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    G.R. No. 76180, October 24, 1986 Saturnino V. Bermudez, Petitioner

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    Mark Dungo
    This document dismisses a petition questioning which incumbent president and vice president were referred to in Section 5 of Article XVIII of the proposed 1986 Philippine Constitution. The court summarizes that Section 5 unambiguously extends the terms of incumbent President Corazon Aquino and Vice President Salvador Laurel to June 30, 1992 to synchronize elections. The petition is dismissed for lack of jurisdiction, as the court does not assume jurisdiction over declaratory relief petitions, and lack of cause of action, as the provision's meaning is clear and settled.

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    G.R. No. 76180, October 24, 1986 Saturnino V. Bermudez, Petitioner

    Uploaded by

    Mark Dungo
    71 views2 pages
    This document dismisses a petition questioning which incumbent president and vice president were referred to in Section 5 of Article XVIII of the proposed 1986 Philippine Constitution. The court summarizes that Section 5 unambiguously extends the terms of incumbent President Corazon Aquino and Vice President Salvador Laurel to June 30, 1992 to synchronize elections. The petition is dismissed for lack of jurisdiction, as the court does not assume jurisdiction over declaratory relief petitions, and lack of cause of action, as the provision's meaning is clear and settled.

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    This document dismisses a petition questioning which incumbent president and vice president were referred to in Section 5 of Article XVIII of the proposed 1986 Philippine Constitution. The court summarizes that Section 5 unambiguously extends the terms of incumbent President Corazon Aquino and Vice President Salvador Laurel to June 30, 1992 to synchronize elections. The petition is dismissed for lack of jurisdiction, as the court does not assume jurisdiction over declaratory relief petitions, and lack of cause of action, as the provision's meaning is clear and settled.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    71 views2 pages

    G.R. No. 76180, October 24, 1986 Saturnino V. Bermudez, Petitioner

    Uploaded by

    Mark Dungo
    This document dismisses a petition questioning which incumbent president and vice president were referred to in Section 5 of Article XVIII of the proposed 1986 Philippine Constitution. The court summarizes that Section 5 unambiguously extends the terms of incumbent President Corazon Aquino and Vice President Salvador Laurel to June 30, 1992 to synchronize elections. The petition is dismissed for lack of jurisdiction, as the court does not assume jurisdiction over declaratory relief petitions, and lack of cause of action, as the provision's meaning is clear and settled.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    of 2

    G.R. No.

    76180, October 24, 1986

    SATURNINO V. BERMUDEZ, PETITIONER.

    RESOLUTION

    PER CURIAM:

    In a petition for declaratory relief impleading no respondents, petitioner, as a lawyer, quotes the first paragraph of Section 5 (not Section 7 as erroneously
    stated) of Article XVIII of the proposed 1986 Constitution, which provides in full as follows:
    "Sec. 5. The six-year term of the incumbent President and Vice-President elected in the February 7, 1986 election is, for purposes of synchronization of
    elections, hereby extended to noon of June 30, 1992.

    "The first regular elections for the President and Vice-President under this Constitution shall be held on the second Monday of May, 1992."

    Claiming that the said provision "is not clear" as to whom it refers, he then asks the Court "to declare and answer the question of the construction and
    definiteness as to who, among the present incumbent President Corazon Aquino and Vice President Salvador Laurel and the elected President Ferdinand
    E. Marcos and Vice President Arturo M. Tolentino being referred to under the said Section 7 (sic) of ARTICLE XVIII of the TRANSITORY
    PROVISIONS of the proposed 1986 Constitution refers to, x x x."
    The petition is dismissed outright for lack of jurisdiction and for lack of cause of action.

    Prescinding from petitioner's lack of personality to sue or to bring this action (Tan vs. Macapagal, 43 SCRA 677), it is elementary that this Court assumes no
    jurisdiction over petitions for declaratory relief. More importantly, the petition amounts in effect to a suit against the incumbent President of the Republic,
    President Corazon C. Aquino, and it is equally elementary that incumbent Presidents are immune from suit or from being brought to court during the
    period of their incumbency and tenure.

    The petition furthermore states no cause of action. Petitioner's allegation of ambiguity or vagueness of the aforequoted provision is manifestly gratuitous,
    it being a matter of public record and common public knowledge that the Constitutional Commission refers therein to incumbent President Corazon C.
    Aquino and Vice-President Salvador H. Laurel, and to no other persons, and provides for the extension of their term to noon of June 30, 1992 for
    purposes of synchronization of elections. Hence, the second paragraph of the cited section provides for the holding on the second Monday of May, 1992
    of the first regular elections for the President and Vice-President under said 1986 Constitution. In previous cases, the legitimacy of the government of
    President Corazon C. Aquino was likewise sought to be questioned with the claim that it was not established pursuant to the 1973 Constitution. The said
    cases were dismissed outright by this Court which held that:

    "Petitioners have no personality to sue and their petitions state no cause of action. For the legitimacy of the Aquino government is not a justiciable
    matter. It belongs to the realm of politics where only the people of the Philippines are the judge. And the people have made the judgment; they have
    accepted the government of President Corazon C. Aquino which is in effective control of the entire country so that it is not merely a de facto government
    but in fact and law a de jure government. Moreover, the community of nations has recognized the legitimacy of the present government. All the eleven
    members of this Court, as reorganized, have sworn to uphold the fundamental law of the Republic under her government." (Joint Resolution of May 22,
    1986 in G.R. No. 73748 [Lawyers League for a Better Philippines, etc. vs. President Corazon C. Aquino, et al.]; G.R. No. 73972 [People's Crusade for Supremacy of the
    Constitution, etc. vs. Mrs. Cory Aquino, et al.]; and G.R. No., 73990 [Councilor Clifton U. Ganay vs. Corazon C. Aquino, et al.])

    For the above-quoted reasons, which are fully applicable to the petition at bar, mutatis mutandis, there can be no question that President Corazon C.
    Aquino and Vice-President Salvador H. Laurel are the incumbent and legitimate President and Vice-President of the Republic of the Philippines.

    ACCORDINGLY, petition is hereby dismissed.

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