Case Digests Villegas V. Subido 109 SCRA 1 (1981) : Readings
Case Digests Villegas V. Subido 109 SCRA 1 (1981) : Readings
Case Digests Villegas V. Subido 109 SCRA 1 (1981) : Readings
READINGS
RULING: Yes, the appointments must be confirmed. Instead of continuing case, judge dismisses
The basis of Subido was not on any law or rule but it again
simply on his own concept of what policy to pursue, in Claims that PD 772 was repealed by Article
this instance in accordance with his own personal 13 stating that “poor dwellers shall not be
predilection. Here he appeared to be unalterably evicted nor their dwelling demolished”
convinced that to allow women laborers to work
Hence present case where petition states that there
outside their offices as street sweepers would run
was an abuse of discretion in the dismissal of the
counter to Filipino tradition. A public official must be
case and declaration that the Anti-Squatting law was
able to point to a particular provision of law or rule
repealed by Constitution.
justifying the exercise of a challenged authority.
Art 13: Poor dwellers shall not be evicted
Nothing is better settled in the law than that a public
official exercises power, not rights. The government PD 772: Any person with the use of force who
itself is merely an agency through which the will of the succeeds in occupying the property shall be punished
state is expressed and enforced. Its officers therefore by imprisonment
are likewise agents entrusted with the responsibility of
discharging its functions. As such there is no Reason of the judge in dismissing the cases was that
presumption that they are empowered to act. There the eviction of the accused was not effected in a just
must be a delegation of such authority, either express and humane manner as a resettlement area had not
or implied. In the absence of a valid grant, they are been established.
devoid of power. It must be conceded that
departmental zeal may not be permitted to outrun the
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• Court holds that there was no error in his Issue: WON the policy of not accepting or
understanding of the provision considering as disqualified from work any woman
worker who contracts marriage is valid?
• Erred though in predicating the legality of an
eviction on the existence of a resettlement area. Held: Petitioner’s policy of not accepting or
considering as disqualified from work any woman
o “just and humane manner” prerequisite
worker who contracts marriage runs afoul of the test
refers to due process.
of, and the right against, discrimination, afforded all
o Occupant must be notified before actual women workers by our labor laws and by no less than
eviction. the Constitution.
o Such law affords squatters the opportunity to The Constitution, cognizant of the disparity in rights
present their case before a court. between men and women in almost all phases of
social and political life, provides a gamut of protective
o Complainants have complied with that. provisions. Acknowledged as paramount in the due
PD 772 conforms with 1987 constitution in that it process scheme is the constitutional guarantee of
protects the rights of property owner against intrusion. protection to labor and security of tenure. Thus, an
employer is required, as a condition sine qua non
In the case at hand, Judge did not afford such prior to severance of the employment ties of an
opportunity for due process to three accused. individual under his employ, to convincingly establish,
through substantial evidence, the existence of a valid
• The argument of unconstitutionality was
and just cause in dispensing with the services of such
never posed either.
employee, one’s labor being regarded as
HOWEVER: in 97, RA8368 “an act Repealing PD constitutionally protected property. The government,
772” was enacted, which expressed its retroactive to repeat, abhors any stipulation or policy in the
effect to all pending cases. nature of that adopted by petitioner PT&T. The Labor
Code states, in no uncertain terms, as follows:
WHEREFORE: Petition Dismissed
“ART. 136. Stipulation against marriage. – It shall be
PT&T v. NLRC unlawful for an employer to require as a condition of
G.R. No. 118978 employment or continuation of employment that a
woman shall not get married, or to stipulate expressly
Facts: Seeking relief through the extraordinary writ or tacitly that upon getting married, a woman
of certiorari, petitioner Philippine Telegraph and employee shall be deemed resigned or separated, or
Telephone Company (hereafter, PT&T) invokes the to actually dismiss, discharge, discriminate or
alleged concealment of civil status and defalcation of otherwise prejudice a woman employee merely by
company funds as grounds to terminate the services reason of marriage.”
of an employee. That employee, herein private
respondent Grace de Guzman, contrarily argues that In the case at bar, it can easily be seen from the
what really motivated PT&T to terminate her services memorandum sent to private respondent by the
was her having contracted marriage during her branch supervisor of the company, with the reminder,
employment, which is prohibited by petitioner in its that “you’re fully aware that the company is not
company policies. She thus claims that she was accepting married women employee (sic), as it was
discriminated against in gross violation of law, such a verbally instructed to you.” Again, in the termination
proscription by an employer being outlawed by Article notice sent to her by the same branch supervisor,
136 of the Labor Code. private respondent was made to understand that her
severance from the service was not only by reason of
her concealment of her married status but, over and
on top of that, was her violation of the company’s
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policy against marriage (“and even told you that there exists bilateral agreement with the Philippines
married women employees are not applicable [sic] or and existing mechanism providing for sufficient
accepted in our company.” safeguards to ensure the welfare and protection of the
Filipino workers.
Petitioner’s policy is not only in derogation of the
provisions of Article 136 of the Labor Code on the Issue: Whether or not there has been a valid
right of a woman to be free from any kind of classification in the challenged Department Order No.
stipulation against marriage in connection with her 1.
employment, but it likewise assaults good morals and
Held: SC in dismissing the petition ruled that there
public policy, tending as it does to deprive a woman of
has been valid classification, the Filipino female
the freedom to choose her status, a privilege that by
domestics working abroad were in a class by
all accounts inheres in the individual as an intangible
themselves, because of the special risk to which their
and inalienable right. Hence, while it is true that the
class was exposed. There is no question that Order
parties to a contract may establish any agreements,
No.1 applies only to female contract workers but it
terms, and conditions that they may deem convenient,
does not thereby make an undue discrimination
the same should not be contrary to law, morals, good
between sexes. It is well settled hat equality before
customs, public order, or public policy. Carried to its
the law under the constitution does not import a
logical consequences, it may even be said that
petitioner’s policy against legitimate marital bonds perfect identity of rights among all men and women. It
admits of classification, provided that:
would encourage illicit or common-law relations and
subvert the sacrament of marriage. 1. Such classification rests on substantial distinctions
PASEI v. DRILON 2. That they are germane to the purpose of the law
163 SCRA 386 3. They are not confined to existing conditions
Labels: Case Digests, Political Law 4. They apply equally to al members of the same
class
Facts: Petitioner, Phil association of Service
Exporters, Inc., is engaged principally in the In the case at bar, the classifications made, rest on
recruitment of Filipino workers, male and female of substantial distinctions.
overseas employment. It challenges the constitutional
validity of Dept. Order No. 1 (1998) of DOLE entitled Dept. Order No. 1 does not impair the right to travel.
“Guidelines Governing the Temporary Suspension of The consequence of the deployment ban has on the
Deployment of Filipino Domestic and Household right to travel does not impair the right, as the right to
Workers.” It claims that such order is a discrimination travel is subjects among other things, to the
against males and females. The Order does not apply requirements of “public safety” as may be provided by
to all Filipino workers but only to domestic helpers law. Deployment ban of female domestic helper is a
and females with similar skills, and that it is in valid exercise of police power. Police power as been
violation of the right to travel, it also being an invalid defined as the state authority to enact legislation that
exercise of the lawmaking power. Further, PASEI may interfere with personal liberty or property in order
invokes Sec 3 of Art 13 of the Constitution, providing to promote general welfare. Neither is there merit in
for worker participation in policy and decision-making the contention that Department Order No. 1
processes affecting their rights and benefits as may constitutes an invalid exercise of legislative power as
be provided by law. Thereafter the Solicitor General the labor code vest the DOLE with rule making
on behalf of DOLE submitting to the validity of the powers
challenged guidelines involving the police power of VILLAVICENCIO v. LUKBAN
the State and informed the court that the respondent
have lifted the deployment ban in some states where G.R. No. 14639. 39 PHIL 778. March 25, 1919.
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Facts: Justo Lukban, who was then the like Lukban, quite uncomfortable but it does not
Mayor of the City of Manila, ordered the authorize anyone to compel said prostitutes to
deportation of 170 prostitutes to Davao. His isolate themselves from the rest of the human
reason for doing so was to preserve the morals race. These women have been deprived of their
of the people of Manila. He claimed that the liberty by being exiled to Davao without even
prostitutes were sent to Davao, purportedly, to being given the opportunity to collect their
work for an haciendero Feliciano Ynigo. The belongings or, worse, without even consenting
prostitutes were confined in houses from to being transported to Mindanao. For this,
October 16 to 18 of that year before being Lukban et al must be severely punished.
boarded, at the dead of night, in two boats
bound for Davao. The women were under the CONVENTION ON BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY
assumption that they were being transported to
another police station while Ynigo, the Biological diversity - or biodiversity - is the term
haciendero from Davao, had no idea that the given to the variety of life on Earth and the
women being sent to work for him were actually natural patterns it forms. The biodiversity we
prostitutes. see today is the fruit of billions of years of
evolution, shaped by natural processes and,
The families of the prostitutes came forward to increasingly, by the influence of humans. It
file charges against Lukban, Anton Hohmann, forms the web of life of which we are an integral
the Chief of Police, and Francisco Sales, the part and upon which we so fully depend.
Governor of Davao. They prayed for a writ of
habeas corpus to be issued against the This diversity is often understood in terms of the
respondents to compel them to bring back the wide variety of plants, animals and
170 women who were deported to Mindanao microorganisms. So far, about 1.75 million
against their will. species have been identified, mostly small
creatures such as insects. Scientists reckon
During the trial, it came out that, indeed, the that there are actually about 13 million species,
women were deported without their consent. In though estimates range from three to 100
effect, Lukban forcibly assigned them a new million.
domicile. Most of all, there was no law or order
authorizing Lukban's deportation of the 170 Biodiversity also includes genetic differences
prostitutes. within each species - for example, between
varieties of crops and breeds of livestock.
Issue: Whether we are a government of laws Chromosomes, genes, and DNA-the building
or a government of men. blocks of life-determine the uniqueness of each
individual and each species.
Held: We are clearly a government of laws.
Lukban committed a grave abuse of discretion Yet another aspect of biodiversity is the variety
by deporting the prostitutes to a new domicile of ecosystems such as those that occur in
against their will. There is no law expressly deserts, forests, wetlands, mountains, lakes,
authorizing his action. On the contrary, there is rivers, and agricultural landscapes. In each
a law punishing public officials, not expressly ecosystem, living creatures, including humans,
authorized by law or regulation, who compels form a community, interacting with one another
any person to change his residence. and with the air, water, and soil around them.
Furthermore, the prostitutes are still, as citizens It is the combination of life forms and their
of the Philippines, entitled to the same rights, as interactions with each other and with the rest of
stipulated in the Bill of Rights, as every other the environment that has made Earth a uniquely
citizen. Their choice of profession should not be habitable place for humans. Biodiversity
a cause for discrimination. It may make some, provides a large number of goods and services
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