Shiryl Mae G.

Saquing
College of Law
University of Cagayan Valley

Starting on 41 minutes to 1 Hour and 20 minutes transcribed works

ACADEMIC QUESTIONS:

1. There is a bill in Congress seeking the revival of mandatory ROTC,

if that bill becomes a law, will that be considered constitutional?

Answer: Yes. Under the 1987 Philippine Constitution Article II

Section XIII: The State recognizes the vital role of the youth in
nation-building and shall promote and protect their physical, moral,
spiritual, intellectual, and social well-being. It shall inculcate in the
youth patriotism and nationalism, and encourage their involvement
in public and civic affairs. Therefore, the revival of ROTC is
constitutional.

2. What was the basis of the Supreme Court in declaring: The

Commission on Higher Education through a written Memorandum
order Number 20 excluding Filipino- Panitikan as core courses in
college, is that valid?

Answer: Yes. In a resolution dated March 5, the Supreme Court

(SC) en banc upheld its October 2018 decision after petitioner
Tanggol Wika failed to offer "any substantial argument" on the case.

"CMO 20 did not violate the Constitution when it merely transferred

these subjects as part of the curriculum of primary and secondary
education," the resolution said.

The SC en banc emphasized that CMO 20 only provides for the

"minimum standards" for the general education component of all
degree programs.

"It does not limit the academic freedom of universities and colleges
to require additional courses in Filipino, Panitikan, and the
Constitution in their respective curricula," the High Court said.

CHED Memorandum Order (CMO) No. 20, series of 2013 otherwise

known as the “General Education Curriculum: Holistic
Understandings, Intellectual and Civic Competencies” is the policy
 cover for the revised General Education Curriculum (GEC), which
offers greater flexibility than the current curriculum.

3. How would you interpret the Constitution, what is your judicial

philosophy? In so far as the interpretation of the Constitution is
concerned.

Answer: Judicial interpretation refers to different ways that the judiciary

uses to interpret the law, particularly constitutional documents and
legislation. As a result, how justices interpret the constitution, and the
ways in which they approach this task has a political aspect.

Justice Bersamin: More often than not the Spirit of the Law prevails
than the letters of the law because the spirit of the law is the one that
justifies what is stated in the law.

He believes in the philosophy called judicial restraint. Under this

concept, the Supreme Court, a non-elective body, is advised not to
supersede the elected officials' policies, which are seen as being
representative of the will of the people who elected them.

4. What do you understand by the statement, by the view that the

Constitution is a living document? What do you understand by that?

Answer: The living Constitution (or loose constructionism) is the

claim that the Constitution has a dynamic meaning or it has the
properties of an animate being in the sense that it changes. The idea is
associated with views that contemporaneous society should be taken into
account when interpreting key constitutional phrases.

Based on the answer of Justice Dela Cruz: The provisions of the

Constitution should not only apply to the present time but it should
envision the future.

5. Are you familiar with the case of Cardema Partylist. There is a rule
governing the youth partylist wherein the Representative should not be
less than 25 but not more than 35. If the Representative is more than 35
the maximum, can he still be legally permissible to represent the youth
partylist?

Answer: No. The law is clear under Section 9 of Republic Act no. 7941:
An act providing for the election of party-list representatives through the
party-list system, and appropriating funds therefor. In case of a nominee
of the youth sector, he must at least be twenty-five (25) but not more
 than thirty (30) years of age on the day of the election. Any youth
sectoral representative who attains the age of thirty during his term shall
be allowed to continue until the expiration of his term.

6. What is the case of transcendental importance, give us an example.

Answer: The doctrine of transcendental importance relaxes the standing

requirement, and thereby indirectly relaxes the injury embodied in the actual
case or controversy requirement. Note at this point that an actual case or
controversy is present when the issues it poses are ripe for adjudication, that
is, when the act being challenged has had a direct adverse effect on the
individual challenging it.

Standing, on the other hand, requires a personal and substantial

interest manifested through a direct injury that the petitioner has or will
sustain as a result of the questioned act. Thus, when the standing is relaxed
because of the transcendental importance doctrine, the character of the injury
presented to fulfill the actual case or controversy requirement is likewise
tempered. When we, for instance, say that the petitioners have no standing as
citizens or as taxpayers but we nevertheless give the petition due course, we
indirectly acknowledge that the injury that they had or will sustain is not
personally directed towards them, but to the more general and abstract
Filipino public. A readily apparent trend from jurisprudence invoking the
transcendental importance doctrine shows its application in cases where the
government has committed grave abuse of discretion amounting to lack of,
or excess of jurisdiction. This strong correlation between the exercise of the
Court’s expanded jurisdiction and its use of the transcendental importance
doctrine reflects the former’s distinct nature and origin.

The Court’s expanded jurisdiction roots from the constitutional

commissioners’ perception of the political question doctrine’s overuse prior
to the 1987 Constitution, a situation that arguably contributed to societal
unrest in the years preceding the 1987 Constitution. The political question
doctrine prevents the Court from deciding cases that are of a political nature,
and leaves the decision to the elected-officials of government. In other
words, the Court, through the political question doctrine, defers to the
judgment and discretion of the Executive and Legislature, matters that
involve policy because they are the people’s elected officials and hence are
more directly accountable to them.

7. Notice last 2018, President Duterte signed into law the Philippine ID
System act, creating a Unified and Streamed-Line ID System, personal data
to be collected are: the name, sex, date of birth, place of birth, address,
biometric information, facial image, whole set of fingerprints, iris scan,
other identifiable features. Do you think that is constitutional?
Answer: Yes. The high court held that it was within the constitutional
powers of the president to direct government agencies under the executive
branch to adopt a uniform ID data collection and format, and that this was in
keeping with the president's constitutional duty to ensure the faithful
execution of laws.

Addressing the issue on infringement of rights, the high court said "the right
to privacy does not bar the adoption of reasonable ID systems by
government entities."

Justice Noel: I will now give the floor to Chief, Justice.

Chief, Justice Lucas P. Bersamin presided:

May I have Dean Villanueva,I have voted for you twice and you have
been recommended twice, do I have to vote for you again?

Dean Villanueva: Yes, please your honor.

So anyway, I would just like to pick your brace a little bit, do you have
heard the phrase “the law of the statute” before?

To all the panel of interviewees, this is to inform you that these are
essential terms that you will have to contend with their meaning, their
deeper understanding, when you shall enjoy the court because most of
the time you are required to go beyond the letter of the statute, the letter
of the Constitution and determine the multiphase in enacting that statute.

8. What about the term “Mischief Rule”?

Answer: Mischief rule is a principle used for the interpretation of a

statute. This principle is used by the courts to determine the intention of
the legislators. This principle aims at finding out the mischief and defect
in a statute and to implement a remedy for the same.

9. Well the conflict in between the letter usually comes in between the
letter of the law and the spirit of the law, this is still in you Dean
Villanueva, which one should you let prevail, the letter of the law or the
spirit of the law?
 Answer: More often than not the Spirit of the Law prevails than the
letters of the law because the spirit of the law is the one that justifies
what is stated in the law.

10. Most often here in the Philippines, we have decisions that result to
interpretation by our dictionaries, the accepted ones- black or Grolier
dictionaries yet you often find this reference in black and Grolier in
reference in any of our existing laws, including our Constitution, why do
you think we needed to refer to black or Grolier whenever we have doubts
about this terms? The direct meaning or letter there is vagueness that we
discern.

Answer of Dean Villanueva: I think our Constitution is patent in the US

Constitution so sometimes there are developments in American
Constitutional law that explains the evolvement of certain provisions that we
copied from the American Constitution as applied here and therefore these
dictionaries that are trying to define the terms especially the updated ones,
are trying to synthesize where the existing jurisprudence as prevalent in
American law guide merely for us but not binding on us of course, you
honor.

11. Is it possible that we do this because the Supreme Court and any other
courts that does this presumes that the Congress referring to Grolier or Black
or whichever dictionary you prefer that moment when you make decision.
Meaning the Congress was aware of the meaning given by the lexicons to a
specific term or terms?

Answer of Dean Villanueva: That is possible your honor basically before

Congress goes into finalization of the law they do the research, these are
drafted in accordance to extensive research and the sharing of the many
experts, it is presumed the experts referred that to existing thoughts and
interpretation as they are synthesized in these legal dictionaries, your honor.

Chief, Justice: More often than not the Spirit of the Law prevails than the
letters of the law because the spirit of the law is the one that justifies what is
stated in the law, now very often the letter of the law has double meaning
will you accept that?

12. The letter of the law has double meaning will you accept that?

Answer of Dean Villanueva: Yes. They are not well- drafted.

Chief, Justice: Anyway, the law of the statute is actually the spirit behind the
enactment of the law and sometimes, one of you said while ago that the
Supreme Court has referred to the legislative journals for purposes of
discerning the meaning that was intended by the Congress for a particular
term or text, but the problem here is we often have dispute between the
regional meaning- the text as written and the intent of the law and sometimes
we go so far, to cite: the exchanges in one chamber of Congress without
even considering what the other chamber considered to be the meaning that
would be given to that particular language, is that a correct way in doing it?
If you were to become a member of the court, would you agree to that?

Will it not be better to refer instead to the proceedings if there are any
recorded of the Bicam.

Dean Villanueva: Yes it would be but it might just show that the Bicam had
other intention, other than the intention of the other two chambers

13. Chief, Justice: That was the last delivered deliberation held before the
passage of that law, will it indicate the contemporaneous intent of the
Congress, there are many letter of law?

14. Now if you were to become a member of the court will you be allowing
yourself to quote only one exchange that happened only in one chamber, will
you do that or you will not do that because you are aware there is other
chamber that went into the passage of the law?

End of 1:20 mins