L[aw]rd's Lair

Presidential Communication Privilege = applies to decision-making of the Pres. = applies to all documents in their entirety and covers final and post-decisional matters, as well as pre-deliberate ones. Deliberate Process Privilege = applies to decision-making of the Exec. officials. = includes advisory opinions, recommendations, and deliberations comprising part of a process by which gov. Decisions and policies are formatted. Doctrine of Operative Facts -           means that before a law was declared unconstitutional, its actual existence must be taken into account and whatever was done while the law was in operation should be recognized as valid. De facto municipal Corporation -           is one so defectively created as not to be a de jure corporation but is nevertheless the result of a bona fide attempt to incorporate under existing statutory authority, coupled with the...

Mercado vs. Manzano and COMELEC G.R. No. 135083 FACTS:  Petitioner Ernesto Mercado and Private respondent Eduardo Manzano are candidates for the position of Vice-Mayor of Makati City in the May, 1998 elections. Private respondent was the winner of the said election but the proclamation was suspended due to the petition of Ernesto Mercado regarding the citizenship of private respondent. Mercado alleged that the private respondent is not a citizen of the Philippines but of the United States. COMELEC granted the petition and disqualified the private respondent for being a dual citizen, pursuant to the Local Government code that provides that persons who possess dual citizenship are disqualified from running any public position. Private respondent filed a motion for reconsideration which remained pending until after election. Petitioner sought to intervene in the case for disqualification. COMELEC reversed the decision and declared private respondent qualified to run for the po...

Republic vs. Cesar Guy G.R. No. 41399 FACTS:  August 18,1956, Cesar Guy filed with the Court of First Instance a petition to be admitted as a citizen of the Philippines. The petition was given due course and after hearing, the Court issued order granting the application for citizenship of Cesar Guy. December 22, 1959, Two years later the trial court issued order allowing Cesar Guy to take his oath of allegiance as citizen of the Philippines, he took his oath the same day and then issued Certificate of Naturalization No. 27. September 23,1964, the Solicitor General filed petition with the court for the cancellation of the Certificate of Naturalization issued to Cesar Guy on the ground that the same was obtained fraudulently or illegally. --June 7, 1957 Cesar Guy filed with Bureau of Forestry a sworn application for the issuance of an ordinary timber license where he stated that he was a Filipino citizen though he was not. --He was found guilty of the crimes that demo...