Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
By
DAVID ROBERT C. AQUINO, CSEE 1
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Among all the rights guaranteed by the Constitution all, save one, may be
curtailed by the state’s inherent powers—police power, eminent domain and
the power to tax.
This one exception is THE RIGHT TO BELIEVE. This is the only right that
is absolute.
From this premise—the state cannot curtail nor regulate this right. It can
only regulate the actions that emanate from such belief. The state can only
act if such beliefs spawned acts that are detrimental or injurious to others or
to the state.
It should be noted that variations of this issue are not new. In fact, orders or
directives compelling attendance in flag raising ceremonies have been the
subject of judicial contention in the past since the Gerona case was
overturned by the Ebralinag case. 2
Although said case focused on the primacy of religious belief over the state’s
power to compel attendance in flag ceremonies, I believe the doctrine laid
down in that case may be expanded further.
The bottom line is, the right to believe takes precedence over all else. Hence,
we again go back to the premise that belief is an absolute right—it is only
when actions done pursuant to such belief conflicts with law, morals and
public order can such acts be regulated through the state’s police power
subject to certain tests or parameters mentioned earlier.
Aptly has it been said that the Bill of Rights that guarantees to the individual
the liberty to utter what is in his mind also guarantees to him the liberty not
to utter what is not in his mind. The salute is a symbolic manner of
communication that conveys its message as clearly as the written or spoken
word ... This coercion of conscience has no place in the free society.
6
In sum, compulsory attendance violates the fundamental law of the land not
because the aim of the exercise is doubtful but because the means employed
for accomplishing it is not permitted.
Let us not lose sight of what our democratic institutions stand for—that we
may not allow the ends to justify the means.
——o0o——