Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Hernandez GR L-7995
|1
|2
It has been said the police power is so far reaching in scope, that it has become almost
impossible to limit its sweep. As it derives its
existence from the very existence of the State
itself, it does not need to be expressed or defined
in its scope; it is said to be co-extensive with selfprotection and survival, and as such it is the most
positive and active of all governmental processes,
the most essential, insistent and illimitable.
Especially is it so under a modern democratic
framework where the demands of society and of
nations have multiplied to almost unimaginable
proportions; the field and scope of police power
has become almost boundless, just as the fields of
public interest and public welfare have become
almost all-embracing and have transcended
human foresight. Otherwise stated, as we cannot
foresee the needs and demands of public interest
and welfare in this constantly changing and
progressive world, so we cannot delimit
beforehand the extent or scope of police power by
which and through which the State seeks to attain
or achieve interest or welfare. So it is that
Constitutions do not define the scope or extent of
the police power of the State; what they do is to
set forth the limitations thereof. The most
important of these are the due process clause and
the equal protection clause.
|3
Assets
Year and
Retailers
Nationality
No.Pesos
Establishments
Gross Sales
Per cent
Distribution
Pesos
Per cent
Distribution
1941:
Filipino .
.........
106,671
200,323,138
55.82 174,181,924
51.74
Chinese
...........
15,356
118,348,692
32.98 148,813,239
44.21
Others ..
..........
1,646
40,187,090
Filipino .
.........
111,107
Chinese
...........
11.20
13,630,239
4.05
208,658,946
65.05 279,583,333
57.03
13,774
106,156,218
33.56 205,701,134
41.96
354
8,761,260
Filipino .
.........
113,631
Chinese
..........
1947:
Others ..
.........
1948:
.49
4,927,168
1.01
213,342,264
67.30 467,161,667
60.51
12,087
93,155,459
29.38 294,894,227
38.20
Others ..
........
422
10,514,675
Filipino .
.........
113,659
213,451,602
(Census
)
3.32
9,995,402
1.29
60.89 462,532,901
53.47
1949:
|4
Chinese
..........
16,248
125,223,336
Others ..
........
486
12,056,365
Filipino .
........
119,352
Chinese
..........
35.72 392,414,875
3.39
45.36
10,078,364
1.17
224,053,620
61.09 466,058,052
53.07
17,429
134,325,303
36.60 404,481,384
46.06
347
8,614,025
1951:
Others ..
........
2.31
7,645,327
87
AVERAGE
ASSETS AND GROSS SALES PER ESTABLISHMENT
Item
Assets
(Pesos)
Gross
Sales
(Pesos)
1941:
Filipino .............................................
1,878
1,633
Chinese ..............................................
7,707
9,691
24,415
8,281
Filipino .............................................
1,878
2,516
Chinese ...........................................
7,707
14,934
24,749
13,919
Others ...............................................
1947:
Others ..............................................
|5
1948:
|6
(Census)
Filipino .............................................
1,878
4,111
Chinese .............................................
7,707
24,398
Others ..............................................
24,916
23,686
Filipino .............................................
1,878
4,069
Chinese ..............................................
7,707
24,152
Others ..............................................
24,807
20,737
Filipino .............................................
1,877
3,905
Chinese .............................................
7,707
33,207
Others ...............................................
24,824
22,033
1949:
1951:
(Estimated Assets and Gross Sales of Retail Establishments, By Year and Nationality of Owners,
Benchmark: 1948 Census, issued by the Bureau of Census and Statistics, Department of Commerce
and Industry; pp. 18-19 of Answer.)
The above statistics do not include corporations
and partnerships, while the figures on Filipino
establishments already include mere market
vendors, whose capital is necessarily small..
The above figures reveal that in percentage
distribution of assests and gross sales, alien
participation has steadily increased during the
years. It is true, of course, that Filipinos have the
edge in the number of retailers, but aliens more
than make up for the numerical gap through their
assests and gross sales which average between
|7
|8
|9
| 10
xxx
xxx
xxx
xxx
| 11
| 12
| 13
| 14
Separate Opinions
PADILLA, J., concurring and dissenting:
I agree to the proposition, principle or rule that
courts may not inquire into the wisdom of an the
Act passed by the Congress and duly approved by
the President of the Republic. But the rule does
not preclude courts from inquiring and
determining whether the Act offends against a
provision or provisions of the Constitution. I am
satisfied that the Act assailed as violative of the
due process of law and the equal protection of the
laws clauses of the Constitution does not infringe
upon them, insofar as it affects associations,
partnership or corporations, the capital of which is
not wholly owned by the citizens of the
Philippines, and aliens, who are not and have not
been engaged in the retail business. I am,
however, unable to persuade myself that it does
not violate said clauses insofar as the Act applies
to associations and partnerships referred to in the
Act and to aliens, who are and have heretofore
been engaged in said business. When they did
engage in the retail business there was no
prohibition on or against them to engage in it.
They assumed and believed in good faith they
were entitled to engaged in the business. The Act
allows aliens to continue in business until their
death or voluntary retirement from the business or
forfeiture of their license; and corporations,
associations or partnership, the capital of which is
not wholly owned by the citizens of the Philippines
to continue in the business for a period of ten
years from the date of the approval of the Act (19
June 1954) or until the expiry of term of the
existence of the association or partnership or
corporation, whichever event comes first. The
prohibition on corporations, the capital of which is
not wholly owned by citizens of the Philippines, to
engage in the retail business for a period of more
than ten years from the date of the approval of the
Act or beyond the term of their corporate
existence, whichever event comes first, is valid
and lawful, because the continuance of the
existence of such corporations is subject to
whatever the Congress may impose reasonably
upon them by subsequent legislation.1 But the
prohibition to engage in the retail business by
associations and partnerships, the capital of which
is not wholly owned by citizen of the Philippines,
after ten years from the date of the approval of
the Act, even before the end of the term of their
existence as agreed upon by the associates and
partners, and by alien heirs to whom the retail
business is transmitted by the death of an alien
engaged in the business, or by his executor or
administrator, amounts to a deprivation of their
property without due process of law. To my mind,
the ten-year period from the date of the approval
| 15