CAYETANO V MONSOD

Facts:
Pres. Aquino nominated Christian Monsod to the position of COMELEC
chairman.
The Commission on Appointments affirmed the nomination and appointed
Monsod to the position.
Renato Cayetano now assails the appointment. He says that Monsod is not
qualified to the position because he has not been engaged in the practice of
law for ten years (requirement is provided by Consti Art. 9-C Sec. 1(1)).
Issue:
W/n Monsod is qualified for the position of COMELEC chairman.
Held:
SC says yes. Monsod passed the bar in 1960 and had been consistently
paying his professional fees. He worked in a law firm for several years after
graduating but after that, had been more engaged in business and politics
(for a list of his jobs, see p.238). Still, the SC said that he can still be
considered as practicing law, if we consider the modern concept of the
practice of law. This modern concept pertains to any act, whether in or out of
court, which requires the application of law, legal procedure, knowledge,
training and experience.
SC now says that since most of Monsods jobs involved the law, even if he
has not been engaged in traditional lawyering (i.e. making pleadings or
appearing in court), he can still be considered as to have been engaged in
the practice of law.
Dissents:
Most of the dissents focused on the issue that the Consti requirement
pertains to habitual practice of law. The dissenters pointed out that for the
past ten years, Monsod really seldom practiced law. This group believed that
the Consti required that the practice of law be on a regular basis. Justice
Padilla even came up with qualifications habituality; compensation;
application of law, legal principle, practice or procedure; and atty.-client
relationship to determine w/n a person has been engaged in the practice of
law.