Professional Documents
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Villegas Vs Legaspi
Villegas Vs Legaspi
SUPREME COURT
Manila
EN BANC
G.R. No. L-53869
DECISION
MELENCIO-HERRERA, J.:
These two cases (L-53869 and L-51928) filed in May, 1980 and September, 1979,
respective, involved the prohibition in Section 11, Article VIII of the 1973 Charter, which
used to read:
Sec. 11. No member of the National Assembly shall appear as counsel before any court
inferior to a court with appellate jurisdiction,
The antecedents facts follows:
L-53869
On September 27, 1979, a complaint for annulment of bank checks and damages was filed
by Raul A. Villegas against the Vera Cruz spouses and Primitivo Cania, Jr. (private
respondents) before the Court of First Instance of Cebu, Branch XVI, then presided by Hon.
Ceferino E. Dulay (Civil Case No. 431-L). An answer, dated October 11, 1979, was filed by
private respondents through their counsel, Assemblyman Valentino L. Legaspi, a member of
the Batasang Pambansa from the province of Cebu. Raul A. Villegas challenged the
appearance of Assemblyman Legaspi as counsel of record on the ground that he is barred
under the Constitution from appearing before Courts of First Instance, which are essentially
trial Courts or Courts of First Instance, which are essentially trial Courts or Courts of First
Instance, which are essentially trial Courts or Courts of original jurisdiction. After the
Opposition and Reply to the Opposition were filed, Judge Dulay issued an Order inhibiting
himself from the aforesaid case because Assemblyman Legaspi was likewise the lawyer of
his wife in two pending cases. The case was re-raffled and redocketed as Civil Case No. R18857, and transferred to Branch II, presided by Judge Francisco P. Burgos (respondent
Court).
In an Order, dated February 27, 1980, Judge Burgos denied the disqualification of
Assemblyman Legaspi, as well as the Motion for Reconsideration filed thereafter. Hence,
this recourse to certiorari and Prohibition.
A temporary Restraining Order was issued ex-parte by this Tribunal on May 22, 1980
enjoining respondent Court from acting in Civil Case No. R-18857 below.
L-51928
Edgardo P. Reyes filed, on July 3, 1979, Civil Case No. 33739 before the Court of First
Instance of Rizal (Pasig), Branch XXI, against N. V. Verenigde Buinzenfabrieken ExcelsiorDe Maas and private respondent Eustaquio T.C. Acero to annul the sale of Excelsiors
shares in the International Pipe Industries Corporation (IPI) to Eustaquio T.C Acero,
allegedly on the ground that, prior thereto, the same shares had already been sold to him
(Reyes). Assemblyman Estanislao Fernandez entered his appearance as counsel for
Excelsior. This appearance was questioned on the ground that it was barred by Section 11,
Article VIII of the 1973 Constitution, above-quoted.
Initially, this case (L-51928) was filed as a Supplemental Petition to L-51122 (Eugenio
Puyat, et als. Hon. Sixto T.J. de Guzman), but this Court ordered it docketed separately. And
since the issue involved is on all fours with L-53869, the Court opted to resolve Case No. L51928 jointly with L-53869 instead of with L-51122 as originally directed.
The novel issue for determination is whether or not members of the Batasang Pambansa,
like Attorneys Valentino L. Legaspi and Estanislao A. Fernandez, can appear as counsel
before Courts of First Instance.
A comparison of Section 11, Article VIII, of the 1973 Constitution prohibiting any
Assemblyman from appearing as counsel before any Court inferior to a Court with
appellate jurisdiction, and the similar provision of Section 17, Article VI, of the 1935
Charter is elucidating. The last sentence of the latter provision reads:
No member of the Commission on Appointments shall appear as counsel before any
Court inferior to a collegiate Court of appellate jurisdiction.
A significant amendment is the deletion of the term collegiate. Further, the limitation now
comprehends all members of the Batasang Pambansa, and is no longer confined to
members of the Commissions on Appointments, a body not provided for under the 1973
Constitution.
Under the amendment to Article VIII of the 1973 Constitution, ratified in a national plebiscite
held on April 7, 1981, Section 11 now reads:
SEC. 11. No member of the Batasang Pambansa shall appear as counsel before any court
without appellate jurisdiction,
The term collegiate remains deleted , and the terminology is now Court without appellate
jurisdiction.
Although the cases at bar were filed prior to the aforesaid amendment, they should be
resolved under the amended provision. We abide by the proposition that as a general rule,
the provisions of a new Constitution take effect immediately and become operative on
pending litigation. 1
Clearly, what is prohibited to a Batasang Pambansa member is appearance as counsel
before any Court without appellate jurisdiction.
Appearance has been defined as voluntary submission to a courts
jurisdiction. 2 Counsel means an adviser, a person professionally engaged in the trial or
management of a cause in court; a legal advocate managing a case at law; a lawyer
appointed or engaged to advise and represent in legal matters a particular client, public
officer, or public body. 3Ballantines Law Dictionary says a counsel is counselor, an
attorney at law; one or more attorneys representing parties in an action. 4 Thus,
appearance as counsel is a voluntary submission to a courts jurisdiction by a legal
advocate or advising lawyer professionally engaged to represent and plead the cause of
another. This is the common, popular connotation of this word which the Constitution must
have adopted. In one case, 5 in resolving the question of what constitutes appearance as an
advocate, the Court held that advocate the Court held that advocate means one who
pleads the cause of another before a tribunal or judicial court, a counselor.
Judging from the prescribed criteria, there should be no question that Assemblyman
Valentino L. Legaspi, in preparing the Answer for private respondent-spouses in Civil Case
No. R-18857 before the Court of First Instance of Cebu, Branch II, appears as their counsel.
Similarly, Assemblyman Estanislao A. Fernandez appears as counsel for Excelsior in Civil
Case No. 33739 of the Court of First Instance of Rizal (Pasig), Branch XXI. They represent
and plead the cause of another before a Court of justice.
The next poser then arises: are the Courts of First Instance, where Assemblyman Legaspi
and Fernandez, respectively, appear as counsel of record, Courts with appellate
jurisdiction?
There are authorities to the effect that the essential criterion of appellate jurisdiction is that it
revises and corrects the proceedings in a case already instituted and does not create that
cause 6 Or, that it necessarily implies that the subject-matter has been instated in and acted
upon by some other court whose judgment or proceedings are to be reviewed. 7 In an early
Philippine case, 8 it was held to mean jurisdiction to review the judgment of an inferior court.
And, that it calls for and demands previous legitimate jurisdiction by a court of origin. 9
By law, Courts of First Instance are Courts of general original jurisdiction. 10 However, under
the same statute, their jurisdiction has been stated to be of two kinds: (a) original and (b)
appellate. 11 They have appellate jurisdiction over all cases arising in City and Municipal
Courts in their respective provinces except over appeals from cases tried by Municipal
judges of provincial capitals or City Judges pursuant to the authority granted under the last
paragraph of Section 87 of the Judiciary Act. 12
It is rather clear that Courts of First Instance, by virtue of a specific bestowal by the
Judiciary Act of 1948, as amended, can be Courts with appellate jurisdiction. And, by the
deliberate omission of the word collegiate in both the original and amended Section 11,
Article VIII of the 1973 Constitution, the obvious intention of the framers is that Courts of
First Instance, as appellate Tribunals, no longer fall within the ambit of the previous
prohibition. They are single-Judge Courts with appellate jurisdiction from decisions and
orders of City and Municipal Courts. 13 Stated otherwise, under the amended proviso, Courts
of First Instance are not Courts without appellate jurisdiction.
It is contended, however, that the Courts of First Instance in these two cases took
cognizance of the suits in the exercise of their exclusive original and not appellate
jurisdiction, hence, Assemblymen Fernandez and Legaspi are still prohibited from appearing
before said Courts as counsel. There is merit to this contention.
It should be borne in mind that Courts of First Instance have dual personality. Depending
on the case before it, said Courts can be either of appellate or original jurisdiction. The
question then to be resolved is whether or not Assemblymen can appear as counsel before
Courts of First Instance in cases originally filed with them.
We are of the considered opinion that, to render effective the Constitutional provision,
appearance by legislators before Courts of First Instance should be limited to cases wherein
said Courts exercise appellate jurisdiction. This is true to the time-honored principle that
whatever is necessary to render effective any provision of a Constitution, whether the same
be a prohibition or a restriction, must be deemed implied and intended in the provision
itself. 14
It bears repeating that under Section 17, Article VI of the 1935 Charter, it was provided that
members of the Commission on Appointments shall not appear as counsel before any
Court inferior to a collegiate Court of appellate jurisdiction. The intent was clear that
members of the Commission on Appointments shall not appear as counsel before any
Court inferior to a collegiate Court of appellate jurisdiction. The intent was clear that
members of the Commission on Appointments could not appear before Courts of First
Instance. Uppermost in the minds of the framers was appellate jurisdiction more than
Court. Under Section 11, Article VIII of the 1973 Constitution, the scope of the prohibition
was expanded to embrace all members of the National Assembly who were barred from
appear(ing) as counsel before any Court without appellate jurisdiction. Consistently, the
principal criterion is appellate jurisdiction. So that, when a legislator appears in
an original case filed with a Court with appellate jurisdiction.
Appellate practice is all that is permitted because of the admitted predominance of lawyers
in the legislature. 15 Their office has always favored them with the influence and prestige that
it carried. Today, as before, it is only appellate practice that is allowed with the significant
difference that, this time, the Court need not be a collegial body. This so because with the
removal of the legislative power to review appointments the source of power and influence
that members of the National Assembly could unduly exert in the exercise of the legal
profession has been greatly minimized.
This is a situation where the restricted meaning must prevail over the general because the
nature of the subject matter of the context clearly indicates that the limited sense is
intended. 16 In fact, the original amendment proposed by Antonio V. Raquiza, Delegate of the
First District, Ilocos Norte, in Resolution No. 345 entitled Prohibiting Members of the
National Assembly to Use Their Office As a Means of Promoting Sell-Interest was to bar
a National Assembly member from appearing as counsel before any Court. In the
Whereas clauses, that proposal was believed to be an improvement over Section 17,
Article VI of the 1935 Constitution and the purpose of the proposed amendment was
explained as follows:
xxx xxx xxx
2. The Constitutional provision enumerates the kind of court or administrative cases where
a legislator cannot appear. In our proposal he is absolutely barred because it is feared that
the practice of his profession will interfere with the performance of his duties or that
because the power of his office might influence the administration of justice.
(Emphasis supplied) 17
The co-author of Resolution No. 345. Delegate Leocadio E. Ignacio from the lone District of
Isabela, and Floor Leader of the 1971 Constitutional Convention, elucidated further on the
purpose behind the prohibition when he wrote in his Position Paper that The prohibition
against appearing as counsel is necessary because of the under influence which members
of Congress enjoy when they practice before the Courts and especially before
administrative agencies. It is an accepted fat that our legislature is composed of a
predominance of practicing lawyers, and who are therefor expected to be naturally not
averse to exerting all influence that they can muster in the pursuit of their profession.
Continuing, he said: The inability to practice as counsel should be part of the sacrifices
entailed in running for the position of lawmaker. 18 The amendment proposed by Delegate
Gonzalo O. Catan, Jr. of Negros Oriental even went further: No member of the National
Assembly shall, during his term of office, appear as counsel, directly or indirectly, in any
Court or administrative body 19 Delegate Emerito M. Salva from the Second District,
Ilocos Norte, substituted his own amendment, thus:
Section 13. No member of the National Assembly shall, during his term of office, practice
directly or indirectly any occupation or profession or be allowed to engage directly or
indirectly in any trade, business, or industry. 20
and explained:
10.2. Explaining the substitute amendment, Delegate Salva said that the assemblymen
should render full-time service to the national. He pointed out that they should be barred
from the practice of their respective professions since they would reasonably be
compensated for devoting their time to the work of the National Assembly. 21
While Section 11, Article VIII, as finally adopted by the Constitutional Convention, did not
carry the several amendments proposed, they are reflective of the sentiment prevailing at
the 1971 Constitutional Conventional, and reinforce the condition that appearance as
counsel by Assemblymen was meant to be confined to appellate practice and not unlimited
practice before Courts of First Instance. That sentiment has been carried over the
amendment ratified in the April, 1981 plebiscite. For, there is no substantial difference
between Court inferior to a Court with appellate jurisdiction (the original 1973 provision)
and Court without appellate jurisdiction (the amended provision).
The objective of the prohibition, then and now, is clearly to remove any possibility of undue
influence upon the administration of justice, to eliminate the possible use of office for
personal gain, to ensure impartiality in trials and thus preserve the independence of the
Judiciary. The possible influence of an Assemblyman on a signed Judge of the Court of First
Instance, though not entirely removed, is definitely diminished where the latter Court acts in
the exercise of its appellate instead of original jurisdiction. The upper hand that a party
represented by an Assemblyman by virtue of his office possesses is more felt and could be
more feared in original cases than in appealed cases because the decision or resolution
appealed from the latter situation has already a presumption not only of regularity but also
of correctness in its favor.
In fine, appellate practice is an intended qualification dictated by principles of reason,
justice and public interest.
The limited application to appellate practice is a view-point favored by constitutionalist of
eminence, Chief Justice Enrique M. Fernando, in his scholarly work The Constitution of the
Philippine, 22 where he said:
It is to be noted that at present he may appear as counsel in any criminal case, but he
cannot do so before any administrative body. Also, while it is only appellate practice that is
allowed a member of the National Assembly, formerly, such a limitation applied solely to a
Senator or Representative who was in the Commission on Appointments, a body abolished
under the present Constitution. Those differences should be noted (Emphasis supplied) 23
Chief Justice Enrique M. Fernando also expounded on the reason behind the Constitutional
prohibition, thus:
The need for it was felt by the 1934 Constitutional Convention, a sentiment shared by the
last Constitutional Convention, because of the widespread belief that legislators found it
difficult to resist, as perhaps most men, the promptings of self-interest. Clearly, the purpose
was and is to stress the fiduciary aspect of the position. There is thus fidelity to the maxim
that a public office is a public trust. 24
Since the respective Courts of First Instance, before which Assemblymen Legaspi and
Fernandez appeared as counsel, were acting in the exercise of original and not appellate
jurisdiction, they must be held barred from appearing as counsel before said Courts in the
two cases involved herein.
WHEREFORE, granting the Writs prayed for, the Order issued on February 27, 1980 by the
Court of First Instance of Cebu, Branch II, in Civil Case No. R-18857, is hereby SET ASIDE,
and
Attorneys
Estanislao A.
Fernandez
and
Valentino
Legaspi
hereby
declared PROHIBITED from appearing as counsel before the Court of First Instance of
Rizal (Pasig), Branch XXI, in Civil Case No. 33739, and before the Court of First Instance of
Cebu, Branch II, in Civil Case No. r-18857, respectively. The Restraining Order issued
heretofore in L-53869 is hereby madePERMANENT.
No costs in either case.
SO ORDERED.
Marbury vs. Madison, 5 U.S. 137, 175, 2 L. Ed. 60; In re Constitutionality of House Bill No.
222, 90 SW2d 692, 293.
6
14
15
Legislative Department, (U.P. Law Center Constitutional Revision Project, 1970) p. 297.
Marcos and Concordia vs. Chief of Staff, AFP, 89 Phil. 246, 248 citing 11 Am. Jur. 680682.
16
Prop. Amend. No. 69 to CC/C Legis. Power Rep. 03/4-6-72; Date Submitted: 7-14-72;
5:31 P.M.
19
Prop. Amend. No 127 to CC/C Legis. Power/Rep. 03/4-6-72; Date Submitted: 8-28-72;
2:50 p.m.
20
21
Under the amendment to Article VIII of the 1973 Constitution ratified in a national
plebiscite held on April 7, 1981 no member of the Batasang Pambansa shall appear as
counsel before any court in any original case wherein any officer or employee of the
Government is accused of an offense committed in relation to his office, . (Emphasis
supplied).
23
24