G.R. No.

L-5 September 17, 1945

CO KIM CHAM vs.

EUSEBIO VALDEZ TAN KEH and ARSENIO P. DIZON

FACTS:

Co Kim Cham had a pending civil case initiated during the Japanese occupation with the CFI of Manila. After the
liberation of the Manila and the American occupation, respondent Judge Dizon refused to continue hearings, saying
that a proclamation issued by General Douglas MacArthur had invalidated and nullified all judicial proceedings and
judgments of the courts of the defunct Republic of the Philippines.

ISSUE:

Whether or not the judicial acts and proceedings made under Japanese occupation were valid and remained valid
even after the American occupation.

RULE:

All acts and proceedings of the legislative, executive, and judicial departments of a de facto government are good
and valid. If [the governments established in these Islands under the names of the Philippine Executive Commission
and Republic of the Philippines during the Japanese military occupation or regime were de facto governments], the
judicial acts and proceedings of those governments remain good and valid even after the liberation or reoccupation of
the Philippines by the American and Filipino forces.

APPLICATION:

The governments by the Philippine Executive Commission and the Republic of the Philippines during the Japanese
military occupation being de facto governments, it necessarily follows that the judicial acts and proceedings of the
courts of justice of those governments, which are not of a political complexion, were good and valid, and, by virtue of
the well-known principle of postliminy in international law, remained good and valid after the liberation or reoccupation
of the Philippines by the American and Filipino forces under the leadership of General Douglas MacArthur.

CONCLUSION:

It should be presumed that it was not the intention of General MacArthur, in using the phrase, “processes of any other
government” in the said proclamation, to refer to judicial processes, in violation of said principles of international law.