For Justice Puno we could see the difference between his approach from So under the Natural law

tural law theory, what is really controlling would not be

that, the approach justice Carpio. While Justice Carpio was guided by the the text of the human positive laws but the underlying principles which they
framework of legal positivism as he relied on a positive law, justice be refer to as the natural look.
discussed, natural law by looking into how the various periods discuss, uh,
the natural law. After the collapse of the Roman Empire, history entered into what we call
the Medieval or the Dark Ages. Religions developed and consequently
Natural law was defined under the classical or the traditional period as a theological studies also developed.
law of reason. Coinciding with the biblical law, but not a derived term.
Among the main proponents of natural law was, St. Thomas Aquinas who So this natural law theory was filled with theological concepts during the
describes natural law as the participation of irrational creatures. MEDIEVAL PERIOD. The natural law theory was placed under a
theocentric framework, meaning a God-centered framework where the
In the eternal law, by definition, it said Natural law is a rule of law of God, divine law, the eternal law, was perceived as the perfect law.
[Link] by God in man's nature, whereby man can discern
how he should act And natural law is a partial revelation of eternal law. Well, you can read
the, Which is one of the main proponents of the natural law theory. In fact,
Under the modern form of theory, natural law is an unwritten code of moral its work still resonates in local and international jurisdiction.
contact, the observance of which served as the impetus for the creation of
civil governments. It still emanates from the dictates of reason, but one Last elaborations of the theory of [Link] Aquinas, as you can read, the
that emphasizes the importance of individuals and their inherent rights. separate opinion of justice Puno. Eventually this Theocentric model of
natural law. One that is based on the concept of God, things emanates
The Theory started with the Greeks and Romans. from God.

The Greeks specifically believe that there is a universal natural standard During the age of this so-called industrial revolution, from God there was
that's binding on all men, meaning there is something that is beyond a shift to [Link] MODERN PERIOD emphasized on the importance of
those laws which were merely promulgated by men. So this universal men and the equality of men. So from natural law filled with the theological
natural standard is believed to be natural law. trappings, the natural law theory shifted to the natural rights tradition.
Among the main proponents of the tradition was John Locke. He posited
Well, during the time of the Greeks, they did NOT consider law as that human beings have rights even in the absence of established
separate from moral laws. All laws are consistent. All laws should be governments.
universal. There is a law which transcends states and political affiliations.
It is a law that undergirds human positive laws. He referred to the absence of a government as a state of nature. Under the
state of nature, human beings already have rights, but their rights cannot
For the GREEKS AND ROMANS, they make a clear distinction between be fully protected because of possible self-interest and bias among the
these universal standards, which they refer to as natural law. From that people. So that nothing but confusion in disorder will follow. For John
off, Human laws. Human positive laws. Locke, even if human beings have rights, in fact, absolute rights under the
state of nature, these rights could best be protected and recognized
Universal Standard = Natural Law through a civil government.

Human positive laws are enactments made by states while Natural or This civil government is established through mutual concessions or
these universal standards proceed even states. through mutual agreement. Made by the people under the state of nature
whereby they surrender a portion of their rights so that they could live Thus, under the natural law theory rights exist even if there is no
together without fear of confusion and disorder. established government and rights proceed constitutions.

So there is a need to establish and enter a civil society by mutual So in relation to the case of Elizabeth Diamano, the government cannot
agreement among the people. This is what John Lock refers to as the deprive her of her right just by the mere expidure that there is no written
social contract. law recognizing or protecting it. A constitution is not a correct
prerequisite for the existence of right.
The government is a product of a social contract.
Rights exist even before the establishment of prosecutions and
Purpose of this government: is to protect the inherent rights of men, governments.
which exists even before the establishment of the government. However,
people who entered into this social contact make mutual concessions, Theano right is an inherent right to privacy. It is one that exists even if there
meaning they limit their rights so that society could work well, so that is no Republic of the Philippines. The right against unreasonable searches
their rights could meet each other and that no person would overstep the and seizures is an aspect of the right privacy existence, therefore, of a
limits of his right in violation of the right of other persons. positive legislation or a human positive law. It's like, constitution statute or
international laws are not, or is not required to rule in favor of Elizabeth
The natural rights tradition influenced Thomas Jefferson an American Dimaano.
philosopher. However, he concentrated on the creation of constitutions that
stipulate the limits of rights of persons and powers of the state.

The natural law and natural rights of tradition later on influence the
various revolutions that happened, after the modern period,

after the Industrial Revolution, natural rights gradually evolved into rights
of men, and later on it was requash in the idea of human rights. So this
idea superseded the traditional concept rights t based on notions of God
given natural law and of social contract

Instead, The refurbished idea of human rights was based on the

assumption that each individual person was entitled to an equal degree of
respect as a human being. This was the historical backdrop under which
the United Nations organization published its universal Declaration of
Human Rights, and later on the International Covenant on Economic,
Social and Cultural Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights, and the optional protocol to the civil and political right.

The New Human rights tradition uses as its fundamental premise, the
inherent nature of flights meaning right in heels in persons from the fact of
their humanity. So rights are not created by law. Rights are not social
constructs. Right exist because men exist. People have rights because
they are persons.
PIO VS DURAN. of the government. Doing so will shut the conscience of humanity for
It's a dissenting opinion. Justice Gregorio Perfecto expressed his apparent justice, perfecto, the ability to do justice even to enemies and to persons
disgust on how the high court then ruled the case of. for him the majority we hate is precisely one of the inherent virtues of democracy.
opinion forfeits the very poor purpose of the victory against the Japanese It is one of its characteristics, making it essentially different from
forces during the Second World War said that the Allied victory during the autocracies and dictatorship. So He cited, the philosopher Jerring to
war It's supposed to be a triumph of human freedom and the re- elaborate his point on the matter. In his book, the Struggle for Law
establishment of mankind's dignity. highlighted the words, I crave the law.

So to separate opinion, he made an appeal to the sense of justice of the He expounded his point by looking at law in this objective and law in the
majority, and under the belief that the principles of human liberty are objective. What he means here is we should not be persuaded by emotions
imperishable. What Justice Perfecto sought was for the court to observe its of vengeance, but must be guided by the common Spirit Law and justice .
sworn duty to do justice with absolute impartiality, he said, and I quote, it is laws must be objectively applied and interpreted. Law should not bent to
our inescapable duty to do it no matter what our feelings and prejudices to side one party Or Even side injustice.
impede us to be equal Or official functions as judges.
Forgering laws and rights stand together. But if courts use pleasantries of
In other words, these objective feelings of judges should not affect how procedure to deprive men from their rights, then the purpose of the law is
they decide cases. They must embrace a disposition of objective neutrality forfeited, and this is especially tragic to those who place their faith in the
towards the application of the law in the case otherwise Mixing their law.
idiosyncrasies their emotions in deciding cases would forfeit the very poor I repeat laws should not be banned to Side injustice. Especially if this is
purpose of why the legal system based on justice was reestablished after done to people who give their full faith in the sacredness of the law.
the war.
In the case, what happened to SHerlock, as mentioned by Jerry being a,
Justice perfecto emphasized on the observance of the equal protection of uh, protagonist in his book also happened to dorran denying people who
the laws and to avoid discrimination again against alleged politicals have faith in the law, just like duran after the war, the protection that the
offenders. Justice perfecto raise this question now that the enemy must law gives Will conjure, it'll summon feelings of resentment against the law,
was beaten Are we to adopt their hatred procedures of trampling upon the the struggle for the law.
constitutional guarantees for the liberties of the people? Should we invite
the spirit hatred now that the Philippines. It's free from the evils that it The struggle for justice will become a struggle against the law. The struggle
suffered during the Japanese occupation? for the law will repeat, becomes a struggle against the law judge. Judges
play a very important role in the dispensation of justice, and they perform
Under the new regime of freedom and liberty, even the arch criminals are their task. if They would interpret and apply the law under the attitude of
not being denied the fundamental rights the fair trial. even the much hated objective neutrality.
the Yamashita was despised by the Philippines was given fair opportunity
to defend himself in criminal courts. Even the high ranking, officials of the If their minds are clouded by feelings of vengeance against the people they
Nazi, uh, government of Germany then was given an opportunity to defend try, then it would be best if they just locate their positions. The tragedy
themselves and were afforded the protection of the loss. happens when a judge would make subjective application or interpretation
of the law. To feed his emotions against people who put great faith and
In this case, who was accused of treason reports should not deprive him of reliance on the law.
his fundamental right to Have fair trial. depriving him of such, right would
be in contravention of the very principles that underlie the re establishment
ESTRADA domain entered into by the government of philipines and MILF during
The Supreme Court pointed out in this case that a statute is not rendered arroyo. This was the output ofb the peace negotiations made in Libya.
uncertain and void merely because general terms are used or because of
the employment of terms without defining them as contended by president To summarize the MOA on the ancestral domain, gave the Bangsamoro
Estrada juridical entity
number one, the authority and jurisdiction over the ancestral domain and
A statute may be said to be vague. When it lacks comprehensible ancestral lands of the Bangsamoro
standards, there's a time that, a statute is void. Number two gave freedom to the banksamoro juridical entity to enter into
an economic cooperation and trade relation with foreign, countries.
it is when men of common intelligence cannot guess the meaning and the
proper application of the law that a law becomes void. Vague statutes are Number three it provided a sharing agreement with the national
void because of two reasons. government at a 75 25 ratio in favor of the bansamo rojuridical entity. But
it's also peculiar about the MOA on,ancestral domain is its adoption of the
First, is it violates due process 'cause due process requires fair notice. associative arrangement.

Second. Because, A void statute would give law enforcers unbridled The issue in this case is whether or not the MOA on ancestral domain
discretion to apply its provisions causing arbitrary flexing of government violates the Constitution and the laws of the Philippines.
muscle.
Supreme Court ruled in the affirmative, meaning the MOA on the ancestral
Either way, a vague statute would open plan against abuse. People will not domain is unconstitutional and illegal
be informed, and the government could flex its muscle against the
individual people. Now, the important point, uh, in this case, which is In the separate opinion of justice Puno, he raised a peculiar question,
relevant to our subject, is the nature of laws. The irony here is laws are which was often asked at that time in the process of negotiating peace with
essentially limited because no law could predict all possible scenarios. the M I L F. Why can't the executive commit to do acts which are prohibited
by the Constitution and Thereafter, seek the ratification by its amendment
Legislators cannot foresee. All possible applications, the law that they or provision
pass. So laws are inherently limited, but this inherent limitation of laws
cannot be a ground for their immediate striking, striking up. The inherent on its phase this could have been a good solution to the unending peace
limitations of laws cannot be used to declare them void automatically, as and negotiations with the Muslim brothers in Mindanao. The government
was apparently done by former President Estrada. If this contention of could violate some provisions of the law. break it now for the purpose of
Estrada was upheld, then it would become a very dangerous precedent solving. The problem in, Mindanao and later on, solve the legal problem
because all laws, which is the source of order, could easily taken down and by, amending or revising the Constitution.
thus creating chaos. So could the government violate the law now and then fix it later to address
the problem in Muslim Mindanao?

COTABATO According to Puno, this cannot happen. He emphasized that the

Lastly, we have the case of the province of North Cotabato versus the Constitution is the compact of the people. That's why it's called the
government of the PHILIPPINES peace panel on Ancestral domain. The Fundamental Law.
case deals with the validity of memorandum agreement on the ancestral Being a fundamental law it has a non derogable character, meaning it
cannot at all times be violated.
 in the simultaneous election, the 12th and the 13th placer were Senator
The Constitution is a social contract obligatory on all parties, and Recto and Senator honasan, and the, the Supreme Court in that case, held
irrevocable by no one individual or group. Puno reminds us that allowing as its majority opinion that the simultaneous special and regular election in
the theory of Violate now Fix later. Strips out the fundamental primordial 2014 was valid so honasan was save.
and obligatory character of the Constitution. I think the point of Puno here
is we can never debate from the fundamental essence of things, as in the In here, the Supreme Court explained that the failure to give notice of the
case of the Constitution, we should not forget its essence as the time of the special election do not negate the calling of such election.
fundamental law. A social contract we entered into, which is non Section two of RA number 6645 states that in case of vacancy in the
derrogable. It cannot be revoked. It is a Filipinos social contract, and it Senate, the special election to fill such vacancy shall be held
cannot be altered without the consent of the people simultaneously with the next succeeding regular lecture.

_ The law charges the voters with knowledge such statutory notice and
commelecs failure to give the additional notice did not negate the calling of
such special lecture, much less invalidated. The Supreme Court for their
explained that there was also no proof that's failure to give notice of the
ARTURO VS COMELEC office to be filled in the manner of determining the winner in the special
Next is the case of Arturo et al versus comelec. Now the factual mil leu of election, misled voters,
the case managed from the assumption of officer succession in the office
of the President by President Arroyo after the resignation or the outster so voters or in Supreme Court were informed because there had been
president Estrada through our revolution. the succession of President other accessible information resources. So unless there has been a patent
Arroyo gave rise to vacancy in the office of the Vice President, and that showing grave abuse of discretion, the court will not interfere with affairs
was filled by Senator Gingona. and conduct of the Comelec.
_
And as a consequence, there was a vacancy in the Senate aid to fill that Justice puno dissented in this case. He believed that the special, the
vacancy, there must be a special election, but that time the special election simultaneous special and regular election in 2014 was invalid, and he
would be held simultaneously with the Regular election of the other. explained his point through his characteristic scholarly exposition of the
senators. So through a senate resolution, Senate resolution number 84, 13 evolution and history of relevant themes. Form him, The most important
senators will be proclaimed, and the 13 placer will serve the remaining term and the most relevant theme would be democracy and representative
of Senator Gingona who vacated a seat in the Senate. government. And what really, comprises democracy and representative
government. Now his basic premise is democracy and representative
Now, the main contention of the petitioners in this case is that the government are founded on the right to the people to elect the
simultaneous special and regular election lack distinction in the representatives on the basis of an informed judgment. For him, the
documentation as well as in the canvasing of the results. So the special importance of this informed judgment is shown in the evolution of
election, and consequently the declaration of the 13th elected senator democracy and republicanism.
should be nullified
So he went on elaborating, expounding, the evolution of democracy.
Issue is whether or not the special election for a single three year term
senatorial seat was validly held simultaneously with the regular election. and the approach of justice PUno is philosophical because he's addressing
the issue by looking at its ultimate principles and reasons. He's in a
constant quest of knowing the essence of the relevant concepts. Justice and the 1987 Constitution states with the Philippines is Republican and
puni's discussion on the evolution of democracy and republicanism. democratic state.
So in all the constitutions, these constitutions, the Philippines, the former
Will be helpful to you in your constitutional law because it'll guide you on governmen the Philippines is as a republic.
how to understand the principles in our constitution and all the subsequent
provisions emanating from this form of government. Well, The Republic is a form of democracy where the power still resides in
the people, but as a form of democracy, people choose their
Now, he said that, democracy was at first not appealing to the ancient representatives for efficiency and ease of business. These representatives
civilizations. In fact, Plato did not like this form of government as it may who are elected voice out or mirror the will of their constituents. So in other
lead to the tyranny of the majority. words, republicanism or Republic it is an indirect form of democracy where
the people choose their representatives and it'll be the representatives who
Well, ArisTotle was a bit more positive than Plato. He said that it could be will exercise sovereign powers.
a good form of government, especially if the many governed for the good of
all, but still, Jose P Laurel defines the Republican government as a system of popular
representation where the powers of government are entrusted to those
he preferred an upper class rule representatives chosen directly through elections or indirectly through
During the Industrial Revolution. Thinkers banner, the importance of men. appointments by the people in their sovereign capacity,
Uh, they harp on the egalitarian doctrine that all persons are equal, so no
one enjoys the moral right to govern another without the consent of the As such the electoral process, the process of choosing the representatives
is a cornerstone of a Democratic and Republican framework. A government
This give birth to the social contract theory made famous by John Luck in by consent is secured through the electoral process. Other rights, even the
his work entitled Second Treaties of Government. This, influence Thomas most basic right are ilossory in right vote is undermined.
Jefferson, but it give importance to the common people and participatory
government Voting empowers the people because through it they experience exercising
sovereignty. On the other hand, this will make the government responsive
In America developments include the introduction of Republicanism, because it needs to heed the will of the people. Now, the right to vote must
Inclusion of the Bill of Rights to the Constitution and removal of be complimented by the right of the people to be informed. Making a choice
discrimination. requires an enlightened judgment.
_
the constitutional history of democracy and republicanism in the A choice must be an intelligent and wise choice. A democracy that is based
Philippines. PUNO identified the provisions on democracy and solely on the right to choose without the complimentary right of the people
republicanism in the various constitutions. to be informed cannot endure the rule and reign of ignorance. The same
will give rise not to democracy, but to luvocracy. So for Puno, the
Article 4 of the MALoloS Constitution declared the Philippines a Republic simultaneous special and regular election was invalid because it did not
meet these basic requirements for a Republican government.
article 2 section 1 of the 1935 Constitution provides that the Philippines a
Republican state 1973 constitution adopted verbatim Article two, section People were not informed despite the fact that there was a precedent to be
one of the 1935 Constitution filed, people were not properly notified because of, the failure to distinguish
the special and regular election through the ballots submitted and through
the resolution given by the senate.
 It could also be noticed that Philippine jurisprudence and legal theory is still
predominantly influenced by the natural law theory. In fact, our very
definition of law, as will be elaborated in our other, lectures, is lifted from
the writing of. Natural law theories, specifically from St. Thomas Aquinas.
SUMMARY
Now, we still believe that there is a universal standard that is beyond the
black letter of the law. In fact, there is a rule in the Philippines civil code
So we now come to the end of our module. We summarize our discussion
and in statutory construction that in case of doubt in the interpretation or
by enumerating this following realization.
application of law, it is. That the lawmaking body intended the right and
justice to prevail.
1., that philosophy is important in the study of law.
So there is a pervading a pervading anterior standard for all laws. And
2. that philosophy is important in deciding cases.
these are right injustice. These are the pervading anterior standards. Law
is not a self-serving institution, but it exists to serve right injustice.
3. that law would best be learned by seeing the wisdom behind it.

4. the natural law theory still dominates Philippine jurisprudence and legal
theory.

Now, from the cases we studied, it could be seen that the decisions were
made by looking at the essences of things as what we do in philosophy, in
Republic versus Sandigan bayan and Pio Duran vs abad santos, we looked
into the essence of rights. In Tolentino versus Comelec and Province of
North Cabato versus the government of the Republic of the Philippines
Peace Panel, we looked into the essence of the democracy in the
Constitution In Estrada versus and Sandigan bayan buy-in. We look into
the nature of law. In all these decisions philosophy was at work.

The justices in crafting their decions their opinions showed an attitude that
seeks truth in an unrelenting manner.

Philosophy is particularly important, therefore, in deciding, cases like this,

in Penumbral cases as they call them, or cases of first impression.

Philosophy provides justices with a meaningful framework, a sort of cosmic

map within which they could decide the case. So with this jurisprudence as
examples, law students should develop the skill of discerning the spirit of
the law, of seeking its true essence and of not just relying on the black
letter of the law.