Territorial Sea
marine environment;
The Territorial Sea of the Philippines shall be the belt
of sea 8 measured twelve (12) nautical miles from the
baselines or from the low-water line, as the case maybe.
This sovereignty extends to the air space over the
territorial sea as well as to its bed and subsoil.
Contiguous Zone
Contiguous Zone of the Philippines refers to the
waters beyond and adjacent to the territorial sea and up
to the extent of twenty-four (24) nautical miles from the
baselines or from the low-water line.
The coastal State may exercise the control necessary
to:
(a) prevent and punish infringement of its customs,
fiscal, immigration or sanitary laws and regulations within
its territory or territorial sea;
Exclusive Economic Zone
Waters beyond and adjacent to its territorial sea and
up to the extent of two-hundred (200) nautical miles
from the baselines or from the low-water line
The coastal State has:
(a) sovereign rights for the purpose of exploring and
exploiting, conserving and managing the natural
resources, whether living or non-living, of the waters
superjacent to the seabed and of the seabed and its
subsoil, and with regard to other activities for the
economic exploitation and exploration of the zone, such
as the production of energy from the water, currents and
winds;
(b) jurisdiction as provided for in the relevant
provisions of this Convention with regard to:
(i) the establishment and use of artificial
islands, installations and structures;
(ii) marine scientific research;
(iii) the protection and preservation of the
(c) other rights and duties provided for in this
Convention.
Continental Shelf
Comprises of the seabed and subsoil of the
submarine areas that extend beyond its territorial sea
throughout the natural prolongation of its land territory
to the outer edge of the continental margin, or to a
distance of two hundred (200) nautical miles from the
baselines from which the breadth of the territorial sea is
measured, where the outer edge of the continental
margin does not extend up to that distance. Continental
shelves extending beyond two-hundred (200) nautical
miles from the baselines shall be delineated in
accordance with Article 76 of UN CLOS.
The Philippines exercises sovereign rights over this
area including the right to explore and exploit living and
non-living, organic or non-organic resources in
accordance with UNCLOS and other existing laws and
treaties
MARTIAL LAW
SECTION 18. The President shall be the
Commander-in-Chief of all armed forces of the
Philippines and whenever it becomes necessary, he may
call out such armed forces to prevent or suppress lawless
violence, invasion or rebellion. In case of invasion or
rebellion, when the public safety requires it, he may, for a
period not exceeding sixty days, suspend the privilege of
the writ of habeas corpus or place the Philippines or any
part thereof under martial law. Within forty-eight hours
from the proclamation of martial law or the suspension
of the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus, the
President shall submit a report in person or in writing to
the Congress. The Congress, voting jointly, by a vote of
at least a majority of all its Members in regular or special
session, may revoke such proclamation or suspension,
which revocation shall not be set aside by the President.
Upon the initiative of the President, the Congress may, in
the same manner, extend such proclamation or
suspension for a period to be determined by the
Congress, if the invasion or rebellion shall persist and
public safety requires it.
The Congress, if not in session, shall, within twenty-four
hours following such proclamation or suspension,
convene in accordance with its rules without any need of
a call.
The Supreme Court may review, in an appropriate
proceeding filed by any citizen, the sufficiency of the
factual basis of the proclamation of martial law or the
suspension of the privilege of the writ or the extension
thereof, and must promulgate its decision thereon within
thirty days from its filing.
A state of martial law does not suspend the operation of
the Constitution, nor supplant the functioning of the civil
courts or legislative assemblies, nor authorize the
conferment of jurisdiction on military courts and
agencies over civilians where civil courts are able to
function, nor automatically suspend the privilege of the
writ.
The suspension of the privilege of the writ shall apply
only to persons judicially charged for rebellion or
offenses inherent in or directly connected with the
invasion.
During the suspension of the privilege of the writ, any
person thus arrested or detained shall be judicially
charged within three days, otherwise he shall be
released.
A proceeding "[i]n its general acceptation, [is] the form in
which actions are to be brought and defended, the
manner of intervening in suits, of conducting them, the
mode of deciding them, of opposing judgments, and of
executing."104 In fine, the phrase "in an appropriate
proceeding" appearing on the third paragraph of
Section 18, Article VII refers to any action initiated by a
citizen for the purpose of questioning the sufficiency of
the factual basis of the exercise of the Chief Executive's
emergency powers, as in these cases. It could be
denominated as a complaint, a petition, or a matter to
be resolved by the Court.
EMINENT DOMAIN
Order of expropriation for socialized housing:
1. Government lands
2. Alienable lands of the public domain
3. Unregistered, abandoned or idle lands
4. Lands within the declared areas for priority
development, zonal improvement program sites, slum
improvement and resettlement sites which have not yet
been acquired
5. BLISS sites which have not yet been acquired
6. Privately owned lands
As a general rule, non-payment of just compensation
does not entitle the landowner to recover possession of
the expropriated lots. Instead legal interest on just
compensation should be paid (National Power
Corporation vs.Henson, 300 SCRA 751 [1998]). However,
in cases where the government failed to pay the just
compensation within 5 years from the FINALITY OF THE
JUDGMENT in the expropriation proceedings, the
owners concerned shall have the right to recover the
property.
COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS
The power of the Commission on Human Rights
(CHR) is limited to factfinding investigations. Thus, it
cannot issue an “order to desist” against the mayor,
inasmuch as the order prescinds from an adjudicatory
power that CHR does not possess.
FREEDOM OF RELIGION
Right to freedom of religion must prevail. Benevolent
neutrality recognizes that government must pursue its
secular goals and interests, but at the same time, strive
to uphold religious liberty to the greatest extent possible
within flexible constitutional limits. Although the morality
contemplated by laws is secular, benevolent neutrality
could allow for accommodation of morality based on
religion, provided it does not offend compelling state
interest.Benevolent neutrality approach requires that the
court make an individual determination and not dismiss
the claim outright.
The case will not prosper.
expulsion/excommunication of members of a religious
institution/organization is a matter best left to the
discretion of the officials, and the laws and canons, of
said institution/organization.
FREEDOM OF SPEECH
There must be a clear and present danger of a
substantive evil that the state had the right to prevent for
a speech to be subject to restraint.
Commercial speech is entitled to constitutional
protection except to protect public interest
preventing false or deceptive claims.
Four aspects of freedom of the press
(1) freedom from prior restraint;
Prior restraint refers to official governmental restrictions
on the press or other forms of expression in advance of
actual publication or dissemination.
Freedom from prior restraint is largely freedom from
government censorship of publications, whatever the
form of censorship, and regardless of whether it is
wielded by the executive, legislative or judicial branch of
the government. Thus, it precludes governmental acts
that required approval of a proposal to publish; licensing
or permits as prerequisites to publication including the
payment of license taxes for the privilege to publish; and
even injunctions against publication.
A distinction has to be made whether the restraint is (1)
a content-neutral regulation, i.e., merely concerned with
the incidents of the speech, or one that merely controls
the time, place or manner, and under well defined
standards;60 or (2) a content-based restraint or
censorship, i.e., the restriction is based on the subject
The matter of the utterance or speech.61 The cast of the
restriction determines the test by which the challenged
act is assayed with.
- given the strictest scrutiny in light of its inherent and
invasive impact. Only when the challenged act has
overcome the clear and present danger rule will it pass
constitutional muster,65 with the government having the
burden of overcoming the presumed unconstitutionality
(2) freedom from punishment subsequent to
publication;
by (3) freedom of access to information;
(4) freedom of circulation.
Constitutional rights can be validly restricted to promote
good morals. Moreover, what is being exercised is
commercial expression which does not enjoy the same
extent of freedom as political or artistic speech. The
order for the withdrawal comes not from the State but
from a private group of advertisers which is not within
the coverage of the Bill of Rights.

In the hierarchy of civil liberties, the rights of free
expression and of assembly occupy a preferred position
as they are essential to the preservation and vitality of
our civil and political institutions; 10 and such priority
"gives these liberties the sanctity and the sanction not
permitting dubious intrusions." 11
The superiority of these freedoms over property rights is
underscored by the fact that a mere reasonable or
rational relation between the means employed by the
law and its object or purpose — that the law is neither
arbitrary nor discriminatory nor oppressive — would
suffice to validate a law which restricts or impairs
property rights. On the other hand, a constitutional or
valid infringement of human rights requires a more
stringent criterion, namely existence of a grave and
immediate danger of a substantive evil which the State
has the right to prevent.
The freedom of exercise of religion entails the right to
believe, which is absolute, and the right to act on one’s
belief, which is subject to regulation. As a rule, the
freedom of exercise of religion can be restricted only if
there is a clear and present danger of a substantive evil
which the state has the right to prevent.
The non-establishment clause implements the principle
of separation of church and state. The state cannot set
up a church, pass laws that aid one religion, and all
religions, prefer one religion over another, force or
influence a person to go to or remain away from church
against his will, or force him to profess a belief or
disbelief in any religion.
Evidence in plain view can be seized without need of
search warrant if the following elements are present:
(1) There was a prior valid intrusion based on the valid
warrantless arrest in which the police were legally
present pursuant of their duties;
(2) The evidence was inadvertently discovered by the
police who had the right to be where they were;
(3) The evidence must be immediately apparent; and
(4) Plain view justified seizure of the evidence without
further search.
While the overbreadth doctrine decrees that a
governmental purpose may not be achieved by means in
a statute which sweep unnecessary broadly and thereby
invades the area of protected freedom a
statute is void for vagueness when it forbids or requires
the doing of an act in terms so vague that men of
common intelligence cannot necessarily guess at its
meaning and differ as to its application. (Estrada vs.
Sandiganbayan, 369 vs. SCRA 394 [2001]).Overbreadth
and Void for Vagueness doctrine is used as test for the
validity on their faces (FACIAL CHALLENGE) statutes in
free speech cases (freedom of speech). It is not
applicable in criminal cases.
The heated conversation at the lobby of the hotel is not
privilege and is not protected under the right to privacy
and anti-wire tapping law. Heated conversation is not
privilege because it was uttered in a public place and it
has to be revealed in open court to help in the
prosecution of the case.
The Miranda rights are available only during custodial
investigation that is, from the moment the investigating
officer begins to ask questions for the purpose of
eliciting admissions, confessions or any
information from the accused. therefore, it is proper that
he was only informed of his right at the police station.
Double jeopardy sets in when the first jeopardy has
attached. There is already first jeopardy when the
accused has validly entered his plea before the
appropriate court having jurisdiction over the subject
matter and his person and that he has been convicted or
acquitted or that the case against him has been
terminated without his express consent.
THE DOCTRINE OF OPERATIVE FACTS
The general rule is that an unconstitutional law is void. It
produces no rights, imposes no duties and affords
no protection. However, the doctrine of operative fact is
an exception to the general rule and it only applies as a
matter of equity and fair play. Under the doctrine of
operative fact, the unconstitutional law remains
unconstitutional, but the effects of the unconstitutional
law, prior to its judicial declaration of nullity, may be left
undisturbed as a matter of equity and fair play. It can
never be invoked to validate as
constitutional an unconstitutional act.
DOCTRINE OF NECESSARY IMPLICATION
Provides that every statute is understood, by implication,
to contain all such provisions as may be necessary to
effectuate its object and purpose, or to make effective
rights, powers, privileges or jurisdiction which it grants,
including all such collateral and subsidiary consequences
as may be fairly and logically inferred from its terms.
INQUIRY IN AID OF LEGISLATION
Since legislative inquiry is an essential part of legislative
power, it cannot be made subordinate to criminal and
civil actions.
The Subjudice rule restricts comments and disclosures
pertaining to judicial proceedings to avoid prejudicing
the issue, influencing the court, or
obstructing the administrations of justice.
Effects of Belligerent Occupation
As to political laws. No change of sovereignty during a
belligerent occupation, the political laws of the occupied
territory are merely suspended, subject to revival under
the jus postliminium upon the end of the occupation.
Note that the rule suspending political laws affects only
the civilian inhabitants of the occupied territory and is
not intended to bind the enemies in arms. Also, the rule
does not apply to the law on treason although decidedly
political in character.
As to non-political laws. The non-political laws are
deemed continued unless changed by the belligerent
occupant since they are intended to govern the relations
of individuals as among themselves and are not
generally affected by changes in regimes of rulers.
As for judicial decisions. As for judicial decisions the
same are valid during the occupation and even beyond
except those of a political complexion, which are
automatically annulled upon the restoration of the
legitimate authority.
Effects of Change in Sovereignty
As to political laws. Where there is a change in
sovereignty, the political laws of the former sovereign
are not merely suspended but abrogated unless they are
retained or re-enacted by positive act of the new
sovereign.
As to non-political laws. Non-political laws, continue in
operation.