Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
109
ASSOCIATION
OF
PHILIPPINE
COCONUT
DESICCATORS, petitioner, vs. PHILIPPINE COCONUT
AUTHORITY, respondent.
Administrative Law Judicial Review Exhaustion of
Administrative Remedies Only judicial review of decisions of
administrative agencies made in the exercise of their quasijudicial
function is sub
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*
EN BANC.
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the PCA has the power to adopt this resolution to carry out its
mandate under the law to promote the accelerated growth and
development of the coconut and other palm oil industry. The
issue rather is whether it can renounce the power to regulate
implicit in the law creating it for that is what the resolution in
question actually is. Under Art. II, 3(a) of the Revised Coconut
Code (P.D. No. 1468), the role of the PCA is To formulate and
adopt a general program of development for the coconut and other
palm oil industry in all its aspects. By limiting the purpose of
registration to merely monitoring volumes of production [and]
administration of quality standards of coconut processing plants,
the PCA in effect abdicates its role and leaves it almost
completely to market forces how the coconut industry will
develop.
Same Same Same National Economy and Patrimony Free
enterprise does not call for removal of protective regulations.In
the first whereas clause of the questioned resolution as set out
above, the PCA invokes a policy of free enterprise that is
unhampered by protective regulations and unnecessary
bureaucratic red tape as justification for abolishing the licensing
system. There can be no quarrel with the elimination of
unnecessary red tape. That is within the power of the PCA to do
and indeed it should eliminate red tape. Its success in doing so
will be applauded. But free enterprise does not call for removal of
protective regulations.
Same Same Same Same Constitutional Law Our
Constitutions, beginning with the 1935 document, have repudiated
laissezfaire as an economic principle, and although the present
Constitution enshrines free enterprise as a policy, it nonetheless
reserves to the government the power to intervene whenever
necessary to promote the general welfare.Our Constitutions,
beginning with the 1935 document, have repudiated laissezfaire
as an economic principle. Although the present Constitution
enshrines free enterprise as a policy, it nonetheless reserves to
the government the power to intervene whenever necessary to
promote the general welfare. This is clear from the following
provisions of Art. XII of the Constitution which, so far as
pertinent, state: SEC. 6. . . . Individuals and private groups,
including corporations, cooperatives, and similar collective
organizations, shall have the right to own, establish, and operate
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MENDOZA, J.:
At issue in this case is the validity of a resolution, dated
March 24, 1993, of the Philippine Coconut Authority in
which it declares that it will no longer require those
wishing to engage in coconut processing to apply to it for a
license or permit as a condition for engaging in such
business.
Petitioner Association of Philippine Coconut Desiccators
(hereafter referred to as APCD) brought this suit for
certiorari and mandamus against respondent Philippine
Coconut Authority (PCA) to invalidate the latters Board
Resolution No. 01893 and the certificates of registration
issued under it on the ground that the resolution in
question is beyond the power of the PCA to adopt, and to
compel said administrative agency to comply instead with
the mandatory provisions of statutes regulating the
desiccated coconut industry, in particular, and the coconut
industry, in general.
As disclosed by the parties pleadings, the facts are as
follows:
On November 5, 1992, seven desiccated coconut
processing companies belonging to the APCD brought suit
in the Regional Trial Court, National Capital Judicial
Region in Makati, Metro Manila, to enjoin the PCA from
issuing permits to certain applicants for the establishment
of new desiccated coconut processing plants. Petitioner
alleged that the issuance of licenses to the applicants would
violate PCAs Administrative Order No. 02, series of 1991,
particular locality where the ratio of total rated capacity over the total of
the nut production capacity is greater than or equal to 1.
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Fiesta Brands, Inc. v. Philippine Coconut Authority, Civil Case No. 923210.
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I
RESPONDENT PCAS BOARD RESOLUTION NO. 01893 IS
NULL AND VOID FOR BEING AN UNDUE EXERCISE OF
LEGISLATIVE POWER BY AN ADMINISTRATIVE BODY.
II
ASIDE FROM BEING ULTRAVIRES, BOARD RESOLUTION
NO. 01893 IS WITHOUT ANY BASIS, ARBITRARY,
UNREASONABLE AND THEREFORE IN VIOLATION OF
SUBSTANTIVE DUE PROCESS OF LAW.
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II.
We now turn to the merit of the present petition. The
Philippine Coconut Authority was originally created by
P.D. No. 232 on June 30, 1973, to take over the powers and
functions of the Coconut Coordinating Council, the
Philippine Coconut Administration and the Philippine
Coconut Research Institute. On June 11, 1978, by P.D. No.
1468, it was made an independent public corporation . . .
directly reporting
to, and supervised by, the President of
9
the Philippines, and charged with carrying out the States
policy to promote the rapid integrated development and
growth of the coconut and other palm oil industry in all its
aspects and to ensure that the coconut farmers become
direct participants in, and benefi
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5
Petition, Annex O.
Id., Annex P.
Id., Annex Q.
Art. I, 1.
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Art. I, 2.
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P.D. No. 1468, Art. I, 2 P.D. No. 961, Art. I, 2 P.D. No. 232, 1.
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Id.
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Rollo, p. 88.
15
P.D. No. 1468, Art. I, 2 P.D. No. 961, Art. I, 2 P.D. No. 232, 1.
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opment of the coconut and other palm oils industry, but one
to be exercised in the context of this regulatory structure.
In plain disregard of this legislative purpose, the PCA
The issue is not whether the PCA has the power to adopt
this resolution to carry out its mandate under the law to
promote the accelerated growth and17 development of the
coconut and other palm oil industry. The issue rather is
whether it can renounce the power to regulate implicit in
the law creating it for that is what the resolution in
question actually is.
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17
P.D. No. 232, 1 P.D. No. 961, Art. I, 2 P.D. No. 1468, Art. I, 2 and
123
Under Art. II, 3(a) of the Revised Coconut Code (P.D. No.
1468), the role of the PCA is To formulate and adopt a
general program of development for the coconut and other
palm oil industry in all its aspects. By limiting the
purpose of registration to merely monitoring volumes of
production [and] administration of quality standards of
coconut processing plants, the PCA in effect abdicates its
role and leaves it almost completely to market forces how
the coconut industry will develop.
Art. II, 3 of P.D. No. 1468 further requires the PCA:
(h) To regulate the marketing and the exportation of copra and its
byproducts by establishing standards for domestic trade and
export and, thereafter, to conduct an inspection of all copra and
its byproducts proposed for export to determine if they conform to
the standards established
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coconut oil milling industry, including, but not limited to, the
following measures:
(a) Imposition of floor and/or ceiling prices for all exports of
copra, coconut oil and their byproducts
(b) Prescription of quality standards
(c) Establishment of maximum quantities for particular
periods and particular markets
(d) Inspection and survey of export shipments through an
independent international superintendent or surveyor.
In the exercise of its powers hereunder, the Philippine Coconut
Authority shall consult with, and be guided by, the
recommendation of the coconut farmers, through corporations
owned or controlled by them through the Coconut Industry
Investment Fund and the private corporation authorized to be
organized under Letter of Instructions No. 926.
and the Revised Coconut Code (P.D. No. 1468), Art. II, 3,
to wit:
(m) Except in respect of entities owned or controlled by the
Government or by the coconut farmers under Sections 9 and 10,
Article III hereof, the Authority shall have full power and
authority to regulate the production, distribution and utilization
of all subsidized coconutbased products, and to require the
submission of such reports or documents as may be deemed
necessary by the Authority to ascertain whether the levy
payments and/or subsidy claims are due and correct and whether
the subsidized products are distributed among, and utilized by,
the consumers authorized by the Authority.
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See Antamok Goldfields Mining Co. v. CIR, 70 Phil. 340 (1940) Edu
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Rollo, p. 88.
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DISSENTING OPINION
ROMERO, J.:
The past decade, a distinct worldwide trend towards
economic deregulation has been evident. Both developed
and developing countries have seriously considered, and
extensively adopted, various measures for this purpose.
The Philippines has been no exception.
To this end, the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA)
issued Board Resolution No. 01893 (PCABR No. 01893)
dated March 24,1 1993, deregulating the coconut processing
plant industry. The Association of Philippine Coconut
Desiccators (APCD) has filed this instant petition for
prohibition and mandamus under Rule 65 of the Rules of
Court seeking the annulment of said resolution.
APCD questions the validity of PCABR No. 01893 for
being violative of the principle of nondelegability of
legislative power. It contends that in issuing the resolution
deregulating the coconut industry, the PCA exercised
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Similar grants of
authority were made in subsequent
3
amendatory laws.
In this regard, we have ruled that legislative discretion,
as to the substantive contents of a law, cannot be
delegated. What may be delegated is the discretion to
determine how the law is to be enforced, not what the law
should be, a prerogative of the legislature which 4it can
neither abdicate nor surrender to the delegate. The
principle is based on the separation and allocation
of
5
powers among the three departments of government.
Thus, there are two accepted tests to determine whether
or not there is a valid delegation of legislative power,
namely, the completeness test and the sufficient standard
test. Under the first test, the law must be complete in all
its terms and conditions when it leaves the legislature such
that when it reaches the delegate, the only thing he will
have to do is en
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2
P.D. No. 931 Coconut Industry Code, P.D. No. 1468 Revised
Section 3(a), P.D. No. 961 Section 3(a), P.D. No. 962 Section (1) and
569 (1965).
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(1995).
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PLANNING, 1964.
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P.D. No. 931, Section 1 P.D. No. 1468, Section 2 P.D. No. 1644.
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(1994).
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