CONSTI Social Justice

Question 1

Classic definition of social justice

Answer 1

Calalang v Williams: Social justice is the humanization of laws and the equalization of social and economic forces by the state so that justice in its rational and objectively secular conception may atleast be approximated.

Social Justice means the promotion of the welfare of all the people

Question 2

The Constitution is committed to the policy of social justice and the protection of the working class. Example of Social justice and or grounds of equity

Answer 2

The grant of separation of pay or financial assistance to a legally dismissed employee may be allowed as a measure of social justice or on grounds of equity.

Question 3

Those who invoke social justice may do so only if

Answer 3

if their hands are clean and their motives blameless and not simply because they happen to be poor

Question 4

To alleviate the plight of these forgotten men(poor, unlettered):

Answer 4

To give those with less privileges in life more privileges in law

Question 5

The principle of separation of Church and State

Answer 5

Is based on mutual respect. Generally, the State cannot meddle in the internal affairs of the church, much less question its faith and dogmas or dictate upon it. It cannot favor one religion and discriminate against another.

“The State has no religion”

Question 6

Reason of separation of Church and State

Answer 6

A union of Church and State, as aptly remarked, tends to destroy government and to degrade religion.

Question 7

The elevating influence of religion in human society is recognized. Example

Answer 7

Our constitution and laws exempt from taxation properties devoted exclusively to religous purposes.
Secterian aid is not prohibited when a priest or preacher, minister or other religious teacher or dignitary as such is assigned to the armed forces or to any penal institution, orphanage or leprosarium, Holidays. Because of the secular idea that their observance is conducive to beneficial moral results.

It has since been affirmed by the SC that religion as a social institution is deeply rooted in every culture

Question 8

Our constitution adheres to the benevolent neutrality approach that gives room for accomodation of religious exercises as required by the?

Answer 8

Free Exercise Clause

Question 9

Civilian authority is at all times, supreme over the military. The Armes Forces of the Philippines is the protector of the people and the state. Its goal is?

Answer 9

is to secure the sovereignty of the state and the integrity of the national territory. it was felt advisable to expressly affirm the principle in order to allay(reduce) all fears of a military take-over of our civilian government.

Question 10

Thus, while the President is still a civilian, Article 2, Section 3 of the constitution mandates that civilian authority is at all times, supreme over the military, making the civilian president the nation’s supreme military leader. Civilian President is the

Answer 10

ceremonial, legal and administrative head of the armed forces.

Question 11

Local Autonomy

Answer 11

The principle is fleshed out in Article X, entitled Local Government and the local government code. The belief is shared in this country that vitalization of the local government unit will enable its inhabitants to develop its resources and thereby contribute to the progress of the whole nation.

It should be emphasized though that the autonomy granted to local governments is not to be understood as independence.

Question 12

Economy

Answer 12

Atleast sixty per centum of whose capital is owned by such citizens. Filipino ownership

The objective is simply to prohibit foreign powers or interests from maneuviring our economic policies and ensure that Filipinos are given preference in all areas of development.

The term capital in section 11, Article XII of the 1987 Consti refers to shares with voting rights, as well as with full beneficial ownership.

All of these provisons are founded on the need to “conserve and develop our patrimony, “ as specified in the preamble

Question 13

Sample of self executing provisions

Answer 13

Right to health, Right to a balanced and healthful ecology, the state adopts and implements a policy of full public disclosure of all its transactions involving public interest.

Question 14

Principle of Separation of Powers

Answer 14

The principle of separation of powers ordains that each of the three great branches of government has exclusive cognizance of and is supreme in matters falling within its own constitutionally allocated sphere.

The three branches must discharge their respective functions within the limits of authority conferred by the constitution.

Question 15

Under the new constitution, several significant modifications (Separation of Powers) ex.

Answer 15

• Three major departments of the government have been maintained
• revival of the Commission on Appointments as a check.
• Creation of the Judicial and Bar Council (To ensure better selection of the members of the judiciary)
• Electoral Tribunals have also been restored

Question 16

Purposes of Separation of Powers

Answer 16

• To prevent a concentration of authority in one person or group of persons that might lead to an irreversible error or abuse in its exercise to the detriment of our republican institution
• According to Justice Laurel, the doctrine is intended to secure action, to predict overaction, to prevent despotism (concentration of power) and to obtain efficiency

“It is not independence but interdependence” Justice Laurel

Question 17

The _________ is rooted in the doctrine of separation of powers which enjoins upon each department a becoming respect for the acts of the other departments.

Answer 17

Presumption of Constitutionality

Question 18

What constitutes Judicial legislation

Answer 18

Courts cannot limit the application or coverage of a law, nor can it impose conditions not provided therein

Question 19

Meaning of Blending of Powers

Answer 19

There are instances under the Constitution when powers are not confined exclusively within one department but are in fact assigned to or shared by several departments.

Ex:

1. Enactment of the general appropriations law

Begins with the preparation by the President of the budget, becomes the basis of the bill adopted by the Congress and subsequently submitted by it to the President, who may approve it.

2. Grant of amnesty by the President

Which requires the concurrence of a majority of all members of the Congress.

3. Comelec does not alone deputize law-enforcement agencies and instrumentalities of the government for the purpose of ensuring free, orderly, honest, peaceful and credible elections but does so with the consent of the President

The power of appointment, which can rightfully be exercised by each department over its own administrative personnel

Question 20

Meaning of Checks and Balances

Answer 20

By means of which one department is allowed to resist encroachments upon its prerogatives or to rectify mistakes or excesses committed by the other departments.

Ex.

Lawmaking power of the Congress is checked by the President through his veto power, which in turn may be overridden by the legislature

The congress may refuse to give its concurrence to an amnesty proclaimed by the President and the Senate to a treaty he has concluded.

President may nullify a conviction in a criminal case by pardoning the offender

The congress may limit the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court and that of inferior courts and abolish the latter tribunals.

As for the judiciary in general, it has the power to declare invalid an act done by the Congress, President and his subordinates, or the Constitutional Comissions.

Question 21

The role of the Judiciary (Separation of Powers)

Answer 21

While it is the judiciary which sees to it that the constitutional distribution of powers among the several departments of the government is respected and observed, this does not mean that it is superior to the other departments. The correct view is that when the SC mediates to allocate constitutional boundaries or invalidates the acts or a coodinate body, what it is upholding is not its own supremacy but the supremacy of the Constitution

Question 22

In determination of whether a given power has been validly exercised by a particular department, the test applied is not necessarily or always the nature of the power. The first criterion and the safest is?

Answer 22

Whether or not the power in question, regardless of its nature, has been constitutionally conferred upon the department claiming its exercise. The grant being ascertained, the exercise of the power is sustained.

Ex.

• Impeachment expressly lodged in the Congress
• SC can exercise the executive power of removal over judges of inferior courts although they have been appointed by the President
• President emergency powers, exercise tariff powers.

Question 23

Doctrine of Implication ( Separation of Powers)

Answer 23

even in the absence of an express conferment, the exercise of a given power may be justified. Which is based on the theory that the grant of an express power carries with it all other powers that may be reasonably inferred from it

Ex. Angara v COmelec

SC upheld them, declaring that they were necessary to the proper exercise of the express power granted to the body to hear and decide election contest involving members of the legislature

Ex. Power to punish contempt which, although essentially judicial, can unquestionably be exercised by the legislature

may be justified as inherent or incidental

Question 24

Justiciable Question

Answer 24

According to Makasiar, in Casibang v Aquino: A purely justiciable question implies a given right, legally demandable and enforceable, an act or omission violative of such right, and a remedy granted and sanctioned by law, for said breach of right

Ex. Required vote, disorderly behavior ( congress) dealing as it does with a procedural rule the interpretation of which calls only for a mathematical computation, is a justiciable question

Question 25

Distinction between justiciable and political questions

Answer 25

The determination of what constitute disorderly behavior is a political question and therefore not cognizable by the courts; but the disciplinary measure may nonetheless be disauthorized if it was supported by less than the required vote.

Political questions are neatly associated with the wisdom, not the legality of a particular act. Where the matter falls under thediscretion of another department or especially the people themselves, the decision reached is the category of a political question and consequently may not be the subject of Judicial review

Question 26

Political question

Answer 26

connotes what it means in ordinary parlance, namely, a question of policy. It refers to those questions which, under the Constitution, are to be decided by the people in their sovereign capacity; or in regard to which full dicretionary authority has been delegated to the legislative or executive branch of the government. It is concerned with issues dependent upon the wisdom, not legality, of a particular measure.

Question 27

It is noteworthy that under the new Constitution the scope of the political question appears to have been considerably constricted because of the new definition of Judicial Power. Judicial power includes

Answer 27

the duty 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.

Question 28

The 1987 Constitution has narrowed the reach of the political question doctrine when it expanded the power of Judicial review of this court. 2 powers of Judicial review

Answer 28

Not only to settle actual controversies involving rights which are demandable and enforceable but also 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 government.