial District (33 La. Ann., 1222); State ex rel. Nicholls, Governor vs. Shakespeare,
Mayor of New Orleans (41 Ann., 156; 6 So., 592); and State ex rel., Banking Co., etc. vs.
Heard, Auditor (47 La. Ann., 1679; 18 So., 746; 47 L. R. A., 512). These decisions do not
forbid a district attorney to plead that a statute is unconstitutional if he finds if in conflict with
one which it is his duty to enforce. In State ex rel. Hall, District Attorney, vs. Judge, etc., the
ruling was the judge should not, merely because he believed a certain statute to be
unconstitutional forbid the district attorney to file a bill of information charging a person with a
violation of the statute. In other words, a judge should not judicially declare a statute
unconstitutional until the question of constitutionality is tendered for decision, and unless it
must be decided in order to determine the right of a party litigant. State ex rel. Nicholls,
Governor, etc., is authority for the proposition merely that an officer on whom a statute
imposes the duty of enforcing its provisions cannot avoid the duty upon the ground that he
considers the statute unconstitutional, and hence in enforcing the statute he is immune from
responsibility if the statute be unconstitutional. State ex rel. Banking Co., etc., is authority for
the proposition merely that executive officers, e.g., the state auditor and state treasurer,
should not decline to perform ministerial duties imposed upon them by a statute, on the
ground that they believe the statute is unconstitutional.
It is the duty of a district attorney to enforce the criminal laws of the state, and, above all, to
support the Constitution of the state. If, in the performance of his duty he finds two statutes in
conflict with each other, or one which repeals another, and if, in his judgment, one of the two
statutes is unconstitutional, it is his duty to enforce the other; and, in order to do so, he is
compelled to submit to the court, by way of a plea, that one of the statutes is
unconstitutional. If it were not so, the power of the Legislature would be free from
constitutional limitations in the enactment of criminal laws.
The respondents do not seem to doubt seriously the correctness of the general proposition that the
state may impugn the validity of its laws. They have not cited any authority running clearly in the
opposite direction. In fact, they appear to have proceeded on the assumption that the rule as stated
is sound but that it has no application in the present case, nor may it be invoked by the City Fiscal in
behalf of the People of the Philippines, one of the petitioners herein, the principal reasons being that
the validity before this court, that the City Fiscal is estopped from attacking the validity of the Act
and, not authorized challenge the validity of the Act in its application outside said city. (Additional
memorandum of respondents, October 23, 1937, pp. 8,. 10, 17 and 23.)
The mere fact that the Probation Act has been repeatedly relied upon the past and all that time has
not been attacked as unconstitutional by the Fiscal of Manila but, on the contrary, has been impliedly
regarded by him as constitutional, is no reason for considering the People of the Philippines
estopped from nor assailing its validity. For courts will pass upon a constitutional questions only
when presented before it in bona fide cases for determination, and the fact that the question has not
been raised before is not a valid reason for refusing to allow it to be raised later. The fiscal and all
others are justified in relying upon the statute and treating it as valid until it is held void by the courts
in proper cases.

It remains to consider whether the determination of the constitutionality of Act No. 4221 is necessary
to the resolution of the instant case. For, ". . . while the court will meet the question with firmness,
where its decision is indispensable, it is the part of wisdom, and just respect for the legislature,
renders it proper, to waive it, if the case in which it arises, can be decided on other points." (Ex
parte Randolph [1833], 20 F. Cas. No. 11, 558; 2 Brock., 447. Vide, also Hoover vs. wood [1857], 9
Ind., 286, 287.) It has been held that the determination of a constitutional question is necessary
whenever it is essential to the decision of the case (12 C. J., p. 782, citing Long Sault Dev. Co. vs.
Kennedy [1913], 158 App. Div., 398; 143 N. Y. Supp., 454 [aff. 212 N.Y., 1: 105 N. E., 849; Ann.
Cas. 1915D, 56; and app dism 242 U.S., 272]; Hesse vs. Ledesma, 7 Porto Rico Fed., 520; Cowan
vs. Doddridge, 22 Gratt [63 Va.], 458; Union Line Co., vs. Wisconsin R. Commn., 146 Wis., 523; 129
N. W., 605), as where the right of a party is founded solely on a statute the validity of which is
attacked. (12 C.J., p. 782, citing Central Glass Co. vs. Niagrara F. Ins. Co., 131 La., 513; 59 S., 972;
Cheney vs. Beverly, 188 Mass., 81; 74 N.E., 306). There is no doubt that the respondent Cu Unjieng
draws his privilege to probation solely from Act No. 4221 now being assailed.
Apart from the foregoing considerations, that court will also take cognizance of the fact that the
Probation Act is a new addition to our statute books and its validity has never before been passed
upon by the courts; that may persons accused and convicted of crime in the City of Manila have
applied for probation; that some of them are already on probation; that more people will likely take
advantage of the Probation Act in the future; and that the respondent Mariano Cu Unjieng has been
at large for a period of about four years since his first conviction. All wait the decision of this court on
the constitutional question. Considering, therefore, the importance which the instant case has
assumed and to prevent multiplicity of suits, strong reasons of public policy demand that the
constitutionality of Act No. 4221 be now resolved. (Yu Cong Eng vs. Trinidad [1925], 47 Phil., 385;
[1926], 271 U.S., 500; 70 Law. ed., 1059. See 6 R.C.L., pp. 77, 78; People vs. Kennedy [1913], 207
N.Y., 533; 101 N.E., 442, 444; Ann. Cas. 1914C, 616; Borginis vs. Falk Co. [1911], 147 Wis., 327;
133 N.W., 209, 211; 37 L.R.A. [N.S.] 489; Dimayuga and Fajardo vs. Fernandez [1922], 43 Phil.,
304.) In Yu Cong Eng vs. Trinidad, supra, an analogous situation confronted us. We said: "Inasmuch
as the property and personal rights of nearly twelve thousand merchants are affected by these
proceedings, and inasmuch as Act No. 2972 is a new law not yet interpreted by the courts, in the
interest of the public welfare and for the advancement of public policy, we have determined to
overrule the defense of want of jurisdiction in order that we may decide the main issue. We have
here an extraordinary situation which calls for a relaxation of the general rule." Our ruling on this
point was sustained by the Supreme Court of the United States. A more binding authority in support
of the view we have taken can not be found.
We have reached the conclusion that the question of the constitutionality of Act No. 4221 has been
properly raised. Now for the main inquiry: Is the Act unconstitutional?
Under a doctrine peculiarly American, it is the office and duty of the judiciary to enforce the
Constitution. This court, by clear implication from the provisions of section 2, subsection 1, and
section 10, of Article VIII of the Constitution, may declare an act of the national legislature invalid
because in conflict with the fundamental lay. It will not shirk from its sworn duty to enforce the
Constitution. And, in clear cases, it will not hesitate to give effect to the supreme law by setting aside
a statute in conflict therewith. This is of the essence of judicial duty.
This court is not unmindful of the fundamental criteria in cases of this nature that all reasonable
doubts should be resolved in favor of the constitutionality of a statute. An act of the legislature
approved by the executive, is presumed to be within constitutional limitations. The responsibility of
upholding the Constitution rests not on the courts alone but on the legislature as well. "The question
of the validity of every statute is first determined by the legislative department of the government
itself." (U.S. vs. Ten Yu [1912], 24 Phil., 1, 10; Case vs. Board of Health and Heiser [1913], 24 Phil.,
250, 276; U.S. vs. Joson [1913], 26 Phil., 1.) And a statute finally comes before the courts sustained

by the sanction of the executive. The members of the Legislature and the Chief Executive have
taken an oath to support the Constitution and it must be presumed that they have been true to this
oath and that in enacting and sanctioning a particular law they did not intend to violate the
Constitution. The courts cannot but cautiously exercise its power to overturn the solemn declarations
of two of the three grand departments of the governments. (6 R.C.L., p. 101.) Then, there is that
peculiar political philosophy which bids the judiciary to reflect the wisdom of the people as expressed
through an elective Legislature and an elective Chief Executive. It follows, therefore, that the courts
will not set aside a law as violative of the Constitution except in a clear case. This is a proposition
too plain to require a citation of authorities.
One of the counsel for respondents, in the course of his impassioned argument, called attention to
the fact that the President of the Philippines had already expressed his opinion against the
constitutionality of the Probation Act, adverting that as to the Executive the resolution of this question
was a foregone conclusion. Counsel, however, reiterated his confidence in the integrity and
independence of this court. We take notice of the fact that the President in his message dated
September 1, 1937, recommended to the National Assembly the immediate repeal of the Probation
Act (No. 4221); that this message resulted in the approval of Bill No. 2417 of the Nationality
Assembly repealing the probation Act, subject to certain conditions therein mentioned; but that said
bill was vetoed by the President on September 13, 1937, much against his wish, "to have stricken
out from the statute books of the Commonwealth a law . . . unfair and very likely unconstitutional." It
is sufficient to observe in this connection that, in vetoing the bill referred to, the President exercised
his constitutional prerogative. He may express the reasons which he may deem proper for taking
such a step, but his reasons are not binding upon us in the determination of actual controversies
submitted for our determination. Whether or not the Executive should express or in any manner
insinuate his opinion on a matter encompassed within his broad constitutional power of veto but
which happens to be at the same time pending determination in this court is a question of propriety
for him exclusively to decide or determine. Whatever opinion is expressed by him under these
circumstances, however, cannot sway our judgment on way or another and prevent us from taking
what in our opinion is the proper course of action to take in a given case. It if is ever necessary for us
to make any vehement affirmance during this formative period of our political history, it is that we are
independent of the Executive no less than of the Legislative department of our government
independent in the performance of our functions, undeterred by any consideration, free from politics,
indifferent to popularity, and unafraid of criticism in the accomplishment of our sworn duty as we see
it and as we understand it.
The constitutionality of Act No. 4221 is challenged on three principal grounds: (1) That said Act
encroaches upon the pardoning power of the Executive; (2) that its constitutes an undue delegation
of legislative power and (3) that it denies the equal protection of the laws.
1. Section 21 of the Act of Congress of August 29, 1916, commonly known as the Jones Law, in
force at the time of the approval of Act No. 4221, otherwise known as the Probation Act, vests in the
Governor-General of the Philippines "the exclusive power to grant pardons and reprieves and remit
fines and forfeitures". This power is now vested in the President of the Philippines. (Art. VII, sec. 11,
subsec. 6.) The provisions of the Jones Law and the Constitution differ in some respects. The
adjective "exclusive" found in the Jones Law has been omitted from the Constitution. Under the
Jones Law, as at common law, pardon could be granted any time after the commission of the
offense, either before or after conviction (Vide Constitution of the United States, Art. II, sec. 2; In
re Lontok [1922], 43 Phil., 293). The Governor-General of the Philippines was thus empowered, like
the President of the United States, to pardon a person before the facts of the case were fully brought
to light. The framers of our Constitution thought this undesirable and, following most of the state
constitutions, provided that the pardoning power can only be exercised "after conviction". So, too,
under the new Constitution, the pardoning power does not extend to "cases of impeachment". This is
also the rule generally followed in the United States (Vide Constitution of the United States, Art. II,

sec. 2). The rule in England is different. There, a royal pardon can not be pleaded in bar of an
impeachment; "but," says Blackstone, "after the impeachment has been solemnly heard and
determined, it is not understood that the king's royal grace is further restrained or abridged." (Vide,
Ex parte Wells [1856], 18 How., 307; 15 Law. ed., 421; Com. vs. Lockwood [1872], 109 Mass., 323;
12 Am. Rep., 699; Sterling vs. Drake [1876], 29 Ohio St., 457; 23 am. Rep., 762.) The reason for the
distinction is obvious. In England, Judgment on impeachment is not confined to mere "removal from
office and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust, or profit under the
Government" (Art. IX, sec. 4, Constitution of the Philippines) but extends to the whole punishment
attached by law to the offense committed. The House of Lords, on a conviction may, by its sentence,
inflict capital punishment, perpetual banishment, perpetual banishment, fine or imprisonment,
depending upon the gravity of the offense committed, together with removal from office and
incapacity to hold office. (Com. vs. Lockwood, supra.) Our Constitution also makes specific mention
of "commutation" and of the power of the executive to impose, in the pardons he may grant, such
conditions, restrictions and limitations as he may deem proper. Amnesty may be granted by the
President under the Constitution but only with the concurrence of the National Assembly. We need
not dwell at length on the significance of these fundamental changes. It is sufficient for our purposes
to state that the pardoning power has remained essentially the same. The question is: Has the
pardoning power of the Chief Executive under the Jones Law been impaired by the Probation Act?
As already stated, the Jones Law vests the pardoning power exclusively in the Chief Executive. The
exercise of the power may not, therefore, be vested in anyone else.
". . . The benign prerogative of mercy reposed in the executive cannot be taken away nor fettered by
any legislative restrictions, nor can like power be given by the legislature to any other officer or
authority. The coordinate departments of government have nothing to do with the pardoning power,
since no person properly belonging to one of the departments can exercise any powers appertaining
to either of the others except in cases expressly provided for by the constitution." (20 R.C.L., pp., ,
and cases cited.) " . . . where the pardoning power is conferred on the executive without express or
implied limitations, the grant is exclusive, and the legislature can neither exercise such power itself
nor delegate it elsewhere, nor interfere with or control the proper exercise thereof, . . ." (12 C.J., pp.
838, 839, and cases cited.) If Act No. 4221, then, confers any pardoning power upon the courts it is
for that reason unconstitutional and void. But does it?
In the famous Killitts decision involving an embezzlement case, the Supreme Court of the United
States ruled in 1916 that an order indefinitely suspending sentenced was void. (Ex parte United
States [1916], 242 U.S., 27; 61 Law. ed., 129; L.R.A. 1917E, 1178; 37 Sup. Ct. Rep., 72; Ann. Cas.
1917B, 355.) Chief Justice White, after an exhaustive review of the authorities, expressed the
opinion of the court that under the common law the power of the court was limited to temporary
suspension and that the right to suspend sentenced absolutely and permanently was vested in the
executive branch of the government and not in the judiciary. But, the right of Congress to establish
probation by statute was conceded. Said the court through its Chief Justice: ". . . and so far as the
future is concerned, that is, the causing of the imposition of penalties as fixed to be subject, by
probation legislation or such other means as the legislative mind may devise, to such judicial
discretion as may be adequate to enable courts to meet by the exercise of an enlarged but wise
discretion the infinite variations which may be presented to them for judgment, recourse must be had
Congress whose legislative power on the subject is in the very nature of things adequately
complete." (Quoted in Riggs vs. United States [1926], 14 F. [2d], 5, 6.) This decision led the National
Probation Association and others to agitate for the enactment by Congress of a federal probation
law. Such action was finally taken on March 4, 1925 (chap. 521, 43 Stat. L. 159, U.S.C. title 18, sec.
724). This was followed by an appropriation to defray the salaries and expenses of a certain number
of probation officers chosen by civil service. (Johnson, Probation for Juveniles and Adults, p. 14.)
In United States vs. Murray ([1925], 275 U.S., 347; 48 Sup. Ct. Rep., 146; 72 Law. ed., 309), the
Supreme Court of the United States, through Chief Justice Taft, held that when a person sentenced

to imprisonment by a district court has begun to serve his sentence, that court has no power under
the Probation Act of March 4, 1925 to grant him probation even though the term at which sentence
was imposed had not yet expired. In this case of Murray, the constitutionality of the probation Act
was not considered but was assumed. The court traced the history of the Act and quoted from the
report of the Committee on the Judiciary of the United States House of Representatives (Report No.
1377, 68th Congress, 2 Session) the following statement:
Prior to the so-called Killitts case, rendered in December, 1916, the district courts exercised
a form of probation either, by suspending sentence or by placing the defendants under state
probation officers or volunteers. In this case, however (Ex parte United States, 242 U.S., 27;
61 L. Ed., 129; L.R.A., 1917E, 1178; 37 Sup. Ct. Rep., 72 Ann. Cas. 1917B, 355), the
Supreme Court denied the right of the district courts to suspend sentenced. In the same
opinion the court pointed out the necessity for action by Congress if the courts were to
exercise probation powers in the future . . .
Since this decision was rendered, two attempts have been made to enact probation
legislation. In 1917, a bill was favorably reported by the Judiciary Committee and passed the
House. In 1920, the judiciary Committee again favorably reported a probation bill to the
House, but it was never reached for definite action.
If this bill is enacted into law, it will bring the policy of the Federal government with reference
to its treatment of those convicted of violations of its criminal laws in harmony with that of the
states of the Union. At the present time every state has a probation law, and in all but twelve
states the law applies both to adult and juvenile offenders. (see, also, Johnson, Probation for
Juveniles and Adults [1928], Chap. I.)
The constitutionality of the federal probation law has been sustained by inferior federal courts. In
Riggs vs. United States supra, the Circuit Court of Appeals of the Fourth Circuit said:
Since the passage of the Probation Act of March 4, 1925, the questions under consideration
have been reviewed by the Circuit Court of Appeals of the Ninth Circuit (7 F. [2d], 590), and
the constitutionality of the act fully sustained, and the same held in no manner to encroach
upon the pardoning power of the President. This case will be found to contain an able and
comprehensive review of the law applicable here. It arose under the act we have to consider,
and to it and the authorities cited therein special reference is made (Nix vs. James, 7 F. [2d],
590, 594), as is also to a decision of the Circuit Court of Appeals of the Seventh Circuit
(Kriebel vs. U.S., 10 F. [2d], 762), likewise construing the Probation Act.
We have seen that in 1916 the Supreme Court of the United States; in plain and unequivocal
language, pointed to Congress as possessing the requisite power to enact probation laws, that a
federal probation law as actually enacted in 1925, and that the constitutionality of the Act has been
assumed by the Supreme Court of the United States in 1928 and consistently sustained by the
inferior federal courts in a number of earlier cases.
We are fully convinced that the Philippine Legislature, like the Congress of the United States, may
legally enact a probation law under its broad power to fix the punishment of any and all penal
offenses. This conclusion is supported by other authorities. In Ex parte Bates ([1915], 20 N. M., 542;
L.R.A. 1916A, 1285; 151 Pac., 698, the court said: "It is clearly within the province of the Legislature
to denominate and define all classes of crime, and to prescribe for each a minimum and maximum
punishment." And in State vs. Abbott ([1910], 87 S.C., 466; 33 L.R.A. [N. S.], 112; 70 S. E., 6; Ann.
Cas. 1912B, 1189), the court said: "The legislative power to set punishment for crime is very broad,
and in the exercise of this power the general assembly may confer on trial judges, if it sees fit, the

largest discretion as to the sentence to be imposed, as to the beginning and end of the punishment
and whether it should be certain or indeterminate or conditional." (Quoted in State vs. Teal [1918],
108 S. C., 455; 95 S. E., 69.) Indeed, the Philippine Legislature has defined all crimes and fixed the
penalties for their violation. Invariably, the legislature has demonstrated the desire to vest in the
courts particularly the trial courts large discretion in imposing the penalties which the law
prescribes in particular cases. It is believed that justice can best be served by vesting this power in
the courts, they being in a position to best determine the penalties which an individual convict,
peculiarly circumstanced, should suffer. Thus, while courts are not allowed to refrain from imposing a
sentence merely because, taking into consideration the degree of malice and the injury caused by
the offense, the penalty provided by law is clearly excessive, the courts being allowed in such case
to submit to the Chief Executive, through the Department of Justice, such statement as it may deem
proper (see art. 5, Revised Penal Code), in cases where both mitigating and aggravating
circumstances are attendant in the commission of a crime and the law provides for a penalty
composed of two indivisible penalties, the courts may allow such circumstances to offset one
another in consideration of their number and importance, and to apply the penalty according to the
result of such compensation. (Art. 63, rule 4, Revised Penal Code; U.S. vs. Reguera and Asuategui
[1921], 41 Phil., 506.) Again, article 64, paragraph 7, of the Revised Penal Code empowers the
courts to determine, within the limits of each periods, in case the penalty prescribed by law contains
three periods, the extent of the evil produced by the crime. In the imposition of fines, the courts are
allowed to fix any amount within the limits established by law, considering not only the mitigating and
aggravating circumstances, but more particularly the wealth or means of the culprit. (Art. 66, Revised
Penal Code.) Article 68, paragraph 1, of the same Code provides that "a discretionary penalty shall
be imposed" upon a person under fifteen but over nine years of age, who has not acted without
discernment, but always lower by two degrees at least than that prescribed by law for the crime
which he has committed. Article 69 of the same Code provides that in case of "incomplete selfdefense", i.e., when the crime committed is not wholly excusable by reason of the lack of some of
the conditions required to justify the same or to exempt from criminal liability in the several cases
mentioned in article 11 and 12 of the Code, "the courts shall impose the penalty in the period which
may be deemed proper, in view of the number and nature of the conditions of exemption present or
lacking." And, in case the commission of what are known as "impossible" crimes, "the court, having
in mind the social danger and the degree of criminality shown by the offender," shall impose upon
him either arresto mayor or a fine ranging from 200 to 500 pesos. (Art. 59, Revised Penal Code.)
Under our Revised Penal Code, also, one-half of the period of preventive imprisonment is deducted
form the entire term of imprisonment, except in certain cases expressly mentioned (art. 29); the
death penalty is not imposed when the guilty person is more than seventy years of age, or where
upon appeal or revision of the case by the Supreme Court, all the members thereof are not
unanimous in their voting as to the propriety of the imposition of the death penalty (art. 47, see also,
sec. 133, Revised Administrative Code, as amended by Commonwealth Act No. 3); the death
sentence is not to be inflicted upon a woman within the three years next following the date of the
sentence or while she is pregnant, or upon any person over seventy years of age (art. 83); and when
a convict shall become insane or an imbecile after final sentence has been pronounced, or while he
is serving his sentenced, the execution of said sentence shall be suspended with regard to the
personal penalty during the period of such insanity or imbecility (art. 79).
But the desire of the legislature to relax what might result in the undue harshness of the penal laws
is more clearly demonstrated in various other enactments, including the probation Act. There is the
Indeterminate Sentence Law enacted in 1933 as Act No. 4103 and subsequently amended by Act
No. 4225, establishing a system of parole (secs. 5 to 100 and granting the courts large discretion in
imposing the penalties of the law. Section 1 of the law as amended provides; "hereafter, in imposing
a prison sentence for an offenses punished by the Revised Penal Code, or its amendments, the
court shall sentence the accused to an indeterminate sentence the maximum term of which shall be
that which, in view of the attending circumstances, could be properly imposed under the rules of the

said Code, and to a minimum which shall be within the range of the penalty next lower to that
prescribed by the Code for the offense; and if the offense is punished by any other law, the court
shall sentence the accused to an indeterminate sentence, the maximum term of which shall not
exceed the maximum fixed by said law and the minimum shall not be less than the minimum term
prescribed by the same." Certain classes of convicts are, by section 2 of the law, excluded from the
operation thereof. The Legislature has also enacted the Juvenile Delinquency Law (Act No. 3203)
which was subsequently amended by Act No. 3559. Section 7 of the original Act and section 1 of the
amendatory Act have become article 80 of the Revised Penal Code, amended by Act No. 4117 of
the Philippine Legislature and recently reamended by Commonwealth Act No. 99 of the National
Assembly. In this Act is again manifested the intention of the legislature to "humanize" the penal
laws. It allows, in effect, the modification in particular cases of the penalties prescribed by law by
permitting the suspension of the execution of the judgment in the discretion of the trial court, after
due hearing and after investigation of the particular circumstances of the offenses, the criminal
record, if any, of the convict, and his social history. The Legislature has in reality decreed that in
certain cases no punishment at all shall be suffered by the convict as long as the conditions of
probation are faithfully observed. It this be so, then, it cannot be said that the Probation Act comes in
conflict with the power of the Chief Executive to grant pardons and reprieves, because, to use the
language of the Supreme Court of New Mexico, "the element of punishment or the penalty for the
commission of a wrong, while to be declared by the courts as a judicial function under and within the
limits of law as announced by legislative acts, concerns solely the procedure and conduct of criminal
causes, with which the executive can have nothing to do." (Ex parteBates, supra.) In Williams vs.
State ([1926], 162 Ga., 327; 133 S.E., 843), the court upheld the constitutionality of the Georgia
probation statute against the contention that it attempted to delegate to the courts the pardoning
power lodged by the constitution in the governor alone is vested with the power to pardon after final
sentence has been imposed by the courts, the power of the courts to imposed any penalty which
may be from time to time prescribed by law and in such manner as may be defined cannot be
questioned."
We realize, of course, the conflict which the American cases disclose. Some cases hold it unlawful
for the legislature to vest in the courts the power to suspend the operation of a sentenced, by
probation or otherwise, as to do so would encroach upon the pardoning power of the executive. (In
re Webb [1895], 89 Wis., 354; 27 L.R.A., 356; 46 Am. St. Rep., 846; 62 N.W., 177; 9 Am. Crim.,
Rep., 702; State ex rel. Summerfield vs. Moran [1919], 43 Nev., 150; 182 Pac., 927; Ex
parte Clendenning [1908], 22 Okla., 108; 1 Okla. Crim. Rep., 227; 19 L.R.A. [N.S.], 1041; 132 Am.
St. Rep., 628; 97 Pac., 650; People vs. Barrett [1903], 202 Ill, 287; 67 N.E., 23; 63 L.R.A., 82; 95
Am. St. Rep., 230; Snodgrass vs. State [1912], 67 Tex. Crim. Rep., 615; 41 L. R. A. [N. S.], 1144;
150 S. W., 162; Ex parte Shelor [1910], 33 Nev., 361;111 Pac., 291; Neal vs. State [1898], 104 Ga.,
509; 42 L. R. A., 190; 69 Am. St. Rep., 175; 30 S. E. 858; State ex rel. Payne vs. Anderson [1921],
43 S. D., 630; 181 N. W., 839; People vs. Brown, 54 Mich., 15; 19 N. W., 571; States vs. Dalton
[1903], 109 Tenn., 544; 72 S. W., 456.)
Other cases, however, hold contra. (Nix vs. James [1925; C. C. A., 9th], 7 F. [2d], 590; Archer vs.
Snook [1926; D. C.], 10 F. [2d], 567; Riggs. vs. United States [1926; C. C. A. 4th], 14]) [2d], 5;
Murphy vs. States [1926], 171 Ark., 620; 286 S. W., 871; 48 A. L. R., 1189; Re Giannini [1912], 18
Cal. App., 166; 122 Pac., 831; Re Nachnaber [1928], 89 Cal. App., 530; 265 Pac., 392; Ex parte De
Voe [1931], 114 Cal. App., 730; 300 Pac., 874; People vs. Patrick [1897], 118 Cal., 332; 50 Pac.,
425; Martin vs. People [1917], 69 Colo., 60; 168 Pac., 1171; Belden vs. Hugo [1914], 88 Conn., 50;
91 A., 369, 370, 371; Williams vs. State [1926], 162 Ga., 327; 133 S. E., 843; People vs. Heise
[1913], 257 Ill., 443; 100 N. E., 1000; Parker vs. State [1893], 135 Ind., 534; 35 N. E., 179; 23 L. R.
A., 859; St. Hillarie, Petitioner [1906], 101 Me., 522; 64 Atl., 882; People vs. Stickle [1909], 156
Mich., 557; 121 N. W., 497; State vs. Fjolander [1914], 125 Minn., 529; State ex rel. Bottomnly vs.
District Court [1925], 73 Mont., 541; 237 Pac., 525; State vs. Everitt [1913], 164 N. C., 399; 79 S. E.,
274; 47 L. R. A. [N. S.], 848; State ex rel. Buckley vs. Drew [1909], 75 N. H., 402; 74 Atl., 875; State

vs. Osborne [1911], 79 N. J. Eq., 430; 82 Atl. 424; Ex parte Bates [1915], 20 N. M., 542; L. R. A.,
1916 A. 1285; 151 Pac., 698; People vs. ex rel. Forsyth vs. Court of Session [1894], 141 N. Y., 288;
23 L. R. A., 856; 36 N. E., 386; 15 Am. Crim. Rep., 675; People ex rel. Sullivan vs. Flynn [1907], 55
Misc., 639; 106 N. Y. Supp., 928; People vs. Goodrich [1914], 149 N. Y. Supp., 406; Moore vs.
Thorn [1935], 245 App. Div., 180; 281 N. Y. Supp., 49; Re Hart [1914], 29 N. D., 38; L. R. A., 1915C,
1169; 149 N. W., 568; Ex parte Eaton [1925], 29 Okla., Crim. Rep., 275; 233 P., 781; State vs. Teal
[1918], 108 S. C., 455; 95 S. E., 69; State vs. Abbot [1910], 87 S. C., 466; 33 L.R.A., [N. S.], 112; 70
S. E., 6; Ann. Cas., 1912B, 1189; Fults vs. States [1854],34 Tenn., 232; Woods vs. State [1814], 130
Tenn., 100; 169 S. W., 558; Baker vs. State [1814], 130 Tenn., 100; 169 S. W., 558; Baker vs. State
[1913],70 Tex., Crim. Rep., 618; 158 S. W., 998; Cook vs. State [1914], 73 Tex. Crim. Rep., 548;
165 S. W., 573; King vs. State [1914], 72 Tex. Crim. Rep., 394; 162 S. W., 890; Clare vs. State
[1932], 122 Tex. Crim. Rep., 394; 162 S. W., 890; Clare vs. State [1932], 122 Tex. Crim. Rep., 211;
54 S. W. [2d], 127; Re Hall [1927], 100 Vt., 197; 136 A., 24; Richardson vs. Com. [1921], 131 Va.,
802; 109 S.E., 460; State vs. Mallahan [1911], 65 Wash., 287; 118 Pac., 42; State ex rel. Tingstand
vs. Starwich [1922], 119 Wash., 561; 206 Pac., 29; 26 A. L. R., 393; 396.) We elect to follow this
long catena of authorities holding that the courts may be legally authorized by the legislature to
suspend sentence by the establishment of a system of probation however characterized. State ex
rel. Tingstand vs. Starwich ([1922], 119 Wash., 561; 206 Pac., 29; 26 A. L. R., 393), deserved
particular mention. In that case, a statute enacted in 1921 which provided for the suspension of the
execution of a sentence until otherwise ordered by the court, and required that the convicted person
be placed under the charge of a parole or peace officer during the term of such suspension, on such
terms as the court may determine, was held constitutional and as not giving the court a power in
violation of the constitutional provision vesting the pardoning power in the chief executive of the
state. (Vide, also, Re Giannini [1912], 18 Cal App., 166; 122 Pac., 831.)
Probation and pardon are not coterminous; nor are they the same. They are actually district and
different from each other, both in origin and in nature. In People ex rel. Forsyth vs. Court of Sessions
([1894], 141 N. Y., 288, 294; 36 N. E., 386, 388; 23 L. R. A., 856; 15 Am. Crim. Rep., 675), the Court
of Appeals of New York said:
. . . The power to suspend sentence and the power to grant reprieves and pardons, as
understood when the constitution was adopted, are totally distinct and different in their
nature. The former was always a part of the judicial power; the latter was always a part of the
executive power. The suspension of the sentence simply postpones the judgment of the
court temporarily or indefinitely, but the conviction and liability following it, and the civil
disabilities, remain and become operative when judgment is rendered. A pardon reaches
both the punishment prescribed for the offense and the guilt of the offender. It releases the
punishment, and blots out of existence the guilt, so that in the eye of the law, the offender is
as innocent as if he had never committed the offense. It removes the penalties and
disabilities, and restores him to all his civil rights. It makes him, as it were, a new man, and
gives him a new credit and capacity. (Ex parte Garland, 71 U. S., 4 Wall., 333; 18 Law. ed.,
366; U. S. vs. Klein, 80 U. S., 13 Wall., 128; 20 Law. ed., 519; Knote vs. U. S., 95 U. S., 149;
24 Law. ed., 442.)
The framers of the federal and the state constitutions were perfectly familiar with the
principles governing the power to grant pardons, and it was conferred by these instruments
upon the executive with full knowledge of the law upon the subject, and the words of the
constitution were used to express the authority formerly exercised by the English crown, or
by its representatives in the colonies. (Ex parte Wells, 59 U. S., 18 How., 307; 15 Law. ed.,
421.) As this power was understood, it did not comprehend any part of the judicial functions
to suspend sentence, and it was never intended that the authority to grant reprieves and
pardons should abrogate, or in any degree restrict, the exercise of that power in regard to its
own judgments, that criminal courts has so long maintained. The two powers, so distinct and

different in their nature and character, were still left separate and distinct, the one to be
exercised by the executive, and the other by the judicial department. We therefore conclude
that a statute which, in terms, authorizes courts of criminal jurisdiction to suspend sentence
in certain cases after conviction, a power inherent in such courts at common law, which
was understood when the constitution was adopted to be an ordinary judicial function, and
which, ever since its adoption, has been exercised of legislative power under the
constitution. It does not encroach, in any just sense, upon the powers of the executive, as
they have been understood and practiced from the earliest times. (Quoted with approval in
Directors of Prisons vs. Judge of First Instance of Cavite [1915], 29 Phil., 265, Carson, J.,
concurring, at pp. 294, 295.)
In probation, the probationer is in no true sense, as in pardon, a free man. He is not finally and
completely exonerated. He is not exempt from the entire punishment which the law inflicts. Under
the Probation Act, the probationer's case is not terminated by the mere fact that he is placed on
probation. Section 4 of the Act provides that the probation may be definitely terminated and the
probationer finally discharged from supervision only after the period of probation shall have been
terminated and the probation officer shall have submitted a report, and the court shall have found
that the probationer has complied with the conditions of probation. The probationer, then, during the
period of probation, remains in legal custody subject to the control of the probation officer and of
the court; and, he may be rearrested upon the non-fulfillment of the conditions of probation and,
when rearrested, may be committed to prison to serve the sentence originally imposed upon him.
(Secs. 2, 3, 5 and 6, Act No. 4221.)
The probation described in the act is not pardon. It is not complete liberty, and may be far
from it. It is really a new mode of punishment, to be applied by the judge in a proper case, in
substitution of the imprisonment and find prescribed by the criminal laws. For this reason its
application is as purely a judicial act as any other sentence carrying out the law deemed
applicable to the offense. The executive act of pardon, on the contrary, is against the criminal
law, which binds and directs the judges, or rather is outside of and above it. There is thus no
conflict with the pardoning power, and no possible unconstitutionality of the Probation Act for
this cause. (Archer vs. Snook [1926], 10 F. [2d], 567, 569.)
Probation should also be distinguished from reprieve and from commutation of the sentence.
Snodgrass vs. State ([1912], 67 Tex. Crim. Rep., 615;41 L. R. A. [N. S.], 1144; 150 S. W., 162), is
relied upon most strongly by the petitioners as authority in support of their contention that the power
to grant pardons and reprieves, having been vested exclusively upon the Chief Executive by the
Jones Law, may not be conferred by the legislature upon the courts by means of probation law
authorizing the indefinite judicial suspension of sentence. We have examined that case and found
that although the Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas held that the probation statute of the state in
terms conferred on the district courts the power to grant pardons to persons convicted of crime, it
also distinguished between suspensions sentence on the one hand, and reprieve and commutation
of sentence on the other. Said the court, through Harper, J.:
That the power to suspend the sentence does not conflict with the power of the Governor to
grant reprieves is settled by the decisions of the various courts; it being held that the
distinction between a "reprieve" and a suspension of sentence is that a reprieve postpones
the execution of the sentence to a day certain, whereas a suspension is for an indefinite
time. (Carnal vs. People, 1 Parker, Cr. R., 262; In re Buchanan, 146 N. Y., 264; 40 N. E.,
883), and cases cited in 7 Words & Phrases, pp. 6115, 6116. This law cannot be hold in
conflict with the power confiding in the Governor to grant commutations of punishment, for a
commutations is not but to change the punishment assessed to a less punishment.

In State ex rel. Bottomnly vs. District Court ([1925], 73 Mont., 541; 237 Pac., 525), the Supreme
Court of Montana had under consideration the validity of the adult probation law of the state enacted
in 1913, now found in sections 12078-12086, Revised Codes of 1921. The court held the law valid
as not impinging upon the pardoning power of the executive. In a unanimous decision penned by
Justice Holloway, the court said:
. . . . the term "pardon", "commutation", and "respite" each had a well understood meaning at
the time our Constitution was adopted, and no one of them was intended to comprehend the
suspension of the execution of the judgment as that phrase is employed in sections 1207812086. A "pardon" is an act of grace, proceeding from the power intrusted with the execution
of the laws which exempts the individual on whom it is bestowed from the punishment the
law inflicts for a crime he has committed (United States vs. Wilson, 7 Pet., 150; 8 Law. ed.,
640); It is a remission of guilt (State vs. Lewis, 111 La., 693; 35 So., 816), a forgiveness of
the offense (Cook vs. Middlesex County, 26 N. J. Law, 326; Ex parte Powell, 73 Ala., 517; 49
Am. Rep., 71). "Commutation" is a remission of a part of the punishment; a substitution of a
less penalty for the one originally imposed (Lee vs. Murphy, 22 Grat. [Va.] 789; 12 Am. Rep.,
563; Rich vs. Chamberlain, 107 Mich., 381; 65 N. W., 235). A "reprieve" or "respite" is the
withholding of the sentence for an interval of time (4 Blackstone's Commentaries, 394), a
postponement of execution (Carnal vs. People, 1 Parker, Cr. R. [N. Y.], 272), a temporary
suspension of execution (Butler vs. State, 97 Ind., 373).
Few adjudicated cases are to be found in which the validity of a statute similar to our section
12078 has been determined; but the same objections have been urged against parole
statutes which vest the power to parole in persons other than those to whom the power of
pardon is granted, and these statutes have been upheld quite uniformly, as a reference to
the numerous cases cited in the notes to Woods vs. State (130 Tenn., 100; 169 S. W.,558,
reported in L. R. A., 1915F, 531), will disclose. (See, also, 20 R. C. L., 524.)
We conclude that the Probation Act does not conflict with the pardoning power of the Executive. The
pardoning power, in respect to those serving their probationary sentences, remains as full and
complete as if the Probation Law had never been enacted. The President may yet pardon the
probationer and thus place it beyond the power of the court to order his rearrest and imprisonment.
(Riggs vs. United States [1926],
14 F. [2d], 5, 7.)
2. But while the Probation Law does not encroach upon the pardoning power of the executive and is
not for that reason void, does section 11 thereof constitute, as contended, an undue delegation of
legislative power?
Under the constitutional system, the powers of government are distributed among three coordinate
and substantially independent organs: the legislative, the executive and the judicial. Each of these
departments of the government derives its authority from the Constitution which, in turn, is the
highest expression of popular will. Each has exclusive cognizance of the matters within its
jurisdiction, and is supreme within its own sphere.
The power to make laws the legislative power is vested in a bicameral Legislature by the
Jones Law (sec. 12) and in a unicamiral National Assembly by the Constitution (Act. VI, sec. 1,
Constitution of the Philippines). The Philippine Legislature or the National Assembly may not escape
its duties and responsibilities by delegating that power to any other body or authority. Any attempt to
abdicate the power is unconstitutional and void, on the principle that potestas delegata non delegare
potest. This principle is said to have originated with the glossators, was introduced into English law
through a misreading of Bracton, there developed as a principle of agency, was established by Lord

Coke in the English public law in decisions forbidding the delegation of judicial power, and found its
way into America as an enlightened principle of free government. It has since become an accepted
corollary of the principle of separation of powers. (5 Encyc. of the Social Sciences, p. 66.) The
classic statement of the rule is that of Locke, namely: "The legislative neither must nor can transfer
the power of making laws to anybody else, or place it anywhere but where the people have." (Locke
on Civil Government, sec. 142.) Judge Cooley enunciates the doctrine in the following oft-quoted
language: "One of the settled maxims in constitutional law is, that the power conferred upon the
legislature to make laws cannot be delegated by that department to any other body or authority.
Where the sovereign power of the state has located the authority, there it must remain; and by the
constitutional agency alone the laws must be made until the Constitution itself is charged. The power
to whose judgment, wisdom, and patriotism this high prerogative has been intrusted cannot relieve
itself of the responsibilities by choosing other agencies upon which the power shall be devolved, nor
can it substitute the judgment, wisdom, and patriotism of any other body for those to which alone the
people have seen fit to confide this sovereign trust." (Cooley on Constitutional Limitations, 8th ed.,
Vol. I, p. 224. Quoted with approval in U. S. vs. Barrias [1908], 11 Phil., 327.) This court posits the
doctrine "on the ethical principle that such a delegated power constitutes not only a right but a duty
to be performed by the delegate by the instrumentality of his own judgment acting immediately upon
the matter of legislation and not through the intervening mind of another. (U. S. vs. Barrias, supra, at
p. 330.)
The rule, however, which forbids the delegation of legislative power is not absolute and inflexible. It
admits of exceptions. An exceptions sanctioned by immemorial practice permits the central
legislative body to delegate legislative powers to local authorities. (Rubi vs. Provincial Board of
Mindoro [1919], 39 Phil., 660; U. S. vs. Salaveria [1918], 39 Phil., 102; Stoutenburgh vs. Hennick
[1889], 129 U. S., 141; 32 Law. ed., 637; 9 Sup. Ct. Rep., 256; State vs. Noyes [1855], 30 N. H.,
279.) "It is a cardinal principle of our system of government, that local affairs shall be managed by
local authorities, and general affairs by the central authorities; and hence while the rule is also
fundamental that the power to make laws cannot be delegated, the creation of the municipalities
exercising local self government has never been held to trench upon that rule. Such legislation is not
regarded as a transfer of general legislative power, but rather as the grant of the authority to
prescribed local regulations, according to immemorial practice, subject of course to the interposition
of the superior in cases of necessity." (Stoutenburgh vs. Hennick,supra.) On quite the same
principle, Congress is powered to delegate legislative power to such agencies in the territories of the
United States as it may select. A territory stands in the same relation to Congress as a municipality
or city to the state government. (United States vs. Heinszen [1907], 206 U. S., 370; 27 Sup. Ct.
Rep., 742; 51 L. ed., 1098; 11 Ann. Cas., 688; Dorr vs. United States [1904], 195 U.S., 138; 24 Sup.
Ct. Rep., 808; 49 Law. ed., 128; 1 Ann. Cas., 697.) Courts have also sustained the delegation of
legislative power to the people at large. Some authorities maintain that this may not be done (12 C.
J., pp. 841, 842; 6 R. C. L., p. 164, citing People vs. Kennedy [1913], 207 N. Y., 533; 101 N. E., 442;
Ann. Cas., 1914C, 616). However, the question of whether or not a state has ceased to be
republican in form because of its adoption of the initiative and referendum has been held not to be a
judicial but a political question (Pacific States Tel. & Tel. Co. vs. Oregon [1912], 223 U. S., 118; 56
Law. ed., 377; 32 Sup. Cet. Rep., 224), and as the constitutionality of such laws has been looked
upon with favor by certain progressive courts, the sting of the decisions of the more conservative
courts has been pretty well drawn. (Opinions of the Justices [1894], 160 Mass., 586; 36 N. E., 488;
23 L. R. A., 113; Kiernan vs. Portland [1910], 57 Ore., 454; 111 Pac., 379; 1132 Pac., 402; 37 L. R.
A. [N. S.], 332; Pacific States Tel. & Tel. Co. vs. Oregon, supra.) Doubtless, also, legislative power
may be delegated by the Constitution itself. Section 14, paragraph 2, of article VI of the Constitution
of the Philippines provides that "The National Assembly may by law authorize the President, subject
to such limitations and restrictions as it may impose, to fix within specified limits, tariff rates, import or
export quotas, and tonnage and wharfage dues." And section 16 of the same article of the
Constitution provides that "In times of war or other national emergency, the National Assembly may
by law authorize the President, for a limited period and subject to such restrictions as it may

prescribed, to promulgate rules and regulations to carry out a declared national policy." It is beyond
the scope of this decision to determine whether or not, in the absence of the foregoing constitutional
provisions, the President could be authorized to exercise the powers thereby vested in him. Upon
the other hand, whatever doubt may have existed has been removed by the Constitution itself.
The case before us does not fall under any of the exceptions hereinabove mentioned.
The challenged section of Act No. 4221 in section 11 which reads as follows:
This Act shall apply only in those provinces in which the respective provincial boards have
provided for the salary of a probation officer at rates not lower than those now provided for
provincial fiscals. Said probation officer shall be appointed by the Secretary of Justice and
shall be subject to the direction of the Probation Office. (Emphasis ours.)
In testing whether a statute constitute an undue delegation of legislative power or not, it is usual to
inquire whether the statute was complete in all its terms and provisions when it left the hands of the
legislature so that nothing was left to the judgment of any other appointee or delegate of the
legislature. (6 R. C. L., p. 165.) In the United States vs. Ang Tang Ho ([1922], 43 Phil., 1), this court
adhered to the foregoing rule when it held an act of the legislature void in so far as it undertook to
authorize the Governor-General, in his discretion, to issue a proclamation fixing the price of rice and
to make the sale of it in violation of the proclamation a crime. (See and cf. Compaia General de
Tabacos vs. Board of Public Utility Commissioners [1916], 34 Phil., 136.) The general rule, however,
is limited by another rule that to a certain extent matters of detail may be left to be filled in by rules
and regulations to be adopted or promulgated by executive officers and administrative boards. (6 R.
C. L., pp. 177-179.)
For the purpose of Probation Act, the provincial boards may be regarded as administrative bodies
endowed with power to determine when the Act should take effect in their respective provinces.
They are the agents or delegates of the legislature in this respect. The rules governing delegation of
legislative power to administrative and executive officers are applicable or are at least indicative of
the rule which should be here adopted. An examination of a variety of cases on delegation of power
to administrative bodies will show that the ratio decidendi is at variance but, it can be broadly
asserted that the rationale revolves around the presence or absence of a standard or rule of action
or the sufficiency thereof in the statute, to aid the delegate in exercising the granted discretion.
In some cases, it is held that the standard is sufficient; in others that is insufficient; and in still others
that it is entirely lacking. As a rule, an act of the legislature is incomplete and hence invalid if it does
not lay down any rule or definite standard by which the administrative officer or board may be guided
in the exercise of the discretionary powers delegated to it. (See Schecter vs. United States [1925],
295 U. S., 495; 79 L. ed., 1570; 55 Sup. Ct. Rep., 837; 97 A.L.R., 947; People ex rel. Rice vs. Wilson
Oil Co. [1936], 364 Ill., 406; 4 N. E. [2d], 847; 107 A.L.R., 1500 and cases cited. See also R. C. L.,
title "Constitutional Law", sec 174.) In the case at bar, what rules are to guide the provincial boards
in the exercise of their discretionary power to determine whether or not the Probation Act shall apply
in their respective provinces? What standards are fixed by the Act? We do not find any and none
has been pointed to us by the respondents. The probation Act does not, by the force of any of its
provisions, fix and impose upon the provincial boards any standard or guide in the exercise of their
discretionary power. What is granted, if we may use the language of Justice Cardozo in the recent
case of Schecter, supra, is a "roving commission" which enables the provincial boards to exercise
arbitrary discretion. By section 11 if the Act, the legislature does not seemingly on its own authority
extend the benefits of the Probation Act to the provinces but in reality leaves the entire matter for the
various provincial boards to determine. In other words, the provincial boards of the various provinces
are to determine for themselves, whether the Probation Law shall apply to their provinces or not at
all. The applicability and application of the Probation Act are entirely placed in the hands of the

provincial boards. If the provincial board does not wish to have the Act applied in its province, all that
it has to do is to decline to appropriate the needed amount for the salary of a probation officer. The
plain language of the Act is not susceptible of any other interpretation. This, to our minds, is a virtual
surrender of legislative power to the provincial boards.
"The true distinction", says Judge Ranney, "is between the delegation of power to make the law,
which necessarily involves a discretion as to what it shall be, and conferring an authority or
discretion as to its execution, to be exercised under and in pursuance of the law. The first cannot be
done; to the latter no valid objection can be made." (Cincinnati, W. & Z. R. Co. vs. Clinton County
Comrs. [1852]; 1 Ohio St., 77, 88. See also, Sutherland on Statutory Construction, sec 68.) To the
same effect are the decision of this court in Municipality of Cardona vs. Municipality of
Binangonan ([1917], 36 Phil., 547); Rubi vs. Provincial Board of Mindoro ([1919],39 Phil., 660)
and Cruz vs. Youngberg ([1931], 56 Phil., 234). In the first of these cases, this court sustained the
validity of the law conferring upon the Governor-General authority to adjust provincial and municipal
boundaries. In the second case, this court held it lawful for the legislature to direct non-Christian
inhabitants to take up their habitation on unoccupied lands to be selected by the provincial governor
and approved by the provincial board. In the third case, it was held proper for the legislature to vest
in the Governor-General authority to suspend or not, at his discretion, the prohibition of the
importation of the foreign cattle, such prohibition to be raised "if the conditions of the country make
this advisable or if deceased among foreign cattle has ceased to be a menace to the agriculture and
livestock of the lands."
It should be observed that in the case at bar we are not concerned with the simple transference of
details of execution or the promulgation by executive or administrative officials of rules and
regulations to carry into effect the provisions of a law. If we were, recurrence to our own decisions
would be sufficient. (U. S. vs. Barrias [1908], 11 Phil., 327; U.S. vs. Molina [1914], 29 Phil., 119;
Alegre vs. Collector of Customs [1929], 53 Phil., 394; Cebu Autobus Co. vs. De Jesus [1931], 56
Phil., 446; U. S. vs. Gomez [1915], 31 Phil., 218; Rubi vs. Provincial Board of Mindoro [1919], 39
Phil., 660.)
It is connected, however, that a legislative act may be made to the effect as law after it leaves the
hands of the legislature. It is true that laws may be made effective on certain contingencies, as by
proclamation of the executive or the adoption by the people of a particular community (6 R. C. L.,
116, 170-172; Cooley, Constitutional Limitations, 8th ed., Vol. I, p. 227). In Wayman vs. Southard
([1825], 10 Wheat. 1; 6 Law. ed., 253), the Supreme Court of the United State ruled that the
legislature may delegate a power not legislative which it may itself rightfully exercise.(Vide, also,
Dowling vs. Lancashire Ins. Co. [1896], 92 Wis., 63; 65 N. W., 738; 31 L. R. A., 112.) The power to
ascertain facts is such a power which may be delegated. There is nothing essentially legislative in
ascertaining the existence of facts or conditions as the basis of the taking into effect of a law. That is
a mental process common to all branches of the government. (Dowling vs. Lancashire Ins.
Co., supra; In re Village of North Milwaukee [1896], 93 Wis., 616; 97 N.W., 1033; 33 L.R.A., 938;
Nash vs. Fries [1906], 129 Wis., 120; 108 N.W., 210; Field vs. Clark [1892], 143 U.S., 649; 12 Sup.
Ct., 495; 36 Law. ed., 294.) Notwithstanding the apparent tendency, however, to relax the rule
prohibiting delegation of legislative authority on account of the complexity arising from social and
economic forces at work in this modern industrial age (Pfiffner, Public Administration [1936] ch. XX;
Laski, "The Mother of Parliaments", foreign Affairs, July, 1931, Vol. IX, No. 4, pp. 569-579; Beard,
"Squirt-Gun Politics", in Harper's Monthly Magazine, July, 1930, Vol. CLXI, pp. 147, 152), the
orthodox pronouncement of Judge Cooley in his work on Constitutional Limitations finds restatement
in Prof. Willoughby's treatise on the Constitution of the United States in the following language
speaking of declaration of legislative power to administrative agencies: "The principle which permits
the legislature to provide that the administrative agent may determine when the circumstances are
such as require the application of a law is defended upon the ground that at the time this authority is
granted, the rule of public policy, which is the essence of the legislative act, is determined by the

legislature. In other words, the legislature, as it its duty to do, determines that, under given
circumstances, certain executive or administrative action is to be taken, and that, under other
circumstances, different of no action at all is to be taken. What is thus left to the administrative
official is not the legislative determination of what public policy demands, but simply the
ascertainment of what the facts of the case require to be done according to the terms of the law by
which he is governed." (Willoughby on the Constitution of the United States, 2nd ed., Vol. II, p.
1637.) In Miller vs. Mayer, etc., of New York [1883], 109 U.S., 3 Sup. Ct. Rep., 228; 27 Law. ed.,
971, 974), it was said: "The efficiency of an Act as a declaration of legislative will must, of course,
come from Congress, but the ascertainment of the contingency upon which the Act shall take effect
may be left to such agencies as it may designate." (See, also, 12 C.J., p. 864; State vs. Parker
[1854], 26 Vt., 357; Blanding vs. Burr [1859], 13 Cal., 343, 258.) The legislature, then may provide
that a contingencies leaving to some other person or body the power to determine when the
specified contingencies has arisen. But, in the case at bar, the legislature has not made the
operation of the Prohibition Act contingent upon specified facts or conditions to be ascertained by
the provincial board. It leaves, as we have already said, the entire operation or non-operation of the
law upon the provincial board. the discretion vested is arbitrary because it is absolute and unlimited.
A provincial board need not investigate conditions or find any fact, or await the happening of any
specified contingency. It is bound by no rule, limited by no principle of expendiency announced by
the legislature. It may take into consideration certain facts or conditions; and, again, it may not. It
may have any purpose or no purpose at all. It need not give any reason whatsoever for refusing or
failing to appropriate any funds for the salary of a probation officer. This is a matter which rest
entirely at its pleasure. The fact that at some future time we cannot say when the provincial
boards may appropriate funds for the salaries of probation officers and thus put the law into
operation in the various provinces will not save the statute. The time of its taking into effect, we
reiterate, would yet be based solely upon the will of the provincial boards and not upon the
happening of a certain specified contingency, or upon the ascertainment of certain facts or
conditions by a person or body other than legislature itself.
The various provincial boards are, in practical effect, endowed with the power of suspending the
operation of the Probation Law in their respective provinces. In some jurisdiction, constitutions
provided that laws may be suspended only by the legislature or by its authority. Thus, section 28,
article I of the Constitution of Texas provides that "No power of suspending laws in this state shall be
exercised except by the legislature"; and section 26, article I of the Constitution of Indiana provides
"That the operation of the laws shall never be suspended, except by authority of the General
Assembly." Yet, even provisions of this sort do not confer absolute power of suspension upon the
legislature. While it may be undoubted that the legislature may suspend a law, or the execution or
operation of a law, a law may not be suspended as to certain individuals only, leaving the law to be
enjoyed by others. The suspension must be general, and cannot be made for individual cases or for
particular localities. In Holden vs. James ([1814], 11 Mass., 396; 6 Am. Dec., 174, 177, 178), it was
said:
By the twentieth article of the declaration of rights in the constitution of this commonwealth, it
is declared that the power of suspending the laws, or the execution of the laws, ought never
to be exercised but by the legislature, or by authority derived from it, to be exercised in such
particular cases only as the legislature shall expressly provide for. Many of the articles in that
declaration of rights were adopted from the Magna Charta of England, and from the bill of
rights passed in the reign of William and Mary. The bill of rights contains an enumeration of
the oppressive acts of James II, tending to subvert and extirpate the protestant religion, and
the laws and liberties of the kingdom; and the first of them is the assuming and exercising a
power of dispensing with and suspending the laws, and the execution of the laws without
consent of parliament. The first article in the claim or declaration of rights contained in the
statute is, that the exercise of such power, by legal authority without consent of parliament, is
illegal. In the tenth section of the same statute it is further declared and enacted, that "No

dispensation by non obstante of or to any statute, or part thereof, should be allowed; but the
same should be held void and of no effect, except a dispensation be allowed of in such
statute." There is an implied reservation of authority in the parliament to exercise the power
here mentioned; because, according to the theory of the English Constitution, "that absolute
despotic power, which must in all governments reside somewhere," is intrusted to the
parliament: 1 Bl. Com., 160.
The principles of our government are widely different in this particular. Here the sovereign
and absolute power resides in the people; and the legislature can only exercise what is
delegated to them according to the constitution. It is obvious that the exercise of the power in
question would be equally oppressive to the subject, and subversive of his right to protection,
"according to standing laws," whether exercised by one man or by a number of men. It
cannot be supposed that the people when adopting this general principle from the English bill
of rights and inserting it in our constitution, intended to bestow by implication on the general
court one of the most odious and oppressive prerogatives of the ancient kings of England. It
is manifestly contrary to the first principles of civil liberty and natural justice, and to the spirit
of our constitution and laws, that any one citizen should enjoy privileges and advantages
which are denied to all others under like circumstances; or that ant one should be subject to
losses, damages, suits, or actions from which all others under like circumstances are
exempted.
To illustrate the principle: A section of a statute relative to dogs made the owner of any dog liable to
the owner of domestic animals wounded by it for the damages without proving a knowledge of it
vicious disposition. By a provision of the act, power was given to the board of supervisors to
determine whether or not during the current year their county should be governed by the provisions
of the act of which that section constituted a part. It was held that the legislature could not confer that
power. The court observed that it could no more confer such a power than to authorize the board of
supervisors of a county to abolish in such county the days of grace on commercial paper, or to
suspend the statute of limitations. (Slinger vs. Henneman [1875], 38 Wis., 504.) A similar statute in
Missouri was held void for the same reason in State vs. Field ([1853, 17 Mo., 529;59 Am. Dec., 275.)
In that case a general statute formulating a road system contained a provision that "if the county
court of any county should be of opinion that the provisions of the act should not be enforced, they
might, in their discretion, suspend the operation of the same for any specified length of time, and
thereupon the act should become inoperative in such county for the period specified in such order;
and thereupon order the roads to be opened and kept in good repair, under the laws theretofore in
force." Said the court: ". . . this act, by its own provisions, repeals the inconsistent provisions of a
former act, and yet it is left to the county court to say which act shall be enforce in their county. The
act does not submit the question to the county court as an original question, to be decided by that
tribunal, whether the act shall commence its operation within the county; but it became by its own
terms a law in every county not excepted by name in the act. It did not, then, require the county court
to do any act in order to give it effect. But being the law in the county, and having by its provisions
superseded and abrogated the inconsistent provisions of previous laws, the county court is . . .
empowered, to suspend this act and revive the repealed provisions of the former act. When the
question is before the county court for that tribunal to determine which law shall be in force, it is urge
before us that the power then to be exercised by the court is strictly legislative power, which under
our constitution, cannot be delegated to that tribunal or to any other body of men in the state. In the
present case, the question is not presented in the abstract; for the county court of Saline county,
after the act had been for several months in force in that county, did by order suspend its operation;
and during that suspension the offense was committed which is the subject of the present indictment
. . . ." (See Mitchell vs. State [1901], 134 Ala., 392; 32 S., 687.)
True, the legislature may enact laws for a particular locality different from those applicable to other
localities and, while recognizing the force of the principle hereinabove expressed, courts in may

jurisdiction have sustained the constitutionality of the submission of option laws to the vote of the
people. (6 R.C.L., p. 171.) But option laws thus sustained treat of subjects purely local in character
which should receive different treatment in different localities placed under different circumstances.
"They relate to subjects which, like the retailing of intoxicating drinks, or the running at large of cattle
in the highways, may be differently regarded in different localities, and they are sustained on what
seems to us the impregnable ground, that the subject, though not embraced within the ordinary
powers of municipalities to make by-laws and ordinances, is nevertheless within the class of public
regulations, in respect to which it is proper that the local judgment should control." (Cooley on
Constitutional Limitations, 5th ed., p. 148.) So that, while we do not deny the right of local selfgovernment and the propriety of leaving matters of purely local concern in the hands of local
authorities or for the people of small communities to pass upon, we believe that in matters of general
of general legislation like that which treats of criminals in general, and as regards the general subject
of probation, discretion may not be vested in a manner so unqualified and absolute as provided in
Act No. 4221. True, the statute does not expressly state that the provincial boards may suspend the
operation of the Probation Act in particular provinces but, considering that, in being vested with the
authority to appropriate or not the necessary funds for the salaries of probation officers, they thereby
are given absolute discretion to determine whether or not the law should take effect or operate in
their respective provinces, the provincial boards are in reality empowered by the legislature to
suspend the operation of the Probation Act in particular provinces, the Act to be held in abeyance
until the provincial boards should decide otherwise by appropriating the necessary funds. The
validity of a law is not tested by what has been done but by what may be done under its provisions.
(Walter E. Olsen & Co. vs. Aldanese and Trinidad [1922], 43 Phil., 259; 12 C. J., p. 786.)
It in conceded that a great deal of latitude should be granted to the legislature not only in the
expression of what may be termed legislative policy but in the elaboration and execution thereof.
"Without this power, legislation would become oppressive and yet imbecile." (People vs. Reynolds, 5
Gilman, 1.) It has been said that popular government lives because of the inexhaustible reservoir of
power behind it. It is unquestionable that the mass of powers of government is vested in the
representatives of the people and that these representatives are no further restrained under our
system than by the express language of the instrument imposing the restraint, or by particular
provisions which by clear intendment, have that effect. (Angara vs. Electoral Commission [1936], 35
Off. Ga., 23; Schneckenburger vs. Moran [1936], 35 Off. Gaz., 1317.) But, it should be borne in mind
that a constitution is both a grant and a limitation of power and one of these time-honored limitations
is that, subject to certain exceptions, legislative power shall not be delegated.
We conclude that section 11 of Act No. 4221 constitutes an improper and unlawful delegation of
legislative authority to the provincial boards and is, for this reason, unconstitutional and void.
3. It is also contended that the Probation Act violates the provisions of our Bill of Rights which
prohibits the denial to any person of the equal protection of the laws (Act. III, sec. 1 subsec. 1.
Constitution of the Philippines.)
This basic individual right sheltered by the Constitution is a restraint on all the tree grand
departments of our government and on the subordinate instrumentalities and subdivision thereof,
and on many constitutional power, like the police power, taxation and eminent domain. The equal
protection of laws, sententiously observes the Supreme Court of the United States, "is a pledge of
the protection of equal laws." (Yick Wo vs. Hopkins [1886], 118 U. S., 356; 30 Law. ed., 220; 6 Sup.
Ct. Rep., 10464; Perley vs. North Carolina, 249 U. S., 510; 39 Sup. Ct. Rep., 357; 63 Law. ed., 735.)
Of course, what may be regarded as a denial of the equal protection of the laws in a question not
always easily determined. No rule that will cover every case can be formulated. (Connolly vs. Union
Sewer Pipe Co. [1902], 184, U. S., 540; 22 Sup. Ct., Rep., 431; 46 Law. ed., 679.) Class legislation
discriminating against some and favoring others in prohibited. But classification on a reasonable
basis, and nor made arbitrarily or capriciously, is permitted. (Finely vs. California [1911], 222 U. S.,

28; 56 Law. ed., 75; 32 Sup. Ct. Rep., 13; Gulf. C. & S. F. Ry Co. vs. Ellis [1897], 165 U. S., 150; 41
Law. ed., 666; 17 Sup. Ct. Rep., 255; Smith, Bell & Co. vs. Natividad [1919], 40 Phil., 136.) The
classification, however, to be reasonable must be based on substantial distinctions which make real
differences; it must be germane to the purposes of the law; it must not be limited to existing
conditions only, and must apply equally to each member of the class. (Borgnis vs. Falk. Co. [1911],
147 Wis., 327, 353; 133 N. W., 209; 3 N. C. C. A., 649; 37 L. R. A. [N. S.], 489; State vs. Cooley, 56
Minn., 540; 530-552; 58 N. W., 150; Lindsley vs. Natural Carbonic Gas Co.[1911], 220 U. S., 61, 79,
55 Law. ed., 369, 377; 31 Sup. Ct. Rep., 337; Ann. Cas., 1912C, 160; Lake Shore & M. S. R. Co. vs.
Clough [1917], 242 U.S., 375; 37 Sup. Ct. Rep., 144; 61 Law. ed., 374; Southern Ry. Co. vs. Greene
[1910], 216 U. S., 400; 30 Sup. Ct. Rep., 287; 54 Law. ed., 536; 17 Ann. Cas., 1247; Truax vs.
Corrigan [1921], 257 U. S., 312; 12 C. J., pp. 1148, 1149.)
In the case at bar, however, the resultant inequality may be said to flow from the unwarranted
delegation of legislative power, although perhaps this is not necessarily the result in every case.
Adopting the example given by one of the counsel for the petitioners in the course of his oral
argument, one province may appropriate the necessary fund to defray the salary of a probation
officer, while another province may refuse or fail to do so. In such a case, the Probation Act would
be in operation in the former province but not in the latter. This means that a person otherwise
coming within the purview of the law would be liable to enjoy the benefits of probation in one
province while another person similarly situated in another province would be denied those same
benefits. This is obnoxious discrimination. Contrariwise, it is also possible for all the provincial
boards to appropriate the necessary funds for the salaries of the probation officers in their respective
provinces, in which case no inequality would result for the obvious reason that probation would be in
operation in each and every province by the affirmative action of appropriation by all the provincial
boards. On that hypothesis, every person coming within the purview of the Probation Act would be
entitled to avail of the benefits of the Act. Neither will there be any resulting inequality if no province,
through its provincial board, should appropriate any amount for the salary of the probation officer
which is the situation now and, also, if we accept the contention that, for the purpose of the
Probation Act, the City of Manila should be considered as a province and that the municipal board of
said city has not made any appropriation for the salary of the probation officer. These different
situations suggested show, indeed, that while inequality may result in the application of the law and
in the conferment of the benefits therein provided, inequality is not in all cases the necessary result.
But whatever may be the case, it is clear that in section 11 of the Probation Act creates a situation in
which discrimination and inequality are permitted or allowed. There are, to be sure, abundant
authorities requiring actual denial of the equal protection of the law before court should assume the
task of setting aside a law vulnerable on that score, but premises and circumstances considered, we
are of the opinion that section 11 of Act No. 4221 permits of the denial of the equal protection of the
law and is on that account bad. We see no difference between a law which permits of such denial. A
law may appear to be fair on its face and impartial in appearance, yet, if it permits of unjust and
illegal discrimination, it is within the constitutional prohibitions. (By analogy, Chy Lung vs. Freeman
[1876], 292 U. S., 275; 23 Law. ed., 550; Henderson vs. Mayor [1876], 92 U. S., 259; 23 Law. ed.,
543;Ex parte Virginia [1880], 100 U. S., 339; 25 Law. ed., 676; Neal vs. Delaware [1881], 103 U. S.,
370; 26 Law. ed., 567; Soon Hing vs. Crowley [1885], 113 U. S., 703; 28 Law. ed., 1145, Yick Wo
vs. Hopkins [1886],118 U. S., 356; 30 Law. ed., 220; Williams vs. Mississippi [1897], 170 U. S., 218;
18 Sup. Ct. Rep., 583; 42 Law. ed., 1012; Bailey vs. Alabama [1911], 219 U. S., 219; 31 Sup. Ct.
Rep. 145; 55 Law. ed., Sunday Lake Iron Co. vs. Wakefield [1918], 247 U. S., 450; 38 Sup. Ct. Rep.,
495; 62 Law. ed., 1154.) In other words, statutes may be adjudged unconstitutional because of their
effect in operation (General Oil Co. vs. Clain [1907], 209 U. S., 211; 28 Sup. Ct. Rep., 475; 52 Law.
ed., 754; State vs. Clement Nat. Bank [1911], 84 Vt., 167; 78 Atl., 944; Ann. Cas., 1912D, 22). If the
law has the effect of denying the equal protection of the law it is unconstitutional. (6 R. C. L. p. 372;
Civil Rights Cases, 109 U. S., 3; 3 Sup. Ct. Rep., 18; 27 Law. ed., 835; Yick Wo vs. Hopkins, supra;
State vs. Montgomery, 94 Me., 192; 47 Atl., 165; 80 A. S. R., 386; State vs. Dering, 84 Wis., 585; 54
N. W., 1104; 36 A. S. R., 948; 19 L. R. A., 858.) Under section 11 of the Probation Act, not only may

said Act be in force in one or several provinces and not be in force in other provinces, but one
province may appropriate for the salary of the probation officer of a given year and have probation
during that year and thereafter decline to make further appropriation, and have no probation is
subsequent years. While this situation goes rather to the abuse of discretion which delegation
implies, it is here indicated to show that the Probation Act sanctions a situation which is intolerable in
a government of laws, and to prove how easy it is, under the Act, to make the guaranty of the
equality clause but "a rope of sand". (Brewer, J. Gulf C. & S. F. Ry. Co. vs. Ellis [1897], 165 U. S.,
150 154; 41 Law. ed., 666; 17 Sup. Ct. Rep., 255.)
lawph!1.net

Great reliance is placed by counsel for the respondents on the case of Ocampo vs. United States
([1914], 234 U. S., 91; 58 Law. ed., 1231). In that case, the Supreme Court of the United States
affirmed the decision of this court (18 Phil., 1) by declining to uphold the contention that there was a
denial of the equal protection of the laws because, as held in Missouri vs. Lewis (Bowman vs. Lewis)
decided in 1880 (101 U. S., 220; 25 Law. ed., 991), the guaranty of the equality clause does not
require territorial uniformity. It should be observed, however, that this case concerns the right to
preliminary investigations in criminal cases originally granted by General Orders No. 58. No question
of legislative authority was involved and the alleged denial of the equal protection of the laws was
the result of the subsequent enactment of Act No. 612, amending the charter of the City of Manila
(Act No. 813) and providing in section 2 thereof that "in cases triable only in the court of first instance
of the City of Manila, the defendant . . . shall not be entitled as of right to a preliminary examination
in any case where the prosecuting attorney, after a due investigation of the facts . . . shall have
presented an information against him in proper form . . . ." Upon the other hand, an analysis of the
arguments and the decision indicates that the investigation by the prosecuting attorney although
not in the form had in the provinces was considered a reasonable substitute for the City of Manila,
considering the peculiar conditions of the city as found and taken into account by the legislature
itself.
Reliance is also placed on the case of Missouri vs. Lewis, supra. That case has reference to a
situation where the constitution of Missouri permits appeals to the Supreme Court of the state from
final judgments of any circuit court, except those in certain counties for which counties the
constitution establishes a separate court of appeals called St. Louis Court of Appeals. The provision
complained of, then, is found in the constitution itself and it is the constitution that makes the
apportionment of territorial jurisdiction.
We are of the opinion that section 11 of the Probation Act is unconstitutional and void because it is
also repugnant to equal-protection clause of our Constitution.
Section 11 of the Probation Act being unconstitutional and void for the reasons already stated, the
next inquiry is whether or not the entire Act should be avoided.
In seeking the legislative intent, the presumption is against any mutilation of a statute, and
the courts will resort to elimination only where an unconstitutional provision is interjected into
a statute otherwise valid, and is so independent and separable that its removal will leave the
constitutional features and purposes of the act substantially unaffected by the process.
(Riccio vs. Hoboken, 69 N. J. Law., 649, 662; 63 L. R. A., 485; 55 Atl., 1109, quoted in
Williams vs. Standard Oil Co. [1929], 278 U.S., 235, 240; 73 Law. ed., 287, 309; 49 Sup. Ct.
Rep., 115; 60 A. L. R., 596.) In Barrameda vs. Moir ([1913], 25 Phil., 44, 47), this court stated
the well-established rule concerning partial invalidity of statutes in the following language:
. . . where part of the a statute is void, as repugnant to the Organic Law, while another part is
valid, the valid portion, if separable from the valid, may stand and be enforced. But in order
to do this, the valid portion must be in so far independent of the invalid portion that it is fair to

presume that the Legislative would have enacted it by itself if they had supposed that they
could not constitutionally enact the other. (Mutual Loan Co. vs. Martell, 200 Mass., 482; 86
N. E., 916; 128 A. S. R., 446; Supervisors of Holmes Co. vs. Black Creek Drainage District,
99 Miss., 739; 55 Sou., 963.) Enough must remain to make a complete, intelligible, and valid
statute, which carries out the legislative intent. (Pearson vs. Bass. 132 Ga., 117; 63 S. E.,
798.) The void provisions must be eliminated without causing results affecting the main
purpose of the Act, in a manner contrary to the intention of the Legislature. (State vs. A. C. L.
R., Co., 56 Fla., 617, 642; 47 Sou., 969; Harper vs. Galloway, 58 Fla., 255; 51 Sou., 226; 26
L. R. A., N. S., 794; Connolly vs. Union Sewer Pipe Co., 184 U. S., 540, 565; People vs.
Strassheim, 240 Ill., 279, 300; 88 N. E., 821; 22 L. R. A., N. S., 1135; State vs. Cognevich,
124 La., 414; 50 Sou., 439.) The language used in the invalid part of a statute can have no
legal force or efficacy for any purpose whatever, and what remains must express the
legislative will, independently of the void part, since the court has no power to legislate.
(State vs. Junkin, 85 Neb., 1; 122 N. W., 473; 23 L. R. A., N. S., 839; Vide, also,. U. S., vs.
Rodriguez [1918], 38 Phil., 759; Pollock vs. Farmers' Loan and Trust Co. [1895], 158 U. S.,
601, 635; 39 Law. ed., 1108, 1125; 15 Sup. Ct. Rep., 912; 6 R.C.L., 121.)
It is contended that even if section 11, which makes the Probation Act applicable only in those
provinces in which the respective provincial boards provided for the salaries of probation officers
were inoperative on constitutional grounds, the remainder of the Act would still be valid and may be
enforced. We should be inclined to accept the suggestions but for the fact that said section is, in our
opinion, is inseparably linked with the other portions of the Act that with the elimination of the section
what would be left is the bare idealism of the system, devoid of any practical benefit to a large
number of people who may be deserving of the intended beneficial result of that system. The clear
policy of the law, as may be gleaned from a careful examination of the whole context, is to make the
application of the system dependent entirely upon the affirmative action of the different provincial
boards through appropriation of the salaries for probation officers at rates not lower than those
provided for provincial fiscals. Without such action on the part of the various boards, no probation
officers would be appointed by the Secretary of Justice to act in the provinces. The Philippines is
divided or subdivided into provinces and it needs no argument to show that if not one of the
provinces and this is the actual situation now appropriate the necessary fund for the salary of a
probation officer, probation under Act No. 4221 would be illusory. There can be no probation without
a probation officer. Neither can there be a probation officer without the probation system.
Section 2 of the Acts provides that the probation officer shall supervise and visit the probationer.
Every probation officer is given, as to the person placed in probation under his care, the powers of
the police officer. It is the duty of the probation officer to see that the conditions which are imposed
by the court upon the probationer under his care are complied with. Among those conditions, the
following are enumerated in section 3 of the Act:
That the probationer (a) shall indulge in no injurious or vicious habits;
(b) Shall avoid places or persons of disreputable or harmful character;
(c) Shall report to the probation officer as directed by the court or probation officers;
(d) Shall permit the probation officer to visit him at reasonable times at his place of abode or
elsewhere;
(e) Shall truthfully answer any reasonable inquiries on the part of the probation officer
concerning his conduct or condition; "(f) Shall endeavor to be employed regularly; "(g) Shall
remain or reside within a specified place or locality;

(f) Shall make reparation or restitution to the aggrieved parties for actual damages or losses
caused by his offense;
(g) Shall comply with such orders as the court may from time to time make; and
(h) Shall refrain from violating any law, statute, ordinance, or any by-law or regulation,
promulgated in accordance with law.
The court is required to notify the probation officer in writing of the period and terms of probation.
Under section 4, it is only after the period of probation, the submission of a report of the probation
officer and appropriate finding of the court that the probationer has complied with the conditions of
probation that probation may be definitely terminated and the probationer finally discharged from
supervision. Under section 5, if the court finds that there is non-compliance with said conditions, as
reported by the probation officer, it may issue a warrant for the arrest of the probationer and said
probationer may be committed with or without bail. Upon arraignment and after an opportunity to be
heard, the court may revoke, continue or modify the probation, and if revoked, the court shall order
the execution of the sentence originally imposed. Section 6 prescribes the duties of probation
officers: "It shall be the duty of every probation officer to furnish to all persons placed on probation
under his supervision a statement of the period and conditions of their probation, and to instruct
them concerning the same; to keep informed concerning their conduct and condition; to aid and
encourage them by friendly advice and admonition, and by such other measures, not inconsistent
with the conditions imposed by court as may seem most suitable, to bring about improvement in their
conduct and condition; to report in writing to the court having jurisdiction over said probationers at
least once every two months concerning their conduct and condition; to keep records of their work;
make such report as are necessary for the information of the Secretary of Justice and as the latter
may require; and to perform such other duties as are consistent with the functions of the probation
officer and as the court or judge may direct. The probation officers provided for in this Act may act as
parole officers for any penal or reformatory institution for adults when so requested by the authorities
thereof, and, when designated by the Secretary of Justice shall act as parole officer of persons
released on parole under Act Number Forty-one Hundred and Three, without additional
compensation."
It is argued, however, that even without section 11 probation officers maybe appointed in the
provinces under section 10 of Act which provides as follows:
There is hereby created in the Department of Justice and subject to its supervision and
control, a Probation Office under the direction of a Chief Probation Officer to be appointed by
the Governor-General with the advise and consent of the Senate who shall receive a salary
of four eight hundred pesos per annum. To carry out this Act there is hereby appropriated out
of any funds in the Insular Treasury not otherwise appropriated, the sum of fifty thousand
pesos to be disbursed by the Secretary of Justice, who is hereby authorized to appoint
probation officers and the administrative personnel of the probation officer under civil service
regulations from among those who possess the qualifications, training and experience
prescribed by the Bureau of Civil Service, and shall fix the compensation of such probation
officers and administrative personnel until such positions shall have been included in the
Appropriation Act.
But the probation officers and the administrative personnel referred to in the foregoing section are
clearly not those probation officers required to be appointed for the provinces under section 11. It
may be said, reddendo singula singulis, that the probation officers referred to in section 10 abovequoted are to act as such, not in the various provinces, but in the central office known as the
Probation Office established in the Department of Justice, under the supervision of the Chief

Probation Officer. When the law provides that "the probation officer" shall investigate and make
reports to the court (secs. 1 and 4); that "the probation officer" shall supervise and visit the
probationer (sec. 2; sec. 6, par. d); that the probationer shall report to the "probationer officer" (sec.
3, par. c.), shall allow "the probationer officer" to visit him (sec. 3, par. d), shall truthfully answer any
reasonable inquiries on the part of "the probation officer" concerning his conduct or condition (sec. 3,
par. 4); that the court shall notify "the probation officer" in writing of the period and terms of probation
(sec. 3, last par.), it means the probation officer who is in charge of a particular probationer in a
particular province. It never could have been intention of the legislature, for instance, to require the
probationer in Batanes, to report to a probationer officer in the City of Manila, or to require a
probation officer in Manila to visit the probationer in the said province of Batanes, to place him under
his care, to supervise his conduct, to instruct him concerning the conditions of his probation or to
perform such other functions as are assigned to him by law.
That under section 10 the Secretary of Justice may appoint as many probation officers as there are
provinces or groups of provinces is, of course possible. But this would be arguing on what the law
may be or should be and not on what the law is. Between is and ought there is a far cry. The wisdom
and propriety of legislation is not for us to pass upon. We may think a law better otherwise than it is.
But much as has been said regarding progressive interpretation and judicial legislation we decline to
amend the law. We are not permitted to read into the law matters and provisions which are not there.
Not for any purpose not even to save a statute from the doom of invalidity.
Upon the other hand, the clear intention and policy of the law is not to make the Insular Government
defray the salaries of probation officers in the provinces but to make the provinces defray them
should they desire to have the Probation Act apply thereto. The sum of P50,000, appropriated "to
carry out the purposes of this Act", is to be applied, among other things, for the salaries of probation
officers in the central office at Manila. These probation officers are to receive such compensations
as the Secretary of Justice may fix "until such positions shall have been included in the Appropriation
Act". It was the intention of the legislature to empower the Secretary of Justice to fix the salaries of
the probation officers in the provinces or later on to include said salaries in an appropriation act.
Considering, further, that the sum of P50,000 appropriated in section 10 is to cover, among other
things, the salaries of the administrative personnel of the Probation Office, what would be left of the
amount can hardly be said to be sufficient to pay even nominal salaries to probation officers in the
provinces. We take judicial notice of the fact that there are 48 provinces in the Philippines and we do
not think it is seriously contended that, with the fifty thousand pesos appropriated for the central
office, there can be in each province, as intended, a probation officer with a salary not lower than
that of a provincial fiscal. If this a correct, the contention that without section 11 of Act No. 4221 said
act is complete is an impracticable thing under the remainder of the Act, unless it is conceded that in
our case there can be a system of probation in the provinces without probation officers.
Probation as a development of a modern penology is a commendable system. Probation laws have
been enacted, here and in other countries, to permit what modern criminologist call the
"individualization of the punishment", the adjustment of the penalty to the character of the criminal
and the circumstances of his particular case. It provides a period of grace in order to aid in the
rehabilitation of a penitent offender. It is believed that, in any cases, convicts may be reformed and
their development into hardened criminals aborted. It, therefore, takes advantage of an opportunity
for reformation and avoids imprisonment so long as the convicts gives promise of reform. (United
States vs. Murray [1925], 275 U. S., 347 357, 358; 72 Law. ed., 309; 312, 313; 48 Sup. Ct. Rep.,
146; Kaplan vs. Hecht, 24 F. [2d], 664, 665.) The Welfare of society is its chief end and aim. The
benefit to the individual convict is merely incidental. But while we believe that probation is
commendable as a system and its implantation into the Philippines should be welcomed, we are
forced by our inescapable duty to set the law aside because of the repugnancy to our fundamental
law.

In arriving at this conclusion, we have endeavored to consider the different aspects presented by
able counsel for both parties, as well in their memorandums as in their oral argument. We have
examined the cases brought to our attention, and others we have been able to reach in the short
time at our command for the study and deliberation of this case. In the examination of the cases and
in then analysis of the legal principles involved we have inclined to adopt the line of action which in
our opinion, is supported better reasoned authorities and is more conducive to the general welfare.
(Smith, Bell & Co. vs. Natividad [1919], 40 Phil., 136.) Realizing the conflict of authorities, we have
declined to be bound by certain adjudicated cases brought to our attention, except where the point
or principle is settled directly or by clear implication by the more authoritative pronouncements of the
Supreme Court of the United States. This line of approach is justified because:
(a) The constitutional relations between the Federal and the State governments of the United
States and the dual character of the American Government is a situation which does not
obtain in the Philippines;
(b) The situation of s state of the American Union of the District of Columbia with reference to
the Federal Government of the United States is not the situation of the province with respect
to the Insular Government (Art. I, sec. 8 cl. 17 and 10th Amendment, Constitution of the
United States; Sims vs. Rives, 84 Fed. [2d], 871),
(c) The distinct federal and the state judicial organizations of the United States do not
embrace the integrated judicial system of the Philippines (Schneckenburger vs. Moran
[1936], 35 Off. Gaz., p. 1317);
(d) "General propositions do not decide concrete cases" (Justice Holmes in Lochner vs. New
York [1904], 198 U. S., 45, 76; 49 Law. ed., 937, 949) and, "to keep pace with . . . new
developments of times and circumstances" (Chief Justice Waite in Pensacola Tel. Co. vs.
Western Union Tel. Co. [1899], 96 U. S., 1, 9; 24 Law. ed., 708; Yale Law Journal, Vol. XXIX,
No. 2, Dec. 1919, 141, 142), fundamental principles should be interpreted having in view
existing local conditions and environment.
Act No. 4221 is hereby declared unconstitutional and void and the writ of prohibition is, accordingly,
granted. Without any pronouncement regarding costs. So ordered.

G.R. No. L-2044

August 26, 1949

J. ANTONIO ARANETA, petitioner,

vs.
RAFAEL DINGLASAN, Judge of First Instance of Manila, and JOSE P. BENGZON, Fiscal of
City of Manila,respondents.
x---------------------------------------------------------x
G.R. No. L-2756

August 26, 1949

J. ANTONIO ARANETA and GREGORIO VILLAMOR, petitioners,

vs.
EUGENIO ANGELES, Fiscal of City of Manila, respondent.
x---------------------------------------------------------x
G.R. No. L-3054

August 26, 1949

EULOGIO RODRIGUEZ, Sr., por si y como Presidente del Partido Nacionalista, recurrente,
vs.
EL TESORERO DE FILIPINAS, recurrido.
x---------------------------------------------------------x
G.R. No. L-3055

August 26, 1949

LEON MA. GURRERO, petitioner,

vs.
THE COMMISSIONER OF CUSTOMS and THE ADMINISTRATOR, SUGAR QUOTA OFFICE,
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY, respondents.
x---------------------------------------------------------x
G.R. No. L-3056

August 26, 1949

ANTONIO BARREDO, in his own behalf and on behalf of all taxpayers similarly
situated, petitioner,
vs.
THE COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS, THE AUDITOR GENERAL and THE INSULAR
TREASURER OF THE PHILIPPINES, respondents.
L-2044
Paredes, Diaz and Poblador, Jesus G. Barrera, Vicente Hilado, and Araneta and Araneta for
petitioner.
Office of the Solicitor General Felix Bautista Angelo, Assistant Solicitor General Ruperto Kapunan,
Jr., Solicitor Martiniano P. Vico and Assistant City Fiscal Julio Villamor for respondents.
Claro M. Recto and Padilla, Carlos and Fernando as amici curiae.
L-2756
Araneta and Araneta and Jesus G. Barrera for petitioners.

Assistant City Fiscal Luis B. Reyes for respondent.

Claro M. Recto as amici curiae.
L-3054
Claro M. Recto, Ramon Diokno, Jose O. Vera, Alejo Mabanag, Jose B. Laurel, Jr. and Antonio
Barredo for petitioner.
Office of the Solicitor General Felix Bautista Angelo for respondent.
Vicente de Vera, Chairman, Commission on Elections.
Alfonso Ponce Enrile, Alva J. Hill and Honorio Poblador, Jr. and Emiliano R. Navarro as amici
curiae.
Jesus G. Barrera, Enrique M. Fernando, Ramon Sunico, and Francisco A. Rodrigo also as amici
curiae.
L-3055
Claro M. Recto and Leon Ma. Guerrero for petitioner.
Office of the Solicitor General Felix Bautista Angelo for respondents.
V. G. Bunuan, Administrator, Sugar Quota Office.
Jesus G. Barrera, Felixberto M. Serrano, Enrique; Honorio Poblador, Jr. and Emiliano R. Navarro as
amici curiae.
L-3056
Claro M. Recto and Antonio Barredo for petitioner.
Office of the Solicitor General Felix Bautista Angelo for respondents.
Vicente de Vera, Chairman, Commission on Elections.
Alfonso Ponce Enrile, Alva J. Hill, Jesus G. Barrera, Enrique M. Fernando, Ramon Sunico and
Francisco A. Rodrigo; Honorio Poblador, Jr. and Emiliano R. Navarro as amici curiae.
TUASON, J.:
Three of these cases were consolidated for argument and the other two were argued separately on
other dates. Inasmuch as all of them present the same fundamental question which, in our view, is
decisive, they will be disposed of jointly. For the same reason we will pass up the objection to the
personality or sufficiency of interest of the petitioners in case G. R. No. L-3054 and case G. R. No. L3056 and the question whether prohibition lies in cases Nos. L-2044 and L-2756. No practical benefit
can be gained from a discussion of the procedural matters since the decision in the cases wherein
the petitioners' cause of action or the propriety of the procedure followed is not in dispute, will be
controlling authority on the others. Above all, the transcendental importance to the public of these
cases demands that they be settled promptly and definitely, brushing aside, if we must, technicalities
of procedure. (Avelino vs. Cuenco, G. R. No. L-2821.) The petitions challenge the validity of
executive orders of the President avowedly issued in virtue of Commonwealth Act No. 671. Involved
in cases Nos. L-2044 and L-2756 is Executive Order No. 62, which regulates rentals for houses and
lots for residential buildings. The petitioner, J. Antonio Araneta, is under prosecution in the Court of
First Instance of Manila for violation of the provisions of this Executive Order, and prays for the
issuance of the writ of prohibition to the judge and the city fiscal. Involved in case L-3055 is
Executive Order No. 192, which aims to control exports from the Philippines. In this case, Leon Ma.
Guerrero seeks a writ of mandamus to compel the Administrator of the Sugar Quota Office and the
Commissioner of Customs to permit the exportation of shoes by the petitioner. Both official refuse to
issue the required export license on the ground that the exportation of shoes from the Philippines is
forbidden by this Executive Order. Case No. L-3054 relates to Executive Order No. 225, which
appropriates funds for the operation of the Government of the Republic of the Philippines during the
period from July 1, 1949 to June 30, 1950, and for other purposes. The petitioner Eulogio Rodriguez,
Sr., as a tax-payer, an elector, and president of the Nacionalista Party, applies for a writ of

prohibition to restrain the Treasurer of the Philippines from disbursing this Executive Order. Affected
in case No. L-3056 is Executive Order No. 226, which appropriates P6,000,000 to defray the
expenses in connection with, and incidental to, the hold lug of the national elections to be held in
November, 1949. The petitioner, Antonio Barredo, as a citizen, tax-payer and voter, asks this Court
to prevent "the respondents from disbursing, spending or otherwise disposing of that amount or any
part of it."
Notwithstanding allegations in the petitions assailing the constitutionally of Act No. 671, the
petitioners do not press the point in their oral argument and memorandum. They rest their case
chiefly on the proposition that the Emergency Powers Act (Commonwealth Act No. 671) has ceased
to have any force and effect. This is the basic question we have referred to, and it is to this question
that we will presently address ourselves and devote greater attention. For the purpose of this
decision, only, the constitutionality of Act No. 671 will be taken for granted, and any dictum or
statement herein which may appear contrary to that hypothesis should be understood as having
been made merely in furtherance of the main thesis.
Act No. 671 in full is as follows:
AN ACT DECLARING A STATE OF TOTAL EMERGENCY AS A RESULT OF WAR
INVOLVING THE PHILIPPINES AND AUTHORIZING THE PRESIDENT TO PROMULGATE
RULES AND REGULATIONS TO MEET SUCH EMERGENCY.
Be it enacted by the National Assembly of the Philippines:
SECTION 1. The existence of war between the United States and other countries of Europe
and Asia, which involves the Philippines, makes it necessary to invest the President with
extraordinary powers in order to meet the resulting emergency.
"SEC. 2. Pursuant to the provisions of Article VI, section 26, of the Constitution, the
President is hereby authorized, during the existence of the emergency, to promulgate such
rules and regulations as he may deem necessary to carry out the national policy declared in
section 1 hereof. Accordingly, he is, among other things, empowered (a) to transfer the seat
of the Government or any of its subdivisions, branches, departments, offices, agencies or
instrumentalities; (b) to reorganize the Government of the Commonwealth including the
determination of the order of precedence of the heads of the Executive Department; (c) to
create new subdivisions, branches, departments, agencies or instrumentalities of
government and to abolish any of those already existing; (d) to continue in force laws and
appropriations which would lapse or otherwise become inoperative, and to modify or
suspend the operation or application of those of an administrative character; (e) to impose
new taxes or to increase, reduce, suspend or abolish those in existence; (f) to raise funds
through the issuance of bonds or otherwise, and to authorize the expenditure of the
proceeds thereof; (g) to authorize the national, provincial, city or municipal governments to
incur in overdrafts for purposes that he may approve; (h) to declare the suspension of the
collection of credits or the payment of debts; and (i) to exercise such other powers as he may
deem to enable the Government to fulfill its responsibities and to maintain and enforce the
authority.
SEC. 3. The President of the Philippines shall as soon as practicable upon the convening of
the Congress of the Philippines report thereto all the rules and regulations promulgated by
him under the powers herein granted.

SEC. 4. This Act shall take effect upon its approval and the rules and regulations
promulgated hereunder shall be in force and effect until the Congress of the Philippines shall
otherwise provide.
Section 26 of Article VI of the Constitution provides:
In time of war or other national emergency, the Congress may by law authorize the
President, for a limited period and subject to such restrictions as it may prescribe, to
promulgate rules and regulations to carry out a declared national policy.
Commonwealth Act No. 671 does not in term fix the duration of its effectiveness. The intention of the
Act has to be sought for in its nature, the object to be accomplish, the purpose to be subserved, and
its relation to the Constitution. The consequences of the various constructions offered will also be
resorted to as additional aid to interpretation. We test a rule by its results.
Article VI of the Constitution provides that any law passed by virtue thereof should be "for a limited
period." "Limited" has been defined to mean "restricted; bounded; prescribed; confined within
positive bounds; restrictive in duration, extent or scope." (Encyclopedia Law Dictionary, 3rd ed., 669;
Black's Law Dictionary, 3rd ed., 1120.) The words "limited period" as used in the Constitution are
beyond question intended to mean restrictive in duration. Emergency, in order to justify the
delegation of emergency powers, "must be temporary or it can not be said to be an emergency."
(First Trust Joint Stock Land Bank of Chicago vs. Adolph P. Arp, et al., 120 A. L. R., 937, 938.).
It is to be presumed that Commonwealth Act No. 671 was approved with this limitation in view. The
opposite theory would make the law repugnant to the Constitution, and is contrary to the principle
that the legislature is deemed to have full knowledge of the constitutional scope of its powers. The
assertion that new legislation is needed to repeal the act would not be in harmony with the
Constitution either. If a new and different law were necessary to terminate the delegation, the period
for the delegation, it has been correctly pointed out, would be unlimited, indefinite, negative and
uncertain; "that which was intended to meet a temporary emergency may become permanent law,"
(Peck vs. Fink, 2 Fed. [2d], 912); for Congress might not enact the repeal, and even if it would, the
repeal might not meet the approval of the President, and the Congress might not be able to override
the veto. Furthermore, this would create the anomaly that, while Congress might delegate its powers
by simple majority, it might not be able to recall them except by a two-third vote. In other words, it
would be easier for Congress to delegate its powers than to take them back. This is not right and is
not, and ought not to be, the law. Corwin, President: Office and Powers, 1948 ed., p. 160, says:
It is generally agreed that the maxim that the legislature may not delegate its powers
signifies at the very least that the legislature may not abdicate its powers: Yet how, in view of
the scope that legislative delegations take nowadays, is the line between delegation and
abdication to be maintained? Only, I urge, by rendering the delegated powers recoverable
without the consent of the delegate; . . . .
Section 4 goes far to settle the legislative intention of this phase of Act No. 671. Section 4 stipulates
that "the rules and regulations promulgated thereunder shall be in full force and effect until the
Congress of the Philippines shall otherwise provide." The silence of the law regarding the repeal of
the authority itself, in the face of the express provision for the repeal of the rules and regulations
issued in pursuance of it, a clear manifestation of the belief held by the National Assembly that there
was no necessity to provide for the former. It would be strange if having no idea about the time the
Emergency Powers Act was to be effective the National Assemble failed to make a provision for this
termination in the same way that it did for the termination of the effects and incidents of the
delegation. There would be no point in repealing or annulling the rules and regulations promulgated

under a law if the law itself was to remain in force, since, in that case, the President could not only
make new rules and regulations but he could restore the ones already annulled by the legislature.
More anomalous than the exercise of legislative function by the Executive when Congress is in the
unobstructed exercise of its authority is the fact that there would be two legislative bodies operating
over the same field, legislating concurrently and simultaneously, mutually nullifying each other's
actions. Even if the emergency powers of the President, as suggested, be suspended while
Congress was in session and be revived after each adjournment, the anomaly would not be limited.
Congress by a two-third vote could repeal executive orders promulgated by the President during
congressional recess, and the President in turn could treat in the same manner, between sessions of
Congress, laws enacted by the latter. This is not a fantastic apprehension; in two instances it
materialized. In entire good faith, and inspired only by the best interests of the country as they saw
them, a former President promulgated an executive order regulating house rentals after he had
vetoed a bill on the subject enacted by Congress, and the present Chief Executive issued an
executive order on export control after Congress had refused to approve the measure.
Quiet apart from these anomalies, there is good basis in the language of Act No. 671 for the
inference that the National Assembly restricted the life of the emergency powers of the President to
the time the Legislature was prevented from holding sessions due to enemy action or other causes
brought on by the war. Section 3 provides:
The President of the Philippines shall as soon as practicable upon the convening of the
Congress of the Philippines report thereto all the rules and regulations promulgated by him
under the powers herein granted.
The clear tenor of this provision is that there was to be only one meeting of Congress at which the
President was to give an account of his trusteeship. The section did not say each meeting, which it
could very well have said if that had been the intention. If the National Assembly did not think that
the report in section 3 was to be the first and last Congress Act No. 671 would lapsed, what reason
could there be for its failure to provide in appropriate and clear terms for the filing of subsequent
reports? Such reports, if the President was expected to continue making laws in the forms of rules,
regulations and executive orders, were as important, of as unimportant, as the initial one.
As a contemporary construction, President Quezon's statement regarding the duration of Act No.
671 is enlightening and should carry much weight, considering his part in the passage and in the
carrying out of the law. Mr. Quezon, who called the National Assembly to a special session, who
recommended the enactment of the Emergency Powers Act, if indeed he was not its author, and
who was the very President to be entrusted with its execution, stated in his autobiography, "The
Good Fight," that Act No. 671 was only "for a certain period" and "would become invalid unless
reenacted." These phrases connote automatical extinction of the law upon the conclusion of a
certain period. Together they denote that a new legislation was necessary to keep alive (not to
repeal) the law after the expiration of that period. They signify that the same law, not a different one,
had to be repassed if the grant should be prolonged.
What then was the contemplated period? President Quezon in the same paragraph of his
autobiography furnished part of the answer. He said he issued the call for a special session of the
National Assembly "when it became evident that we were completely helpless against air attack, and
that it was most unlikely the Philippine Legislature would hold its next regular session which was to
open on January 1, 1942." (Emphasis ours.) It can easily be discerned in this statement that the
conferring of enormous powers upon the President was decided upon with specific view to the
inability of the National Assembly to meet. Indeed no other factor than this inability could have
motivated the delegation of powers so vast as to amount to an abdication by the National Assembly

of its authority. The enactment and continuation of a law so destructive of the foundations of
democratic institutions could not have been conceived under any circumstance short of a complete
disruption and dislocation of the normal processes of government. Anyway, if we are to uphold the
constitutionality of the act on the basis of its duration, we must start with the premise that it fixed a
definite, limited period. As we have indicated, the period that best comports with constitutional
requirements and limitations, with the general context of the law and with what we believe to be the
main if not the sole raison d'etre for its enactment, was a period coextensive with the inability of
Congress to function, a period ending with the conventing of that body.
It is our considered opinion, and we so hold, that Commonwealth Act No. 671 became inoperative
when Congress met in regular session on May 25, 1946, and that Executive Orders Nos. 62, 192,
225 and 226 were issued without authority of law. In setting the session of Congress instead of the
first special session preceded it as the point of expiration of the Act, we think giving effect to the
purpose and intention of the National Assembly. In a special session, the Congress may "consider
general legislation or only such as he (President) may designate." (Section 9, Article VI of the
Constitution.) In a regular session, the power Congress to legislate is not circumscribed except by
the limitations imposed by the organic law.
Having arrived at this conclusion, we are relieved of the necessity of deciding the question as to
which department of government is authorized to inquire whether the contingency on which the law
is predicated still exists. The right of one or another department to declare the emergency terminated
is not in issue. As a matter of fact, we have endeavored to find the will of the National Assembly
call that will, an exercise of the police power or the war power and, once ascertained, to apply it.
Of course, the function of interpreting statutes in proper cases, as in this, will not be denied the
courts as their constitutional prerogative and duty. In so far as it is insinuated that the Chief
Executive has the exclusive authority to say that war not ended, and may act on the strength of his
opinion and findings in contravention of the law as the courts have construed it, no legal principle
can be found to support the proposition. There is no pretense that the President has independent or
inherent power to issue such executive orders as those under review. we take it that the
respondents, in sustaining the validity of these executive orders rely on Act No. 600, Act No. 620, or
Act No. 671 of the former Commonwealth and on no other source. To put it differently, the
President's authority in this connection is purely statutory, in no sense political or directly derived
from the Constitution.
Act No. 671, as we have stressed, ended ex proprio vigore with the opening of the regular session of
Congress on May 25, 1946. Acts Nos. 600 and 620 contain stronger if not conclusive indication that
they were self-liquidating. By express provision the rules and regulations to be eventually made in
pursuance of Acts Nos. 600 and 620, respectively approved on August 19, 1940 and June 6, 1941,
were to be good only up to the corresponding dates of adjournment of the following sessions of the
Legislature, "unless sooner amended or repealed by the National Assembly." The logical deduction
to be drawn from this provision is that in the mind of the lawmakers the idea was fixed that the Acts
themselves would lapse not latter than the rules and regulations. The design to provide for the
automatic repeal of those rules and regulations necessarily was predicated on the consciousness of
a prior or at best simultaneous repeal of their source. Were not this the case, there would arise the
curious spectacle, already painted, and easily foreseen, of the Legislature amending or repealing
rules and regulations of the President while the latter was empowered to keep or return them into
force and to issue new ones independently of the National Assembly. For the rest, the reasoning
heretofore adduced against the asserted indefinite continuance of the operation of Act No. 671
equally applies to Acts Nos. 600 and 620.
The other corollary of the opinion we have reached is that the question whether war, in law or in fact,
continues, is irrelevant. If we were to that actual hostilities between the original belligerents are still
raging, the elusion would not be altered. After the convening of Congress new legislation had to be

approved if the continuation of the emergency powers, or some of them, was desired. In the light of
the conditions surrounding the approval of the Emergency Power Act, we are of the opinion that the
"state of total emergency as a result of war" envisaged in the preamble referred to the impending
invasion and occupation of the Philippines by the enemy and the consequent total disorganization of
the Government, principally the impossibility for the National Assembly to act. The state of affairs
was one which called for immediate action and with which the National Assembly would would not
be able to cope. The war itself and its attendant chaos and calamities could not have necessitated
the delegation had the National Assembly been in a position to operate.
After all the criticism that have been made against the efficiency of the system of the separation of
powers, the fact remains that the Constitution has set up this form of government, with all its defects
and shortcomings, in preference to the commingling of powers in one man or group of men. The
Filipino people by adopting parliamentary government have given notice that they share the faith of
other democracy-loving people in this system, with all its faults, as the ideal. The point is, under this
framework of government, legislation is preserved for Congress all the time, not expecting periods of
crisis no matter how serious. Never in the history of the United States, the basic features of whose
Constitution have been copied in ours, have the specific functions of the legislative branch of
enacting laws been surrendered to another department unless we regard as legislating the
carrying out of a legislative policy according to prescribed standards; no, not even when that
Republic was fighting a total war, or when it was engaged in a life-and-death struggle to preserve the
Union. The truth is that under our concept of constitutional government, in times of extreme perils
more than in normal circumstances "the various branches, executive, legislative, and judicial," given
the ability to act, are called upon "to the duties and discharge the responsibilities committed to them
respectively."
These observations, though beyond the issue as formulated in this decision, may, we trust, also
serve to answer the vehement plea that for the good of the Nation, the President should retain his
extraordinary powers as long asturmoil and other ills directly or indirectly traceable to the late war
harass the Philippines.
Upon the foregoing considerations, the petitions will be granted. In order to avoid any possible
disruption and interruption in the normal operation of the Government, we have deemed it best to
depart in these cases from the ordinary rule to the period for the effectivity of decisions, and to
decree, as it is hereby decreed, that this decision take effect fifteen days from the date of the entry of
final judgment provided in section 8 of Rule 53 of the Rules of Court in relation to section 2 of Rule
35. No costs will be charged.
Ozaeta, J., concurs.

G.R. No. L-6266

February 2, 1953

EULOGIO RODRIGUEZ, SR., ETC., ET AL., petitioners,

vs.
VICENTE GELLA, ETC., ET AL., respondents.
Eulogio Rodriguez, Sr., Lorenzo M. Taada, Claro M. Recto, Jose P. Laurel, Jesus Barrera and
Leon Ma. Guerrero for petitioner.
Office of the Solicitor General Juan R. Liwag and Solicitor Martiniano P. Vivo for respondents.
PARAS, C.J.:
As a fitting foreword, it may be recalled that on a previous occasion, on August 26, 1949 to be exact,
this court had already passed upon the status of Commonwealth Act No. 671, approved on
December 16, 1941, "declaring a state of total emergency as a result of war involving the Philippines
and authorizing the President to promulgate rules and regulations to meet such emergency." Five
members held that the Act ceased to be operative in its totality, on May 25, 1946 (when the
Congress convened in special session) according to Chief Justice Moran. Justice Bengzon, Padilla,
Montemayor, Reyes and Torres in effect concluded that the powers delegated to the President had
been withdrawn as to matters already legislated upon by the Congress or on which the latter had
demonstrated its readiness or ability to act. Executive Orders No. 62 (dated June 21, 1947)
regulating house and lot rentals, No. 192 (dated December 24, 1948) regulating exports, Nos. 225
and 226 (dated June 15,1949) the first appropriation funds for the operation of the Government from
July 1, 1949 to June 30, 1950, and the second appropriating funds for election expenses in
November 1949, were therefore declared null and void for having been issued after Act No. 671 had
lapsed and/or after the Congress had enacted legislation on the same subjects.1
More or less the same considerations that influenced our pronouncement of August 26, 1949 are
and should be controlling in the case now before us, wherein the petitioners seek to invalidate
Executive Orders Nos. 545 and 546 issued on November 10, 1952, the first appropriating the sum of
P37,850,500 for urgent and essential public works, and the second setting aside the sum of
P11,367,600 for relief in the provinces and cities visited by typhoons, floods, droughts, earthquakes,
volcanic action and other calamities.
Section 26 of Article VI of the Constitution provides that "in times of war or other national emergency,
the Congress may by law authorize the President, for a limited period and subject to such
restrictions as it may prescribe, to promulgate rules and regulations to carry out a declared national
policy." Accordingly the National Assembly passed Commonwealth Act No. 671, declaring (in section
1) the national policy that "the existence of war between the United States and other countries of
Europe and Asia, which involves the Philippines makes it necessary to invest the President with
extraordinary powers in order to meet the resulting emergency," and (in section 2) authorizing the
President, "during the existence of the emergency, to promulgate such rules and regulations as he
may deem necessary to carry out the national policy declared in section 1."
As the Act was expressly in pursuance of the constitutional provision, it has to be assumed that the
National Assembly intended it to be only for a limited period. If it be contended that the Act has not
yet been duly repealed, and such step is necessary to a cessation of the emergency powers
delegated to the President, the result would be obvious unconstitutionality, since it may never be
repealed by the Congress, or if the latter ever attempts to do so, the President may wield his veto.
This eventuality has in fact taken place when the President disapproved House Bill No. 727,
repealing all Emergency Powers Acts. The situation will make the Congress and the President or
either as the principal authority to determine the indefinite duration of the delegation of legislative

powers, in palpable repugnance to the constitutional provision that any grant thereunder must be
for a limited period, necessarily to be fixed in the law itself and not dependent upon the arbitrary or
elastic will of either the Congress or the President.
Although House Bill No. 727, had been vetoed by the President and did not thereby become a
regular statute, it may at least be considered as a concurrent resolution of the Congress formally
declaring the termination of the emergency powers. To contend that the Bill needed presidential
acquiescence to produce effect, would lead to the anomalous, if not absurd, situation that, "while
Congress might delegate its power by a simple majority, it might not be able to recall them except by
two-third vote. In other words, it would be easier for Congress to delegate its powers than to take
them back. This is not right and is not, and ought not to be the law."2
Act No. 671 may be likened to an ordinary contract of agency, whereby the consent of the agent is
necessary only in the sense that he cannot be compelled to accept the trust, in the same way that
the principal cannot be forced to keep the relation in eternity or at the will of the agent. Neither can it
be suggested that the agency created under the Act is coupled with interest.
The logical view consistent with constitutionality is to hold that the powers lasted only during the
emergency resulting from the last world war which factually involved the Philippines when Act No.
671 was passed on December 16, 1941. That emergency, which naturally terminated upon the
ending of the last world war, was contemplated by the members of the National Assembly on the
foresight that the actual state of war could prevent it from holding its next regular session. This is
confirmed by the following statement of President Quezon: "When it became evident that we were
completely helpless against air attack and that it was most unlikely the Philippine Legislature would
hold its next regular session which was to open on January 1, 1942, the National Assembly passed
into history approving a resolution which reaffirmed the abiding faith of the Filipino people in, and
their loyalty to, the United States. The Assembly also enacted a law granting the President of the
Philippines all the powers that under the Philippine Constitution may be delegated to him in time of
war."3 When President Quezon said "in time of war", he an doubtedly meant such factual war as that
then raging.
As early as July 26, 1948, the Congress categorically declared that "since liberation conditions have
gradually returned to normal, but not so with regard to those who have suffered the ravages of war
and who have not received any relief for the loss and destruction resulting therefrom," and that "the
emergency created by the last war as regards these war sufferers being still existent, it is the
declared policy of the state that as to them the debt moratorium should be continued in force in a
modified form."4 It is important to remember that Republic Act No. 342 in which this declaration was
made bore the approval of the President. Indeed, the latter in his speech delivered on July 4, 1949,
plainly proclaimed that "what emergencies it (the Republic) faces today are incidental passing rains
artificially created by seasonal partisanship, very common among democracies but will disappear
with the rains that follow the thunderclaps not later than November 8 of this year," an admission,
that such emergencies not only are not total but are not the result of the last war as envisaged in Act
No. 671.
If more is necessary to demonstrate the unmistakable stand of the legislative department on the
alleged existence of emergency, reference may be had to House Bill No. 727, hereinbefore referred
to, repealing all Emergency Powers Acts.
Moreover, section 26 of Article VI of the constitution, in virtue of which Act No. 671 was passed,
authorizes the delegation of powers by the Congress (1) in times of war or (2) other national
emergency. The emergency expressly spoken of in the title and in section 1 of the Act is one "in time
of war," as distinguished from "other national emergency" that may arise as an after-effect of war or

from natural causes such as widespread earthquakes, typhoons, floods, and the like. Certainly the
typhoons that hit some provinces and cities in 1952 not only did not result from the last world war but
were and could not have been contemplated by the legislators. At any rate, the Congress is
available for necessary special sessions, and it cannot let the people down without somehow being
answerable thereover.
As a matter of fact, the President, in returning to the Congress without his signature House Bill No.
727, did not invoke any emergency resulting from the last world war, but only called attention to an
impending emergency that may be brought about by present complicated and troubled world
conditions, and to the fact that our own soldiers are fighting and dying in Korea in defense of
democracy and freedom and for the preservation of our Republic. The emergency thus feared
cannot, however, be attributed to the war mentioned in Act No. 671 and fought between Germany
and Japan on one side and the Allied Powers on the other; and indications are that in the next world
war, if any, the communist countries will be aligned against the democracies. No departure can be
made from the national policy declared in section 1 of Act No. 671. New powers may be granted as
often as emergencies contemplated in the Constitution arise.
There is no point in the argument that the Philippines is still technically at war with Japan pending
the ratification of the peace treaty. In the first place, Act No. 671 referred to a factual war. In the
second place, the last world war was between the United States and Japan, the Philippines being
involved only because it was then under American sovereignty. In the third place, the United States
had already signed the peace treaty with Japan, and the Philippines has become an independent
country since July 4, 1946.
It is pointed out that the passage of House Bill No. 727 is inconsistent with the claim that the
emergency powers are non-existent. But, from the debates in the House, it is patent that the Bill had
to be approved merely to remove all doubts, especially because this Court had heretofore failed, for
lack of necessary majority, to declare Act No. 671 entirely inoperative.
Reliance is placed on the petition of about seventy Congressmen and Senators and on House
Resolution No. 99, urging the President to release and appropriate funds for essential and urgent
public works and for relief in the typhoon-stricken areas. It is enough to state, in reply, that the said
petition and resolution cannot prevail over the force and effect of House Bill No. 727 formally passed
by two chambers of the Congress. If faith can be accorded to the resolution of one house, there is
more reason for accepting the solemn declarations of two houses.
Even under the theory of some members of this court that insofar as the Congress had shown its
readiness or ability to act on a given matter, the emergency powers delegated to the President had
been pro tanto withdrawn, Executive Orders Nos. 545 and 546 must be declared as having no legal
anchorage. We can take judicial notice of the fact that the Congress has since liberation repeatedly
been approving acts appropriating funds for the operation of the Government, public works, and
many others purposes, with the result that as to such legislative task the Congress must be deemed
to have long decided to assume the corresponding power itself and to withdraw the same from the
President. If the President had ceased to have powers with regards to general appropriations, none
can remain in respect of special appropriations; otherwise he may accomplish indirectly what he
cannot do directly. Besides, it is significant that Act No. 671 expressly limited the power of the
President to that continuing "in force" appropriations which would lapse or otherwise become
inoperative, so that, even assuming that the Act is still effective, it is doubtful whether the President
can by executive orders make new appropriations. The specific power "to continue in force laws and
appropriations which would lapse or otherwise become inoperative" is a limitation on the general
power "to exercise such other powers as he may deem necessary to enable the Government to fulfill
its responsibilities and to maintain and enforce its authority." Indeed, to hold that although the

Congress has, for about seven years since liberation, been normally functioning and legislating on
every conceivable field, the President still has any residuary powers under the Act, would
necessarily lead to confusion and overlapping, if not conflict.
Shelter may not be sought in the proposition that the President should be allowed to exercise
emergency powers for the sake of speed and expediency in the interest and for the welfare of the
people, because we have the Constitution, designed to establish a government under a regime of
justice, liberty and democracy. In line with such primordial objective, our Government is democratic
in form and based on the system of separation of powers. Unless and until changed or amended, we
shall have to abide by the letter and spirit of the Constitution and be prepared to accept the
consequences resulting from or inherent in disagreements between, inaction or even refusal of the
legislative and executive departments. Much as it is imperative in some cases to have prompt official
action, deadlocks in and slowness of democratic processes must be preferred to concentration of
powers in any one man or group of men for obvious reasons. The framers of the Constitution,
however, had the vision of and were careful in allowing delegation of legislative powers to the
President for a limited period "in times of war or other national emergency." They had thus entrusted
to the good judgment of the Congress the duty of coping with any national emergency by a more
efficient procedure; but it alone must decide because emergency in itself cannot and should not
create power. In our democracy the hope and survival of the nation lie in the wisdom and unselfish
patriotism of all officials and in their faithful adherence to the Constitution.
Wherefore, Executive Orders Nos. 545 and 546 are hereby declared null and void, and the
respondents are ordered to desist from appropriating, releasing, allotting, and expending the public
funds set aside therein. So ordered, without costs.

G.R. No. L-14078

March 7, 1919

RUBI, ET AL. (manguianes), plaintiffs,

vs.
THE PROVINCIAL BOARD OF MINDORO, defendant.
D. R. Williams & Filemon Sotto for plaintiff.
Office of the Solicitor-General Paredes for defendant.
MALCOLM, J.:
In one of the cases which denote a landmark in American Constitutional History
(Worcester vs. Georgia [1832], 6 Pet., 515), Chief Justice Marshall, the first luminary of American
jurisprudence, began his opinion (relating to the status of an Indian) with words which, with a slight
change in phraseology, can be made to introduce the present opinion This cause, in every point
of view in which it can be placed, is of the deepest interest. The legislative power of state, the
controlling power of the constitution and laws, the rights if they have any, the political existence of a
people, the personal liberty of a citizen, are all involved in the subject now to be considered.
To imitate still further the opinion of the Chief Justice, we adopt his outline and proceed first, to
introduce the facts and the issues, next to give a history of the so called "non-Christians," next to
compare the status of the "non-Christians" with that of the American Indians, and, lastly, to resolve
the constitutional questions presented.
I. INTRODUCTION.
This is an application for habeas corpus in favor of Rubi and other Manguianes of the Province of
Mindoro. It is alleged that the Maguianes are being illegally deprived of their liberty by the provincial
officials of that province. Rubi and his companions are said to be held on the reservation established
at Tigbao, Mindoro, against their will, and one Dabalos is said to be held under the custody of the
provincial sheriff in the prison at Calapan for having run away form the reservation.
The return of the Solicitor-General alleges:
1. That on February 1, 1917, the provincial board of Mindoro adopted resolution No. 25
which is as follows:
The provincial governor, Hon. Juan Morente, Jr., presented the following resolution:
"Whereas several attempts and schemes have been made for the advancement of
the non-Christian people of Mindoro, which were all a failure,
"Whereas it has been found out and proved that unless some other measure is taken
for the Mangyan work of this province, no successful result will be obtained toward
educating these people.
"Whereas it is deemed necessary to obliged them to live in one place in order to
make a permanent settlement,
"Whereas the provincial governor of any province in which non-Christian inhabitants
are found is authorized, when such a course is deemed necessary in the interest of

law and order, to direct such inhabitants to take up their habitation on sites on
unoccupied public lands to be selected by him and approved by the provincial board.
"Whereas the provincial governor is of the opinion that the sitio of Tigbao on Lake
Naujan is a place most convenient for the Mangyanes to live on, Now, therefore be it
"Resolved, that under section 2077 of the Administrative Code, 800 hectares of public land in
the sitio of Tigbao on Naujan Lake be selected as a site for the permanent settlement of
Mangyanes in Mindoro subject to the approval of the Honorable Secretary of the Interior, and
"Resolved further, That Mangyans may only solicit homesteads on this reservation providing
that said homestead applications are previously recommended by the provincial governor."
2. That said resolution No. 25 (series 1917) of the provincial board of Mindoro was approved
by the Secretary of the Interior of February 21, 1917.
3. That on December 4, 1917, the provincial governor of Mindoro issued executive order No.
2 which says:
"Whereas the provincial board, by Resolution No. 25, current series, has selected a
site in the sitio of Tigbao on Naujan Lake for the permanent settlement of Mangyanes
in Mindoro.
"Whereas said resolution has been duly approve by the Honorable, the Secretary of
the Interior, on February 21, 1917.
"Now, therefore, I, Juan Morente, jr., provincial governor of Mindoro, pursuant to the
provisions of section 2145 of the revised Administrative Code, do hereby direct that
all the Mangyans in the townships of Naujan and Pola and the Mangyans east of the
Baco River including those in the districts of Dulangan and Rubi's place in Calapan,
to take up their habitation on the site of Tigbao, Naujan Lake, not later than
December 31, 1917.
"Any Mangyan who shall refuse to comply with this order shall upon conviction be
imprisoned not exceed in sixty days, in accordance with section 2759 of the revised
Administrative Code."
4. That the resolution of the provincial board of Mindoro copied in paragraph 1 and the
executive order of the governor of the same province copied in paragraph 3, were necessary
measures for the protection of the Mangyanes of Mindoro as well as the protection of public
forests in which they roam, and to introduce civilized customs among them.
5. That Rubi and those living in his rancheria have not fixed their dwelling within the
reservation of Tigbao and are liable to be punished in accordance with section 2759 of Act
No. 2711.
6. That the undersigned has not information that Doroteo Dabalos is being detained by the
sheriff of Mindoro but if he is so detained it must be by virtue of the provisions of articles Nos.
2145 and 2759 of Act No. 2711.

It thus appears that the provincial governor of Mindoro and the provincial board thereof directed the
Manguianes in question to take up their habitation in Tigbao, a site on the shore of Lake Naujan,
selected by the provincial governor and approved by the provincial board. The action was taken in
accordance with section 2145 of the Administrative Code of 1917, and was duly approved by the
Secretary of the Interior as required by said action. Petitioners, however, challenge the validity of this
section of the Administrative Code. This, therefore, becomes the paramount question which the
court is called upon the decide.
Section 2145 of the Administrative Code of 1917 reads as follows:
SEC. 2145. Establishment of non-Christina upon sites selected by provincial governor.
With the prior approval of the Department Head, the provincial governor of any province in
which non-Christian inhabitants are found is authorized, when such a course is deemed
necessary in the interest of law and order, to direct such inhabitants to take up their
habitation on sites on unoccupied public lands to be selected by him an approved by the
provincial board.
In connection with the above-quoted provisions, there should be noted section 2759 of the same
Code, which read as follows:
SEC. 2759. Refusal of a non-Christian to take up appointed habitation. Any non-Christian
who shall refuse to comply with the directions lawfully given by a provincial governor,
pursuant to section two thousand one hundred and forty-five of this Code, to take up
habitation upon a site designated by said governor shall upon conviction be imprisonment for
a period not exceeding sixty days.
The substance of what is now found in said section 2145 is not new to Philippine law. The
genealogical tree of this section, if we may be permitted to use such terminology, would read:
Section 2077, Administrative Code of 1916; section 62, Act No. 1397; section 2 of various special
provincial laws, notably of Act No. 547, specifically relating to the Manguianes; section 69, Act No.
387.
Section 2145 and its antecedent laws make use of the term "non-Christians." This word, as will later
be disclosed, is also found in varying forms in other laws of the Philippine Islands. In order to put the
phrase in its proper category, and in order to understand the policy of the Government of the
Philippine Islands with reference to the uncivilized elements of the Islands, it is well first of all to set
down a skeleton history of the attitude assumed by the authorities towards these "non-Christians,"
with particular regard for the legislation on the subject.
II. HISTORY.
A. BEFORE ACQUISITION OF THE PHILIPPINE BY THE UNITED STATES.
The most important of the laws of the Indies having reference to the subject at hand are compiled in
Book VI, Title III, in the following language.
LAW I.
The Emperor Charles and the Prince, the governor, at Cigales, on March 21, 1551. Philip II
at Toledo, on February 19, 1560. In the forest of Segovia on September 13, 1565. In the

Escorial on November 10, 1568. Ordinance 149 of the poblaciones of 1573. In San Lorenzo,
on May 20, 1578,
THAT THE "INDIOS" BE REDUCED INTO "POBLACIONES" COMMUNITIES).
In order that the indios may be instructed in the Sacred Catholic Faith and the evangelical
law, and in order that they may forget the blunders of their ancient rites and ceremonies to
the end that they may live in harmony and in a civilized manner, it has always been
endeavored, with great care and special attention, to use all the means most convenient to
the attainment of these purposes. To carry out this work with success, our Council of the
Indies and other religious persons met at various times; the prelates of new Spain
assembled by order of Emperor Charles V of glorious memory in the year one thousand five
hundred and forty-six all of which meetings were actuated with a desire to serve God an
our Kingdom. At these meetings it was resolved that indios be made to live in communities,
and not to live in places divided and separated from one another by sierras and mountains,
wherein they are deprived of all spiritual and temporal benefits and wherein they cannot
profit from the aid of our ministers and from that which gives rise to those human necessities
which men are obliged to give one another. Having realized that convenience of this
resolution, our kings, our predecessors, by different orders, have entrusted and ordered the
viceroys, presidents, and governors to execute with great care and moderation the
concentration of the indios intoreducciones; and to deal with their doctrine with such
forbearance and gentleness, without causing inconveniences, so that those who would not
presently settle and who would see the good treatment and the protection of those already in
settlements would, of their own accord, present themselves, and it is ordained that they be
not required to pay taxes more than what is ordered. Because the above has been executed
in the greater part of our Indies, we hereby order and decree that the same be complied with
in all the remaining parts of the Indies, and the encomederos shall entreat compliance
thereof in the manner and form prescribed by the laws of this title.
xxx

xxx

xxx

LAW VIII.
Philip II at the Pardo, on December 1, 1573. Philip III at Madrid, October 10, 1618.
THE "REDUCCTIONES" BE MADE IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF THIS LAW.
The places wherein the pueblos and reducciones shall be formed should have the facilities of
waters. lands, and mountains, ingress and egress, husbandry and passageway of one
league long, wherein the indios can have their live stock that they may not be mixed with
those of the Spaniards.
LAW IX.
Philip II at Toledo, on February 19, 1956.
THAT THE "INDIOS" IN "REDUCCIONES" BE NOT DEPRIVED OF THE LANDS PREVIOUSLY
HELD BY THEM.
With more good-will and promptness, the indios shall be concentrated in reducciones.
Provided they shall not be deprived of the lands and granaries which they may have in the

places left by them. We hereby order that no change shall be made in this respect, and that
they be allowed to retain the lands held by them previously so that they may cultivate them
and profit therefrom.
xxx

xxx

xxx

LAW XIII.
THE SAME AS ABOVE.
THAT THE "REDUCCIONES" BE NOT REMOVED WITHOUT ORDER OF THE KING, VICEROY,
OR COURT.
No governor, or magistrate, or alcalde mayor, or any other court, has the right to alter or to
remove thepueblos or the reducciones once constituted and founded, without our express
order or that of the viceroy, president, or the royal district court, provided, however, that
the encomenderos, priests, or indios request such a change or consent to it by offering or
giving information to that en. And, because these claims are often made for private interests
and not for those of the indios, we hereby order that this law be always complied with,
otherwise the change will be considered fraudulently obtained. The penalty of one thousand
pesos shall be imposed upon the judge or encomendero who should violate this law.
LAW XV.
Philip III at Madrid, on October 10, 1618.
THAT THERE BE MAYORS AND ALDERMEN IN THE "REDUCTIONES," WHO SHALL BE
"INDIOS."
We order that in each town and reduccion there be a mayor, who should be an indio of the
same reduccion; if there be more than eighty houses, there should be two mayors and two
aldermen, also indios; and, even if the town be a big one, there should, nevertheless, be
more than two mayors and four aldermen, If there be less than eighty indios but not less than
forty, there should be not more than one mayor and one alderman, who should annually
elect nine others, in the presence of the priests , as is the practice in town inhabited by
Spaniards and indios.
LAW XXI.
Philip II, in Madrid, On May 2, 1563, and on November 25, 1578. At Tomar, on May 8, 1581.
At Madrid, on January 10, 1589. Philip III, at Todesillas, on July 12, 1600. Philip IV, at
Madrid, on October 1 and December 17, 1646. For this law and the one following, see Law I,
Tit. 4, Book 7.
THAT IN THE TOWNS OF THE "INDIOS," THERE SHALL LIVE NO SPANIARDS, NEGROES,
"MESTIZOS," AND MULATTOES.
We hereby prohibit and forbid Spaniards, negroes, mulattores, or mestizos to live to live in
the reduccionesand towns and towns of the indios, because it has been found that some
Spaniards who deal, trade, live, and associate with the indios are men of troublesome
nature, of dirty ways of living; robbers, gamblers, and vicious and useless men; and, to avoid

the wrongs done them, the indios would leave their towns and provinces; and the
negroes, mestizos, and mulattoes, besides maltreating them and utilizing their services,
contaminate them with their bad customs, idleness, and also some of their blunders and
vices which may corrupt and pervert the goal which we desire to reach with regard to their
salvation, increase, and tranquillity. We hereby order the imposition of grave penalties upon
the commission of the acts above-mentioned which should not be tolerated in the towns, and
that the viceroys, presidents, governors, and courts take great care in executing the law
within their powers and avail themselves of the cooperation of the ministers who are truly
honest. As regards the mestizos and Indian and Chinese half-breeds (zambaigos), who are
children of indiasand born among them, and who are to inherit their houses and haciendas,
they all not be affected by this law, it appearing to be a harsh thing to separate them from
their parents. (Law of the Indies, vol. 2, pp. 228, 229, 230, 231.)
A clear exposition of the purposes of the Spanish government, in its efforts to improve the condition
of the less advanced inhabitants of the Islands by concentrating them in "reducciones," is found in
the Decree of the Governor-General of the Philippine Islands of January 14, 1881, reading as
follows:
It is a legal principle as well as a national right that every inhabitant of a territory recognized
as an integral part of a nation should respect and obey the laws in force therein; while, on
other hand, it is the duty to conscience and to humanity for all governments to civilize those
backward races that might exist in the nation, and which living in the obscurity of ignorance,
lack of all the nations which enable them to grasp the moral and material advantages that
may be acquired in those towns under the protection and vigilance afforded them by the
same laws.
It is equally highly depressive to our national honor to tolerate any longer the separation and
isolation of the non-Christian races from the social life of the civilized and Christian towns; to
allow any longer the commission of depredations, precisely in the Island of Luzon wherein is
located the seat of the representative of the Government of the, metropolis.
It is but just to admit the fact that all the governments have occupied themselves with this
most important question, and that much has been heretofore accomplished with the help and
self-denial of the missionary fathers who have even sacrificed their lives to the end that those
degenerate races might be brought to the principles of Christianity, but the means and the
preaching employed to allure them have been insufficient to complete the work undertaken.
Neither have the punishments imposed been sufficient in certain cases and in those which
have not been guarded against, thus giving and customs of isolation.
As it is impossible to consent to the continuation of such a lamentable state of things, taking
into account the prestige which the country demands and the inevitable duty which every
government has in enforcing respect and obedience to the national laws on the part of all
who reside within the territory under its control, I have proceeded in the premises by giving
the most careful study of this serious question which involves important interests for
civilization, from the moral and material as well as the political standpoints. After hearing the
illustrious opinions of all the local authorities, ecclesiastics, and missionaries of the provinces
of Northern Luzon, and also after finding the unanimous conformity of the meeting held with
the Archbishop of Manila, the Bishops of Jaro and Cebu, and the provincial prelates of the
orders of the Dominicans, Agustinians, Recoletos, Franciscans, and Jesuits as also of the
meeting of the Council of Authorities, held for the object so indicated, I have arrived at an
intimate conviction of the inevitable necessity of proceeding in a practical manner for the

submission of the said pagan and isolated races, as well as of the manner and the only form
of accomplishing such a task.
For the reasons above stated and for the purpose of carrying out these objects, I hereby
promulgate the following:
DECREE.
1. All the indian inhabitants (indios) of the Islands of Luzon are, from this date, to be
governed by the common law, save those exceptions prescribed in this decree which are
bases upon the differences of instructions, of the customs, and of the necessities of the
different pagan races which occupy a part of its territory.
2. The diverse rules which should be promulgated for each of these races which may be
divided into three classes; one, which comprises those which live isolated and roaming about
without forming a town nor a home; another, made up of those subdued pagans who have
not as yet entered completely the social life; and the third, of those mountain and rebellious
pagans shall be published in their respective dialects, and the officials, priests, and
missionaries of the provinces wherein they are found are hereby entrusted in the work of
having these races learn these rules. These rules shall have executive character, beginning
with the first day of next April, and, as to their compliance, they must be observed in the
manner prescribed below.
3. The provincial authorities in conjunction with the priests shall proceed, from now on, with
all the means which their zeal may suggest to them, to the taking of the census of the
inhabitants of the towns or settlement already subdued, and shall adopt the necessary
regulations for the appointment of local authorities, if there be none as yet; for the
construction of courts and schools, and for the opening or fixing up of means of
communication, endeavoring, as regards the administrative organization of the said towns or
settlements, that this be finished before the first day of next July, so that at the beginning of
the fiscal year they shall have the same rights and obligations which affect the remaining
towns of the archipelago, with the only exception that in the first two years they shall not be
obliged to render personal services other than those previously indicated.
4. So long as these subdued towns or settlements are located infertile lands appropriate for
cultivation, the inhabitants thereof shall not be obliged to move their dwelling-houses; and
only in case of absolute necessity shall a new residence be fixed for them, choosing for this
purpose the place most convenient for them and which prejudices the least their interest;
and, in either of these cases, an effort must be made to establish their homes with the reach
of the sound of the bell.
5. For the protection and defense of these new towns, there shall be established an armed
force composed precisely of native Christian, the organization and service of which shall be
determined in a regulations based upon that of the abolished Tercios de Policia (division of
the Guardia Civil).
6. The authorities shall see to it that the inhabitants of the new towns understand all the
rights and duties affecting them and the liberty which they have as to where and now they
shall till their lands and sell the products thereof, with the only exception of the tobacco which
shall be bought by the Hacienda at the same price and conditions allowed other producers,
and with the prohibition against these new towns as well as the others from engaging in

commerce of any other transaction with the rebellious indios, the violation of which shall be
punished with deportation.
7. In order to properly carry out this express prohibition, the limits of the territory of the
rebellious indios shall be fixed; and whoever should go beyond the said limits shall be
detained and assigned governmentally wherever convenient.
8. For the purpose of assisting in the conversion of the pagans into the fraternity of the
Catholic Church, all by this fact along be exempt for eight years from rendering personal
labor.
9. The authorities shall offer in the name of the State to the races not subdued (aetas and
mountains igorrots the following advantages in returns for their voluntary submission: to live
in towns; unity among their families; concession of good lands and the right to cultivate them
in the manner they wish and in the way them deem most productive; support during a year,
and clothes upon effecting submission; respect for their habits and customs in so far as the
same are not opposed to natural law; freedom to decide of their own accord as to whether
they want to be Christians or not; the establishment of missions and families of recognized
honesty who shall teach, direct, protect, and give them security and trust them; the purchase
or facility of the sale of their harvests; the exemption from contributions and tributes for ten
years and from the quintas (a kind of tax) for twenty years; and lastly, that those who are
governed by the local authorities as the ones who elect such officials under the direct charge
of the authorities of the province or district.
10. The races indicated in the preceding article, who voluntarily admit the advantages
offered, shall, in return, have the obligation of constituting their new towns, of constructing
their town hall, schools, and country roads which place them in communication with one
another and with the Christians; provided, the location of these towns be distant from their
actual residences, when the latter do not have the good conditions of location and
cultivations, and provided further the putting of families in a place so selected by them be
authorized in the towns already constituted.
11. The armed force shall proceed to the prosecution and punishment of the tribes, that,
disregarding the peace, protection, and advantages offered them, continue in their rebellious
attitude on the first of next April, committing from now on the crimes and vexations against
the Christian towns; and for the this purposes, the Captain General's Office shall proceed
with the organization of the divisions of the Army which, in conjunction with the rural guards
(cuadrilleros), shall have to enter the territory of such tribes. On the expiration of the term,
they shall destroy their dwelling-houses, labors, and implements, and confiscate their
products and cattle. Such a punishment shall necessarily be repeated twice a year, and for
this purpose the military headquarters shall immediately order a detachment of the military
staff to study the zones where such operations shall take place and everything conducive to
the successful accomplishment of the same.
12. The chiefs of provinces, priests, and missioners, local authorities, and other subordinates
to my authorities, local authorities, and other subordinates to may authority, civil as well as
military authorities, shall give the most effective aid and cooperation to the said forces in all
that is within the attributes and the scope of the authority of each.
13. With respect to the reduccion of the pagan races found in some of the provinces in the
southern part of the Archipelago, which I intend to visit, the preceding provisions shall
conveniently be applied to them.

14. There shall be created, under my presidency as Governor-General, Vice-Royal Patron, a

council or permanent commission which shall attend to and decide all the questions relative
to the application of the foregoing regulations that may be brought to it for consultations by
the chiefs of provinces and priests and missionaries.
15. The secondary provisions which may be necessary, as a complement to the foregoing, in
brining about due compliance with this decree, shall be promulgated by the respective official
centers within their respective jurisdictions. (Gaceta de Manila, No. 15) (Diccionario de la
Administracion, vol. 7, pp. 128-134.)
B. AFTER ACQUISITON OF THE PHILIPPINES BY THE UNITED STATES.
Ever since the acquisition of the Philippine Islands by the United States, the question as to the best
method for dealing with the primitive inhabitants has been a perplexing one.
1. Organic law.
The first order of an organic character after the inauguration of the American Government in the
Philippines was President McKinley's Instructions to the Commission of April 7, 1900, later expressly
approved and ratified by section 1 of the Philippine Bill, the Act of Congress of July 1, 1902. Portions
of these instructions have remained undisturbed by subsequent congressional legislation. One
paragraph of particular interest should here be quoted, namely:
In dealing with the uncivilized tribes of the Islands, the Commission should adopt the same
course followed by Congress in permitting the tribes of our North American Indians to
maintain their tribal organization and government and under which many of these tribes are
now living in peace and contentment, surrounded by civilization to which they are unable or
unwilling to conform. Such tribal governments should, however, be subjected to wise and
firm regulation; and, without undue or petty interference, constant and active effort should be
exercised to prevent barbarous practices and introduce civilized customs.
Next comes the Philippine Bill, the Act of Congress of July 1, 1902, in the nature of an Organic Act
for the Philippines. The purpose of section 7 of the Philippine Bill was to provide for a legislative
body and, with this end in view, to name the prerequisites for the organization of the Philippine
Assembly. The Philippine Legislature, composed of the Philippine Commission and the Philippine
Assembly, was to have jurisdiction over the Christian portion of the Islands. The Philippine
Commission was to retain exclusive jurisdiction of that part of said Islands inhabited by Moros or
other non-Christian tribes.
The latest Act of Congress, nearest to a Constitution for the Philippines, is the Act of Congress of
August 29, 1916, commonly known as the Jones Law. This transferred the exclusive legislative
jurisdiction and authority theretofore exercised by the Philippine Commission, to the Philippine
Legislature (sec. 12). It divided the Philippine Islands into twelve senatorial districts, the twelfth
district to be composed of the Mountain Province, Baguio, Nueva Vizcaya, and the Department of
Mindanao and Sulu. The Governor-General of the Philippine Islands was authorized to appoint
senators and representatives for the territory which, at the time of the passage of the Jones Law,
was not represented in the Philippine Assembly, that is, for the twelfth district (sec. 16). The law
establish a bureau to be known as the "Bureau of non-Christian Tribes" which shall have general
supervision over the public affairs of the inhabitants which are represented in the Legislature by
appointed senators and representatives( sec. 22).

Philippine organic law may, therefore, be said to recognized a dividing line between the territory not
inhabited by Moros or other non-Christian tribes, and the territory which Moros or other non-Christian
tribes, and the territory which is inhabited by Moros or other non-Christian tribes.
2. Statute law.
Local governments in the Philippines have been provided for by various acts of the Philippine
Commission and Legislature. The most notable are Acts Nos. 48 and 49 concerning the Province of
Benguet and the Igorots; Act NO. 82, the Municipal Code; ;Act no. 83, the Provincial Government
Act; Act No. 183, the Character of the city of Manila; Act No. 7887, providing for the organization and
government of the Moro Province; Act No. 1396, the Special Provincial Government Act; Act No.
1397, the Township Government Act; Act No. 1667, relating to the organization of settlements; Act
No. 1963, the Baguio charger; and Act No. 2408, the Organic Act of the Department of Mindanao
and Sulu. The major portion of these laws have been carried forward into the Administrative Codes
of 1916 an d1917.
Of more particular interest are certain special laws concerning the government of the primitive
peoples. Beginning with Act No. 387, sections 68-71, enacted on April 9, 1902, by the United States
Philippine Commission, having reference to the Province of Nueva Vizcaya, Acts Nos. 4111, 422,
445, 500, 547, 548, 549, 550, 579, 753, 855, 1113, 1145, 4568, 1306 were enacted for the provinces
of Abra, Antique, Bataan, Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, Isabela. Lepanto-Bontoc, Mindoro, Misamis,
Nueva Vizcaya, Pangasinan, Paragua (Palawan), Tarlac, Tayabas, and Zambales. As an example of
these laws, because referring to the Manguianes, we insert Act No. 547:
No. 547. AN ACT PROVIDING FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF LOCAL CIVIL
GOVERNMENTS FOR THE MANGUIANES IN THE PROVINCE OF MINDORO.
By authority of the United States, be it enacted by the Philippine Commission, that:
SECTION 1. Whereas the Manguianes of the Provinces of Mindoro have not progressed
sufficiently in civilization to make it practicable to bring them under any form of municipal
government, the provincial governor is authorized, subject to the approval of the Secretary of
the Interior, in dealing with these Manguianes to appoint officers from among them, to fix
their designations and badges of office, and to prescribe their powers and duties: Provided,
That the powers and duties thus prescribed shall not be in excess of those conferred upon
township officers by Act Numbered Three hundred and eighty-seven entitled "An Act
providing for the establishment of local civil Governments in the townships and settlements
of Nueva Vizcaya."
SEC. 2. Subject to the approval of the Secretary of the Interior, the provincial governor is
further authorized, when he deems such a course necessary in the interest of law and order,
to direct such Manguianes to take up their habitation on sites on unoccupied public lands to
be selected by him and approved by the provincial board. Manguianes who refuse to comply
with such directions shall upon conviction be imprisonment for a period not exceeding sixty
days.
SEC. 3. The constant aim of the governor shall be to aid the Manguianes of his province to
acquire the knowledge and experience necessary for successful local popular government,
and his supervision and control over them shall be exercised to this end, an to the end that
law and order and individual freedom shall be maintained.

SEC. 4. When in the opinion of the provincial board of Mindoro any settlement of
Manguianes has advanced sufficiently to make such a course practicable, it may be
organized under the provisions of sections one to sixty-seven, inclusive, of Act Numbered
three hundred and eighty-seven, as a township, and the geographical limits of such township
shall be fixed by the provincial board.
SEC. 5. The public good requiring the speedy enactment of this bill, the passage of the same
is hereby expedited in accordance with section two of 'An Act prescribing the order of
procedure by the Commission in the enactment of laws,' passed September twenty-sixth,
nineteen hundred.
SEC. 6. This Act shall take effect on its passage.
Enacted, December 4, 1902.
All of these special laws, with the exception of Act No. 1306, were repealed by Act No. 1396 and
1397. The last named Act incorporated and embodied the provisions in general language. In turn,
Act No. 1397 was repealed by the Administrative Code of 1916. The two Administrative Codes
retained the provisions in questions.
These different laws, if they of the non-Christian inhabitants of the Philippines and a settled and
consistent practice with reference to the methods to be followed for their advancement.
C. TERMINOLOGY.
The terms made use of by these laws, organic and statutory, are found in varying forms.
"Uncivilized tribes" is the denomination in President McKinley's instruction to the Commission.
The most commonly accepted usage has sanctioned the term "non-Christian tribes." These words
are to be found in section 7 of the Philippine Bill and in section 22 of the Jones Law. They are also to
be found in Act No. 253 of the Philippines Commission, establishing a Bureau of non-Christian
Tribes and in Act No. 2674 of the Philippine Legislature, carried forward into sections 701-705 of the
Administrative Code of 1917, reestablishing this Bureau. Among other laws which contain the
phrase, there can be mentioned Acts Nos. 127, 128, 387, 547, 548, 549, 550, 1397, 1639, and 2551.
"Non-Christian people," "non-Christian inhabitants," and "non-Christian Filipinos" have been the
favorite nomenclature, in lieu of the unpopular word "tribes," since the coming into being of a
Filipinized legislature. These terms can be found in sections 2076, 2077, 2390, 2394, Administrative
Code of 1916; sections 701-705, 2145, 2422, 2426, Administrative Code of 1917; and in Acts Nos.
2404, 2435, 2444, 2674 of the Philippine Legislatures, as well as in Act No. 1667 of the Philippine
Commission.
The Administrative Code specifically provides that the term "non-Christian" shall include
Mohammedans and pagans. (Sec. 2576, Administrative Code of 1917; sec. 2561, Administrative
Code of 1916, taken from Act No. 2408, sec. 3.)
D. MEANING OF TERM "NON-CHRISTIAN."
If we were to follow the literal meaning of the word "non-Christian," it would of course result in giving
to it a religious signification. Obviously, Christian would be those who profess the Christian religion,

and non-Christians, would be those who do not profess the Christian religion. In partial corroboration
of this view, there could also be cited section 2576 of the last Administrative Code and certain wellknown authorities, as Zuiga, "Estadismo de las Islas Filipinas," Professor Ferdinand Blumentritt,
"Philippine Tribes and Languages," and Dr. N. M. Saleeby, "The Origin of Malayan Filipinos." (See
Blair & Robertson, "The Philippine Islands," 1493-1898, vol. III, p. 300, note; Craig-Benitez,
"Philippine Progress prior to 1898," vol. I. p. 107.)
Not content with the apparent definition of the word, we shall investigate further to ascertain what is
its true meaning.
In one sense, the word can have a geographical signification. This is plainly to be seen by the
provisions of many laws. Thus, according to the Philippine Bill, the authority of the Philippine
Assembly was recognized in the "territory" of the Islands not inhabited by Moros or other nonChristian tribes. Again, the Jones Law confers similar recognition in the authorization of the twelfth
senatorial district for the "territory not now represented in the Philippine Assembly." The Philippines
Legislature has, time and again, adopted acts making certain other acts applicable to that "part" of
the Philippine Islands inhabited by Moros or other non-Christian tribes.
Section 2145, is found in article XII of the Provincial Law of the Administrative Code. The first section
of this article, preceding section 2145, makes the provisions of the article applicable only in specially
organized provinces. The specially organized provinces are the Mountain Province, Nueva Vizcaya,
Mindoro, Batanes, and Palawan. These are the provinces to which the Philippine Legislature has
never seen fit to give all the powers of local self-government. They do not, however, exactly coincide
with the portion of the Philippines which is not granted popular representation. Nevertheless, it is still
a geographical description.
It is well-known that within the specially organized provinces, there live persons some of who are
Christians and some of whom are not Christians. In fact, the law specifically recognizes this. ( Sec.
2422, Administrative Code of 1917, etc.)
If the religious conception is not satisfactory, so against the geographical conception is likewise
inadquate. The reason it that the motive of the law relates not to a particular people, because of their
religion, or to a particular province because of its location, but the whole intent of the law is
predicated n the civilization or lack of civilization of the inhabitants.
At most, "non-Christian" is an awkward and unsatisfactory word. Apologetic words usually introduce
the term. "The so-called non-Christian" is a favorite expression. The Secretary of the Interior who for
so many years had these people under his jurisdiction, recognizing the difficulty of selecting an exact
designation, speaks of the "backward Philippine peoples, commonly known as the 'non-Christian
tribes."' (See Hearings before the Committee on the Philippines, United States Senate, Sixty-third
Congress, third session on H.R. 18459, An Act to declare the purpose of the People of the United
States as to the future political status of the Philippine Islands and to provide a more autonomous
government for the Islands, pp. 346, 351; letter of the Secretary of the Interior of June 30, 1906,
circulated by the Executive Secretary.)
The idea that the term "non-Christian" is intended to relate to degree of civilization, is substantiated
by reference to legislative, judicial, and executive authority.
The legislative intent is borne out by Acts Nos. 48, 253, 387, 1667, and 2674, and sections 701 et
seq, and sections 2422 et seq, of the Administrative Code of 1917. For instance, Act No. 253
charged the Bureau of non-Christian tribes to conduct "systematic investigations with reference to

non-Christian tribes . . . with special view to determining the most practicable means for bringing
about their advancement in civilization and material property prosperity."
As authority of a judicial nature is the decision of the Supreme Court in the case of United
States vs. Tubban [Kalinga] ([1915], 29, Phil., 434). The question here arose as to the effect of a
tribal marriage in connection with article 423 of the Penal code concerning the husband who
surprises his wife in the act of adultery. In discussing the point, the court makes use of the following
language:
. . . we are not advised of any provision of law which recognizes as legal a tribal marriage
of so-called non-Christians or members of uncivilized tribes, celebrated within that province
without compliance with the requisites prescribed by General Orders no. 68. . . . We hold
also that the fact that the accused is shown to be a member of an uncivilized tribe, of a low
order of intelligence, uncultured and uneducated, should be taken into consideration as a
second marked extenuating circumstance.
Of much more moment is the uniform construction of execution officials who have been called upon
to interpret and enforce the law. The official who, as a member of the Philippine Commission, drafted
much of the legislation relating to the so-called Christians and who had these people under his
authority, was the former Secretary of the Interior. Under date of June 30, 1906, this official
addressed a letter to all governor of provinces, organized under the Special Provincial Government
Act, a letter which later received recognition by the Governor-General and was circulated by the
Executive Secretary, reading as follows:
Sir: Within the past few months, the question has arisen as to whether people who were
originally non-Christian but have recently been baptized or who are children of persons who
have been recently baptized are, for the purposes of Act 1396 and 1397, to be considered
Christian or non-Christians.
It has been extremely difficult, in framing legislation for the tribes in these islands which are
not advanced far in civilization, to hit upon any suitable designation which will fit all cases.
The number of individual tribes is so great that it is almost out of the question to enumerate
all of them in an Act. It was finally decided to adopt the designation 'non-Christians' as the
one most satisfactory, but the real purpose of the Commission was not so much to legislate
for people having any particular religious belief as for those lacking sufficient advancement
so that they could, to their own advantage, be brought under the Provincial Government Act
and the Municipal Code.
The mere act of baptism does not, of course, in itself change the degree of civilization to
which the person baptized has attained at the time the act of baptism is performed. For
practical purposes, therefore, you will give the member of so-called "wild tribes" of your
province the benefit of the doubt even though they may recently have embraced Christianity.
The determining factor in deciding whether they are to be allowed to remain under the
jurisdiction of regularly organized municipalities or what form of government shall be afforded
to them should be the degree of civilization to which they have attained and you are
requested to govern yourself accordingly.
I have discussed this matter with the Honorable, the Governor-General, who concurs in the
opinion above expressed and who will have the necessary instructions given to the
governors of the provinces organized under the Provincial Government Act. (Internal
Revenue Manual, p. 214.)

The present Secretary of the Interior, in a memorandum furnished a member of this court, has the
following to say on the subject:
As far as names are concerned the classification is indeed unfortunate, but while no other
better classification has as yet been made the present classification should be allowed to
stand . . . I believe the term carries the same meaning as the expressed in the letter of the
Secretary of the Interior (of June 30, 1906, herein quoted). It is indicative of the degree of
civilization rather than of religious denomination, for the hold that it is indicative of religious
denomination will make the law invalid as against that Constitutional guaranty of religious
freedom.
Another official who was concerned with the status of the non-Christians, was the Collector of
Internal Revenue. The question arose for ruling relatives to the cedula taxation of the Manobos and
the Aetas. Thereupon, the view of the Secretary of the Interior was requested on the point, who, by
return indorsement, agreed with the interpretation of the Collector of Internal Revenue. This
Construction of the Collector of Internal Revenue can be found in circular letter No. 188 of the
Bureau of Internal Revenue, dated June 11, 1907, reading as follows (Internal Revenue Manual, p.
214):
The internal revenue law exempts "members of non-Christian tribes" from the payment of
cedula taxes. The Collector of Internal Revenue has interpreted this provision of law to mean
not that persons who profess some form of Christian worship are alone subject to the cedula
tax, and that all other person are exempt; he has interpreted it to mean that all persons
preserving tribal relations with the so-called non-Christian tribes are exempt from the cedula
tax, and that all others, including Jews, Mohammedans, Confucians, Buddists, etc., are
subject to said tax so long as they live in cities or towns, or in the country in a civilized
condition. In other words, it is not so much a matter of a man's form of religious worship or
profession that decides whether or not he is subject to the cedula tax; it is more dependent
on whether he is living in a civilized manner or is associated with the mountain tribes, either
as a member thereof or as a recruit. So far, this question has not come up as to whether a
Christian, maintaining his religious belief, but throwing his lot and living with a non-Christian
tribe, would or would not be subject to the cedula tax. On one occasion a prominent Hebrew
of Manila claimed to this office that he was exempt from the cedula tax, inasmuch as he was
not a Christian. This Office, however, continued to collect cedula taxes from all the Jews,
East Indians, Arabs, Chinamen, etc., residing in Manila. Quite a large proportion of the
cedula taxes paid in this city are paid by men belonging to the nationalities mentioned.
Chinamen, Arabs and other s are quite widely scattered throughout the Islands, and a
condition similar to that which exist in Manila also exists in most of the large provincial towns.
Cedula taxes are therefore being collected by this Office in all parts of these Islands on the
broad ground that civilized people are subject to such taxes, and non-civilized people
preserving their tribal relations are not subject thereto.
(Sgd.) JNO. S. HORD,
Collector of Internal Revenue.
On September 17, 1910, the Collector of Internal Revenue addressed circular letter No. 327,
approved by the Secretary of Finance and Justice, to all provincial treasurers. This letter in part
reads:
In view of the many questions that have been raised by provincial treasurers regarding
cedula taxes due from members of non-Christian tribes when they come in from the hills for
the purposes of settling down and becoming members of the body politic of the Philippine

Islands, the following clarification of the laws governing such questions and digest of rulings
thereunder is hereby published for the information of all concerned:
Non-Christian inhabitants of the Philippine Islands are so classed, not by reason of the fact
that they do not profess Christianity, but because of their uncivilized mode of life and low
state of development. All inhabitants of the Philippine Islands classed as members of nonChristian tribes may be divided into three classes in so far as the cedula tax law is concerned
...
Whenever any member of an non-Christian tribe leaves his wild and uncivilized mode of life,
severs whatever tribal relations he may have had and attaches himself civilized community,
belonging a member of the body politic, he thereby makes himself subject to precisely the
same law that governs the other members of that community and from and after the date
when he so attaches himself to the community the same cedula and other taxes are due
from him as from other members thereof. If he comes in after the expiration of the
delinquency period the same rule should apply to him as to persons arriving from foreign
countries or reaching the age of eighteen subsequent to the expiration of such period, and a
regular class A, D, F, or H cedula, as the case may be, should be furnished him without
penalty and without requiring him to pay the tax for former years.
In conclusion, it should be borne in mind that the prime factors in determining whether or not
a man is subject to the regular cedula tax is not the circumstance that he does or does not
profess Christianity, nor even his maintenance of or failure to maintain tribal relations with
some of the well known wild tribes, but his mode of life, degree of advancement in civilization
and connection or lack of connection with some civilized community. For this reason so
called "Remontados" and "Montescos" will be classed by this office as members of nonChristian tribes in so far as the application of the Internal Revenue Law is concerned, since,
even though they belong to no well recognized tribe, their mode of life, degree of
advancement and so forth are practically the same as those of the Igorrots and members of
other recognized non-Christina tribes.
Very respectfully,
(Sgd.) ELLIS CROMWELL,
Collector of Internal Revenue,
Approved:
(Sgd.) GREGORIO ARANETA,
Secretary of Finance and Justice.
The two circular above quoted have since been repealed by Bureau of Internal Revenue Regulations
No. 1, promulgated by Venancio Concepcion, Acting Collector of Internal Revenue, and approved on
April 16, 1915, by Honorable Victorino Mapa, Secretary of Finance and Justice. Section 30 of the
regulations is practically a transcript of Circular Letter No. 327.
The subject has come before the Attorney-General for consideration. The Chief of Constabulary
request the opinion of the Attorney-General as to the status of a non-Christian who has been
baptized by a minister of the Gospel. The precise questions were these: "Does he remain nonChristian or is he entitled to the privileges of a Christian? By purchasing intoxicating liquors, does he
commit an infraction of the law and does the person selling same lay himself liable under the
provision of Act No. 1639?" The opinion of Attorney-General Avancea, after quoting the same
authorities hereinbefore set out, concludes:

In conformity with the above quoted constructions, it is probable that is probable that the
person in question remains a non-Christian, so that, in purchasing intoxicating liquors both
he and the person selling the same make themselves liable to prosecution under the
provisions of Act No. 1639. At least, I advise you that these should be the constructions
place upon the law until a court shall hold otherwise.
Solicitor-General Paredes in his brief in this case says:
With respect to the meaning which the phrase non-Christian inhabitants has in the provisions
of the Administrative code which we are studying, we submit that said phrase does not have
its natural meaning which would include all non-Christian inhabitants of the Islands, whether
Filipino or strangers, civilized or uncivilized, but simply refers to those uncivilized members of
the non-Christian tribes of the Philippines who, living without home or fixed residence, roam
in the mountains, beyond the reach of law and order . . .
The Philippine Commission in denominating in its laws that portion of the inhabitants of the
Philippines which live in tribes as non-Christian tribes, as distinguished from the common
Filipinos which carry on a social and civilized life, did not intended to establish a distinction
based on the religious beliefs of the individual, but, without dwelling on the difficulties which
later would be occasioned by the phrase, adopted the expression which the Spanish
legislation employed to designate the uncivilized portion of the inhabitants of the Philippines.
The phrase 'non-Christian inhabitants' used in the provisions of articles 2077 and 2741 of Act
No. 2657 (articles 2145 and 2759) should be understood as equivalent to members of
uncivilized tribes of the Philippines, not only because this is the evident intention of the law,
but because to give it its lateral meaning would make the law null and unconstitutional as
making distinctions base the religion of the individual.
The Official Census of 1903, in the portion written by no less an authority than De. David P. Barrows,
then "Chief of the Bureau of non-Christian Tribes," divides the population in the Christian or Civilized
Tribes, and non-Christian or Wild Tribes. (Census of the Philippine Islands [1903], vol. 1, pp. 411 et
seq). The present Director of the Census, Hon. Ignacio Villamor, writes that the classification likely to
be used in the Census now being taken is: "Filipinos and Primitive Filipinos." In a Pronouncing
Gazetteer and Geographical Dictionary of the Philippine Islands, prepared in the Bureau of Insular
Affairs, War Department, a sub-division under the title non-Christian tribes is, "Physical and Political
Characteristics of the non-Christian Tribes," which sufficiently shows that the terms refers to culture
and not to religion.
In resume, therefore, the Legislature and the Judiciary, inferentially, and different executive officials,
specifically, join in the proposition that the term "non-Christian" refers, not to religious belief, but, in a
way , to geographical area, and, more directly, to natives of the Philippine Islands of a law grade of
civilization, usually living in tribal relationship apart from settled communities.
E. THE MANGUIANES.
The so-called non-Christians are in various state approaching civilization. The Philippine Census of
1903 divided them into four classes. Of the third class, are the Manguianes (or Mangyans) of
Mindoro.
Of the derivation of the name "Manguian" Dr. T. H. Pardo de Tavera in his Etimilogia de los nombres
de Rozas de Filipinas, says:

In Tagalog, Bicol, and Visaya, Manguian signifies "savage," "mountainer," "pagan," "negro."
It may be that the use of this word is applicable to a great number of Filipinos, but
nevertheless it has been applied only to certain inhabitants of Mindoro. Even in primitive
times without doubt this name was given to those of that island who bear it to-day, but its
employed in three Filipino languages shows that the radical ngian had in all these languages
a sense to-day forgotten. In Pampango this ending still exists and signifies "ancient," from
which we can deduce that the name was applied to men considered to be the ancient
inhabitants, and that these men were pushed back into the interior by the modern invaders,
in whose language they were called the "ancients."
The Manguianes are very low in culture. They have considerable Negrito blood and have not
advanced beyond the Negritos in civilization. They are a peaceful, timid, primitive, semi-nomadic
people. They number approximately 15,000. The manguianes have shown no desire for community
life, and, as indicated in the preamble to Act No. 547, have not progressed sufficiently in civilization
to make it practicable to bring them under any form of municipal government. (See Census of the
Philippine (Islands [1903], vol. I, pp. 22, 23, 460.)
III. COMPARATIVE THE AMERICAN INDIANS.
Reference was made in the Presidents' instructions to the Commission to the policy adopted by the
United States for the Indian Tribes. The methods followed by the Government of the Philippines
Islands in its dealings with the so-called non-Christian people is said, on argument, to be practically
identical with that followed by the United States Government in its dealings with the Indian tribes.
Valuable lessons, it is insisted, can be derived by an investigation of the American-Indian policy.
From the beginning of the United States, and even before, the Indians have been treated as "in a
state of pupilage." The recognized relation between the Government of the United States and the
Indians may be described as that of guardian and ward. It is for the Congress to determine when
and how the guardianship shall be terminated. The Indians are always subject to the plenary
authority of the United States.
Chief Justice Marshall in his opinion in Worcester vs. Georgia, hereinbefore mentioned, tells how the
Congress passed an Act in 1819 "for promoting those humane designs of civilizing the neighboring
Indians." After quoting the Act, the opinion goes on "This act avowedly contemplates the
preservation of the Indian nations as an object sought by the United States, and proposes to effect
this object by civilizing and converting them from hunters into agriculturists."
A leading case which discusses the status of the Indians is that of the United States vs. Kagama
([1886], 118 U.S., 375). Reference is herein made to the clause of the United States Constitution
which gives Congress "power to regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several
States, and with the Indian tribes." The court then proceeds to indicate a brief history of the position
of the Indians in the United States (a more extended account of which can be found in Marshall's
opinion in Worcester vs. Georgia, supra), as follows:
The relation of the Indian tribes living within the borders of the United States, both before and
since the Revolution, to the people of the United States, has always been an anomalous one
and of a complex character.
Following the policy of the European Governments in the discovery of American towards the
Indians who were found here, the colonies before the Revolution and the States and the
United States since, have recognized in the Indians a possessory right to the soil over which
they roamed and hunted and established occasional villages. But they asserted an ultimate

title in the land itself, by which the Indian tribes were forbidden to sell or transfer it to other
nations or peoples without the consent of this paramount authority. When a tribe wished to
dispose of its lands, or any part of it, or the State or the United States wished to purchase it,
a treaty with the tribe was the only mode in which this could be done. The United States
recognized no right in private persons, or in other nations, to make such a purchase by treaty
or otherwise. With the Indians themselves these relation are equally difficult to define. They
were, and always have been, regarded as having a semi-independent position when they
preserved their tribal relations; not as States, not as nation not a possessed of the fall
attributes of sovereignty, but as a separate people, with the power of regulating their internal
and social relations, and thus far not brought under the laws of the Union or of the State
within whose limits they resided.
The opinion then continues:
It seems to us that this (effect of the law) is within the competency of Congress. These Indian
tribes are the wards of the nation. The are communities dependent on the United States.
dependent largely for their daily food. Dependent for their political rights. They owe no
allegiance to the States, and receive from the no protection. Because of the local ill feeling,
the people of the States where they are found are often their deadliest enemies. From their
very weakness and helplessness, so largely due to the course of dealing of the Federal
Government with them and the treaties in which it has been promised, there arise the duty of
protection, and with it the power. This has always been recognized by the Executive and by
Congress, and by this court, whenever the question has arisen . . . The power of the General
Government over these remnants of race once powerful, now weak and diminished in
numbers, is necessary to their protection, as well as to the safety of those among whom they
dwell. it must exist in that government, because it never has existed anywhere else, because
the theater of its exercise is within the geographical limits of the United States, because it
has never been denied, and because it alone can enforce its laws on all the tribes.
In the later case of United States vs. Sandoval ([1913], 231 U.S., 28) the question to be considered
was whether the status of the Pueblo Indians and their lands was such that Congress could prohibit
the introduction of intoxicating liquor into those lands notwithstanding the admission of New Mexico
to statehood. The court looked to the reports of the different superintendent charged with guarding
their interests and founds that these Indians are dependent upon the fostering care and protection of
the government "like reservation Indians in general." Continuing, the court said "that during the
Spanish dominion, the Indians of the pueblos were treated as wards requiring special protection,
where subjected to restraints and official supervisions in the alienation of their property." And finally,
we not the following: "Not only does the Constitution expressly authorize Congress to regulate
commerce with the Indians tribes, but long-continued legislative and executive usage and an
unbroken current of judicial decisions have attributed to the United States as a superior and civilized
nation the power and the duty of exercising a fostering care and protection over all dependent Indian
communities within its borders, whether within its original territory or territory subsequently acquired,
and whether within or without the limits of a state."
With reference to laws affecting the Indians, it has been held that it is not within the power of the
courts to overrule the judgment of Congress. For very good reason, the subject has always been
deemed political in nature, not subject to the jurisdiction of the judicial department of the
government. (Matter of Heff [1905], 197 U.S., 488; U.S.vs. Celestine [1909], 215 U.S., 278;
U.S. vs. Sandoval, supra; Worcester vs. Georgia, supra; U.S. vs. Rogers [1846], 4 How., 567; the
Cherokee Tobacco [1871], 11 Wall, 616; Roff vs. Burney [1897], 168 U.S., 218; Thomas vs.Gay
[1898], 169 U.S.., 264; Lone Wolf vs. Hitchcock[1903], 187 U.S., 553; Wallace vs. Adams [1907],
204 U.S., 415; Conley vs. Bollinger [1910], 216 U.S., 84; Tiger vs. Western Invest. Co. [1911], 221
U.S., 286; U.S. vs. Lane [1913], 232 U.S.., 598; Cyr vs. Walker (1911], 29 Okla, 281; 35 L.R.A. [N.

S.], 795.) Whenever, therefore, the United States sets apart any public land as an Indian reservation,
it has full authority to pass such laws and authorize such measures as may be necessary to give to
the Indians thereon full protection in their persons and property. (U.S. vs.Thomas [1894], 151 U.S.,
577.)
All this borne out by long-continued legislative and executive usage, and an unbroken line of judicial
decisions.
The only case which is even remotely in point and which, if followed literally, might result in the
issuance of habeas corpus, is that of United States vs. Crook ([1879], Fed. Cas. No. 14891). This
was a hearing upon return to a writ ofhabeas corpus issued against Brigadier General George Crook
at the relation of Standing Bear and other Indians, formerly belonging to the Ponca Tribe of Indians.
The petition alleged in substance that the relators are Indians who have formerly belonged to the
Ponca tribe of Indians, now located in the Indian Territory; that they had some time previously
withdrawn from the tribe, and completely severed their tribal relations therewith, and had adopted
the general habits of the whites, and were then endeavoring to maintain themselves by their own
exertions, and without aid or assistance from the general government; that whilst they were thus
engaged, and without being guilty of violating any of the laws of the United States, they were
arrested and restrained of their liberty by order of the respondent, George Crook. The substance of
the return to the writ was that the relators are individual members of, and connected with, the Ponca
tribe of Indians; that they had fled or escaped form a reservation situated some place within the
limits of the Indian Territory had departed therefrom without permission from the Government;
and, at the request of the Secretary of the Interior, the General of the Army had issued an order
which required the respondent to arrest and return the relators to their tribe in the Indian Territory,
and that, pursuant to the said order, he had caused the relators to be arrested on the Omaha Indian
Territory.
The first question was whether an Indian can test the validity of an illegal imprisonment by habeas
corpus. The second question, of much greater importance, related to the right of the Government to
arrest and hold the relators for a time, for the purpose of being returned to the Indian Territory from
which it was alleged the Indian escaped. In discussing this question, the court reviewed the policy
the Government had adopted in its dealing with the friendly tribe of Poncase. Then, continuing, the
court said: "Laws passed for the government of the Indian country, and for the purpose of regulating
trade and intercourse with the Indian tribes, confer upon certain officers of the Government almost
unlimited power over the persons who go upon the reservations without lawful authority . . . Whether
such an extensive discretionary power is wisely vested in the commissioner of Indian affairs or not ,
need not be questioned. It is enough to know that the power rightfully exists, and, where existing, the
exercise of the power must be upheld." The decision concluded as follows:
The reasoning advanced in support of my views, leads me to conclude:
1. that an Indian is a 'person' within the meaning of the laws of the United States, and has,
therefore, the right to sue out a writ of habeas corpus in a federal court, or before a federal
judge, in all cases where he may be confined or in custody under color of authority of the
United States or where he is restrained of liberty in violation of the constitution or laws of the
United States.
2. That General George Crook, the respondent, being commander of the military department
of the Platte, has the custody of the relators, under color of authority of the United States,
and in violation of the laws therefore.

3. That n rightful authority exists for removing by force any of the relators to the Indian
Territory, as the respondent has been directed to do.
4. that the Indians possess the inherent right of expatriation, as well as the more fortunate
white race, and have the inalienable right to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness," so
long as they obey the laws and do not trespass on forbidden ground. And,
5. Being restrained of liberty under color of authority of the United States, and in violation of
the laws thereof, the relators must be discharged from custody, and it is so ordered.
As far as the first point is concerned, the decision just quoted could be used as authority to
determine that Rubi, the Manguian petitioner, a Filipino, and a citizen of the Philippine Islands, is a
"person" within the meaning of theHabeas Corpus Act, and as such, entitled to sue out a writ in the
Philippine courts. (See also In re Race Horse [1895], 70 Fed., 598.) We so decide.
As to the second point the facts in the Standing Bear case an the Rubi case are not exactly identical.
But even admitting similarity of facts, yet it is known to all that Indian reservations do exist in the
United States, that Indians have been taken from different parts of the country and placed on these
reservation, without any previous consultation as to their own wishes, and that, when once so
located, they have been made to remain on the reservation for their own good and for the general
good of the country. If any lesson can be drawn form the Indian policy of the United States, it is that
the determination of this policy is for the legislative and executive branches of the government and
that when once so decided upon, the courts should not interfere to upset a carefully planned
governmental system. Perhaps, just as may forceful reasons exists for the segregation as existed for
the segregation of the different Indian tribes in the United States.
IV. CONSTITUTIONAL QUESTIONS.
A. DELEGATION OF LEGISLATIVE POWER.
The first constitutional objection which confronts us is that the Legislature could not delegate this
power to provincial authorities. In so attempting, it is contended, the Philippine Legislature has
abdicated its authority and avoided its full responsibility.
That the maxim of Constitutional Law forbidding the delegation of legislative power should be
zealously protected, we agree. An understanding of the rule will, however, disclose that it has not
bee violated in his instance.
The rule has nowhere been better stated than in the early Ohio case decided by Judge Ranney, and
since followed in a multitude of case, namely: "The true distinction therefore is between the
delegation of power to make the law, which necessarily involves a discretion as to what it shall be,
and conferring an authority or discretion as to its execution, to be exercised under and in pursuance
of the law. The first cannot be done; to the later no valid objection can be made." (Cincinnati, W. & Z.
R. Co. vs. Comm'rs. Clinton County [1852], 1 Ohio S.t, 88.) Discretion, as held by Chief Justice
Marshall in Wayman vs. Southard ([1825], 10 Wheat., 1) may be committed by the Legislature to an
executive department or official. The Legislature may make decisions of executive departments of
subordinate official thereof, to whom t has committed the execution of certain acts, final on questions
of fact. (U.S.vs. Kinkead [1918], 248 Fed., 141.) The growing tendency in the decision is to give
prominence to the "necessity" of the case.
Is not all this exactly what the Legislature has attempted to accomplish by the enactment of section
21454 of the Administrative Code? Has not the Legislature merely conferred upon the provincial

governor, with the approval of the provincial board and the Department Head, discretionary authority
as to the execution of the law? Is not this "necessary"?
The case of West vs. Hitchock, ([1906], 205 U.S., 80) was a petition for mandamus to require the
Secretary of the Interior to approve the selection and taking of one hundred and sixty acres by the
relator out of the lands ceded to the United States by the Wichita and affiliated bands of Indians.
Section 463 of the United States Revised Statutes provided: "The Commissioner of Indian Affairs
shall, under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior, and agreeably to such regulations as the
President may prescribe, have the management of all Indian affairs, and of all matters arising out to
the Indian relations." Justice Holmes said: "We should hesitate a good deal, especially in view of the
long established practice of the Department, before saying that this language was not broad enough
to warrant a regulation obviously made for the welfare of the rather helpless people concerned. The
power of Congress is not doubted. The Indians have been treated as wards of the nation. Some
such supervision was necessary, and has been exercised. In the absence of special provisions
naturally it would be exercised by the Indian Department." (See also as corroborative authority, it any
is needed, Union Bridge Co. vs. U.S. [1907], 204 U.S.., 364, reviewing the previous decisions of the
United States Supreme Court: U.S. vs. Lane [1914], 232 U.S., 598.)
There is another aspect of the question, which once accepted, is decisive. An exception to the
general rule. sanctioned by immemorial practice, permits the central legislative body to delegate
legislative powers to local authorities. The Philippine Legislature has here conferred authority upon
the Province of Mindoro, to be exercised by the provincial governor and the provincial board.
Who but the provincial governor and the provincial board, as the official representatives of the
province, are better qualified to judge "when such as course is deemed necessary in the interest of
law and order?" As officials charged with the administration of the province and the protection of its
inhabitants, who but they are better fitted to select sites which have the conditions most favorable for
improving the people who have the misfortune of being in a backward state?
Section 2145 of the Administrative Code of 1917 is not an unlawful delegation of legislative power by
the Philippine Legislature to provincial official and a department head.
B. RELIGIOUS DISCRIMINATION
The attorney de officio, for petitioners, in a truly remarkable brief, submitted on behalf of his
unknown clients, says that "The statute is perfectly clear and unambiguous. In limpid English, and
in words as plain and unequivocal as language can express, it provides for the segregation of 'nonChristians' and none other." The inevitable result, them, is that the law "constitutes an attempt by the
Legislature to discriminate between individuals because of their religious beliefs, and is,
consequently, unconstitutional."
Counsel's premise once being conceded, his arguments is answerable the Legislature must be
understood to mean what it has plainly expressed; judicial construction is then excluded; religious
equality is demanded by the Organic Law; the statute has violated this constitutional guaranty, and
Q. E. D. is invalid. But, as hereinbefore stated, we do not feel free to discard the long continued
meaning given to a common expression, especially as classification of inhabitants according to
religious belief leads the court to what it should avoid, the nullification of legislative action. We hold
that the term "non-Christian" refers to natives of the Philippines Islands of a low grade of civilization,
and that section 2145 of the Administrative Code of 1917, does not discriminate between individuals
an account of religious differences.
C. LIBERTY; DUE PROCESS OF LAW; EQUAL PROTECTION OF THE LAWS.

The third constitutional argument is grounded on those portions of the President's instructions of to
the Commission, the Philippine Bill, and the Jones Law, providing "That no law shall be enacted in
said Islands which shall deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law, or
deny to any person therein the equal protection of the laws." This constitutional limitation is derived
from the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution and these provisions, it has
been said "are universal in their application, to all persons within the territorial jurisdiction, without
regard to any differences of race, of color, or of nationality." (Yick Wo vs. Hopkins [1886], 118 U.S.,
356.) The protection afforded the individual is then as much for the non-Christian as for the
Christian.
The conception of civil liberty has been variously expressed thus:
Every man may claim the fullest liberty to exercise his faculties, compatible with the
possession of like liberty by every other. (Spencer, Social Statistics, p. 94.)
Liberty is the creature of law, essentially different from that authorized licentiousness that
trespasses on right. That authorized licentiousness that trespasses on right. It is a legal and
a refined idea, the offspring of high civilization, which the savage never understood, and
never can understand. Liberty exists in proportion to wholesome restraint; the more restraint
on others to keep off from us, the more liberty we have . . . that man is free who is protected
from injury. (II Webster's Works, p. 393.)
Liberty consists in the ability to do what one caught to desire and in not being forced to do
what one ought not do desire. (Montesque, spirit of the Laws.)
Even liberty itself, the greatest of all rights, is no unrestricted license to ac according to one's
own will. It is only freedom from restraint under conditions essential to the equal enjoyment
of the same right by others. (Field, J., in Crowley vs. Christensen [1890], 137 U.S., 86.)
Liberty does not import "an absolute right in each person to be, at all times and in all
circumstances, wholly freed from restraint. There are manifold restraints to which every
person is necessarily subject for the common good. On any other basis, organized society
could not exist with safety to its members. Society based on the rule that each one is a law
unto himself would soon be confronted with disorder and anarchy. Real liberty for all could
not exist under the operation of a principle which recognizes the right of each individual
person to use his own, whether in respect of his person or his property, regardless of the
injury that may be done to others . . . There is, of course, a sphere with which the individual
may asserts the supremacy of his own will, and rightfully dispute the authority of any human
government especially of any free government existing under a written Constitution to
interfere with the exercise of that will. But it is equally true that in very well-ordered society
charged with the duty of conserving the safety of its members, the rights of the individual in
respect of his liberty may at times, under the pressure of great dangers, be subjected to such
restraint to be enforced by reasonable regulations, as the safety of the general public may
demand." (Harlan, J., In Jacobson vs. Massachusetts [1905] 197 U.S., 11.)
Liberty is freedom to do right and never wrong; it is ever guided by reason and the upright
and honorable conscience of the individual. (Apolinario Mabini.)
Civil Liberty may be said to mean that measure of freedom which may be enjoyed in a civilized
community, consistently with the peaceful enjoyment of like freedom in others. The right to Liberty
guaranteed by the Constitution includes the right to exist and the right to be free from arbitrary
personal restraint or servitude. The term cannot be dwarfed into mere freedom from physical

restraint of the person of the citizen, but is deemed to embrace the right of man to enjoy the faculties
with which he has been endowed by this Creator, subject only to such restraints as are necessary
for the common welfare. As enunciated in a long array of authorities including epoch-making
decisions of the United States Supreme Court, Liberty includes the right of the citizens to be free to
use his faculties in all lawful ways; to live an work where he will; to earn his livelihood by an lawful
calling; to pursue any avocations, an for that purpose. to enter into all contracts which may be
proper, necessary, and essential to his carrying out these purposes to a successful conclusion. The
chief elements of the guaranty are the right to contract, the right to choose one's employment, the
right to labor, and the right of locomotion.
In general, it may be said that Liberty means the opportunity to do those things which are ordinarily
done by free men. (There can be noted Cummings vs. Missouri [1866], 4 Wall, 277;
Wilkinson vs. Leland [1829], 2 Pet., 627; Williams vs. Fears [1900], 179 U.S., 274;
Allgeyer vs. Louisiana [1896], 165, U.S., 578; State vs. Kreutzberg [1902], 114 Wis., 530. See 6
R.C.L., 258, 261.)
One thought which runs through all these different conceptions of Liberty is plainly apparent. It is
this: "Liberty" as understood in democracies, is not license; it is "Liberty regulated by law." Implied in
the term is restraint by law for the good of the individual and for the greater good of the peace and
order of society and the general well-being. No man can do exactly as he pleases. Every man must
renounce unbridled license. The right of the individual is necessarily subject to reasonable restraint
by general law for the common good. Whenever and wherever the natural rights of citizen would, if
exercises without restraint, deprive other citizens of rights which are also and equally natural, such
assumed rights must yield to the regulation of law. The Liberty of the citizens may be restrained in
the interest of the public health, or of the public order and safety, or otherwise within the proper
scope of the police power. (See Hall vs. Geiger-Jones [1916], 242 U.S., 539; Hardie-Tynes
Manufacturing Co. vs. Cruz [1914], 189 Al., 66.)
None of the rights of the citizen can be taken away except by due process of law. Daniel Webster, in
the course of the argument in the Dartmouth College Case before the United States Supreme Court,
since a classic in forensic literature, said that the meaning of "due process of law" is, that "every
citizen shall hold his life, liberty, property, an immunities under the protection of the general rules
which govern society." To constitute "due process of law," as has been often held, a judicial
proceeding is not always necessary. In some instances, even a hearing and notice are not requisite
a rule which is especially true where much must be left to the discretion of the administrative officers
in applying a law to particular cases. (See McGehee, Due Process of Law, p. 371.) Neither is due
process a stationary and blind sentinel of liberty. "Any legal proceeding enforced by public authority,
whether sanctioned by age and customs, or newly devised in the discretion of the legislative power,
in furtherance of the public good, which regards and preserves these principles of liberty and justice,
must be held to be due process of law." (Hurtado vs.California [1883], 110, U.S., 516.) "Due process
of law" means simply . . . "first, that there shall be a law prescribed in harmony with the general
powers of the legislative department of the Government; second, that this law shall be reasonable in
its operation; third, that it shall be enforced according to the regular methods of procedure
prescribed; and fourth, that it shall be applicable alike to all the citizens of the state or to all of a
class." (U.S. vs. Ling Su Fan [1908], 10 Phil., 104, affirmed on appeal to the United States Supreme
Court. 1) "What is due process of law depends on circumstances. It varies with the subject-matter
and necessities of the situation." (Moyer vs. Peablody [1909], 212 U. S., 82.)
The pledge that no person shall be denied the equal protection of the laws is not infringed by a
statute which is applicable to all of a class. The classification must have a reasonable basis and
cannot be purely arbitrary in nature.

We break off with the foregoing statement, leaving the logical deductions to be made later on.
D. SLAVERY AND INVOLUNTARY SERVITUDE.
The fourth constitutional contention of petitioner relates to the Thirteen Amendment to the United
States Constitution particularly as found in those portions of Philippine Organic Law providing "That
slavery shall not exist in said Islands; nor shall involuntary servitude exist except as a punishment for
crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted." It is quite possible that the Thirteenth
Amendment, since reaching to "any place subject to" the "jurisdiction" of the United States, has force
in the Philippine. However this may be, the Philippine Legislature has, by adoption, with necessary
modifications, of sections 268 to 271 inclusive of the United States Criminal Code, prescribed the
punishment for these crimes. Slavery and involuntary servitude, together wit their corollary,
peonage, all denote "a condition of enforced, compulsory service of one to another."
(Hodges vs. U.S. [1906], 203 U.S., 1.) The term of broadest scope is possibly involuntary servitude.
It has been applied to any servitude in fact involuntary, no matter under what form such servitude
may have been disguised. (Bailey vs. Alabama [1910], 219 U.S., 219.)
So much for an analysis of those constitutional provisions on which petitioners rely for their freedom.
Next must come a description of the police power under which the State must act if section 2145 is
to be held valid.
E. THE POLICE POWER.
Not attempting to phrase a definition of police power, all that it is necessary to note at this moment is
the farreaching scope of the power, that it has become almost possible to limit its weep, and that
among its purposes is the power to prescribe regulations to promote the health, peace, morals,
education, and good order of the people, and to legislate so as to increase the industries of the
State, develop its resources and add to is wealth and prosperity. (See Barbiervs. Connolly [1884],
113 U.S., 27.) What we are not interested in is the right of the government to restrain liberty by the
exercise of the police power.
"The police power of the State," one court has said, . . . "is a power coextensive with self-protection,
and is not inaptly termed the 'law of overruling necessity.' It may be said to be that inherent and
plenary power in the State which enables it to prohibit all things hurtful to the comfort, safety and
welfare of society." (Lake View vs. Rose Hill Cemetery Co. [1873], 70 Ill., 191.) Carried onward by
the current of legislation, the judiciary rarely attempt to dam the on rushing power of legislative
discretion, provided the purposes of the law do not go beyond the great principles that mean security
for the public welfare or do not arbitrarily interfere with the right of the individual.
The Government of the Philippine Islands has both on reason and authority the right to exercise the
sovereign police power in the promotion of the general welfare and the public interest. "There can be
not doubt that the exercise of the police power of the Philippine Government belongs to the
Legislature and that this power is limited only by the Acts of Congress and those fundamental
principles which lie at the foundation of all republican forms of government." (Churchill and
Tait vs. Rafferty [1915], 32 Phil., 580; U.S. vs. Pompeya [1915], 31 Phil., 245.)
With the foregoing approximation of the applicable basic principles before us, before finally deciding
whether any constitutional provision has indeed been violated by section 2145 of the Administrative
Code, we should endeavor to ascertain the intention of the Legislature in enacting this section. If
legally possible, such legislative intention should be effectuated.
F. LEGISLATIVE INTENT.

The preamble of the resolution of the provincial board of Mindoro which set apart the Tigbao
reservation, it will be remembered, assigned as reasons fort the action, the following: (1) The failure
of former attempts for the advancement of the non-Christian people of the province; and (2) the only
successfully method for educating the Manguianes was to oblige them to live in a permanent
settlement. The Solicitor-General adds the following; (3) The protection of the Manguianes; (4) the
protection of the public forests in which they roam; (5) the necessity of introducing civilized customs
among the Manguianes.
The present Secretary of the Interior says of the Tigbao reservation and of the motives for its
selection, the following:
To inform himself of the conditions of those Manguianes who were taken together to Tigbao,
the Secretary of the Interior on June 10 to 13, 1918, made a trip to the place. There he found
that the site selected is a good one; that creditable progress has been made in the clearing
of forests, construction of buildings, etc., that there appears to be encouraging reaction by
the boys to the work of the school the requirements of which they appear to meet with
enthusiastic interest after the first weeks which are necessarily a somewhat trying period for
children wholly unaccustomed to orderly behaviour and habit of life. He also gathered the
impression that the results obtained during the period of less than one year since the
beginning of the institution definitely justify its continuance and development.
Of course, there were many who were protesting against that segregation. Such was
naturally to be expected. But the Secretary of the Interior, upon his return to Manila, made
the following statement to the press:
"It is not deemed wise to abandon the present policy over those who prefer to live a
nomadic life and evade the influence of civilization. The Government will follow its
policy to organize them into political communities and to educate their children with
the object of making them useful citizens of this country. To permit them to live a
wayfaring life will ultimately result in a burden to the state and on account of their
ignorance, they will commit crimes and make depredation, or if not they will be
subject to involuntary servitude by those who may want to abuse them."
The Secretary of the Interior, who is the official charged with the supervision of all the non-Christian
people, has adopted as the polaris of his administration "the advancement of the non-Christian
elements of our population to equality and unification with the highly civilized Christian inhabitants."
This is carried on by the adoption of the following measures:
(a) Pursuance of the closer settlement policy whereby people of seminomadic race are
induced to leave their wild habitat and settle in organized communities.
(b) The extension of the public school system and the system of public health throughout the
regions inhabited by the non-Christian people.
(c) The extention of public works throughout the Mohammedan regions to facilitate their
development and the extention of government control.
(d) Construction of roads and trials between one place and another among non-Christians, to
promote social and commercial intercourse and maintain amicable relations among them
and with the Christian people.
(e) Pursuance of the development of natural economic resources, especially agriculture.

( f ) The encouragement of immigration into, and of the investment of private capital in, the
fertile regions of Mindanao and Sulu.
The Secretary adds:
To attain the end desired, work of a civilizing influence have been continued among the nonChristian people. These people are being taught and guided to improve their living conditions
in order that they may fully appreciate the benefits of civilization. Those of them who are still
given to nomadic habits are being persuaded to abandon their wild habitat and settle in
organized settlements. They are being made to understand that it is the purpose of the
Government to organize them politically into fixed and per manent communities, thus
bringing them under the control of the Government, to aid them to live and work, protect
them from involuntary servitude and abuse, educate their children, and show them the
advantages of leading a civilized life with their civilized brothers. In short, they are being
impressed with the purposes and objectives of the Government of leading them to economic,
social, and political equality, and unification with the more highly civilized inhabitants of the
country. (See Report of the Department for 1917.)
The fundamental objective of governmental policy is to establish friendly relations with the so-called
non-Christians, and to promote their educational, agricultural, industrial, and economic development
and advancement in civilization. (Note Acts Nos. 2208, 2404, 2444.) Act No. 2674 in reestablishing
the Bureau of non-Christian Tribes, defines the aim of the Government towards the non-Christian
people in the following unequivocal terms:
It shall be the duty of the Bureau of non-Christian Tribes to continue the work for
advancement and liberty in favor of the region inhabited by non-Christian Filipinos and foster
by all adequate means and in a systematical, rapid, and complete manner the moral,
material, economic, social, and political development of those regions, always having in view
the aim of rendering permanent the mutual intelligence between, and complete fusion of, all
the Christian and non-Christian elements populating the provinces of the Archipelago. (Sec.
3.)
May the Manguianes not be considered, as are the Indians in the United States, proper wards of the
Filipino people? By the fostering care of a wise Government, may not these unfortunates advance in
the "habits and arts of civilization?" Would it be advisable for the courts to intrude upon a plan,
carefully formulated, and apparently working out for the ultimate good of these people?
In so far as the Manguianes themselves are concerned, the purpose of the Government is evident.
Here, we have on the Island of Mindoro, the Manguianes, leading a nomadic life, making
depredations on their more fortunate neighbors, uneducated in the ways of civilization, and doing
nothing for the advancement of the Philippine Islands. What the Government wished to do by
bringing than into a reservation was to gather together the children for educational purposes, and to
improve the health and morals was in fine, to begin the process of civilization. this method was
termed in Spanish times, "bringing under the bells." The same idea adapted to the existing situation,
has been followed with reference to the Manguianes and other peoples of the same class, because
it required, if they are to be improved, that they be gathered together. On these few reservations
there live under restraint in some cases, and in other instances voluntarily, a few thousands of the
uncivilized people. Segregation really constitutes protection for the manguianes.
Theoretically, one may assert that all men are created free and equal. Practically, we know that the
axiom is not precisely accurate. The Manguianes, for instance, are not free, as civilized men are
free, and they are not the equals of their more fortunate brothers. True, indeed, they are citizens,

with many but not all the rights which citizenship implies. And true, indeed, they are Filipinos. But
just as surely, the Manguianes are citizens of a low degree of intelligence, and Filipinos who are a
drag upon the progress of the State.
In so far as the relation of the Manguianes to the State is concerned, the purposes of the Legislature
in enacting the law, and of the executive branch in enforcing it, are again plain. Settlers in Mindoro
must have their crops and persons protected from predatory men, or they will leave the country. It is
no argument to say that such crimes are punished by the Penal Code, because these penalties are
imposed after commission of the offense and not before. If immigrants are to be encouraged to
develop the resources of the great Islands of Mindoro, and its, as yet, unproductive regions, the
Government must be in a position to guarantee peace and order.
Waste lands do not produce wealth. Waste people do not advance the interest of the State. Illiteracy
and thriftlessness are not conducive to homogeneity. The State to protect itself from destruction
must prod on the laggard and the sluggard. The great law of overwhelming necessity is all
convincing.
To quote again from the instructive memorandum of the Secretary of the Interior:
Living a nomadic and a wayfaring life and evading the influence of civilization, they (the
manguianes) are engaged in the works of destruction burning and destroying the forests
and making illegal caigins thereon. Not bringing any benefit to the State but instead injuring
and damaging its interests, what will ultimately become of these people with the sort of
liberty they wish to preserve and for which they are now fighting in court? They will ultimately
become a heavy burden to the State and on account of their ignorance they will commit
crimes and make depredations, or if not they will be subjected to involuntary servitude by
those who may want to abuse them.
There is no doubt in my mind that this people a right conception of liberty and does not
practice liberty in a rightful way. They understand liberty as the right to do anything they will
going from one place to another in the mountains, burning and destroying forests and
making illegal caigins thereon.
Not knowing what true liberty is and not practising the same rightfully, how can they allege
that they are being deprived thereof without due process of law?
xxx

xxx

xxx

But does the Constitutional guaranty that 'no person shall be deprived of his liberty without
due process of law' apply to a class of persons who do not have a correct idea of what liberty
is and do not practise liberty in a rightful way?
To say that it does will mean to sanction and defend an erroneous idea of such class of
persons as to what liberty is. It will mean, in the case at bar, that the Government should not
adopt any measures looking to the welfare and advancement of the class of persons in
question. It will mean that this people should be let along in the mountains and in a
permanent state of savagery without even the remotest hope of coming to understand liberty
in its true and noble sense.
In dealing with the backward population, like the Manguianes, the Government has been
placed in the alternative of either letting them alone or guiding them in the path of civilization.

The latter measure was adopted as the one more in accord with humanity and with national
conscience.
xxx

xxx

xxx

The national legislation on the subject of non-Christian people has tended more and more
towards the education and civilization of such people and fitting them to be citizens. The
progress of those people under the tutelage of the Government is indeed encouraging and
the signs of the times point to a day which is not far distant when they will become useful
citizens. In the light of what has already been accomplished which has been winning the
gratitude of most of the backward people, shall we give up the noble work simply because a
certain element, believing that their personal interests would be injured by such a measure
has come forward and challenged the authority of the Government to lead this people in the
pat of civilization? Shall we, after expending sweat, treasure, and even blood only to redeem
this people from the claws of ignorance and superstition, now willingly retire because there
has been erroneously invoked in their favor that Constitutional guaranty that no person shall
be deprived of his liberty without due process of law? To allow them to successfully invoke
that Constitutional guaranty at this time will leave the Government without recourse to pursue
the works of civilizing them and making them useful citizens. They will thus left in a
permanent state of savagery and become a vulnerable point to attack by those who doubt,
nay challenge, the ability of the nation to deal with our backward brothers.
The manguianes in question have been directed to live together at Tigbao. There they are
being taught and guided to improve their living conditions. They are being made to
understand that they object of the government is to organize them politically into fixed and
permanent communities. They are being aided to live and work. Their children are being
educated in a school especially established for them. In short, everything is being done from
them in order that their advancement in civilization and material prosperity may be assured.
Certainly their living together in Tigbao does not make them slaves or put them in a condition
compelled to do services for another. They do not work for anybody but for themselves.
There is, therefore, no involuntary servitude.
But they are compelled to live there and prohibited from emigrating to some other places
under penalty of imprisonment. Attention in this connection is invited to the fact that this
people, living a nomadic and wayfaring life, do not have permanent individual property. They
move from one place to another as the conditions of living warrants, and the entire space
where they are roving about is the property of the nation, the greater part being lands of
public domain. Wandering from one place to another on the public lands, why can not the
government adopt a measure to concentrate them in a certain fixed place on the public
lands, instead of permitting them to roam all over the entire territory? This measure is
necessary both in the interest of the public as owner of the lands about which they are roving
and for the proper accomplishment of the purposes and objectives of the government. For as
people accustomed to nomadic habit, they will always long to return to the mountains and
follow a wayfaring life, and unless a penalty is provinced for, you can not make them live
together and the noble intention of the Government of organizing them politically will come to
naught.
G. APPLICATION AND CONCLUSION.
Our exhaustive study should have left us in a position to answer specific objections and to reach a
general conclusion.

In the first place, it is argued that the citizen has the right, generally speaking, to go where he
pleases. Could be not, however, be kept away from certain localities ? To furnish an example from
the Indian legislation. The early Act of Congress of 1802 (2 U.S. Stat. at L., p. 141) Indian
reservation. Those citizens certainly did not possess absolute freedom of locomotion. Again the
same law provided for the apprehension of marauding Indians. Without any doubt, this law and other
similar were accepted and followed time and again without question.
It is said that, if we hold this section to be constitutional, we leave this weak and defenseless people
confined as in a prison at the mercy of unscrupulous official. What, it is asked, would be the remedy
of any oppressed Manguian? The answer would naturally be that the official into whose hands are
given the enforcement of the law would have little or not motive to oppress these people; on the
contrary, the presumption would all be that they would endeavor to carry out the purposes of the law
intelligently and patriotically. If, indeed, they did ill-treat any person thus confined, there always
exists the power of removal in the hands of superior officers, and the courts are always open for a
redress of grievances. When, however, only the validity of the law is generally challenged and no
particular case of oppression is called to the attention of the courts, it would seems that the Judiciary
should not unnecessarily hamper the Government in the accomplishment of its laudable purpose.
The question is above all one of sociology. How far, consistently with freedom, may the right and
liberties of the individual members of society be subordinated to the will of the Government? It is a
question which has assailed the very existence of government from the beginning of time. Now
purely an ethical or philosophical subject, nor now to be decided by force, it has been transferred to
the peaceful forum of the Judiciary. In resolving such an issue, the Judiciary must realize that the
very existence of government renders imperatives a power to restrain the individual to some extent,
dependent, of course, on the necessities of the class attempted to be benefited. As to the particular
degree to which the Legislature and the Executive can go in interfering with the rights of the citizen,
this is, and for a along time to come will be, impossible for the courts to determine.
The doctrines of laissez faire and of unrestricted freedom of the individual, as axioms of economics
and political theory, are of the past. The modern period has shown as widespread belief in the
amplest possible demonstration of governmental activity. The courts unfortunately have sometimes
seemed to trial after the other two branches of the government in this progressive march.
Considered, therefore, purely as an exercise of the police power, the courts cannot fairly say that the
Legislature has exceeded its rightful authority. it is, indeed, an unusual exercise of that power. But a
great malady requires an equally drastic remedy.
Further, one cannot hold that the liberty of the citizen is unduly interfered without when the degree of
civilization of the Manguianes is considered. They are restrained for their own good and the general
good of the Philippines. Nor can one say that due process of law has not been followed. To go back
to our definition of due process of law and equal protection of the law, there exists a law ; the law
seems to be reasonable; it is enforced according to the regular methods of procedure prescribed;
and it applies alike to all of a class.
As a point which has been left for the end of this decision and which, in case of doubt, would lead to
the determination that section 2145 is valid. it the attitude which the courts should assume towards
the settled policy of the Government. In a late decision with which we are in full accord,
Gambles vs. Vanderbilt University (200 Southwestern Reporter, 510) the Chief Justice of the
Supreme Court of Tennessee writes:
We can seen objection to the application of public policy as a ratio decidendi. Every really new
question that comes before the courts is, in the last analysis, determined on that theory, when not

determined by differentiation of the principle of a prior case or line of cases, or by the aid of
analogies furnished by such prior case. In balancing conflicting solutions, that one is perceived to tip
the scales which the court believes will best promote the public welfare in its probable operation as a
general rule or principle. But public policy is not a thing inflexible. No court is wise enough to forecast
its influence in all possible contingencies. Distinctions must be made from time to time as sound
reason and a true sense of justice may dictate."
Our attempt at giving a brief history of the Philippines with reference to the so-called non-Christians
has been in vain, if we fail to realize that a consistent governmental policy has been effective in the
Philippines from early days to the present. The idea to unify the people of the Philippines so that
they may approach the highest conception of nationality. If all are to be equal before the law, all
must be approximately equal in intelligence. If the Philippines is to be a rich and powerful country,
Mindoro must be populated, and its fertile regions must be developed. The public policy of the
Government of the Philippine Islands is shaped with a view to benefit the Filipino people as a whole.
The Manguianes, in order to fulfill this governmental policy, must be confined for a time, as we have
said, for their own good and the good of the country.
Most cautiously should the power of this court to overrule the judgment of the Philippine Legislature,
a coordinate branch, be exercised. The whole tendency of the best considered case is toward noninterference on the part of the courts whenever political ideas are the moving consideration. Justice
Holmes, in one of the aphorisms for which he is justly famous, said that "constitutional law, like other
mortal contrivances, has to take some chances." (Blinn vs.Nelson [1911], 222 U.S., 1.) If in the final
decision of the many grave questions which this case presents, the courts must take "a chance," it
should be with a view to upholding the law, with a view to the effectuation of the general
governmental policy, and with a view to the court's performing its duty in no narrow and bigoted
sense, but with that broad conception which will make the courts as progressive and effective a force
as are the other departments of the Government.
We are of the opinion that action pursuant to section 2145 of the Administrative Code does not
deprive a person of his liberty without due process of law and does not deny to him the equal
protection of the laws, and that confinement in reservations in accordance with said section does not
constitute slavery and involuntary servitude. We are further of the opinion that section 2145 of the
Administrative Code is a legitimate exertion of the police power, somewhat analogous to the Indian
policy of the United States. Section 2145 of the Administrative Code of 1917 is constitutional.
Petitioners are not unlawfully imprisoned or restrained of their liberty. Habeas corpus can, therefore,
not issue. This is the true ruling of the court. Costs shall be taxes against petitioners. So ordered.

G.R. No. L-10202

March 27, 1917

THE GOVERNMENT OF THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS EX REL. THE MUNICIPALITY OF

CARDONA, plaintiff,
vs.
THE MUNICIPALITY OF BINANGONAN, ET AL., defendants.
Modesto Reyes and Eliseo Ymzon for plaintiff.
Moreno and Guevara for defendants.
MORELAND, J.:
The plaintiff amended his complaint in this action after a demurrer thereto had been sustained. No
new or additional facts have been alleged and the case stands precisely where it stood before the
amended complaint was filed. A demurrer having been offered to the amended complaint, that also
must be sustained.
The plaintiff still insists with great vigor that section 1 of Act No. 1748; entitled "An Act authorizing
the adjustment of provincial and municipal boundaries and authorizing the change of capitals of
provinces and subprovinces, as may be necessary from time to time to serve the public convenience
and interest," is in violation of the Act of Congress of July 1, 1902, in that it delegates legislative
powers to the Governor-General, whereas the Act of Congress referred to lodges those powers in
the Philippine Legislature.
Section 1 of the Act referred to provides in substance that, whenever in the judgment of the
Governor-General the public welfare requires, he may, by executive order, enlarge, contract, or
otherwise change the boundary of any province, subprovince, municipality, or township or other
political subdivision, or separate any such subdivision into such portions as may be requires, merge
any of such subdivisions with another, divide, any province into one or more subdivisions as may be
required, name any new subdivision so created, change the seat of government within any
subdivision existing or created thereunder, to such place therein as the public interests require, and
shall fix in such executive order the date when the change, merger, separation or other action shall
take effect. The section also provides that whenever the Governor-General creates a new political
subdivision he shall appoint such officers for the new subdivision with such powers and duties as
may be required by the existing provisions of law applicable to the case and fix their salaries; and
that such appointees shall hold office until their successors are appointed or elected and qualify.
Successors to the elective offices shall be elected at the next general election following such
appointment.
The contention of the plaintiff is not well founded. The delegation of the power referred to on the
Governor-General does not involve an abdication of legislative functions on the part of the legislature
with regard to the particular subject-matter with which it authorizes the Governor-General to deal. It
is simply a transference of certain details with respect to provinces, municipalities, and townships,
many of them newly created, and all of them subject to more or less rapid change both in
development and centers of population, the proper regulation of which might require not only prompt
action but action of such a detailed character as not to permit the legislative body, as such, to take it
efficiently. We find no provision of the Act applicable so far as it touches this case which is in
violation of the Act of Congress of July 1, 1902.
The demurrer is sustained and the complaint is finally dismissed, with costs. So ordered.
Torres, Carson, Trent and Araullo, JJ., concur.

G.R. No. 47065

June 26, 1940

PANGASINAN TRANSPORTATION CO., INC., petitioner,

vs.
THE PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION, respondent.
C. de G. Alvear for petitioner.
Evaristo R. Sandoval for respondent.
LAUREL, J.:
The petitioner has been engaged for the past twenty years in the business of transporting
passengers in the Province of Pangasinan and Tarlac and, to a certain extent, in the Province of
Nueva Ecija and Zambales, by means of motor vehicles commonly known as TPU buses, in
accordance with the terms and conditions of the certificates of public convenience issued in its favor
by the former Public Utility Commission in cases Nos. 24948, 30973, 36830, 32014 and 53090. On
August 26, 1939, the petitioner filed with the Public Service Commission an application for
authorization to operate ten additional new Brockway trucks (case No. 56641), on the ground that
they were needed to comply with the terms and conditions of its existing certificates and as a result
of the application of the Eight Hour Labor Law. In the decision of September 26, 1939, granting the
petitioner's application for increase of equipment, the Public Service Commission ordered:
Y de acuerdo con que se provee por el articulo 15 de la ley No. 146 del Commonwealth, tal
como ha sido enmendada por el articulo 1 de la Ley No. 454, por la presente se enmienda
las condiciones de los certificados de convenciencia publica expedidos en los expedientes
Nos. 24948, 30973, 36831, 32014 y la authorizacion el el expediente No. 53090, asi que se
consideran incorporadas en los mismos las dos siguientes condiciones:
Que los certificados de conveniencia publica y authorizacion arriba mencionados seran
validos y subsistentes solamente durante de veinticinco (25) anos, contados desde la fecha
de la promulgacion de esta decision.
Que la empresa de la solicitante porda ser adquirida por el Commonwealth de Filipinas o por
alguna dependencia del mismo en cualquier tiempo que lo deseare previo pago del precio d
costo de su equipo util, menos una depreciacion razonable que se ha fijar por la Comision al
tiempo de su adquisicion.
Not being agreeable to the two new conditions thus incorporated in its existing certificates, the
petitioner filed on October 9, 1939 a motion for reconsideration which was denied by the Public
Service Commission on November 14, 1939. Whereupon, on November 20, 1939, the present
petition for a writ of certiorari was instituted in this court praying that an order be issued directing the
secretary of the Public Service Commission to certify forthwith to this court the records of all
proceedings in case No. 56641; that this court, after hearing, render a decision declaring section 1 of
Commonwealth Act No. 454 unconstitutional and void; that, if this court should be of the opinion that
section 1 of Commonwealth Act No. 454 is constitutional, a decision be rendered declaring that the
provisions thereof are not applicable to valid and subsisting certificates issued prior to June 8, 1939.
Stated in the language of the petitioner, it is contended:
1. That the legislative powers granted to the Public Service Commission by section 1 of
Commonwealth Act No. 454, without limitation, guide or rule except the unfettered discretion
and judgment of the Commission, constitute a complete and total abdication by the

Legislature of its functions in the premises, and for that reason, the Act, in so far as those
powers are concerned, is unconstitutional and void.
2. That even if it be assumed that section 1 of Commonwealth Act No. 454, is valid
delegation of legislative powers, the Public Service Commission has exceeded its authority
because: (a) The Act applies only to future certificates and not to valid and subsisting
certificates issued prior to June 8, 1939, when said Act took effect, and (b) the Act, as
applied by the Commission, violates constitutional guarantees.
Section 15 of Commonwealth Act No. 146, as amended by section 1 of Commonwealth Act No. 454,
invoked by the respondent Public Service Commission in the decision complained of in the present
proceedings, reads as follows:
With the exception to those enumerated in the preceding section, no public service shall
operate in the Philippines without possessing a valid and subsisting certificate from the
Public Service Commission, known as "certificate of public convenience," or "certificate of
convenience and public necessity," as the case may be, to the effect that the operation of
said service and the authorization to do business will promote the public interests in a proper
and suitable manner.
The Commission may prescribed as a condition for the issuance of the certificate provided in
the preceding paragraph that the service can be acquired by the Commonwealth of the
Philippines or by any instrumentality thereof upon payment of the cost price of its useful
equipment, less reasonable depreciation; and likewise, that the certificate shall valid only for
a definite period of time; and that the violation of any of these conditions shall produce the
immediate cancellation of the certificate without the necessity of any express action on the
part of the Commission.
In estimating the depreciation, the effect of the use of the equipment, its actual condition, the
age of the model, or other circumstances affecting its value in the market shall be taken into
consideration.
The foregoing is likewise applicable to any extension or amendment of certificates actually
force and to those which may hereafter be issued, to permits to modify itineraries and time
schedules of public services and to authorization to renew and increase equipment and
properties.
Under the first paragraph of the aforequoted section 15 of Act No. 146, as amended, no public
service can operate without a certificate of public convenience or certificate of convenience and
public necessity to the effect that the operation of said service and the authorization to do business
will "public interests in a proper and suitable manner." Under the second paragraph, one of the
conditions which the Public Service Commission may prescribed the issuance of the certificate
provided for in the first paragraph is that "the service can be acquired by the Commonwealth of the
Philippines or by any instrumental thereof upon payment of the cost price of its useful equipment,
less reasonable depreciation," a condition which is virtually a restatement of the principle already
embodied in the Constitution, section 6 of Article XII, which provides that "the State may, in the
interest of national welfare and defense, establish and operate industries and means of
transportation and communication, and, upon payment of just compensation, transfer to public
ownership utilities and other private enterprises to be operated by the Government. "Another
condition which the Commission may prescribed, and which is assailed by the petitioner, is that the
certificate "shall be valid only for a definite period of time." As there is a relation between the first and
second paragraphs of said section 15, the two provisions must be read and interpreted together.

That is to say, in issuing a certificate, the Commission must necessarily be satisfied that the
operation of the service under said certificate during a definite period fixed therein "will promote the
public interests in a proper and suitable manner." Under section 16 (a) of Commonwealth Act. No.
146 which is a complement of section 15, the Commission is empowered to issue certificates of
public convenience whenever it "finds that the operation of the public service proposed and the
authorization to do business will promote the public interests in a proper and suitable manner."
Inasmuch as the period to be fixed by the Commission under section 15 is inseparable from the
certificate itself, said period cannot be disregarded by the Commission in determining the question
whether the issuance of the certificate will promote the public interests in a proper and suitable
manner. Conversely, in determining "a definite period of time," the Commission will be guided by
"public interests," the only limitation to its power being that said period shall not exceed fifty years
(sec. 16 (a), Commonwealth Act No. 146; Constitution, Art. XIII, sec. 8.) We have already ruled that
"public interest" furnishes a sufficient standard. (People vs. Fernandez and Trinidad, G. R. No.
45655, promulgated June 15, 1938; People vs. Rosenthal and Osmea, G. R. Nos. 46076 and
46077, promulgated June 12, 1939, citing New York Central Securities Corporation vs. U.S.A., 287
U.S. 12, 24, 25, 77 Law. ed. 138, 145, 146; Schenchter Poultry Corporation vs. I.S., 295, 540, 79
Law. ed. 1570, 1585; Ferrazzini vs. Gsell, 34 Phil., 697, 711-712.)
Section 8 of Article XIII of the Constitution provides, among other things, that no franchise,
certificate, or any other form of authorization for the operation of a public utility shall be "for a longer
period than fifty years," and when it was ordained, in section 15 of Commonwealth Act No. 146, as
amended by Commonwealth Act No. 454, that the Public Service Commission may prescribed as a
condition for the issuance of a certificate that it "shall be valid only for a definite period of time" and,
in section 16 (a) that "no such certificates shall be issued for a period of more than fifty years," the
National Assembly meant to give effect to the aforesaid constitutional mandate. More than this, it
has thereby also declared its will that the period to be fixed by the Public Service Commission shall
not be longer than fifty years. All that has been delegated to the Commission, therefore, is the
administrative function, involving the use discretion, to carry out the will of the National Assembly
having in view, in addition, the promotion of "public interests in a proper and suitable manner." The
fact that the National Assembly may itself exercise the function and authority thus conferred upon
the Public Service Commission does not make the provision in question constitutionally
objectionable.
The theory of the separation of powers is designed by its originators to secure action and at the
same time to forestall overaction which necessarily results from undue concentration of powers, and
thereby obtain efficiency and prevent deposition. Thereby, the "rule of law" was established which
narrows the range of governmental action and makes it subject to control by certain devices. As a
corollary, we find the rule prohibiting delegation of legislative authority, and from the earliest time
American legal authorities have proceeded on the theory that legislative power must be exercised by
the legislature alone. It is frankness, however, to confess that as one delves into the mass of judicial
pronouncement, he finds a great deal of confusion. One thing, however, is apparent in the
development of the principle of separation of powers and that is that the maxim of delegatus non
potest delegari or delegata potestas non potest delegari, attributed to Bracton (De Legius et
Consuetedinious Angliae, edited by G. E. Woodbine, Yale University Press, 1922, vol. 2, p. 167) but
which is also recognized in principle in the Roman Law (D. 17.18.3), has been made to adapt itself
to the complexities of modern governments, giving rise to the adoption, within certain limits, of the
principle of "subordinate legislation," not only in the United States and England but in practically all
modern governments. (People vs. Rosenthal and Osmea, G. R. Nos. 46076 and 46077,
promulgated June 12, 1939.) Accordingly, with the growing complexity of modern life, the
multiplication of the subjects of governmental regulation, and the increased difficulty of administering
the laws, there is a constantly growing tendency toward the delegation of greater powers by the
legislature, and toward the approval of the practice by the court. (Dillon Catfish Drainage Dist, v.
Bank of Dillon, 141 S. E. 274, 275, 143 S. Ct. 178; State vs. Knox County, 54 S. W. 2d. 973, 976,

165 Tenn. 319.) In harmony with such growing tendency, this Court, since the decision in the case
of Compaia General de Tabacos de Filipinas vs. Board of Public Utility Commissioner (34 Phil.,
136), relied upon by the petitioner, has, in instances, extended its seal of approval to the "delegation
of greater powers by the legislature." (Inchausti Steamship Co. vs. Public Utility Commissioner, 44
Phil., Autobus Co. vs. De Jesus, 56 Phil., 446; People vs. Fernandez & Trinidad, G. R. No. 45655,
promulgated June 15, 1938; People vs. Rosenthal & Osmea, G. R. Nos. 46076, 46077,
promulgated June 12, 1939; and Robb and Hilscher vs. People, G. R. No. 45866, promulgated June
12, 1939.).
Under the fourth paragraph of section 15 of Commonwealth Act No. 146, as amended by
Commonwealth Act No. 454, the power of the Public Service Commission to prescribed the
conditions "that the service can be acquired by the Commonwealth of the Philippines or by any
instrumentality thereof upon payment of the cost price of its useful equipment, less reasonable," and
"that the certificate shall be valid only for a definite period of time" is expressly made applicable "to
any extension or amendment of certificates actually in force" and "to authorizations to renew and
increase equipment and properties." We have examined the legislative proceedings on the subject
and have found that these conditions were purposely made applicable to existing certificates of
public convenience. The history of Commonwealth Act No. 454 reveals that there was an attempt to
suppress, by way of amendment, the sentence "and likewise, that the certificate shall be valid only
for a definite period of time," but the attempt failed:
xxx

xxx

xxx

Sr. CUENCO. Seor Presidente, para otra enmienda. En la misma pagina, lineas 23 y 24,
pido que se supriman las palabras 'and likewise, that the certificate shall be valid only for a
definite period time.' Esta disposicion del proyecto autoriza a la Comision de Servicios
Publicos a fijar un plazo de vigencia certificado de conveniencia publica. Todo el mundo
sabe que bo se puede determinar cuando los intereses del servicio publico requiren la
explotacion de un servicio publico y ha de saber la Comision de Servisios, si en un tiempo
determinado, la explotacion de algunos buses en cierta ruta ya no tiene de ser, sobre todo,
si tiene en cuenta; que la explotacion de los servicios publicos depende de condiciones
flutuantes, asi como del volumen como trafico y de otras condiciones. Ademas, el servicio
publico se concede por la Comision de Servicios Publicos el interes publico asi lo exige. El
interes publico no tiene duracion fija, no es permanente; es un proceso mas o menos
indefinido en cuanto al tiempo. Se ha acordado eso en el caucus de anoche.
EL PRESIDENTE PRO TEMPORE. Que dice el Comite?
Sr. ALANO. El Comite siente tener que rechazar esa enmienda, en vista de que esto
certificados de conveniencia publica es igual que la franquicia: sepuede extender. Si los
servicios presentados por la compaia durante el tiempo de su certificado lo require, puede
pedir la extension y se le extendera; pero no creo conveniente el que nosotros demos un
certificado de conveniencia publica de una manera que podria pasar de cincuenta anos,
porque seria anticonstitucional.
xxx

xxx

xxx

By a majority vote the proposed amendment was defeated. (Sesion de 17 de mayo de 1939,
Asamblea Nacional.)
The petitioner is mistaken in the suggestion that, simply because its existing certificates had been
granted before June 8, 1939, the date when Commonwealth Act No. 454, amendatory of section 15

of Commonwealth Act No. 146, was approved, it must be deemed to have the right of holding them
in perpetuity. Section 74 of the Philippine Bill provided that "no franchise, privilege, or concession
shall be granted to any corporation except under the conditions that it shall be subject to
amendment, alteration, or repeal by the Congress of the United States." The Jones Law,
incorporating a similar mandate, provided, in section 28, that "no franchise or right shall be granted
to any individual, firm, or corporation except under the conditions that it shall be subject to
amendment, alteration, or repeal by the Congress of the United States." Lastly, the Constitution of
the Philippines provided, in section 8 of Article XIII, that "no franchise or right shall be granted to any
individual, firm, or corporation, except under the condition that it shall be subject to amendment,
alteration, or repeal by the National Assembly when the public interest so requires." The National
Assembly, by virtue of the Constitution, logically succeeded to the Congress of the United States in
the power to amend, alter or repeal any franchise or right granted prior to or after the approval of the
Constitution; and when Commonwealth Acts Nos. 146 and 454 were enacted, the National
Assembly, to the extent therein provided, has declared its will and purpose to amend or alter existing
certificates of public convenience.
Upon the other hand, statutes enacted for the regulation of public utilities, being a proper exercise by
the state of its police power, are applicable not only to those public utilities coming into existence
after its passage, but likewise to those already established and in operation.
Nor is there any merit in petitioner's contention, that, because of the establishment of
petitioner's operations prior to May 1, 1917, they are not subject to the regulations of the
Commission. Statutes for the regulation of public utilities are a proper exercise by the state of
its police power. As soon as the power is exercised, all phases of operation of established
utilities, become at once subject to the police power thus called into operation. Procedures'
Transportation Co. v. Railroad Commission, 251 U. S. 228, 40 Sup. Ct. 131, 64 Law. ed.
239, Law v. Railroad Commission, 184 Cal. 737, 195 Pac. 423, 14 A. L. R. 249. The statute
is applicable not only to those public utilities coming into existence after its passage, but
likewise to those already established and in operation. The 'Auto Stage and Truck
Transportation Act' (Stats. 1917, c. 213) is a statute passed in pursuance of the police
power. The only distinction recognized in the statute between those established before and
those established after the passage of the act is in the method of the creation of their
operative rights. A certificate of public convenience and necessity it required for any new
operation, but no such certificate is required of any transportation company for the operation
which was actually carried on in good faith on May 1, 1917, This distinction in the creation of
their operative rights in no way affects the power of the Commission to supervise and
regulate them. Obviously the power of the Commission to hear and dispose of complaints is
as effective against companies securing their operative rights prior to May 1, 1917, as
against those subsequently securing such right under a certificate of public convenience and
necessity. (Motor Transit Co. et al. v. Railroad Commission of California et al., 209 Pac.
586.)
Moreover, Commonwealth Acts Nos. 146 and 454 are not only the organic acts of the Public Service
Commission but are "a part of the charter of every utility company operating or seeking to operate a
franchise" in the Philippines. (Streator Aqueduct Co. v. et al., 295 Fed. 385.) The business of a
common carrier holds such a peculiar relation to the public interest that there is superinduced upon it
the right of public regulation. When private property is "affected with a public interest it ceased to
be juris privati only." When, therefore, one devotes his property to a use in which the public has an
interest, he, in effect, grants to the public an interest in that use, and must submit to be controlled by
the public for the common good, to the extent of the interest he has thus created. He may withdraw
his grant by discounting the use, but so long as he maintains the use he must submit to control.
Indeed, this right of regulation is so far beyond question that it is well settled that the power of the
state to exercise legislative control over public utilities may be exercised through boards of

commissioners. (Fisher vs. Yangco Steamship Company, 31 Phil., 1, citing Munn vs. Illinois, 94 U.S.
113; Georgia R. & Bkg. Co. vs. Smith, 128 U.S. 174; Budd vs. New York, 143 U.S. 517; New York
etc. R. Co. vs. Bristol 151 U.S. 556, 571; Connecticut etc. R. Co. vs. Woodruff, 153 U.S. 689;
Louisville etc. Ry Co. vs. Kentucky, 161 U.S. 677, 695.) This right of the state to regulate public
utilities is founded upon the police power, and statutes for the control and regulation of utilities are a
legitimate exercise thereof, for the protection of the public as well as of the utilities themselves. Such
statutes are, therefore, not unconstitutional, either impairing the obligation of contracts, taking
property without due process, or denying the equal protection of the laws, especially inasmuch as
the question whether or not private property shall be devoted to a public and the consequent
burdens assumed is ordinarily for the owner to decide; and if he voluntarily places his property in
public service he cannot complain that it becomes subject to the regulatory powers of the state. (51
C. J., sec. 21, pp. 9-10.) in the light of authorities which hold that a certificate of public convenience
constitutes neither a franchise nor contract, confers no property right, and is mere license or
privilege. (Burgess vs. Mayor & Alderman of Brockton, 235 Mass. 95, 100, 126 N. E. 456;
Roberto vs. Commisioners of Department of Public Utilities, 262 Mass. 583, 160 N. E. 321;
Scheible vs. Hogan, 113 Ohio St. 83, 148 N. E. 581; Martz vs. Curtis [J. L.] Cartage Co. [1937], 132
Ohio St. 271, 7 N. E. [d] 220; Manila Yellow Taxicab Co. vs. Sabellano, 59 Phil., 773.)
Whilst the challenged provisions of Commonwealth Act No. 454 are valid and constitutional, we are,
however, of the opinion that the decision of the Public Service Commission should be reversed and
the case remanded thereto for further proceedings for the reason now to be stated. The Public
Service Commission has power, upon proper notice and hearing, "to amend, modify or revoke at any
time any certificate issued under the provisions of this Act, whenever the facts and circumstances on
the strength of which said certificate was issued have been misrepresented or materially changed."
(Section 16, par. [m], Commonwealth Act No. 146.) The petitioner's application here was for an
increase of its equipment to enable it to comply with the conditions of its certificates of public
convenience. On the matter of limitation to twenty five (25) years of the life of its certificates of public
convenience, there had been neither notice nor opportunity given the petitioner to be heard or
present evidence. The Commission appears to have taken advantage of the petitioner to augment
petitioner's equipment in imposing the limitation of twenty-five (25) years which might as well be
twenty or fifteen or any number of years. This is, to say the least, irregular and should not be
sanctioned. There are cardinal primary rights which must be respected even in proceedings of this
character. The first of these rights is the right to a hearing, which includes the right of the party
interested or affected to present his own case and submit evidence in support thereof. In the
language of Chief Justice Hughes, in Morgan v. U.S., (304 U.S. 1, 58 S. Ct. 773, 999, 82 Law. ed.
1129), "the liberty and property of the citizen shall be protected by the rudimentary requirements of
fair play." Not only must the party be given an opportunity to present his case and to adduce
evidence tending to establish the rights which he asserts but the tribunal must consider the evidence
presented. (Chief Justice Hughes in Morgan vs. U.S., 298 U.S. 468, 56 S. Ct. 906, 80 :Law. ed.
1288.) In the language of this Court in Edwards vs. McCoy (22 Phil., 598), "the right to adduce
evidence, without the corresponding duty on the part of the board to consider it, is vain. Such right is
conspicuously futile if the person or persons to whom the evidence is presented can thrust it aside
without or consideration." While the duty to deliberate does not impose the obligation to decide right,
it does imply a necessity which cannot be disregarded, namely, that of having something to support
its decision. A decision with absolutely nothing to support it is a nullity, at least when directly
attacked. (Edwards vs. McCoy, supra.) This principle emanates from the more fundamental principle
that the genius of constitutional government is contrary to the vesting of unlimited power anywhere.
Law is both a grant and a limitation upon power.
The decision appealed from is hereby reversed and the case remanded to the Public Service
Commission for further proceedings in accordance with law and this decision, without any
pronouncement regarding costs. So ordered.

[G.R. No. 47800. December 2, 1940.]

MAXIMO CALALANG, Petitioner, v. A. D. WILLIAMS, ET AL., Respondents.
Maximo Calalang in his own behalf.
Solicitor General Ozaeta and Assistant Solicitor General Amparo for respondents Williams,
Fragante and Bayan
City Fiscal Mabanag for the other respondents.
SYLLABUS
1. CONSTITUTIONAL LAW; CONSTITUTIONALITY OF COMMONWEALTH ACT No. 648; DELEGATION OF
LEGISLATIVE POWER; AUTHORITY OF DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC WORKS AND SECRETARY OF PUBLIC WORKS
AND COMMUNICATIONS TO PROMULGATE RULES AND REGULATIONS. The provisions of section 1 of
Commonwealth Act No. 648 do not confer legislative power upon the Director of Public Works and the
Secretary of Public Works and Communications. The authority therein conferred upon them and under which
they promulgated the rules and regulations now complained of is not to determine what public policy
demands but merely to carry out the legislative policy laid down by the National Assembly in said Act, to wit,
"to promote safe transit upon, and avoid obstructions on, roads and streets designated as national roads by
acts of the National Assembly or by executive orders of the President of the Philippines" and to close them
temporarily to any or all classes of traffic "whenever the condition of the road or the traffic thereon makes
such action necessary or advisable in the public convenience and interest." The delegated power, if at all,
therefore, is not the determination of what the law shall be, but merely the ascertainment of the facts and
circumstances upon which the application of said law is to be predicated. To promulgate rules and
regulations on the use of national roads and to determine when and how long a national road should be
closed to traffic, in view of the condition of the road or the traffic thereon and the requirements of public
convenience and interest, is an administrative function which cannot be directly discharged by the National
Assembly. It must depend on the discretion of some other government official to whom is confided the duty
of determining whether the proper occasion exists for executing the law. But it cannot be said that the
exercise of such discretion is the making of the law.
2. ID.; ID.; POLICE POWER; PERSONAL LIBERTY; GOVERNMENTAL AUTHORITY. Commonwealth Act No.
548 was passed by the National Assembly in the exercise of the paramount police power of the state. Said
Act, by virtue of which the rules and regulations complained of were promulgated, aims to promote safe
transit upon and avoid obstructions on national roads, in the interest and convenience of the public. In
enacting said law, therefore, the National Assembly was prompted by considerations of public convenience
and welfare. It was inspired by a desire to relieve congestion of traffic, which is, to say the least, a menace
to public safety. Public welfare, then, lies at the bottom of the enactment of said law, and the state in order
to promote the general welfare may interfere with personal liberty, with property, and with business and
occupations. Persons 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 (U.S. v. Gomer Jesus, 31 Phil., 218). To this
fundamental aim of our Government the rights of the individual are subordinated. Liberty is a blessing
without which life is a misery, but liberty should not be made to prevail over authority because then society
will fall into anarchy. Neither should authority be made to prevail over liberty because then the individual
will fall into slavery. The citizen should achieve the required balance of liberty and authority in his mind
through education and, personal discipline, so that there may be established the resultant equilibrium, which
means peace and order and happiness for all. The moment greater authority is conferred upon the
government, logically so much is withdrawn from the residuum of liberty which resides in the people. The
paradox lies in the fact that the apparent curtailment of liberty is precisely the very means of insuring its
preservation.
3. ID.; ID.; SOCIAL JUSTICE. Social justice is "neither communism, nor despotism, nor atomism, nor
anarchy," but the humanization of laws and the equalization of social and economic forces by the State so
that justice in its rational and objectively secular conception may at least be approximated. Social justice
means the promotion of the welfare of all the people, the adoption by the Government of measures
calculated to insure economic stability of all the competent elements of society, through the maintenance of
a proper economic and social equilibrium in the interrelations of the members of the community,
constitutionally, through the adoption of measures legally justifiable, or extra-constitutionally, through the
exercise of powers underlying the existence of all governments on the time-honored principle of salus populi
est suprema lex. Social justice, therefore, must be founded on the recognition of the necessity of

interdependence among divers and diverse units of a society and of the protection that should be equally
and evenly extended to all groups as a combined force in our social and economic life, consistent with the
fundamental and paramount objective of the state of promoting the health, comfort, and quiet of all
persons, and of bringing about "the greatest good to the greatest number."

DECISION

LAUREL, J.:

Maximo Calalang, in his capacity as a private citizen and as a taxpayer of Manila, brought before this court
this petition for a writ of prohibition against the respondents, A. D. Williams, as Chairman of the National
Traffic Commission; Vicente Fragante, as Director of Public Works; Sergio Bayan, as Acting Secretary of
Public Works and Communications; Eulogio Rodriguez, as Mayor of the City of Manila; and Juan Dominguez,
as Acting Chief of Police of Manila.
It is alleged in the petition that the National Traffic Commission, in its resolution of July 17, 1940, resolved
to recommend to the Director of Public Works and to the Secretary of Public Works and Communications
that animal-drawn vehicles be prohibited from passing along Rosario Street extending from Plaza Calderon
de la Barca to Dasmarias Street, from 7:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and from 1:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.; and
along Rizal Avenue extending from the railroad crossing at Antipolo Street to Echague Street, from 7 a.m. to
11 p.m., from a period of one year from the date of the opening of the Colgante Bridge to traffic; that the
Chairman of the National Traffic Commission, on July 18, 1940 recommended to the Director of Public Works
the adoption of the measure proposed in the resolution aforementioned, in pursuance of the provisions of
Commonwealth Act No. 548 which authorizes said Director of Public Works, with the approval of the
Secretary of Public Works and Communications, to promulgate rules and regulations to regulate and control
the use of and traffic on national roads; that on August 2, 1940, the Director of Public Works, in his first
indorsement to the Secretary of Public Works and Communications, recommended to the latter the approval
of the recommendation made by the Chairman of the National Traffic Commission as aforesaid, with the
modification that the closing of Rizal Avenue to traffic to animal-drawn vehicles be limited to the portion
thereof extending from the railroad crossing at Antipolo Street to Azcarraga Street; that on August 10,
1940, the Secretary of Public Works and Communications, in his second indorsement addressed to the
Director of Public Works, approved the recommendation of the latter that Rosario Street and Rizal Avenue
be closed to traffic of animal-drawn vehicles, between the points and during the hours as above indicated,
for a period of one year from the date of the opening of the Colgante Bridge to traffic; that the Mayor of
Manila and the Acting Chief of Police of Manila have enforced and caused to be enforced the rules and
regulations thus adopted; that as a consequence of such enforcement, all animal-drawn vehicles are not
allowed to pass and pick up passengers in the places above-mentioned to the detriment not only of their
owners but of the riding public as well.
It is contended by the petitioner that Commonwealth Act No. 548 by which the Director of Public Works,
with the approval of the Secretary of Public Works and Communications, is authorized to promulgate rules
and regulations for the regulation and control of the use of and traffic on national roads and streets is
unconstitutional because it constitutes an undue delegation of legislative power. This contention is
untenable. As was observed by this court in Rubi v. Provincial Board of Mindoro (39 Phil, 660, 700), "The
rule has nowhere been better stated than in the early Ohio case decided by Judge Ranney, and since
followed in a multitude of cases, namely: The true distinction therefore is between the delegation of power
to make the law, which necessarily involves a discretion as to what it shall be, and conferring an authority or
discretion as to its execution, to be exercised under and in pursuance of the law. The first cannot be done;
to the latter no valid objection can be made. (Cincinnati, W. & Z. R. Co. v. Commrs. Clinton County, 1 Ohio
St., 88.) Discretion, as held by Chief Justice Marshall in Wayman v. Southard (10 Wheat., 1) may be
committed by the Legislature to an executive department or official. The Legislature may make decisions of
executive departments or subordinate officials thereof, to whom it has committed the execution of certain
acts, final on questions of fact. (U.S. v. Kinkead, 248 Fed., 141.) The growing tendency in the decisions is to
give prominence to the necessity of the case."
cralaw virtua1aw l ibra ry

Section 1 of Commonwealth Act No. 548 reads as follows:

jgc:chan roble s.com.p h

"SECTION 1. To promote safe transit upon, and avoid obstructions on, roads and streets designated as

national roads by acts of the National Assembly or by executive orders of the President of the Philippines,
the Director of Public Works, with the approval of the Secretary of Public Works and Communications, shall
promulgate the necessary rules and regulations to regulate and control the use of and traffic on such roads
and streets. Such rules and regulations, with the approval of the President, may contain provisions
controlling or regulating the construction of buildings or other structures within a reasonable distance from
along the national roads. Such roads may be temporarily closed to any or all classes of traffic by the Director
of Public Works and his duly authorized representatives whenever the condition of the road or the traffic
thereon makes such action necessary or advisable in the public convenience and interest, or for a specified
period, with the approval of the Secretary of Public Works and Communications."
cralaw virt ua1aw li bra ry

The above provisions of law do not confer legislative power upon the Director of Public Works and the
Secretary of Public Works and Communications. The authority therein conferred upon them and under which
they promulgated the rules and regulations now complained of is not to determine what public policy
demands but merely to carry out the legislative policy laid down by the National Assembly in said Act, to wit,
"to promote safe transit upon and avoid obstructions on, roads and streets designated as national roads by
acts of the National Assembly or by executive orders of the President of the Philippines" and to close them
temporarily to any or all classes of traffic "whenever the condition of the road or the traffic makes such
action necessary or advisable in the public convenience and interest." The delegated power, if at all,
therefore, is not the determination of what the law shall be, but merely the ascertainment of the facts and
circumstances upon which the application of said law is to be predicated. To promulgate rules and
regulations on the use of national roads and to determine when and how long a national road should be
closed to traffic, in view of the condition of the road or the traffic thereon and the requirements of public
convenience and interest, is an administrative function which cannot be directly discharged by the National
Assembly. It must depend on the discretion of some other government official to whom is confided the duty
of determining whether the proper occasion exists for executing the law. But it cannot be said that the
exercise of such discretion is the making of the law. As was said in Lockes Appeal (72 Pa. 491): "To assert
that a law is less than a law, because it is made to depend on a future event or act, is to rob the Legislature
of the power to act wisely for the public welfare whenever a law is passed relating to a state of affairs not
yet developed, or to things future and impossible to fully know." The proper distinction the court said was
this: "The Legislature cannot delegate its power to make the law; but it can make a law to delegate a power
to determine some fact or state of things upon which the law makes, or intends to make, its own action
depend. To deny this would be to stop the wheels of government. There are many things upon which wise
and useful legislation must depend which cannot be known to the law-making power, and, must, therefore,
be a subject of inquiry and determination outside of the halls of legislation." (Field v. Clark, 143 U. S. 649,
694; 36 L. Ed. 294.)
In the case of People v. Rosenthal and Osmea, G.R. Nos. 46076 and 46077, promulgated June 12, 1939,
and in Pangasinan Transportation v. The Public Service Commission, G.R. No. 47065, promulgated June 26,
1940, this Court had occasion to observe that the principle of separation of powers has been made to adapt
itself to the complexities of modern governments, giving rise to the adoption, within certain limits, of the
principle of "subordinate legislation," not only in the United States and England but in practically all modern
governments. Accordingly, with the growing complexity of modern life, the multiplication of the subjects of
governmental regulations, and the increased difficulty of administering the laws, the rigidity of the theory of
separation of governmental powers has, to a large extent, been relaxed by permitting the delegation of
greater powers by the legislative and vesting a larger amount of discretion in administrative and executive
officials, not only in the execution of the laws, but also in the promulgation of certain rules and regulations
calculated to promote public interest.
The petitioner further contends that the rules and regulations promulgated by the respondents pursuant to
the provisions of Commonwealth Act No. 548 constitute an unlawful interference with legitimate business or
trade and abridge the right to personal liberty and freedom of locomotion. Commonwealth Act No. 548 was
passed by the National Assembly in the exercise of the paramount police power of the state.
Said Act, by virtue of which the rules and regulations complained of were promulgated, aims to promote
safe transit upon and avoid obstructions on national roads, in the interest and convenience of the public. In
enacting said law, therefore, the National Assembly was prompted by considerations of public convenience
and welfare. It was inspired by a desire to relieve congestion of traffic. which is, to say the least, a menace
to public safety. Public welfare, then, lies at the bottom of the enactment of said law, and the state in order
to promote the general welfare may interfere with personal liberty, with property, and with business and
occupations. Persons 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 (U.S. v. Gomez Jesus, 31 Phil., 218). To this
fundamental aim of our Government the rights of the individual are subordinated. Liberty is a blessing

without which life is a misery, but liberty should not be made to prevail over authority because then society
will fall into anarchy. Neither should authority be made to prevail over liberty because then the individual
will fall into slavery. The citizen should achieve the required balance of liberty and authority in his mind
through education and personal discipline, so that there may be established the resultant equilibrium, which
means peace and order and happiness for all. The moment greater authority is conferred upon the
government, logically so much is withdrawn from the residuum of liberty which resides in the people. The
paradox lies in the fact that the apparent curtailment of liberty is precisely the very means of insuring its
preservation.
The scope of police power keeps expanding as civilization advances. As was said in the case of Dobbins v.
Los Angeles (195 U.S. 223, 238; 49 L. ed. 169), "the right to exercise the police power is a continuing one,
and a business lawful today may in the future, because of the changed situation, the growth of population or
other causes, become a menace to the public health and welfare, and be required to yield to the public
good." And in People v. Pomar (46 Phil., 440), it was observed that "advancing civilization is bringing within
the police power of the state today things which were not thought of as being within such power yesterday.
The development of civilization, the rapidly increasing population, the growth of public opinion, with an
increasing desire on the part of the masses and of the government to look after and care for the interests of
the individuals of the state, have brought within the police power many questions for regulation which
formerly were not so considered."
cralaw vi rtua 1aw lib rary

The petitioner finally avers that the rules and regulations complained of infringe upon the constitutional
precept regarding the promotion of social justice to insure the well-being and economic security of all the
people. The promotion of social justice, however, is to be achieved not through a mistaken sympathy
towards any given group. Social justice is "neither communism, nor despotism, nor atomism, nor anarchy,"
but the humanization of laws and the equalization of social and economic forces by the State so that justice
in its rational and objectively secular conception may at least be approximated. Social justice means the
promotion of the welfare of all the people, the adoption by the Government of measures calculated to insure
economic stability of all the competent elements of society, through the maintenance of a proper economic
and social equilibrium in the interrelations of the members of the community, constitutionally, through the
adoption of measures legally justifiable, or extra-constitutionally, through the exercise of powers underlying
the existence of all governments on the time-honored principle of salus populi est suprema lex.
Social justice, therefore, must be founded on the recognition of the necessity of interdependence among
divers and diverse units of a society and of the protection that should be equally and evenly extended to all
groups as a combined force in our social and economic life, consistent with the fundamental and paramount
objective of the state of promoting the health, comfort, and quiet of all persons, and of bringing about "the
greatest good to the greatest number."
cralaw virt ua1aw lib rary

In view of the foregoing, the writ of prohibition prayed for is hereby denied, with costs against the
petitioner. So ordered.
Avancea, C.J., Imperial, Diaz. and Horrilleno. JJ. concur.

G.R. No. L-4043

May 26, 1952

CENON S. CERVANTES, petitioner,

vs.
THE AUDITOR GENERAL, respondent.
Cenon Cervantes in his own behalf.
Office of the Solicitor General Pompeyo Diaz and Solicitor Felix V. Makasiar for respondent.
REYES, J.:
This is a petition to review a decision of the Auditor General denying petitioner's claim for quarters
allowance as manager of the National Abaca and Other Fibers Corporation, otherwise known as the
NAFCO.
It appears that petitioner was in 1949 the manager of the NAFCO with a salary of P15,000 a year.
By a resolution of the Board of Directors of this corporation approved on January 19 of that year, he
was granted quarters allowance of not exceeding P400 a month effective the first of that month.
Submitted the Control Committee of the Government Enterprises Council for approval, the said
resolution was on August 3, 1949, disapproved by the said Committee on strenght of the
recommendation of the NAFCO auditor, concurred in by the Auditor General, (1) that quarters
allowance constituted additional compensation prohibited by the charter of the NAFCO, which fixes
the salary of the general manager thereof at the sum not to exceed P15,000 a year, and (2) that the
precarious financial condition of the corporation did not warrant the granting of such allowance.
On March 16, 1949, the petitioner asked the Control Committee to reconsider its action and approve
his claim for allowance for January to June 15, 1949, amounting to P1,650. The claim was again
referred by the Control Committee to the auditor General for comment. The latter, in turn referred it
to the NAFCO auditor, who reaffirmed his previous recommendation and emphasized that the fact
that the corporation's finances had not improved. In view of this, the auditor General also reiterated
his previous opinion against the granting of the petitioner's claim and so informed both the Control
Committee and the petitioner. But as the petitioner insisted on his claim the Auditor General
Informed him on June 19, 1950, of his refusal to modify his decision. Hence this petition for review.
The NAFCO was created by the Commonwealth Act No. 332, approved on June 18, 1939, with a
capital stock of P20,000,000, 51 per cent of which was to be able to be subscribed by the National
Government and the remainder to be offered to provincial, municipal, and the city governments and
to the general public. The management the corporation was vested in a board of directors of not
more than 5 members appointed by the president of the Philippines with the consent of the
Commission on Appointments. But the corporation was made subject to the provisions of the
corporation law in so far as they were compatible with the provisions of its charter and the purposes
of which it was created and was to enjoy the general powers mentioned in the corporation law in
addition to those granted in its charter. The members of the board were to receive each a per
diem of not to exceed P30 for each day of meeting actually attended, except the chairman of the
board, who was to be at the same time the general manager of the corporation and to receive a
salary not to exceed P15,000 per annum.
On October 4, 1946, Republic Act No. 51 was approved authorizing the President of the Philippines,
among other things, to effect such reforms and changes in government owned and controlled
corporations for the purpose of promoting simplicity, economy and efficiency in their operation
Pursuant to this authority, the President on October 4, 1947, promulgated Executive Order No. 93
creating the Government Enterprises Council to be composed of the President of the Philippines as

chairman, the Secretary of Commerce and Industry as vice-chairman, the chairman of the board of
directors and managing heads of all such corporations as ex-officio members, and such additional
members as the President might appoint from time to time with the consent of the Commission on
Appointments. The council was to advise the President in the excercise of his power of supervision
and control over these corporations and to formulate and adopt such policy and measures as might
be necessary to coordinate their functions and activities. The Executive Order also provided that the
council was to have a Control Committee composed of the Secretary of Commerce and Industry as
chairman, a member to be designated by the President from among the members of the council as
vice-chairman and the secretary as ex-officio member, and with the power, among others
(1) To supervise, for and under the direction of the President, all the corporations owned or
controlled by the Government for the purpose of insuring efficiency and economy in their
operations;
(2) To pass upon the program of activities and the yearly budget of expenditures approved
by the respective Boards of Directors of the said corporations; and
(3) To carry out the policies and measures formulated by the Government Enterprises
Council with the approval of the President. (Sec. 3, Executive Order No. 93.)
With its controlling stock owned by the Government and the power of appointing its directors vested
in the President of the Philippines, there can be no question that the NAFCO is Government
controlled corporation subject to the provisions of Republic Act No. 51 and the executive order (No.
93) promulgated in accordance therewith. Consequently, it was also subject to the powers of the
Control Committee created in said executive order, among which is the power of supervision for the
purpose of insuring efficiency and economy in the operations of the corporation and also the power
to pass upon the program of activities and the yearly budget of expenditures approved by the board
of directors. It can hardly be questioned that under these powers the Control Committee had the
right to pass upon, and consequently to approve or disapprove, the resolution of the NAFCO board
of directors granting quarters allowance to the petitioners as such allowance necessarily constitute
an item of expenditure in the corporation's budget. That the Control Committee had good grounds for
disapproving the resolution is also clear, for, as pointed out by the Auditor General and the NAFCO
auditor, the granting of the allowance amounted to an illegal increase of petitioner's salary beyond
the limit fixed in the corporate charter and was furthermore not justified by the precarious financial
condition of the corporation.
It is argued, however, that Executive Order No. 93 is null and void, not only because it is based on a
law that is unconstitutional as an illegal delegation of legislature power to executive, but also
because it was promulgated beyond the period of one year limited in said law.
The second ground ignores the rule that in the computation of the time for doing an act, the first day
is excluded and the last day included (Section 13 Rev. Ad. Code.) As the act was approved on
October 4, 1946, and the President was given a period of one year within which to promulgate his
executive order and that the order was in fact promulgated on October 4, 1947, it is obvious that
under the above rule the said executive order was promulgated within the period given.
As to the first ground, the rule is that so long as the Legislature "lays down a policy and a standard is
established by the statute" there is no undue delegation. (11 Am. Jur. 957). Republic Act No. 51 in
authorizing the President of the Philippines, among others, to make reforms and changes in
government-controlled corporations, lays down a standard and policy that the purpose shall be to
meet the exigencies attendant upon the establishment of the free and independent government of
the Philippines and to promote simplicity, economy and efficiency in their operations. The standard

was set and the policy fixed. The President had to carry the mandate. This he did by promulgating
the executive order in question which, tested by the rule above cited, does not constitute an undue
delegation of legislative power.
It is also contended that the quarters allowance is not compensation and so the granting of it to the
petitioner by the NAFCO board of directors does not contravene the provisions of the NAFCO
charter that the salary of the chairman of said board who is also to be general manager shall not
exceed P15,000 per anum. But regardless of whether quarters allowance should be considered as
compensation or not, the resolution of the board of the directors authorizing payment thereof to the
petitioner cannot be given effect since it was disapproved by the Control Committee in the exercise
of powers granted to it by Executive Order No. 93. And in any event, petitioner's contention that
quarters allowance is not compensation, a proposition on which American authorities appear
divided, cannot be insisted on behalf of officers and employees working for the Government of the
Philippines and its Instrumentalities, including, naturally, government-controlled corporations. This is
so because Executive Order No. 332 of 1941, which prohibits the payment of additional
compensation to those working for the Government and its Instrumentalities, including governmentcontrolled corporations, was in 1945 amended by Executive Order No. 77 by expressly exempting
from the prohibition the payment of quarters allowance "in favor of local government officials and
employees entitled to this under existing law." The amendment is a clear indication that quarters
allowance was meant to be included in the term "additional compensation", for otherwise the
amendment would not have expressly excepted it from the prohibition. This being so, we hold that,
for the purpose of the executive order just mentioned, quarters allowance is considered additional
compensation and, therefore, prohibited.
In view of the foregoing, the petition for review is dismissed, with costs.

G.R. No. L-23825

December 24, 1965

EMMANUEL PELAEZ, petitioner,

vs.
THE AUDITOR GENERAL, respondent.
Zulueta, Gonzales, Paculdo and Associates for petitioner.
Office of the Solicitor General for respondent.
CONCEPCION, J.:
During the period from September 4 to October 29, 1964 the President of the Philippines, purporting
to act pursuant to Section 68 of the Revised Administrative Code, issued Executive Orders Nos. 93
to 121, 124 and 126 to 129; creating thirty-three (33) municipalities enumerated in the margin.1 Soon
after the date last mentioned, or on November 10, 1964 petitioner Emmanuel Pelaez, as Vice
President of the Philippines and as taxpayer, instituted the present special civil action, for a writ of
prohibition with preliminary injunction, against the Auditor General, to restrain him, as well as his
representatives and agents, from passing in audit any expenditure of public funds in implementation
of said executive orders and/or any disbursement by said municipalities.
Petitioner alleges that said executive orders are null and void, upon the ground that said Section 68
has been impliedly repealed by Republic Act No. 2370 and constitutes an undue delegation of
legislative power. Respondent maintains the contrary view and avers that the present action is
premature and that not all proper parties referring to the officials of the new political subdivisions
in question have been impleaded. Subsequently, the mayors of several municipalities adversely
affected by the aforementioned executive orders because the latter have taken away from the
former the barrios composing the new political subdivisions intervened in the case. Moreover,
Attorneys Enrique M. Fernando and Emma Quisumbing-Fernando were allowed to and did appear
as amici curiae.
The third paragraph of Section 3 of Republic Act No. 2370, reads:
Barrios shall not be created or their boundaries altered nor their names changed except
under the provisions of this Act or by Act of Congress.
Pursuant to the first two (2) paragraphs of the same Section 3:
All barrios existing at the time of the passage of this Act shall come under the provisions
hereof.
Upon petition of a majority of the voters in the areas affected, a new barrio may be created or
the name of an existing one may be changed by the provincial board of the province, upon
recommendation of the council of the municipality or municipalities in which the proposed
barrio is stipulated. The recommendation of the municipal council shall be embodied in a
resolution approved by at least two-thirds of the entire membership of the said council:
Provided, however, That no new barrio may be created if its population is less than five
hundred persons.
Hence, since January 1, 1960, when Republic Act No. 2370 became effective, barrios may "not be
created or their boundaries altered nor their names changed" except by Act of Congress or of the
corresponding provincial board "upon petition of a majority of the voters in the areas affected" and

the "recommendation of the council of the municipality or municipalities in which the proposed barrio
is situated." Petitioner argues, accordingly: "If the President, under this new law, cannot even create
a barrio, can he create a municipality which is composed of several barrios, since barrios are units of
municipalities?"
Respondent answers in the affirmative, upon the theory that a new municipality can be created
without creating new barrios, such as, by placing old barrios under the jurisdiction of the new
municipality. This theory overlooks, however, the main import of the petitioner's argument, which is
that the statutory denial of the presidential authority to create a new barrio implies a negation of the
bigger power to create municipalities, each of which consists of several barrios. The cogency and
force of this argument is too obvious to be denied or even questioned. Founded upon logic and
experience, it cannot be offset except by a clear manifestation of the intent of Congress to the
contrary, and no such manifestation, subsequent to the passage of Republic Act No. 2379, has been
brought to our attention.
Moreover, section 68 of the Revised Administrative Code, upon which the disputed executive orders
are based, provides:
The (Governor-General) President of the Philippines may by executive order define the
boundary, or boundaries, of any province, subprovince, municipality, [township] municipal
district, or other political subdivision, and increase or diminish the territory comprised therein,
may divide any province into one or more subprovinces, separate any political division other
than a province, into such portions as may be required, merge any of such subdivisions or
portions with another, name any new subdivision so created, and may change the seat of
government within any subdivision to such place therein as the public welfare may require:
Provided, That the authorization of the (Philippine Legislature) Congress of the Philippines
shall first be obtained whenever the boundary of any province or subprovince is to be defined
or any province is to be divided into one or more subprovinces. When action by the
(Governor-General) President of the Philippines in accordance herewith makes necessary a
change of the territory under the jurisdiction of any administrative officer or any judicial
officer, the (Governor-General) President of the Philippines, with the recommendation and
advice of the head of the Department having executive control of such officer, shall redistrict
the territory of the several officers affected and assign such officers to the new districts so
formed.
Upon the changing of the limits of political divisions in pursuance of the foregoing authority,
an equitable distribution of the funds and obligations of the divisions thereby affected shall be
made in such manner as may be recommended by the (Insular Auditor) Auditor General and
approved by the (Governor-General) President of the Philippines.
Respondent alleges that the power of the President to create municipalities under this section does
not amount to an undue delegation of legislative power, relying upon Municipality of Cardona vs.
Municipality of Binagonan (36 Phil. 547), which, he claims, has settled it. Such claim is untenable,
for said case involved, not the creation of a new municipality, but a mere transfer of territory from
an already existing municipality (Cardona) to another municipality (Binagonan), likewise, existing at
the time of and prior to said transfer (See Gov't of the P.I. ex rel. Municipality of Cardona vs.
Municipality, of Binagonan [34 Phil. 518, 519-5201) in consequence of the fixing and definition,
pursuant to Act No. 1748, of the common boundaries of two municipalities.
It is obvious, however, that, whereas the power to fix such common boundary, in order to avoid or
settle conflicts of jurisdiction between adjoining municipalities, may partake of
an administrative nature involving, as it does, the adoption of means and ways to carry into

effect the law creating said municipalities the authority to create municipal corporations is
essentially legislative in nature. In the language of other courts, it is "strictly a legislative function"
(State ex rel. Higgins vs. Aicklen, 119 S. 425, January 2, 1959) or "solely and exclusively the
exercise oflegislative power" (Udall vs. Severn, May 29, 1938, 79 P. 2d 347-349). As the Supreme
Court of Washington has put it (Territory ex rel. Kelly vs. Stewart, February 13, 1890, 23 Pac. 405,
409), "municipal corporations are purely the creatures of statutes."
Although1a Congress may delegate to another branch of the Government the power to fill in the
details in the execution, enforcement or administration of a law, it is essential, to forestall a violation
of the principle of separation of powers, that said law: (a) be complete in itself it must set forth
therein the policy to be executed, carried out or implemented by the delegate2 and (b) fix a
standard the limits of which are sufficiently determinate or determinable to which the delegate
must conform in the performance of his functions.2a Indeed, without a statutory declaration of policy,
the delegate would in effect, make or formulate such policy, which is the essence of every law; and,
without the aforementioned standard, there would be no means to determine, with reasonable
certainty, whether the delegate has acted within or beyond the scope of his authority.2b Hence, he
could thereby arrogate upon himself the power, not only to make the law, but, also and this is
worse to unmake it, by adopting measures inconsistent with the end sought to be attained by the
Act of Congress, thus nullifying the principle of separation of powers and the system of checks and
balances, and, consequently, undermining the very foundation of our Republican system.
Section 68 of the Revised Administrative Code does not meet these well settled requirements for a
valid delegation of the power to fix the details in the enforcement of a law. It does not enunciate any
policy to be carried out or implemented by the President. Neither does it give a standard sufficiently
precise to avoid the evil effects above referred to. In this connection, we do not overlook the fact
that, under the last clause of the first sentence of Section 68, the President:
... may change the seat of the government within any subdivision to such place therein as
the public welfare may require.
It is apparent, however, from the language of this clause, that the phrase "as the public welfare may
require" qualified, not the clauses preceding the one just quoted, but only the place to which the seat
of the government may be transferred. This fact becomes more apparent when we consider that said
Section 68 was originally Section 1 of Act No. 1748,3 which provided that, "whenever in the judgment
of the Governor-General the public welfare requires, he may, by executive order," effect the changes
enumerated therein (as in said section 68), including the change of the seat of the government "to
such place ... as the public interest requires." The opening statement of said Section 1 of Act No.
1748 which was not included in Section 68 of the Revised Administrative Code governed the
time at which, or the conditions under which, the powers therein conferred could be exercised;
whereas the last part of the first sentence of said section referred exclusively to the place to which
the seat of the government was to be transferred.
At any rate, the conclusion would be the same, insofar as the case at bar is concerned, even if we
assumed that the phrase "as the public welfare may require," in said Section 68, qualifies all other
clauses thereof. It is true that inCalalang vs. Williams (70 Phil. 726) and People vs. Rosenthal (68
Phil. 328), this Court had upheld "public welfare" and "public interest," respectively, as sufficient
standards for a valid delegation of the authority to execute the law. But, the doctrine laid down in
these cases as all judicial pronouncements must be construed in relation to the specific facts
and issues involved therein, outside of which they do not constitute precedents and have no binding
effect.4 The law construed in the Calalang case conferred upon the Director of Public Works, with the
approval of the Secretary of Public Works and Communications, the power to issue rules and
regulations to promote safe transitupon national roads and streets. Upon the other hand, the

Rosenthal case referred to the authority of the Insular Treasurer, under Act No. 2581, to issue and
cancel certificates or permits for the sale of speculative securities. Both cases involved grants
to administrative officers of powers related to the exercise of their administrative functions, calling for
the determination of questions of fact.
Such is not the nature of the powers dealt with in section 68. As above indicated, the creation of
municipalities, is not an administrative function, but one which is essentially and eminently
legislative in character. The question of whether or not "public interest" demands the exercise of
such power is not one of fact. it is "purely a legislativequestion "(Carolina-Virginia Coastal Highway
vs. Coastal Turnpike Authority, 74 S.E. 2d. 310-313, 315-318), or apolitical question (Udall vs.
Severn, 79 P. 2d. 347-349). As the Supreme Court of Wisconsin has aptly characterized it, "the
question as to whether incorporation is for the best interest of the community in any case is
emphatically aquestion of public policy and statecraft" (In re Village of North Milwaukee, 67 N.W.
1033, 1035-1037).
For this reason, courts of justice have annulled, as constituting undue delegation of legislative
powers, state laws granting the judicial department, the power to determine whether certain
territories should be annexed to a particular municipality (Udall vs. Severn, supra, 258-359); or
vesting in a Commission the right to determine the plan and frame of government of proposed
villages and what functions shall be exercised by the same, although the powers and functions of the
village are specifically limited by statute (In re Municipal Charters, 86 Atl. 307-308); or conferring
upon courts the authority to declare a given town or village incorporated, and designate its metes
and bounds, upon petition of a majority of the taxable inhabitants thereof, setting forth the area
desired to be included in such village (Territory ex rel Kelly vs. Stewart, 23 Pac. 405-409); or
authorizing the territory of a town, containing a given area and population, to be incorporated as a
town, on certain steps being taken by the inhabitants thereof and on certain determination by a court
and subsequent vote of the inhabitants in favor thereof, insofar as the court is allowed to determine
whether the lands embraced in the petition "ought justly" to be included in the village, and whether
the interest of the inhabitants will be promoted by such incorporation, and to enlarge and diminish
the boundaries of the proposed village "as justice may require" (In re Villages of North Milwaukee, 67
N.W. 1035-1037); or creating a Municipal Board of Control which shall determine whether or not the
laying out, construction or operation of a toll road is in the "public interest" and whether the
requirements of the law had been complied with, in which case the board shall enter an order
creating a municipal corporation and fixing the name of the same (Carolina-Virginia Coastal Highway
vs. Coastal Turnpike Authority, 74 S.E. 2d. 310).
Insofar as the validity of a delegation of power by Congress to the President is concerned, the case
of Schechter Poultry Corporation vs. U.S. (79 L. Ed. 1570) is quite relevant to the one at bar. The
Schechter case involved the constitutionality of Section 3 of the National Industrial Recovery Act
authorizing the President of the United States to approve "codes of fair competition" submitted to him
by one or more trade or industrial associations or corporations which "impose no inequitable
restrictions on admission to membership therein and are truly representative," provided that such
codes are not designed "to promote monopolies or to eliminate or oppress small enterprises and will
not operate to discriminate against them, and will tend to effectuate the policy" of said Act. The
Federal Supreme Court held:
To summarize and conclude upon this point: Sec. 3 of the Recovery Act is without
precedent. It supplies no standards for any trade, industry or activity. It does not undertake to
prescribe rules of conduct to be applied to particular states of fact determined by appropriate
administrative procedure. Instead of prescribing rules of conduct, it authorizes the making of
codes to prescribe them. For that legislative undertaking, Sec. 3 sets up no standards, aside
from the statement of the general aims of rehabilitation, correction and expansion described
in Sec. 1. In view of the scope of that broad declaration, and of the nature of the few

restrictions that are imposed, the discretion of the President in approving or prescribing
codes, and thus enacting laws for the government of trade and industry throughout the
country, is virtually unfettered. We think that the code making authority thus conferred is an
unconstitutional delegation of legislative power.
If the term "unfair competition" is so broad as to vest in the President a discretion that is "virtually
unfettered." and, consequently, tantamount to a delegation of legislative power, it is obvious that
"public welfare," which has even a broader connotation, leads to the same result. In fact, if the
validity of the delegation of powers made in Section 68 were upheld, there would no longer be any
legal impediment to a statutory grant of authority to the President to do anything which, in his
opinion, may be required by public welfare or public interest. Such grant of authority would be a
virtual abdication of the powers of Congress in favor of the Executive, and would bring about a total
collapse of the democratic system established by our Constitution, which it is the special duty and
privilege of this Court to uphold.
It may not be amiss to note that the executive orders in question were issued after the legislative
bills for the creation of the municipalities involved in this case had failed to pass Congress. A better
proof of the fact that the issuance of said executive orders entails the exercise of purely legislative
functions can hardly be given.
Again, Section 10 (1) of Article VII of our fundamental law ordains:
The President shall have control of all the executive departments, bureaus, or offices,
exercise general supervision over all local governments as may be provided by law, and take
care that the laws be faithfully executed.
The power of control under this provision implies the right of the President to interfere in the exercise
of such discretion as may be vested by law in the officers of the executive departments, bureaus, or
offices of the national government, as well as to act in lieu of such officers. This power is denied by
the Constitution to the Executive, insofar as local governments are concerned. With respect to the
latter, the fundamental law permits him to wield no more authority than that of checking whether said
local governments or the officers thereof perform their duties as provided by statutory enactments.
Hence, the President cannot interfere with local governments, so long as the same or its officers act
Within the scope of their authority. He may not enact an ordinance which the municipal council has
failed or refused to pass, even if it had thereby violated a duty imposed thereto by law, although he
may see to it that the corresponding provincial officials take appropriate disciplinary action therefor.
Neither may he vote, set aside or annul an ordinance passed by said council within the scope of its
jurisdiction, no matter how patently unwise it may be. He may not even suspend an elective official
of a regular municipality or take any disciplinary action against him, except on appeal from a
decision of the corresponding provincial board.5
Upon the other hand if the President could create a municipality, he could, in effect, remove any of
its officials, by creating a new municipality and including therein the barrio in which the official
concerned resides, for his office would thereby become vacant.6 Thus, by merely brandishing the
power to create a new municipality (if he had it), without actually creating it, he could compel local
officials to submit to his dictation, thereby, in effect, exercising over them the power of control denied
to him by the Constitution.
Then, also, the power of control of the President over executive departments, bureaus or offices
implies no morethan the authority to assume directly the functions thereof or to interfere in the
exercise of discretion by its officials. Manifestly, such control does not include the authority either to
abolish an executive department or bureau, or to create a new one. As a consequence, the alleged

power of the President to create municipal corporations would necessarily connote the exercise by
him of an authority even greater than that of control which he has over the executive departments,
bureaus or offices. In other words, Section 68 of the Revised Administrative Code does not merely
fail to comply with the constitutional mandate above quoted. Instead of giving the President less
power over local governments than that vested in him over the executive departments, bureaus or
offices, it reverses the process and does the exact opposite, by conferring upon him more power
over municipal corporations than that which he has over said executive departments, bureaus or
offices.
In short, even if it did entail an undue delegation of legislative powers, as it certainly does, said
Section 68, as part of the Revised Administrative Code, approved on March 10, 1917, must be
deemed repealed by the subsequent adoption of the Constitution, in 1935, which is utterly
incompatible and inconsistent with said statutory enactment.7
There are only two (2) other points left for consideration, namely, respondent's claim (a) that "not all
the proper parties" referring to the officers of the newly created municipalities "have been
impleaded in this case," and (b) that "the present petition is premature."
As regards the first point, suffice it to say that the records do not show, and the parties do not claim,
that the officers of any of said municipalities have been appointed or elected and assumed office. At
any rate, the Solicitor General, who has appeared on behalf of respondent Auditor General, is the
officer authorized by law "to act and represent the Government of the Philippines, its offices and
agents, in any official investigation, proceeding or matter requiring the services of a lawyer" (Section
1661, Revised Administrative Code), and, in connection with the creation of the aforementioned
municipalities, which involves a political, not proprietary, function, said local officials, if any, are mere
agents or representatives of the national government. Their interest in the case at bar has,
accordingly, been, in effect, duly represented.8
With respect to the second point, respondent alleges that he has not as yet acted on any of the
executive order & in question and has not intimated how he would act in connection therewith. It is,
however, a matter of common, public knowledge, subject to judicial cognizance, that the President
has, for many years, issued executive orders creating municipal corporations and that the same
have been organized and in actual operation, thus indicating, without peradventure of doubt, that the
expenditures incidental thereto have been sanctioned, approved or passed in audit by the General
Auditing Office and its officials. There is no reason to believe, therefore, that respondent would adopt
a different policy as regards the new municipalities involved in this case, in the absence of an
allegation to such effect, and none has been made by him.
WHEREFORE, the Executive Orders in question are hereby declared null and void ab initio and the
respondent permanently restrained from passing in audit any expenditure of public funds in
implementation of said Executive Orders or any disbursement by the municipalities above referred
to. It is so ordered.

G.R. No. L-19850

January 30, 1964

VIGAN ELECTRIC LIGHT COMPANY, INC., petitioner,

vs.
THE PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION, respondent.
Raymundo A. Armovit for petitioner.
Federico S. Arlos and P. H. del Pilar for respondent.
CONCEPCION, J.:
This is an original action for certiorari to annul an order of respondent Public Service Commission.
Upon the filing of the petition and the submission and approval of the corresponding bond, we issued
a writ of injunction restraining said respondent from enforcing the order complained of Republic Act
No. 316, approved on June 19, 1948, granted petitioner Vigan Electric Light Company, Inc., a
franchise to construct, maintain and operate an electric light, heat and/or power plant for the purpose
of generating and distributing light, heat and/or power, for sale within the limits of several
municipalities of the province of Ilocos Sur. Accordingly, petitioner secured from respondent on May
31, 1950, a certificate of public convenience to render electric light, heat and/or power services in
said municipalities and to charge its customers and/or consumers the following rates:
FLAT RATE
1 20 watt bulb per month ............................................................

P2.30

1 25 watt bulb per month ............................................................

3.00

1 40 watt bulb per month ............................................................

4.50

1 50 watt bulb per month ............................................................

5.50

1 60 watt bulb per month ............................................................

6.50

1 75 watt bulb per month ............................................................

7.50

1 80 watt bulb per month ............................................................

8.00

1 100 watt bulb per month ............................................................

9.00

1 150 watt bulb per month ............................................................ 13.00

1 200 watt bulb per month ............................................................ 17.00
METER RATE
For the first 15
For the first 15 Kw. hrs. ............................................................

P0.40

For the next 35 Kw. hrs. ............................................................

.30

For the next 50 Kw. hrs. ............................................................

.25

For all over 100 Kw. hrs. ............................................................

.20

Minimum Charge: P6.00 per month for connection of 200 watts

or less; plus P0.01 per watt per month for connection in excess
of 200 watts.
TEMPORARY RATE
P0.01 per watt per night.
On May 22, 1957, petitioner, acting with respondent's approval, entered into a contract for the
purchase of electric power and energy from the National Power Corporation, for resale, in the course
of the business of said petitioner, to its customers, to whom, in fact, petitioner resold said electric
power and energy, in accordance with the above schedule of rates. About five (5) years later, or on
January 16, 1962, respondent advised petitioner of a conference to be held on February 12, 1962 for
the purpose of revising its authorized rates. Soon thereafter, petitioner received a letter of
respondent informing the former of an alleged letter-petition of "Congressman Floro Crisologo and
107 alleged residents of Vigan Ilocos Sur", charging the following:
We also denounce the sale of TWO THOUSAND (2,000) ELECTRIC METERS in
blackmarket by the Vigan Electric Light Company to Avegon Co., as anomalous and illegal.
Said electric meters were imported from Japan by the Vigan Electric Light Company in behalf
of the consumers of electric current from said electric company. The Vigan Electric Light
Company has commercialized these privilege which property belong to the people.
We also report that the electric meters in Vigan used by the consumers had been installed in
bad faith and they register excessive rates much more than the actual consumption.
1wph1.t

and directing the petitioner to comment on these charges. In reply to said communications,
petitioner's counsel wrote to respondent, on February 1, 1962, a letter asking that the conference
scheduled for February 12 be postponed to March 12, and another letter stating inter alia:
In connection therewith, please be informed that my client, the Vigan Electric Light Co., Inc.,
has not had any dealing with the Avegon Co., Inc., relative to the 2,000 electric meter
mentioned in the petition. Attached hereto as Annex "1" and made an integral part thereof is
a certification to that effect by Avegon Co., Inc.
Furthermore, as counsel for Vigan Electric Light Co., Inc., I wish to inform this Honorable
Commission that the charge that said company installed the electric meters in bad faith and
that said meters registered excessive rates could have no valid basis because all of these
meters have been inspected checked, tested and sealed by your office.
On March 15, 1962, petitioner received a communication form the General Auditing Office notifying
him that one Mr. Cesar A. Damole had "been instructed to make an audit and examination of the
books and other records of account" of said petitioner, "under the provisions of Commonwealth Act
No. 325 and in accordance with the request of the Public Service Commission contained in its letter
dated March 12, 1962", and directing petitioner to cooperate with said Mr. Damole "for the
successful accomplishment of his work". Subsequently, respondent issued a subpoena duces
tecum requiring petitioner to produce before the former, during a conference scheduled for April 10,
1962, certain books of account and financial statements specified in said process. On the date last
mentioned petitioner moved to quash the subpoena duces tecum. The motion was not acted upon in
said conference of April 10, 1962. However, it was then decided that the next conference be held on
April 30, 1962, which was later postponed to May 21, 1962. When petitioner's representatives

appeared before respondent, on the date last mentioned, they were advised by the latter that the
scheduled conference had been cancelled, that the petition to quash the subpoena duces tecum had
been granted, and that, on May 17, 1962, respondent had issued an order, from which we quote:
We now have the audit report of the General Auditing Office dated May 4, 1962, covering the
operation of the Vigan Electric Light Co., Inc. in Vigan, Bantay and Cagayan, Ilocos Sur, for
the period from January 1 to December 31, 1961. We find from the report that the total
invested capital of the utility as of December 31, 1961, entitled to return amounted to
P118,132.55, and its net operating income for rate purposes of P53,692.34 represents
45.45% of its invested capital; that in order to earn 12% per annum, the utility should have a
computed revenue by rates of P182,012.78; and that since it realized an actual revenue by
rates of P221,529.17, it had an excess revenue by rates of P39,516.39, which is 17.84% of
the actual revenue by rates and 33.45% of the invested capital. In other words, the present
rates of the Vigan Electric Light Co., Inc. may be reduced by 17.84%, or in round figure, by
18%.
Upon consideration of the foregoing, and finding that the Vigan Electric Light Co., Inc. is
making a net operating profit in excess of the allowable return of 12% on its invested capital,
we believe that it is in the public interest and in consonance with Section 3 of Republic Act
No. 3043 that reduction of its rates to the extent of its excess revenue be put into effect
immediately.
WHEREFORE, Vigan Electric Light Co., Inc. is hereby ordered to reduce the present meter
rates for its electric service effective upon the billing for the month of June, 1962, to wit:
METER RATE 24-HOUR SERVICE
For the first 15 kwh per month at P0.328 per kwh
For the next 35 kwh per month at P0.246 per kwh
For the next 50 kwh per month at P0.205 per kwh
For all over 100 kwh per month at P0.164 per kwh
Minimum Charge: P4.90 per month for connection of 200 was or less plus P0.01 per
watt per month for connection in excess of 200 watts.
TEMPORARY LIGHTING
P0.01 per watt per night.
Minimum Charge: P1.00
Billings to customers shall be made to the nearest multiple of five centavos. The above rates may be
revised, modified or altered at anytime for any just cause and/or in the public service.
Soon later, or on June 25, 1962, petitioner herein instituted the present action for certiorari to annul
said order of May 17, 1962, upon the ground that, since its Corporate inception in 1948, petitioner it
"never was able to give and never made a single dividend declaration in favor of its stockholders"
because its operation from 1949 to 1961 had resulted in an aggregate loss of P113,351.523; that in
the conference above mentioned petitioner had called the attention of respondent to the fact that the

latter had not furnished the former a "copy of the alleged letter-petition of Congressman Crisologo
and others"; that respondent then expressed the view that there was no necessity of serving copy of
said letter to petitioner, because respondent was merely holding informal conferences to ascertain
whether petitioner would consent to the reduction of its rates; that petitioner objected to said
reduction without a hearing, alleging that its rates could be reduced only if proven by evidence
validly adduced to be excessive; that petitioner offered to introduce evidence to show the
reasonableness of its aforementioned rates, and even the fairness of its increase; that petitioner was
then assured that it would be furnished a copy of the aforementioned letter-petition and that a
hearing would be held, if a reduction of its rates could not be agreed upon; that petitioner had not
even been served a copy of the auditor's report upon which the order complained of is based; that
such order had been issued without notice and hearing; and that, accordingly, petitioner had been
denied due process.
In its answer respondent admitted some allegations of the complaint and denied other allegations
thereof, particularly the conclusions drawn by petitioner. Likewise, respondent alleged that it granted
petitioner's motion to quash the aforementioned subpoena duces tecum because the documents
therein referred to had already been audited and examined by the General Auditing Office, the report
on which was on file with said respondent; that the latter had directed that petitioner be served a
copy of said report; and that, although this has not, as yet, been actually done, petitioner could have
seen and examined said report had it really wanted to do so. By way of special defenses,
respondent, moreover, alleged that the disputed order had been issued under its delegated
legislative authority, the exercise of which does not require previous notice and hearing; and that
petitioner had not sought a reconsideration of said order, and had, accordingly, failed to exhaust all
administrative remedies.
In support of its first special defense respondent maintains that rate-fixing is a legislative function;
that legislative or rule-making powers may constitutionally be exercised without previous notice of
hearing; and that the decision inAng Tibay vs. Court of Industrial Relations (69 Phil., 635) in which
we held that such notice and hearing are essential to the validity of a decision of the Public Service
Commission is not in point because, unlike the order complained of which respondent claims
to be legislative in nature the Ang Tibay case referred to a proceeding involving the exercise of
judicial functions.
At the outset, it should be noted, however, that, consistently with the principle of separation of
powers, which underlies our constitutional system, legislative powers may not be delegated except
to local governments, and only to matters purely of local concern (Rubi vs. Provincia Board, 39 Phil.,
660; U.S. vs. Heinszen, 206 U.S. 370). However, Congress may delegate to administrative agencies
of the government the power to supply the details in the execution or enforcement of a policy laid
down by a which is complete in itself (Calalang vs. Williams, 70 Phil. 726; Pangasinan Trans. Co. vs.
Public Service Commission, 70 Phil., 221; People vs. Rosenthal, 68 Phil., 328; People vs. Vera, 65
Phil., 56; Cruz vs. Youngberg, 56 Phil. 234; Alegre vs. Collector of Customs, 53 Phil., 394; U.S. vs.
Ang Tang Ho 43 Phil., 1; Schechter vs. U.S., 295 U.S., 495 Mulford vs. Smith, 307 U.S., 38; Bowles
vs. Willingham, 321 U.S., 503). Such law is not deemed complete unless it lays down a standard or
pattern sufficiently fixed or determinate, or, at least, determinable without requiring another
legislation, to guide the administrative body concerned in the performance of its duty to implement or
enforce said Policy (People vs. Lim Ho, L-12091, January 28, 1960; Araneta vs. Gatmaitan, L-8895,
April 30, 1957; Cervantes vs. Auditor General, L-4043, May 26, 1952; Philippine Association of
Colleges vs. Secretary of Education, 51 Off. Gaz., 6230; People vs. Arnault, 48 Off. Gaz., 4805;
Antamok Gold Fields vs. Court of Industrial Relations, 68 Phil., 340; U.S. vs. Barrias, 11 Phil., 327;
Yakus vs. White, 321 U.S., 414; Ammann vs. Mallonce, 332 U.S., 245; U.S. vs. Rock Royal Corp.
307 U.S., 533; Mutual Film Corp. vs. Industrial Commission, 276 U.S., 230). Otherwise, there would
be no reasonable means to ascertain whether or not said body has acted within the scope of its
authority, and, as a consequence, the power of legislation would eventually be exercised by a

branch of the Government other than that in which it is lodged by the Constitution, in violation, not
only of the allocation of powers therein made, but, also, of the principle of separation of powers.
Hence, Congress his not delegated, and cannot delegate legislative powers to the Public Service
Commission.
Moreover, although the rule-making power and even the power to fix rates when such rules
and/or rates are meant to apply to all enterprises of a given kind throughout the Philippines
may partake of a legislative character, such is not the nature of the order complained of. Indeed, the
same applies exclusively to petitioner herein. What is more, it is predicated upon the finding of fact
based upon a report submitted by the General Auditing Office that petitioner is making a profit
of more than 12% of its invested capital, which is denied by petitioner. Obviously, the latter is entitled
to cross-examine the maker of said report, and to introduce evidence to disprove the contents
thereof and/or explain or complement the same, as well as to refute the conclusion drawn therefrom
by the respondent. In other words, in making said finding of fact, respondent performed a
function partaking of a quasi-judicial character the valid exercise of which demands previous notice
and hearing.
Indeed, sections 16(c) and 20 (a) of Commonwealth Act No. 146, explicitly require notice Indeed
hearing. The pertinent parts thereof provide:
SEC. 16. The Commission shall have the power, upon proper notice and hearing in
accordance with the rules and provision of this Act, subject to the limitations and exception
mentioned and saving provisions to the contrary:
xxx

xxx

xxx

(c) To fix and determine individual or joint rates, tolls charges, classifications, or schedules
thereof, as well as commutation, mileage kilometrage, and other special rates which shall be
imposed, observed, and followed thereafter by any public service: Provided, That the
Commission may in its discretion approve rates proposed by public services provisionally
and without necessity of any hearing; but it shall call a hearing thereof within thirty days
thereafter, upon publication and notice to the concerns operating in the territory
affected: Provided, further, That in case the public service equipment of an operator is use
principally or secondarily for the promotion of a private business the net profits of said private
business shall be considered in relation with the public service of such operator for the
purpose of fixing the rates.
SEC. 20. Acts requiring the approval of the Commission. Subject to established limitations
and exception and saving provisions to the contrary, it shall be unlawful for any public
service or for the owner, lessee or operator thereof, without the approval and authorization of
the Commission previously had
(a) To adopt, establish, fix, impose, maintain, collect or carry into effect any individual or joint
rates, commutation mileage or other special rate, toll, fare, charge, classification or itinerary.
The Commission shall approve only those that are just and reasonable and not any that are
unjustly discriminatory or unduly preferential, only upon reasonable notice to the public
services and other parties concerned, giving them reasonable opportunity to be heard, ... .
(Emphasis supplied.)
Since compliance with law must be presumed, it should be assumed that petitioner's current rates
were fixed by respondent after proper notice and hearing. Hence, modification of such rates cannot
be made, over petitioner's objection, without such notice and hearing, particularly considering that

the factual basis of the action taken by respondent is assailed by petitioner. The rule applicable is
set forth in the American Jurisprudence the following language:
Whether notice and a hearing in proceedings before a public service commission are
necessary depends chiefly upon statutory or constitutional provisions applicable to such
proceedings, which make notice and hearing, prerequisite to action by the commission,
and upon the nature and object of such proceedings, that is, whether the proceedings, are,
on the one hand, legislative and rule-making in character, or are, on the other hand,
determinative and judicial or quasi-judicial, affecting the rights an property of private or
specific persons. As a general rule, a public utility must be afforded some opportunity to be
heard as to the propriety and reasonableness of rates fixed for its services by a public
service commission.(43 Am. Jur. 716; Emphasis supplied.)
Wherefore, we hold that the determination of the issue involved in the order complained of partakes
of the nature of a quasi-judicial function and that having been issued without previous notice and
hearing said order is clearly violative of the due process clause, and, hence, null and void, so that a
motion for reconsideration thereof is not an absolute prerequisite to the institution of the present
action for certiorari (Ayson vs. Republic. 50 Off. Gaz., 5810). For this reason considering that said
order was being made effective on June 1, 1962, or almost immediately after its issuance (on May
17, 1962), we find that petitioner was justified in commencing this proceedings without first filing said
motion (Guerrero vs. Carbonell, L-7180, March 15, 1955).
WHEREFORE, the writ prayed for is granted and the preliminary injunction issued by this Court
hereby made permanent. It is so ordered.