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I.
II.
III.
Naturalization
Naturalizationthe legal act of adopting an alien and clothing him with the privilege of a
native/natural born citizen.
Effects of naturalization:
1. The legitimate minor children of the naturalized father become Filipinos as well.
2. The wife also becomes a Filipino citizen, provided that she does not have any disqualification
which would bar her from being naturalized.
Note:
Naturalization is also allowed in our jurisdiction. It may be direct or derivative. Direct
naturalization is effected: (1) by individual proceedings, usually judicial, under general
naturalization laws; (2) by special act of the legislature, often in favor of distinguished foreigners
who have rendered some notable service to the local state; (3) by collective change of nationality
(naturalization en masse) as a result of cession or subjugation; and (4) in some cases, by adoption of
orphan minors as nationals of the State where they are bon. i
IV.
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force and effect. Thus, since the Constitution is the fundamental, paramount and supreme law of
the nation, it is deemed written in every statute and contract.
V.
Notes:
Definition of People CODE: CNCH
A Community of persons;
Sufficient in Number;
Capable of maintaining the continued existence of the community; and
Held together by a common bond of law.
Definition of Sovereignty
LEGAL sovereignty
The supreme power to make law.
It is lodged in the people.
POLITICAL sovereignty
The sum total of all the influences in a state, Legal and non-legal,
Which determine the course of law.
According to the Principle of AUTO-LIMITATION:
Sovereignty is the property of the state-force due to which it has the exclusive
capacity of legal self-determination and self-restriction.
Definition of Government
That institution or aggregate of institutions
by which an independent society
makes and carries out those rules of action
which are necessary to enable men to live in a social state
or which are imposed upon the people forming that society by those who possess
the power or authority of prescribing them.
Classification of governments
De jure one established by the authority of the legitimate sovereign
De facto one established in defiance of the legitimate sovereign
Classification of de facto governments
a. De facto proper
That government that gets possession and control of
or usurps by force or by the voice of majority
Constitutional I Reviewer (Midterm) by AJMM
PS: Suggested answers are based on the authors perspective culled from different sources cited below.
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country. Upon his discharge from the service of the said foreign country,
he shall be automatically entitled to the full enjoyment of his civil and
political rights as a Filipino citizen; (As amended by R. A. 106, R. A.
2639 and R. A. 3834).
5. By cancellation of the certificates of naturalization;
6. By having been declared by competent authority, a deserter of the Philippine armed
forces in time of war, unless subsequently, a plenary pardon or amnesty has been
granted; and
7. In the case of a woman, upon her marriage to a foreigner if, by virtue of the laws in
force in her husband's country, she acquires his nationality.
VII.
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Citizens of the Philippines at the time of the adoption of the 1973 Constitution
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
VIII.
Those who are citizens of the Philippine islands at the time of the adoption of the
1935 Constitution
Those born in the Philippine Islands of foreign parents who, before the adoption of
this Constitution, had been elected to public office in the Philippine islands
Those whose fathers are citizens of the Philippines
Those whose mothers are citizens of the Philippines and, upon reaching the age of
majority, elect the Philippine citizenshipgoverns those who are born before the
effectivity of the 1973 Constitution
Those who are naturalized in accordance with the law
Why does the state allows dual citizenship but not dual allegiance?
Section 5, Article IV of the 1987 Constitution provides, "Dual allegiance of citizens is inimical to
national interest and shall be dealt with by law."
Dual Allegiance refers to the situation in which a person simultaneously owes, by some
positive act, loyalty to two or more states. It says that while dual citizenship is involuntary, dual
allegiance is the result of an individual's volition.iv
Notes:
Philippine citizenship is a gift that must be deserved to be retained. The Philippines, for
all her modest resources compared to those of other states, is a jealous and possessive mother
demanding total love and loyalty from her children."
IX.
Ans. The immunity of the State from suit, known also as the doctrine of sovereign immunity or
non-suability of the State, is expressly provided in Article XVI of the 1987 Constitution.
Section 3. The State may not be sued without its consent.
The immunity from suit is based on the political truism that the State, as a sovereign, can
do no wrong.
Notes:
Moreover, as the eminent Justice Holmes said in Kawananakoa v. Polyblank that, A
sovereign is exempt from suit, not because of any formal conception or obsolete theory, but
on the logical and practical ground that there can be no legal right as against the authority
that makes the law on which the right depends.
Practical considerations dictate the establishment of an immunity from suit in favor of the
State. Otherwise, and the State is suable at the instance of every other individual, government
service may be severely obstructed and public safety endangered because of the number of suits
that the State has to defend against.[8] Several justifications have been offered to support the
adoption of the doctrine in the Philippines, but that offered in Providence Washington Insurance
Co. v. Republic of the Philippines[9] is the most acceptable explanation, according to Father
Bernas, a recognized commentator on Constitutional Law,[10] to wit:
Constitutional I Reviewer (Midterm) by AJMM
PS: Suggested answers are based on the authors perspective culled from different sources cited below.
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XI.
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paralyzed or disrupted by the diversion of public funds from their legitimate and specific objects,
as appropriated by law."
XII.
XIII.
XIV.
What are the requisites for the exercise of the power of judicial review?
Ans. The power of judicial review is subject to limitations, to wit:
1. There must be an actual case or controversy calling for the exercise of judicial power;
2. The person challenging the act must have the standing to question the validity of the subject
act or issuance; otherwise stated, he must have a personal and substantial interest in the case
such that he has sustained, or will sustain, direct injury as a result of its enforcement;
3. The question of constitutionality must be raised at the earliest opportunity; andt
4. The issue of constitutionality must be the very lis mota of the case. (Lis mota literally means
"the cause of the suit or action.")vi
Notes:
This requisite of lis mota rule of judicial review is simply an offshoot of the presumption of
validity accorded the executive and legislative acts of our co-equal branches of the government.
Ultimately, it is rooted in the principle of separation of powers. Given the presumed validity of an
executive act, the petitioner who claims otherwise has the burden of showing first that the case
cannot be resolved unless the constitutional question he raised is determined by the Court.vii
Advisory Opinion A case becomes an advisory opinion when there is no actual case and
controversy that demands constitutional construction for its resolution. This may take the form of
declaratory relief. It is not wise for the court to engage in an advisory opinion because: a) This only
leads to dialectics, to abstract legal arguments and sterile conclusions [Laurel quoting
Frankfurter]b) The judicial function is impoverished since it thrives on facts that draw out the
meaning of the law.
Mootness A case becomes moot when there are facts, injuries and heated arguments but
for some reason the legal problem has become stale. When a case is moot and academic, it ceases
to be a case and controversy. Any decision reached by the court would not be conclusive on the
parties. Exceptions to mootness: 1) If the question is capable of repetition and evasive of review.
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2) If there exists a mere possibility of collateral legal consequences if the court does not act. 3)
Voluntary cessation from the wrongful act by the defendant, if he is free to return to his old ways.
Ripeness A constitutional question may come to the court either too early or
prematurely, so that it is still abstract (advisory opinion), or too late, so that the court's decision
would no longer affect the parties (mootness). The court must resolve constitutional issues only
when they come to it at the right time (ripeness).
No Standing A party has a standing in a case if his interest is such that he stands to be
benefited if the case is resolved in his favor, and he stand to be really injured if it is decided
against him. Standing is established by two nexuses: the party's status and the type of legislative
act being questioned, or his status and the precise nature of the constitutional infringement. The
test of standing is whether the party has alleged such a personal stake in the outcome of the
controversy as to assure such concrete adverseness which sharpens the presentation of issues
upon which the court so largely depends for illumination of difficult constitutional questions
(Baker v Carr, supra.)A person has standing to challenge the governmental act only if he has a
personal and substantial interest in the case such that he has sustained, or will sustain, direct
injury as a result of its enforcement. (People v. Vera, infra.)
XV.
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resolution. One class of cases wherein the Court hesitates to rule on are political questions. The
reason is that political questions are concerned with issues dependent upon the wisdom, not the
legality, of a particular act or measure being assailed. Moreover, the political question being a
function of the separation of powers, the courts will not normally interfere with the workings of
another co-equal branch unless the case shows a clear need for the courts to step in to uphold the
law and the Constitution.xi
XVI.
XVII.
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Note:
Social justice is neither communism, nor despotism, nor atomism, nor anarchy, but 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 at least be approximated. Social justice means
the promotion of the welfare of all the people, the adoption by the Government of measures
calculated to ensure economic stability of all the component elements of society, through the
maintenance of a proper economic and social equilibrium in the interrelations of the members of the
community, constitutionally, through the adoption of measures legally justifiable, or extraconstitutionally, through the exercise of powers underlying the existence of all governments on the
time-honored principle of salus populi est supremo lex. (This is based on words of Justice Jose P.
Laurel on the landmark case of Calalang vs. Williams, 70 Phil. 726 (1940), which dealt on the
issue of police power for public welfare)
XVIII.
XIX.
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Notes:
This doctrine is being carried out until this modern day that it is now incorporated in the
constitutions of many states. Among which is the United States of America where in Kilbourne vs.
Thompson, 103 US 168, 190, 25L.ed. 377, the SC ruled that:
The separation of powers operates to maintain the legislative powers to the legislative
department, executive powers to the executive department, and those which are judicial in
character to the judiciary. Through this allocation of powers, the person entrusted shall not be
permitted to encroach upon the power confided to the others, but that each shall, by the law of its
creation, be limited to the exercise of the powers appropriate to its own department and no other.
There must be independence and equity of the several departments.xiii
XX.
Ans. A taxpayer suit is a case where the act complained of directly involves the illegal
disbursement of public funds derived from taxation. In a nutshell, a taxpayer is allowed to sue
where there is a claim that public funds are illegally disbursed, or that public money is being
deflected to any improper purpose, or that there is wastage of public funds through
the
enforcement of an invalid or unconstitutional law.
A person suing as a taxpayer, however, must show that the act complained of directly
involves the illegal disbursement of public funds derived from taxation. For a taxpayer's
suit
to prosper, two requisites must be met. These include:
Notes:
Requisites for a Taxpayers Petition
That money is being extracted and spent in violation of specific constitutional protections
against abuses of legislative power;
That public money is being deflected to any improper purpose;
That the petitioner seeks to restrain respondents from wasting public funds through the
enforcement of an invalid or unconstitutional lawxv
Sources:
1. CRUZ, supra note 6, at 376.
J. Bernas, The 1987 Constitution Of The Republic Of The Philippines: A Commentary
iii 1. CRUZ, supra note 6, at 376.
iv http://ustlawreview.com/pdf/vol.XLIX/Articles/Philippine_Citizenship.pdf
v http://bataspinoy.wordpress.com/2012/02/18/the-immunity-of-the-state-from-suit-known-also-as-the-doctrineof-sovereign-immunity-or-non-suability-of-the-state-is-expressly-provided-in-article-xvi-of-the-1987-constitution/
vi http://www.lawphil.net/judjuris/juri2011/mar2011/gr_191560_2011.html
vii https://bataspinoy.wordpress.com/2012/03/03/when-questions-of-constitutional-significance-are-raised-thecourt-can-exercise-its-power-of-judicial-review-only-if-the-requisites-are-present/#_ftn32
viii Tanada v. Cuenco,100 Phil 1101
ix (Cataran v. DENR, GR No. 134958, January 3, 2001)
i
ii
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http://sc.judiciary.gov.ph/jurisprudence/2000/aug2000/141284.htm
ibid
xii http://politicsandgovernance.blogspot.com/2010/06/doctrine-of-separation-of-powers.html
xiii ibid
xiv http://www.chanrobles.com/cralaw/2013aprildecisions.php?id=326
xv http://www.scribd.com/doc/48941920/TAXPAYERS-SUIT
x
xi
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