Midterm Exams in Consti Law 2 2022

UNIVERSITY OF EASTERN PHILIPPINES
COLLEGE OF LAW
MIDTERM EXAMINATIONS
CONSTITUTIONAL LAW 2
Dr. Marlo V. Destura 16 April 2022
I.
Five foreign nationals arrived at the NAIA from Hong Kong. After retrieving their
checked-in luggage, they placed all their bags in one pushcart and proceeded to Express
Lane 5. They were instructed to place their luggage on the examiner's table for inspection.
The examiner found brown-colored boxes, similar in size to powdered milk boxes,
underneath the clothes inside the foreigners' bags. The examiner discovered white
crystalline substances inside the boxes that he inspected and proceeded to bundle all of the
boxes by putting masking tape around them. He thereafter handed the boxes over to
Bureau of Customs agents. The agents called out the names of the foreigners one by one
and ordered them to sign their names on the masking tape placed on the boxes recovered
from their respective bags. The contents of the boxes were thereafter subjected to tests
which confirmed that the substance was shabu.
Can the shabu found inside the boxes be admitted in evidence against the five foreigners
for the charge of illegal possession of drugs in violation of the Comprehensive Dangerous
Drugs Act of 2002? (10%)
II.
At about 5:30 A.M. of April 16, 2022 Police Senior Inspector Officer A of the Manila
Police District Station received a text message from an unidentified civilian informer that
one Mr. Z would be meeting up later that morning with two (2) potential sellers of drugs at
a nearby restaurant. As such, Officer A decided to hang around the said place immediately.
At about 9:15 A.M., two (2) male passengers. Named A and Y, who were each
carrying a traveling bag, alighted from a bus in front of the restaurant. A transport barker,
serving as a lookout for Officer A, signaled to the latter that X and Y were "suspicious-
looking."
As the two were about to enter the restaurant, Officer A stopped them and asked
about the contents of their bags. Dissatisfied with their response that the bags contained
only clothes, Officer A proceeded to search the bags and found packs of shabu therein.
Thus, X and Y were arrested, and the drugs were seized from them. According to Officer A, a
warrantless search was validly made pursuant to the stop and frisk rule; hence, the
consequent seizure of the drugs was likewise valid.
(a) What is the stop and frisk rule? (5%)
(b) Was the stop and frisk rule validly invoked by Officer A? If not, what is the effect on the
drugs seized as evidence? Explain. (5%)
III.
To address the pervasive problem in the Municipality of Catarman, the

Municipality passed two (2) ordinances:
1. The first ordinance removed all prohibition against gambling but imposed a tax
equivalent to 30% on all winnings.
2. The second ordinance reclassified the areas in Brgy. Daganas from to industrial to
commercial and ordered owners and operators of businesses disallowed under the
reclassification to cease and desist from operating their businesses, most of which were
poultry and hog raising businesses, within 6 months from the effectivity of the ordinance.
(a) Will the corresponding ordinance imposing a 30% tax on all winnings and prizes
won from gambling valid? Explain you answer?
(b) Will the affected businesses, like the oil depot in the area, question the validity of
the ordinance. Explain your answer.
Discuss each (5% each)
IV.
Municipality X passed an ordinance levying a special assessment equivalent to one-

half percent (0.5%) of the assessed value of Land in excess of One Hundred Thousand
Pesos (Php100,000.00) shall be collected by the Municipal Treasurer which shall accrue to
the Socialized Housing Programs of the Quezon City Government. The special assessment
shall accrue to the General Fund under a special account to be established for the purpose.
The fund will be used for the benefit of informal settlers. Petitioners questioned the
constitutionality of the ordinance on the ground that people should not be required to pay
for the services that the government is mandated to do. Further, It is a form of class
legislation since it favors informal settlers who occupy property not their own and pay no
taxes, over law-abiding real property owners who pay income and realty taxes.
Is the ordinance constitutional? (10%)
V.
(a.) The Congress passed a law proving for a formula by which the Court can
compute the amount of just compensation. Is the Court bound by the formula? (5%)
(b.) Discuss the relevance and importance of “taking in the constitutional sense” in
the determination of just compensation. (5%)
VI.
The unabated rise of criminality and the reported identification of delinquent

children loitering in the wee hours of the night prompted City Z to implement a curfew
ordinance. Minors unaccompanied or unsupervised on the streets by their parents or
guardians between 10:00 P.M. to 5:00 A.M. may be apprehended by law enforcers subject
to certain exclusive exceptions. These exceptions are: 1. minors running lawful errands,
such as buying of medicines, using of telecommunications facilities for emergency purposes
and the like; 2. night school students; and 3. Minors working at night.
Minors apprehended for violation of the curfew ordinance shall be required to

undergo counseling, accompanied by their parents/guardians.
(a) Does the curfew ordinance violative the primary right and duty of parents to rear their
children? Explain. (5%)
(b) Does the curfew ordinance infringe any of the minors’ fundamental rights? Explain.
(5%)
VII.
Congress passed a law authorizing the National Housing Authority (NHA) to

expropriate or acquire private property for the redevelopment of slum areas, as well as to
lease or resell the property to private developers to carry out the redevelopment plan.
Pursuant to the law, the NHA acquired all properties within a targeted badly blighted area
in San Nicolas, Manila except a well-maintained drug and convenience store that poses no
blight or health problem itself. Thereafter, NHA initiated expropriation proceedings against
the store owner who protested that his property could not be taken because it is not
residential or slum housing. He also contended that his property is being condemned for a
private purpose, not a public one, noting the NHA’s sale of the entire area except his
property to a private party. If you were the judge, how would you decide the case? (10%)
VIII.
Filipinas Computer Corporation (FCC), a local manufacturer of computers and

computer parts, owns a sprawling plant in a 5,000-square meter lot in Pasig City. To
remedy the city’s acute housing shortage, compounded by a burgeoning population, the
Sangguniang Panglungsod authorized the City Mayor to negotiate for the purchase of the
lot. The Sanggunian intends to subdivide the property into small residential lots to be
distributed at cost to qualified city residents. But FCC refused to sell the lot. Hard pressed
to find a suitable property to house its homeless residents, the city filed a complaint for
eminent domain against FCC.
(a) If FCC hires you as lawyer, what defense or defenses would you set up in order to resist
the expropriation of the property? Explain.
(b) If the court grants the City’s prayer for expropriation, but the City delays payment of the
amount determined by the court as just compensation, can FCC recover the property from
Pasig city? (10%)
IX.
Mr. Villamor owns two (2) parcels of land located at Lavezares, N. Samar. The first
tract of land has an area of 10,000 square meter and 8,000 thereof is occupied and affected
by a road constructed by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) in 2010
without his permission. The second track of land has an area of 5,000 square meter and
would be entirely affected by the proposed construction of a new highway in the town.
You were hired as lawyer of Mr. Villamor, and your advice is requested on the
following matters:
a. Can Mr. Villamor prohibit the use of the first tract of land, and then construct a
department store claiming that DPWH constructed the road without his
permission?
b. In case Mr. Villamor allows the continued use of the road, is he entitled to just
compensation? Will it be computed in its present value? How will you compute
the same?
c. How about his second tract of land, can he question the plan of the DPWH to
construct the new highway?
d. In case he allows the construction of the new highway, will you use the same
formula in the first tract of land in determining just compensation?
Discuss each. (5% each)
X.
House Speaker X in a press statement proposed the passage of a law that income
and revenues of all catholic universities and colleges be subject to taxes and duties. He
reasoned out that these universities are already imposing high tuition and it was time to
tax them also.
Y, the spokesperson of the catholic universities and colleges objected to the

proposal since is not feasible under the present Constitution.
On the other hand, Speaker X reasoned out that the state has the absolute authority
whom and what to tax. Discuss the arguments of both parties. (20%)
Goodluck!

Midterm Exams in Consti Law 2 2022

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UNIVERSITY OF EASTERN PHILIPPINES

Dr. Marlo V. Destura 16 April 2022

To address the pervasive problem in the Municipality of Catarman, the

Discuss each (5% each)

Municipality X passed an ordinance levying a special assessment equivalent to one-

Is the ordinance constitutional? (10%)

The unabated rise of criminality and the reported identification of delinquent

Minors apprehended for violation of the curfew ordinance shall be required to

Congress passed a law authorizing the National Housing Authority (NHA) to

Filipinas Computer Corporation (FCC), a local manufacturer of computers and

Discuss each. (5% each)

Y, the spokesperson of the catholic universities and colleges objected to the

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