G.R. No. 78164 – 236 Phil. 768 – 152 SCRA 730 – Political Law – Constitutional Law – Police Power – Valid Exercise – Power to Regulate Professions
In 1987, Teresita Tablarin et al., who were prospective medical students, filed a petition for declaratory relief before the RTC of Manila presided by Judge Angelina Gutierrez. They question the constitutionality of RA 2382 or the Medicine Act of 1959 and MECS Order No. 52 issued by the DECS insofar as they require that before students will be admitted to medical school, they must first pass the NMAT or the National Medical Admission Test. Tablarin et al. argue, among others, that requiring the NMAT violates Sec. 1, Art. XIV which provides: The State shall protect and promote the right of all citizens to quality education at all levels and take appropriate steps to make such education accessible to all.
ISSUE: Whether or not the NMAT is constitutional.
HELD: Yes. The State is not really enjoined to take appropriate steps to make quality education “accessible to all” who might for any number of reasons wish to enroll in a professional school, but rather merely to make such education accessible to all who qualify under “fair, reasonable and equitable admission and academic requirements.”
Tablarin et al. failed to demonstrate how the NMAT violated the Constitution. Nevertheless, it appears that their arguments revolve around the wisdom behind the law. The SC cannot pass upon questions of the desirability or wisdom or utility of legislation or administrative regulation. Those questions must be addressed to the political departments of the government, not to the courts.
Further, the law and the NMAT rule are valid exercise of the State’s police power. The police power is the pervasive and non-waivable power and authority of the sovereign to secure and promote all the important interests and needs of the general community. An important component of that public order is the health and physical safety and wellbeing of the population, the securing of which no one can deny is a legitimate objective of governmental effort and regulation. That being, the State can regulate who gets to be admitted to the medical profession – this includes the right to regulate who may be admitted to medical schools.
