Professional Documents
Culture Documents
SUGGESTED ANSWER:
The teachers and the students should be
exempted from the flag ceremony. As held in
Ebralinag vs. Division Superintendent of
Schools of Cebu, 251 SCRA 569. to compel
them to participate in the flag ceremony will
violate their freedom of religion. Freedom of
religion cannot be impaired except upon the
showing of a clear and present danger of a
substantive evil which the State has a right to
prevent. The refusal of the teachers and the
students to participate in the flag ceremony
does not pose a clear and present danger.
Freedom of Religion; Limitations (1998)
No XV. - A religious organization has a weekly
television program. The program presents and
propagates its religious, doctrines, and
compares their practices with those of other
religions.
As the Movie and Television Review and
Classification Board (MTRCB) found as
offensive several episodes of the program
which attacked other religions, the MTRCB
required the organization to submit its tapes for
review prior to airing.
The religious organization brought the case to
court on the ground that the action of the
MTRCB suppresses its freedom of speech and
interferes with its right to free exercise of
religion. Decide. [5%]
SUGGESTED ANSWER:
The religious organization cannot invoke
freedom of speech and freedom of religion as
grounds for refusing to submit the tapes to the
Movie and Television Review and Classification
Board for review prior to airing. When the
religious organization started presenting its
program over television, it went into the realm
of action. The right to act on one's religious
belief is not absolute and is subject to police
power for the protection of the general welfare.
Hence the tapes may be required to be
reviewed prior to airing.
In Iglesia ni Cristo vs. Court of Appeals, 259
SCRA 529, 544, the Supreme Court held:
"We thus reject petitioner's postulate that Its
religious program is per se beyond review by
the respondent Board. Its public broadcast
on TV of its religious program brings it out of
the bosom of internal belief. Television is a
medium that reaches even the eyes and ears
of children. The Court reiterates the rule that
the exercise of religions freedom can be
regulated by the State when it will bring
about the CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER
of some substantive evil which the State is
duty bound to prevent, i.e., serious detriment
to the mere overriding Interest of public
health, public morals, or public welfare."
However, the Movie and Television Review and
Classification Board cannot ban the tapes on
the ground that they attacked other religions. In
Iglesia ni Cristo vs. Court of Appeals,. 259
SCRA 529, 547, the Supreme Court held:
"Even a side glance at Section 3 of PD No.
1986 will reveal that it is not among the
grounds to justify an order prohibiting the
broadcast of petitioner's television program."
Moreover, the broadcasts do not give rise to
Section 6
Right to Travel; Order of Arrest (1991)
No. 6: Mr. Esteban Krony, a Filipino citizen, is
arrested for the crime of smuggling. He posts
bail for his release. Subsequently, he jumps bail
and is about to leave the country when the
Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) cancels
his passport. He sues the DFA, claiming
violation of his freedom to travel, citing the new
provision in the Bill of Rights of the 1987
Constitution, to wit: "Neither shall the right to
travel be impaired except in the interest of
national security, public safety, or public health,
as may be provided by law. Decide the case.
SUGGESTED ANSWER:
The case should be dismissed. Any person
under an order of arrest is under restraint and
therefore he can not claim the right to travel. If
he is admitted to bail his freedom of movement
is confined within the country. Therefore, if he
subsequently jumps bail, he cannot demand
passport which in effect will facilitate his escape
from the country; he is in fact liable to be
arrested anytime. Indeed, the right to travel
under the Constitution presupposes that the
individual is under no restraint such as that
which would follow from the fact that one has a
pending criminal case and has been placed
under arrest.
Liberty of Abode; Temporary (1996)
No 2: The military commander-in charge of the
operation against rebel groups directed the
inhabitants of the island which would be the
target of attack by government forces to
evacuate the area and offered the residents
temporary military hamlet.
Can the military commander force the residents
to transfer their places of abode without a court
order? Explain.
SUGGESTED ANSWER:
No, the military commander cannot compel the
residents to transfer their places of abode
without a court order. Under Section 6, Article
III of the Constitution, a lawful order of the court
is required before the liberty of abode and of
changing the same can be impaired.
ALTERNATIVE ANSWER;
Yes, the military commander can compel the
residents to transfer their places of abode
without a court order. If there is no reasonable
time to get a court order and the change of
abode is merely temporary, because of the
exigency, this exercise of police power may be
justified.
Liberty of Abode; Limitations (1998)
No VIII - Juan Casanova contracted Hansen's
disease (leprosy) with open lesions. A law
requires that lepers be isolated upon petition of
Section 8
Right to Assembly; Public Teachers (2000)
No XII - Public school teachers staged for days
mass actions at the Department of Education,
Culture and Sports to press for the immediate
grant of their demand for additional pay. The
DECS Secretary issued to them a notice of the
illegality of their unauthorized action, ordered
them to immediately return to work, and warned
them of imposable sanctions. They ignored this
and continued with their mass action. The
DECS Secretary issued orders for their
preventive suspension without pay and charged
the teachers with gross misconduct and gross
neglect of duty for unauthorized abandonment
of teaching posts and absences without leave.
a) Are employees in the public sector allowed
to form unions? To strike? Why? (3%)
b) The teachers claim that their right to
peaceably assemble and petition the
government for redress of grievances has
been curtailed. Are they correct? Why?
(2%)
SUGGESTED ANSWER:
a) Section 8, Article III of the Constitution allows
employees in the public sector to form unions.
However, they cannot go on strike. As
explained in Social Security System Employees
Association v. Court of Appeals. 175 SCRA 686
[1989], the terms and conditions of their
employment are fixed by law. Employees in
the public sector cannot strike to secure
concessions from their employer.
b. The teachers cannot claim that their right to
peaceably assemble and petition for the
redress of grievances has been curtailed.
According to Bangalisan v. Court of Appeals.
276 SCRA 619 (1997), they can exercise this
right without stoppage of classes.