VINUYA VS EXECUTIVE SECRETARY

MAINPOINT:
The Executive Department has the exclusive prerogative to determine whether to
espouse petitioners claims against Japan.
FACTS:
Petitioners are all members of the MALAYA LOLAS, a non-stock, non-profit
organization registered with the SEC, established for the purpose of providing aid to
the victims of rape by Japanese military forces in the Philippines during the Second
World War.
Petitioners claim that since 1998, they have approached the Executive Department
through the DOJ, DFA, and OSG, requesting assistance in filing a claim against the
Japanese officials and military officers who ordered the establishment of the
comfort women stations in the Philippines. But officials of the Executive
Department declined to assist the petitioners, and took the position that the
individual claims of the comfort women for compensation had already been fully
satisfied by Japans compliance with the Peace Treaty between the Philippines and
Japan.
ISSUE:
WON the Executive Department committed grave abuse of discretion in not
espousing petitioners claims for official apology and other forms of reparations
against Japan.

RULING:
Petition lacks merit. From a Domestic Law Perspective, the Executive Department
has the exclusive prerogative to determine whether to espouse petitioners claims
against Japan.
Political questions refer to those questions which, under the Constitution, are to be
decided by the people in their sovereign capacity, or in regard to which full
discretionary authority has been delegated to the legislative or executive branch of
the government. It is concerned with issues dependent upon the wisdom, not
legality of a particular measure.