ADMINISTRATIVE LAW QUICK REFERENCE GUIDE1

1. Administrative Law embraces all the law that controls, or is intended to

control, the administrative operations of the government. The broad scope of
admin law as enshrined in the 1987 Administrative Code covers those of
internal as well as those of external administration.

2. Kinds of Administrative Law- Admin law has four (4) kinds:

a. Statutes setting up administrative authorities;

b. Body of doctrines and decisions dealing with creation,
operation and effect (COE) of determinations and regulations
of such administrative authorities;
c. Rules, regulations, orders of such administrative authorities in
pursuance of the purposes for which administrative authorities
were created or endowed; and
d. Determinations, decisions, and orders of such administrative
authorities in the settlement of controversies arising in their
particular fields.

3. Administrative law consists of pertinent provisions of the Constitution,

special legislation creating specialized agencies, the 1987 Administrative
Code and the provisions of Revised Administrative Code which are not
inconsistent with those of the 1987 Code. the 1987 Administrative Code did
not repeal entirely the RAC and special legislations because what the 1987
Code repealed or modified are only those law, decrees, orders, rules and
regulations, or portions thereof which are inconsistent with this Code.

4. The two administrative Codes are general laws and as between the codes and
special legislations on specific subject matters, the latter will prevail as an
exception to the former.

5. Administrative functions are those which involve the regulation and control
over the conduct and affair of individuals for their own welfare and the
promulgation of rules and regulations to better carry out the policy of the

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Based on the book of Ruben Agpalo
 legislature or such as are devolved upon the administrative agency by the
organic law of its existence.

Administrative Framework

6. The GRP refers to the corporate governmental entity through which the
functions of government are exercised throughout the Philippines, including
save as the context, the various arms through which political authority is
made effective in the Philippines.

7. Agency of the Government refers to any of the various units of the

Government, including a department, bureau, office, instrumentality, or
GOCC, or an LGU, not integrated within the department framework, vested
with special functions or jurisdiction by law, endowed with some if not all
corporate powers, administering special funds and enjoying operational
autonomy, usually though a charter. This term includes regulatory agencies,
institutes, and GOCC’s. An instrumentality is anything used as a means or
agency. The terms governmental agency are instrumentality are synonymous
in the sense that either of them is a means by which the government acts, or
which certain governmental act or function is performed. The word
instrumentality, with respect to a state, contemplates an authority to which
the estate delegates governmental power for the performance of a state
function.

Agencies or instrumentalities of the government are either incorporated or

non-incorporated.

8. Incorporated or non-incorporated agencies or instrumentalities are all

agents or delegates of the GRP which is by-itself, a body corporate and
juridical person vested with the full panoply of powers and attributes which
are described as legal personality.

9. Chartered institution refers to any agency organized or operating under a

specific charter and vested by law with functions relating to specific
constitutional policies or objectives.

10. The public officers and employees who perform the duties and exercise the
powers in the administrative set-up of the government are compendiously
called administration. The term administration refers to the aggregate of
those persons in whose hand the reins of the government are for time being.

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Creation and abolition of agencies

11. Public Office-refers to the right, authority and duty created and conferred by
law, by which for a given period either fixed by law or enduring at the
pleasure of the appointing power, an individual is vested with some portion
of sovereign functions of the government to be exercised by that individual
for the benefit of the public.

12. A public office is created by the Constitution or by law or by an officer or

tribunal to which the power to create the office has been delegated by the
legislature. The constitution established offices which perform
administrative functions. (President, constitutional commissions such as
COMELEC, CSC, COA the office of the Ombudsman, NEDA, CHR and the
NAPOLCOM)

13. Except such offices as are created by the Constitution, the creatio n of public
offices is primarily a legislative function. Legislature may decide for itself
what offices are suitable, necessary, or convenient. When in the exigencies of
government it is necessary to create and define duties, the legislative
department has the discretion to determine whether additional offices shall
be created.

Power to reorganize includes power to create or abolish offices

14. Reorganization is the process of restructuring the bureaucracy’s organization

and functional set-up, to make it more viable in terms of economy, efficiency,
effectiveness and make it more responsive to the needs of its public clientele
as authorized by law.
15. Reorganization is means used by the legislature to reorganize or abolish
offices, which it may do so by law directly or indirectly by authorizing an
executive department or agency to reorganize office.

16. The legislative power to reorganize and therefore to abolished offices -

applies to all offices, including lower courts, except those created by the
constitution itself.

Reasons for creation of administrative agencies

17. To unclog court dockets.

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 a. To relieve courts of the burden of resolving all controversies,
specialized agencies have been created to hear and decide particular
disputes.
b. To meet the growing complexities of the modern society,
c. To help in the regulation of ramified activities of a developing country
d. To entrust to specialized agencies in specified fields with their special
knowledge, experience, and capability the task of dealing with
problems thereof as they have the experience, expertise and power of
dispatch to provide solutions thereto.

CHAPTER II

POWERS OF ADMINISTRATIVE AGENCIES

18. The two most important powers of administrative officers are the quasi-
legislative and the quasi-judicial powers. The first enables them to
promulgate implementing rules and regulations, and the second enables
them to interpret

Ministerial v Discretionary

19. Ministerial Duty- one that is so clear and specific as to leave no room
for the exercise of discretion in its performance. One which an officer or
tribunal performs in a given state of facts, in a prescribed manner, in
obedience to the mandate of the legal authority, without regard to the
existence of his own judgment, upon the propriety or impropriety of the
act done. One that is so clear and specific as to leave no room for the
exercise of discretion in its performance. There is a prescribed manner of
doing it.

Remedy: Mandamus

The exercise of ministerial duty does not require the exercise of official
discretion nor judgment.

20. Discretionary duty- one that requires the exercise of a judgment. If the
law imposes a duty upon a public officer, and gives him the right to decide
how or when the duty shall be performed. Cannot be delegated to another
one.

Remedy: Certiorari

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Requires the exercise of judgment.

21. Discretion means sound discretion exercised not arbitrarily or willfully, but
with regard to what is right and equitable under the circumstances and
the law and directed by officer’s reason and conscience to just result.

Mandatory v Directory

22. A mandatory statute is a statute which commands either positively that

something be done, or performed in a particular way or negatively that
something be not done leaving the person concerned no choice on the matter
except to obey. It contains words of command or prohibition.

23. A directory statute is a statute which is permissive or discretionary in nature

and merely outlines the act to be done in such a way that no injury can result
from ignoring it or that its purpose can be accomplished in a manner other
than what is prescribed and substantially the same result obtained.

24. A statute which merely operates to confer discretion upon a person, namely,
to act according to the dictates of his own judgment and conscience and not
controlled by the judgment and conscience of others is directory.

Errors in the exercise of Governmental Power

25. The government can do no wrong. It cannot be estopped. Unauthorized acts

of government officials are not acts of the state, and an action against the
officials by one whose rights have been invaded or violated by such acts, for
the protection of his rights, not a suit against the state within the rule of
immunity of the state from suit.

26. An officer sued in his private or personal capacity for acts done beyond the
scope of his authority or for unlawful or tortious acts while discharging
official function, cannot invoke the doctrine of state immunity from suit.

CHAPTER III

POWERS CONTROL AND SUPERVISION

27. The heads of the various executive departments are assistants and agents of
the Chief Executive, and, except in cases where the Chief Executive is
required by the Constitution or law to act in person or the exigencies of the
situation demand that he act personally, the multifarious executive and
administrative functions of the Chief Executive are performed by and
through executive departments , and the acts of the Secretaries of such
departments, performed and promulgated in the regular course of business,
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 are unless disapproved and reprobated by the Chief Executive, preemptively
the acts of the Chief Executive.

28. DOCTRINE OF QUALIFIED POLITICAL AGENCY- all executive and

administrative organizations are adjuncts of the Executive Department and
the acts of the Secretaries of such departments are acts of the Chief
Executive.

29. Camarines Norte Electric Cooperative, Inc. v Torres- A decision of a quasi-

judicial agency which has become final can no longer be set aside or
supplanted by the President in the exercise of his power of control.

30. Supervision- means overseeing or the power of authority of an officer to see

that their subordinate officers perform their duties.

31. Review is a reconsideration or re-examination for purposes of correction.

Exercised to determine whether it is necessary to correct the acts of the
subordinate. The power to review includes the power to disapprove but it
does not carry the authority to substitute one’s own preferences for that
chosen by the subordinate in the exercise of its sound discretion.

32. Supervision and control includes authority to:

a. Act directly whenever a specific function is entrusted by law or regulation

to a subordinate;
b. Direct the performance of duty; restrain the commission of acts;
c. Review, approve, reverse or modify acts and decisions of the subordinate
officials or units;
d. Determine priorities in the execution of plans and programs; and
e. Prescribe standards, guidelines, plans and programs.

33. Administrative agencies may enforce subpoenas in the course of

investigations, whether or not adjudication is involved, and whether or not
probable cause is shown and even before the issuance of a complaint.

34. An investigatory body with the sole power of investigation does not exercise
judicial functions and its power is limited to investigating facts and making
findings in respect thereto.

35. Adjudication-signifies the exercise of power and authority to adjudicate upon

the rights and obligations of the parties before it.

36. Carino v Commission on Human Rights- the SC declares CHR to have no such
power to prosecute and it was not meant by the constitution to be another
court or quasi-judicial agency in this country, or duplicate much less take
over the functions of the courts.
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37. Fact finding is not adjudication and to investigate is not to adjudge.
Investigate means to examine, explore, inquire or delve or probe into,
research on, study (EEI-DeProReS). The purpose of investigation, of course, is
to discover, to find out, to learn, to obtain information.

38. Adjudicate means to settle in the exercise of judicial authority. To determine

finally. To pass on judicially, to decide, settled or decree, or to sentence or
condemn.

39. The power of the CHR is basically investigatory and informational in nature.
The same with NBI whose findings are merely recommendatory.

40. The Ombudsman has no veto or revisory power.

41. Presidential Issuances

a. Executive Orders- acts of the President for rules of a general or

permanent character in implementation or execution of
constitutional or statutory powers.
b. Administrative orders- relate to particular aspect of governmental
operations in pursuance of his duties as administrative head.
c. Proclamations –acts fixing dates or declaring a statute or condition
of public moments or interest, upon the existence of the operation
of a specific law or regulation made to depend.
d. Memorandum orders-acts of president on matters of
administrative detail or of subordinate or temporary interest
which only concern a particular officer or office of the
government.
e. Memorandum circulars- matters relating to internal
administration which the president desires to bring to the
attention of all or some other depts.
f. General or specific orders-acts and commands of the president in
his capacity as commander-in-chief of the AFP.

42. Barangay Ordinance subject to review of the SB or SP

43. The power to enact municipal ordinance is lodged with the SB
44. The power to pass a city ordinance is vested in the SP
45. SP may enact ordinances affecting the province.
46. Delegation of legislative power is the general rule and non-delegation is the
exception. The reason is the growing complexities of modern life and many
technical fields of governmental functions.
47. Rule making means an agency process for the formulation, amendment,
repeal of a rule (FARR). Refers also to the power to issue rules and
regulations which result from delegated legislation in the administrative
level.
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 48. Doctrine of Primary Jurisdiction-applies only where administrative agency
exercises its quasi –judicial or adjudicatory function.

49. Kinds of Rule-Making Power

a. Rule making by reason of particular delegation of authority (issue
rules and regulation which have the force and effect of law)
b. Rule making by the construction and interpretation of a stature
being administered (powers of administrative agencies to
interpret and construe the statutes entrusted to them for
implementation)
c. Determination of facts under a delegated power as to which a
statute shall go into effect (ascertainment of facts which will form
the basis for the enforcement of the statute)

What cannot be delegated

a. Purely legislative in nature (the power to declare WON there shall be a

law to determine the purpose or policy to be achieved by the law, or to fix
the limits within which the law shall operate is purely legislative.

What may be delegated

a. Any legislative power other than making, altering, or repealing laws
(MARL)
b. It can delegate the discretion as to how the law shall be enforced, to
issue rules to fill in details, to ascertain facts on which the law will
operate, to exercise police power, and to fix rates. The delegation to
be valid has to pass the completeness and sufficiency of standard
tests.

Sufficient Standard Test and Completeness Test

These are the two accepted tests to determine whether or not there is a valid
delegation of legislative power.

a. Completeness test- the law must be complete in all its terms and conditions
when it leaves the legislative such that when it reaches the delegate the only
thing he will have to do is to enforce it.

b. Sufficient Standard Test- there must be adequate guidelines or limitations in

the law to map out the boundaries of the delegate’s authority and prevent the
delegation from running riot.

Potestas delegata non delegari protest-what has been delegated cannot be delegated.

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A delegated power constitutes not only a right but a duty to be performed by the
delegate through instrumentality of his own judgment and not through the
intervening mind of another.

Delegation of rate-fixing powers

What is required is that the administrative authority must be reasonable and just.
When the administrative agency concerned establishes a rate, its act must be both
non-confiscatory and must have been established in the manner prescribed by the
legislature, otherwise in the absence of a fixed standard, the delegation becomes
unconstitutional.

Three kinds of executive interpretation

1. Construction by an executive or administrative officer directly called to

implement the law.
2. Interpretation of the SOJ
3. Interpretation in an adversary proceeding ruled by an executive officer in
exercising his quasi-judicial power.

Action to question a decision of a quasi-judicial agency in the exercise of its quasi-

judicial power: Court of Appeals

Challenge the rules and regulations issued by an administrative agency to

implement the law: Regional Trial Court

DOCTRINE OF PRIMARY JURISDICTION-requires that the plaintiff should first

seek relief in an administrative proceeding before he seek remedy in court, which is
within its jurisdiction.

Doctrine of Primary Jurisdiction- applies where a claim is originally cognizable

in the courts. The judicial process being suspended pending referral of certain
issues to the administrative agency for its views.

Doctrine of Exhaustion of Administrative Remedies- applies where a claim is

cognizable in the first instance by the administrative agency alone. Judicial
interference being withheld until the administrative process has run its course and
the agency action is ripe for review.

a. This doctrine provides that resort to appropriate administrative

authorities in the resolution of a controversy falling under their
jurisdiction must be resorted first before the same may be elevated to
the courts of justice for review.
b. The failure to observe the doctrine of exhaustion of administrative
remedies does not affect the jurisdiction of the court. The only effect
of non-compliance with the rule is that it will deprive the complainant
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 of a cause of action, which is a ground for a motion to dismiss. If not
invoked at the proper time, this ground is deemed waived and the
court can take cognizance of the case and try it.

This principle of exhaustion of administrative remedies does not apply to the

following:

1. Violation of due process;

2. Purely questions of law;
3. Administrative action is patently illegal amounting to excess of jurisdiction;
4. When there is estoppel on the part of the admin agency concerned;
5. When there is irreparable injury;
6. Respondent is secretary whose acts as an alter ego of the President
7. When to require this principle is unreasonable;
8. When it would amount to nullification of a claim;
9. Subject matter is a private land in land cases and proceedings;
10. When the rule does not provide a plain and speedy and adequate remedy;
and
11. There are circumstances indicating the urgency of judicial intervention.
12. When no administrative review is provided when the rule on qualified
political agency applies.
13. When the issue of the non-exhaustion of administrative remedies has been
rendered moot and academic; and
14. Failure of a high government official from whom relief is sough to act on the
matter.

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