CONSTRUCTION AND

INTERPRETATION OF
WORDS AND
PHRASES
1. When the Law Does not Distinguish, Courts should not Distinguish
2. Exceptions in the Statute
3. General and Special Terms
4. Ejusdem Generis
5. Expressio Unius Est Exclusio Alterius
6. Noscitur A Sociis
7. Use of Negative Words
8. “May” and “Shall”
9. “Must”
10.“And” and “Or”
11.Computation of Time
12.Function of the Proviso
When the Law Does Not
Distinguish, Courts
Should Not Distinguish
Ubi lex non distinguii nec nos distinguere debemos
 Section 8(g) of R.A. No. 9262
■ SECTION 8. Protection Orders.- A protection order is an order issued under this act for the purpose
of preventing further acts of violence against a woman or her child specified in Section 5 of this
Act and granting other necessary relief. The relief granted under a protection order serve the
purpose of safeguarding the victim from further harm, minimizing any disruption in the victim's
daily life, and facilitating the opportunity and ability of the victim to independently regain control
over her life. The provisions of the protection order shall be enforced by law enforcement agencies.
The protection orders that may be issued under this Act are the barangay protection order (BPO),
temporary protection order (TPO) and permanent protection order (PPO). The protection orders that
may be issued under this Act shall include any, some or all of the following reliefs:
xxx
(g) Directing the respondent to provide support to the woman and/or her child if entitled to legal
support. Notwithstanding other laws to the contrary, the court shall order an appropriate
percentage of the income or salary of the respondent to be withheld regularly by the
respondent's employer for the same to be automatically remitted directly to the woman. Failure to
remit and/or withhold or any delay in the remittance of support to the woman and/or her child
without justifiable cause shall render the respondent or his employer liable for indirect contempt
of court;

REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES, vs. DAISY R. YAHON,

Section 14 of R.A. No. 7166
Statement of Contributions and Expenditures: Effect of Failure to File
Statement. Every candidate and treasurer of the political party SHALL,
within thirty (30) days after the day of the election, file in duplicate with
the offices of the Commission the full, true and itemized statement of all
contributions and expenditures in connection with the election.
No person elected to any public office shall enter upon the duties of his
office until he has filed the statement of contributions and expenditures
herein required.
The same prohibition shall apply if the political party which nominated
the winning candidate fails to file the statement required herein within
the period prescribed by this Act.
…xxx…
JUANITO C. PILAR, vs. COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS,
Section 4 of the Probation Law, as
amended by P.D. No, 1990
Section 4. Grant of Probation. Subject to the provisions of this Decree, the trial
court may, after it shall have convicted and sentenced a defendant, and upon
application by said defendant within the period for perfecting an appeal,
suspend the execution of the sentence and place the defendant on probation
for such period and upon such terms and conditions as it may deem
best; Provided, That no application for probation shall be entertained or granted
if the defendant has perfected the appeal from the judgment of conviction.
Probation may be granted whether the sentence imposes a term of
imprisonment or a fine only. An application for probation shall be filed with the
trial court. The filing of the application shall be deemed a waiver of the right to
appeal.
An order granting or denying probation shall not be appealable.

PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, vs. HON. JUDGE ANTONIO C. EVANGELISTA

When the Law Does Not
Make Any Exception, the
Courts May Not Except
UNLESS Compelling Reasons Exist to Justify It
BP Blg. 22
■ THE SPEAKER. The Gentleman from Basilan is recognized.
■ MR. TUPAY. Parliamentary inquiry, Mr. Speaker.
■ THE SPEAKER. The Gentleman may proceed.
■ MR. TUPAY. Mr. Speaker, it has been mentioned by one of the Gentlemen who
interpellated that any check may be involved, like U.S. dollar checks, etc. We are
talking about checks in our country. There are U.S. dollar checks, checks, in our
currency, and many others.
■ THE SPEAKER. The Sponsor may answer that inquiry.
■ MR. MENDOZA. The bill refers to any check, Mr. Speaker, and this check may be a
check in whatever currency. This would not even be limited to U.S. dollar checks. The
check may be in French francs or Japanese yen or deutschunorhs. (sic.) If drawn,
then this bill will apply.
■ MR TUPAY. So it include U.S. dollar checks.
■ MR. MENDOZA. Yes, Mr. Speaker.
CECILIO S. DE VILLA, vs. THE HONORABLE COURT OF APPEALS
 General and
Special Terms
 Section 2, Republic Act No. 601
■ SEC, 2. The tax collected under the preceding section on foreign exchange used for
the payment of the cost, transportation and/or other charges incident to importation
into the Philippines of rice, flour, canned milk, cattle and beef, canned fish, soya
beans, butterfat, chocolate, malt syrup, tapioca, stabilizer and flavors, vitamin
concentrate, fertilizer, poultry feed; textbooks, reference books, and supplementary
readers approved by the Board of Textbooks and/or established public or private
educational institutions; newsprint imported by or for publishers for use in the
publication of books, pamphlets, magazines and newspapers; book paper, book
cloth, chip board imported for the printing of supplementary readers (approved by
the Board of Textbooks) to be supplied to the Government under contracts perfected
before the approval of this Act, the quantity thereof to be certified by the Director of
Printing; anesthetics, anti-biotics, vitamins, hormones, x-ray films, laboratory
reagents, biologicals, dental supplies, and pharmaceutical drugs necessary for
compounding medicines; medical and hospital supplies listed in the appendix to this
Act, in quantities to be certified by the Director of Hospitals as actually needed by the
hospitals applying therefor; drugs and medicines listed in the said appendix; …xxx..
COLGATE PALMOLIVE PHILS. INC. V. HON. PEDRO GIMENEZ
Ejusdem Generis
 Executive Order No. 1
Sec. 2.The Commission shall be charged
with the task of assisting the President
in regard to the following matters:
(a)The recovery of all ill-gotten wealth
accumulated by former President
Ferdinand E. Marcos, his immediate
family, relatives, subordinates and
close associates, whether located in
the Philippines or abroad, including
the takeover or sequestration of all
business enterprises and entities
owned or controlled by them, during
his administration, directly or
through nominees, by taking undue
advantage of their public office
and/or using their powers,
authority, influence, connections or
relationship.
Executive Order No. 2
NOW, THEREFORE, I, Corazon C.
Aquino, President of Philippines,
hereby;
(1) Freeze all assets and
properties in the Philippines
in which former President
Marcos and/or his wife, Mrs.
Imelda Romualdez Marcos,
their close relatives,
subordinates, business
associates, dummies, agents,
or nominees have any
interest or participation;
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES, vs. HON. EUTROPIO MIGRINO
Presidential Decree No. 772
SECTION 1. Any person who, with the use of force,
intimidation or threat, or taking advantage of the
absence or tolerance of the landowner, succeeds in
occupying or possessing the property of the latter
against his will for residential, commercial or any
other purposes, shall be punished by an
imprisonment ranging from six months to one year or
a fine of not less than one thousand nor more than
five thousand pesos at the discretion of the court,
with subsidiary imprisonment in case of insolvency.
PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES v. HON. VICENTE B. ECHAVEZ
Ordinance No. LXIX (Revised Omnibus Tax: Ordinance of the City of Cebu)
Section 42. Rate of Tax. - There shall be paid to the Office of the
City Treasurer by the proprietors, lessees or operators of theaters,
cinemas, concert halls, circuses and other similar places of
entertainment, an amusement tax at the rate of thirty percent
(30%), golf courses and polo grounds at the rate of twenty percent
(20% ), of their gross receipts on entrance, playing green, and/or
admission fees; PROVIDED, HOWEVER, That in case of movie
premieres or gala shows for the benefit of a charitable
institution/foundation or any government institution where higher
admission fees are charged, the aforementioned rate of thirty
percent (30%) shall be levied against the gross receipts based on
the regular admission fees, subject to the approval of the
Sangguniang Panlungsod; ..XXX…
ALTA VISTA GOLF AND COUNTRY CLUB V. THE CITY OF CEBU
Section 140 of the Local Government Code
Sec. 140. Amusement Tax. - (a) The province
may levy an amusement tax to be collected
from the proprietors, lessees, or operators of
theaters, cinemas, concert halls, circuses,
boxing stadia, and other places of
amusement at a rate of not more than thirty
percent (30%) of the gross receipts from
admission fees.
ALTA VISTA GOLF AND COUNTRY CLUB V. THE CITY OF CEBU
Expressio Unius Est
Exclusio Alterius
Section 1 of RA 3753
Section 1. The barrios of Capariaan, Biding,
Escoda, Culao, Alabaan, Ragas and Agunit in
the Municipality of Dingras, Province of Ilocos
Norte, are hereby separated from the said
municipality and constituted into a new and
separate municipality to be known as the
Municipality of Marcos, with the following
boundaries;

…xxx; on the East, by the Ilocos Norte-Mt. Province

boundary;… xxx
MUNICIPALITY OF NUEVA ERA, ILOCOS NORTE v. MUNICIPALITY OF MARCOS
Noscitur A Sociis
■ Section 13(3) Article XI of the ■ Section 24 of RA 6770
1987 Constitution

Section 13. The Office of the Section 24. Preventive Suspension. —

Ombudsman shall have the following The Ombudsman or his Deputy may
powers, functions, and duties: preventively suspend any officer or
…xxx… employee under his authority pending
3. Direct the officer an investigation, if in his judgment the
concerned to take evidence of guilt is strong, and (a) the
appropriate action against charge against such officer or
a public official or employee involves dishonesty,
oppression or grave misconduct or
employee at fault, and neglect in the performance of duty; (b)
recommend his removal, the charges would warrant removal
suspension, demotion, from the service; or (c) the
fine, censure, or respondent's continued stay in office
prosecution, and ensure may prejudice the case filed against
compliance therewith. him.
BUENASEDA V. FLAVIER
Negative Words
Sec. 4 1985 Rules on Criminal Procedure,

SEC. 4. Pre-trial agreements must be signed.

— No agreement or admission made or
entered during the pre-trial conference shall
be used in evidence against the accused
unless reduced to writing and signed by him
and his counsel.

FULE v. COURT OF APPEALS

May and Shall
Section 45 of R.A. No. 296,

Courts of First Instance shall decide such

appealed cases on the basis of the evidence
and records transmitted from the city or
municipal courts: Provided, That the parties
may submit memoranda and/or brief with oral
argument if so requested ...

FULE v. COURT OF APPEALS

Section 20 (5) of R.A. No. 6770
SEC. 20. Exceptions. – The Office of the
Ombudsman may not conduct the necessary
investigation of any administrative act or
omission complained of if it believes that:
xxx

(5) The complaint was filed after one year

from the occurrence of the act or omission
complained of. OFFICE OF THE OMBUDSMAN v. SAHAGUN
Must
Section 46 of the Corporation Code
Sec. 46. Adoption of by-laws. — Every corporation formed
under this Code, must within one (1) month after receipt of
official notice of the issuance of its certificate of
incorporation by the Securities and Exchange Commission,
adopt a code of by-laws for its government not inconsistent
with this Code. …xxx…

Notwithstanding the provisions of the preceding paragraph,

by-laws may be adopted and filed prior to incorporation; in
such case, such by-laws shall be approved and signed by all
the incorporators and submitted to the Securities and
Exchange Commission, together with the articles of
incorporation.
..xxx..
LOYOLA GRAND VILLAS HOMEOWNERS (SOUTH) ASSOCIATION, INC v. CA
And/Or
Sec. 19. Existing Provident/Housing Plans. — An employer
and/or employee-group who, at the time this Decree becomes
effective have their own provident and/or employee-housing
plans, may register with the Fund, for any of the following
purposes:

(a) For annual certification of waiver or suspension from

coverage or participation in the Fund, which shall be granted
on the basis of verification that the wavier or suspension does
not contravene any effective collective bargaining agreement
and that the features of the plan or plans are superior to the
Fund or continue to be so; or

(b) For integration with the Fund, either fully or partially.

Only
Article 223 of the Labor Code
ART. 223. Appeal.—Decisions, awards or orders of the
Labor Arbiter are final and executory unless appealed
to the Commission by any or both parties within ten
(10) calendar days from receipt of such decisions,
awards, or orders. …

In case of a judgment involving a monetary award, an

appeal by the employer may be perfected only upon
the posting of a cash or surety bond issued by a
reputable bonding company duly accredited by the
Commission in the amount equivalent to the monetary
award in the judgment appealed from.
ROOS INDUSTRIAL CONSTRUCTION, INC v. NLRC
Computation of Time
First ■ 1 YEAR : 365 DAYS

Exclude
■ 1 MONTH : 30 DAYS

■ 1 WEEK : 7 DAYS
Last ■ 1 DAY : 24 HOURS
Include ■ 1 NIGHT : SUNSET TO SUNRISE
Section 3 of RA 3135
Sec. 3. Notice shall be given by posting
notices of the sale for not less than twenty
days in at least three public places of the
municipality or city where the property is
situated, and if such property is worth more
than four hundred pesos, such notice shall
also be published once a week for at least
three consecutive weeks in a newspaper of
general circulation in the municipality or city.
PNB v. CA
Function of the Proviso
Article 280 of the Labor Code
Art. 280. Regular and Casual Employment — The provisions of the
written agreement to the contrary notwithstanding and regardless of the
oral agreement of the parties, and employment shall be deemed to be
regular where the employee has been engaged to perform activities which
are usually necessary or desirable in the usual business or trade of the
employer, except where the employment has been fixed for a specific
project or undertaking the completion or termination of which has been
determined at the time of the engagement of the employee or where the
work or services to be performed is seasonal in nature and the
employment is for the duration of the season.

An employment shall be deemed to be casual if it is not covered by the

preceding paragraph: Provided, That, any employee who has rendered at
least one year service, whether such service is continuous or broken, shall
be considered a regular employee with respect to the activity in which he
is employed and his employment shall continue while such actually exists.

ALU-TUCP, v. NLRC