Judicial Review
The power of judicial review is the Supreme Court's power to declare a treaty, international or
executive agreement, law, presidential decree, proclamation, order, instruction, ordinance, or
regulation unconstitutional.
Judicial power, in essence, is the power of a court to settle actual controversies between real
conflicting parties through the application of a law.
Requisites for the exercise of judicial review: "actual case" and "ripeness."
The power of judicial review is just an aspect of judicial power.
It speaks of the power to "review, revise, reverse, modify, or affirm on appeal or certiorari ...
final judgments and orders of lower courts in — (a) All cases involving the constitutionality of a
treaty, international or executive agreement, or law, ... including those involving the
constitutionality, application, or operation of presidential decrees, proclamations, orders,
instructions, ordinances, and other regulations ... "
Closely related to the requirement of an "actual case" is the cognate requirement that the
question must be "ripe" for adjudication(resulolution)
Requisites for the exercise of judicial review: "standing".; Another important requisite is locus
standi which is an aspect of the "case or controversy" requirement
constitutional question is brought before it by a party having the requisite "standing" to
challenge it.
The elements of standing, therefore, are: first, the petitioner must have suffered injury in fact
which can be legal, economic, or environmental; second, the injury must be traceable to the
governmental act challenged; third, the injury must be redressable by the remedy being sought
by petitioner.
Under Rule 3, Section 2 of the Rules of Court, a real party in interest is the party who stands to
be benefited or injured by the judgment in the suit, or the party entitled to the avails of the suit.
"Interest" within the meaning of the rule means material interest, an interest in issue and to be
affected by the decree, as distinguished from mere interest in the question involved, or a mere
incidental interest. (The term "interest" as used in this rule refers to a material interest, one that
is at stake and will be impacted by the decision, as opposed to a question-specific interest or an
incidental interest. )The interest of the party must also be personal and not one based on a
desire to vindicate the constitutional right of some third and unrelated party(Additionally, the
party's interest must be personal rather than based on a desire to uphold the constitutional
rights of an unrelated third party.) Real interest means a present substantial interest, as
distinguished from a mere expectancy or a future, contingent, subordinate, or consequential
interest.( Real interest refers to a current substantial interest that is distinct from merely
anticipating something to happen or from a potential future, contingent, subordinate, or
consequential interest.) Thus, one who has a mere expectancy that, if the questioned titles are
cancelled and the property is reverted to the State, he would probably or possibly be given
preferential treatment as qualified buyer or lessee of the property under the Friar Lands Act is
not a real party-in-interest.
as a general rule, the question of constitutionality must be raised at the earliest opportunity, so
that if not raised by the pleadings, ordinarily it may not be raised at the trial, and if not raised in
the trial court, it will not be considered on appeal.
Exceptions: Courts, in the exercise of sound discretion, may determine the time when a question
affecting constitutionality of a statute should be presented."
Another rule is that the Court will not touch the issue of unconstitutionality unless it really is
unavoidable or is the very lis mota. "It is a well-established rule that a court should not pass
upon a constitutional question and decide a law to be unconstitutional or invalid, unless such
question is raised by the parties and that when it is raised, if the record also presents some
other ground upon which the court may raise its judgment, that course will be adopted and the
constitutional question will be left for consideration until such question will be unavoidable.
Political questions: When the question is the legality of a political act of government, the Court
derives its power to adjudicate from the constitutional grant of judicial power and from the
explicit grant of the power of judicial review (art.8 section 5(2)(a))
