"reasonable expectation of privacy"

In recent years, the Court has had occasion to rule104 that a search occurs when the government violates a person’s "reasonable expectation of privacy," a doctrine first enunciated in Katz v. United States.105 Katz signalled a paradigm shift, as the inquiry into the application of the constitutional guarantee was now expanded beyond "the presence or absence of a physical intrusion into any given enclosure" and deemed to "[protect] people, not places."106 Under this expanded paradigm, the "reasonable expectation of privacy" can be established if the person claiming it can show that (1) by his conduct, he exhibited an expectation of privacy and (2) his expectation is one that society recognizes as reasonable. In People v. Johnson,107 which cited Katz, the seizure and admissibility of the dangerous drugs found during a routine airport inspection were upheld by the Court, which explained that "[p]ersons may lose the protection of the search and seizure clause by exposure of their persons or property to the public in a manner reflecting a lack of subjective expectation of privacy, which expectation society is prepared to recognize as reasonable."108

FACIAL CHALLENGE

A facial challenge refers to the call for the scrutiny of an entire law or provision by identifying its flaws or defects, not only on the basis of its actual operation on the attendant facts raised by the parties, but also on the assumption or prediction that the very existence of the law or provision is repugnant to the Constitution.35 This kind of challenge has the effect of totally annulling the assailed law or provision, which is deemed to be unconstitutional per se. The challenge is resorted to by courts, especially when there is no instance to which the law or provision can be validly applied.36

In a way, a facial challenge is a deviation from the general rule that Courts should only decide the invalidity of a law "as applied" to the actual, attending circumstances before it.37 An as-applied challenge refers to the localized invalidation of a law or provision, limited by the factual milieu established in a case involving real litigants who are actually before the Court.38 This kind of challenge is more in keeping with the established canon of adjudication that "the court should not form a rule of constitutional law broader than is required by the precise facts to which it is applied."39 Should the petition prosper, the unconstitutional aspects of the law will be carved away by invalidating its improper applications on a case-to-case basis.40 For example, in Ebralinag v. Division of Superintendent of Schools of Cebu,41 the Court exempted petitioner-members of the religious group Jehovah’s Witness from the application of the Compulsory Flag Ceremony in Educational Institutions Act on account of their religious beliefs. The Court ruled that the law requiring them to salute the flag, sing the national anthem, and recite the patriotic pledge cannot be enforced against them at the risk of expulsion, because the law violated their freedom of religious expression. In effect, the law was deemed unconstitutional insofar as their religious beliefs were concerned.

Because of its effect as a total nullification, the facial invalidation of laws is deemed to be a "manifestly strong medicine" that must be used sparingly and only as a last resort.42 The general disfavor towards it is primarily due to the "combination of the relative remoteness of the controversy, the impact on the legislative process of the relief sought, and above all the speculative and amorphous nature of the required line-by-line analysis of detailed statutes."43

Claims of facial invalidity "raise the risk of ‘premature interpretation of statutes on the basis of factually barebones records.’"44

"seven pillars" of the limitations of the power of judicial review

Demetria v. Alba13 and Francisco v. House of Representatives14 cite the "seven pillars" of the limitations of the power of judicial review, enunciated in the concurring opinion of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis in Ashwander v. Tennessee Valley Authority15 as follows:

1. The Court will not pass upon the constitutionality of legislation in a friendly, non-adversary, proceeding, declining because to decide such questions "is legitimate only in the last resort, and as a necessity in the determination of real, earnest and vital controversy between individuals. It never was the thought that, by means of a friendly suit, a party beaten in the legislature could transfer to the courts an inquiry as to the constitutionality of the legislative act." x x x.

2. The Court will not "anticipate a question of constitutional law in advance of the necessity of deciding it." x x x. "It is not the habit of the Court to decide questions of a constitutional nature unless absolutely necessary to a decision of the case."

3. The Court will not "formulate a rule of constitutional law broader than is required by the precise facts to which it is to be applied." x x x.

4. The Court will not pass upon a constitutional question although properly presented by the record, if there is also present some other ground upon which the case may be disposed of. This rule has found most varied application. Thus, if a case can be decided on either of two grounds, one involving a constitutional question, the other a question of statutory construction or general law, the Court will decide only the latter.

x x x.

5. The Court will not pass upon the validity of a statute upon complaint of one who fails to show that he is injured by its operation. x x x. Among the many applications of this rule, none is more striking than the denial of the right of challenge to one who lacks a personal or property right. Thus, the challenge by a public official interested only in the performance of his official duty will not be entertained. x x x.

6. The Court will not pass upon the constitutionality of a statute at the instance of one who has availed himself of its benefits. x x x.

7. "When the validity of an act of the Congress is drawn in question, and even if a serious doubt of constitutionality is raised, it is a cardinal principle that this Court will first ascertain whether a construction of the statute is fairly possible by which the question may be avoided." (Citations omitted, emphases supplied)

These are specific safeguards laid down by the Court when it exercises its power of judicial review. Thus, as a threshold condition, the power of judicial review may be invoked only when the following four stringent requirements are satisfied: (a) there must be an actual case or controversy; (b) petitioners must possess locus standi; (c) the question of constitutionality must be raised at the earliest opportunity; and (d) the issue of constitutionality must be the lis mota of the case.16

what is a political question?

[T]he term "political question" connotes, in legal parlance, what it means in ordinary parlance, namely, 

(1)a question of policy. In other words, in the language of Corpus Juris Secundum, it refers to "those questions which, under the Constitution, are to be 

(a)decided by the people in their sovereign capacity, 

(b) or in regard to which full discretionary authority has been delegated to the Legislature or 

(c) executive branch of the Government." 

It is concerned with issues dependent upon the wisdom, not legality, of a particular measure.

meaning of the term"political"

It is a general principle of the public law that on acquisition of territory the previous political relations of the ceded region are totally abrogated. "Political" is here used to denominate the laws regulating the relations sustained by the inhabitants to the sovereign. (American Insurance Co. vs. Canter [1828], 1 Pet., 511; Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railway Co. vs. McGlinn [1885], 114 U.S., 542; Roa vs. Collector of Customs [1912], 23 Phil., 315.) Mr. Justice Field of the United States Supreme Court stated the obvious when in the course of his opinion in the case of Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railway Co. vs. McGlinn, supra, he said: "As a matter of course, all laws, ordinances and regulations in conflict with the political character, institutions and Constitution of the new government are at once displaced. Thus, upon a cession of political jurisdiction and legislative power — and the latter is involved in the former — to the United States, the laws of the country in support of an established religion or abridging the freedom of the press, or authorizing cruel and unusual punishments, and he like, would at once cease to be of obligatory force without any declaration to that effect." To quote again from the United States Supreme Court: "It cannot be admitted that the King of Spain could, by treaty or otherwise, impart to the United States any of his royal prerogatives; and much less can it be admitted that they have capacity to receive or power to exercise them. Every nation acquiring territory, by treaty or otherwise, must hold it subject to the Constitution and laws of its own government, and not according to those of the government ceding it." (Pollard vs. Hagan [1845], 3 Hos., 210.)

what is politcal law?

Political Law has been defined as that branch of public law which deals with the organization and operation of the governmental organs of the State and define the relations of the state with the inhabitants of its territory (People vs. Perfecto, 43 Phil. 887, 897 [1922]). It may be recalled that political law embraces constitutional law, law of public corporations, administrative law including the law on public officers and elections. Specifically, Article 14 of the Code of Commerce partakes more of the nature of an administrative law because it regulates the conduct of certain public officers and employees with respect to engaging in business: hence, political in essence.

It is significant to note that the present Code of Commerce is the Spanish Code of Commerce of 1885, with some modifications made by the "Commission de Codificacion de las Provincias de Ultramar," which was extended to the Philippines by the Royal Decree of August 6, 1888, and took effect as law in this jurisdiction on December 1, 1888.

Upon the transfer of sovereignty from Spain to the United States and later on from the United States to the Republic of the Philippines, Article 14 of this Code of Commerce must be deemed to have been abrogated because where there is change of sovereignty, the political laws of the former sovereign, whether compatible or not with those of the new sovereign, are automatically abrogated, unless they are expressly re-enacted by affirmative act of the new sovereign.

A.M. No. 133-J May 31, 1982

BERNARDITA R. MACARIOLA, complainant, 
vs.
HONORABLE ELIAS B. ASUNCION, Judge of the Court of First Instance of Leyte, respondent.

scatter-shot warrant

As correctly pointed out by the petitioner and the OSG, the terms expressly used in the warrant were too all-embracing, with the obvious intent of subjecting all the records pertaining to all the transactions of the petitioner's office at the Register of Deeds to search and seizure. Such tenor of a seizure warrant contravenes the explicit command of the Constitution that there be a particular description of the things to be seized.²⁴ The executing officer's sole function is to apply the description to its subject matter, which function may frequently involve the exercise of limited discretion in identifying the property described. A description of such generality, however, as to lodge in the executing officer virtually unlimited discretion as to what property shall be seized, is repugnant to the Constitution.²⁵ As we held in the early case of People v. Veloso:²⁶

A search warrant must conform strictly to the requirements of the constitutional and statutory provisions under which it was issued. Otherwise, it is void. The proceedings upon search warrants, it has rightly been held, must be absolutely legal, for there is not a description of process known to law, the execution of which is more distressing to the citizen. Perhaps there is none which excites such intense feeling in consequence of its humiliating and degrading effect. The warrant will always be construed strictly without, however, going into the full length of requiring technical accuracy. No presumptions of regularity are to be invoked in aid of the process when an officer undertakes to justify under it.²⁷

^xxxxxxx

The questioned warrant in this case is a scatter-shot warrant²⁸ for having been issued for more than one offense - Falsification of Land Titles under Article 171 and Article 213 of the Revised Penal Code, and violation of Rep. Act No. 3019, otherwise known as the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act. A warrant must be issued upon probable cause in connection with one specific offense.²⁹ In fact, a careful perusal of the application for the warrant shows that the applicant did not allege any specific act performed by the petitioner constituting a violation of any of the aforementioned offenses..

Thus, the questioned warrant must be struck down for having been issued in contravention of the 1987 Constitution, the Rules of Criminal Procedure, and existing jurisprudence. As the Court, through Justice Concepcion held in the landmark case of Stonehill v. Diokno:³⁰

To uphold the validity of the warrant in question would be to wipe out completely one of the most fundamental rights guaranteed in our Constitution, for it would place the sanctity of the domicile and the privacy of communication and correspondence at the mercy of the whims, caprice, or passion of peace officers. This is precisely the evil sought to be remedied by the constitutional provision above-quoted – to outlaw the so-called general warrants. It is not difficult to imagine what would happen, in times of keen political strife, when the party in power feels that the minority is likely to wrest it, even though by legal means. ³¹

ARIEL C. VALLEJO, petitioner,
vs.
HONORABLE COURT OF APPEALS, Former SPECIAL FIFTEENTH DIVISION, JUDGE ISAAC R. DE ALBAN, Regional trial Court, Ilagan, Isabela, Branch 16, and FRANKLIN M. JAVIER, NBI Head Agent, Cagayan Valley Regional Office II, Ilagan, Isabela, respondents.
ARIEL C. VALLEJO, petitioner,