ARTICLE 7 SECTION 7/8 CASE 1 OF 2 a.

Bribery, graft and corruption, pluder, forfeiture, perjury, serious

ESTRADA vs. DESIERTO misconduct, violation of Code of Conduct for Government
DOCTRINE: Employees, malversation of public funds, illegal use of public funds
Presidential immunity from suit – but once out of office, even before the end of the 6-year term, and property
immunity or non-official acts is lost. 5. Petitioner filed petition for prohibition with prayer for preliminary injunction,
seeking to enjoin Ombudsman from conducting any further proceedings in
IMPORTANT RULING RELATED TO THE PROVISION/DOCTRINE:
those cases or in any other criminal complaint that may be filed in his office
Unlawful acts of public officials are not acts of the State and the officer who acts illegally is not
“until after the term of petitioner as President is over and only if legally
acting as such but stands in the same footing as any other trespasser.
warranted.”
a. Prayed for confirmation of petitioner to be the lawful and incumbent
1. Petitioner Estrada was elected President
President of the Phils temporarily unable to ischarge duties of his
a. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo as VP
office, and declaring Arroyo to have taken her oath only in an acting
2. Ilocos Sur Governor, Chavit Singson, accused petitioner, his family and
capacity
friends of receiving millions of pesos from jueteng lords
ISSUES:
a. There were many calls for resignation of the petitioner
1. W/N petition is a justiciable controversy
b. There was an impeachment trial for petitioner
2. Assuming it is, W/N Estrada resigned as President
c. EDSA II – 10km line of people holding lighten candles formed a
3. W/N petitioner is only temporarily unable to act as President
human chain from the Nino Aquino Monument on Ayala Ave. in
4. W/N petitioner enjoys immunity form suit.
Makati to the EDSA Shrine to symbolize the people’s solidarity in
RULING:
demanding petitioner’s resignation
1. YES, it is a judicial controversy
d. Jan 20 – negotiations for transfer of power. Chief Justice Davide
a. Respondents rely on certain jurisprudence on EDSA I as support in
administered oath to Arroyo as President of the Philippines. Estrada
the case at bar involving the legitimacy of the government of respondent
and family left Malacañang Palace.
Arroyo, ergo a political question.
e. Estrada issued a press statement acknowledging Arroyo’s taking of
b. Cited cases were about the government of Pres. Aquino, declared by
oath, but with reservations/doubts about the legality and
the court as the result of a successful revolution by the sovereign
constitutionality of her proclamation as Pres
people. The legitimacy of a government sired by successful
f. Estrada signed letter sent to then Senate President Pimentel and
revolution by people power is beyond judicial scrutiny because
House Speaker Fuentebella. Letter invokes provisions of Sec 11 of
the government automatically orbits out of the constitutional loop.
Art 7, and said that petitioner is “unable to exercise the powers and
i. BUT the gov’t of respondent Arroyo is not revolutionary
duties of [his] office … VP shall be the Acting President.”
in character.
g. Arroyo immediately started exercising her powers as President:
c. EDSA I involves the exercise of the people power of revolution
appointing members of Cabinet, ambassadors, special envoys,
which overthrew the whole government. EDSA II is an exercise of
signing into law different Acts, nominating Senator Teofisto
people pwer of freedom of speech an dfreedom of assembly to
Guingona Jr as her VP.
petition the govt for redress of grievances which only affected the
3. Feb 7 – Senate declared impeachment court as functus officio and has been
Office of the Pres.
terminated
i. EDSA I is extra constitutional; EDSA II is intra
a. Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago voted against closure of
constitutional
impeachment court on the grounds that the Senate had failed to
2. YES, petitioner is considered resigned.
decide on impeachment case and that resolution left open the
a. Elements of resignation: There must be intent to resign and the intent
question of whether Estrada was still qualified to run for another
must be coupled by acts of relinquishment.
elective post.
b. Since there was no formal letter of resignation, the resignation shall
4. Several cases previously filed against Estrada in the Office of the Ombudsman
be determined from his acts and omissions before and after Jan 20
were set in motion
(day of transfer of power)
c. The Court looked at the state of mind of the petitioner through the
“Final Days of Joseph Ejercito Estrada,” the diary of Executive
Secretary Angara serialized in the Inquirer.
i. After the congregation at EDSA, petitioner decided to call
for a snap presidential election and stressed he would not be a
candidate. The proposal for such is an indicium that petitioner
had intended to give up the presidency even at that time.
ii. Sen. Pimentel repeated to the petitioner the urgency of
making a graceful and dignified exit. Petitioner expressed
no objection, proof that he reconciled himself to the reality that
he had to resign.
iii. At the stage where they were negotiating for a peaceful and
orderly transfer of power, the resignation of the petitioner
was implied.
iv. When Angara explains to petitioner what happened in the
negotiations, petitioner says “Pagod na pagod na ako. Ayoko
na masyado nang masakit.” “Ayoko na” are words of
resignation.
v. During the second round of negotiation, the resignation of
the petitioner was again treated as a given fact; only
unsettled points were measures to be undertaken by the
parties during and after transition period.
vi. Also confirmation was his final statement
C. Acknowledging the oath-taking of Arroyo as
President
D. Emphasized the leaving of Malacanang for the
sake of peace and in order to begin the healing
process of our nation – not due to any kind of
inability and that he was going to reassume the
presidency as soon as the disability disappears
E. The opportunity he refers to was without doubt
the past opportunity the people gave him to serve
as President
F. “future challenge” refers to future challenges after
occupying the office of the pres which he has
given up
G. Certainly, the national spirit of reconciliation and
solidarity could not be attained if he did not give
up the presidency.
d. Petitioner urges that he did not resign but only took a temporary
leave of absence due to his inability to govern, supported by his
letter to the Senate President and House Speaker
i. letter cannot negate the resignation of the petitioner
ii. If it was prepared before the press release clearly showing
his resignation, then the resignation must prevail as a later
act
iii. If it was prepared after the press release, still, it commands
scant legal significance. Petitioner’s resignation cannot be
the subject of a changing caprice nor of a whimsical will
especially if the resignation is the result of his repudiation
by the people.
e. Petitioner argues that he could not resign as a matter of law, relying
on RA 3019 Sec 12
i. Sec 12: no public officer shall be allowed to resign or retire
pending an investigation, criminal or administrative, or
pending a prosecution against him, for any offense under
this Act or under the provisions of the RPC on bribery.
ii. Intent of the law is obvious: to prevent the act of resignation
from being used by a public official as a protective shield to
stop the investigation of a pending criminal or
administrative case against him and to prevent his
prosecution under the Anti-Graft Law or prosecution for
bribery under the RPC.
3. NO, petitioner is not only temporarily unable to act as President
a. Congress has the ultimate authority under the Consti to determine
whether the President is incapable of performing his functions in the
manner provided for in Sec 11 of Art VII
b. The facts show that both houses of Congress have recognized Arroyo
as President; thus, the inability of Estrada is no longer temporary.
c. The Court cannot exercise its judicial power to review the claim of
temporary inability of Estrada and revise the decision of both houses
of congress
i. This is an issue in regard to which full discretionary
authority has been delegated to the Legislative branch
ii. Question is political in nature
4. NO, petitioner is not immune from suit
a. In Re: Saturnino Bermudez
i. Incumbent presidents are immune from suit or from being
brought to court during the period of their incumbency and
tenure but not beyond.
b. Cases filed against petitioner are criminal in character
i. It will be anomalous to hold that immunity is an inoculation
from liability for unlawful acts and omissions.
ii. The rule is that unlawful acts of public officials are not acts
of the State and the officer who acts illegally is not acting as
such but stands in the same footing as any other trespasser.