Professional Documents
Culture Documents
6
Posted by kaye lee on 11:06 AM
CHAPTER SIX:
Statute Construed as Whole and in Relation to other Statutes
It should have one purpose and one intent; Construe its parts and section in connection with
other parts
Optima Statuti Interpretatio est ipsum statutum - the best interpreter of a statute is
the statute itself
Do not inquire too much into the motives which influenced the legislative body unless the
motive is stated or disclosed in the statute themselves.
Aisporna v. CA
pointed out that words, clauses, phrases should not be studied as detached/isolated
expressions
Consider every part in understanding the meaning of its part to produce a harmonious whole
Meaning of the law is borne in mind and not to be extracted from a single word
Most important: Every part of the statute must be interpreted with reference to the context
RP v. CA
ISSUE: whether or not an appeal of cases involving just compensation should be made first
by DARAB before RTC under Sec. 57
RULING: SC said that the contention of the Republic and the Land Bank in the affirmative
side has no merit because although DARAB is granted a jurisdiction over agrarian reform
matters, it does not have jurisdiction over criminal cases.
Sajonas v. CA
ISSUE: what period an adverse claim annotated at the back of a transfer certificate
effective?
RULING: In construing the law Sec. 70 of PD 1529 (adverse claim shall be effective for a
period of 30 days from the date of the registration…) care should be taken to make every
part effective
Construction as to give life to law
Interpretatio fienda es ut res magis valeat quam pereat - interpretation will give the efficacy
that is to be adopted.
Mejia v.Balalong
ISSUE: how to construe “next general election” in Sec. 88 of the City Charter of Dagupan
City.
RULING: the phrase refers to the next general election after the city came into being and
not the one after its organization by Presidential Proclamation.
Uytengsu v Republic
ISSUE: whether the requirement the requirement for naturalization that the applicant “will
reside continuously in the Philippines from the date of the filing of the petition up to the time
of his admission to Philippine citizenship” refers to actual residence or merely to legal
residence or domicile
RULING; such requirement refers to actual or physical residence because to construe it
otherwise is to render the clause a surplusage.
An applicant for naturalization must be actually residing in the Philippines from the filing of
the petition for naturalization to its determination by the court
Almeda v. Florentino
Law – “the municipal board shall have a secretary who shall be appointed by it to serve
during the term of office of the members thereof”
Amendment – “the vice-mayor shall appoint all employees of the board who may be
suspended or removed in accordance with law”
Construction of both Law and Amendment – the power of the vice-mayor to make
appointment pursuant to the amendatory act is limited to the appointment of all employees
of the board other than the board secretary who is to be appointed by the board itself
Lacson v. Roque
ISSUE: the phrase unless sooner removed of a statute that states “the mayor shall hold
office for four years unless sooner removed”
RULING: the court held that the phrase should be construed in relation to removal statutes.
Thus the phrase meant that although the mayor cannot be removed during his term of
office, once he violates those that are stated in removal statutes.
King v. Hernaez
Relation of RA 1180 (Retail Trade Nationalization Act) to Commonwealth Act 108 (Anti
Dummy Law)
Dialdas v. Percides
FACTS: a alien who operated a retail store in Cebu decided to close his Cebu store and
transfer it to Dumaguete. RTL (retail trade law) and Tax Code Sec. 199 were the statutes
taken into consideration in this case. The former authorizes any alien who on May 15, 1954
is actually engaged in retail, to continue to engage therein until his voluntary retirement
from such business, but not to establish or open additional stores for retail business. The
latter provides that any business for which the privilege tax has been paid may be removed
and continued in any other place without payment of additional tax.
ISSUE: whether the transfer by the alien from Cebu to Dumaguete can be considered as a
voluntary retirement from business.
RULING: No. Although the trial court affirmed the question, the SC ruled otherwise stating
that RTC overlooked the clear provision of Sec. 199.
Reference statutes
A statute which refers to other statutes and makes them applicable to the subject of
legislation
Used to avoid encumbering the statute books of unnecessary repetition
Supplemental statutes
Intended to supply deficiencies in existing statutes
Reenacted statutes
Statute which reenacts a previous statute or provision.
Montelibano v. Ferrer
ISSUE: application of Sec. 3 fo the City Charter of Manila is valid in the criminal complaint
directly file by an offended party in the city court of Bacolod?
RULING: The court ruled that the criminal complaint filed directly by the offended party is
invalid and it ordered the city court to dismiss it. The provisions of the City Charter of Manila
Bacolod on the same subject are identically worded, hence they should receive the same
construction.