Legal System

Nature of the Philippine

Legal System

– a blend of civil law (Roman), common law

(Anglo-American), Muslim (Islamic) law
and indigenous law.
 Sources of Law

 Statutes (statutory law)

• Statutes - written enactment of the will of the legislative branch of
the government rendered authentic by certain prescribed forms or
solemnities; also known as enactment of congress.
• 2 types: (1) the Constitution and (2) legislative enactments
• Statutory law in the Philippines: (1) constitutions, (2) treaties, (3)
statutes proper or legislative enactments, (3) municipal charters,
(4) municipal legislation, (5) court rules, (6) administrative rules
and orders, (7) legislative rules and presidential issuances.
 Jurisprudence (case law)

– Cases decided or written opinion by courts and by persons

performing judicial functions.
– all rulings in administrative and legislative tribunals such as
decisions made by the Presidential or Senate or House Electoral
Tribunals.
Latest Statute and
Jurisprudence
• Statute: REPUBLIC ACT NO. 11457 (AN ACT CREATING THE DAVAO
INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT AUTHORITY, TRANSFERRING EXISTING ASSETS OF
FRANCISCO BANGOY INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT TO THE AUTHORITY, VESTING
THE AUTHORITY WITH POWER TO ADMINISTER AND OPERATE THE FRANCISCO
BANGOY INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT AND APPROPRIATING FUNDS THEREFOR) –
signed on August 30, 2019
• Jurisprudence: Vice Mayor Shirlyn L. Biñas-Nograles, et al. Vs. Commission on
Elections; G.R. No. 246328; September 10, 2019
Vice Mayor Shirlyn L. Biñas-Nograles, et al. Vs. Commission on
Elections; G.R. No. 246328; September 10, 2019

– President Duterte signed into law Republic Act No. (R.A.) 11243.3 Under R.A. 11243, lone legislative
district of General Santos City was created to commence in the next national and local elections
after the effectivity of this Act. R.A. 11243 took effect on April 4, 2019 - just over a month before
the 2019 general elections.
– same law directed the incumbent Representatives of First and Second Legislative Districts of South
Cotabato to continue representing their respective districts "until new representatives shall have
been elected and qualified.
– COMELEC was mandated to issue rules and regulations to implement said law. In its resolution, it
“SUSPENDS the election of Representatives for the First Legislative District, including General Santos
City, in the Province of South Cotabato, scheduled on May 13, 2019” and “SETS the first regular
election for the new Representatives of the First and Third Legislative Districts of the Province of
South Cotabato, within six ( 6) months from May 13, 2019 . In case the position for Member, House
of Representatives in the First Legislative District, including General Santos City, is voted upon in the
May 13, 2019 elections, all votes for the said position shall be considered stray.”
– Under COMELEC Resolution, Incumbent Representatives of the First and Second Legislative Districts
of the Province of South Cotabato shall continue to represent the legislative districts until noon of
June 30, 2019
– Petitioners contest the validity of the assailed Resolution for violating R.A. 7166.7
Under R.A. 7166, the elections for elective members of the House of
Representatives shall be on the second Monday of May, every three years.
– Petitioners also averred that scheduling the first regular election "within six (6)
months from May 13, 2019"10 violated R.A. 11243. R.A. 11243 intended the
reapportionment to commence in the next national and local elections after the
effectivity of the said Act, or on the second Monday of May 2022 - not May 13,
2019.
– Petitioners sought for the issuance of a Status Quo Ante Order in order to "restore
the right of the people to vote for their representative for in the upcoming May 13,
2019 Mid-term Elections.”
– During the May 13, 2019 elections, 94,929 votes (68.55%) were for Shirlyn L. Bafias-
Nograles (Bafias-Nograles ). However, following Section 3 of the assailed Resolution,
all the votes for the District's representative were considered stray. Thus, Bafias-
Nograles was not proclaimed as the 1st District's representative-elect.
– Petition for Review assailing Commission on Elections' (COMELEC) Resolution No. 10524 was filed by
petitioners
– Sec. 7. The Members of the House of Representatives shall be elected for a term of three years
which shall begin, unless otherwise provided by law, at noon on the thirtieth day of June next
following their elections. No Member of the House of Representatives shall serve for more than
three consecutive terms. Voluntary renunciation of the office for any length of time shall not be
considered as an interruption in the continuity of his service for the full term for which he was
elected.
– Sec. 8. Unless otherwise provided by law, the regular election of the Senators and the Members of
the House of Representatives shall be held on the second Monday of May. (Underscoring ours)
– The term "unless otherwise provided by law" contemplates two situations ( 1) when the law
specifically states when the elections should be held on a date other than the second Monday of
May; and (2) when the law delegates the setting of the date of the elections to COMELEC.
– Section 1 of R.A. 11243 categorically states that the reapportionment of the 1st District shall
"commence in the next national and local elections after the effectivity of this Act." R.A. 11243 did
not specifically provide for a different date. Neither did it delegate unto COMELEC the setting of a
different date.
– COMELEC Resolution No. 10524 is hereby declared NULL and VOID. The elections for the
representative of the First Legislative District of South Cotabato, including General Santos City is
UPHELD.
 Muslim Law (Sharia Law)

– Primary sources : Quran, Sunnaqh, Ijma and Qiyas

Classification of Legal Sources:

 Classification by Authority
• Primary Authority is the only authority that is binding on the
courts.
a) Two sources of law ( statutes and jurisprudence)
b) They are the actual law or those promulgated by the three
branches of government: Legislative, Executive and Judiciary.
 Primary Authority or sources :

• Mandatory primary authority - law created by the jurisdiction in which the law
operates like the Philippines;
•Persuasive mandatory authority - law created by other jurisdictions but which
have persuasive value to our courts (e.g. Spanish and American laws and
jurisprudence).
i. Primary persuasive authority
Secondary Authority

– Commentaries or books, treatise, writings, journal articles that explain, discuss or

comment on primary authorities.
– Opinions of the Department of Justice, Securities and Exchange Commission or circulars
of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas .
– Not binding on courts but they have persuasive effect and/or the degree of
persuasiveness.
– commentaries or books, treatise, writings, journal articles - the reputation or expertise
of the author is a consideration
 Classification by Source (who
publish the sources of law)

– Primary (official sources)

– Secondary (unofficial sources)
– Primary sources = published by the issuing agency itself or the official
repository, the Official Gazette.
– Republic Acts and other legislative enactments or statutes = Official Gazette
published by the National Printing Office; Laws and Resolutions published
by Congress.
– Supreme Court decisions = Philippine Reports , Advance Supreme Court
decisions and the Official Gazette .
– Philippine Reports : last volume printed was Volume 126 (June 1967). The
Philippine Reports is up-to-date and almost complete from 1901.
– Supreme Court E-Library = updated as soon as the decisions have been certified
by the Chief Justice
Secondary Sources - unofficial sources; commercially published; not published by
government agencies or instrumentalities
- Vital Legal Documents by the Central Book Supply contains a compilation of Presidential
Decrees (1973)
- Prof. Sulpicio Guevara published three books, which contains the full text of legislative
enactments or laws namely: a ). Public Laws Annotated (7 vols.), compilation of all laws
from 1901 to 1935, b). Commonwealth Acts Annotated (3vos.), compilation of laws from
1935-1945 , c). The Laws of the First Philippine Republic (The Laws of Malolos) 1898-1899
- Supreme Court Reports Annotated (SCRA), a secondary source, published by the Central
Book Supply . It was published because of the delay in the printing of the Philippines and
the need of the Philippine legal profession for Supreme Court decision.
- General Rule : In the absence of a primary source, the secondary source may be cited.
– Electronic or digitized sources are popular and effective sources of legal
information for the following reasons:
a) no complete and updated legal information available;
b) no complete and update manually published search tools for statute and case
law.
• Online access is either through (1) open access or (2) subscription basis; Open
access for law is used for both the government and the private sector.
– The Official Gazette online - official or government online source for full-text for all legal
sources and related; contains the issuances of all the executive departments
– The Supreme Court E-Library - electronic library (online and CD Rom for decisions
updated quarterly) for all Philippine legal information, case law and statute law. Access
is limited to the Justices, judges and court attorneys of the Supreme Court and law
schools (by request) through their law librarians.
– Decisions and issuances of the Supreme Court and its Offices and the Appellate Courts
are found in the Judiciary portal .
– CD Asia online
– Central Books’ eSCRA
– Law Juan
TAKE NOTE:

– In case of conflict between the printed

and electronic sources, the printed
version coming from the issuing
government agency prevails.
– Two major problems of legal research in the Philippines:
a) no complete and updated published or printed search tools or
law finders for statute law and
b) no complete compilation of statute law from 1901-present were
available
– The Tanada v. Tuvera case that was first decided before
People Power or the EDSA Revolution and modified
after the People Power or the EDSA Revolution
resolved the publication requirement for the effectivity
of laws as provided for in Section 2 of the Civil Code of
the Philippines.
– This was resolved by Executive Order No. 200 (1987)
that provides that laws become effective fifteen (15)
days after publication in the Official Gazette or in two
newspapers of general circulation.
– In case of conflict between the 2 versions, the Official
Gazette prevails.
– Sources published in newspapers may be classified as
primary sources pursuant to Executive Order 200.
Classification by
Character:
– nature of the subject treated in books.
– a) Statute Law Books, b) Case Law Books
or Law Reports, c) a combination of both
and d) “Law Finders.”
• Law Finders - indeces, citators, encyclopedias, legal dictionaries, thesauri or
digests.
• Federico Moreno’s Philippine Law Dictionary , the only available Philippine law
dictionary was last published in 1988; Jose Agaton Sibal’s Philippine Legal
Thesaurus was published in 1986.
• Foreign law dictionaries like Blacks’ Law Dictionary, Words and Phrases are
used as alternative.
• Legal researchers go online virtual libraries such as the Supreme Court E-Library
, Chan Robles Virtual Library , Arellano’s Lawphil , CD Asia online and the
different databases in CD-ROM format from CD Asia Technologies Asia Inc