G.R. No. 238467 – 846 Phil. 743 – Political Law – Constitutional Law – Powers of the State – Police Power – Characteristics of Police Power
In February 2018, Pres. Rodrigo Duterte announced that he will be shutting down Boracay due to its polluted state.
On 25 April 2018, Mark Anthony Zabal, a sand castle maker in Boracay, filed a petition for prohibition against Duterte asking the court to prohibit the president from closing Boracay.
On 26 April 2018, Duterte issued Proclamation No. 475 shutting down Boracay from April 2018 to October 2018.
Zabal argued that the closure of Boracay severely affected his and other’s livelihood.
ISSUE: Whether or not Pcolamation No. 475 is valid.
HELD: Yes. It is a valid exercise of police power. Police power, amongst the three fundamental and inherent powers of the state, is the most pervasive and comprehensive. “It has been defined as the ‘state authority to enact legislation that may interfere with personal liberty or property in order to promote general welfare.”
Police power consists of:
(1) imposition or restraint upon liberty or property, and
(2) in order to foster the common good.
The pressing need to implement urgent measures to rehabilitate Boracay is indisputable. The president was merely enforcing the people’s rights to a balanced and healthful ecology and to health.
But was it necessary to close Boracay from tourists during the rehabilitation?
Yes. One of the root causes of the problems that beset Boracay was tourist influx. Tourist arrivals in the island were clearly far more than Boracay could handle. As early as 2007, the DENR had already determined this as the major cause of the catastrophic depletion of the island’s biodiversity. Certainly, the closure of Boracay, albeit temporarily, gave the island its much needed breather, and likewise afforded the government the necessary leeway in its rehabilitation program.
