Sec. 1.

  JUDICIAL POWER

Scope:

1. Judicial power is the authority to settle justiciable controversies or disputes involving rights that are enforceable and
demandable before the courts of justice or the redress of wrongs for violations of such rights.

2.  Vested in the Supreme Court and such lower courts as may be established by law.

3. Since the courts are given ‘judicial power’ and nothing more, courts may neither attempt to assume or be compelled to
perform non-judicial functions.  They may not be charged with administrative functions except when reasonably incidental to
the fulfillment of their duties.

4.  In order that courts may exercise this power, there must exist the following:

1. An actual controversy with legally demandable and enforceable rights;

5.  Judicial power cannot be exercised in vacuum.  Without any laws from which rights arise and which are violated, there can
be no recourse to the courts.

6.  The courts cannot be asked for advisory opinions.

7.  Judicial power includes:

1. The duty of the courts to settle actual controversies involving rights which are legally demandable and enforceable; and

1. To determine whether or not there has been a grave abuse of discretion amounting to lack or excess of jurisdiction on
the part of any branch or instrumentality of the government.

Political Questions:

1.  A ‘political question’ is one the resolution of which has been vested by the Constitution exclusively in either the people, in
the exercise of their sovereign capacity, or in which full discretionary authority has been delegated to a co-equal branch of the
Government.

2.  Thus, while courts can determine questions of legality with respect to governmental action, they cannot review government
policy and the wisdom thereof, for these questions have been vested by the Constitution in the Executive and Legislative
Departments.

JUDICIAL REVIEW

Definition

1.  Judicial Review is the power of the SC to declare a law, treaty, ordinance etc. unconstitutional.

2.    Lower courts may also exercise the power of judicial review, subject to the appellate jurisdiction of the SC.

3.   Only SC decisions are precedent, and thus, only SC decisions are binding on all.

Requisites                                            Code:   [A R S Co R]

1.  An ACTUAL CASE calling for the exercise of judicial power

3.  The person challenging the governmental act must have ‘STANDING’, i.e. a personal and substantial interest in the case
such that he has sustained, or will sustain, direct injury as a result of its enforcement.

4.  The question of Constitutionality must be raised in the first instance, or at the earliest opportunity.

5.  Resolution of the issue of constitutionality is unavoidable or is the very lis mota.

Effect of a declaration of unconstitutionality:

1.  Prior to the declaration that a particular law is unconstitutional, it is considered as an ‘operative fact’ which at that time had
to be complied with.

2.  Thus, vested rights may have been acquired under such law before it was declared unconstitutional.

3. These rights are not prejudiced by the subsequent declaration that the law is unconstitutional.

Sec. 14.  DECISIONS

1.  Decisions MUST state clearly and distinctly the facts and the law on which it is based.

2.  Refusal to give due course to petitions for review and motions for reconsideration must state the legal basis for such refusal.

3.  Memorandum decisions, where the appellate court adopts the findings of fact and law of the lower court, are allowed as long
as the decision adopted by reference is attached to the Memorandum for easy reference.

4.  These rules only apply to courts.  They do not apply to quasi-judicial or administrative bodies nor to military tribunals.

CITIZENSHIP

Who are classified as Philippine citizens?

Under the 1987 Philippine Constitution, Article IV, Section 1, it states that:

Section 1 The following are citizens of the Philippines:

1. Those who are citizens of the Philippines at the time of the adoption of this Constitution;
2. Those whose fathers or mothers are citizens of the Philippines;
3. Those born before January 17, 1973, of Filipino mothers, who elect Philippine citizenship upon reaching the
age of majority; and
4. Those who are naturalized in accordance of law

What are the modes in acquiring Philippine citizenship?

There are two (2) generally recognized forms of acquiring Philippine citizenship:

1. Filipino by birth
1. Jus soli (right of soil) which is the legal principle that a person’s nationality at birth is determined by
the place of birth (e.g. the territory of a given state)
2. Jus sanguinis (right of blood) which is the legal principle that, at birth, an individual acquires the
nationality of his/her natural parent/s. The Philippine adheres to this principle.
 2. Filipino by naturalization which is the judicial act of adopting a foreigner and clothing him with the privileges
of a native-born citizen. It implies the renunciation of a former nationality and the fact of entrance into a
similar relation towards a new body politic (2Am.Jur.561,par.188).

I am a natural born Filipino who was naturalized in another country; can I re-acquire my Filipino citizenship without
losing current my citizenship?

Former natural-born Filipino who has been naturalized in another country who wishes to retain or re-acquire their Philippine
citizenship may apply for Retention/Re-acquisition of Philippine Citizenship pursuant to RA 9225.

Can I include my dependents for my application of RA 9225?

Children below 18 years of age may be included as dependents to your application for RA 9225.

I am a foreign national with a Filipino parent; can I apply for a Filipino citizenship?

Foreign nationals who were born outside of the Philippines to a Filipino parent (Note: the parent/s must be Philippine citizen/s
at the time of the applicant’s birth) may apply for Recognition as a Filipino citizen, without losing the current citizenship of the
applicant.

National Economy and Patrimony

May a corporation own lands?

It depends.

1. Corporation sole can acquire by purchase a parcel of private agricultural land without violating the constitutional
prohibition since it has no nationality.

2. Corporation

     a. Private Lands

          i. At least 60% Filipino (Sec. 7, Art. XII, 1987 Constitution)

          ii. Restricted as to extent reasonably necessary to enable it to carry out purpose for which it was created

          iii. If engaged in agriculture, it is restricted to 1,024 hectares.

     b. Patrimonial property of the State (Sec. 3, Art. XII, 1987 Constitution)

          i. Lease (cannot own land of the public domain) for 25 years renewable for another 25 years

          ii. Limited to 1,000 hectares iii. Applies to both Filipinos and foreign corporations.

May a corporation apply for registration of a parcel of land

Yes, through lease not exceeding 1,000 hectares. Such lease shall not exceed twenty five (25) years and renewable for not more
than twenty five (25) years. (Sec. 3, Art. XII, 1987 Constitution)

Note: Determinative of this issue is the character of the parcels of land – whether they were still public or already private –
when the registration proceedings were commenced. If they are already private lands, the constitutional prohibition against
acquisitions by a private corporation would not apply.

Modes of losing Filipino Citizenship

(2) by express renunciation of citizenship;

(3) by subscribing to an oath of allegiance to support the Constitution or laws of a foreign country.

Philippine citizenship may be reacquired by direct act of Congress, by naturalization, or by repatriation. Naturalization where an
alien covets a first-time entry into Philippine political life, in repatriation the applicant is a former natural-born Filipino who is
merely seeking to reacquire his previous citizenship.

Under the Jones Law

A native-born inhabitant of the Philippines was deemed to be a citizen of the Philippines as of 11 April 1899 if he was 1) a
subject of Spain on 11 April 1899, 2) residing in the Philippines on said date, and, 3) since that date, not a citizen of some other
country.

While there was, at one brief time, divergent views on whether or not jus soli was a mode of acquiring citizenship, the 1935
Constitution brought to an end to any such link with common law, by adopting, once and for all, jus sanguinis or blood
relationship as being the basis of Filipino citizenship -

Section 1, Article III, 1935 Constitution - The following are citizens of the Philippines

(1) Those who are citizens of the Philippine Islands at the time of the adoption of this Constitution

(2) Those born in the Philippines Islands of foreign parents who, before the adoption of this Constitution, had been elected to
public office in the Philippine Islands.

(3) Those whose fathers are citizens of the Philippines.

(4) Those whose mothers are citizens of the Philippines and upon reaching the age of majority, elect Philippine citizenship.

(5) Those who are naturalized in accordance with law."

Section 1, Article III, 1973 Constitution - The following are citizens of the Philippines

(1) Those who are citizens of the Philippines at the time of the adoption of this Constitution.

(2) Those whose fathers or mothers are citizens of the Philippines.

(3) Those who elect Philippine citizenship pursuant to the provisions of the Constitution of nineteen hundred and thirty-five.

(4) Those who are naturalized in accordance with law.

For good measure, Section 2 of the same article also further provided that – “A female citizen of the Philippines who marries an
alien retains her Philippine citizenship, unless by her act or omission she is deemed, under the law to have renounced her
citizenship.”

The 1987 Constitution generally adopted the provisions of the 1973 Constitution, except for subsection (3) thereof that aimed to
correct the irregular situation generated by the questionable proviso in the 1935 Constitution.

Section I, Article IV, 1987 Constitution now provides the following are citizens of the Philippines

(1) Those who are citizens of the Philippines at the time of the adoption of this Constitution. "(2) Those whose fathers or
mothers are citizens of the Philippines.
(3) Those born before January 17, 1973 of Filipino mothers, who elect Philippine citizenship upon reaching the age of majority;
and

(4) Those who are naturalized in accordance with law.

The term “natural-born citizens,” is defined to include “those who are citizens of the Philippines from birth without having to
perform any act to acquire or perfect their Philippine citizenship.”