Bill Of Rights Flashcards
Article III of the 1987 Philippine Constitution
Bill of Rights
The written instrument enacted by direct action of the people by which the fundamental powers of the government are established, limited and defined, and by which those powers are distributed among the several departments for their safe and useful exercise for the benefit of the body politic.
Constitution
establishes the relationship of the individual to the State and defines the rights of the individual by limiting the lawful powers of the State.
Art. III, Bill of Rights
is the authority to enact legislation that may interfere with personal liberty or property in order to promote the general welfare (PASEI v. Drilon G.R. No. 81958 June 30, 1988).
Police Power
is the power of the nation or a sovereign state to take, or to authorize the taking of, private property for a public use without the owner’s consent, conditioned upon payment of just compensation ( Brgy. Sindalan v CA G.R. No. 150640 March 22, 2007)
Eminent Domain
It is a necessary burden to preserve the State’s sovereignty and a means to give the citizenry an army to resist an aggression, a navy to defend its shores from invasion, a corps of civil servants to serve, public improvement designed for the enjoyment of the citizenry and those which come within the State’s territory, and facilities and protection which a government is supposed to provide (Phil Guaranty Co. v. CIR G.R. No. L-22074 April 30, 1965).
Taxation power
Rights of the people in general
- Due process
- Equal Protection of Law
- Right against unreasonable searches and seizures
- Privacy Communication
- Freedom of Speech
- Freedom to Religion
- Right to Liberty to Abode
- Right to Information
- Right to Association
- Right to Just Compensation
- Non impairment of contract
- Right to judicial system
- Right to speedy disposition of cases
- Freedom from debtors prisons
- Right to Bail
- Right to be presumed innocent
- Right against self-incriminations
- Right against political persecution
- Rights against involuntary servitude
- Rights against excessive fines
- Right against degrading punishment
- Right against double jeopardy
- Right against retroactive law
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. (Section 1)
Due process
It includes the right of individual to its body in its completeness, free from dismemberment, and extends to God-given faculties which makes life enjoyable.
Life
the right to exist and right to be free from personal restraint or servitude, the right to contract, the right to choose one’s employment, the right to labor etc.
Liberty
refers to anything that can come under the right of ownership and be subject of contract.
Property -
hears before it condemns and renders judgment only after trial.
Due Process of Law -
The manner or procedure which must be followed in the enforcement or application of law.
Procedural Due Process –
This means that the law to be applied is valid, just and not arbitrary.
Substantive Due Process
all persons or things similarly situated should be treated alike both as to rights conferred and responsibilities imposed.
Equal Protection of Law –
is the grouping of persons or things similar to each other in certain particulars and different from all others in these same particulars (Int’l harvester v. Missouri 234 US 199).
Classification
Equal Protection
Valid Classification; requirements:
- It must be based on (1);
- It must be (2) to the purpose of the law;
- It must not be limited to (3) only; and
- It must apply equally to (4) of the class (People v. Cayat 68 Phil 12).
- substantial distinctions
- germane
- existing conditions
- all members
Equal Protection
Sample Case : If A is a doctor who earns Php. 35,000/month, and B a teacher who is earning 12,000/month, if they will be taxed with the same amount of Php. 800/month, is it just and fair? Does this observed Equal Protection of the Law?
Answer : No. It is unjust and unfair to impose the same amount of tax to two (2) different individuals who have different monthly income.
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures of whatever nature and for any purpose shall be (1), and no search warrant or warrant of arrest shall issue except upon probable cause to be determined personally by the judge after examination under oath or affirmation of the complainant and the witnesses he may produce, and particularly describing the place to be searched and the persons or things to be seized. (Section 2)
1.inviolable
The purpose of this provision is to protect the privacy and the sanctity of the person and of his house and other possessions (papers, documents, effects, etc.) found therein against (2) by agents of the state.
- Right against unreasonable search and seizure
2. arbitrary intrusions
is an order in writing, issued in the name of the people of the Republic of the Philippines, signed by a judge and directed to a peace officer, commanding him to search for a certain personal property and bring it before the court.
Search Warrant –
A Valid Search Warrant and warrant of Arrest must have (1)
- Probable Cause
means there are facts and circumstances attending the issuance of warrant sufficient to induce a prudent and cautious judge to rely on them.
Probable Cause –
The Probable Cause must be determined personally by the (*).
*judge
must particularly describe the place to be searched, or the person or things to be seized.
The Warrant
Search and Seizures can be made without Warrant under the following instances:
•When there is consent or waiver
•Where search is an incident to a lawful arrest
When an officer making the search has reasonable cause to conduct it in a vehicle believed to be containing contraband or forfeited goods – because the vehicle can get away before a warrant is secured.
•When the possession of articles prohibited by law is disclosed to plain view (plain view search)
that is if a Peace Officer has been granted consent to enter the premise of another for the purpose of search and seizure;
When there is consent or waiver
– say, a pickpocket caught in flagrante delicto, can be searched for his loot;
Where search is an incident to a lawful arrest
Inspection conducted by Health and Sanitary inspectors in restaurants in the exercise of “state police power” in view of enforcing laws on public health or by labor inspectors of companies acting on a complaints of its workers for possible violation of labor laws and the Bureau of Internal Revenue examiner of financial records of companies, (*) The same is true of routinary searches made at the border or ports of entry in the interest of national security
need not have warrant.
A private individual can arrest a criminal even without a warrant.
“CITIZEN ARREST” -
Warrantless Arrest is allowed under the following circumstances:
Flagrante Delicto (Caught in the Act);
•Hot Pursuit Operation;
•Arrest of Fugitive.
- Person to be arrested has committed, is actually committing, is attempting to commit an offense;
- Such commission is in the presence of the arresting individual;
- Arresting individual has personal knowledge of such commission.
Flagrante Delicto (Caught in the Act)
takes effect when a crime has just in fact been committed and the arresting officer or private individual has probable cause to believe based on personal facts or circumstances that the person to be arrested has committed it.
Hot Pursuit – Hot Pursuit Arrest
Factors to be considered in Hot Pursuit Arrest:
- Time Element –
* Personal Knowledge –
that an offense has just been committed, which connotes an immediacy in point of time.
Time Element –
that the arresting officer or individual must have probable cause based on personal knowledge of fact or circumstances that the person to be arrested has committed the crime.
Personal Knowledge –
When a person to be arrested is a prisoner who escaped from a penal establishment or place where he is serving final judgment or temporarily confined while his case is pending or has escaped while being transferred from one confinement to another.
Arrest of Fugitive –
Evidence obtained in violation of the right against unreasonable search are not admissible in evidence for being a (*)
“fruit of a poisonous tree.”
doctrine can only be invoked by individuals against an officer or agent of the state (People v Marti).
Fruit of the Poisonous Tree