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Cariño v. CHR PDF
Cariño v. CHR PDF
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* EN BANC.
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Same; Same; Same; Same; Same; It cannot try and decide cases
(or hear and determine causes) as courts of justice or even quasi-
judicial bodies do.·But it cannot try and decide cases (or hear and
determine causes) as courts of justice, or even quasi-judicial bodies
do. To investigate is not to adjudicate or adjudge. Whether in the
popular or the technical sense, these terms have well understood
and quite distinct meanings.
Same; Same; Same; Same; Same; Same; Same; The matters are
undoubtedly and clearly within the original jurisdiction of the
Secretary of Education and also within the appellate jurisdiction of
the Civil Service Commission.·These are matters undoubtedly and
clearly within the original jurisdiction of the Secretary of
Education, being within the scope of the disciplinary powers
granted to him under the Civil Service Law, and also, within the
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NARVASA, J.:
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3 (Joint) Resolution, G.R. Nos, 95445 and 95590, prom. Aug. 6, 1991,
pp. 3–4.
4 Rollo, p. 7.
5 Id., p. 7.
6 Also impleaded as respondents were other teachers, Adelaida dela
Cruz, Ma. Teresa Rizardo, Rita Atabelo and Digna Operiano (Rollo, p.
77).
7 Rollo, pp. 77–78.
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months of Babaran, Budoy and del Castillo.
4. In the meantime, the „MPSTA filed a petition for
certiorari before the Regional Trial Court of Manila against
petitioner (Cariño), which was dismissed (unmarked CHR
Exhibit, Annex I). Later, the MPSTA went to the Supreme
Court (on certiorari, in an attempt to nullify said dismissal,
grounded on the) alleged violation of the striking teachersÊ
right to due process and peaceable assembly docketed as
G.R. No. 95445, supra. The ACT also filed a similar petition9
before the Supreme Court xx docketed as G.R. No. 95590."
Both petitions in this Court were filed in behalf of the
teacher associations, a few named individuals, and „other
teacher-members so numerous similarly situated‰ or „other
similarly situated public school teachers too numerous to be
impleaded.‰
5. In the meantime, too, the respondent teachers
submitted sworn statements dated September 27, 1990 to
the Commission on Human Rights to complain that while
they were participating in peaceful mass actions, they
suddenly learned of their replacements as teachers,
allegedly without notice and 10
consequently for reasons
completely unknown to them.
6. Their complaints·and those of other teachers also
„ordered suspended by the xx (DECS)," all numbering
forty-two (42)·were docketed as „Striking Teachers CHR
Case No. 90–775." In connection therewith the Commission
scheduled a „dialogue‰ on October 11,1990, and sent a
subpoena 11
to Secretary Cariño requiring his attendance
therein.
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par., p. 1.
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have.
The proposition is made clear by the constitutional
provisions specifying the powers of the Commission on
Human Rights. The Commission was created 23
by the 1987
Constitution as an independent office. Upon its
constitution, it succeeded and superseded the Presidential
Committee on Human Rights 24existing at the time of the
effectivity of the 25Constitution, Its powers and functions
are the following:
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Order No. 318 of May 25, 1950, because that board, like the later
Presidential Complaints and Action Commission, was not invested with
judicial functions but only with power to investigate charges of graft and
corruption in office and to submit the record, together with findings and
recommendations, to the President.‰ Ruperto v. Torres, G.R. No. L-8785,
Feb. 25, 1957 (Unrep., 100 Phil 1098) (Rep. of the Phil. Digest, Vol. 1,
Certiorari, Sec. 22, p. 430).
BallentineÊs Law Dictionary, 3rd Ed., treating of „jurisdiction‰ in
relation to a criminal case, states it to be „the power of a court to inquire
into the fact, to apply the law, and to declare the punishment, in a
regular course of judicial proceeding x x.‰ In BlackÊs Law Dictionary, 5th
Ed., „adjudge‰ is defined as: „To pass on judicially, to decide, settle or
decree, or to sentence or condemn. x x Implies a judicial determination of
a fact, and the entry of a judgment (italics supplied)."
22 A distinguished Member of the Constitutional Commission that
drew up the 1987 Constitution, Fr. Joaquin Bernas, S.J., citing the
CommissionÊs official records, states that the „principal function of the
Commission (on Human Rights) is investigatory. In fact, in terms of law
enforcement, this pretty much is the limit of its function. Beyond
investigation, it will have to rely on the Justice Department which has
full control over prosecutions. Thus, under Section 18 (9) it can only
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may be required by its findings.
But it cannot try and decide cases (or hear and
determine causes) as courts of justice, or even quasi-
judicial bodies do. To investigate is not to adjudicate or
adjudge. Whether in the popular or the technical sense,
these terms have well understood and quite distinct
meanings.
„Investigate‰ commonly understood, means to examine,
explore, inquire or delve or probe into, research on, study.
The dictionary definition of „investigate‰ is „to observe or
study closely: inquire into systematically: „to search or
inquire into: xx to subject
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to an official probe x x: to conduct
an official inquiry." The purpose of investigation, of
course, is to discover, to find out, to learn, obtain
information. Nowhere included or intimated is the notion of
settling, deciding or resolving a controversy involved in the
facts inquired into by application of the law to the facts
established by the inquiry.
The legal meaning of „investigate‰ is essentially the
same: "(t)o follow up step by step by patient inquiry or
observation, To trace or track; to search into; to examine
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CONCURRING OPINION
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