BENIGNO S. AQUINO JR., ET AL. VS.

COMELEC

G.R. NO. L-40004, JANUARY 31, 1975

MAKASIAR, J.

FACTS: That on January 21, 1975 Benigno S. Aquino, et al. seek for
nullification of some Presidencial Decrees issued by then incumbent
President Ferdinand E. Marcos. The ground for the petition states that
President Ferdinand E. Marcos does not hold any legal office nor
posesess any lawful authority under the 1935 constitution and 1973
constitution and therefore has no authority to issue the questioned
Presidential Decrees.

ISSUE: Whether or not President Ferdinand E. Marcos possesses lawful

authority to issue the said proclamations as the de jure president of the
Republic of the Philippines.

HELD/RULING: As affirmed by the Supreme Court, President Ferdinand

E. Marcos is the de jure president of the Philippines in the 1935
constitution and 1973 constitution. In the 1935 constitution, President
Ferdinan E. Marcos was duly reelected by the vote of sovereign people.
While his term of office under the 1935 constitution should have
terminated on December 30, 1973, the sovereign people expressly
authorized him to continue in office even beyond the 1973 constitution,
by the general referendum July 27-28, 1973, in order to finish the
reforms he initiated under the Martial Law. Therefore Presidential
Proclamations and Presidential Decrees are all valid as stated in Section
3 (2) of Article XVII of the 1973 constitution which provides that "all
proclamations, orders, decrees, instructions, and acts promulgated,
issued or done by the incumbent president shall be part of the land and
remain valid, legal, binding, and effective even after the lifting of Martial
Law or the ratification of this constitution.