G.R. No. 104768 – 454 Phil. 504 – 407 SCRA 10 – Political Law – Constitutional Law – General Principles – Elements of a State – Government – De Jure Government
After the February 23, 1986 EDSA Revolution, Corazon Aquino became President. On 28 February 1986, Pres. Aquino issued E.O. No. 1 which created the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) which was primarily tasked to recover all ill-gotten wealth of former President Ferdinand Marcos, his immediate family, relatives, subordinates and close associates.
On 3 March 1986, the PCGG, armed with a search warrant, raided the house of Elizabeth Dimaano. Dimaano was the mistress of Gen. Josephus Ramas who was the Army Chief during the time of Marcos. The search warrant was for firearms and ammunitions.
When the warrant was implemented, neither Ramas nor Dimaano were present. After the search, various firearms, ammunitions, military equipment, cash amounting to Php2.8 million and $50,000.00, jewelry, and land titles were seized.
After further investigation by the PCGG, it was resolved that the items seized were ill-gotten wealth as they were beyond the paygrade of Ramas and Dimaano. Dimaano was a military clerk. The PCGG then filed a case before the Sandiganbayan.
Ramas and Dimaano moved for dismissal on the ground that the money seized cannot be used against them; they cannot be used against them because they were not included in the search warrant hence under the 1973 Constitution, they should be excluded as evidence.
The Republic argued that, at the time of the seizure, no Bill of Rights was in effect because the 1973 Constitution was already rendered ineffective by the EDSA Revolution as the government was taken over by the revolutionary government.
The Sandiganbayan agreed with Ramas and Dimaano.
ISSUE: Whether or not the Republic is correct.
HELD: Yes but the seizure is still illegal.
The period between the EDSA Revolution (23 February 1986) and the adoption of the Freedom Constitution (25 March 1986) is called the interregnum. During this period, the Philippines had no Constitution because the EDSA Revolution was done in defiance of the 1973 Constitution. Hence, the Bill of Rights was not in effect.
However, the Philippines being a signatory of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights must still comply with these international principles as they are part of the law of the land.
The revolutionary government, after installing itself as the de jure government, assumed responsibility for the State’s good faith compliance with the Covenant to which the Philippines is a signatory. The Covenant requires each signatory State “to respect and to ensure to all individuals within its territory and subject to its jurisdiction the rights recognized in the present Covenant.” Under the Covenant, the revolutionary government had the duty to insure that no one shall be subjected to arbitrary or unlawful interference with his or her privacy, family, home or correspondence.
The Declaration, to which the Philippines is also a signatory, provides that no one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his or her property. The revolutionary government was also obligated under international law to observe the rights of individuals under the Declaration.
