1.

According to Article 433 of the New Civil Code:

“Actual possession under claim of ownership raises disputable presumption of

ownership. The true owner must resort to judicial process for the recovery of
the property.”

Since there is currently a dispute between the 3 alleged owners of the

diamond ring, they must follow judicial procedures to prove the identity of
the real owner. Since there can only be one owner, Article 538 of the same
code states:

“Possession as a fact cannot be recognized at the same time in two different

personalities except in the cases of co-possession. Should a question arise
regarding the fact of possession, the present possessor shall be preferred; if
there are two possessors, the one longer in possession; if the dates of the
possession are the same, the one who presents a title; and if all these
conditions are equal, the thing shall be placed in judicial deposit pending
determination of its possession or ownership through proper proceedings.”

Thus, Ms. Razon could settle the matter by taking a special civil action
as an Interpleader to avoid being sued. According to rule number sixty-two
(62) of the 1997 Rules of Civil Procedure:

Section 1. When interpleader proper. — Whenever conflicting claims

upon the same subject matter are or may be made against a person who
claims no interest whatever in the subject matter, or an interest which in
whole or in part is not disputed by the claimants, he may bring an action
against the conflicting claimants to compel them to interplead and litigate
their several claims among themselves.

2. The treasure belongs to Mr. Curipot. Article 438 of the Civil Code states:

Hidden treasure belongs to the owner of the land, building, or other

property on which it is found. Nevertheless, when the discovery is
made on the property of another, or of the State or any of its
subdivisions, and by chance, one-half thereof shall be allowed to the
finder. If the finder is a trespasser, he shall not be entitled to any share
of the treasure.
 Since Lasuerte trespassed on Curipot’s property, he no longer becomes
entitled to the treasure as he is not the rightful owner of the property, nor
did he gain permission from the owner to pass through the property.

3. On June 24, 1976, President Marcos issued Presidential Decree N0. 940.
This decree reorganized the City of Manila, Quezon City, Pasay, Caloocan,
several municipalities from Rizal, and one from Bulacan at the time to form
Metro Manila designating Manila as the official Capital of the Philippines as
stated in its title: AN ACT ESTABLISHING MANILA AS THE CAPITAL OF THE
PHILIPPINES AND AS THE PERMANENT SEAT OF THE NATIONAL
GOVERNMENT.

4. The Labor Code determines the basis for Holiday Pay and Overtime Pay
as well as Night Shift Differentials. To advise Peter Pandesal, the necessary
information needed would be to assess whether the Kiok Loy Hopia Factory
has more than five (5) regular employees to qualify for Night Shift
Differentials and more than ten (10) regular employees to qualify for Holiday
Pay. The reason for this is that the Omnibus Rules for implementing the Labor
Code states the coverage for paying additional wages in such circumstances.
Articles 86 and 87 of the Labor Code also reiterate the conditions:

Article 86. Night shift differential. - Every employee shall be paid a night
shift differential of not less than ten percent (10%) of his regular wage for
each hour of work performed between ten o’clock in the evening and six
o’clock in the morning.

Article 87. Overtime work. - Work may be performed beyond eight (8)
hours a day provided that the employee is paid for the overtime work, an
additional compensation equivalent to his regular wage plus at least twenty-
five percent (25%) thereof. Work performed beyond eight hours on a holiday
or rest day shall be paid an additional compensation equivalent to the rate of
the first eight hours on a holiday or rest day plus at least thirty percent (30%)
thereof.

Assuming Mr. Pandesal was assured by the owner to extra pay after
working on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday from 8am to 12am then he
would get Two Hundred Percent (200%) of his daily wage from each day plus
thirty percent (30%) of his daily wage for Holiday pay as mentioned in Book III
Rule IV Section 4 of the Omnibus:
 SECTION 4. Compensation for holiday work. — Any employee who is
permitted or suffered to work on any regular holiday, not exceeding eight (8)
hours, shall be paid at least two hundred percent (200%) of his regular daily
wage. If the holiday work falls on the scheduled rest day of the employee, he
shall be entitled to an additional premium pay of at least 30% of his regular
holiday rate of 200% based on his regular wage rate.

Additionally Book III Rule II Section 3 of the Omnibus states:

SECTION 3. Additional compensation. — Where an employee is

permitted or suffered to work on the period covered after his work schedule,
he shall be entitled to his regular wage plus at least twenty-five per cent
(25%) and an additional amount of no less than ten per cent (10%) of such
overtime rate for each hour or work performed between 10 p.m. to 6 a.m.

Thus he would receive an additional ten percent (10%) for his 2 hours
covering 10pm to 12 midnight.

5. Yes. Mr. Ausente may send someone so long as that person has authority
designated in writing as his proxy as stated in Section 58 of the Corporation
Code of the Philippines which states:

Section 58. Proxies. - Stockholders and members may vote in person or by

proxy in all meetings of stockholders or members. Proxies shall in writing,
signed by the stockholder or member and filed before the scheduled meeting
with the corporate secretary. Unless otherwise provided in the proxy, it shall
be valid only for the meeting for which it is intended. No proxy shall be valid
and effective for a period longer than five (5) years at any one time.

6. Section 54 of the Corporate Code of the Philippines states:

Who shall preside at meetings. - The president shall preside at all meetings of
the directors or trustee as well as of the stockholders or members, unless the
by-laws provide otherwise.

If Keh-So Cheese Corporation allows in its by-laws the right for the Vice
President to preside over meetings then Mr. Quezon cannot be questioned
for presiding on behalf of the President.

7. Yes, the condition is valid. The Civil Code in Article 1182 concerning
differing kinds of obligations speaks of conditional obligations dependent on
a third party. It states:
 Article 1182. When the fulfillment of the condition depends upon the sole
will of the debtor, the conditional obligation shall be void. If it depends upon
chance or upon the will of a third person, the obligation shall take effect in
conformity with the provisions of this Code.

Since Mangutang cannot repay the loan until Pabahay Savings and Loan
Associations Inc. gives him his housing loan, Dinero must wait for Mangutang
to receive his loan.

8. Cueva violated Republic Act 9072 which is titled the "National Caves and Cave
Resources Management and Protection Act." More specifically, Cueva
violated section 7 of the said Act which lists prohibited actions:

SECTION 7. Prohibited Acts. - The following shall be considered prohibited

acts:

a) Knowingly destroying, disturbing, defacing, marring, altering,

removing, or harming the speleogem or speleothem of any cave or altering
the free movement of any animal or plant life into or out of any cave;

b) Gathering, collecting, possessing, consuming, selling, bartering or

exchanging or offering for sale without authority any, cave resources; and

c) Counseling, procuring, soliciting or employing any other person to

violate any provision of this Section.

9. Although Facundo slept with another woman, it was not under “Scandalous”
circumstances as a 5-star hotel was meant to provide reasonable level of
privacy. Also his wife must prove that her husband’s acts met the
requirements to prove Concubinage as defined in the Revised Penal Code.
Thus her counsel must prove that scandalous circumstances existed.

Article 334. Concubinage. — Any husband who shall keep a mistress in the
conjugal dwelling, or shall have sexual intercourse, under scandalous
circumstances, with a woman who is not his wife, or shall cohabit with her in
any other place, shall be punished by prision correccional in its minimum and
medium periods.

10. According to the 1987 Constitution the essential elements of a valid petition
are all listed in Article XVII:
 Section 2. Amendments to this Constitution may likewise be directly proposed
by the people through initiative upon a petition of at least twelve per centum
of the total number of registered voters, of which every legislative district
must be represented by at least three per centum of the registered voters
therein. No amendment under this section shall be authorized within five
years following the ratification of this Constitution nor oftener than once
every five years thereafter.

11. According to the Integrated Bar of the Philippines’ Code of Professional

Responsibility under Canon 20:

CANON 20 - A LAWYER SHALL CHARGE ONLY FAIR AND REASONABLE FEES.

Atty. Cortez cannot simply ask for half of the reward of P20 million as it
would be unethical, as he should factor several circumstances pertaining to
the given case to determine a suitable fee. The compensation for service is
explained under Rule 20 of said Canon:

Rule 20.01 - A lawyer shall be guided by the following factors in

determining his fees:
a) The time spent and the extent of the services rendered or required;
b) The novelty and difficulty of the questions involved;
c) The importance of the subject matter;
d) The skill demanded;
e) The probability of losing other employment as a result of
acceptance of the proffered case;
f) The customary charges for similar services and the schedule of fees
of the IBP chapter to which he belongs;
g) The amount involved in the controversy and the benefits resulting
to the client form the service;
h) The contingency or certainty of compensation;
i) The character of the employment, whether occasional or
established;
j) The professional standing of the lawyer.

12. Income from Jueting is taxable. Being taxable for gross income
includes "all income derived from whatever source," as stated in Section 32
paragraph (a) of the National Internal Revenue Code which interpreted all
manner of income not expressly excluded or exempted from the class of
taxable income. Thus, the income may originate from a legal or an illegal
 source such as jueteng. Unlawful gains such as jueteng proceeds are subject
to income tax.

A) General Definition. - Except when otherwise provided in this Title,

gross income means all income derived from whatever source,
including (but not limited to) the following items:
(1) Compensation for services in whatever form paid, including, but
not limited to fees, salaries, wages, commissions, and similar items;
(2) Gross income derived from the conduct of trade or business or the
exercise of a profession;
(3) Gains derived from dealings in property;
(4) Interests;
(5) Rents;
(6) Royalties;
(7) Dividends;
(8) Annuities;
(9) Prizes and winnings;
(10) Pensions; and
(11) Partner's distributive share from the net income of the general
professional partnership.

13. This was Executive Order 494 which was the release of unprogrammed
internal revenue allotment (IRA) in CYs 2000 and 2001 amounting to P17.5
Billion. This was issued on January 18, 2006. President Arroyo released the
IRA balance of P17.5 billion in order to manage the budget deficit and
maintain macroeconomic stability by reallocating the said balance to local
government units rather than recycling the balance back into the budget for
the fiscal years of 2007 up to 2013.

14. Yes. The Municipality of Naga became a city through the enactment of
Republic Act 9491. It was granted a charter becoming a component city in the
province of Cebu citing section 2 of the said Act:

Section 2. The City of Naga. - The Municipality of Naga shall be

converted into a component city to be known as the City of Naga,
hereinafter referred to as the City, which shall comprise the present
territory of the Municipality of Naga, Province of Cebu. The territorial
jurisdiction of the City shall be within the present metes and bounds of
the Municipality of Naga.
 The foregoing provision shall be without prejudice to the resolution by
the appropriate agency or forum of existing boundary disputes or
cases involving questions of territorial jurisdiction between the City of
Naga and the adjoining local government units: Provided, That the
territorial jurisdiction of the disputed area or areas shall remain with
the local government unit which has existing administrative
supervision over said area or areas until the final resolution of the
case.

As for the requirements, the Municipality of Naga met the minimum

requirement of having a population of 150,000 people as stated in the Local
Government Code Section 450 paragraph (a) subsection (II) which states:

Section 450. Requisites for Creation.

(a) A municipality or a cluster of barangays may be converted

into a component city if it has an average annual income, as certified
by the Department of Finance, of at least Twenty million
(P20,000,000.00) for the last two (2) consecutive years based on 1991
constant prices, and if it has either of the following requisites:

(i) a contiguous territory of at least one hundred (100) square

kilometers, as certified by the Lands Management Bureau; or

(ii) a population of not less than one hundred fifty thousand

(150,000) inhabitants, as certified by the National Statistics Office:

Provided, That, the creation thereof shall not reduce the land
area, population, and income of the original unit or units at the time
of said creation to less than the minimum requirements prescribed
herein.

15. No. He did not meet the minimum age requirement mandated by
Article VI Section 6 of the 1987 Constitution which states that “no person
shall be a Member of the House of Representatives unless he is at least
twenty five years of age on the day of the election”. Herbert being 24 at the
time of election does not make him eligible to run for a seat in Congress.

16. Republic Act No. 8988 which is titled:

 AN ACT VALIDATING AND RECOGNIZING THE CREATION OF THE CITY OF
VIGAN BY THE ROYAL DECREE OF SEPTEMBER 7, 1757 ISSUED BY FERNANDO
VI, KING OF SPAIN

This meant that Vigan has been a city since 1757 by the order of a Royal
Decree by the King of Spain but was originally called Ciudad Fernandina
during the colonial era. RA 8988 simply recognized and revalidated the status
of Vigan city as part of the province of Ilocos Sur.

17. Mr. Durmiendo’s termination is not valid, if it was valid it should be based on
Article 282 of the Labor Code under Termination of Employment which says:

Article. 282. Termination by employer. - An employer may terminate

an employment for any of the following causes:
(a) Serious misconduct or willful disobedience by the employee of the
lawful orders of his employer or representative in connection with his
work;
(b) Gross and habitual neglect by the employee of his duties;
(c) Fraud or willful breach by the employee of the trust reposed in him
by his employer or duly authorized representative;
(d) Commission of a crime or offense by the employee against the
person of his employer or any immediate member of his family or his
duly authorized representatives; and
(e) Other causes analogous to the foregoing.

Given the facts of the case, he did not commit any serious misconduct, or
“willful disobedience”. His falling asleep was only one incident with no
evidence of it being habitual. His fatigue is reasonably expected considering
working long shifts for over 15 years. His remedy would be article 279 of the
same Code which states:

Article. 279. Security of tenure. - In cases of regular employment, the

employer shall not terminate the services of an employee except for a just
cause or when authorized by this Title. An employee who is unjustly
dismissed from work shall be entitled to reinstatement without loss of
seniority rights and other privileges and to his full backwages, inclusive of
allowances, and to his other benefits or their monetary equivalent
computed from the time his compensation was withheld from him up to the
time of his actual reinstatement. (As amended by Section 34, Republic Act
No. 6715, March 21, 1989).
18. The appropriate Administrative remedy would be a hold department order
under circular no. 39-97 which would prevent the accused from escaping the
country in order to flee to Ukraine after his transit flight. Accordingly the
Circular states the procedure:

1. Hold-Departure Orders shall be issued only in criminal cases within the

exclusive jurisdiction of the Regional Trial Courts;

2. The Regional Trial Courts issuing the Hold-Departure Order shall furnish
the Department of Foreign Affairs [DFA] and the Bureau of Immigration
[BI] of the Department of Justice with a copy each of the Hold-Departure
Order issued within twenty-four (24) hours from the time of issuance and
through the fastest available means of transmittal;

3. The Hold-Departure Order shall contain the following information:

a. The complete name (including the middle name), the date and place of
birth and the place of last residence of the person against whom a Hold-
Departure Order has been issued or whose departure from the country has
been enjoined;
b. The complete title and the docket number of the case in which the Hold-
Departure Order was issued;
c. The specific nature of the case; and d. The date of the Hold-Departure
Order.

If available, a recent photograph of the person against whom a Hold-

Departure Order has been issued or whose departure from the country has
been enjoined should also be included.

3. Whenever [a] the accused has been acquitted; or [b] the case has been
dismissed, the judgment of acquittal or the order of dismissal shall include
therein the cancellation of the Hold-Departure Order issued. The Court
concerned shall furnish the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Bureau
of Immigration with a copy each of the judgment of acquittal
promulgated or the order of dismissal issued within twenty-four [24]
hours from the time of promulgation/issuance and likewise through the
fastest available means of transmittal.

All Regional Trial Courts which have furnished the Department of Foreign
Affairs with their respective lists of active Hold-Departure Orders included
in the said lists and inform the government agencies concerned of the
status of the Orders involved.
19. September 9 is considered a special non-working holiday in Cebu to
honour the late President Osmena as he was from the Province of Cebu. The
holiday was enacted through Republic Act 6953 which is titled:

AN ACT DECLARING SEPTEMBER NINE OF EVERY YEAR A SPECIAL NON-

WORKING PUBLIC HOLIDAY IN THE CITY OF CEBU AND THE PROVINCE OF
CEBU WITH ITS COMPONENT CITIES AND A SPECIAL WORKING PUBLIC
HOLIDAY IN THE REST OF THE COUNTRY, IN HONOR OF THE LATE PRESIDENT
SERGIO OSMEÑA, SR., AMENDING THEREBY BATAS PAMBANSA BILANG 937

20. Based on the remaining PHP 100,000.00 estate. The 4 children will
have PHP 50,000 split equally among them initially and the surviving spouse
the other PHP 50,000 as stated in Article 888 of the Family Code:

Article. 888. The legitime of legitimate children and descendants consists of

one-half of the hereditary estate of the father and of the mother.

However, since it is an Intestate Succession there is an article pertaining to

the surviving spouse in Article 996:

Art. 996. If a widow or widower and legitimate children or

descendants are left, the surviving spouse has in the succession the
same share as that of each of the children.

Thus the wife gets an equal share of her children’s share. Thus the widow
receives PHP 60,000 and the remaining children receive PHP 10,000 each.