It’s a Civil Code, not constitutional provision

Philippine Daily Inquirer / 09:53 PM March 22, 2011

IN HIS letter “SC’s intellectual mediocrity,” Steve Vespera asserts that “The Philippine Constitution ordains that decisions of the Supreme Court ‘shall form part of the law of the land.’” (Inquirer, 2/21/11) There is no such provision in the Constitution. A provision of the sort is found in the Civil Code reading thus: “Judicial decisions applying or interpreting the laws or the Constitution shall form part of the legal system of the Philippines.” (Art. 8)

At any rate, I agree with the critical views of Vespera on the flip-flopping by the Supreme Court on the cityhood case of 16 municipalities. It appears to me that the Supreme Court violated its own Rules on the so-called “prohibited pleadings” when it entertained a second and third Motion for Reconsideration in the same case. Well, the Rules of Court being its very own handiwork, the Supreme Court has the absolute discretion to waive their applicability to a particular situation.

I recall now what our professor in Constitutional Law used to tell us during my student days in law school: when the Supreme Court makes a mistake, that’s the law.

—BARTOLOME C. FERNANDEZ JR.,

5431 Curie St.,

Palanan, Makati City

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