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Law in Its Generic Sense Refers To The Whole Body or System of Law. It Includes Statues

This document discusses statutory construction and the legislative process in the Philippines. It contains the following key points: 1) It defines the differences between statutes and laws, and describes different types of statutes. 2) It discusses the differences between construction and interpretation of laws. 3) It outlines the legislative process that a bill undergoes to become a law, including readings, committee approval, authentication, and presidential approval or veto. 4) It addresses principles like separation of powers and the doctrine of origination.

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Angel Khaille Saguban
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85 views4 pages

Law in Its Generic Sense Refers To The Whole Body or System of Law. It Includes Statues

This document discusses statutory construction and the legislative process in the Philippines. It contains the following key points: 1) It defines the differences between statutes and laws, and describes different types of statutes. 2) It discusses the differences between construction and interpretation of laws. 3) It outlines the legislative process that a bill undergoes to become a law, including readings, committee approval, authentication, and presidential approval or veto. 4) It addresses principles like separation of powers and the doctrine of origination.

Uploaded by

Angel Khaille Saguban
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Saguban, Angel Khaille L.

Statutory Construction

1. Statute vs. Law


Law in its generic sense refers to the whole body or system of law. It includes statues
enacted by the legislature, presidential decrees and executive orders issued by the President in
the exercise of his legislative power, rulings of the Supreme Court, administrative and executive
rules and regulations and ordinances passed by sanggunians of local government units. A statute
on the other hand is an act of the legislature as an organized body that is passed according t the
procedure required to constitute it as part of the law of the land. Statutes may either be public or
private; which affects the public at large or which applies only to a specific person or subject
respectively. Public statutes may further be classified into general, special and local laws.
General laws apply to the whole state, special laws relates to a particular person or thing, and a
local law is one whose operation is confined to a specific locality. Statues also are divided into
permanent and temporary statutes. A permanent statute is one whose operation is not limited but
continues until repealed while a temporary statute is a statute whose duration is for a limited
period and ceases upon the happening of an event. (Agpalo, 2009)

2. Construction vs Interpretation
Construction is the art of discovering and expounding the meaning and intention of the
authors of the law and where that intention is rendered. It is the drawing of warranted
conclusions respecting subjects that lie beyond the direct expression of the text. Interpretation,
as defined by some authors, is the art of find the meaning and sense of any form of words. While
there appears to be a technical distinction between the two terms, they are so alike in practical
results and are used interchangeably as to have become almost synonymous. (Agpalo, 2009)
3. How a bill becomes a law
A bill is proposed legislative measure introduced by a member or members of the
Congress for enactment into law. It is signed by authors and filed with the Secretary of the
House.
a. First and second reading of bills

The first reading consists of reading the number and title of the bill followed by its referral
to the appropriate committee. On second reading, the bill shall be read in full of the
amendments proposed by the Committee.

b. Third reading

A bill is approved by either House after it has gone three readings. Section 26(2) Art. VI
reads:
“ No bill passed by either House shall become a law unless it has passed three readings
on separate days and printed copies thereof in its final form have been distributed to its
Members three days before its passage, except when the President certifies to the
necessity of its immediate enactment to meet a public calamity of emergency..”

c. Conference committee reports

The bill approved on the third reading by one House is transmitted to the other House for
concurrence, which will follow substantially the same route as a bill originally filed with it.

d. Authentication of bills

The law-making process in Congress ends when the bill is approved by the body. It is this
approval that is indispensable to the validity of the bill. The system of authentication
devised is the signing by the Speaker and the Senate President of the printed copy of the
approve bill, certified by the respective secretaries of the both Housed to signify to the
President that the bill being president to him has been duly approved by the legislature and
is ready for his approval or rejection.

e. President’s approval or veto

The Constitution provides that any bill presented must be presented to the President. If he
approves, he shall sign it; otherwise, shall veto and return it with his objections to the House
where it originated.

In other words, a bill passed by Congress becomes a law in three ways: (1) when the
President signs it; (2) when the president does not sign his veto of the bill thirty days after
his receipt thereof; and (3) when the vetoed bill is repassed by Congress by two-thirds vote
of all its Members, each house voting separately.

4. May the legislative power be delegated?

As an adjunct to the separation of powers principle, legislative power shall be exclusively


exercised by the body to which the Constitution has conferred the same. In particular, Section 1,
Article VI of the 1987 Constitution states that such power shall be vested in the Congress of the
Philippines which shall consist of a Senate and a House of Representatives, except to the extent
reserved to the people by the provision on initiative and referendum. Based on this provision,
only Congress, acting as a bicameral body, and the people, through the process of initiative and
referendum, may constitutionally wield legislative power and no other. 
5. What is the doctrine of Origination?
The declaration of law or regulation as unconstitutional proceeds from the principle that under
the Philippine legal system, the Constitution is the supreme (or fundamental law) of the land.

6. Given that the case was discovered only after a month and the President only has thirty days to
either approve or veto the bill, it is now safe to assume that the bill is now signed and is already a
law. No veto was raised by the president, and any bill that has passed through to the House
where it originated and within thirty days after the date of receipt, thereof, shall become a law.

7. Interpretative rule vs Legislative rule


Interpretative rule is designed to provide guidelines to the law of which the
administrative agency oversees. It does not bind the public or force the effect of law but only
stated the agency’s interpretation of its governing laws. Legislative rules are designed to
implement a legislation by providing details and has a binding legal effect.

8. Void for vagueness of Doctrine

As a rule a statue maybe said to be vague when it lacks comprehensible standards that
“men of common intelligence must necessarily guess at its meaning and differ as to its
application” It is repugnant to the constitution in two aspects: (a) it violates due process for
failure to accord persons, especially the parties targeted by it, fair notice of the conduct to avoid
and (b) it leaves law enforcers unbridled discretion in carrying out its provisions and become an
arbitrary flexing of the government muscle.

However, an act will be declared void and inoperative on the ground of vagueness and
uncertainty, only upon a showing that the defect is such that the courts are unable to determine,
within any reasonable degree of certainty, what the legislature intended.

9. An executive order issued by the President of the Philippines allowing the burial of the late
Ferdinand Marcos in the Libingan ng mga Bayani is a rightful act. What exactly is the opposition
to his burial at Libingan ng mga Bayani? By what logic, philosophical principle and ethical
norm? By what legal precept? By what equitable standard? I refuse to blame him for every single
act of abuse of his subordinates, considering that if that were our mode of reckoning, all our past
presidents would be condemnable on account of one or the other wicked deed of some underling.
As a former president and a veteran of World War II, his burial in the Libingan ng mga Bayani is
constitutional unless otherwise provided by law.
10. Section 26(2) Art. VI reads:

“ No bill passed by either House shall become a law unless it has passed three readings
on separate days and printed copies thereof in its final form have been distributed to its
Members three days before its passage, except when the President certifies to the
necessity of its immediate enactment to meet a public calamity of emergency..”

Based on the provision provided, the bill shall take effect after the President has signed
and the bill has been published in the Official Gazette. If the president signed it on August 1,
2020, count 15 days from August 2 to August 17, hence will be the effectivity of the law.

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