DOCTRINE OF FAIR AND PROPER SUBMISSION

(Tolentino v. Commission on Elections, G.R. No. L-34150,

[November 4, 1971])

FACTS:F

In this historical account, it does appear that factually, the National Assembly sought to submit several
proposed amendments approved by it in a single session as a constituent body separately or “piece-
meal” in two separable plebiscites or elections. Still, a little reflection will reveal that what actually
happened in 1939 cannot be invoked to justify the proposed plebiscite now in question

ISSUE:

Whether there can be an Application of the Doctrine of Fair and Proper Submission

RULING:

The Court held that the legal objection to a piece-meal submission of the proposed amendment is that
it does not provide the people with a frame of reference on the basis of which they can determine the
acceptability of the proposal. (DOCTRINE OF FAIR AND PROPER SUBMISSION - Amendments cannot be
submitted to the people in a piecemeal fashion wherein the other amendments are to follow. The people
should have a frame of reference from which to read the amendments being proposed.)

Moreover, as indicated in Court’s decision, and as thoroughly discussed in the deliberations of the Court,
properly analyzed, the proposed amendment in question cannot in truth be considered as a complete
one, but merely as a fractional, provisional and incomplete proposal that hardly qualifies to be a part of
the fundamental law of the land, which is the embodiment of permanence, definiteness, security and
stability in all that it embraces, for the better protection and enjoyment of all the people under it,
considering that the proposed amendment is coupled with express and implied reservations, 2 the
specific extent and magnitude of which are not possible to define, delimit and delineate, on the basis of
what appears on the face of the Convention's resolution, in a manner that would give the voter a clear
and definite idea of what the exact amendment would later on turn out to be, and thus enable him to
make an intelligent decision, which is what the Constitution contemplates as indispensable in any
plebiscite for the amendment thereof.

Assuming that the Constitutional Convention has power to propose piecemeal amendments and submit
each separately to the people for ratification, we are nonetheless persuaded that (1) that there is
no proper submission of title proposed amendment in question within the meaning and intendment of
Section 1 of Article XV of the Constitution, and (2) that the forthcoming election is not the proper
election envisioned by the same provision of the Constitution.