ERMITA-MALATE HOTEL AND MOTEL OPERATORS ASSOCIATION, INC.vs.

THE HONORABLE CITY MAYOR OF MANILA, respondent-appellant.

VICTOR ALABANZA, intervenor-appellee.

POLICE POWER

G.R. No. L-24693

July 31, 1967

Fernando, J.

Facts:
• City Ordinance 4760 was issued by the municipal board of the City of Manila which
seeks to regulate the operations of hotels and motels within the area.

• the ordinance imposes a P6,000.00 fee per annum for first class motels and
P4,500.00 for second class motels;

• it also requires the owner or the manager of a hotel or motel to refrain from en-
tertaining or accepting any guests without him filling up the prescribed form (in-
cludes personal and private data) in the front desk that is open to public view at
all times

• provides that the premises and facilities of such hotels, motels and lodging
houses would be open for inspection either by the City Mayor, or the Chief of Po-
lice, or their duly authorized representatives.

• It also prohibited a person less than 18 years old from being accepted in such
hotels or motels and the likes unless accompanied by parents or a lawful
guardian and made it unlawful for the owner, manager, keeper or duly authorized
representative of such establishments to lease any room or portion thereof more
than twice every 24 hours.

• It provided a penalty of automatic cancellation of the license of the offended par-

ty in case of conviction.

• On 5 July 1963, the petitioners filed a petition for prohibition against the mayor of the
City of Manila in his capacity as he is charged with the general power and duty to en-
force ordinances of the City of Manila and to give the necessary orders for the faithful
execution and enforcement of such ordinances.

• The lower court favored the petitioners by issuing a writ of preliminary injunction or-
dering the Mayor to refrain from enforcing the said ordinance. It pointed out that the
City of Manila lack authority to regulate motels and rendering Ordinance 4760 uncon-
stitutional and therefore null and void.

• The Mayor of Manila appealed to the Supreme Court.

Issue: Whether the regulations imposed on motels and hotels is valid and/or constitu-
tional.

Held: Yes.

The ordinance was enacted to minimize certain practices hurtful to public morals.
It was made as there is observed an alarming increase in the rate of prostitution, adul-
tery and fornication in Manila traceable in great part to the existence of motels, which
provide a necessary atmosphere for clandestine entry, presence and exit and thus be-
come the ideal haven for prostitutes and thrill seekers.
The ordinance proposes to check the clandestine harboring of transients and
guests of these establishments by requiring these transients and guests to fill up a reg-
istration form, prepared for the purpose, in a lobby open to public view at all times, and
by introducing several other amendatory provisions calculated to shatter the privacy that
characterizes the registration of transients and guests.
Furthermore, the right of the individual is necessarily subject to reasonable re-
straint by general law for the common good. The liberty of the citizen may be restrained
in the interest of the public health, or of the public order and safety, or otherwise within
the proper scope of the police power.
The State in order to promote the general welfare may interfere with personal lib-
erty, with property, and with business and occupations. Persons and property may be
subjected to all kinds of restraints and burdens, in order to secure the general comfort,
health, and prosperity of the state.

Wherefore, the judgment of the lower court is reversed and the injunction issued lift-
ed forthwith.

No Separate Opinion nor Dissent

Police Power is the inherent and plenary power of the state which enables it to prohibit
all that is hurtful to the comfort, safety and welfare of society. [Ermita-Malate Hotel and
Motel Operators Association, Inc. v. Mayor of Manila (1967)]