CONSTI

II TOPIC COMFORT WOMEN; POLITICAL QUESTION

G.R. NO. 162230
VINUYA, ET AL. V EXECUTIVE SECRETARY DATE OF PROMULGATION APRIL 28, 2010
PONENTE BERSAMIN, J.
FACTS
Petitioners are all members of the MALAYA LOLAS, an organization established for the purpose of
providing aid to the victims of rape by Japanese military forces in the Philippines during the Second
World War. Petitioners claim that since 1998, they have approached the Executive Department
through the DOJ, DFA, and OSG, requesting assistance in filing a claim against the Japanese officials
and military officers who ordered the establishment of the “comfort women” stations in the
Philippines. However, officials of the Executive Department declined to assist the petitioners, and
took the position that the individual claims of the comfort women for compensation had already been
fully satisfied by Japan’s compliance with the Peace Treaty between the Philippines and Japan. In
addition, respondents argue that the apologies made by Japan8 have been satisfactory, and that Japan
had addressed the individual claims of the women through the atonement money paid by the Asian
Women’s Fund.

ISSUE/S
Whether or not the Executive Department committed grave abuse of discretion in not espousing
petitioners’ claims for official apology and other forms of reparations against Japan.

RULING
The petition lacks merit.
The SC held that this particular controversy involving foreign relations falls under political questions,
which cannot be subject to judicial inquiry or decision. In this case, the Executive Department has
already decided that it is to the best interest of the country to waive all claims of its nationals for
reparations against Japan in the Treaty of Peace of 1951. The wisdom of such decision is not for the
courts to question neither could petitioners assail the said determination by the Executive
Department. In addition, the Executive Department has determined that taking up petitioners’ cause
would be inimical to the country’s foreign policy interests, and could disrupt Philippines’ relations
with Japan, thereby creating serious implications for stability in this region. For the SC to overturn the
Executive Department’s determination would mean an assessment of the foreign policy judgments by
a coordinate political branch to which authority to make that judgment has been constitutionally
committed.

DOCTRINE
Political question- refer “to those questions which, under the Constitution, are to be decided by the
people in their sovereign capacity, or in regard to which full discretionary authority has been
delegated to the legislative or executive branch of the government. It is concerned with issues
dependent upon the wisdom, not legality of a particular measure.”

WHEREFORE, the petition is DISMISSED.