Pascual vs Secretary of Public Works and Communications

Political Law Appropriation For Private Use Not Allowed

In 1953, RA 920 was passed. This law appropriated P85,000.00 for the construction, reconstruction,
repair, extension and improvement of Pasig feeder road terminals. Pascual, then governor of Rizal,
assailed the validity of the law. He claimed that the appropriation was actually going to be used for
private use for the terminals sought to be improved were part of the Antonio Subdivision. The said
Subdivision is owned by Senator Zulueta who was a member of the same Senate that passed and
approved the same RA. Pascual claimed that Zulueta misrepresented in Congress the fact that he
owns those terminals and that his property would be unlawfully enriched at the expense of the
taxpayers if the said RA would be upheld. Pascual then prayed that the Sec of Public Works be
restrained from releasing funds for such purpose. Zulueta, on the other hand, perhaps as an
afterthought, donated the said property to the City of Pasig.
ISSUE: Whether or not the appropriation is valid.
HELD: The donation of the property to the government to make the property public does not cure
the constitutional defect. The fact that the law was passed when the said property was still a private
property cannot be ignored. In accordance with the rule that the taxing power must be exercised for
public purposes only, money raised by taxation can be expanded only for public purposes and not
for the advantage of private individuals. Inasmuch as the land on which the projected feeder roads
were to be constructed belonged then to Zulueta, the result is that said appropriation sought a
private purpose, and, hence, was null and void.