Diploma, Katrina

Article VIII, Section 5: Citizens and associations; transcendental importance (abstract claims)

Anak Mindanao vs Executive Secretary

Date of Promulgation: August 29, 2007
Motion: Petition for Certiorari and Prohibition with prayer for injunctive relief.

Facts: In 2004, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo issued Executive Order No. 364. This transformed the
Department of Agrarian Reform into the Department of Land Reform, and placed the Presidential
Commission for Urban Poor (PCUP) and National Commission on Indigenous People (NCIP) under the
supervision and control of the Department of Land Reform. Executive Order No. 379 amended Executive
Order No. 364. It amended Section 3 of the latter, stating that the NCIP then shall be an attached agency of
the Department of Land Reform. Petitioners AMIN and Mamalo Descendants Organization, Inc. (MDOI) then
assail the constitutionality of both Executive Orders.

The issue on the transformation of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) into the Department of Land
Reform (DLR) became moot and academic, however, the department having reverted to its former name by
virtue of E.O. No. 456 which was issued on August 23, 2005.

Petitioners find it impermissible for the Executive to intrude into the domain of the Legislature. They posit
that an act of the Executive which injures the institution of Congress causes a derivative but nonetheless
substantial injury, which can be questioned by a member of Congress. Indeed, a member of the House of
Representatives has standing to maintain inviolate the prerogatives, powers and privileges vested by the
Constitution in his office.

The OSG questions, however, the standing of MDOI , registered people's organization of Teduray and
Lambangian tribesfolk of (North) Upi and South Upi in the province of Maguindanao. An examination of
MDOI's nebulous claims of "negative impact" and "probable setbacks" shows that they are too abstract to be
considered judicially cognizable. And the line of causation it proffers between the challenged action and
alleged injury is too attenuated.

As co-petitioner, MDOI alleges that it is concerned with the negative impact of NCIP's becoming an attached
agency of the DAR on the processing of ancestral domain claims. It fears that transferring the NCIP to the DAR
would affect the processing of ancestral domain claims filed by its members.

Issue: W/N the petitioners have standing to file the suit

Ruling: WHEREFORE, the petition is DISMISSED. Executive Order Nos. 364 and 379 issued on
September 27, 2004 and October 26, 2004, respectively, are declared not unconstitutional.

The Office of the Solicitor General admit that AMIN has the requisite legal standing to file this suit as member
of Congress. MDOI, on the other hand, present too abstract claims against the respondents so that it may be
judicially cognizable. They only offer vague propositions. Furthermore, MDOI raises no issue of
transcendental importance to justify a relaxation of the rules of legal standing.

For a concerned party to be allowed to raise a constitutional question, it must show that (1) it has personally
suffered some actual or threatened injury as a result of the allegedly illegal conduct of the government, (2)
the injury is fairly traceable to the challenged action, and (3) the injury is likely to be redressed by a favorable
action.

Vague propositions that the implementation of the assailed orders will work injustice and violate the rights of
its members cannot clothe MDOI with the requisite standing. Neither would its status as a "people's
organization" vest it with the legal standing to assail the validity of the executive orders.