PHILIPPINE LEGAL

CITATIONS

LEGAL RESEARCH (TUESDAY, 7:30-9:30)

ATTY. PATRICIA GAIL CAYCO-MAGBANUA
PRIMARY SOURCES
CONSTITUTION

• Cited by reference to the article, section, and the paragraph. The year is placed in parenthesis.
It is important to include the date as the Constitution has been revised a number of times.
• Example:
• Const. (1935), Art. VII, Sec. 1.
• Const. (1987), Art. X, Sec. I.
STATUTES PROPER

• Statutes are defined as the written enactment of the will of the legislative branch of the government rendered authentic by certain prescribed
forms or solemnities. They consist of two types – the Constitution and legislative enactments.
• Laws 1901-1934
• Act. No. 136 (1901)

• Commonwealth Acts 1935-1945

• Comm. Act. No. 35 (1935)

• Republic Acts 1946-1972,1987-present

• Rep. Act. No. 3019 (1960)

• Presidential Decrees Sept. 21, 1972- Feb. 1986

• Pres. Decree Np. 442 (1972)

• Batas Pambansa Jan. 1979- Feb. 1 1986

• Batas Blg. 129 (1980)
TREATIES

• A treaty is an agreement or a contract between two or more nations or sovereigns, entered into
by agents appointed for the purpose and duly sanctioned by supreme powers of the respective
countries.
• Treaties that do not have legislative sanctions are executive agreements which may or may not
have legislative authorization, and which have limited execution by constitutional restrictions.
• In the Philippines, a treaty shall not be valid and effective unless concurred in by at least two-
thirds of all members of the Senate while Executive Agreements do not require said
concurrence.
• Treaties entered into by the Philippines whether it be Bilateral or Multilateral shall be cited in the
name of the treaty and the date when the treaty was signed.
• Examples
• Printed Source
• Philippine Extradition Treat with the United States, November 27, 1981
• 8 PTS 978 – Source
• 8 cited in the source represents the volume of the Philippine Treaty Series and 978 is the page where the treaty was printed.
• Electronic Source
• Philippines Extradition Treaty with the United States, November 27, 1981. Available at
http://www.lawphil.net/international/treaties/extrad.html;http://internationalextraditonblog.com/2011/-06-01/philippines-
extradition-trearty-with-the-united-states
EXECUTIVE/PRESIDENTIAL ISSUANCES

• Presidential issuances are cited by the number of the issuance and followed by the date of issuance.
• The date is important for each time a President is elected into office, the number starts with the first
number. (No.1)
• Executive Orders
• Exec. Order No. 200 (1986)
• Proclamations
• Proc No. 1081 (1972)
• Administrative Orders
• Adm. Order No. 200 (2005)
ADMINISTRATIVE RULES AND REGULATIONS
• These are orders, rules, and regulations issued by the heads of Departments, Bureaus, and other
agencies of the government for the effective enforcement of laws within their jurisdiction.
• In order that such rules and regulations may be valid, they must be within the authorized limits
and jurisdiction of the office issuing them and are in accordance with the law authorizing their
issuance.
• These are cited by the abbreviation of the name of each agency, followed by the name of the
specific rule or regulation. Each year the number of their rules and regulation starts with the
first number. (No. 1)
• Example
• Administrative Order No. 1, promulgated by the Department of Energy on January 5, 2006
will be cited as DOE Adm. Order No. 1 (2006)
• Supreme Court Administrative Order No. 1, adopted in 2005 will be cited as SC Adm. Order
No. 1 (2005)
ORDINANCES

• These are laws passed by the city, municipal or provincial government.

• They are cited by providing the name of the city, municipality, or province, followed by
the ordinance number and date.
• Example
• City Ordinance No. 1 of the city of Manila, approved on June 21, 2004 will be cited as Manila
Ordinance No. 1, June 21, 2004
SUPREME COURT DECISIONS

• Jurisprudence or case law are considered as a primary source of law.

• Decisions of the Supreme Court bind the lower courts and are considered source of the
law, aside from the law od the land.
• It is the judgment of the court, which determines whether or not a law in constitutional.
• There are different ways to search for Supreme Court Decisions.
• Search using a keyword or phrases in online repositories such as LawPhil and ChanRobles.
• Search by topic or subject using the SCRA Quick Index Digest
• Search by SCRA volume and page number.
• Sources or citations for court decisions depends on whether it is from a primary source, secondary source, or electronic
source.
• Court decisions from the Philippine Reports, a primary source, are cited by the family name of the parties, the volume number
of the source, page, and the year of promulgation. If a specific portion of a decision is used, the page number must be included.
• The complete name of the agency, company, or corporations must be included.
• Islamic and Chinese names must be cited in full
• Example
• Mactan-Cebu International Airport Authority vs. Chiongbian, 399 phil. 695 (2000)
• Sy Chin vs. Tang Ching Heng & Co., 399 phil. 224 (2000)
• Ong vs. People, 399 Phil. 685 (2000)
• Ong vs. People, 399 Phil. 686, 688 (200)
• 686 is the page where the case started, 688 is the specific page where the doctrine used is found.
• Court decision from secondary sources such as the Supreme Court Reports Annotated
(SCRA) are cited by the family name of the parties, G.R. No., date of promulgation,
volume number and page. There is no need to indicated the year after the page.
• Example – Ong vs. People, G.R. No. 139006, November 27, 2000, 346 SCRA 117

• Court decisions from electronic source

• Example – Ong vs. People, G.R. No. 139006, November 27, 2000, available at
http://sc.judiciairy,gov,ph.jurisprudence/2000 (last visited August 30, 2010)
ANNOTATED BOOKS AND BIBLIOGRAPHY

• Cite the name of the author, followed by the title of the book, place of publication,
publisher, year published, and page number
• Example
• Agpalo, Ruben. Philippine Constitutional Law. Manila: Rex Bookstore (2006) p. 730.
CITATIONS REPEATEDLY USED

• “Ibid” – Used for successive citation of the same volume and the same page or exactly
the same document.
• “Id” – More popularly used for successive citations. It it used in citing the same citation
but has a different page.
• “Supra” – This is used to identify a citation that has been previously cited whether it be
on the same page or the preceding page.
• ”Supra note” – This is used when the citation previously cited is too far.
 END.

STAY SAFE ALWAYS! 