EASTERN SHIPPING LINES, INC.

, petitioner vs. PHILIPPINE OVERSEAS EMPLOYMENT

ADMINISTRATION (POEA), MINISTER OF LABOR AND EMPLOYMENT, HEARING
OFFICER ABDUL BASAR and KATHLEEN D. SACO, respondents.
G.R. No. 76633 October 18, 1988

Facts:  Vitaliano Saco, husband of the respondent was Chief Officer of the M/V Eastern
Polaris when he was killed in an accident in Tokyo Japan, March 15, 1985. His widow sued
for damages under Executive Order No. 797 and Memorandum Circular No. 2 of the POEA.
Thus she was awarded the sum of P192,000 by the POEA.

Issues:    1) Whether or not the POEA has jurisdiction over the case, as the husband was
not an overseas worker as contended by the petitioner?
            2) Is Memorandum Circular No.2 of the POEA which prescribed a standard contract to
be adopted by both foreign and domestic shipping companies in hiring of Filipino seamen for
overseas employment violative of the principle of non-delegation of powers?
            3) Has the petitioner been denied due process because the same POEA that issued
Memorandum Circular No. 2 has also sustained and applied it?

Rulings:  1) Yes. Saco was an overseas employee of the petitioner at the time he met with
the fatal accident in Japan, for he died while under a contract of employment with the
petitioner and alongside petitioner’s vessel while in a foreign country. Overseas employment
as defined under the 1985 Rules and Regulations on Overseas Employment is employment
of a worker outside the Philippines, including employment in board vessels plying
international water, covered by a valid contract.
2) Memorandum Circular No. 2 is an administrative regulation, which has the force
and effect of law. The power of the POEA in requiring the model contract is not unlimited as
there is a sufficient standard guiding the delegated in the exercise of the said authority. It is
discoverable in the executive order itself which in creating the POEA mandated it to protect
the rights of overseas Filipino workers to fair and equitable employment practices.
3) No. Administrative agencies are vested with two basic powers, the quasi-legislative
and the quasi-judicial. The first enables them to promulgate implementing rules and
regulations, and the second enables them to interpret and apply such regulations. Such an
arrangement has been accepted as a fact of life of modern governments and cannot be
considered violative of due process as long as the cardinal rights laid down by Justice Laurel
in the landmark case of Ang Tibay v. Court of Industrial Relations are observed.

DEAN JOSE JOYA, CARMEN GUERRERO NAKPIL, ARMIDA SIGUION REYNA,

PROF. RICARTE M. PURUGANAN, IRMA POTENCIANO, ADRIAN CRISTOBAL, INGRID
SANTAMARIA, CORAZON FIEL, AMBASSADOR E. AGUILAR CRUZ, FLORENCIO R.
JACELA, JR., MAURO MALANG, FEDERICO AGUILAR ALCUAZ, LUCRECIA R.
URTULA, SUSANO GONZALES, STEVE SANTOS, EPHRAIM SAMSON, SOLER
SANTOS, ANG KIU KOK, KERIMA POLOTAN, LUCRECIA KASILAG, LIGAYA DAVID
PEREZ, VIRGILIO ALMARIO, LIWAYWAY A. ARCEO, CHARITO PLANAS, HELENA
BENITEZ, ANNA MARIA L. HARPER, ROSALINDA OROSA, SUSAN CALO MEDINA,
PATRICIA RUIZ, BONNIE RUIZ, NELSON NAVARRO, MANDY NAVASERO, ROMEO
SALVADOR, JOSEPHINE DARANG, AND PAZ VETO PLANAS, petitioners, VS.
PRESIDENTIAL COMMISSION ON GOOD GOVERNMENT (PCGG), CATALINO
MACARAIG, JR., IN HIS OFFICIAL CAPACITY, AND/OR THE EXECUTIVE SECRETARY,
AND CHAIRMAN MATEO A.T. CAPARAS, respondents. 
 G.R. NO. 96541, AUGUST 24, 1993

Facts:  Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) Chairman Mateo A.T.

Caparas entered into a Consignment Agreement with Christie’s of New York with the
authorization of President Corazon C. Aquino consigning to CHRISTIE’S for sale at public
auction the eighty-two (82) Old Masters Paintings found at the Metropolitan Museum of
Manila as well as the silverware contained in seventy-one (71) cartons in the custody of the
Central Bank of the Philippines. Petitioners prayed for prohibition to enjoin respondent public
officials from holding the auction sale of the artworks on January 11, 1991.

Issue:  Whether the instant petition complies with the legal requisites for the Court to
exercise its power of judicial review over the case?

Ruling:  The requisites of a judicial inquiry are: 1) There must be an actual case of

controversy; 2) The question of constitutionality must be raised by the proper party; 3) The
constitutional question must be raised at the earliest possible opportunity; and 4) The decision
of the constitutional question must be necessary to the determination of the case itself. In the
case at bar, it becomes moot and academic, since the purpose of the petition from holding the
auction sale of the artworks on a particular date – January 11 1991 is long past.  The
petitioners are not the proper parties, since they are not the true owners of the said paintings
and silverware. The paintings were donated by private persons from different parts of the
world, which legally belongs to the foundation or corporation or the members of the
Metropolitan Museum of Manila Foundation. Same goes on the pieces of antique silverware
which were given to the Marcos couple as gifts from friends.