House Bill No. 5111

Congressman Edcel Lagman, 1st District-Albay, has proposed in this Bill that only the courts should be allowed to issue hold departure orders and other travel restrictions. The rationale behind this proposed bill, says Congressman Lagman, is that - "A watchlist order has been perjoratively likened to a rouges' gallery, a roll of infamy and a scroll of criminals whose movements have to be monitored to avert flight from justice. Arbitrary inclusion in the watchlist order is a virtual incarceration by innuendo and conviction by publicity. The power to bar a person from exercising his or her constitutional right to travel as stated in Article III Section 6 of the 1987 Constitution should not be granted to a partisan government official. This authority or jurisdiction should not be exercised by or delegated to agencies headed by presidential political appointees who succumb to partisan pressures or defer to political importuning at the expense of civil liberties."

Bachelor of Laws, a Master's Degree...

The Bachelor of Laws is a higher degree requiring completion of a first bachelor's degree proceeding to the professional degree program. The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) in an en banc Resolution No. 038, series of 2001 has decreed that the degree of Bachelor of Laws with corresponding Bar eligibility is equivalent to a relevant Master's Degree.

Good Faith...

is an intangible and abstract quality with no technical meaning or statutory definition, and it encompasses, among other things, an honest belief, the absence of malice and the absence of design to defraud or to speak an unconscionable advantage. An individual's personal good faith is a concept of his own mind and, therefore, may not conclusively be determined by his protestations alone. It implies honesty of intention, and freedom from knowledge of circumstances which ought to put the holder upon inquiry. The essence of good faith lies in the honest belief in the validity of one's right, ignorance of a superior claim, and absence of intention to overreach another (PNB v. De Jesus, cited in A.M. No. 2011-04-SC. July 5, 2011).

Lis Mota

The Court will not pass upon a question of unconstitutionality, although properly presented, if the case can be disposed of on some other ground, such as the application of the statute or the general law. The petitioner must be able to show that the case cannot be legally resolved unless the constitutional question raised is determined. Every law has in its favor the presumption of constitutionality; to justify its nullification, there must be a clear and unequivocal breach of the constitution, and not one that is doubtful, speculative or argumentative.

the Operative Fact doctrine

A void act, though in law a mere scrap of paper, nonetheless confers legitimacy upon past acts or omissions done in reliance thereof. The existence of a statute or executive order prior to its being adjudged void is an operative fact to which legal consequences are attached.