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extracted text: OUR SECRETARY OF )USTlCE PEDRO TUASON Notorious in the pre-constitution days was the politics inspired "rigodon de jueccs" or shuffling .:if judg'('S. The public denounced it, the press ridiculed it, and the Supreme Court condemned it time and a.gain. Nobody like it except the politicians and the politicians liKed it because it served their sinister purpose well. Fer tbei1 part, many district judges accepteci it as a necessary evil. For one t.hing it enabled them to fatten on per diems; for another, it offered them a chance to prove their loyalty and servility to the powers-that-be and hasten their promotion. So vocal had public criticism become that when the Constituent Assembly begnn to draft the Constitution in 1934, the delegate<> d£cided to do away with the "rigodon." It was, they argued, a flagrant violatior. of the democratic doctrine of separation of powers. The Secretary of Justice, an extension of the Chief Executive, has no business encroaching on the judici? .. ry. An attempt was made to let the President himself do the shuffling, but it was frustrated. Thus the Constitution now 1irovides: "No judge appajnted for a particular district shall be designated or transferred to anothe1· district without the approval of the Supreme Court." Strangely enough, when some jurists who have frowned upon the "rigodon" find themselves occupying the post of secretary o{ justice, they change their attitude. They begin to wonder whether it is not better, after all, that they should be permitted to wieid the power they u'sed to depri;!Cate, not for the sake of politfrs. but, so they say, in the interest of the public and for the benefit of justice itself. Because he had been reported as saying that "with or without. the consent of the Supreme Court, the power of the Secretary of lh1stice to assign a judge from one district to another should be enlarged and made more adequate; otherwise the Depai·tment of Ju~tice would be crippled," it would seem that the former Supreme Court Justice Pedro Tuason, concurrently Secretary of Ji;istice, is no exception. Actually, however, this is not so. Whe11 queried further on this point., the present Secretary of Justice said: "I have not changed my attitude lowards the so-called 'rigodon de jueces' and I should wish this made clear. I said that I would be inclined to favor modified or slightly modified 'rigodon', with or without the consent of the Supreme Court, only if the positions of judges-at-large and cadastral judges are abolished, and all judges are made district judges - a change which is being advocated in Congress and to which I concur." Sl~C. OF JUSTICE PEDRO TUASON disgrace to the judiciary." He believes, however, that it will be well-nigh impossible to weed out undesirable judges for the simple ' n~ason that it is not so easy as the public thinks to prove charges. One thing is to allege; another, to prove the allegation by competent evidence. It is not enough, as many laymen think, to say that a person is bad; one must prove it to the satisfaction of the court. The trouble today, Justico Tuason 110tices with regret, is that people who allege t.hat a certain judge or official is venal or rotten to the core do not even bother to testify on oath that he is really that bad. And yet, -they are so quick to suspect or impu_te evil motives. To make matters worse, the laws, Justice Tuason finds, confer many privileges on judges, privileges which constitute, according to him, "one of the prices we have to pay for our con- · stitutional form Clf government and for the advantages with which the independence of the judiciary was conceived." The remedy, 11~ thinks, is in the final analysis "to get good me11!' But how long will a good man last when ho is tempted or when he stands under a terrific political pressure? A province-mate of the late eminent jurist, Cayetano Arellano, onetime Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Pedro Tuason was In other words, Secretary Tuason bclie,•es that when a judi- born in Ba!anga, Bataan, on September 15, 1884. He first studied c1aJ district has its dockets clogged the Secretary of Justice shoul<l in e public schoo!; but whe11 the American Army opened a. school be able to assign another district judge to assist in clearing them in his town, he immediately enrolled. He wanted to master the in the interest of justice itself. But, it may be asked: Can't the llf-W languag<:! a.nd learn the tenets of democracy and freedom. judge-at-large or a cadastral judge do the work? Such apt itude he displayed that i1t no time }1e was appointed teachThere 'vould be no such judge if the current move in Con- er. His salai·y was eight pesos a month, barely enough for his gress for the abolitiOJl of the present classification of judges is immediate need:;. For five years he taught, then took an examadopted. Under this Congr'essional plan, to which .Justice Tuason• ina.tion for government scholarship. He passed it and was sen~ has expressed his conformity, the position of judge-at-lal·ge and to the United States. cadastral judge would be abolished, every judge being classified as a district judge, earning the same proposed salary of e.t least Pl2,000.00 a year. Under such a setup, surely the powers of the Secretary of Justice should be enlarged so that he can assign a judge from one district to another m cases of emergency. The Secretary of Justice, Justice Tua.son insists, must naturally be "one who will not prostitute justice for the benefit of a man or a group of men." So upright and so honorable must he be that whenever he feels that he is being used as a to.al for this or that party in power, he should immediately resign. But would a man less rigid and resolute than Justice Tuason be able to emulate so noble an example? Would he be able to resist the temptation of compromising, confronted as he would be with the exigencies of politics? Secretary Tuason admits th&t the preo;ent Department of Justice needs revamping and tha.t the provinces should be regrouped into judici_al districts. The judiciary, too, sllould be reorganized because, in 11is opinion, "at present there are judges who are a To New Jersey he went and attended the State Normal School at Trenton. From there he proceeded to the Georgetown Univer..:sity Law School. By 1908. he had his LL. B. He rushed to Yale for a \Jost-graduate course. A year later, he retu1·ned to the Philippines. To his disappointment, he was given an assignment in the Bureau of Education: a classroom teacher. Probably to console him, the bureau promoted him to supervising teacher in his: own home-town. There he fell in love with a charming townmatc, Crmcepcio11 de Leon, for whom he gladly gave up his freedom. Ce1·tain that he was a 0 better lawyer than teacher, he transf<:rred to tl1e then Executive Bureau where he knew he could appl} his knowledge of law. Not fully safo;fied, he moved to the Bureau · of Justice where in time he becarii.e private secretary fu the Attorney General. There he remembered that a rolling stone gathers no moss. So in 1912, he took the bar examination. · For his pains, he was na.med provincial fiscat' of Misamis, Surigao, (Co1btinued on page 107) February 28, 1954 THE LAWYERS JOURNAL ., 1·egulatlons. 1'he occupant of a mttrkct. stall who sells his rights to another is not bound in warranty to his vendee in case of an evi..:tion or disturbancE. of the latter by the municipalit.y itself, but would be lia.blc only for his own 8.cts which interfere with the enjoyment of what he sells."1~5 A charter provision requiring that when any market belonging to a municipality is to be let to :'.l. private party the same shall, unless otherwise directed by a stale official therein referred to, be Jet to the· highest and best bidder l'efers to the leasing of a ma.rket in its entirety, and docs not apply to distributioil and award cf spaces therein."126 , Illustration. This case is here on appeal by the plaintiffs Julia Lorenzo and her Jiusband Ma1·iar10 Estrell<>. from a decision of the Court of First Instanc(· of Cavite, di!>=missing their corr.plaint against the Municipal Council of Naic, Cavite and Pilar Dinio. l<~or purposes of the present decision, the folowing facts gathered from the record may be briefly stated. Prior to February 15, 1948, it seems that the municipal market of Naic, Ca\'itc was conducted and maintained without much attention as to the order and classification of the business done in it by the vendors and stallholders, and that furthermore, there was lack of light and ventilation in saiJ market. To remedy this situation the municipal counci of that town passed Resolution No. 20 lon Ft:biuary 15, 1948, rearranging, zoning and oth.::nyise putting in proper order t he mercantile transactions and the market sp:icc i'.ccording: io a schC'me or pla.n. This is partly stated and described in paragrapJ1 I of said Resolution No. 20 which reads as follows: "7 That for purposes of unity, better zoning system and for ' aesthetic reasons, all market stores and stalls a1·c hereunder clas~ fied as regards the kind of goods they arc to sell or dispose to the public, and that, no store or stall should be allowed to sell products or goods other than specifica.lly provided." All he stores and stalls previously maintained in front of the market building up to the fence were ordered removed and the i.pace declared "off limits," the owners of said stores and stalls to be given spaces within the market proper. The scheme was graphically embodied in a pla.n pr~parcd by the District Engineer and amended by the municipal council, and is now marked as Exhibit D. Prior to the rCa1Tangement and re-pl:mning of the Naic market, Julia Lorenzo, the appelant herein, wa.s occupying a stall or market space, which is the very same space appearing as lot No. 4 (with a circle in red pencil>, east block, center column A, in plan Exhibit D, and now occupied by her. R. Manalaysay who previously occupied ~ space or stall in the portion declared "off limits," and because of the strategic position of said stall, was awardPd a ccrn..:r lot. Lot No. 2 (with a circle in red pencil), 126 Lorenzo et al. v. Mun. Council of Naic. C11vitc. 47 Off. OUR SECRETARY ... (CrJ'lli111wd from 71tt9tJ 57) and Agusan. In a year, he was transferred to llocos Sur. Promotion came i.n HHS. That was when he was designated assistant attorney in the Bureau of Justice. His merit was bein(:" recognized. ln th1·ec years, he was acting Attorney General. It '~as while' holding that position that he was nominated Undersecretary of Justice. Instead of getting his new promotion, h<' was kicked out - the Senate did HOt act on his appointment. His Hext job was that of general attorney for the Manila Railroad. The salary was much higher, but it lacked glamour alld prestige. Before long, he was designated judge of First Instance. For 12 years he was successively judge of Albay, Ambos Camarines;.. Tayabas, Riwl, and finally Manila, Rranch I. In 1936, he was named Solicitor General. Two Years later, he was elevated to the Court of Appeals where he sa.t quietly threughout the enemy occupation. President Sergio Osmeila returned with the forces of liberation, swept the entire Court of Appeals out, then abolished it. Collaboration became a burning issue, a battle-cry. The appellate justices accepted their fate with becoming dignity. They rallied under the banner of Senate President Ma.nucl Roxas who, they knew, would show them sympathy and understanding. He did. Elected President, he promptly named Justice Tuason chairman of a committee to investigate the Philippine Relief and Rehabilitacaat blor.k, center colmnn A, In the samt> E.<hibit D. Pilar Dinlo who was formerly occupying a space outside of the market. was given lot No. 1 (with ~ circle in red pt'nciD, east block, center column B, in the same exhibit For reasons not known and not material to this case, and thr<Jugh a private agreement Manalaysay excllangcd his lot No. 2 for lot No. 1 of Pilar Dinio. The award of lot No. 2 to R. Manalaysay, and his exchange of said lot for lot No." I of Pilar was protested by Julia, but the municipal council in its Resolut.ion No. 28 overruled the protest. As a result, Pilar Dinio is now occupying -lot No. 2 while R. Manalaysay occupies Jot No. 1. It should be stated in this connection so as to fully understand the reason why Julia brought this action, that before the :ioning and rearrangement of the Naic market as per Resolution No. 20, the space occupied by Julia which is 11ow lot No. 4 in Exhibit. D was a corner lot or stall, lot No. 2 then being used a:; an alley. As a result of the rearrangement, Julia's lot No. 4 is no longer a r.omer lot, and according to her testimony, her dail~· sales had diminished by one-half, thereby materially reducing her gross iucome and her profits. Naturally, Julia is interested in lot No. 2 and she wants to have it or at le<ist i-1 ave a chance to get it. Julia contends that tl1e action e>f the Mm1icipal Council of Naic in awarding lot No. 2 to R. Manalaysay was illegal and unconstitutional because it was not done thru public bidding as should have been done, and that furthermore, Resolution No. 28 of the same council a.1)proving the barter or exchange of lots 1 and 2 between Manaluysay and Pilar wa:. equally illegal. , The trial cou1t invoking section 2242 (q) of the Revised Administrative Cude which imposes upon a municipal council the duty to establish 01· authorize the establishment of markets a.nd inspect and regulate the use of the same, held that the municipal councll of Naic was authorized to make thC'. award of lot No. 2 to R. Manalayst>.y, which award the plaintiff could not very well question in the in·cscnt case inasmuch as she did not include Manalaysay as party-defendant; and that furthermore, the allege illegal e.xchange of lots 1 adl(I 2 was cleady a private arrangement er agreement which concerns only the parties thereto. So, the I.rial court dismissed the complaint. In her appeal Julia maintains that the trial court erred in • not holding Resolution No. 20 illeg-al in so far as it approved the awarding of lot No. 2 to R. Manalaysay without any public bidciing and without giving any chance to her to lease said lot, and that the lower occupying lot No. 2 for the reason that the exchange made between her and Manalaysay was illegal. HELD: "The :ippellant does not question the right of the municipal council to dispose of. a market space under the provisions of section 2242 (q) of the Revised Administrati've Code. She insists, however, that under section 2319 of the same Code, a space in a municipal market should be let or awarded to the highest bidder. lion Administration, some of whose officials seemed to have adopted the theory that to relieve and rehabiHtate the country they must first relieve and rehabilitate themselves. Also due for investigation was the Emergency Control Administration, a number of whose officials were charged with having taken advantage of the emergency to place themselves, their relatives, and close friends, beyond control. Before he. could finish . investigating the two a.dministrations, he was elevated to t.\1e Supreme Court from which another President has recently taken him to head the- Department of Justice. Asked which u! the two positions he would prefer, he answered that the work of an associate justice was more suitable to his tcmpernment, but that the secretaryship of justice was more interesting. In fact, he added, it is more important because it invests the occupant with tremendous powers for good or, or if hi' be so inclined, for evil. Speaking of evil, Secretary Tuason thinks that the present l:igh rate of criminality in the Philippines is due largely to the general disintegration of morals. Heligious instrut'tion, he feels, might help - remedy the situa.tion. It is fot .. this reason that he is in favor of strict adherence to the constitutional provisions on religious teaching in the public schools. Unwiiling to rush in "where angels fear to tread", he nevertheless believes that "any religion is better than no religion at all and that a man who be. lievcs in God becomes a better citizen." February 28, 1954 THE LA WYERS JOU RN AL 107
Date: 1954
Rights