September 2017 - page 3

FACTS: Petitioner posted a cash bond for her provisionary liberty in connection with an information filed against her for violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act. The Sandiganbayan issued a hold-departure order after it was revealed in the media that she intended to leave the country to study. ISSUE(S): Whether or not the hold-departure order violates petitioner’s right to travel. HELD: NO. The hold-departure order is but an exercise of the court’s inherent power to preserve and to maintain the effectiveness of its jurisdiction over the case and the person of the accused. Under the obligations assumed by petitioner…

Keep Reading

FACTS: Petitioner was charged with violation of Sec. 20(4) of the Revised Securities Act. He posted bail for his provisional liberty. Two years after a filing of the Information, a motion was filed to cancel the passport of and to issue a hold-departure Order against accused-petitioner on the ground that he had gone abroad several times without the necessary Court approval resulting in postponements of the arraignment and scheduled hearings. The motion was granted. ISSUE(S): Whether or not the right to travel may be impaired by lawful order of the court. HELD: YES. Holding an accused in a criminal case…

Keep Reading

FACTS: Petitioner was charged for estafa in connection with a suspected fake Torrens title submitted to and accepted by his stock brokerage house. He has been admitted to bail. He filed before each court a motion seeking permission to leave the country to attend to matters “relative to his business transactions and opportunities” in the United States. The motions were denied. ISSUE(S): Whether or not the denial of his petition violates petitioner’s right to travel. HELD: NO. A court has the power to prohibit a person admitted to bail from leaving the Philippines. This is a necessary consequence of the…

Keep Reading

FACTS: Estelita Flores was brought from the province to Manila and stayed in the house of respondent who is running an employment agency. Estelita was prevented from going with her cousin, the petitioner, unless the money advanced for her fare and other transportation expenses be paid first. ISSUE(S): Whether or not an employment agency has the right to restrain and detain a maid until the latter has returned the payment advanced to her. HELD: NO. An employment agency, regardless of the amount it may advance to a prospective employee has absolutely no power to curtail the freedom of movement of…

Keep Reading

FACTS: Appellant has been distributing and selling bibles and/or gospel portions thereof (except during the Japanese occupation) throughout the Philippines and translating the same into several Philippine dialects. The Acting City Treasurer of the City of Manila required the appellant, pursuant to Ordinance No. 2529, to secure the necessary Mayor’s permit and license fees, together with compromise covering the period from the 4th quarter of 1945 to the 2nd quarter of 1953. ISSUE(S): Whether or not the City Treasurer may impose permits and fees upon a religious organization before the latter may distribute and sell bibles and other religious literatures…

Keep Reading

FACTS: Several students, members of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, were expelled for disobedience of RA 1265 and DECS Order 8, series of 1955, by refusing to salute the flag, sing the national anthem and recite the patriotic pledge. These acts were considered to be “acts of worship” or “religious devotion” which they “cannot conscientiously give to anyone or anything except God.” ISSUE(S): Whether or not the expulsion of the students was constitutional. HELD: NO. Forcing a small religious group, through the iron hand of the law, to participate in a ceremony that violates their religious beliefs, will hardly be conducive to…

Keep Reading

FACTS: Petitioners, wearing yellow shirts, marched with raised clenched fist and shouts of anti-government sentiments on their way to a chapel which adjoins Malacanang Palace. They were stopped from getting the church and were told that any similar attempt to enter the church will likewise be prevented. ISSUE(S): Whether or not the prohibition on petitioners from worshiping and praying at the chapel violates their freedom to worship. HELD: NO. While it is beyond debate that every citizen has the undeniable and inviolable right to religious freedom, the exercise thereof, and of all fundamental rights for that matter, must be done…

Keep Reading

FACTS: A New York State law required public schools to open each day with the Pledge of Allegiance and a nondenominational prayer in which the students recognized their dependence upon God. The law allowed students to absent themselves from this activity if they found it objectionable. A parent sued on behalf of his child, arguing that the law violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, as made applicable to the states through the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. ISSUE(S): Whether school-sponsored nondenominational prayer in public schools violates the non-establishment clause. HELD: YES. The provision allowing students to…

Keep Reading

FACTS: Petitioners, all officers of the Supreme Student Council of the Gregorio Araneta University Foundation, sought and were granted a permit to hold a meeting. At such gathering they manifested their opposition to the proposed merger of the Institute of Animal Science with the Institute of Agriculture. They marched and demonstrated outside the place indicated in the permit, disturbing the classes being held. They were later suspended for one academic year for holding an illegal assembly. ISSUE(S): Whether or not there was an infringement of the right to peaceable assembly and its cognate right of free speech in the disciplinary…

Keep Reading

FACTS: Petitioner Gregorio Aglipay, the head of Phil. Independent Church, filed a writ of prohibition against respondent Ruiz, the Director of Post, enjoining the latter from issuing and selling postage stamps commemorative of the 33rd Intl Eucharistic Congress organized by the Roman Catholic. The petitioner invokes that such issuance and selling, as authorized by Act 4052 by the Phil. Legislature, contemplates religious purpose – for the benefit of a particular sect or church. ISSUE(S): Whether or not the issuing and selling of such commemorative stamps violate the non-establishment clause. HELD: NO. The issuance of the postage stamps in question was…

Keep Reading