BAUTISTA, Maria Angela M.

JD 2-4
COMMISSIONER vs. EASTERN SEA TRADING
G.R. No. L-14279

Parties to the Case:

THE COMMISSIONER OF CUSTOMS and THE COLLECTOR OF CUSTOMS, petitioners

vs.

EASTERN SEA TRADING, respondent.

Office of the Solicitor General for petitioners.

Valentin Gutierrez for respondent.

DOCTRINE: Treaties are formal documents which require ratification with the approval of two thirds of the Senate. Executive agreements
become binding through executive action without the need of a vote by the Senate or by Congress.

FACTS: Eastern Sea Trading (EST) was a shipping company which imports from Japan onion and garlic into the Philippines. In 1956, the
Commissioner of Customs ordered the seizure and forfeiture of the import goods because EST was not able to comply with Central Bank
Circulars 44 and 45. The said circulars were pursuant to Executive Order 328. On the other hand, EO 328 was the implementing law of the
Trades and Financial Agreements, an executive agreement, entered into between the Philippines and Japan. The said executive agreement
states, among others, that all import transactions between Japan and the Philippines should be invoiced in dollar. In this case, the said items
imported by EST from Japan were not invoiced in dollar.

EST questioned the validity of the said EO averring that the executive agreement that the EO was implementing was never concurred upon by
the Senate. The issue was elevated to the Court of Tax Appeals and the latter ruled in favor of EST. The Commissioner appealed.

ISSUE: Whether or not the Executive Agreement is subject to the concurrence by the Senate.

HELD: No, Executive Agreements are not like treaties which are subject to the concurrence of at least 2/3 of the members of the Senate.
Agreements concluded by the President which fall short of treaties are commonly referred to as executive agreements and are no less common
in our scheme of government than are the more formal instruments — treaties and conventions. They sometimes take the form of exchanges
of notes and at other times that of more formal documents denominated ‘agreements’ or ‘protocols’.

The point where ordinary correspondence between this and other governments ends and agreements — whether denominated executive
agreements or exchanges of notes or otherwise — begin, may sometimes be difficult of ready ascertainment. It would be useless to undertake
to discuss here the large variety of executive agreements as such, concluded from time to time. Hundreds of executive agreements, other than
those entered into under the trade- agreements act, have been negotiated with foreign governments. . . . It would seem to be sufficient, in
order to show that the trade agreements under the act of 1934 are not anomalous in character, that they are not treaties, and that they have
abundant precedent in our history, to refer to certain classes of agreements heretofore entered into by the Executive without the approval of
the Senate.

They cover such subjects as the inspection of vessels, navigation dues, income tax on shipping profits, the admission of civil aircraft, customs
matters, and commercial relations generally, international claims, postal matters, the registration of trade-marks and copyrights, etc. Some of
them were concluded not by specific congressional authorization but in conformity with policies declared in acts of Congress with respect to
the general subject matter, such as tariff acts; while still others, particularly those with respect to the settlement of claims against foreign
governments, were concluded independently of any legislation.
 BAUTISTA, Maria Angela M.
JD 2-4
SECRETARY OF JUSTICE v. JUDGE LANTION

G.R. No. 139465

Parties to the Case:

SECRETARY OF JUSTICE, petitioner,

vs.

HON. RALPH C. LANTION, Presiding Judge, Regional Trial Court of Manila, Branch 25, and MARK B. JIMENEZ, respondents.

DOCTRINE: The fact that international law has been made part of the law of the land does not pertain to or imply the primacy of international
law over municipal law in the municipal sphere.

FACTS: The Department of Justice received from the Department of Foreign Affairs a request from the United States for the extradition of Mark
Jimenez to the United States pursuant to PD No. 1609 prescribing the procedure for extradition of persons who have committed a crime in a
foreign country. Jimenez requested for copies of the request and that he be given ample time to comment on said request. The petitioners
denied the request pursuant to the RP-US Extradition Treaty.

ISSUE: Whether treaty stipulations must take precedence over an individual’s due process rights.

HELD: The human rights of person and the rights of the accused guaranteed in the Constitution should take precedence over treaty rights
claimed by a contracting party, the doctrine of incorporation is applied whenever municipal tribunals are confronted with situation where there
is conflict between a rule of the international law and the constitution. Efforts must first be made in order to harmonize the provisions so as to
give effect to both but if the conflict is irreconcilable, the municipal law must be upheld. The fact that international law has been made part of
the law of the land does not pertain to or imply the primacy of international law over municipal law in the municipal speher. In states where the
constitution is the highest law of the land, both statutes and treaties may be invalidated if they are in conflict with the constitution.
 BAUTISTA, Maria Angela M.
JD 2-4

DBM-PS vs. KOLONWEL

G.R. No. 139465

Parties to the Case:

DEPARTMENT of BUDGET and MANAGEMENT PROCUREMENT SERVICE (DBM-PS) and the Inter-Agency Bids and Awards Committee (IABAC),
Petitioners

Vs.

KOLONWEL TRADING, Respondent

DOCTRINE: Foreign loan agreements with international financial institutions partake of an executive or international agreement within the
purview of Sec. 4 of RA9184.

FACTS :

This is a petition for review, with a prayer for temporary restraining order to nullify and set aside the Order dated Dec. 04, 2006 of the Manila
RTC.

In the middle of 2005, DepEd requested the services of the DBM-PS to undertake procurement project which is to be jointly funded by the
World Bank (WB), thru the Second Social Expenditure Management Program (SEMP2) of the RP-IBRD Loan Agreement No. 7118-PH and the
Asian Development Bank (ABD) thru SEDIP Loan No. 1654-PHI. In October 2005, the DBM-PS called for a bidding for the supply of the
Makabayan textbooks and teachers manuals. Of the entities, foreign and local, only eleven (11) bidders submitted, including private respondent
Kolonwel.

Following the bid and the book content/body evaluation process, DBM committee issued a resolution disqualifying, among others, Kolonwel for
“failure in cover stock testing “. Kolonwel was informed of this and subsequently filed with RTC Manila a special civil action for certiorari with a
prayer for TRO. In support of its TRO application, Kolonwel alleged, among other things, that the supply-awardees were rushing with the
implementation of the void supply contracts to beat the closing-date deadline. After summary hearing, the Manila RTC issued a 20-day TRO,
and later issued a decision wherein Resolution 001-2006-A of the DBM was annulled and set aside. Hence this petition.

ISSUE :

Will the petition prosper?

RULING :

The petition is granted and the assailed decision of the Manila RTC is hereby nullified and set aside.

Under the fundamental international principle of pacta sunt servanda, the RP, as borrower bound itself to perform in good faith the duties and
obligations under Loan No. 7118-PH. Applying this postulate, the DBM IABAC, was legally obliged to comply with, or accord primacy to the WB
guidelines on the conduct and implementation of the bidding/procurement process in question.

Foreign loan agreements with international financial institutions, such as Loan No. 7118-PH, partake of an executive or international agreement
within the purview of Sec. 4 of RA9184. Significantly, whatever was stipulated in the loan agreement, shall primarily govern the procurement of
goods necessary to implement the main project.