EN BANC

Decision 18
G.R. Nos. 171396,
171400
171409, 171424, 171483
171485, 171489
I- Moot and Academic Principle
One of the greatest contributions of the American system to this
country is the concept of judicial review enunciated in Marbury v.
Madison. 21 This concept rests on the extraordinary simple foundation --
The Constitution is the supreme law. It was ordained by the
people, the ultimate source of all political authority. It confers limited
powers on the national government. x x x If the government consciously
or unconsciously oversteps these limitations there must be some
authority competent to hold it in control, to thwart its
unconstitutional attempt, and thus to vindicate and preserve inviolate
the will of the people as expressed in the Constitution. This power the
courts exercise. This is the beginning and the end of the theory of
judicial review. 22
But the power of judicial review does not repose upon the courts a
“self-starting capacity.” 23 Courts may exercise such power only when the
following requisites are present: first, there must be an actual case or
controversy; second, petitioners have to raise a question of constitutionality;
third, the constitutional question must be raised at the earliest opportunity;
and fourth, the decision of the constitutional question must be necessary to
the determination of the case itself. 24
Respondents maintain that the first and second requisites are absent,
hence, we shall limit our discussion thereon.
An actual case or controversy involves a conflict of legal right, an
opposite legal claims susceptible of judicial resolution. It is “definite and
concrete, touching the legal relations of parties having adverse legal
interest;” a real and substantial controversy admitting of specific relief. 25
The Solicitor General refutes the existence of such actual case or
21
1 Cranch 137 [1803].
22
Howard L. MacBain, “Some Aspects of Judicial Review,” Bacon Lectures on the Constitution
of the United States (Boston: Boston University Heffernan Press, 1939), pp. 376-77.
23
The Court has no self-starting capacity and must await the action of some litigant so
aggrieved as to have a justiciable case. (Shapiro and Tresolini, American Constitutional Law, Sixth
Edition, 1983, p. 79).
24
Cruz, Philippine Political Law, 2002 Ed., p. 259.
25
Ibid.