Philippine Supreme Court Jurisprudence


Philippine Supreme Court Jurisprudence > Year 2006 > October 2006 Decisions > G.R. No. 174153 and G.R. NO. 174299 : SEPARATE CONCURRING OPINION - PANGANIBAN, J. - RAUL L. LAMBINO, ET AL. v. COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS:




G.R. No. 174153 and G.R. NO. 174299 : SEPARATE CONCURRING OPINION - PANGANIBAN, J. - RAUL L. LAMBINO, ET AL. v. COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS

PHILIPPINE SUPREME COURT DECISIONS

EN BANC

[G.R. NO. 174153 : October 25, 2006]

RAUL L. LAMBINO and ERICO B. AUMENTADO, TOGETHER WITH 6,327,952 REGISTERED VOTERS, Petitioners, v. THE COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS, Respondent.


ALTERNATIVE LAW GROUPS, INC., Intervenor.


ONEVOICE INC., CHRISTIAN S.MONSOD, RENE B. AZURIN, MANUEL L. QUEZON III, BENJAMIN T. TOLOSA, JR., SUSAN V. OPLE, and CARLOS P. MEDINA, JR., Intervenors.


ATTY. PETE QUIRINO QUADRA, Intervenor.


BAYAN represented by its Chairperson Dr. Carolina Pagaduan-Araullo, BAYAN MUNA represented by its Chairperson Dr. Reynaldo Lesaca, KILUSANG MAYO UNO represented by its Secretary General Joel Maglunsod, HEAD represented by its Secretary General Dr. Gene Alzona Nisperos, ECUMENICAL BISHOPS FORUM represented by Fr. Dionito Cabillas, MIGRANTE represented by its Chairperson Concepcion Bragas-Regalado, GABRIELA represented by its Secretary General Emerenciana de Jesus, GABRIELA WOMEN'S PARTY represented by Sec. Gen. Cristina Palabay, ANAKBAYAN represented by Chairperson Eleanor de Guzman, LEAGUE OF FILIPINO STUDENTS represented by Chair Vencer Crisostomo Palabay, JOJO PINEDA of the League of Concerned Professionals and Businessmen, DR. DARBY SANTIAGO of the Solidarity of Health Against Charter Change, DR. REGINALD PAMUGAS of Health Action for Human Rights, Intervenors.


LORETTA ANN P. ROSALES, MARIO JOYO AGUJA, and ANA THERESA HONTIVEROS-BARAQUEL, Intervenors.


ARTURO M. DE CASTRO, Intervenor.


TRADE UNION CONGRESS OF THE PHILIPPINES, Intervenor.


LUWALHATI RICASA ANTONINO, Intervenor.


PHILIPPINE CONSTITUTION ASSOCIATION (PHILCONSA), CONRADO F. ESTRELLA, TOMAS C. TOLEDO, MARIANO M. TAJON, FROILAN M. BACUNGAN, JOAQUIN T. VENUS, JR., FORTUNATO P. AGUAS, and AMADO GAT INCIONG, Intervenors.


RONALD L. ADAMAT, ROLANDO MANUEL RIVERA, and RUELO BAYA, Intervenors.


PHILIPPINE TRANSPORT AND GENERAL WORKERS ORGANIZATION (PTGWO) and MR. VICTORINO F. BALAIS, Intervenors.


SENATE OF THE PHILIPPINES, represented by its President, MANUEL VILLAR, JR., Intervenor.


SULONG BAYAN MOVEMENT FOUNDATION, INC., Intervenor.


JOSE ANSELMO I. CADIZ, BYRON D. BOCAR, MA. TANYA KARINA A. LAT, ANTONIO L. SALVADOR, and RANDALL TABAYOYONG, Intervenors.


INTEGRATED BAR OF THE PHILIPPINES, CEBU CITY AND CEBU PROVINCE CHAPTERS, Intervenors.


SENATE MINORITY LEADER AQUILINO Q. PIMENTEL, JR. and SENATORS SERGIO R. OSMENA III, JAMBY MADRIGAL, JINGGOY ESTRADA, ALFREDO S. LIM and PANFILO LACSON, Intervenors.


JOSEPH EJERCITO ESTRADA and PWERSA NG MASANG PILIPINO, Intervenors.


[G.R. NO. 174299 : October 25, 2006]

MAR-LEN ABIGAIL BINAY, SOFRONIO UNTALAN, JR., and RENE A.V. SAGUISAG, Petitioners, v. COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS, represented by Chairman BENJAMIN S. ABALOS, SR., and Commissioners RESURRECCION Z. BORRA, FLORENTINO A. TUASON, JR., ROMEO A. BRAWNER, RENE V. SARMIENTO, NICODEMO T. FERRER, and John Doe and Peter Doe, Respondent.


SEPARATE CONCURRING OPINION

PANGANIBAN, C.J.:



Without the rule of law, there can be no lasting prosperity and certainly no liberty.
Beverley McLachlin 1
Chief Justice of Canada

After a deep reflection on the issues raised and a careful evaluation of the parties' respective arguments -- both oral and written -- as well as the enlightened and enlightening Opinions submitted by my esteemed colleagues, I am fully convinced that the present Petition must be dismissed.

I write, however, to show that my present disposition is completely consistent with my previous Opinions and votes on the two extant Supreme Court cases involving an initiative to change the Constitution.

In my Separate Opinion in Santiago v. Comelec,2 I opined "that taken together and interpreted properly and liberally, the Constitution (particularly Art. XVII, Sec. 2), Republic Act 6735 and Comelec Resolution 2300 provide more than sufficient authority to implement, effectuate and realize our people's power to amend the Constitution."

Six months after, in my Separate Opinion in People's Initiative for Reform, Modernization and Action (PIRMA) v. Comelec,3 I joined the rest of the members of the Court in ruling "by a unanimous vote, that no grave abuse of discretion could be attributed to the Comelec in dismissing the petition filed by PIRMA therein," since the Commission had "only complied" with the Santiago Decision.

I added "that my position upholding the adequacy of RA 6735 and the validity of Comelec Resolution 2300 will not ipso facto validate the PIRMA petition and automatically lead to a plebiscite to amend the Constitution. Far from it." I stressed that PIRMA must show the following, among others:

(1) The proposed change -- the lifting of term limits of elective officials -- "constitute[s] a mere amendment and not a revision of the Constitution."

(2) The "six million signatures are genuine and verifiable"; and they "really belong to qualified warm bodies comprising at least 12% of the registered voters nationwide, of which every legislative district is represented by at least 3% of the registered voters therein."

In both Opinions, I concluded that we must implement "the right thing [initiative] in the right way at the right time and for the right reason."

In the present case, I steadfastly stand by my foregoing Opinions in Santiago and PIRMA. Tested against them, the present Petition of Raul Lambino and Erico Aumentado must be DISMISSED. Unfortunately, the right thing is being rushed in the wrong way and for the wrong reasons. Let me explain.

No Grave Abuse
of Discretion by Comelec


As in PIRMA, I find no grave abuse of discretion in Comelec's dismissal of the Lambino Petition. After all, the Commission merely followed the holding in Santiago permanently enjoining the poll body "from entertaining or taking cognizance of any petition for initiative on amendments to the Constitution until a sufficient law shall have been validly enacted to provide for the implementation of the system."

Indeed, the Comelec did not violate the Constitution, the laws or any jurisprudence.4Neither can whim, caprice, arbitrariness or personal bias be attributed to the Commission.5 Quite the contrary, it prudently followed this Court's jurisprudence in Santiago and PIRMA. Even assuming arguendo that Comelec erred in ruling on a very difficult and unsettled question of law, this Court still cannot attribute grave abuse of discretion to the poll body with respect to that action.6

The present Lambino Petition is in exactly the same situation as that of PIRMA in 1997. The differences pointed out by Justice Reynato S. Puno are, with due respect, superficial. It is argued that, unlike the present Lambino Petition, PIRMA did not contain verified signatures. These are distinctions that do not make a difference. Precisely, Justice Puno is urging a remand, because the verification issue is "contentious" and remains unproven by petitioners. Clearly, both the PIRMA and the Lambino Petitions contain unverified signatures. Therefore, they both deserve the same treatment: DISMISSAL.

Besides, the only reason given in the unanimous Resolution on PIRMA v. Comelec was that the Commission had "only complied" with this Court's Decision in Santiago, the same reason given by Comelec in this case. The Separate Opinions in PIRMA gave no other reason. No one argued, even remotely, that the PIRMA Petition should have been dismissed because the signatures were unverified.

To stress, I adhere to my Opinion in PIRMA that, "[b]eing a constitutional requirement, the number of signatures becomes a condition precedent to the filing of the petition, and is jurisdictional.7 Without those signatures, the Comelec shall motu proprio reject the petition."

So, until and unless Santiago is revisited and changed by this Court or the legal moorings of the exercise of the right are substantially changed, the Comelec cannot be faulted for acting in accord with this Court's pronouncements. Respondent Commission has no discretion, under any guise, to refuse enforcement of any final decision of this Court.8 The refusal of the poll body to act on the Lambino Petition was its only recourse. Any other mode of action would appear not only presumptuous, but also contemptuous. It would have constituted defiance of the Court and would have surely been struck down as grave abuse of discretion and contumacious disregard of the supremacy of this Court as the final arbiter of justiciable controversies.

Even assuming further that this Court rules, as I believe it should (for the reasons given in my Opinions in Santiago and PIRMA), that Republic Act 6735 is indeed sufficient to implement an initiative to amend the Constitution, still, no grave abuse of discretion can be attributed to the Comelec for merely following prevailing jurisprudence extant at the time it rendered its ruling in question.

Only Amendments,
Not Revisions


I reiterate that only amendments, not revisions, may be the proper subject of an initiative to change the Constitution. This principle is crystal clear from even a layperson's reading of the basic law.9

I submit that changing the system of government from presidential to parliamentary and the form of the legislature from bicameral to unicameral contemplates an overhaul of the structure of government. The ponencia has amply demonstrated that the merger of the legislative and the executive branches under a unicameral-parliamentary system, "[b]y any legal test and under any jurisdiction," will "radically alter the framework of government as set forth in the Constitution." Indeed, the proposed changes have an overall implication on the entire Constitution; they effectively rewrite its most important and basic provisions. The prolixity and complexity of the changes cannot be categorized, even by semantic generosity, as "amendments."

In addition, may I say that of the three modes of changing the Constitution, revisions (or amendments) may be proposed only through the first two: by Congress or by a constitutional convention. Under the third mode -- people's initiative -- only amendments are allowed. Many of the justices' Opinions have cited the historical, philosophical and jurisprudential bases of their respective positions. I will not add to the woes of the reader by reiterating them here.

Suffice it to say that, to me, the practical test to differentiate an amendment from a revision is found in the Constitution itself: a revision may be done only when the proposed change can be drafted, defined, articulated, discussed and agreed upon after a mature and democratic debate in a deliberative body like Congress or a Convention. The changes proposed must necessarily be scrutinized, as their adoption or non-adoption must result from an informed judgment.

Indeed, the constitutional bodies that drafted the 1935, the 1972 and the 1987 Constitutions had to spend many months of purposeful discussions, democratic debates and rounds of voting before they could agree on the wordings covering the philosophy, the underlying principles, and the structure of government of our Republic.

Verily, even bills creating or changing the administrative structure of local governments take several weeks or even months of drafting, reading, and debating before Congress can approve them. How much more when it comes to constitutional changes?

A change in the form of government of our country from presidential-bicameral to parliamentary-unicameral is monumental. Even the initiative proponents admit this fact. So, why should a revision be rammed down our people's throats without the benefit of intelligent discussion in a deliberative assembly?

Added to the constitutional mandate barring revisions is the provision of RA 6735 expressly prohibiting petitions for initiative from "embracing more than one subject matter."10 The present initiative covers at least two subjects: (1) the shift from a presidential to a parliamentary form of government; and (2) the change from a bicameral to a unicameral legislature.11 Thus, even under Republic Act 6735 -- the law that Justice Puno and I hold to be sufficient and valid -- the Lambino Petition deserves dismissal.

12 Percent and 3 Percent Thresholds
Not Proven by Petitioners


The litmus test of a people's petition for initiative is its ability to muster the constitutional requirement that it be supported by at least 12 percent of the registered voters nationwide, of which at least 3 percent of the registered voters in every legislative district must be represented. As pointed out by Intervenors One Voice, Inc., et al., however, records show that there was a failure to meet the minimum percentages required.12

Even Justice Puno concedes that the 12 percent and 3 percent constitutional requirements involve "contentious facts," which have not been proven by the Lambino Petition. Thus, he is urging a remand to the Comelec.

But a remand is both imprudent and futile. It is imprudent because the Constitution itself mandates the said requisites of an initiative petition. In other words, a petition that does not show the required percentages is fatally defective and must be dismissed, as the Delfin Petition was, in Santiago.

Furthermore, as the ponencia had discussed extensively, the present Petition is void and unconstitutional. It points out that the Petition dismally fails to comply with the constitutional requirement that an initiative must be directly proposed by the people. Specifically, the ponencia has amply established that petitioners were unable to show that the Lambino Petition contained, or incorporated by attachment, the full text of the proposed changes.

So, too, a remand is futile. Even if the required percentages are proven before the Commission, the Petition must still be dismissed for proposing a revision, not an amendment, in gross violation of the Constitution. At the very least, it proposes more than one subject, in violation of Republic Act 6735.

Summation

Petitioners plead with this Court to hear the voice of the people because, in the words of Justice Puno who supports them, the "people's voice is sovereign in a democracy."

I, too, believe in heeding the people's voice. I reiterate my Separate Opinion in PIRMA that "initiative is a democratic method of enabling our people to express their will and chart their history. x x x. I believe that Filipinos have the ability and the capacity to rise above themselves, to use this right of initiative wisely and maturely, and to choose what is best for themselves and their posterity."

This belief will not, however, automatically and blindly result in an initiative to change the Constitution, because the present Petition violates the following:
  • The Constitution (specifically Article XVII, which allows only amendments, not revisions, and requires definite percentages of verified signatures)

  • The law (specifically, Republic Act 6735, which prohibits petitions containing more than one subject)

  • Jurisprudence (specifically, PIRMA v. Comelec, which dismissed the Petition then under consideration on the ground that, by following the Santiago ruling, the Comelec had not gravely abused its discretion).
I submit further that a remand of the Lambino Petition is both imprudent and futile. More tellingly, it is a cop-out, a hand-washing already discredited 2000 years ago. Instead of finger-pointing, I believe we must confront the issues head on, because the people expect no less from this august and venerable institution of supreme justice.

Epilogue

At bottom, the issue in this case is simply the Rule of Law.13 Initiative, like referendum and recall, is a treasured feature of the Filipino constitutional system. It was born out of our world-admired and often-imitated People Power, but its misuse and abuse must be resolutely rejected. Democracy must be cherished, but mob rule vanquished.

The Constitution is a sacred social compact, forged between the government and the people, between each individual and the rest of the citizenry. Through it, the people have solemnly expressed their will that all of them shall be governed by laws, and their rights limited by agreed-upon covenants to promote the common good. If we are to uphold the Rule of Law and reject the rule of the mob, we must faithfully abide by the processes the Constitution has ordained in order to bring about a peaceful, just and humane society. Assuming arguendo that six million people allegedly gave their assent to the proposed changes in the Constitution, they are nevertheless still bound by the social covenant -- the present Constitution -- which was ratified by a far greater majority almost twenty years ago.14 I do not denigrate the majesty of the sovereign will; rather, I elevate our society to the loftiest perch, because our government must remain as one of laws and not of men.

Upon assuming office, each of the justices of the Supreme Court took a solemn oath to uphold the Constitution. Being the protectors of the fundamental law as the highest expression of the sovereign will, they must subject to the strictest scrutiny any attempt to change it, lest it be trivialized and degraded by the assaults of the mob and of ill-conceived designs. The Court must single-mindedly defend the Constitution from bogus efforts falsely attributed to the sovereign people.

The judiciary may be the weakest branch of government. Nonetheless, when ranged against incessant voices from the more powerful branches of government, it should never cower in submission. On the other hand, I daresay that the same weakness of the Court becomes its strength when it speaks independently through decisions that rightfully uphold the supremacy of the Constitution and the Rule of Law. The strength of the judiciary lies not in its lack of brute power, but in its moral courage to perform its constitutional duty at all times against all odds. Its might is in its being right.15

During the past weeks, media outfits have been ablaze with reports and innuendoes about alleged carrots offered and sticks drawn by those interested in the outcome of this case.16 There being no judicial proof of these allegations, I shall not comment on them for the nonce, except to quote the Good Book, which says, "There is nothing hidden that will not be revealed, and nothing secret that will not be known and come to light."17

Verily, the Supreme Court is now on the crossroads of history. By its decision, the Court and each of its members shall be judged by posterity. Ten years, fifty years, a hundred years -- or even a thousand years -- from now, what the Court did here, and how each justice opined and voted, will still be talked about, either in shame or in pride. Indeed, the hand-washing of Pontius Pilate, the abomination of Dred Scott,and the loathing of Javellana still linger and haunt to this day.

Let not this case fall into the same damnation. Rather, let this Court be known throughout the nation and the world for its independence, integrity, industry and intelligence.

WHEREFORE, I vote to DISMISS the Petition.

Endnotes:


1 Chief Justice McLachlin spoke on "Liberty, Prosperity and the Rule of Law" in her speech before the Global Forum on Liberty and Prosperity held on October 18-20, 2006 in Manila. She further stated: "Without the rule of law, government officials are not bound by standards of conduct. Without the rule of law, the dignity and equality of all people is not affirmed and their ability to seek redress for grievances and societal commitments is limited. Without the rule of law, we have no means of ensuring meaningful participation by people in formulating and enacting the norms and standards which organize the kinds of societies in which we want to live."

2 GR No. 127325, March 19, 1997, 336 Phil. 848. For ease of reference, my Separate Opinion is reproduced in full:

"Our distinguished colleague, Mr. Justice Hilario G. Davide Jr., writing for the majority, holds that:
`(1) The Comelec acted without jurisdiction or with grave abuse of discretion in entertaining the `initiatory' Delfin Petition.

`(2) While the Constitution allows amendments to `be directly proposed by the people through initiative,' there is no implementing law for the purpose. RA 6735 is `incomplete, inadequate, or wanting in essential terms and conditions insofar as initiative on amendments to the Constitution is concerned.'

`(3) Comelec Resolution No. 2300, `insofar as it prescribes rules and regulations on the conduct of initiative on amendments to the Constitution, is void.'
"I concur with the first item above. Until and unless an initiatory petition can show the required number of signatures -- in this case, 12% of all the registered voters in the Philippines with at least 3% in every legislative district -- no public funds may be spent and no government resources may be used in an initiative to amend the Constitution. Verily, the Comelec cannot even entertain any petition absent such signatures. However, I dissent most respectfully from the majority's two other rulings. Let me explain.

"Under the above restrictive holdings espoused by the Court's majority, the Constitution cannot be amended at all through a people's initiative. Not by Delfin, not by PIRMA, not by anyone, not even by all the voters of the country acting together. This decision will effectively but unnecessarily curtail, nullify, abrogate and render inutile the people's right to change the basic law. At the very least, the majority holds the right hostage to congressional discretion on whether to pass a new law to implement it, when there is already one existing at present. This right to amend through initiative, it bears stressing, is guaranteed by Section 2, Article XVII of the Constitution, as follows:

`SEC. 2. Amendments to this Constitution may likewise be directly proposed by the people through initiative upon a petition of at least twelve per centum of the total number of registered voters, of which every legislative district must be represented by at least three per centum of the registered voters therein. No amendment under this section shall be authorized within five years following the ratification of this Constitution nor oftener than once every five years thereafter.'

"With all due respect, I find the majority's position all too sweeping and all too extremist. It is equivalent to burning the whole house to exterminate the rats, and to killing the patient to relieve him of pain. What Citizen Delfin wants the Comelec to do we should reject. But we should not thereby preempt any future effort to exercise the right of initiative correctly and judiciously. The fact that the Delfin Petition proposes a misuse of initiative does not justify a ban against its proper use. Indeed, there is a right way to do the right thing at the right time and for the right reason.
Taken Together and Interpreted Properly,
the Constitution, R.A. 6735 and Comelec Resolution
2300 Are Sufficient to Implement Constitutional Initiatives

"While R.A. 6735 may not be a perfect law, it was -- as the majority openly concedes -- intended by the legislature to cover and, I respectfully submit, it contains enough provisions to effectuate an initiative on the Constitution. I completely agree with the inspired and inspiring opinions of Mr. Justice Reynato S. Puno and Mr. Justice Ricardo J. Francisco that RA 6735, the Roco law on initiative, sufficiently implements the right of the people to initiate amendments to the Constitution. Such views, which I shall no longer repeat nor elaborate on, are thoroughly consistent with this Court's unanimous en banc rulings in Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority vs. Commission on Elections, that "provisions for initiative . . . are (to be) liberally construed to effectuate their purposes, to facilitate and not hamper the exercise by the voters of the rights granted thereby"; and in Garcia vs. Comelec, that any "effort to trivialize the effectiveness of people's initiatives ought to be rejected."

"No law can completely and absolutely cover all administrative details. In recognition of this, R.A. 6735 wisely empowered the Commission on Election "to promulgate such rules and regulations as may be necessary to carry out the purposes of this Act." And pursuant thereto, the Comelec issued its Resolution 2300 on 16 January 1991. Such Resolution, by its very words, was promulgated "to govern the conduct of initiative on the Constitution and initiative and referendum on national and local laws," not by the incumbent Commission on Elections but by one then composed of Acting Chairperson Haydee B. Yorac, Comms. Alfredo E. Abueg, Jr., Leopoldo L. Africa, Andres R. Flores, Dario C. Rama and Magdara B. Dimaampao. All of these Commissioners who signed Resolution 2300 have retired from the Commission, and thus we cannot ascribe any vile motive unto them, other than an honest, sincere and exemplary effort to give life to a cherished right of our people.

"The majority argues that while Resolution 2300 is valid in regard to national laws and local legislations, it is void in reference to constitutional amendments. There is no basis for such differentiation. The source of and authority for the Resolution is the same law, R.A. 6735.

"I respectfully submit that taken together and interpreted properly and liberally, the Constitution (particularly Art. XVII, Sec. 2), R.A. 6735 and Comelec Resolution 2300 provide more than sufficient authority to implement, effectuate and realize our people's power to amend the Constitution.
Petitioner Delfin and the Pedrosa
Spouses Should Not Be Muzzled

"I am glad the majority decided to heed our plea to lift the temporary restraining order issued by this Court on 18 December 1996 insofar as it prohibited Petitioner Delfin and the Spouses Pedrosa from exercising their right of initiative. In fact, I believe that such restraining order as against private respondents should not have been issued, in the first place. While I agree that the Comelec should be stopped from using public funds and government resources to help them gather signatures, I firmly believe that this Court has no power to restrain them from exercising their right of initiative. The right to propose amendments to the Constitution is really a species of the right of free speech and free assembly. And certainly, it would be tyrannical and despotic to stop anyone from speaking freely and persuading others to conform to his/her beliefs. As the eminent Voltaire once said, `I may disagree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.' After all, freedom is not really for the thought we agree with, but as Justice Holmes wrote, `freedom for the thought that we hate.'

Epilogue

"By way of epilogue, let me stress the guiding tenet of my Separate Opinion. Initiative, like referendum and recall, is a new and treasured feature of the Filipino constitutional system. All three are institutionalized legacies of the world-admired EDSA people power. Like elections and plebiscites, they are hallowed expressions of popular sovereignty. They are sacred democratic rights of our people to be used as their final weapons against political excesses, opportunism, inaction, oppression and misgovernance; as well as their reserved instruments to exact transparency, accountability and faithfulness from their chosen leaders. While on the one hand, their misuse and abuse must be resolutely struck down, on the other, their legitimate exercise should be carefully nurtured and zealously protected.

"WHEREFORE, I vote to GRANT the petition of Sen. Miriam D. Santiago et al. and to DIRECT Respondent Commission on Elections to DISMISS the Delfin Petition on the ground of prematurity, but not on the other grounds relied upon by the majority. I also vote to LIFT the temporary restraining order issued on 18 December 1996 insofar as it prohibits Jesus Delfin, Alberto Pedrosa and Carmen Pedrosa from exercising their right to free speech in proposing amendments to the Constitution."
3 GR No. 129754, September 23, 1997 (still unpublished in the Philippine Reports or in the Supreme Court Reports Annotated). Again, for ease of reference, I reproduce my Separate Opinion in full:
"Petitioners assail the July 8, 1997 Resolution of Respondent Commission dismissing their petition for a people's initiative to amend the Constitution. Said petition before the Comelec (henceforth, PIRMA petition) was backed up by nearly six (6) million signatures constituting about 16% of the registered voters of the country with at least 3% in each legislative district. The petition now before us presents two grounds:

"1. In refusing to act on the PIRMA petition, the Comelec allegedly acted with grave abuse of discretion amounting to lack or excess of jurisdiction; and

"2. In declaring R.A. 6735 "inadequate to cover its system of initiative on amendments to the Constitution" and "declaring void those parts of Resolution 2300 of the Commission on Elections prescribing rules and regulations on the conduct of [an] initiative [on] amendments to the Constitution," the Supreme Court's Decision in G.R. No. 127325 entitled Miriam Defensor Santiago vs. Commission on Elections (hereafter referred to as Santiago) should be reexamined because said Decision is allegedly "unconstitutional," and because, in any event, the Supreme Court itself, in reconsidering the said issue per its June 10, 1997 Resolution, was deadlocked at six votes one each side.

"The following in my position on each of these two issues:

First Issue:
No Grave Abuse of Discretion
in Comelec's Refusal to Act


"The Respondent Commission's refusal to act on the "prayers" of the PIRMA petition cannot in any wise be branded as "grave abuse of discretion." Be it remembered that the Court's Decision in Santiago permanently enjoined the Comelec "from entertaining or taking cognizance of any petition for initiative on amendments to the Constitution x x x." While concededly, petitioners in this case were not direct parties in Santiago, nonetheless the Court's injunction against the Comelec covered ANY petition, not just the Delfin petition which was the immediate subject of said case. As a dissenter in Santiago, I believed, and still do, that the majority gravely erred in rendering such a sweeping injunction, but I cannot fault the Comelec for complying with the ruling even if it, too, disagreed with said decision's ratio decidendi. Respondent Comelec was directly enjoined by the highest Court of the land. It had no choice but to obey. Its obedience cannot constitute grave abuse of discretion. Refusal to act on the PIRMA petition was the only recourse open to the Comelec. Any other mode of action would have constituted defiance of the Court and would have been struck down as grave abuse of discretion and contumacious disregard of this Court's supremacy as the final arbiter of justiciable controversies.

Second Issue:
Sufficiency of RA 6735

"I repeat my firm legal position that RA 6735 is adequate to cover initiatives on the Constitution, and that whatever administrative details may have been omitted in said law are satisfactorily provided by Comelec Resolution 2300. The promulgation of Resolution 2300 is sanctioned by Section 2, Article IX-C of the Constitution, which vests upon the Comelec the power to "enforce and administer all laws and regulations relative to the conduct of an election, plebiscite, initiative, referendum and recall." The Omnibus Election Code likewise empowers the electoral body to "promulgate rules and regulations implementing the provisions of this Code or other laws which the Commission is required to enforce and administer x x x." Finally and most relevantly, Section 20 of Ra 6735 specifically authorizes Comelec "to promulgate rules and regulations as may be necessary to carry out the purposes of this Act."

"In my dissent in Santiago, I wrote that "there is a right way to do the right thing at the right time and for the right reason." Let me explain further.
The Right Thing
"A people's initiative is direct democracy in action. It is the right thing that citizens may avail themselves of to articulate their will. It is a new and treasured feature of the Filipino constitutional system. Even the majority implicitly conceded its value and worth in our legal firmament when it implored Congress "not to tarry any longer in complying with the constitutional mandate to provide for implementation of the right (of initiative) of the people x x x." Hence, in the en banc case of Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority vs. Comelec, [G.R. NO. 125416, September 26, 1996], this Court unanimously held that "(l)ike elections, initiative and referendum are powerful and valuable modes of expressing popular sovereignty. And this Court as a matter of policy and doctrine will exert every effort to nurture, protect and promote their legitimate exercise."
The Right Way
"From the outset, I have already maintained the view that "taken together and interpreted properly and liberally, the Constitution (particularly Art. XVII, Sec. 2), RA 6735 and Comelec Resolution 2300 provide more than sufficient authority to implement, effectuate and realize our people's power to amend the Constitution." Let me now demonstrate the adequacy of RA 6735 by outlining, in concrete terms, the steps to be taken - the right way - to amend the Constitution through a people's initiative.

"Pursuant to Section 3(f) of the law, the Comelec shall prescribe the form of the petition which shall contain the proposition and the required number of signatories. Under Sec. 5(c) thereof, the petition shall state the following:

`c.1 contents or text of the [provision or provisions] sought to be x x x amended, x x x;

c.2 the proposition [in full text];

c.3 the reason or reasons therefor [fully and clearly explained];

c.4 that it is not one of exceptions provided herein;

c.5 signatures of the petitioners or registered voters; and

c.6 an abstract or summary proposition in not more than one hundred (100) words which shall be legibly written or printed at the top of every page of the petition.'

"Section 8(f) of Comelec Resolution 2300 additionally requires that the petition include a formal designation of the duly authorized representatives of the signatories.

"Being a constitutional requirement, the number of signatures becomes a condition precedent to the filing of the petition, and is jurisdictional. Without such requisite signatures, the Commission shall motu proprio reject the petition.

"Where the initiators have substantially complied with the above requirements, they may thence file the petition with the Comelec which is tasked to determine the sufficiency thereof and to verify the signatures on the basis of the registry list of voters, voters' affidavits and voters' identification cards. In deciding whether the petition is sufficient, the Comelec shall also determine if the proposition is proper for an initiative, i.e., if it consists of an amendment, not a revision, of the Constitution. Any decision of the electoral body may be appealed to the Supreme Court within thirty (30) days from notice.

"Within thirty (30) days from receipt of the petition, and after the determination of its sufficiency, the Comelec shall publish the same in Filipino and English at least twice in newspapers of general and local circulation, and set the date of the plebiscite. The conduct of the plebiscite should not be earlier than sixty (60) days, but not later than ninety (90) days after certification by the Comelec of the sufficiency of the petition. The proposition, if approved by a majority of the votes cast in the plebiscite, becomes effective as of the day of the plebiscite.

"From the foregoing, it should be clear that my position upholding the adequacy of RA 6735 and the validity of Comelec Resolution 2300 will not ipso facto validate the PIRMA petition and automatically lead to a plebiscite to amend the Constitution. Far from it. Among others, PIRMA must still satisfactorily hurdle the following searching issues:
  1. Does the proposed change - the lifting of the term limits of elective officials -- constitute a mere amendment and not a revision of the Constitution?

  2. Which registry of voters will be used to verify the signatures in the petition? This question is relevant considering that under RA 8189, the old registry of voters used in the 1995 national elections was voided after the barangay elections on May 12, 1997, while the new list may be used starting only in the elections of May 1998.

  3. Does the clamor for the proposed change in the Constitution really emanate from the people who signed the petition for initiative? Or it is the beneficiaries of term extension who are in fact orchestrating such move to advance their own political self-interest?

  4. Are the six million signatures genuine and verifiable? Do they really belong to qualified warm bodies comprising at least 12% of the registered voters nationwide, of which every legislative district is represented by at least 3% of the registered voters therein?
"I shall expound on the third question in the next section, The Right Reason. Question Nos. 1 and 2 above, while important, are basically legal in character and can be determined by argumentation and memoranda. However, Question No. 4 involves not only legal issues but gargantuan hurdles of factual determination. This to my mind is the crucible, the litmus test, of a people's petition for initiative. If herein petitioners, led by PIRMA, succeed in proving -- not just alleging -- that six million voters of this country indeed want to amend the Constitution, what power on earth can stop them? Not this Court, not the Comelec, not even the President or Congress.

"It took only one million people to stage a peaceful revolution at EDSA, and the very rafters and foundations of the martial law society trembled, quaked and crumbled. On the other hand, PIRMA and its co-petitioners are claiming that they have gathered six million signatures. If, as claimed by many, these six million signatures are fraudulent, then let them be exposed and damned for all history in a signature-verification process conducted under our open system of legal advocacy.

"More than anything else, it is the truth that I, as a member of this Court and as a citizen of this country, would like to seek: Are these six million signatures real? By insisting on an entirely new doctrine of statutory inadequacy, the majority effectively suppressed the quest for that truth.
The Right Reason
"As mentioned, the third question that must be answered, even if the adequacy of RA 6735 and the validity of Comelec Resolution 2300 were upheld by the majority is: Does the clamor for the proposed change to the Constitution really emanate from the people who signed the petition for initiative? Or is it the beneficiaries of term extension who are in fact orchestrating such move to advance their own political self-interests? In other words, is PIRMA's exercise of the right to initiative being done in accordance with our Constitution and our laws? Is such attempted exercise legitimate?

"In Garcia vs. Commission on Elections, we described initiative, along with referendum, as the 'ultimate weapon of the people to negate government malfeasance and misfeasance.' In Subic Bay, we specified that 'initiative is entirely the work of the electorate x x x a process of lawmaking by the people themselves without the participation and against the wishes of their elected representatives.' As ponente of Subic Bay I stand foursquare on this principle: The right to amend through initiative belongs only to the people - not to the government and its minions.This principle finds clear support from utterances of many constitutional commissioners like those quoted below:

"[Initiative is] a reserve power of the sovereign people, when they are dissatisfied with the National Assembly x x x [and] precisely a fallback position of the people in the event that they are dissatisfied." -- Commissioner Ople

"[Initiative is] a check on a legislative that is not responsive [and resorted to] only if the legislature is not as responsive to the vital and urgent needs of people." -- Commissioner Gascon

"[Initiative is an] extraordinary power given to the people [and] reserved for the people [which] should not be frivolously resorted to." -- Commissioner Romulo

"Indeed, if the powers-that-be desire to amend the Constitution, or even to revise it, our Charter itself provides them other ways of doing so, namely, by calling a constitutional convention or constituting Congress into a constituent assembly. These are officialdom's weapons. But initiative belongs to the people.

"In the present case, are PIRMA and its co-petitioners legitimate people's organizations or are they merely fronts for incumbents who want to extend their terms? This is a factual question which, unfortunately, cannot be judicially answered anymore, because the Supreme Court majority ruled that the law that implements it, RA 6735, is inadequate or insufficient insofar as initiatives to the Constitutions are concerned. With such ruling, the majority effectively abrogated a constitutional right of our people. That is why in my Separate Opinion in Santiago, I exclaimed that such precipitate action "is equivalent to burning the whole house to exterminate the rats, and to killing the patient to relieve him of pain." I firmly maintain that to defeat PIRMA's effort, there is no need to "burn" the constitutional right to initiative. If PIRMA's exercise is not "legitimate," it can be exposed as such in the ways I have discussed - short of abrogating the right itself. On the other hand, if PIRMA's position is proven to be legitimate - if it hurdles the four issues I outlined earlier - by all means, we should allow and encourage it. But the majority's theory of statutory inadequacy has pre-empted - unnecessarily and invalidly, in my view - any judicial determination of such legitimacy or illegitimacy. It has silenced the quest for truth into the interstices of the PIRMA petition.
The Right Time
"The Constitution itself sets a time limitation on when changes thereto may be proposed. Section 2 of Article XVII precludes amendments "within five years following [its] ratification x x x nor oftener than once every five years thereafter." Since its ratification, the 1987 Constitution has never been amended. Hence, the five-year prohibition is now inoperative and amendments may theoretically be proposed at any time.

"Be that as it may, I believe - given the present circumstances - that there is no more time to lift term limits to enable incumbents to seek reelection in the May 11, 1998 polls. Between today and the next national elections, less than eight (8) months remain. Santiago, where the single issue of the sufficiency of RA 6735 was resolved, took this Court three (3) months, and another two (2) months to decide the motion for reconsideration. The instant case, where the same issue is also raised by the petitioners, took two months, not counting a possible motion for reconsideration. These time spans could not be abbreviated any further, because due process requires that all parties be given sufficient time to file their pleadings.

"Thus, even if the Court were to rule now in favor of the adequacy of RA 6735 - as I believe it should - and allow the Comelec to act on the PIRMA petition, such eight-month period will not be enough to tackle the four weighty issues I mentioned earlier, considering that two of them involve tedious factual questions. The Comelec's decision on any of these issues can still be elevated to this Court for review, and reconsiderations on our decisions on each of those issues may again be sought.

"Comelec's herculean task alone of verifying each of the six million signatures is enormously time-consuming, considering that any person may question the authenticity of each and every signature, initially before the election registrar, then before the Comelec on appeal and finally, before this Court in a separate proceeding. Moreover, the plebiscite itself - assuming such stage can be reached - may be scheduled only after sixty (60) but not more than ninety (90) days, from the time the Comelec and this Court, on appeal, finally declare the petition to be sufficient.

"Meanwhile, under Comelec Resolution 2946, political parties, groups organizations or coalitions may start selecting their official candidates for President, Vice President and Senators on November 27, 1997; the period for filing certificates of candidacy is from January 11 to February 9, 1998; the election period and campaign for national officials start on February 10, 1998, while the campaign period for other elective officials, on March 17, 1998. This means, by the time PIRMA's proposition is ready - if ever - for submission directly to the voters at large, it will have been overcome by the elections. Time will simply run out on PIRMA, if the intention is to lift term limits in time for the 1998 elections.

"That term limits may no longer be lifted prior to the 1998 elections via a people's initiative does not detract one whit from (1) my firm conviction that RA 6735 is sufficient and adequate to implement this constitutional right and, more important, (2) my faith in the power of the people to initiate changes in local and national laws and the Constitution. In fact, I think the Court can deliberate on these two items even more serenely and wisely now that the debates will be free from the din and distraction of the 1998 elections. After all, jurisprudence is not merely for the here and now but, more so, for the hereafter and the morrow. Let me therefore stress, by way of epilogue, my unbending credo in favor of our people's right to initiative.

Epilogue

"I believe in democracy - in our people's natural right to determine our own destiny.

"I believe in the process of initiative as a democratic method of enabling our people to express their will and chart their history. Initiative is an alternative to bloody revolution, internal chaos and civil strife. It is an inherent right of the people - as basic as the right to elect, the right to self-determination and the right to individual liberties. I believe that Filipinos have the ability and the capacity to rise above themselves, to use this right of initiative wisely and maturely, and to choose what is best for themselves and their posterity.

"Such beliefs, however, should not be equated with a desire to perpetuate a particular official or group of officials in power. Far from it. Such perpetuation is anathema to democracy. My firm conviction that there is an adequate law implementing the constitutional right of initiative does not ipso facto result in the victory of the PIRMA petition or of any proposed constitutional change. There are, after all, sufficient safeguards to guarantee the proper use of such constitutional right and to forestall its misuse and abuse. First, initiative cannot be used to revise the Constitution, only to amend it. Second, the petitioners' signatures must be validated against an existing list of voters and/or voters' identification cards. Third, initiative is a reverse power of and by the people, not of incumbent officials and their machinators. Fourth and most important of all, the signatures must be verified as real and genuine; not concocted, fictitious or fabricated. The only legal way to do this is to enable the Commission on Elections to conduct a nationwide verification process as mandated by the Constitution and the law. Such verification, it bears stressing, is subject to review by this Court.

"There were, by the most generous estimate, only a million people who gathered at EDSA in 1986, and yet they changed the history of our country. PIRMA claims six times that number, not just from the National Capital Region but from all over the country. Is this claim through the invention of its novel theory of statutory insufficiency, the Court's majority has stifled the only legal method of determining whether PIRMA is real or not, whether there is indeed a popular clamor to lift term limits of elected officials, and whether six million voters want to initiate amendments to their most basic law. In suppressing a judicial answer to such questions, the Court may have unwittingly yielded to PIRMA the benefit of the legal presumption of legality and regularity. In its misplaced zeal to exterminate the rats, it burned down the whole house. It unceremoniously divested the people of a basic constitutional right.

"In the ultimate, the mission of the judiciary is to discover truth and to make it prevail. This mission is undertaken not only to resolve the vagaries of present events but also to build the pathways of tomorrow. The sum total of the entire process of adversarial litigation is the verity of facts and the application of law thereto. By the majority cop-out in this mission of discovery, our country and our people have been deprived not only of a basic constitutional right, as earlier noted, but also of the judicial opportunity to verify the truth."
4Republic v. COCOFED, 423 Phil. 735, December 14, 2001.

5 Well-entrenched is this definition of grave abuse of discretion. Id.; Benito v. Comelec, 349 SCRA 705, January 19, 2001; Defensor-Santiago v. Guingona Jr., 359 Phil. 276, November 18, 1998; and Philippine Airlines, Inc. v. Confesor, 231 SCRA 41, March 10, 1994.

6 In PIRMA, I submitted as follows: "I believed, and still do, that the majority gravely erred in rendering such a sweeping injunction [that covered ANY petition, not just the Delfin petition], but I cannot fault the Comelec for complying with the ruling even if it, too, disagreed with said decision's ratio decidendi. Respondent Comelec was directly enjoined by the highest Court of the land. It had no choice but to obey. Its obedience cannot constitute grave abuse of discretion. Regusal to act on the PIRMA petition was the only recourse open to the Comelec. Any other mode of action would have constituted defiance of the Court and would have been struck down as grave abuse of discretion and contumacious disregard of this Court's supremacy as the final arbiter of justiciable controversies."

7 42 Am. Jr. 2d, �26, citing Birmingham Gas Co. v. Bessemer; 250 Ala 137, 33 So 2d 475, 250 Ala 137; Tacker v. Board of Comrs., 127 Fla 248, 170 So 458; Hoxie V. Scott, 45 Neb 199, 63 NW 387; Gill v. Board of Comrs., 160 NC 176, 76, SE 204.

8Partido ng Manggagawa v. Comelec, GR No. 164702, March 15, 2006.

9 Article XVII (AMENDMENTS OR REVISIONS)
"SEC. 1. Any amendment to, or revision of, this Constitution may be proposed by:
(1)
The Congress, upon the vote of three-fourths of all its Members; or
(2)
A constitutional convention.
"SEC. 2. Amendments to this Constitution may likewise be directly proposed by the people though initiative upon a petition of at least twelve per centum of the total number of registered voters, of which every legislative district must be represented by at least three per centum of the registered voters therein. No amendment under this section shall be authorized within five years following the ratification of this Constitution nor oftener than once every five years thereafter.

"SEC. 3. The Congress may, by a vote of two-thirds of all its Members, call a constitutional convention, or by a majority vote of all its Members, submit to the electorate the question of calling such a convention.

"SEC. 4. Any amendment to, or revision of, this Constitution under Section 1 hereof shall be valid when ratified by a majority of the votes cast in a plebiscite which shall be held not earlier than sixty days nor later than ninety days after the approval of such amendment or revision.

"Any amendment under Section 2 hereof shall be valid when ratified by a majority of the votes cast in a plebiscite which shall be held not earlier than sixty days nor later than ninety days after the certification by the Commission on Elections of the sufficiency of the petition."
10 Republic Act 6735, Sec. 10, provides:
"SEC. 10. Prohibited Measures. - The following cannot be the subject of an initiative or referendum petition:

(a) No petition embracing more than one subject shall be submitted to the electorate; and

(b) Statutes involving emergency measures, the enactment of which are specifically vested in Congress by the Constitution, cannot be subject to referendum until ninety (90) days after its effectivity."
11 The principle of separation of powers operates at the core of a presidential form of government. Thus, legislative power is given to the legislature; executive power, to a separate executive (from whose prominent position in the system, the presidential nomenclature is derived); and judicial power, to an independent judiciary. This system embodies interdependence by separation.

On the other hand, a parliamentary system personifies interdependence by integration, its essential features being the following: "(1) The members of the government or cabinet or the executive arm are, as a rule, simultaneously members of the legislature. (2) The government or cabinet, consisting of the political leaders of the majority party or of a coalition who are also members of the legislative, is in effect a committee of the legislature. (3) The government or cabinet has a pyramidal structure, at the apex of which is the Prime Minister or his equivalent. (4) The government or cabinet remains in power only for as long as it enjoys the support of the majority of the legislature. (5) Both government and legislature are possessed of control devices with which each can demand of the other immediate political responsibility." These control devices are a vote of no-confidence (censure), whereby the government may be ousted by the legislature; and the power of the government to dissolve the legislature and call for new elections. (J. BERNAS, THE CONSTITUTION OF THE REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES A COMMENTARY, Vol. II, 17-18 (1988 ed.).

With respect to the transformation from a bicameral to a unicameral legislature, the change involves the form of representation and the lawmaking process.

12 Attached to the Opposition-in-Intervention of Intervenors OneVoice Inc., etc., is a photocopy of the Certification dated August 23, 2006, issued by Atty. Marlon S. Casquejo, the election officer for the 3rd District and the officer-in-charge for the 1st and the 2nd Districts of Davao City. The Certification states that "this office (First, Second and Third District, Davao City) has not verified the signatures of registered voters x x x."

13 In People v. Veneracion, the Court held: "Obedience to the rule of law forms the bedrock of our system of justice. If judges, under the guide of religious or political beliefs were allowed to roam unrestricted beyond boundaries within which they are required by law to exercise the duties of their office, then law becomes meaningless. A government of laws, not of men, excludes the exercise of broad discretionary powers by those acting under its authority. Under this system, judges are guided by the Rule of Law, and ought `to protect and enforce it without fear or favor,' resist encroachments by governments, political parties, or even the interference of their own personal beliefs." (249 SCRA 244, October 13, 1995, per Kapunan, J.)

14 An American professor on legal philosophy, A. Altman, puts it thus: "By ratifying the constitution that included an explicit amendment process, the sovereign people committed themselves to following the rule of law, even when they wished to make changes in the basic system of government." A. ALTMAN, ARGUING ABOUT LAW 94 (2001).

15See my Separate Opinion in Francisco Jr. v. House of Representatives, 415 SCRA 45, November 10, 2003.

16See, for instance, the front page Malaya report entitled "Lobbyists soil dignity of Supreme Court" (October 23, 2006).

17 Lk 8:17.



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October-2006 Jurisprudence                 

  • G.R. No. 174153 and G.R. NO. 174299 : SEPARATE OPINION - AZCUNA, J. - RAUL L. LAMBINO, ET AL. v. COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS

  • G.R. No. 174153 and G.R. NO. 174299 : DISSENTING OPINION - CHICO-NAZARIO, J. - RAUL L. LAMBINO, ET AL. v. COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS

  • G.R. No. 174153 and G.R. NO. 174299 : SEPARATE CONCURRING OPINION - CALLEJO, SR., J. - RAUL L. LAMBINO, ET AL. v. COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS

  • G.R. No. 174153 and G.R. NO. 174299 : DISSENTING OPINION - CORONA, J. - RAUL L. LAMBINO, ET AL. v. COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS

  • G.R. No. 174153 and G.R. NO. 174299 : SEPARATE CONCURRING OPINION - PANGANIBAN, J. - RAUL L. LAMBINO, ET AL. v. COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS

  • G.R. No. 174153 and G.R. NO. 174299 : SEPARATE OPINION - QUISUMBING, J. - RAUL L. LAMBINO, ET AL. v. COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS

  • G.R. No. 174153 and G.R. NO. 174299 : CONCURRING OPINION - SANDOVAL-GUTIERREZ, J. - RAUL L. LAMBINO, ET AL. v. COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS

  • G.R. No. 174153 and G.R. NO. 174299 : SEPARATE OPINION - TINGA, J. - RAUL L. LAMBINO, ET AL. v. COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS

  • G.R. No. 174153 and G.R. NO. 174299 : SEPARATE OPINION - VELASCO, J. - RAUL L. LAMBINO, ET AL. v. COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS

  • G.R. No. 174153 and G.R. NO. 174299 : SEPARATE OPINION - YNARES-SANTIAGO, J. - RAUL L. LAMBINO, ET AL. v. COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS

  • G.R. No. 174153 and G.R. NO. 174299 : DISSENTING OPINION - PUNO, J. - RAUL L. LAMBINO, ET AL. v. COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS

  • A.C. No. 6678 - JOCELYN A. SAQUING v. ATTY. NOEL A. MORA

  • A.C. No. 6973 - ROBERT FRANCIS F. MARONILLA, ET AL. v. ATTYS. EFREN N. JORDA, ET AL.

  • A.M. No. 06-4-220-RTC - Re: report on the judicial audit conducted in the Regional Trial Court

  • A.M. No. P-01-1523 - Carmelita Chiong v. Sherwin Baloloy

  • A.M. No. P-05-2063 - Re: Anonymous Complaint Against Angelina Casareno-Rillorta, Officer-in-Charge, Office of the Clerk of Court (OCC), SusanLiggayu, Clerk III, and Virginia A. Manuel, Court Stenographer, Branch 21, all of the Regional Trial Court, Santia

  • A.M. No. P-05-2099 - Formerly OCA IPI No. 05-2154-P - BRIMEL BAUTISTA v. CLERK OF COURT ABELARDO B. ORQUE, JR.

  • A.M. No. P-06-2261 - ELPIDIO SY v. EDGAR ESPONILLA, ET AL.

  • A.M. No. P-06-2262 - ANGELO C. GUERRERO v. ANTONIO O. MENDOZA

  • A.M. No. RTJ-03-1809 and Formerly A.M. OCA IPI No. 03-1643-RTJ - BUSILAC BUILDERS, INC., ET AL. v. JUDGE CHARLES A. AGUILAR

  • A.M. No. RTJ-06-1997 - ATTY. JESUS R. DE VEGA v. JUDGE FATIMA G. ASDALA

  • A.M. No. RTJ-06-2024 - TIRSO P. MARIANO v. JUDGE ZEIDA AURORA B. GARFIN, ET AL.

  • G.R. No. 128766 - DRUGMAKER'S LABORATORIES, INC. v. DOMINADOR JOSE y NAGANO, ET AL.

  • G.R. NOS. 117622-23 - FRANCISCO MOTORS CORP. v. HON. COURT OF APPEALS, ET AL.

  • G.R. No. 129165 - SPOUSES RODRIGO COLOSO, ET AL. v. HON. SECRETARY ERNESTO V. GARILAO, ET AL.

  • G.R. No. 129318 - DIRECTOR CELSO PASCUAL v. HON. ORLANDO D. BELTRAN, ET AL.

  • G.R. No. 132955 - ORLANDO VILLANUEVA v. HON. COURT OF APPEALS, ET AL.

  • G.R. No. 136415 - VIRGILIO P. CEZAR v. HON. HELEN RICAFORT-BAUTISTA, ET AL.

  • G.R. No. 138463 - HEIRS OF CIPRIANO REYES, ET AL. v. JOSE CALUMPANG, ET AL.

  • G.R. NOS. 138701-02 - SPOUSES ROQUE YU, SR., ET AL. v. BASILIO G. MAGNO CONSTRUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT ENTERPRISES, INC., ET AL.

  • G.R. No. 140138 - SPS. ANGEL L. SADANG, ET AL. v. HONORABLE COURT OF APPEALS, ET AL.

  • G.R. No. 140288 - ST. AVIATION SERVICES CO., PTE., LTD. v. GRAND INTERNATIONAL AIRWAYS, INC.

  • G.R. No. 142601 - NATIONAL HOUSING AUTHORITY v. COMMISSION ON THE SETTLEMENT OF LAND PROBLEMS, ET AL.

  • G.R. No. 141528 - OSCAR P. MALLION v. EDITHA ALCANTARA

  • G.R. No. 143562 - CATALINA L. SANTOS, ET AL. v. PARAÑAQUE KINGS ENTERPRISES, INC.

  • G.R. No. 146313 - FLORENCIO ORENDAIN v. BF HOMES, INC.

  • G.R. No. 146848 - GMA NETWORK, INC., ET AL. v. JESUS G. BUSTOS, M.D., ET AL.

  • G.R. No. 147640 and G.R. NO. 147762 - JOWETT K. GOLANGCO v. ATTY. JONE B. FUNG

  • G.R. No. 148261 - NENUCA A. VELEZ v. SHANGRI-LA'S EDSA PLAZA HOTEL, ET AL.

  • G.R. No. 149429 - HADJI MAHMUD L. JAMMANG, ET AL. v. TAKAHASHI TRADING CO., LTD., ET AL.

  • G.R. No. 149468 - MARIE IOLE NACUA-JAO v. CHINA BANKING CORPORATION

  • G.R. No. 149723 - PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES v. VICTOR KEITH FITZGERALD

  • G.R. No. 150135 - SPOUSES ANTONIO F. ALGURA, ET AL. v. THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT UNIT OF THE CITY OF NAGA, ET AL.

  • G.R. No. 150642 - BENJAMIN G. NAVALTA v. MARCELO S. MULI

  • G.R. No. 151322 - MARIO L. COPUYOC v. ERLINDA DE SOLA

  • G.R. No. 150756 - EDUARDO LEYSON, ET AL. v. PEDRO LAWA, ET AL.

  • G.R. No. 152921 - RUBEN S. SIA v. ERLINDA M. VILLANUEVA

  • G.R. No. 153144 - VMC RURAL ELECTRIC SERVICE COOPERATIVE, INC. v. THE HON. COURT OF APPEALS, ET AL.

  • G.R. No. 153206 - ONG ENG KIAM v. LUCITA G. ONG

  • G.R. No. 154284 - BIBIANA FARMS & MILLS, INC. v. NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS COMMISSION, ET AL.

  • G.R. NOS. 153760-61 - titlexxx

  • G.R. No. 154532 - PETRON CORPORATION, ET AL. v. NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS COMMISSION, ET AL.

  • G.R. No. 156304 - ANACLETO R. MENESES, ET AL. v. SECRETARY OF AGRARIAN REFORM, ET AL.

  • G.R. No. 156536 - JOSEPH CUA v. GLORIA A. VARGAS, ET AL.

  • G.R. No. 156761 - LADY LYDIA CORNISTA-DOMINGO, ET AL. v. NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS COMMISSION, ET AL.

  • G.R. No. 156956 - REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES v. DEL MONTE MOTORS, INC.

  • G.R. No. 156965 - FROILAN DE GUZMAN, ET AL. v. THE COURT OF APPEALS, ET AL.

  • G.R. No. 156132 - CITIBANK, N.A. (FORMERLY FIRST NATIONAL CITY BANK) v. MODESTA R. SABENIANO

  • G.R. No. 157972 - HRS. OF SPS. LUCIANO, ET AL. v. HON. JESUS V. QUITAIN, ET AL.

  • G.R. NOS. 158190-91 & G.R. NOS. 158276 and 158283- NISSAN MOTORS PHILIPPINES, INC. v. SECRETARY OF LABOR AND EMPLOYMENT, ET AL.

  • G.R. No. 158290 - ILARION M. HENARES, JR., ET AL. v. LAND TRANSPORTATION FRANCHISING AND REGULATORY BOARD, ET AL.

  • G.R. No. 158840 - PILAR DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION v. SPS. CESAR VILLAR, ET AL.

  • G.R. No. 158620 - DEL MONTE PHILIPPINES, INC., ET AL. v. MARIANO SALDIVAR, ET AL.

  • G.R. No. 159268 - BALAGTAS MULTI-PURPOSE COOPERATIVE, INC., ET AL. v. COURT OF APPEALS, ET AL.

  • G.R. No. 159098 - SPS. HENRY and ROSARIO UY v. HON. JUDGE ARSENIO P. ADRIANO, ET AL.

  • G.R. No. 159593 - COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE v. MIRANT PAGBILAO CORPORATION

  • G.R. No. 159659 - RUBEN S. SIA, ET AL. v. PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, ET AL.

  • G.R. No. 159862 - HERMONIAS L. LIGANZA v. RBL SHIPYARD CORPORATION, ET AL.

  • G.R. No. 159810 - ESTATE OF EDWARD MILLER GRIMM v. ESTATE OF CHARLES PARSONS AND PATRICK C. PARSONS, ET AL.

  • G.R. No. 160061 - ENGINEER LEONARDO C. LEYALEY v. COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS, ET AL.

  • G.R. No. 160195 - CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION v. FLORELIO U. MANZANO

  • G.R. No. 160528 - COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE v. PHILIPPINE AIRLINES, INC.

  • G.R. No. 160832 - THE HEIRS OF EMILIO SANTIOQUE v. THE HEIRS OF EMILIO CALMA, ET AL.

  • G.R. No. 160895 - JOSE R. MARTINEZ v. REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES

  • G.R. No. 162342 - JAIME H. BALLAO v. COURT OF APPEALS, ET AL.

  • G.R. No. 162442 - MANUEL REFUERZO, ET AL. v. HEIRS OF THE LATE FRANCISCO REFUERZO, SR.

  • G.R. No. 162775 - INTERCONTINENTAL BROADCASTING CORPORATION (IBC) v. NOEMI B. AMARILLA, ET AL.

  • G.R. No. 162839 - INNODATA PHILIPPINES, INC. v. JOCELYN L. QUEJADA-LOPEZ, ET AL.

  • G.R. No. 163915 - ASIAN CONSTRUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION v. COMFAC CORPORATION

  • G.R. No. 164049 - NS TRANSPORT EMPLOYEES ASSOCIATION (NSTEA), ET AL. v. NS TRANSPORT SERVICES, ET AL.

  • G.R. No. 164375 - RODOLFO PAREDES, ET AL. v. ERNESTO VERANO, ET AL.

  • G.R. No. 164605 - CATERPILLAR, INC. v. MANOLO P. SAMSON

  • G.R. No. 165027 - PROTON PILIPINAS CORPORATION v. REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES

  • G.R. No. 165757 - GALAXIE STEEL WORKERS UNION (GSWU-NAFLU-KMU), ET AL. v. NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS COMMISSION, ET AL.

  • G.R. No. 165793 - ALFONSO T. YUCHENGCO v. COURT OF APPEALS, ET AL.

  • G.R. No. 166281 - JESUS ANGELES, ET AL. v. REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES

  • G.R. No. 166901 - ASIAN TERMINALS, INC. v. HON. HELEN BAUTISTA-RICAFORT, ET AL.

  • G.R. No. 166401 and G.R. NOS. 158660-67 - PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES v. ALFREDO BON

  • G.R. No. 167003 - PANFILO A. ABAIGAR v. JESUS A. ABAIGAR

  • G.R. No. 167071 - RUDY S. AMPELOQUIO, SR. v. ROMEO NAPIZA

  • G.R. No. 167084 - MONINA PUCAY v. PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES

  • G.R. No. 167146 - COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE v. PHILIPPINE GLOBAL COMMUNICATION, INC.

  • G.R. No. 167213 - DARREL CORDERO, ET AL. v. F.S. MANAGEMENT & DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION

  • G.R. No. 167502 - PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES v. PABLO CUDAL

  • G.R. No. 167892 - ST. JOHN COLLEGES, INC. v. ST. JOHN ACADEMY FACULTY AND EMPLOYEES UNION

  • G.R. No. 167866 - PEPSI-COLA PRODUCTS PHILIPPINES, INCORPORATED, ET AL. v. PEPE B. PAGDANGANAN, ET AL.

  • G.R. No. 168362 - FAR EASTERN UNIVERSITY - DR. NICANOR REYES MEDICAL FOUNDATION (FEU-NRMF), ET AL. v. FEU-NRMF EMPLOYEES ASSOCIATION-ALLIANCE OF FILIPINO WORKERS (FEU-NRMFEA-AFW), ET AL.

  • G.R. No. 168773 - ELIZA ABUAN v. PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES

  • G.R. No. 168943 - IGLESIA NI CRISTO v. HON. THELMA A. PONFERRADA, ET AL.

  • G.R. No. 169328 - JULIAN A. ALZAGA, ET AL. v. HONORABLE SANDIGANBAYAN, ET AL.

  • G.R. No. 169098 - MANUEL BAVIERA v. ROLANDO B. ZOLETA, ET AL.

  • G.R. No. 169430 - PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES v. HENRY BIDOC y ROQUE

  • G.R. No. 169432 and Formerly G.R. No. 145508 - PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES v. EDUARDO TAAN @ "Bebot" CORONA, ET AL.

  • G.R. No. 169652 - ASIAN INTERNATIONAL MANPOWER SERVICES, INC. (AIMS) v. COURT OF APPEALS, ET AL.

  • G.R. No. 169898 - SPOUSES ANITA AND HONORIO AGUIRRE v. HEIRS OF LUCAS VILLANUEVA, ET AL.

  • G.R. No. 170453 and G.R. NO. 170518 - NESTOR A. BERNARDINO, ET AL. v. PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES

  • G.R. No. 171392 - RUPERTO SULDAO v. CIMECH SYSTEM CONSTRUCTION, INC., ET AL.

  • G.R. No. 170473 and Formerly G.R. No. 146283 - PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES v. BERNIE TEODORO y CAPARAS

  • G.R. No. 171821 - DANILO "DAN" FERNANDEZ v. COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS, ET AL.

  • G.R. No. 171449 - PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES v. JOSE D. LARA @ JOSE KALBO

  • G.R. No. 172062 - LORENZO MA. D.G. AGUILAR v. BURGER MACHINE HOLDINGS CORPORATION, ET AL.

  • G.R. No. 172116 - PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES v. ROGER VILLANUEVA

  • G.R. NO. 172401 - CARLOS G. AZUL v. BANCO FILIPINO SAVINGS AND MORTGAGE BANK

  • G.R. No. 172175 - SPS. EXPEDITO ZEPEDA AND ALICE D. ZEPEDA v. CHINA BANKING CORPORATION

  • G.R. No. 173253 - DR. RENATO S. MU EZ v. PABLITO L. JOMO, ET AL.

  • G.R. No. 174340, G.R. NO. 174318 and G.R. NO. 174177 - CAMILO L. SABIO v. RICHARD GORDON, ET AL.

  • G.R. No. 174153 and G.R. NO. 174299 - RAUL L. LAMBINO, ET AL. v. COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS

  • G.R. No. 174153 and G.R. NO. 174299 : SEPARATE OPINION - AZCUNA, J. - RAUL L. LAMBINO, ET AL. v. COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS

  • G.R. No. 174153 and G.R. NO. 174299 : DISSENTING OPINION - CHICO-NAZARIO, J. - RAUL L. LAMBINO, ET AL. v. COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS

  • G.R. No. 174153 and G.R. NO. 174299 : SEPARATE CONCURRING OPINION - CALLEJO, SR., J. - RAUL L. LAMBINO, ET AL. v. COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS

  • G.R. No. 174153 and G.R. NO. 174299 : DISSENTING OPINION - CORONA, J. - RAUL L. LAMBINO, ET AL. v. COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS

  • G.R. No. 174153 and G.R. NO. 174299 : SEPARATE CONCURRING OPINION - PANGANIBAN, J. - RAUL L. LAMBINO, ET AL. v. COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS

  • G.R. No. 174153 and G.R. NO. 174299 : SEPARATE OPINION - QUISUMBING, J. - RAUL L. LAMBINO, ET AL. v. COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS

  • G.R. No. 174153 and G.R. NO. 174299 : CONCURRING OPINION - SANDOVAL-GUTIERREZ, J. - RAUL L. LAMBINO, ET AL. v. COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS

  • G.R. No. 174153 and G.R. NO. 174299 : SEPARATE OPINION - TINGA, J. - RAUL L. LAMBINO, ET AL. v. COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS

  • G.R. No. 174153 and G.R. NO. 174299 : SEPARATE OPINION - VELASCO, J. - RAUL L. LAMBINO, ET AL. v. COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS

  • G.R. No. 174153 and G.R. NO. 174299 : SEPARATE OPINION - YNARES-SANTIAGO, J. - RAUL L. LAMBINO, ET AL. v. COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS

  • G.R. No. 174153 and G.R. NO. 174299 : DISSENTING OPINION - PUNO, J. - RAUL L. LAMBINO, ET AL. v. COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS

  • A.C. No. 6678 - JOCELYN A. SAQUING v. ATTY. NOEL A. MORA

  • A.C. No. 6973 - ROBERT FRANCIS F. MARONILLA, ET AL. v. ATTYS. EFREN N. JORDA, ET AL.

  • A.M. No. 06-4-220-RTC - Re: report on the judicial audit conducted in the Regional Trial Court

  • A.M. No. P-01-1523 - Carmelita Chiong v. Sherwin Baloloy

  • A.M. No. P-05-2063 - Re: Anonymous Complaint Against Angelina Casareno-Rillorta, Officer-in-Charge, Office of the Clerk of Court (OCC), SusanLiggayu, Clerk III, and Virginia A. Manuel, Court Stenographer, Branch 21, all of the Regional Trial Court, Santia

  • A.M. No. P-05-2099 - Formerly OCA IPI No. 05-2154-P - BRIMEL BAUTISTA v. CLERK OF COURT ABELARDO B. ORQUE, JR.

  • A.M. No. P-06-2261 - ELPIDIO SY v. EDGAR ESPONILLA, ET AL.

  • A.M. No. P-06-2262 - ANGELO C. GUERRERO v. ANTONIO O. MENDOZA

  • A.M. No. RTJ-03-1809 and Formerly A.M. OCA IPI No. 03-1643-RTJ - BUSILAC BUILDERS, INC., ET AL. v. JUDGE CHARLES A. AGUILAR

  • A.M. No. RTJ-06-1997 - ATTY. JESUS R. DE VEGA v. JUDGE FATIMA G. ASDALA

  • A.M. No. RTJ-06-2024 - TIRSO P. MARIANO v. JUDGE ZEIDA AURORA B. GARFIN, ET AL.

  • G.R. No. 128766 - DRUGMAKER'S LABORATORIES, INC. v. DOMINADOR JOSE y NAGANO, ET AL.

  • G.R. NOS. 117622-23 - FRANCISCO MOTORS CORP. v. HON. COURT OF APPEALS, ET AL.

  • G.R. No. 129165 - SPOUSES RODRIGO COLOSO, ET AL. v. HON. SECRETARY ERNESTO V. GARILAO, ET AL.

  • G.R. No. 129318 - DIRECTOR CELSO PASCUAL v. HON. ORLANDO D. BELTRAN, ET AL.

  • G.R. No. 132955 - ORLANDO VILLANUEVA v. HON. COURT OF APPEALS, ET AL.

  • G.R. No. 136415 - VIRGILIO P. CEZAR v. HON. HELEN RICAFORT-BAUTISTA, ET AL.

  • G.R. No. 138463 - HEIRS OF CIPRIANO REYES, ET AL. v. JOSE CALUMPANG, ET AL.

  • G.R. NOS. 138701-02 - SPOUSES ROQUE YU, SR., ET AL. v. BASILIO G. MAGNO CONSTRUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT ENTERPRISES, INC., ET AL.

  • G.R. No. 140138 - SPS. ANGEL L. SADANG, ET AL. v. HONORABLE COURT OF APPEALS, ET AL.

  • G.R. No. 140288 - ST. AVIATION SERVICES CO., PTE., LTD. v. GRAND INTERNATIONAL AIRWAYS, INC.

  • G.R. No. 142601 - NATIONAL HOUSING AUTHORITY v. COMMISSION ON THE SETTLEMENT OF LAND PROBLEMS, ET AL.

  • G.R. No. 141528 - OSCAR P. MALLION v. EDITHA ALCANTARA

  • G.R. No. 143562 - CATALINA L. SANTOS, ET AL. v. PARAÑAQUE KINGS ENTERPRISES, INC.

  • G.R. No. 146313 - FLORENCIO ORENDAIN v. BF HOMES, INC.

  • G.R. No. 146848 - GMA NETWORK, INC., ET AL. v. JESUS G. BUSTOS, M.D., ET AL.

  • G.R. No. 147640 and G.R. NO. 147762 - JOWETT K. GOLANGCO v. ATTY. JONE B. FUNG

  • G.R. No. 148261 - NENUCA A. VELEZ v. SHANGRI-LA'S EDSA PLAZA HOTEL, ET AL.

  • G.R. No. 149429 - HADJI MAHMUD L. JAMMANG, ET AL. v. TAKAHASHI TRADING CO., LTD., ET AL.

  • G.R. No. 149468 - MARIE IOLE NACUA-JAO v. CHINA BANKING CORPORATION

  • G.R. No. 149723 - PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES v. VICTOR KEITH FITZGERALD

  • G.R. No. 150135 - SPOUSES ANTONIO F. ALGURA, ET AL. v. THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT UNIT OF THE CITY OF NAGA, ET AL.

  • G.R. No. 150642 - BENJAMIN G. NAVALTA v. MARCELO S. MULI

  • G.R. No. 151322 - MARIO L. COPUYOC v. ERLINDA DE SOLA

  • G.R. No. 150756 - EDUARDO LEYSON, ET AL. v. PEDRO LAWA, ET AL.

  • G.R. No. 152921 - RUBEN S. SIA v. ERLINDA M. VILLANUEVA

  • G.R. No. 153144 - VMC RURAL ELECTRIC SERVICE COOPERATIVE, INC. v. THE HON. COURT OF APPEALS, ET AL.

  • G.R. No. 153206 - ONG ENG KIAM v. LUCITA G. ONG

  • G.R. No. 154284 - BIBIANA FARMS & MILLS, INC. v. NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS COMMISSION, ET AL.

  • G.R. NOS. 153760-61 - titlexxx

  • G.R. No. 154532 - PETRON CORPORATION, ET AL. v. NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS COMMISSION, ET AL.

  • G.R. No. 156304 - ANACLETO R. MENESES, ET AL. v. SECRETARY OF AGRARIAN REFORM, ET AL.

  • G.R. No. 156536 - JOSEPH CUA v. GLORIA A. VARGAS, ET AL.

  • G.R. No. 156761 - LADY LYDIA CORNISTA-DOMINGO, ET AL. v. NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS COMMISSION, ET AL.

  • G.R. No. 156956 - REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES v. DEL MONTE MOTORS, INC.

  • G.R. No. 156965 - FROILAN DE GUZMAN, ET AL. v. THE COURT OF APPEALS, ET AL.

  • G.R. No. 156132 - CITIBANK, N.A. (FORMERLY FIRST NATIONAL CITY BANK) v. MODESTA R. SABENIANO

  • G.R. No. 157972 - HRS. OF SPS. LUCIANO, ET AL. v. HON. JESUS V. QUITAIN, ET AL.

  • G.R. NOS. 158190-91 & G.R. NOS. 158276 and 158283- NISSAN MOTORS PHILIPPINES, INC. v. SECRETARY OF LABOR AND EMPLOYMENT, ET AL.

  • G.R. No. 158290 - ILARION M. HENARES, JR., ET AL. v. LAND TRANSPORTATION FRANCHISING AND REGULATORY BOARD, ET AL.

  • G.R. No. 158840 - PILAR DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION v. SPS. CESAR VILLAR, ET AL.

  • G.R. No. 158620 - DEL MONTE PHILIPPINES, INC., ET AL. v. MARIANO SALDIVAR, ET AL.

  • G.R. No. 159268 - BALAGTAS MULTI-PURPOSE COOPERATIVE, INC., ET AL. v. COURT OF APPEALS, ET AL.

  • G.R. No. 159098 - SPS. HENRY and ROSARIO UY v. HON. JUDGE ARSENIO P. ADRIANO, ET AL.

  • G.R. No. 159593 - COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE v. MIRANT PAGBILAO CORPORATION

  • G.R. No. 159659 - RUBEN S. SIA, ET AL. v. PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, ET AL.

  • G.R. No. 159862 - HERMONIAS L. LIGANZA v. RBL SHIPYARD CORPORATION, ET AL.

  • G.R. No. 159810 - ESTATE OF EDWARD MILLER GRIMM v. ESTATE OF CHARLES PARSONS AND PATRICK C. PARSONS, ET AL.

  • G.R. No. 160061 - ENGINEER LEONARDO C. LEYALEY v. COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS, ET AL.

  • G.R. No. 160195 - CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION v. FLORELIO U. MANZANO

  • G.R. No. 160528 - COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE v. PHILIPPINE AIRLINES, INC.

  • G.R. No. 160832 - THE HEIRS OF EMILIO SANTIOQUE v. THE HEIRS OF EMILIO CALMA, ET AL.

  • G.R. No. 160895 - JOSE R. MARTINEZ v. REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES

  • G.R. No. 162342 - JAIME H. BALLAO v. COURT OF APPEALS, ET AL.

  • G.R. No. 162442 - MANUEL REFUERZO, ET AL. v. HEIRS OF THE LATE FRANCISCO REFUERZO, SR.

  • G.R. No. 162775 - INTERCONTINENTAL BROADCASTING CORPORATION (IBC) v. NOEMI B. AMARILLA, ET AL.

  • G.R. No. 162839 - INNODATA PHILIPPINES, INC. v. JOCELYN L. QUEJADA-LOPEZ, ET AL.

  • G.R. No. 163915 - ASIAN CONSTRUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION v. COMFAC CORPORATION

  • G.R. No. 164049 - NS TRANSPORT EMPLOYEES ASSOCIATION (NSTEA), ET AL. v. NS TRANSPORT SERVICES, ET AL.

  • G.R. No. 164375 - RODOLFO PAREDES, ET AL. v. ERNESTO VERANO, ET AL.

  • G.R. No. 164605 - CATERPILLAR, INC. v. MANOLO P. SAMSON

  • G.R. No. 165027 - PROTON PILIPINAS CORPORATION v. REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES

  • G.R. No. 165757 - GALAXIE STEEL WORKERS UNION (GSWU-NAFLU-KMU), ET AL. v. NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS COMMISSION, ET AL.

  • G.R. No. 165793 - ALFONSO T. YUCHENGCO v. COURT OF APPEALS, ET AL.

  • G.R. No. 166281 - JESUS ANGELES, ET AL. v. REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES

  • G.R. No. 166901 - ASIAN TERMINALS, INC. v. HON. HELEN BAUTISTA-RICAFORT, ET AL.

  • G.R. No. 166401 and G.R. NOS. 158660-67 - PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES v. ALFREDO BON

  • G.R. No. 167003 - PANFILO A. ABAIGAR v. JESUS A. ABAIGAR

  • G.R. No. 167071 - RUDY S. AMPELOQUIO, SR. v. ROMEO NAPIZA

  • G.R. No. 167084 - MONINA PUCAY v. PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES

  • G.R. No. 167146 - COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE v. PHILIPPINE GLOBAL COMMUNICATION, INC.

  • G.R. No. 167213 - DARREL CORDERO, ET AL. v. F.S. MANAGEMENT & DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION

  • G.R. No. 167502 - PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES v. PABLO CUDAL

  • G.R. No. 167892 - ST. JOHN COLLEGES, INC. v. ST. JOHN ACADEMY FACULTY AND EMPLOYEES UNION

  • G.R. No. 167866 - PEPSI-COLA PRODUCTS PHILIPPINES, INCORPORATED, ET AL. v. PEPE B. PAGDANGANAN, ET AL.

  • G.R. No. 168362 - FAR EASTERN UNIVERSITY - DR. NICANOR REYES MEDICAL FOUNDATION (FEU-NRMF), ET AL. v. FEU-NRMF EMPLOYEES ASSOCIATION-ALLIANCE OF FILIPINO WORKERS (FEU-NRMFEA-AFW), ET AL.

  • G.R. No. 168773 - ELIZA ABUAN v. PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES

  • G.R. No. 168943 - IGLESIA NI CRISTO v. HON. THELMA A. PONFERRADA, ET AL.

  • G.R. No. 169328 - JULIAN A. ALZAGA, ET AL. v. HONORABLE SANDIGANBAYAN, ET AL.

  • G.R. No. 169098 - MANUEL BAVIERA v. ROLANDO B. ZOLETA, ET AL.

  • G.R. No. 169430 - PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES v. HENRY BIDOC y ROQUE

  • G.R. No. 169432 and Formerly G.R. No. 145508 - PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES v. EDUARDO TAAN @ "Bebot" CORONA, ET AL.

  • G.R. No. 169652 - ASIAN INTERNATIONAL MANPOWER SERVICES, INC. (AIMS) v. COURT OF APPEALS, ET AL.

  • G.R. No. 169898 - SPOUSES ANITA AND HONORIO AGUIRRE v. HEIRS OF LUCAS VILLANUEVA, ET AL.

  • G.R. No. 170453 and G.R. NO. 170518 - NESTOR A. BERNARDINO, ET AL. v. PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES

  • G.R. No. 171392 - RUPERTO SULDAO v. CIMECH SYSTEM CONSTRUCTION, INC., ET AL.

  • G.R. No. 170473 and Formerly G.R. No. 146283 - PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES v. BERNIE TEODORO y CAPARAS

  • G.R. No. 171821 - DANILO "DAN" FERNANDEZ v. COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS, ET AL.

  • G.R. No. 171449 - PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES v. JOSE D. LARA @ JOSE KALBO

  • G.R. No. 172062 - LORENZO MA. D.G. AGUILAR v. BURGER MACHINE HOLDINGS CORPORATION, ET AL.

  • G.R. No. 172116 - PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES v. ROGER VILLANUEVA

  • G.R. NO. 172401 - CARLOS G. AZUL v. BANCO FILIPINO SAVINGS AND MORTGAGE BANK

  • G.R. No. 172175 - SPS. EXPEDITO ZEPEDA AND ALICE D. ZEPEDA v. CHINA BANKING CORPORATION

  • G.R. No. 173253 - DR. RENATO S. MU EZ v. PABLITO L. JOMO, ET AL.

  • G.R. No. 174340, G.R. NO. 174318 and G.R. NO. 174177 - CAMILO L. SABIO v. RICHARD GORDON, ET AL.

  • G.R. No. 174153 and G.R. NO. 174299 - RAUL L. LAMBINO, ET AL. v. COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS