Professional Documents
Culture Documents
SUGGESTED ANSWER:
A law was enacted empowering the Department Conversion is the act of changing the current use
of Justice to issue a take-down order for website of a piece of agricultural land into some other
owners and/or administrators to put offline use as approved by the DAR, while
websites that have been reported by at least 10 reclassification is the act of specifying how
people for any of the following reasons: the agricultural lands shall be utilized for non-
website encourages rebellion, the website agricultural uses such as residential, industrial
accuses President Duterte of various crimes, the and commercial as embodied in the land use
website is pornographic, the website is a portal plan, subject to the requirements and procedure
for investment scammers. Is this constitutional? for land use conversion. The mere
reclassification of an agricultural land does not
SUGGESTED ANSWER: automatically allow a landowner to change its
No, the law is unconstitutional for being violative use, it has to undergo the process of conversion
of the right to due process of the website owners before he is permitted to use the agricultural
and/or administrators. Section 1, Article III of the land for other purposes.
1987 Constitution provides that No person shall
be deprived of life, liberty and property without III.
due process of law x x x. The law enacted in this Can Congress abolish the agrarian reform
case violates procedural due process which program?
requires a hearing before condemnation as it
proceeds from an inquiry before judgment SUGGESTED ANSWER:
because it authorizes the DOJ to issue a take- No, Congress cannot abolish the agrarian reform
down order for websites that have been program, unless through a constitutional
reported by at least 10 people to violate any of amendment. Section 4, Article XIII of the 1987
the acts enumerated in the law without hearing Constitution expressly provides that the State
their side. shall, by law, undertake an agrarian reform
program founded on the rights of farmers the
ALTERNATIVE ANSWER: words of the Constitution is mandatory as to
No, the law is unconstitutional for being an making the program existent within this
invalid exercise of police power. The Court held Constitutions lifetime. The program therefore
in the case of SJS v. Lim, G.R. No. 187836, Nov. could not be abolished by Congress but through
23, 2014 that the valid exercise of police power a Constitutional change.
requires the concurrence of a lawful subject and
lawful means. The law enacted in this case fails IV.
to satisfy the second requisite because although Explain the difference between gerrymandering
its subject is lawful as it seeks to safeguard the and the Congressional power to create, divided,
society from the acts punished by the law, the merge, or abolish provinces, cities,
means employed which is taking down the municipalities, or barangays?
websites that have been reported by at least 10
people is unlawful as it proceeds to punish SUGGESTED ANSWER:
without giving the owners and/or administrators Gerrymandering is the formation of one
the opportunity to be heard. legislative district out of separate territories for
the purpose of favoring a candidate or a
II. party. The Constitution proscribes
What is the difference between the power to gerrymandering, as it mandates each legislative
convert lands and the power to reclassify? district, through Congressional power, to
Explain. comprise, as far as practicable, a contiguous,
compact and adjacent territory.