Fundamental

Principles &
State Policies
Politics & Governance

 Inherent powers of the

State:

1. Police Power
2. Power of Eminent
Domain
3. Taxation

Similarities

A. Inherent in the State, exercised even

without need of constitutional grant.
B. Necessary and indispensable; State
cannot be effective without them.
C. Methods by which the State interferes
with private property.
D. Presupposes equivalent compensation.
E. Exercised primarily by the Legislature.

DISTINCTIONS

A. Police power regulates both liberty and

property; eminent domain and taxation affect
only property rights.
B. Police power and taxation are exercised only
by government, eminent domain can be
exercised by private entities.
C. Property taken in police power is usually
noxious or intended for noxious purpose and may
thus be destroyed; while in eminent domain and
taxation, the property is wholesome and devoted
to public use or purpose.

FUNDAMENTAL
POWERS OF THE
STATE

POLICE POWER

The power of promoting public

welfare by restraining and
regulating the use and
enjoyment of liberty and
property.
It is the most pervasive, the
least limitable and the most
demanding of the 3 powers.

 The justification is found in

the Latin maxims:

1. SALUS POPULI EST

SUPREMA LEX
2. SIC UTERE TUO UT
ALEINUM NON LAEDAS

 St. Lukes Medical Center Employees

Association vs. NLRC, GR 162053,
March 7, 2007)

While the rights of workers to security of tenure is

guaranteed by the Constitution, its exercise may

be reasonably regulated pursuant to the

police power of the State to regulate health,
morals, peace, education, order, safety and
the general welfare of the people.
In this case, Santos employed as an X-Ray
technician by St. Lukes Medical Center in 1984, had
to be separated from employment when R. A. 7431,
which required that no person shall practice or offer
to practice as a radiology or x-ray technician without
having obtained the proper certificate of
registration from the Board of Radiologic
Technology.

 PRC vs. De Guzman (G.R. 144681, June 21,

2004)
National Medicine Admission Test
It is true that the Court has upheld the constitutional
right of every citizen to select a profession or course of
study subject to fair, reasonable and equitable
admission & academic requirements. But like all rights
and freedom guaranteed by the Constitution, their
exercise may be regulated pursuant to the police power
of the State to safeguard health, morals, health etc

This regulation assumes particular

pertinence in the field of medicine, to
protect the public from the potentially
deadly effects of incompetence and
ignorance.

 MMDA vs. Garin (GR 130230,

April 15, 2005)
A license to operate a motor
vehicle is not a property right,
but a privilege granted by the
State , which may be suspended
or revoked by the State in the
exercise of police power, in the
interest of public safety and
welfare.

 Carlos Superdrug Corp. vs. DSWD,

(GR 166494, June 29, 2007)
R. A. 9257, EXPANDED SENIOR CITIZENS ACT OF
2003is a legitimate exercise of police power.
Administrative Order No. 177 issued by the Department
of Health, providing for the 20% discount privilege of
senior citizens shall not be limited to the purchase of
unbranded generic medicines but shall extend to both
prescription and non-prescription medicine, whether
branded or generic is valid.

When conditions so demand, as

determined by the legislature, property
rights must bow down to the primacy of
police power because property rights,
though sheltered by the due process

POWER OF EMINENT
DOMAIN

Power of expropriation
Power to take / appropriate
private property for public
use upon payment of just
compensation

Requisites for
exercise:
1. Necessity

-Government may not capriciously or arbitrarily choose

which private property should expropriated.
-it should be genuine necessity and that necessity must
be of public character.
2. Private Property
-All private property capable of ownership may be
expropriated, except money.
3. Public Use
- Meeting a public need or public exigency.
4. Just Compensation
-the full and fair equivalent of the property taken; it is

POWER OF TAXATION

The power to exact

contributions from citizens
to defray the necessary
expenses of the
government

Limitations:

1. Due process of law

-tax should not be
confiscatory
2. Equal Protection clause
-Taxes should be uniform
and equitable