VOL.

20, JULY 31, 1967

849

Ermita-Malate Hotel and Motel Operators Association, Inc. vs. City Mayor of Manila

No. L-24693. July 31, 1967.

ERMITA-MALATE HOTEL AND MOTEL OPERATORS ASSOCIATION, INC., HOTEL DEL MAR, INC. and Go
CHIU, petitioners-appellees, vs. THE HONORABLE CITY MAYOR OF MANILA, respondent-appellant.
VICTOR ALABANZA, intervenor-appellee.

Constitutional Law; Municipal Corporations; Presumption as to constitutionality of ordinance; Evidence

is necessary to show invalidity.—An ordinance, having been enacted by coun-cilors who must, in the
very nature of things, be familiar with the necessities of their particular municipality or city and with all
the facts and circumstances which surround the subject and necessitate action, must be presumed to be
valid and should not be set aside unless there is a clear invasion of personal or property rights under the
guise of police regulation. Unless, therefore, the ordinance is void on its face, the necessity for evidence
to rebut its validity is unavoidable. Where there was no factual foundation laid for overthrowing an
ordinance which is not void on its face, the presumption of constitution-ality must prevail.

Same; Police power; Ordinance regulating hotels, motels, etc.—A Manila ordinance regulating the
operation of hotels, motels and lodging-houses is a police power measure specifically aimed to
safeguard public morals. As such, it is immune from any imputation of nullity resting purely on
conjecture and unsupported by anything of substance. To hold otherwise would be to unduly restrict
and narrow the scope of police power which has been properly characterized as the most essential,
insistent and the least limitable of powers, extending as it does "to all the great public needs".

Same; Nature of police power; Judicial inquiry.—On the legislative organs of the government, whether
national or local, primarily rests the exercise of the police power, which is the power to prescribe
regulations to promote the health, morals, peace, good order, safety and general welfare of the people.
In view of the requirements of certain constitutional guarantees,

850
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Ermita-Malate Hotel and Motel Operators Association, Inc. vs. City Mayor of Manila

the exercise of such police power, however, insofar as it may affect the life, liberty or property of any
person, is subject to judicial inquiry. Where such exercise of police power may be considered as either
capricious, whimsical, unjust or unreasonable, a denial of due process or a violation of any other
applicable constitutional guarantee may call for correction by the courts.

Municipal Corporations; Municipal license fees.—Municipal license fees can be classified into those
imposed for regulating occupations or regular enterprises, for the regulation or restriction of non-useful
occupations or enterprises and for revenue purposes only. Licenses for non-useful occupations are
incidental to the police power, and the right to exact a fee may be implied from the power to license
and regulate, but in fixing the amount of license fees the municipal corporations are allowed a wide
discretion in this class of cases. Aside from applying the well-known legal principle that municipal
ordinances must not be unreasonable, oppressive, or tyrannical, courts have, as a general rule, declined
to interfere with such discretion. The desirability of imposing restraint upon the number of persons who
might otherwise engage in non-useful enterprises is, of course, generally an important factor in the
determination of the amount of this kind of license fee.

Same; Discretion in fixing license fees.—Much discretion is given to municipal corporations in

determining the amount of license fees to be imposed for revenue. The mere fact that some individuals
in the community may be deprived of their present business or a particular mode of earning a living
cannot prevent the exercise of the police power. Persons licensed to pursue occupations which may in
the public need and interest be affected by the exercise of the police power embark in those
occupations subject to the disadvantages which may result from the exercise of that power.

Constitutional Law; Due process; Standards of legal infirmity.—There is no controlling and precise
definition of due process. It furnishes though a standard to which governmental action should conform
in order that deprivation of life, liberty or property, in each appropriate case, be valid. The standard of
due process which must exist both as a procedural and as substantive requisite to free the challenged
ordinance, or any governmental action for that matter, from imputation of legal infirmity, is
responsiveness to the supremacy of reason. obedience to the dictates of justice. It would be an affront
to reason to stigmatize an ordinance enacted precisely to meet what a municipal lawmaking body
considers an evil of rather serious pro portions as an arbitrary and capricious exercise of authority. What
should be deemed unreasonable and what would amount
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Ermita-Malate Hotel and Motel Operators Association, Inc. vs. City Mayor of Manila

to an abdication of the power to govern is inaction in the face of an admitted deterioration of the state
of public morals.

Same; Reasonableness of ordinance regulating hotels, etc.— The provision in Ordinance No. 4760 of the
City of Manila, making it unlawful for the owner, manager, keeper or duly authorized representative of
any hotel, motel, lodging house, tavern, common inn or the like, to lease or rent any room or portion
thereof more than twice every 24 hours, with a proviso that in all cases full payment shall be charged,
cannot be viewed as a transgression against the command of due process. The prohibition is neither
unreasonable nor arbitrary, because there appears a correspondence between the undeniable existence
of an undesirable situation and the legislative attempt at correction. Moreover, every regulation of
conduct amounts to curtailment of liberty, which cannot be absolute.

Same; Public interest; Government interference.—The policy of laissez faire has to some extent given
way to the assumption by the government of the right of intervention even in contractual relations
affected with public interest. If the liberty invoked were freedom of the mind or the person, the
standard for the validity of governmental acts is much more rigorous and exacting, but where the liberty
curtailed affects at the most rights of property, the permissible scope of regulatory measures is wider.

Statutes; When statute is void because of ambiguity.— What makes a statute susceptible to a charge
that it is void on its face for alleged vagueness or uncertainty is an enactment either forbidding or
requiring the doing of an act that men of common intelligence must necessarily guess at its meaning and
diff er as to its application.

APPEAL from a decision of the Court of First Instance of Manila.

The facts are stated in the opinion of the Court.

     Panganiban, Abad & Associates Law Office for respondent-appellant.

     J. M. Aruego, Tenchavez & Associates for intervenorappellee.

FERNANDO, J,:

The principal question in this appeal from a judgment of the lower court in an action for prohibition is
whether Ordinance No. 4760 of the City of Manila is violative of the due process clause. The lower court
held that it is and adjudged it "unconstitutional, and, therefore, null and void." For reasons to be more
specifically set forth, such

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Ermita-Malate Hotel and Motel Operators Association, Inc. vs. City Mayor of Manila

judgment must be reversed, there being a failure of the requisite showing to sustain an attack against its
validity.

The petition for prohibition against Ordinance No. 4760 was filed on July 5, 1963 by the petitioners,
Ermita-Malate Hotel and Motel Operators Association, one of its members, Hotel del Mar, Inc., and a
certain Go Chiu, who is "the president and general manager of the second petitioner" against the
respondent Mayor of the City of Manila who was sued in his capacity as such "charged with the general
power and duty to enforce ordinances of the City of Manila and to give the necessary orders for the
faithful execution and enforcement of such ordinances." (par. 1). It was alleged that the petitioner non-
stock corporation is dedicated to the promotion and protection of the interest of its eighteen (18)
members "operating hotels and motels, characterized as legitimate businesses duly licensed by both
national and city authorities, regularly paying taxes, employing and giving livelihood, to not less than
2,500 person and representing an investment of more than P3 million."1 (par. 2). It was then alleged
that on June 13, 1963, the Municipal Board of the City of Manila enacted Ordinance No. 4760, approved
on June 14, 1963 by the then ViceMayor Herminio Astorga, who was at the time acting as Mayor of the
City of Manila. (par. 3).

After which the alleged grievances against the ordinance were set forth in detail. There was the
assertion of its being beyond the powers of the Municipal Board of the City of Manila to enact insofar as
it would regulate motels, on the ground that in the revised charter of the City of Manila or in any other
law, no reference is made to motels; that Section 1 of the challenged ordinance is unconstitutional and
void for being unreasonable and violative of due procfess insofar as it would impose ?6,000.00 fee per
annum for first class motels and P4,500.00 for second class motels;

_______________

1 The eighteen members are Waldorf Hotel, Hotel Monte Carlo, Golden Gate Motel, Miami Hotel, Palm
Spring Hotel, Flamingo Motel, Holiday Motel, Rainbow Motel, Palo Alto Hotel, Paradise Hotel, Mayfair
Hotel, Siesta Court, Sun Valley Hotel, Springfield Hotel, New Palace Hotel, Hotel del Mar, Longbeach
Hotel and Ritz Motel.

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Ermita-Malate Hotel and Motel Operators Association, Inc. vs. City Mayor of Manila,

that the provision in the same section which would require the owner, manager, keeper or duly
authorized representative of a hotel, motel, or lodging house to refrain from entertaining or accepting
any guest or customer or letting any room or other quarter to any person or persons without his filling
up the prescribed form in a lobby open to public view at all times and in his presence, wherein the
surname, given name and middle name, the date of birth, the address, the occupation, the sex, the
nationality, the length of stay and the number of companions in the room, if any, with the name,
relationship, age and sex would be specified, with data furnished as to his residence certificate as well as
his passport number, if any, coupled with a certification that a person signing such form has personally
filled it up and affixed his signature in the presence of such owner, manager, keeper or duly authorized
representative, with such registration forms and records kept and bound together, it also being provided
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 Police, or their duly authorized representatives is
unconstitutional and void again on due process grounds, not only for being arbitrary, unreasonable or
oppressive but also for being vague, indefinite and uncertain, and likewise for the alleged invasion of the
right to privacy and the guaranty against self-incrimination; that Section 2 of the challenged ordinance
classifying motels into two classes and requiring the maintenance of certain minimum facilities in f irst
class motels such as a telephone in each room, a dining room or, restaurant and laundry similarly
offends against the due process clause for being arbitrary, unreasonable and oppressive, a conclusion
which applies to the portion of the ordinance requiring second class motels to have a dining room; that
the provision of Section 2 of the challenged ordinance prohibiting a person less than 18 years old from
being accepted in such hotels, motels, lodging houses, tavern or common inn unless accompanied by
parents or a lawful guardian and making it unlawful for the owner, manager, keeper or duly authorized
representative of such establishments to lease any room or portion

854

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SUPREME COURT REPORTS ANNOTATED

Ermita-Malate Hotel and Motel Operators Association, Inc. vs. City Mayor of Manila

thereof more than twice every 24 hours, runs counter to the due process guaranty for lack of certainty
and for its unreasonable, arbitrary and oppressive character; and that insofar as the penalty provided for
in Section 4 of the challenged ordinance for a subsequent conviction would cause the automatic
cancellation of the license of the offended party, in effect causing the destruction of the business and
loss of its investments, there is once again a transgression of the due process clause.

There was a plea for the issuance of preliminary injunction and for a final judgment declaring the above
ordinance null and void and unenforceable. The lower court on July 6, 1963 issued a writ of preliminary
injunction ordering respondent Mayor to refrain from enforcing said Ordinance No. 4760 from and after
July 8, 1963.
In the answer filed on August 3, 1963, there was an admission of the personal circumstances regarding
the respondent Mayor and of the fact that petitioners are licensed to engage in the hotel or motel
business in the City of Manila, of the provisions of the cited Ordinance but a denial of its alleged nullity,
whether on statutory or constitutional grounds. After setting forth that the petition did fail to state a
cause of action and that the challenged ordinance bears a reasonable relation, to a proper purpose,
which is to curb immorality, a valid and proper exercise of the police power and that only the guests or
customers not before the court could complain of the alleged invasion of the right to privacy and the
guaranty against selfincrimination, with the assertion that the issuance of the preliminary injunction ex
parte was contrary to law, respondent Mayor prayed f or its dissolution and the dismissal of the petition.

Instead of evidence being offered by both parties, there was submitted a stipulation of facts dated
September 28, 1964, which reads:

"1. That the petitioners Ermita-Malate Hotel and Motel Operators Association, Inc. and Hotel del Mar,
Inc. are duly organized and existing under the laws of the Philippines, both with offices in the City of
Manila, while the petitioner Go Chiu is the president and general manager of Hotel del Mar, Inc., and

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Ermita-Malate Hotel and Motel Operators Association, Inc. vs. City Mayor of Manila

the intervenor Victor Alabanza is a resident of Baguio City, all having the capacity to sue and be sued;

"2. That the respondent Mayor is the duly elected and incumbent City Mayor and chief executive of the
City of Manila charged with the general power and duty to enforce ordinances of the City of Manila and
to give the necessary orders for the faithful execution and enforcement of such ordinances;

"3. That the petitioners are duly licensed to engage in the business of operating hotels and motels in
Malate and Ermita districts in Manila;
"4. That on June 13, 1963, the Municipal Board of the City of Manila enacted Ordinance No. 4760, which
was approved on June 14, 1963, by Vice-Mayor Herminio Astorga, then the acting City Mayor of Manila,
in the absence of the respondent regular City Mayor, amending sections 661, 662, 668-a, 668-b and 669
of the compilation of the ordinances of the City of Manila besides inserting therein three new sections.
This ordinance is similar to the one vetoed by the respondent Mayor (Annex A) for the reasons stated in
its 4th Indorsement dated February 15, 1963 (Annex B);

"5. That the explanatory note signed by then Councilor Herminio Astorga was submitted with the
proposed ordinance (now Ordinance 4760) to the Municipal Board, copy of which is attached hereto as
Annex C;

"6. That the City of Manila derived in 1963 an annual income of P101,904.05 from license fees paid by
the 105 hotels and motels (including herein petitioners) operating in the City of Manila."

Thereafter came a memorandum for respondent on January 22, 1965, wherein stress was laid on the
presumption of the validity of the challenged ordinance, the burden of showing its lack of conf ormity to
the Constitution resting on the party who assails it, citing not only U.S. v. Salaveria, but likewise
applicable American authorities. Such a memorandum likewise refuted point by point the arguments
advanced by petitioners against its validity. Then barely two weeks later, on February 4, 1965, the
memorandum for petitioners was filed reiterating in detail what was set forth in the petition, with
citations of what they considered to be applicable American authorities and praying for a judgment
declaring the challenged ordinance "null and void and unenforceable" and making permanent the writ
of preliminary injunction issued.

856

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SUPREME COURT REPORTS ANNOTATED

Ermita-Malate Hotel and Motel Operators Association, Inc. vs. City Mayor of Manila

After referring to the motels and hotels, which are members of the petitioners association, and referring
to the alleged constitutional questions raised by the party, the lower court observed: "The only
remaining issue here being purely a question of law, the parties, with the nod of the Court, agreed to file
memoranda and thereafter, to submit the case for decision of the Court." It does appear obvious then
that without any evidence submitted by the parties, the decision passed upon the alleged infirmity on
constitutional grounds of the challenged ordinance, dismissing as is undoubtedly right and proper the
untenable objection on the alleged lack of authority of the City of Manila to regulate motels, and came
to the conclusion that "the challenged Ordinance No. 4760 of the City of Manila, would be
unconstitutional and, therefore, null and void." It made permanent the preliminary injunction issued
against respondent Mayor and his agents "to restrain him from enforcing the ordinance in question.''"
Hence this appeal.

As noted at the outset, the judgment must be reversed. A decent regard for constitutional doctrines of a
fundamental character ought to have admonished the lower court against such a sweeping
condemnation of the challenged ordinance. Its decision cannot be allowed to stand, consistently with
what has hitherto been the accepted standards of constitutional adjudication, in both procedural and
substantive aspects.

Primarily what calls for a reversal of such a decision is the absence of any evidence to offset the
presumption of validity that attaches to a challenged statute or ordinance. As was expressed
categorically by Justice Malcolm: "The presumption is all in favor of validity. x x x The action of the
elected representatives of the people cannot be lightly set aside. The councilors must, in the very nature
of things, be familiar with the necessities of their particular municipality and with all the facts and
circumstances which surround the subject and necessitate action. The local legislative body, by enacting
the ordinance, has in effect given notice that the regulations are essential to the wellbeing of the
people. x x x The Judiciary should not lightly set aside legislative action when there is not a clear invasion

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Ermita-Malate Hotel and Motel Operators Association, Inc. vs. City Mayor of Manila

of personal or property rights under the guise of police regulation."2

It admits of no doubt therefore that there being a presumption of validity, the necessity for evidence to
rebut it is unavoidable, unless the statute or ordinance is void on its f ace, which is not the case here.
The principle has been nowhere better expressed than in the leading case of O'Gorman & Young v.
Hartford Fire Insurance Co.,3 where the American Supreme Court through Justice Brandeis tersely and
succinctly summed up the matter thus: "The statute here questioned deals with a subject clearly within
the scope of the police power. We are asked to declare it void on the ground that the specif ic method
of regulation prescribed is unreasonable and hence deprives the plaintiff of due process of law. As
underlying questions of fact may condition the constitutionality of legislation of this character, the
presumption of constitutionality must prevail in the absence of some factual foundation of record for
overthrowing the statute." No such factual foundation being laid in the present case, the lower court
deciding the matter on the pleadings and the stipulation of f acts, the presumption of validity must
prevail and the judgment against the ordinance set aside.

Nor may petitioners assert with plausibility that on its face the ordinance is fatally defective as being
repugnant to the due process clause of the Constitution. The mantle of protection associated with the
due process guaranty does not cover petitioners. This particular manifestation of a police power
measure being specifically aimed to safeguard public morals is immune from such imputation of nullity
resting purely on conjecture and unsupported by anything of substance. To hold otherwise would be to
unduly restrict and narrow the scope of police power which has been properly characterized as the most
essential, insistent and the

_______________

2 US. v. Salaveria (1918), 39 Phil. 102, at p. 111. There was an affirmation of the presumption of validity
of municipal ordinance as announced in the leading Salaveria decision in Eboña v. Daet, (1950) 85 Phil.
369.

3 282 US 251, 328, January 5, 1931.

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Ermita-Malate Hotel and Motel Operators Association, Inc. vs. City Mayor of Manila

least limitable of powers,4 extending as it does "to all the great public needs."5 It would be, to
paraphrase another leading decision, to destroy the very purpose of the state if it could be deprived or
allowed itself to be deprived of its competence to promote public health, public morals, public safety
and the general welfare.6 Negatively put, police power is "that inherent and plenary power in the State
which enables it to prohibit all that is hurtful to the comfort, safety, and welfare of society."7

There is no question but that the challenged ordinance was precisely enacted to minimize certain
practices hurtful to public morals. The explanatory note of the then Councilor Herminio Astorga included
as annex to the stipulation of facts, speaks of the alarming increase in the rate of prostitution, adultery
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 become the "ideal haven for prostitutes
and

________________

4 Cf. Ichong v. Hernandez, (1957) 101 Phil. 1155, at p. 1163. AIso: 'To Frankfurter the police power, true
to its etymology, is the power to shape policy. It def ies legal definition; as a response to the dynamic
aspects of society, it cannot be reduced to a constitutional formula. The law must be sensitive to life; in
resolving cases. it must not fall back upon sterile claims; its judgments are not derived from an abstract
duel between liberty and the police power. Instead, in a world of trusts and unions and large-scale
industry, it must meet the challenge of drastic social change. For him as for Holmes, 'society is more
than bargain and business' and the jurist's art rises to no higher peak than in vindicating interests not
represented by the items in a balance-sheet. In a progressive society, new interests emerge, new
attitudes appear, social consciousness quickens. In the face of the unknown one cannot choose with
certainty. Nor as yet, has the whole of truth been brought up from its bottomless well and how f ragile
in scientif ic proof is the ultimate validity of any particular economic adjustment. Social development is a
process of trial and error; in the making of policy the f ullest possible opportunity must be given for the
play of the human mind. If Congress or legislature does not regulate, laissez faire—not the individual—
must be the regulator. (Hamilton, Pre view of a Justice (1939) 48 Yale Law Journal, 819).

5 Noble state Bank v. Haskell, 219 U.S. 412.

6 U.S. v. Gomez-Jesus, (1915) 31 Phil. 218.

7 Rubi v. Provincial Board, (1918) 39 Phil. 660.

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Ermita-Malate Hotel and Motel Operators Association, Inc. vs, City Mayor of Manila

thrill-seekers." The challenged ordinance then "proposes to check the clandestine harboring of
transients and guests of these establishments by requiring these transients and guests to fill up a
registration 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." Moreover, the increase in the licensed fees was intended to
discourage "establishments of the kind from operating for purpose other -than legal" and at the same
time, to increase "the income of the city government." It would appear therefore that the stipulation of
facts, far from sustaining any attack against the validity of the ordinance, argues eloquently for it,

It is a fact worth noting that this Court has invariably stamped with the seal of its approval, ordinances
punishing vagrancy and classifying a pimp or procurer as a vagrant;8 providing a license tax for and
regulating the maintenance or operation of public dance halls;9 prohibiting gambling;10 prohibiting
jueteng;11 and monte,12 prohibiting playing of panguingui on days other than Sundays or legal
holidays;13 prohibiting the operation of pinball machines;14 and, prohibiting any person from keeping,
conducting or maintaining an opium joint or visiting a place where opium is, smoked or otherwise
used,15 all of which are intended ,to protect public morals. ,

On the legislative organs of the government, whether national or local, primarily rest the exercise of the
police power, which, it cannot be too often emphasized, is the

________________

8 U.S. vs. Giner Cruz, (1918) 38 Phil. 677.

9 U.S. vs. Rodriguez, (1918) 38 Phil. 759. See also Sarmiento v. Belderol, L-15719, May 31, 1961; Lapera
v. Vicente, L-18102, June 30, 1962.

10 U.S. v. Pacis, (1915) 31 Phil. 524.

11 U.S. vs. Espiritu-Santo, (1912) 23 Phil. 610; U.S. vs. Joson, (1913) 26 Phil. 1; People vs. Chan Hong,
(1938) 65 Phil. 625

12 U.S. v. Tamparong, (1915) 31 Phil. 321.

13 U.S. v. Salaveria, (1918) 39 Phil. 102.

14 Uy Ha v. The City Mayor, L-14149, May 30, 1969; Miranda v. City of Manila, L-17252, May 31, 1961.

15 U.S. v. Ten Yu, (1912) 24 Phil. 1.

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Ermita-Malate Hotel and Motel Operators Association, Inc. vs. City Mayor of Manila

power to prescribe regulations to promote the health, morals, peace, good order, safety and general
welfare of the people. In view of the requirements of due process, equal protection and other applicable
constitutional guaranties, however, the exercise of such police power insofar as it may affect the life,
liberty or property of any person is subject to judicial inquiry. Where such exercise of police power may
be considered as either capricious, whimsical, unjust or unreasonable, a denial of due process or a
violation of any other applicable constitutional guaranty may call for correction by the courts.
We are thus led to considering the insistent, almost shrill tone, in which the objection is raised to the
question of due process.16 There is no controlling and precise definition of due process. It furnishes
though a standard to which the governmental action should conform in order that deprivation of life,
liberty or property, in each appropriate. case, be valid. What then is the standard of due process which
must exist both as a procedural and a substantive requisite to free the challenged ordinance, or any
governmental action for that matter, from the imputation of legal infirmity sufficient to spell its doom?
It is responsiveness to the supremacy of reason, obedience to the dictates of justice. Negatively put,
arbitrariness is ruled out and unfairness avoided. To satisfy the due process requirement, official action,
to paraphrase Cardozo, must not outrun the bounds of reason and result in sheer oppression. Due
process is thus hostile to any official action marred by lack of reasonableness. Correctly it has been
identified as freedom from arbitrariness. It is the embodiment of

_______________

16 There is no occasion to consider even cursorily the alleged invasion of the right of privacy or the
prohibition against self-incrimination. Petitioners obviously are not the proper parties to do so. Nor may
such an incurable defect be remedied by an accommodating intervenor "who has always taken
advantage of, as he exclusively relies on, the facilities, services and accommodations offered by
petitioner-motels. A general merchant, doing business not only in Baguio City but in the City of Manila,
has no legitimate cause for complaint. At least, not according to the case as it has been developed.

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the sporting idea of fair play.17 It exacts fealty "to those strivings for justice" and judges the act of
officialdom of whatever branch "in the light of reason drawn from considerations of fairness that reflect
[democratic] traditions of legal and political thought."18 It is not a narrow or "technical conception with
fixed content unrelated to time, place and circumstances,"19 decisions based on such a clause requiring
a "close and perceptive inquiry into fundamental principles of our society."20 Questions of due process
are not to be treated narrowly or pedantically in slavery to form or phrases.21
It would thus be an affront to reason to stigmatize an ordinance enacted precisely to meet what a
municipal lawmaking body considers an evil of rather serious proportion an arbitrary and capricious
exercise of authority. It would seem that what should be deemed unreasonable and what would amount
to an abdication of the power to govern is inaction in the face of an admitted deterioration of the state
of public morals. To be more specific, the Municipal Board of the City of Manila felt the need for a
remedial measure. It provided it with the enactment of the challenged ordinance. A strong case must be
found in the records, and, as has been set forth, none is even attempted here to attach to an ordinance
of such character the taint of nullity for an alleged failure to meet the due process requirement. Nor
does it lend any semblance even of deceptive plausibility to petitioners' indictment of Ordinance No.
4760 on due process grounds to single out such features as the increased fees for motels and hotels, the
curtailment of the area of freedom to contract, and, in certain particulars, its alleged vagueness.

Admittedly there was a decided increase of the annual license fees provided for by the challenged
ordinance for

________________

17 Frankfurter, Mr. Justice Holmes and the Supreme Court, (1938) pp. 32-33.

18 Frankfurter, Hannah v. Larche, (1960) 363 U.S. 420, at 487.

19 Cafeteria Workers v. McElroy, (1961) 367 U.S. 1230.

20 Bartkus v. Illinois, (1959) 359 U.S. 121.

21 Pearson v. McGraw, (1939) 308 U.S. 313.

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Ermita-Malate Hotel and Motel Operators Association, Inc. vs. City Mayor of Manila

both hotels and motels, 150% for the former and over 200% for the latter, f irst-class motels being
required to pay a P6,000 annual fee and second-class motels, P4,500 yearly. It has been the settled law
however, as far back as 1922 that municipal license fees could be classified into those imposed for
regulating occupations or regular enterprises, for the regulation or restriction of non-useful occupations
or enterprises and for revenue purposes only.22 As was explained more in detail in the above Cu
Unjieng case: "(2) Licenses for non-useful occupations are also incidental to the police power and the
right to exact a fee may be implied from the power to license and regulate, but in fixing amount of the
license fees the municipal corporations are allowed a much wider discretion in this class of cases than in
the former, and aside from applying the well-known legal principle that municipal ordinances must not
be unreasonable, oppressive, or tyrannical, courts have, as a general rule, declined to interfere with
such discretion. The desirability of imposing restraint upon the number of persons who might otherwise
engage in non-usef ul enterprises is, of course, generally an important factor in the determination of the
amount of this kind of license fee. Hence license fees clearly in the nature of privilege taxes for revenue
have frequently been upheld, especially in cases of licenses for the sale of liquors. In fact, in the latter
cases the fees have rarely been declared unreasonable."23

________________

22 Cu Unjieng v. Patstone, (1922) 42 Phil. 818, 828.

23 Citing Swarth v. People, 109 111. 621; Dennehy v. City of Chicago, 120 111. 627; 12 N.E., 227; United
States Distilling Co. v. City of Chicago, 112 111. 19; Drew County v. Bennet, 43 Ark. 364; Merced County
v. Fleming, 111 Cal. 46; 43 Pac. 392; Williams v. City Council of West Point, 68 Ga. 816; Cheny v.
Shellbyville, 19 Ind. 84; Wiley v. Owens, 39 Ind. 429; Sweet v. City of Wabash, 41 Ind. 7; Jones v. Grady,
25 La. Ann. 586; Goldsmith v. City of New Orleans, 31 La. Ann. 646; People ex rel., Cramer v. Medberry,
39 N.Y.S. 207; 17 Misc. Rep., 8; McGuigan v. Town of Belmont, 89 Wis. 637; 62 N.W., 421; Ex parte
Burnett, 30 Ala. 461; Craig v. Burnett, 32 Ala., 728, and Muhlenbrinck v. Long Branch Commissioner, 42
N.J.L. 364; 36 Am. Rep., 518. At pp. 829-830.

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VOL. 20, JULY 31, 1967

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Ermita-Malate Hotel and Motel Operators Association, Inc. vs. City Mayor of Manila

Moreover, in the equally leading case of Lutz v. Araneta24 this Court affirmed the doctrine earlier
announced by the American Supreme Court that taxation may be made to implement the state's police
power. Only the other day, this Court had occasion to affirm that the broad taxing authority conferred
by the Local Autonomy Act of 1959 to cities and municipalities is sufficiently plenary to cover a wide
range of subjects with the only limitation that the tax so levied is for public purposes, just and
uniform.25

As a matter of fact, even without reference to the wide latitude enjoyed by the City of Manila in
imposing licenses for revenue, it has been explicitly held in one case that "much discretion is given to
municipal corporations in determining the amount," here the license fee of the operator of a massage
clinic, even if it were viewed purely as a police power measure.26 The discussion of this particular
matter may fitly close with this pertinent citation from another decision of significance: "It is urged on
behalf of the plaintiffs-appellees that the enforcement of the ordinance could deprive them of their
lawful occupation and means of livelihood because they can not rent stalls in the public markets. But it
appears that plaintiffs are also dealers in refrigerated or cold storage meat, the sale of which outside the
city markets under certain conditions is permitted. x x x And surely, the mere fact, that some individuals
in the community may be deprived of their present business or a particular mode of earning a living
cannot prevent the exercise of the police power. As was said in a case, persons licensed to pursue
occupations which may in the public need and interest be affected by the exercise of the police power
embark in these occupations

________________

24 98 Phil. 148 (1955), citing Great Atl. & Pac. Tea Co. v. Grosjean, 301 U.S. 412, 81 L. Ed. 1193; U.S. v.
Butler, 297 U.S. 1, 80 L. Ed 477; M'Culloch v. Maryland, 4 Wheat. 316, 4 L. Ed. 579. The Lutz decision was
followed in Republic v. BacolodMurcia Milling, L-19824, July 9, 1966.

25 Ormoc Sugar Co. v. Municipal Board of Ormoc City, L-24322, July 21, 1967.

26 Physical Therapy Organization v. Municipal Board, (1957) 101 Phil. 1142.

864
864

SUPREME COURT REPORTS ANNOTATED

Ermita-Malate Hotel and Motel Operators Association, Inc. vs. City Mayor of Manila

subject to the disadvantages which may result from the legal exercise of that power."27

Nor does the restriction on the freedom to contract, insofar as the challenged ordinance makes it
unlawful for the owner, manager, keeper or duly authorized representative of any hotel, motel, lodging
house, tavern, common inn or the like, to lease or rent any room or portion thereof more than twice
every 24 hours, with a proviso that in all cases full payment shall be charged, call for a different
conclusion. Again, such a limitation cannot be viewed as a transgression against the command of due
process. It is neither unreasonable nor arbitrary. Precisely it was intended to curb the opportunity for
the immoral or illegitimate use to which such premises could be, and, according to the explanatory note,
are being devoted. How could it then be arbitrary or oppressive when there appears a correspondence
between the undeniable existence of an undesirable situation and the legislative attempt at correction.
Moreover, petitioners cannot be unaware that every regulation of conduct amounts to curtailment of
liberty which as pointed out by Justice Malcolm cannot be absolute. Thus: "One thought which runs
through all these different conceptions of liberty is plainly apparent. It is this: 'Liberty' as understood in
democracies, is not license; it is 'liberty regulated by law.' Implied in the term is restraint by law for the
good of the individual and for the greater good of the peace and order of society and the general
wellbeing. No man can do exactly as he pleases. Every man must renounce unbridled license. The right
of the individual is necessarily subject to reasonable restraint by general law for the common good. x x x
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."28

_______________

27 Co Kian & Lee Ban v. City of Manila, (1955) 96 Phil. 649, 654, citing City of New Orleans v. Stafford, 27
L. Ann. 417.

28 Rubi v. Provincial Board, (1919) 39 Phil. 660, at 706, citing Hall v. Geiger-Jones (1916), 242 U.S. 539;
Hardie-Tynes Manufacturing Co. vs. Cruz (1914), 189 Ala. 66.
865

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865

Ermita-Malate Hotel and Motel Operators Association, Inc. vs. City Mayor of Manila,

A similar observation was made by Justice Laurel: "Public welfare, then, lies at the bottom of the
enactment of said law, and the state in order to promote the general welfare may interfere with
personal liberty, 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 x x x. To this fundamental aim of our Government the rights of the individual are
subordinated. Liberty is a blessing without which life is a misery, but liberty should not be made to
prevail over authority because then society will fall into anarchy. Neither should authority be made to
prevail over liberty because then the individual will fall into slavery. The citizen should achieve the
required balance of liberty and authority in his mind through education and personal discipline, so that
there may be established the resultant equilibrium, which means peace and order and happiness for
all."29

It is noteworthy that the only decision of this Court nullifying legislation because of undue deprivation of
freedom to contract, People v. Pomar,30 no longer "retains its virtuality as a living principle. The policy
of laissez faire has to some extent given way to the assumption by the government of the right of
intervention even in contractual relations affected with public interest."31 What may be stressed
sufficiently is that if the liberty involved were freedom of the mind or the person, the standard for the
validity of governmental acts is much more rigorous and exacting, but where the liberty curtailed affects
at the most rights of property, the permissible scope of regulatory

________________

29 Calalang v. Williams (1940), 70 Phil. 726, at 733-734

30 46 Phil 440 (1924). The Philippines was then under American sovereignty, American Supreme Court
decisions hav-ing thus an obligatory effect. No alternative was left to this Court except to follow the then
controlling decision in Adkins v. Children's Hospital (1924), 261 U.S. 525, which subsequently was
overruled in West Coast Hotel v. Parrish (1937), 300 U.S. 379

31 Antamok Goldfields Mining Co. v. Court (1940) 70 Phil. 340, at 360, quoting a concurring opinion of
Justice Laurel in Ang Tibay v. Court, G.R. No. 46496.

866

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SUPREME COURT REPORTS ANNOTATED

Ermita-Malate Hotel and Motel Operators Association, Inc. vs. City Mayor of Manila

measure is wider.32 How justify then the allegation of a denial of due process?

Lastly, there is the attempt to impugn the ordinance on another due process ground by invoking the
principle of vagueness or uncertainty. It would appear/from a recital in the petition itself that what
seems to be the gravamen of the alleged grievance is that the provisions are too detailed and specific
rather than vague or uncertain. Petitioners, however, point to the requirement that a guest should give
the name, relationship, age and sex of the companion or companions as indefinite and uncertain in view
of the necessity for determining whether the companion or companions referred to are those arriving
with the customer or guest at the time of the registry or entering the room with him at about the same
time or coming at any indefinite time later to join him; a proviso in one of its sections which cast doubt
as to whether the maintenance of a restaurant in a motel is dependent upon the discretion of its owners
or operators; another proviso which from their standpoint would require a guess as to whether the "full
rate of payment" to be charged for every such lease thereof means a full day's or merely a half-day's
rate. It may be asked, do these allegations suffice to render the

_______________

32 Cf. "In weighing arguments of the parties it is important to distinguish between the due process
clause of the Fourteenth Amendment as an instrument for transmitting the principles of the First
Amendment and those cases in which it is applied for its own sake. The test of legislation which collides
with the Fourteenth Amendment, because it also collides with the principles of the First, is much more
definite than the test when only the Fourteenth is involved. Much of the vagueness of the due process
clause disappears when the specific prohibition of the First become its standard. The right of a State to
regulate, for example, a public utility may well include, so far as the due process test is concerned,
power to impose all of the restrictions which a legislature may have a 'rational basis' for adopting. But
freedoms of speech and of press, of assembly, and of worship may well be infringed on such slender
grounds. They are susceptible of restriction only to prevent an immediate danger to interests which the
state may lawfully protect." (West Virginia State Bd. of Edu. v. Barnette, (1942), 319 U.S. 624, at 639).

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Acuña vs. Yatco

ordinance void on its face for alleged vagueness or uncertainty? To ask the question is to answer it.
From Connally v. General Construction Co.33 to Adderley v. Florida,34 the principle has been
consistently upheld that what makes a statute susceptible to such a charge is an enactment either
forbidding or requiring the doing of an act that men of common intelligence must necessarily guess at its
meaning and differ as to its application. Is this the situation before us? A citation from Justice Holmes
would prove illuminating: "We agree to all the generalities about not supplying criminal laws with what
they omit, but there is no canon against using common sense in construing laws as saying what they
obviously mean."35

That is all then that this case presents. As it stands, with all due allowance for the arguments pressed
with such vigor and determination, the attack against the validity of the challenged ordinance cannot be
considered a success. Far from it. Respect for constitutional law principles so uniformly held and so
uninterruptedly adhered to by this Court compels a reversal of the appealed decision.

Wherefore, the judgment of the lower court is reversed and the injunction issued lifted forthwith. With
costs.

     Reyes, J.B.L., Makalintal, Bengzon, J.P., Zaldivar, Sanchez, Castro and Angeles, JJ., concur.
     Concepcion, C.J., and Dizon, J., are on official leave.

Judgment reversed.

___________

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Operators Association, Inc. vs. City Mayor of Manila, 20 SCRA 849, No. L-24693 July 31, 1967