62 SCRA 275 # Political Law # De Jure vs De Facto Government # Marcos as a De

Jure Pre sident Under the 1973 Constitution

AQUINO v COMELEC

In January 1975, a petition for prohibition was filed to seek the

nullification of some Presidential Decrees issued by then President
Ferdinand Marcos. It was a lleged that Marcos does not hold any legal
office nor possess any lawful authori ty under either the 1935
Constitution or the 1973 Constitution and therefore has
no authority to issue the questioned proclamations, decrees and

orders. ISSUE: Whether or not the Marcos government is a lawful

government.

HELD: Yes. First of, this is actually a quo warranto proceedings and
Benigno Aqu ino, Jr. et al, have no legal personality to sue because
they have no claim to t he office of the president. Only the Solicitor
General or the person who asserts
title to the same office can legally file such a quo warranto petition.

On the issue at bar, the Supreme Court affirmed the validity of Martial
Law Proc lamation No. 1081 issued on September 22, 1972 by President
Marcos because there was no arbitrariness in the issuance of said
proclamation pursuant to the 1935 Constitution; that the factual bases
(the circumstances of lawlessness then pres
ent) had not disappeared but had even been exacerbated; that the
question as to the validity of the Martial Law proclamation has been
foreclosed by Section 3(2)
of Article XVII of the 1973 Constitution.

Under the (1973) Constitution, the President, if he so desires; can

continue in office beyond 1973. While his term of office under the 1935
Constitution should have terminated on December 30, 1973, by the general
referendum of July 27-28, 1 973, the sovereign people expressly
authorized him to continue in office even be yond 1973 under the 1973
Constitution (which was validly ratified on January 17,
1973 by the sovereign people) in order to finish the reforms he
initiated under Martial Law; and as aforestated, as this was the
decision of the people, in who
m #sovereignty resides . . . and all government authority emanates . . .,# it
is the
refore beyond the scope of judicial inquiry. The logical consequence
therefore i s that President Marcos is a de jure President of the
Republic of the Philippine s.