Professional Documents
Culture Documents
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* EN BANC.
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or to the prevention of, any of such crimes; and (3) that there are
no other means readily available for obtaining such evidence.
Same; Same; Republic Act (R.A.) No. 4200 makes illegally
wiretapped communications inadmissible in any proceeding.—To
further give teeth to the above prohibition, R.A. No. 4200 makes
illegally wiretapped communications inadmissible in any
proceeding, viz.: Section 4. Any communication or spoken word,
or the existence, contents, substance, purport, effect, or meaning
of the same or any part thereof, or any information therein
contained obtained or se
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NACHURA, J.:
More than three years ago, tapes ostensibly containing a
wiretapped conversation purportedly between the
President of the Philippines and a highranking official of
the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) surfaced. They
captured unprecedented public attention and thrust the
country into a controversy that placed the legitimacy of the
present administration on the line, and resulted in the
nearcollapse of the Arroyo government. The tapes,
notoriously referred to as the “Hello Garci” tapes, allegedly
contained the President’s instructions to COMELEC
Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano to manipulate in her
favor results of the 2004 presidential elections. These
recordings were to become the subject of heated legislative
hearings conducted separately by committees of both
Houses of Congress.1
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17 Id., at p. 62. The Court identified the following issues for discussion
in the October 2, 2007 Oral Argument:
1. Whether the petitioners have locus standi to bring this suit.
2. Whether the Rules of Procedure of the Senate and the Senate
Committees governing the conduct of inquiries in aid of legislation have
been published, in accordance with Section 21, Article VI of the
Constitution. Corollarily:
(a) Whether these Rules must be published by every Congress.
(b) What mode/s of publication will comply with the
constitutional requirement.
3. Whether the inquiry, which is centered on the socalled “Garci
tapes,” violates Section 3, Article III of the Constitution and/or Republic
Act No. 4200. (Id., at p. 66.)
18 Motion for Leave to Intervene and PetitioninIntervention filed on
October 26, 2007.
19 Resolution dated November 20, 2007.
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I
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substantial by the party raising the constitutional question; (3) the plea
that the function be exercised at the earliest opportunity; and (4) the
necessity that the constitutional question be passed upon in order to
decide the case.
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III
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44 As amended on June 18, 1987 by Executive Order No. 200 entitled
“Providing for the Publication of Laws Either in the Official Gazette or in a
Newspaper of General Circulation in the Philippines as a Requirement for their
Effectivity.”
45 Rollo (G.R. No. 179275), p. 179; Memorandum of RespondentsIntervenors,
pp. 910.
46 G.R. No. 180643, March 25, 2008, 549 SCRA 77, 135136.
192
following rationalization:
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Senate of the Congress before it. The Rules of the Senate itself
confirms this when it states:
RULE XLIV
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
SEC. 123. Unfinished business at the end of the
session shall be taken up at the next session in the same
status.
All pending matters and proceedings shall
terminate upon the expiration of one (1) Congress,
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easily adopted the same language it had used in its main rules
regarding effectivity.”
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49 TSN, Oral Arguments, March 4, 2008, (G.R. No. 179275), pp. 413
414.
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50 Entitled “An Act Providing for the Recognition and Use of Electronic
Commercial and NonCommercial Transactions and Documents, Penalties
for Unlawful Use Thereof and For Other Purposes,” approved on June 14,
2000.
51 MCC Industrial Sales Corporation v. Ssangyong Corporation, G.R.
No. 170633, October 15, 2007, 536 SCRA 408. (Emphasis supplied.)
52 Sections 6, 7 and 10 of R.A. No. 8792 read:
Sec. 6. Legal Recognition of Data Messages.—Information shall
not be denied legal effect, validity or enforceability solely on the grounds
that it is in the data message purporting to give rise to such legal effect, or
that it is merely referred to in that electronic data message.
Sec. 7. Legal Recognition of Electronic Documents.—Electronic
documents shall have the legal effect, validity or enforceability as any
other document or legal writing, and—
(a) Where the law requires a document to be in writing, that
requirement is met by an electronic document if the said electronic
document maintains its integrity and reliability, and can be authenticated
so as to be usable for subsequent reference, in that—
(i) The electronic document has remained complete and
unaltered, apart from the addition of any endorsement and any
authorized change, or any change which arises in the normal course
of communication, storage and display; and
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DISSENTING OPINION
PUNO, C.J.:
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Senate Committee on National Defense and Security, G.R. No. 180643, September
4, 2008, pp. 4225; p. 231.
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take judicial notice of the fact, the recent publication does not
cure the infirmity of the inquiry sought to be prohibited by the
instant petitions. In so far as the consolidated cases are
concerned, the legislative investigation subject thereof
still could not be undertaken by the respondent Senate
Committees, because no published rules govern it, in clear
contravention of the Constitution.”6 (emphasis supplied)
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6 Ponencia.
7 Neri v. Senate Committee on Accountability of Public Officers and
Investigations, Senate Committee on Trade and Commerce, and Senate
Committee on National Defense and Security, G.R. No. 180643, March 25,
2008, 549 SCRA 77, 139. The dispositive portion reads, viz.:
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“In the present case, the Court’s exercise of its power of judicial
review is warranted because there appears to be a clear abuse of
the power of contempt on the part of respondent Committees.
Section 18 of the Rules provides that:
‘The Committee, by a vote of majority of all its members,
may punish for contempt any witness before it who disobeys any
order of the Committee or refuses to be sworn or to testify or to
answer proper questions by the Committee or any of its members.’
(Emphasis supplied)
In the assailed Decision, we said that there is a cloud of doubt
as to the validity of the contempt order because during the
deliberation of the three (3) respondent Committees, only seven
(7) Senators were present. This number could hardly fulfill the
majority require
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ing that the Senate is fully aware that Article VI, Section
21 requires legislative investigations to be conducted in
accordance with duly published Rules of Procedure
Governing Inquiries.
The September 4 Neri Resolution recognizes that the
Senate Rules have continuing effect from one Congress to
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RULE I
Convening and Organizing the House
x x x x x x x x x
After the oathtaking of the newlyelected Speaker, the body
shall proceed to the adoption of the rules of the immediately
preceding Congress to govern its proceedings until the approval
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Chapter XLVI
Unfinished Business in the Senate
Sec. 108. Unfinished business at the end of one session shall
not be affected by the closing of same, but shall be taken up again
at the next session in the same status in which it was.
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Rule V
Suspension and Amendment of the Rules
x x x x x x x x x
2. The rules of the Senate shall continue from one
Congress to the next Congress unless they are changed as
provided in these rules.18 (emphasis supplied)
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The Rules simply state “(t)hese Rules shall take effect seven (7)
days after publication in two (2) newspapers of general
circulation.” The latter does not explicitly provide for the
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28 People v. Huang Zhen Hua, G.R. No. 139301, September 29, 2004, 439 SCRA
350, 381.
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Mr. Doble. Ang nasa isip po kasi naming noon since na galing
sa military hierarchy ang order, we assume that is a legal order,
Your Honor.29
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36 Philippine Airlines v. Joselito Pascua, et al., G.R. No. 143258, August 15,
2003, 409 SCRA 195.
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38 Id., at p. 56.
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Anent the first issue, I agree with the ponencia and the
dissenting opinion of Mr. Chief Justice Reynato Puno that
petitioners Santiago Javier Ranada and Oswaldo D.
Agcaoili, plus intervenor Maj. Lindsay Rex Sagge, possess
the requisite locus standi to bring the suit.
Courts should not be shackled by stringent rules which
would result in manifest injustice. Rules of procedure are
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The term of office of the Senators shall be six years and shall
commence, unless otherwise provided by law, at noon on the
thirtieth day of June next following their election.
The term of a Senator starts at noon of June 30 next following
their election and shall end before noon of June 30 six years after.
The constitutional provision aims to prevent a vacuum in the
office of an outgoing Senator during elections, which is fixed
under the Constitution unless changed by law on the second
Monday of May,17 until June 30 when the Senatorselect assume
their office. There is no vacuum created because at the time an
outgoing Senator’s term ends, the term of a Senatorelect begins.
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The same principle holds true for the office of the President. A
presidentelect does not assume office until noon of June 30 next
following a presidential election. An outgoing President does not
cease to perform the duties and responsibilities of a President
merely because the people had chosen his/her new successor.
Until her term expires, an outgoing President has the
constitutional duty to discharge the powers and functions of a
President unless restricted18 by the Constitution.
In fine, the Senate is a continuing body as it continues to have
a full or at least majority membership19 even during elections
until the assumption of office of the Senatorselect. The Senate as
an institution does not cease to have a quorum to do business
even during elections. It is to be noted that the Senate is not in
session
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