Co Kim Chan v.

Valdez Tan Keh

G.R. No. L-5, September 17, 1945

FACTS:
This petition for mandamus in which petitioner prays that the respondent judge of the lower court be ordered to
continue the proceedings in civil case No. 3012 of said court, which were initiated under the regime of the so-
called Republic of the Philippines established during the Japanese military occupation of these Islands.

The respondent judge refused to take cognizance of and continue the proceedings in said case on the ground that
the proclamation issued on October 23, 1944, by General Douglas MacArthur had the effect of invalidating and
nullifying all judicial proceedings and judgments of the court of the Philippines under the Philippine Executive
Commission and the Republic of the Philippines established during the Japanese military occupation.

ISSUE:          
Whether or not the proclamation issued on October 23, 1944, by General Douglas MacArthur, in which he declared
"that all laws, regulations and processes of any of the government in the Philippines than that of the said
Commonwealth are null and void and without legal effect in areas of the Philippines free of enemy occupation and
control," affects the proceedings in civil cases pending in court under the so-called Republic of the Philippines
established during the Japanese military occupation.

HELD:
No. The phrase "processes of any other government" is broad and may refer not only to the judicial processes, but
also to administrative or legislative, as well as constitutional, processes of the Republic of the Philippines or other
governmental agencies established in the Islands during the Japanese occupation. It should be presumed that it
was not, and could not have been, the intention of General Douglas MacArthur, in using the phrase “processes of
any other government” in said proclamation, to refer to judicial processes, in violation of principles of international
law. The court ruled that the term “processes” does not refer to judicial processes but to executive orders of the
Chairman of the Philippine Executive Committee, ordinances promulgated by the President of the so-called
Republic of the Philippines and the constitution itself of said Republic, and others that are of the same class as the
laws and regulations with which the word “processes” is associated.