Subject: Constitutional Law II

Doctrine: A law does not have to operate with equal force on all persons or things conformable. What the equal
protection requires is equality among equals
Topic: II. Fundamental Powers of the State: Police Power
Sub-topic: Limitations: Due process & Equal protection
Digester: Jensen Floren

G.R. No. 89572 December 21, 1989

Facts:
Roberto San Diego, private respondent, is a graduate of the University of the East with a degree of
Bachelor of Science in Zoology. He claims that he took the National Medical Admission Test (NMAT) three times
and flunked it as many times. He applied to take again but his application was rejected by DECS based on MECS
Order No. 12, Series of 1972, which provides;

h) A student shall be allowed only three (3) chances to take the NMAT. After three (3) successive failures,
a student shall not be allowed to take the NMAT for the fourth time.

San Diego went to RTC Valenzuela, Metro Manila to compel DECS to allow him admission to the test. In
his original petition for mandamus, he invoked his constitutional rights to academic freedom and quality
education. By agreement, he was allowed to take the scheduled NMAT. In his amended petition, he challenged
the constitutionality of MECS Order No. 12, Series of 1972 and also raised the issue on due process and equal
protection.

The RTC judge, Judge Dizon-Capulong, rendered a decision declaring that the challenged order invalid
and granted the petition of San Diego to take the NMAT for the fourth time despite failing thrice. RTC held that
San Diego had been deprived of his right to pursue a medical education through an arbitrary exercise of police
power.

Issue:
(1) Whether or not the three-flunk rule implemented by DECS is a valid exercise of police power of the state
(2) Whether or not the three-flunk rule violates the equal protection clause.

Ruling:
(1) Yes, the three-flunk rule implemented by DECS is a valid exercise of police power of the state.

The police power of the state is validly exercised if (a) the interests of the State, and (b) the means
employed are reasonably necessary to the attainment of the object sought to be accomplished and not
unduly oppressive upon individuals. Thus, the proper exercise of the police power requires the concurrence
of a lawful subject and a lawful method.

In the case at bar, the three-flunk rule is intended to insulate the medical schools and ultimately the
medical profession from the intrusion of those not qualified to be doctors. It is the right and the
responsibility of the State to insure that the medical profession is not infiltrated by incompetents to whom
 patients may unwarily entrust their lives and health. In Tablarin v. Gutierrez, the Court upheld the
constitutionality of the NMAT as a measure intended to limit the admission to medical schools only to those
who have initially proved their competence and preparation for a medical education. The regulation of
practice of medicine is a reasonable method of protecting the health and safety of the public. This regulation
includes the power to regulate admission to the ranks of those authorized to practice medicine. NMAT is a
means of achieving the country’s objective of “upgrading the selection of applicants into medical schools”
and of “improving the quality of medical education in the country” It is the responsibility of the State to
insure that the medical profession is not infiltrated by incompetents to whom patients may unwarily entrust
their lives and health. NMAT is reasonably related to the securing of the ultimate end of legislation and
regulation in this area. The end being the protection of the public from the potentially deadly effects of
incompetence and ignorance in those who would undertake to treat our bodies and minds for disease or
trauma.

Hence, three-flunk rule implemented by DECS is a valid exercise of police power of the state.

(2) No, the three-flunk rule does not violate the equal protection clause.

Section 3 of Article III of the Constitution provides that, “No person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or
property without due process of law, nor shall any person be denied the equal protection of the laws.” A law
does not have to operate with equal force on all persons or things conformable. What the equal protection
requires is equality among equals. The Constitution also provides that “every citizen has the right to choose
a profession or course of study, subject to fair, fair, reasonable and equitable admission and academic
requirements.” 1

There can be no question that a substantial distinction exists between medical students and other
students who are not subjected to the NMAT and the three-flunk rule. The medical profession directly
affects the very lives of the people, unlike other careers which, for this reason, do not require more vigilant
regulation. The accountant, for example, while belonging to an equally respectable profession, does not
hold the same delicate responsibility as that of the physician and so need not be similarly treated. There
would be unequal protection if some applicants who have passed the tests are admitted and others who
have also qualified are denied entrance. Also, The Court feels that it is not enough to simply invoke the right
to quality education as a guarantee of the Constitution: one must show that he is entitled to it because of
his preparation and promise. The private respondent has failed the NMAT five times. While his persistence is
noteworthy, to say the least, it is certainly misplaced, like a hopeless love.

Thus, the three-flunk rule does not violate the equal protection clause.

WHEREFORE, the petition is GRANTED. The decision of the respondent court dated January 13, 1989,
is REVERSED, with costs against the private respondent. It is so ordered.

1
Sec.5(3), Art. XIV of the 1987 Constitution
FULL TEXT AHEAD:

Republic of the Philippines

EN BANC

G.R. No. 89572 December 21, 1989

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION, CULTURE AND SPORTS (DECS) and DIRECTOR OF CENTER FOR
EDUCATIONAL MEASUREMENT, petitioners,
vs.
ROBERTO REY C. SAN DIEGO and JUDGE TERESITA DIZON-CAPULONG, in her capacity as
Presiding Judge of the Regional Trial Court of Valenzuela, Metro Manila, Branch 172, respondents.

Ramon M. Guevara for private respondent.

CRUZ, J.:

The issue before us is mediocrity. The question is whether a person who has thrice failed the National
Medical Admission Test (NMAT) is entitled to take it again.

The petitioner contends he may not, under its rule that-

h) A student shall be allowed only three (3) chances to take the NMAT. After three (3)
successive failures, a student shall not be allowed to take the NMAT for the fourth time.

The private respondent insists he can, on constitutional grounds.

But first the facts.

The private respondent is a graduate of the University of the East with a degree of Bachelor of Science in
Zoology. The petitioner claims that he took the NMAT three times and flunked it as many times.1 When he
applied to take it again, the petitioner rejected his application on the basis of the aforesaid rule. He then
went to the Regional Trial Court of Valenzuela, Metro Manila, to compel his admission to the test.

In his original petition for mandamus, he first invoked his constitutional rights to academic freedom and
quality education. By agreement of the parties, the private respondent was allowed to take the NMAT
scheduled on April 16, 1989, subject to the outcome of his petition. 2 In an amended petition filed with
leave of court, he squarely challenged the constitutionality of MECS Order No. 12, Series of 1972,
containing the above-cited rule. The additional grounds raised were due process and equal protection.

After hearing, the respondent judge rendered a decision on July 4, 1989, declaring the challenged order
invalid and granting the petition. Judge Teresita Dizon-Capulong held that the petitioner had been
deprived of his right to pursue a medical education through an arbitrary exercise of the police power. 3

We cannot sustain the respondent judge. Her decision must be reversed.

Perhaps the only issue that needs some consideration is whether there is some reasonable
relation between the prescribing of passing the NMAT as a condition for admission to
medical school on the one hand, and the securing of the health and safety of the general
community, on the other hand. This question is perhaps most usefully approached by
recalling that the regulation of the pratice of medicine in all its branches has long been
recognized as a reasonable method of protecting the health and safety of the public. That
the power to regulate and control the practice of medicine includes the power to regulate
admission to the ranks of those authorized to practice medicine, is also well recognized.
Thus, legislation and administrative regulations requiring those who wish to practice
medicine first to take and pass medical board examinations have long ago been recognized
as valid exercises of governmental power. Similarly, the establishment of minimum medical
educational requirements-i.e., the completion of prescribed courses in a recognized medical
school-for admission to the medical profession, has also been sustained as a legitimate
exercise of the regulatory authority of the state. What we have before us in the instant case
is closely related: the regulation of access to medical schools. MECS Order No. 52, s. 1985,
as noted earlier, articulates the rationale of regulation of this type: the improvement of the
professional and technical quality of the graduates of medical schools, by upgrading the
quality of those admitted to the student body of the medical schools. That upgrading is
sought by selectivity in the process of admission, selectivity consisting, among other things,
of limiting admission to those who exhibit in the required degree the aptitude for medical
studies and eventually for medical practice. The need to maintain, and the difficulties of
maintaining, high standards in our professional schools in general, and medical schools in
particular, in the current state of our social and economic development, are widely known.

We believe that the government is entitled to prescribe an admission test like the NMAT as
a means of achieving its stated objective of "upgrading the selection of applicants into [our]
medical schools" and of "improv[ing] the quality of medical education in the country." Given
the widespread use today of such admission tests in, for instance, medical schools in the
United States of America (the Medical College Admission Test [MCAT] and quite probably,
in other countries with far more developed educational resources than our own, and taking
into account the failure or inability of the petitioners to even attempt to prove otherwise, we
are entitled to hold that the NMAT is reasonably related to the securing of the ultimate end
of legislation and regulation in this area. That end, it is useful to recall, is the protection of
the public from the potentially deadly effects of incompetence and ignorance in those who
would undertake to treat our bodies and minds for disease or trauma.

However, the respondent judge agreed with the petitioner that the said case was not applicable. Her
reason was that it upheld only the requirement for the admission test and said nothing about the so-called
"three-flunk rule."

We see no reason why the rationale in the Tablarin case cannot apply to the case at bar. The issue raised
in both cases is the academic preparation of the applicant. This may be gauged at least initially by the
admission test and, indeed with more reliability, by the three-flunk rule. The latter cannot be regarded any
less valid than the former in the regulation of the medical profession.

There is no need to redefine here the police power of the State. Suffice it to repeat that the power is
validly exercised if (a) the interests of the public generally, as distinguished from those of a particular
class, require the interference of the State, and (b) the means employed are reasonably necessary to the
attainment of the object sought to be accomplished and not unduly oppressive upon individuals.5
In other words, the proper exercise of the police power requires the concurrence of a lawful subject and a
lawful method.

The subject of the challenged regulation is certainly within the ambit of the police power. It is the right and
indeed the responsibility of the State to insure that the medical profession is not infiltrated by
incompetents to whom patients may unwarily entrust their lives and health.

The method employed by the challenged regulation is not irrelevant to the purpose of the law nor is it
arbitrary or oppressive. The three-flunk rule is intended to insulate the medical schools and ultimately the
medical profession from the intrusion of those not qualified to be doctors.

While every person is entitled to aspire to be a doctor, he does not have a constitutional right to be a
doctor. This is true of any other calling in which the public interest is involved; and the closer the link, the
longer the bridge to one's ambition. The State has the responsibility to harness its human resources and
to see to it that they are not dissipated or, no less worse, not used at all. These resources must be applied
in a manner that will best promote the common good while also giving the individual a sense of
satisfaction.

A person cannot insist on being a physician if he will be a menace to his patients. If one who wants to be
a lawyer may prove better as a plumber, he should be so advised and adviced. Of course, he may not be
forced to be a plumber, but on the other hand he may not force his entry into the bar. By the same token,
a student who has demonstrated promise as a pianist cannot be shunted aside to take a course in
nursing, however appropriate this career may be for others.

The right to quality education invoked by the private respondent is not absolute. The Constitution also
provides that "every citizen has the right to choose a profession or course of study, subject to fair,
reasonable and equitable admission and academic requirements.6

The private respondent must yield to the challenged rule and give way to those better prepared. Where
even those who have qualified may still not be accommodated in our already crowded medical schools,
there is all the more reason to bar those who, like him, have been tested and found wanting.

The contention that the challenged rule violates the equal protection clause is not well-taken. A law does
not have to operate with equal force on all persons or things to be conformable to Article III, Section 1 of
the Constitution.

There can be no question that a substantial distinction exists between medical students and other
students who are not subjected to the NMAT and the three-flunk rule. The medical profession directly
affects the very lives of the people, unlike other careers which, for this reason, do not require more vigilant
regulation. The accountant, for example, while belonging to an equally respectable profession, does not
hold the same delicate responsibility as that of the physician and so need not be similarly treated.

There would be unequal protection if some applicants who have passed the tests are admitted and others
who have also qualified are denied entrance. In other words, what the equal protection requires is equality
among equals.

The Court feels that it is not enough to simply invoke the right to quality education as a guarantee of the
Constitution: one must show that he is entitled to it because of his preparation and promise. The private
respondent has failed the NMAT five times. 7 While his persistence is noteworthy, to say the least, it is
certainly misplaced, like a hopeless love.

No depreciation is intended or made against the private respondent. It is stressed that a person who does
not qualify in the NMAT is not an absolute incompetent unfit for any work or occupation. The only
inference is that he is a probably better, not for the medical profession, but for another calling that has not
excited his interest.

In the former, he may be a bungler or at least lackluster; in the latter, he is more likely to succeed and
may even be outstanding. It is for the appropriate calling that he is entitled to quality education for the full
harnessing of his potentials and the sharpening of his latent talents toward what may even be a brilliant
future.

We cannot have a society of square pegs in round holes, of dentists who should never have left the farm
and engineers who should have studied banking and teachers who could be better as merchants.

It is time indeed that the State took decisive steps to regulate and enrich our system of education by
directing the student to the course for which he is best suited as determined by initial tests and
evaluations. Otherwise, we may be "swamped with mediocrity," in the words of Justice Holmes, not
because we are lacking in intelligence but because we are a nation of misfits.

WHEREFORE, the petition is GRANTED. The decision of the respondent court dated January 13, 1989,
is REVERSED, with costs against the private respondent. It is so ordered.

Fernan, C.J., Narvasa Melencio-Herrera, Gutierrez, Jr., Paras, Feliciano, Gancayco, Padilla, Bidin,
Sarmiento, Cortes, Griño-Aquino, Medialdea and Regalado, JJ., concur.

Footnotes

1 A check with the Department of Education showed that the private respondent had
actually taken and flunked four tests already and was applying to take a fifth examination. 2
He also failed this fifth test.

2 Rollo, pp. 26-34.

3 152 SCRA 730.

4 US vs. Toribio, 15 Phil. 85; Fabie v. City of Manila, 21 Phil. 486; Ynot v. Intermediate
Appellate Court, 148 SCRA 659.

5 Article XIV, Section 5(3).

6 Footnote Nos. 1 & 2.