CABILLO, CARIE JOY R.

Juris Doctor I
Legal Logic

Question: Is the Enhanced Community Quarantine by the Executive legal?

 I.
Yes, Proclamation No. 922 Declaring a State of Public Health Emergency throughout the Philippines
and Proclamation No. 929 Declaring a State of Calamity throughout the Philippines Due to Corona Virus
Disease 2019 declares the current status of the state. In connection, memorandum from the Executive Secretary
imposes Enhanced Community Quarantine in pursuant with Proclamation Nos. 922 and 929 expressly provides
the guidelines for the said Quarantine therein and of the stringent social distancing.
Further, the following provisions of the law provide the constitutionality of the Enhanced Community
Quarantine:

(1) The mandate of the 1987 Constitution regarding the status therein, provides:
Sec 15 of Article II that The State shall protect and promote the right to health of the people and instill
health consciousness among them; and Sec 23 (2) of Article VI that (2) In times of war or other national
emergency, the Congress may, by law, authorize the President, for a limited period and subject to such
restrictions as it may prescribe, to exercise powers necessary and proper to carry out a declared national
policy.

(2) Executive Order No. 292:

BOOK III/Title I/Chapter 2-Ordinance Power provides:
SECTION 4. Proclamations.—Acts of the President fixing a date or declaring a status or condition of
public moment or interest, upon the existence of which the operation of a specific law or regulation is
made to depend, shall be promulgated in proclamations which shall have the force of an executive order.
SECTION 5. Memorandum Orders.—Acts of the President on matters of administrative detail or of
subordinate or temporary interest which only concern a particular officer or office of the Government
shall be embodied in memorandum orders.
BOOK IV/Title XII Local Government/Chapter 1-General Provisions provides:
SECTION 2. Mandate.—The Department shall assist the President in the exercise of general supervision
over local governments and in ensuring autonomy, decentralization and community empowerment.
Let it be noted that pursuant to R.A 10121, the DRRMC declared a State of Calamity throughout the
Philippines in which, in such case, the Constitution mandates the protection of the people and the right to
health. As such, pursuant to Sec 23 (2) of Article VI of the 1987 Constitution provides that in time of National
Emergency, the President, for a limited period and subject to such restrictions as it may prescribe, to exercise
powers necessary and proper to carry out a declared national policy.
Moreover, R.A. 11332 also provides, Section 7. Declaration of Epidemic or Public Health Emergency.
The Secretary of Health shall have the authority to declare epidemics of national and/or international concerns
except when the same threatens national security. In which case, the President of the Republic of the Philippines
shall declare a State of Public Health Emergency and mobilize governmental and nongovernmental agencies to
respond to the threat.
Thus, the creation of the Memorandum regarding Community Quarantine in pursuant with Proclamation
No. 922 and Proclamation No. 929 and to direct the Heads of Departments, Agencies, Offices and
Instrumentalities of the Government, GOCCs, GFIs, SUCs and LGUs are within the bounds of the law.
Wherefore, premises given, the Enhanced Community Quarantine is supported by the following but not
limited to: 1987 Constitution; Executive Order No. 292 Administrative Code of 1987; R.A 10121; and R.A.
11332. Therefore, the said act is legal. Hence, Constitutional.
II.
No. Memorandum from the Executive Secretary imposes Enhanced Community Quarantine in pursuant
with Proclamation Nos. 922 and 929 expressly provides the stringent social distancing and the guidelines for the
said Quarantine therein which are the following but not limited to, viz:

a) Suspension of Classes and all School activities;

b) Mass gatherings are prohibited;
c) Strict home quarantine in which movement is limited in accessing basic necessities and heightened
presence of uniformed personnel to enforce quarantine procedures;
d) Work from home;
e) Adoption of strict skeleton workforce to support operations;
f) Mass public transportation is suspended; and
g) Travel is restricted.

As such, stipulations in the guidelines would impair the constitutional mandate which include but not limited to:
a. Section 1, Art. XIV;
b. Section 5, Art. III – Free exercise clause;
c. Section 6, Art. III – Right to travel; and
d. Right to property.

Let it be noted that the Constitution is the basic and paramount law to which all other laws must conform
and to which all persons, including the highest officials of the land, must defer. In Manila Prince Hotel v. GSIS,
G.R. No. 122156, February 3, 1997, under the doctrine of constitutional supremacy, if a law or contract violates
any norm of the constitution that law or contract whether promulgated by the legislative or by the executive
branch or entered into by private persons for private purposes is null and void and without any force and effect.

Thus, the memorandum is not legal should the executive have imposed other preventive measures that will
not prejudice the mandates of the Constitution therein. Moreover, such act is not the absolute way to address the
State’s situation.

Wherefore, premises given, the Enhanced Community Quarantine is not legal. Hence, Unconstitutional.