PRINCIPLES AND STATE POLICIES

Preamble

a. Does not confer rights nor impose duties.

b. Indicates authorship of the Constitution; enumerates the primary aims and aspirations of
the framers; and serves as an aid in the construction of the Constitution.

Republic- is a representative government, a government run by and for the people.

Democracy- is essentially government by the people.

Republicanism

Sec. 1 Article II

The Philippines is a democratic and Republican state. The sovereignty resides in the people
and all government authority emanates from them.

Essential Features:

 Representative
 Renovation

Purpose- is the promotion of the common welfare according to the will of the people themselves.

The Philippines, under the Const., is not just a representative government but also shares some
aspects of direct democracy such as, for instance, the “initiative and referendum” under Art. VI,
Sec. 32 [BERNAS].

Manifestations

1. Nemo est supra leges- no one is above the law.

*** Villavicencio v. Lukban, 39 Phil. 778

Ours is a government of law and not of men.

No official, no matter how high, is above the law. "The law," said Justice Miller, delivering the
opinion of the Supreme Court of the United States, "is the only supreme power in our system of
government, and every man who by accepting office participates in its functions is only the more
strongly bound to submit to that supremacy, and to observe the limitations which it imposes upon
the exercise of the authority which it gives.
But one can search in vain for any law, order, or regulation, which even hints at the right of the
Mayor of the city of Manila or the chief of police of that city to force citizens of the Philippine
Islands  — and these women despite their being in a sense lepers of society are nevertheless not
chattels but Philippine citizens protected by the same constitutional guaranties as are other
citizens — to change their domicile from Manila to another locality. On the contrary, Philippine
penal law specifically punishes any public officer who, not being expressly authorized by law or
regulation, compels any person to change his residence.

2. Rule of majority- In the election of public officers, it is the rule of plurality which applies.

3. Accountability of Public Officials

4. Bill of Rights

5. Legislature cannot pass irrepealable laws – the living should not be ruled by the dead

Congress cannot pass irrepealable laws. Since Congress' powers are plenary, and limited only by
the Constitution, any attempt to limit the powers of future Congresses via an irrepealable
law is not allowed.

6. Separation of Powers

Purpose:

To prevent concentration of powers of authority to a person or group of persons that might lead
to an irreversible error to abuse in its exercise to the detriment of republican institutions.

“To secure action, forestall over-action, prevent despotism and obtains efficiency.”

Principle of Blending of Powers

Powers and not confined exclusively within one department but are assigned to or shared by
several departments, e.g., enactment of general appropriations law.

Principle of Checks and Balances

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

* The Steel Seizure case, 343 US 579, 96 L.Ed. 1153

ISSUE: Can President Truman acting under the aggregate of his powers, exercise a law making
power independent of Congress in order to protect serious national interests?
HELD: Article II Section 1 grants executive power to the President to execute the laws. His
general executive power is inapplicable since there was no relevant law here to execute. Under
Section 2, the Commander in Chief power does not warrant the seizure here either, since it was
lawmaking and too far removed from the “theater of war”. That power did not include the
President being able to take possession of private property in order to keep labor disputes from
stopping production. That is the job for the Nation’s lawmakers and not for its military
authorities. The Founders of the Nation entrusted the lawmaking power to the Congress alone in
good and bad times.

The power here sought to be exercised is the lawmaking power, which the Constitution vests in
the Congress alone, in both good and bad times. Even if it be true that other Presidents have
taken possession of private business enterprises without congressional authority in order to settle
labor disputes, Congress has not thereby lost its exclusive constitutional authority to make the
laws necessary and proper to carry out all powers vested by the Constitution "in the Government
of the United States, or any Department or Officer thereof.

7. Non-delegation of powers

Potestas delegata non delegare potest- What has been delegated cannot be delegated.

Based on ethical principle that delegated powers constitutes not only a right but a duty to be
performed by the delegate through the instrumentality of his own judgment and not the
intervening mind of another.

Permissible Delegation

a. Tariff Powers to the President

Sec. 28 (2) Art. VI: “The Congress may, by law, authorize the President fix within specified
limits, and subject to limitations and restrictions as it may be impose, tariff rates, import and
export quotas, tonnage and wharfage dues and other duties and imposts within the framework of
the national development program of the government.”

b. Emergency Powers to the President

Sec. 23 (2) Art. VI: “In times of war or other national emergency, the Congress may, by law,
authorize the president, for a limited period and subject to restriction as it may prescribe, to
exercise power necessary and proper to carry out a declared national policy. Unless sooner
withdrawn by resolution of Congress, such powers shall cease upon next adjournment thereof.”

Conditions:
 There must be war or other national emergency.
  The delegation must be for a limited period only.
 The delegation must be subject to such restrictions as the Congress may prescribed.
 The emergency powers must be exercised to carry out a national policy declared by the
Congress.

There cannot be any delegation of emergency powers in the absence of an emergency.

Furthermore, the emergency powers are self-liquidating unless sooner withdraw, in the sense that
they will automatically cease upon the end of the emergency that justified their delegation.

* First Emergency Powers cases, 84 Phil. 368

CA 671 does not fix the duration of its effectiveness. The intention of the act has to be sought for
in its nature, object to be accomplished, the purpose to be subserved and its relation to the
Constitution. Article VI of the Constitution provides that any law passed by virtue thereof should
be “for a limited period”. It is presumed that CA 671 was approved with this limitation in view.
The opposite theory would make the law repugnant to the Constitution and is contrary to the
principle that the legislature is deemed to have full knowledge of the Constitutional scope of its
power. CA 671 became inoperative when Congress met in regular session of May 25, 1946, and
that EO Nos. 62, 192, 225 and 226 were issued without authority of law. In a regular session, the
power of Congress to legislate is not circumscribed except by the limitations imposed by the
organic law.

The Filipino people by adopting parliamentary government have given notice that they share the
faith of other democracy-loving people in this system, with all its faults, as the ideal. The point
is, under this framework of government, legislation is preserved for Congress all the time, not
expecting periods of crisis no matter how serious. The truth is that under our concept of
constitutional government, in times of extreme perils more than in normal circumstances "the
various branches, executive, legislative, and judicial," given the ability to act, are called upon "to
the duties and discharge the responsibilities committed to them respectively."

* Second Emergency Powers cases, 92 Phil. 603

Conferment of emergency powers on the President is not mandatory on the Congress.

In the face of the worst crisis, the Congress may choose to hold on to its legislative powers and
validly refuse to delegate it; or, should it decide to do so, limit its duration and terminate it even
before the end of the emergency. The emergency does not automatically confer emergency
powers on the president. Emergency itself cannot and should not create power.

By the same token, the mere continuance of the emergency does not necessarily continue the
President’s emergency powers if they have been granted to him for a shorter period.
We can take judicial notice of the fact that the Congress has since liberation repeatedly been
approving acts appropriating funds for the operation of the Government, public works, and many
others purposes, with the result that as to such legislative task the Congress must be deemed to
have long decided to assume the corresponding power itself and to withdraw the same from the
President. If the President had ceased to have powers with regards to general appropriations,
none can remain in respect of special appropriations; otherwise he may accomplish indirectly
what he cannot do directly.

The framers of the Constitution, however, had the vision of and were careful in allowing
delegation of legislative powers to the President for a limited period "in times of war or other
national emergency." They had thus entrusted to the good judgment of the Congress the duty of
coping with any national emergency by a more efficient procedure; but it alone must decide
because emergency in itself cannot and should not create power.

Act 671 may be likened to an ordinary contract of agency whereby the consent of the agent is
necessary only in the sense that he cannot be compelled to accept the trust, in the same way, that
the principal cannot be forced to keep the relation in eternity or the will of the agent. The logical
view consistent with constitutionality is to hold that the power lasted only during the emergency
resulting from the last world war.

c. Delegation to the People

The 1987 Constitution have specific provisions where the people have reserved to themselves the
function of the Legislature.

Referendum- Power of the electorate to approve or reject legislation through an election called
for the purpose.
Plebiscite- means literally decree of the people, it is an electoral process by which an initiative
on the Constitution is approved or rejected by the people.

d. Delegation to Local Government Units

R.A. 7160 (Local Government Code) “Such legislation (by local governments) is not regarded
as a transfer of general legislative power, but rather as the grant of the authority to prescribe local
regulations, according to immemorial practice, subject, of course, to the interposition of the
superior in cases of necessity.”

This recognizes the fact that local legislatures are more knowledgeable than the national
lawmaking body on matters of purely local concern, and are in a better position to enact
appropriate legislative measures thereon.
e. Delegation to the Administrative Bodies

“The Power of Subordinate Legislation”

The powers to promulgate Rules and Regulation is only limited to carrying into effect what is
provided in the legislative enactment.

With this power, administrative bodies may implement the broad policies laid down in a statute
by “filling in” the details which the Congress may not have the opportunity or competence to
provide. This is effected by their promulgation of what are known as supplementary regulations,
such as the implementing rules issued by the Department of Labor on the Labor Code. These
regulations have the force and effect of law.

President cannot create a municipality through EO. But Jurisprudence provides EO that created
municipalities and thereafter existing for a long time as a municipality and as well recognized
and acknowledged by the state, was not declared unconstitutional.

Principle of Sub-delegation of Powers

When a statute confers some legislative powers on an executive authority and the further
delegates those powers to another subordinate authority of agency, it is called sub-
delegation. ... Sub-delegation is the further delegation of power by a delegate to another person
or agency.

Doctrine of Qualified Political Agency- “Alter ego Principle”

Acts of Secretaries of Executive departments performed and promulgated in regular course of

business are presumptively as Acts of the President.

The President can assume any or all Cabinet posts (because the departments are mere extensions
of his personality, according to the Doctrine of Qualified Political Agency, hence no objection
can be validly raised based on Sec. 13, Art. VII).

Under the Doctrine of Qualified Political Agency [Villena v. Secretary of Interior, G.R. No. L-
46570 (1939)], a decision of the department head generally need not be appealed to the Office of
the President, since the department head (e.g. Secretary) is the alter ego of the President, and the
former’s acts are presumably the President’s. However, the doctrine does not apply when (a) the
act is repudiated by the President, or (b) the act is required (by law) to be performed specifically
by the department head.

Tests for valid delegation

Rule: There is a valid delegation of legislative power when it passes both of the tests.
a. Completeness Test- The law must be complete in all its essential terms and conditions when
it leaves the legislature so that there will be nothing left for the delegate to do when it reaches
him except enforce it.

The law is complete when it sets forth the policy to be executed, carried out, or implemented
by the delegate, such that there is nothing left for the delegate to do but to enforce the law.

b. Sufficient Standard Test- is intended to map out the boundaries of the delegate’s authority
by defining the legislative policy and indicating the circumstances under which it is to be
pursued and effected. This is intended to prevent a total transference of legislative power
from the legislature to the delegate. The standard is usually indicated in the law delegating
legislative power.

The law “lays down a sufficient standard when it provides adequate guidelines or limitations in
the law to map out the boundaries of the delegate’s authority and prevent the delegation from
running riot.

Note: Acts which are purely legislative in character (e.g. making of laws) cannot be delegated to
an administrative body (in contrast to the ascertainment of facts or the filling in of details which
can be delegated to administrative agencies).

* Ynot v. IAC, 148 SCRA 659

There is an invalid delegation of legislative powers to the officers mentioned therein who are
granted unlimited discretion in the distribution of the properties arbitrarily taken.

The phrase "may see fit" is an extremely generous and dangerous condition, if condition it is. It is
laden with perilous opportunities for partiality and abuse, and even corruption. One searches in
vain for the usual standard and the reasonable guidelines, or better still, the limitations that the
said officers must observe when they make their distribution. There is none. Their options are
apparently boundless. Who shall be the fortunate beneficiaries of their generosity and by what
criteria shall they be chosen? Only the officers named can supply the answer, they and they alone
may choose the grantee as they see fit, and in their own exclusive discretion. Definitely, there is
here a "roving commission," a wide and sweeping authority that is not "canalized within banks
that keep it from overflowing," in short, a clearly profligate and therefore invalid delegation of
legislative powers.

Legislative standard need not be expressed

The Court said that the legislative standard need not be expressed, it may simply be gathered or
implied; neither should it always be found in the law challenged, because it may be found in
other statutes on the same subject.

Forms of the sufficient standard

1. Express;

2. Implied [Edu v. Ericta, G.R. No. L-32096 (1970)]; or

3. Embodied in other statutes on the same matter and not necessarily in the same law being
challenged [Chiongbian v. Orbos, G.R. No. 96754 (1995)].

8. State Immunity (supra)

9. Election through popular will

Act of State

An act done by the sovereign power of a country, or by its delegate, within limits of the power
vested in him. An act of State cannot be questioned or made the subject of legal proceedings in a
court of law.

With particular reference to Political Law, an act of State is an act done by the political
departments of government and not subject to judicial review. An illustration is the decision of
the President, in the exercise of his diplomatic power, to extend recognition to a newly-
established foreign State or government.

The act of state doctrine is one of the methods by which States prevent their national courts
from deciding disputes which relate to the internal affairs of another State, the other two being
immunity and non-justiciability.

It is an avoidance technique that is directly related to a State’s obligation to respect the

independence and equality of other States by not requiring them to submit to adjudication in a
national court or to settlement of their disputes without their consent. It requires the forum court
to exercise restraint in the adjudication of disputes relating to legislative or other governmental
acts which a foreign State has performed within its territorial limits.
Incorporation Clause

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kCjhd1viDU

Sec. 2 Art. II: “The Philippines renounces war as an instrument of national policy, adopts the
generally accepted principles of international law as part of the law of the land, and adheres to
the policy of peace, equality, justice, freedom, cooperation, and amity with all nations.”

By virtue of this clause, our Courts have applied the rules of international law in a number of
cases even if such rules had not previously been subject of statutory enactments, because these
generally accepted principles of international law are automatically part of our own laws.

a) The phrase “generally accepted principles of international law’’ refers to norms of general or
customary international law which are binding on all states, e.g., renunciation of war as an
instrument of national policy, sovereign immunity, a person’s right to life, liberty and due
process, and pacta sunt servanda.

b) Under the 1987 Constitution, international law can become part of the sphere of domestic law
either by transformation or by incorporation. The transformation method requires that an
international law principle be transformed into domestic law through a constitutional mechanism,
such as local legislation. The incorporation method applies when, by mere constitutional
declaration, international law is deemed to have the force of domestic law.

Conflict between municipal law and international law

The doctrine of incorporation is applied whenever municipal tribunals or local courts are
confronted with situations in which there appears to be a conflict between a rule of international
law and the provisions of the constitution or statute of the local state. Efforts should first be
exerted to harmonize them, so as to give effect to both.

In a situation, however, where the conflict is irreconcilable and a choice has to be made between
a rule of international law and municipal law, jurisprudence dictates that municipal law should
be upheld by the municipal courts.

* Ichong v. Hernandez, 101 Phil. 115

The Retail Trade National Law was passed in the exercise of the police power which cannot be
bargained away through the medium of a treaty or a contract.

Civilian Supremacy
Sec. 3 Art. II: Civilian authority is, at all times, supreme over the military. The Armed Forces of
the Philippines is the protector of the people and the State. Its goal is to secure the sovereignty of
the State and the integrity of the national territory.

Government to serve and protect the people & People to defend the State

Sec. 4 Art. II: The prime duty of the Government is to serve and protect the people. The
Government may call upon the people to defend the State and, in the fulfillment thereof, all
citizens may be required, under conditions provided by law, to render personal military or civil
service.

This provision is based upon the inherent right of the State to existence and self-preservation.

N.B. Under conditions provided by law.

Sec. 5 Art. II: The maintenance of peace and order, the protection of life, liberty, and property,
and the promotion of the general welfare are essential for the enjoyment by all the people of the
blessings of democracy.

Recognition of hierarchy of rights

1. Life2. Liberty 3. Property

Separation of Church and State

Sec. 6 Art. II: The separation of Church and State shall be inviolable.

Church State

Prohibited from meddling in purely secular Should not use its money and coercive power
affairs to establish religion

Should not support a particular religion, and

the state is also prohibited from interfering
with purely ecclesiastical affairs.

- This does not mean there is TOTAL/ABSOLUTE separation

- The better rule is SYMBIOTIC relations between the church and the state.

Separation of church and state is reinforced by:

a)  Sec. 5, Art. Ill (Freedom of religion clause).
b)  Sec. 2 (5), Art. IX-C (religious sect cannot be registered as political party).
c) Sec. 5 (2), Art. VI (no sectoral representative from the religious sector).

d) Sec. 29 (2), Art. VI (Prohibition against appropriation for sectarian benefit).

Exceptions:

a) Sec. 28 (3), Art. VI: (Churches, parsonages, etc., actually, directly and exclusively used for
religious purposes shall be exempt from taxation).

b) Sec. 29 (2), Art. VI: (Prohibition against appropriation for sectarian benefit, except when
priest, etc., is assigned to the armed forces, or to any penal institution or government orphanage
or leprosarium).

c) Sec. 3 (3), Art. XIV: (Optional religious instruction for public elementary and high school
students).

d) Sec. 4 (2), Art. XIV: (Filipino ownership requirement for educational institutions, except
those established by religious groups and mission boards).

Independent Foreign Policy & Nuclear Free Philippines

Sec. 7, Art. II: The State shall pursue an independent foreign policy. In its relations with other
states, the paramount consideration shall be national sovereignty, territorial integrity, national
interest, and the right to self determination.

Sec. 8 Art. II: The Philippines, consistent with the national interest, adopts and pursues a policy
of freedom from nuclear weapons in its territory.

- The word “relations” covers the whole gamut of treaties and international agreements and
other kinds of intercourse.
- The policy includes the prohibition not only of the possession, control, and manufacture
of nuclear weapons, but also nuclear arms tests.

Exception to the policy

- May be made by the political department but it must be justified by the demands of the
national interests.
- The policy does not prohibit the peaceful use of nuclear energy.

Just and dynamic social order

Sec. 9 Art. II: The State shall promote a just and dynamic social order that will ensure the
prosperity and independence of the nation and free the people from poverty through policies that
provide adequate social services, promote full employment, a rising standard of living, and an
improved quality of life for all.

Salus populi est suprema lex- welfare of an individual yields to that of the community.

Social Justice

Sec. 10 Art. II: The State shall promote social justice in all phases of national development.

*** Calalang v. Williams, 70 Phil. 726

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 insure economic stability of all the competent 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 extra-constitutionally, through the exercise of powers underlying the existence of
all governments on the time-honored principle of salus populi est suprema lex.

Social justice, therefore, must be founded on the recognition of the necessity of interdependence
among divers and diverse units of a society and of the protection that should be equally and
evenly extended to all groups as a combined force in our social and economic life, consistent
with the fundamental and paramount objective of the state of promoting the health, comfort, and
quiet of all persons, and of bringing about "the greatest good to the greatest number."

Respect for human dignity and human rights

Sec. 11 Art. II: The State values the dignity of every human person and guarantees full respect
for human rights.

- The right to security of persons is a guarantee of protection of one’s rights by the

government
- The Constitutional guarantee of the rights to life, liberty, and security of a person is
rendered ineffective if the government does not afford protection to these rights,
especially when they are under threat.

Fundamental Equality of men and women

Sec. 14 Art. II: The State recognizes the role of women in nation-building and shall ensure the
fundamental equality before the law of women and men.

- There exists a fundamental equality of women and men before the law, there was,
however, no intent to advocate absolute sameness because there are obvious biological
differences between men and women.
- To give impetus to the removal, through statues, of existing inequalities.
- The general idea is for the law to ignore sex where sex is not a relevant factor in
determining rights and duties.

Promotion of health and ecology

Sec. 15 Art. II: The State shall protect and promote the right to health of the people and instill
health consciousness among them.

Sec. 16 Art. II The State shall protect and advance the right of the people to a balanced and
healthful ecology in accord with the rhythm and harmony of nature.

* Oposa v. Factoran, GR 1010183, July 30, 1993

The Court stated that even though the right to a balanced and healthful ecology is under the
Declaration of Principles and State Policies of the Constitution and not under the Bill of Rights,
it does not follow that it is less important than any of the rights enumerated in the latter: “it
concerns nothing less than self-preservation and self-perpetuation, the advancement of which
may even be said to predate all governments and constitutions”.  The right is linked to the
constitutional right to health, is “fundamental”, “constitutionalized”, “self-executing” and
“judicially enforceable”. It imposes the correlative duty to refrain from impairing the
environment. 

The court stated that the petitioners were able to file a class suit both for others of their
generation and for succeeding generations as “the minors' assertion of their right to a sound
environment constitutes, at the same time, the performance of their obligation to ensure the
protection of that right for the generations to come.”

Priority to education, science and technology

Sec. 17 Art. II: The State shall give priority to education, science and technology, arts, culture,
and sports to foster patriotism and nationalism, accelerate social progress, and promote total
human liberation and development.

While it is true that this Court has upheld the constitutional right of every citizen to select
a profession or course of study subject to fair, reasonable and equitable admission and
academic requirements, the exercise of this right may be regulated pursuant to the police
 power of the State to safeguard health, morals, peace, education, order, safety and general
welfare. Persons who desire to engage in the learned professions requiring scientific or
technical knowledge may be required to take an examination as a prerequisite to
engaging in their chosen careers.

Protection to labor

Sec. 18 Art. II The State affirms labor as a primary social economic force. It shall protect the
rights of workers and promote their welfare.

- Human factor has primacy over non-human factors in the production

- Promotion of full employment that must be decent, just, and humane.

Land Reform

Sec. 21. The State shall promote comprehensive rural development and agrarian reform.

- The validity of a legal provision on payment of just compensation through modes other
than that of monetary may be upheld.
- Expressed objective of the law was the promotion of the welfare of the farmers.
- The law provided for the expropriation of agricultural lands to be distributed among the
peasantry.

* Ass'n. of Small Land Owners v. Sec. of Agrarian Reform, 175 SCRA 343

Regalian Doctrine & Inalienable Lands of the Public Domain

Sec. 2 Art. XII: All lands of the public domain, waters, minerals, coal, petroleum, and other
mineral oils, all forces of potential energy, fisheries, forests or timber, wildlife, flora and fauna,
and other natural resources are owned by the State. With the exception of agricultural lands, all
other natural resources shall not be alienated.

- Dictates that all lands of the public dominion belong to the State, that the state is the
source of any asserted right to ownership of land and charged with the conservation of
such patrimony.
- Jura Regalia (feudal theory; all lands were held from the Crown)
- Ownership is vested in the State

One significant application of the doctrine is: if a person is the owner of agricultural land in
which minerals are discovered, the person’s ownership of such land does not give him the right
to extract or utilize said minerals without the permission of the government/state.
Exception: Agricultural lands for public domain which alone may be alienated.

Independent People's organizations

Sec. 23 Art. II: The State shall encourage non- governmental, community-based, or sectoral
organizations that promote the welfare of the nation.

Family and Youth

Sec. 12 Art. II: The State recognizes the sanctity of family life and shall protect and strengthen
the family as a basic autonomous social institution. It shall equally protect the life of the mother
and the life of the unborn from conception. The natural and primary right and duty of parents in
the rearing of the youth for civic efficiency and the development of moral character shall receive
the support of the Government.

Sec. 13 Art. II: The State recognizes the vital role of the youth in nation-building and shall
promote and protect their physical, moral, spiritual, intellectual, and social well-being. It shall
inculcate in the youth patriotism and nationalism and encourage their involvement in public and
civic affairs.

* Meyer v. Nebraska, 263 US 393

Brief Fact Summary. Plaintiff was convicted for teaching a child German under a Nebraska
statute that outlawed the teaching of foreign languages to students that had not yet completed the
eighth grade.

Synopsis of Rule of Law. The Fourteenth Amendment prohibits states from creating legislation
that restricts liberty interests when the legislation is not reasonably related to an acceptable state
objective.

The Court declared the Nebraska law unconstitutional, reasoning it violated the liberty protected
by Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Liberty, the Court explained, means more
than freedom from bodily restraint. It also includes the right of a teacher to teach German to a
student, and the right of parents to control the upbringing of their child as they see fit. While the
state has a legitimate interest in encouraging the growth of a population that can engage in
discussions of civic matters, the means it chose to pursue this objective was excessive. 

* Pierce v. Society of Sisters, 268 US 510

Brief Fact Summary. Appellees, two non-public schools, were protected by a preliminary
restraining order prohibiting appellants from enforcing an Oregon Act that required parents and
guardians to send their children to public school. Appellants appealed the order.

Synopsis of Rule of Law. The 14th Amendment provides a liberty interest in a parent’s or

guardian’s right to decide the mode in which their children are educated. State’s may not usurp
this right when the questioned legislation does not reasonably relate to a viable state interest.

While the state has the right to insure that children receive a proper education, the 14th
Amendment provides parents and guardians with a liberty interest in their choice in the mode in
which their children are educated.

* Wisconsin v. Yoder, 40 LW 4476

Brief Fact Summary. Several Amish families appealed a decision convicting them of failing to
send their children to school until the age of 16 based upon Freedom of Religion under the
constitution.

Synopsis of Rule of Law. The law compelling parents to send their children to public school
until the age of 16 is unconstitutional as applied because it impermissibly interferes with the
Amish religious beliefs.

The Court held that individual's interests in the free exercise of religion under the First
Amendment outweighed the State's interests in compelling school attendance beyond the eighth
grade. In the majority opinion by Chief Justice Warren E. Burger, the Court found that the values
and programs of secondary school were "in sharp conflict with the fundamental mode of life
mandated by the Amish religion," and that an additional one or two years of high school would
not produce the benefits of public education cited by Wisconsin to justify the law.

Self-reliant and independent national economy

Sec. 19 Art. II: The State shall develop a self-reliant and independent national economy
effectively controlled by Filipinos.

Communication and information in nation-building

Sec. 24 Art. II: The State recognizes the vital role of communication and information in nation-
building.

Autonomy of Local Governments

Sec. 25 Art. II: The State shall ensure the autonomy of local governments.
 Decentralization of Administration vs. decentralization of Power

Decentralization of Administration Decentralization of Power

Occurs when the central government Abdication of political power in favor

delegates administrative powers to of LGUs declared to be autonomous
political subdivisions in order to make regions, making the latter no longer
it more responsive. [Limbona v. accountable to the national
Mangellin, supra] government, but to its constituency.
[Ganzon v. CA, G.R. No. 93252
(1991)]

Autonomous Region

Indigenous Cultural Communities

Sec. 22 Art. II: The State recognizes and promotes the rights of indigenous cultural communities
within the framework of national unity and development.

Honest public service and full public disclosure

Sec. 27 Art. II: The State shall maintain honesty and integrity in the public service and take
positive and effective measures against graft and corruption.