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Decision 20<br />
G.R. Nos. 171396,<br />
171400<br />
171409, 171424, 171483<br />
171485, 171489<br />
bar, and the public; 33 and fourth, the case is capable of repetition yet evading<br />
review. 34<br />
All the foregoing exceptions are present here and justify this Court’s<br />
assumption of jurisdiction over the instant petitions. Petitioners alleged that<br />
the issuance of PP 1017 and G.O. No. 5 violates the Constitution. There is<br />
no question that the issues being raised affect the public’s interest, involving<br />
as they do the people’s basic rights to freedom of expression, of assembly<br />
and of the press. Moreover, the Court has the duty to formulate guiding and<br />
controlling constitutional precepts, doctrines or rules. It has the symbolic<br />
function of educating the bench and the bar, and in the present petitions, the<br />
military and the police, on the extent of the protection given by<br />
constitutional guarantees. 35 And lastly, respondents’ contested actions are<br />
capable of repetition. Certainly, the petitions are subject to judicial<br />
review.<br />
In their attempt to prove the alleged mootness of this case,<br />
respondents cited Chief Justice Artemio V. Panganiban’s Separate Opinion<br />
in Sanlakas v. Executive Secretary. 36 However, they failed to take into<br />
account the Chief Justice’s very statement that an otherwise “moot” case<br />
may still be decided “provided the party raising it in a proper case has been<br />
and/or continues to be prejudiced or damaged as a direct result of its<br />
issuance.” The present case falls right within this exception to the mootness<br />
rule pointed out by the Chief Justice.<br />
II- Legal Standing<br />
33<br />
Province of Batangas v. Romulo, supra.<br />
34<br />
Albaña v. Commission on Elections, G.R. No. 163302, July 23, 2004, 435 SCRA 98, Acop v.<br />
Guingona, Jr., G.R. No. 134855, July 2, 2002, 383 SCRA 577, Sanlakas v. Executive Secretary,<br />
G.R. No. 159085, February 3, 2004, 421 SCRA 656.<br />
35<br />
Salonga v. Cruz Paño, et al., No. L- 59524, February 18, 1985, 134 SCRA 438.<br />
36<br />
G.R. No. 159085, February 3, 2004, 421 SCRA 656.