\ Legal Research was defined as “1) The finding and assembling of authorities that bear on a question of law; 2) The field of study concerned with the effective marshaling of authorities that bear on a question of law. [Black's Law Dictionary, Abridged 8th ed. 749 (2005)]. Legal research vary according to country and the legal system [J. Myron Jacobstein, Fundamentals of Legal Research, 8th ed. 1 (2002)]. The Philippine legal literature is rich, considering the great number of statutes passed and jurisprudence decided; and the annotations, commentaries and treatises written. Knowing the Philippine legal literature, and their availability, are important considerations to be able to conduct an accurate and effective legal research. The availability of all of these legal materials however, is a problem in the Philippine scenario due to: a) lack of printed law finders; b) lack of complete printed compilation of statutes and jurisprudence; and ©) slow publication. To remedy these problems, and to ensure the availability of these legal materials, electronic sources are used. To better understand legal research of Philippine legal materials, one has to know the basic information about the Philippines, its political and government structure, and its legal system. CHAPTER | Introduction The Philippines is an archipelago of 7,107 islands with a land area of 299,740 sq. kilometers. It is surrounded by the Pacific Ocean on the East, South China Sea on the North and the West, and the Celebes Sea on the South. This comprises the National Territory of the Philippines. Article I of the 1987 Constitution Provides that the “National territory comprises the Philippine archipelago, with all the islands and waters embraced thereinsal RESEARCH AND LEGAL CITATIONS ied a FOR THE PHILIPPINES 2.73. Judiciary (https//www.judiciary.gov.ph) THE HIERARCHY OF COURTS IN THE PHILIPPINES, (Relationships between and among the courts in terms of jurisdiction) ‘SUPREME COURT COMELEC) i Con chime SANDIGA) APPELLATE Weave ‘COURTS leis atta COURT OF APPEALS COURTOF TAX APPEALS Pasiouad t me Quasi ica ‘Agencies REGIONAL TRIAL |f] COURTS (RTCs) |} Metropolitan Trial Courts (MeTCs) Come ey Municipal Trial Courts in Cities ar) DC beta anos) ach) ‘Sharia Circuit Courts ‘Second Level Couts HERE First Lovet CourtsCHAPTER III Legal System 3,1. Nature of the Philippine Legal System The Philippine legal system may be considered as a unique egal system because it is a blend of civil law (Roman), common law (Anglo-American), Muslim (Islamic) law, and indigenous aw. Like other legal systems, there are two main sources of law. 3.2 Sources of Law There are two primary sources of the law: 3.2.1 Statutes or statutory law — Statutes are defined as the written enactment of the will of the legislative branch of the government rendered authentic by certain prescribed forms or solemnities are more also known as enactment of congress. Gen- erally they consist of two types — the Constitution and legislative enactments. In the Philippines, statutory law includes constitu- tions, treaties, statutes proper or legislative enactments, munici- pal charters, municipal legislation, court rules, administrative rules and orders, legislative rules and presidential issuance. 3.2.2 Jurisprudence or case law — Cases decided or written opinion by courts and by persons performing judicial functions. Also included are all rulings in administrative and legislative tribunals such as decisions made by the Presidential or Senate or House Electoral Tribunals. Only the decisions of the House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal are available in print as House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal Reports, Volume 1 (January 28, 1988-October 3, 1990) to present. They will be available electronically at the Supreme Court E-Library, and will come in a separate CD. 45= LEGAL RESEARCH AND LEGAL CITATIONS, FOR THE PHILIPPINES For Muslim law, the primary sources of Shariah are Quray Sunnagh, Ijma and Qiyas. Jainal D. Razul in his book Commentaygg and Jurisprudence on the Muslim Law of the Philippines (1934) further stated there are new sources of muslim law, which some jurists rejected such as Istilisant or juristic preference; Al-Masalit, ‘Al Mursalah or public interest; Istidlal (custom) and. Istishap (deduction based on continuity or permanence). 3.3. Classification of Legal Sources 3.3.1 Classification by Authority Primary Sources/Authority is the only authority that is binding with the courts. These are the two sources of law which includes the Constitution, statutes passed by the Congress, Decisions promulgated by the Supreme Court, lower courts and other quasi-judicial agencies, Executive Issuances, treaties local ordinances and rules and regulations of government agencies. In other words, they are the actual law or those laws created by each of the three branches of government: Legislative, Executive, and Judiciary. The legislature promulgates statutes: Act, Commonwealth Act, Batas Pambansa, and Republic Act. The Executive promul- gates presidential issuances (Presidential Decrees, Executive Orders, Memorandum Circular, Administrative Orders, Procle- mations, etc.), rules and regulations through its various depart- ments, bureaus and agencies. The Judiciary promulgates judicial doctrines embodied in decisions. We however, need to clarify that the Presidential Decrees or law issued by President Ferdi- nand E. Marcos during Martial Law and Executive Orders issued by Aquino President Corazon C. Aquino before the opening Congress in July 1987 can be classified as legislative acts, ther being no legislature during these two periods. Primary Authority or sources may be further subdivided into the following: * Mandatory primary authority is law created by jurisdiction in which the law operates like the Philip” pines;CHAPTER IIL ” LEGAL SYSTEM Persuasive mandatory authority is law created by other jurisdictions but which have persuasive value to our courts, ¢.g., Spanish and American laws and jurispru- dence. These sources as used specially when there are no Philippine authorities available or when the Phil- ippine statute or jurisprudence under interpretation is based on either the Spanish or American law; Primary persuasive authorities are important specially when there are no Philippine laws and jurisprudence on the subject. It is in this regard that the collections of law libraries in the Philippines include United States Court Reports, West's national reporter system, court reports of England and international tribunal, important reference materials such as the American Jurisprudence, Corpus Juris Secundum, Words and Phrases and different law dictionaries. Some of these law libraries subscribe to the Westlaw and / or LexisNexis. The Supreme Court, University of the Philippines, University of Santo Tomas, and a number of prominent law libraries also have a Spanish collection where a great number of our laws originated. Secondary authority or sources are commentaries or books, treatise, writings, journal articles that explain, discuss or comment on primary authorities. Also included in this category are the opinions of the Department of Justice, Securities and Exchange Commission or circulars of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas. These materials are not binding on courts but they have persuasive effect and/or the degree of persuasiveness. With regards to commentaries or books, treatise, writings, journal articles, the Teputation or expertise of the author is a consideration. Some of the authors of good reputation and considered experts in the field are Chief Justice Ramon C. Aquino and Justice Carolina Grino Aquino on Revised Penal Code or Criminal Law, Senator Arturo M. Tolentino on Civil law, Chief Justice Enrique M. Fernando and Fr, Joaquin Bernas on Constititional Law, Prof. Perfecto Fernandez on Labor Law, Vicente Francisco, Chief Justice Manuel Moran on Remedial Law, and Justice Vicente Abad Santos. and Senator Jovito Salonga on International Law, etc.— 8 LEGAL RESEARCH AND LEGAL CITATIONS FOR THE PHILIPPINES, 3.3.2. Classification by Source (who publish the of law) Sources It is important for legal research experts to know the where the materials were taken from. One has to det whether they came from primary (official) sources ot se. (unofficial sources or commercial sources). source termine ondary Primary sources are those published by the issuing agen itself or the official repository, the Official Gazette. The Oficis Gazette online (www.gov.ph) was launched by the Office of the President on July 2010. This online version is maintained ang managed by the Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Management Office. Thus, for Republic Acts and other legislative enactments or statutes, the primary sources are the Official Gazette published by the National Printing Office and the Laws and Resolutions published by Congress. For Supreme Court decisions, the primary sources are the Philippine Reports, the individually mimeographed Advance Supreme Court decisions and the Official Gazette. Publication of Supreme Court decisions in the Official Gazette is selective. The publication of the Philippine Reports by the National Printing Office ceased in 1960s. It was in 1983 when the publication of the Philippine Reports was revived by then Chief Justice Enrique M. Fernando who requested then President Ferdinand E. Marcos to take charge of its publication with special appropriation in the Judiciary’s annual budget However, when the Supreme Court took over its printing in 1983, the delay in printing covered more than twenty (20) years. The last volume printed was Volume 126 (June 1967). The Philippine Reports is up-to-date and almost complete from 1901. The volumes remains to be printed cover June 1991-December 19%. Online, the Supreme Court E-Library is complete and updated as soon as the decisions have been certified by the Chief Justice The Secondary Sources are the unofficial sources and genet ally referred to as those commercially published or those thet are not published by government agencies or instrumental ties. Some of the Secondary sources of statutes are the Vita! Le {gal Documents, published by the Central Book Supply, conta a compilation of Presidential Decrees (1973). The second editor eel(CHAPTER IHL ” LEGAL SYSTEM contains Republic Acts. Prof. Sulpicio Guevara published three books which contain the full text of legislative enactments or laws namely: a) Public Laws Annotated (7 vols.); compilation of all laws from 1901 to 1935; b) Commonwealth Acts Annotated (3 vols.). compilation of laws from 1935-1945; c). The Laws of the First Phil- ippine Republic (The Laws of Malolos) 1898-1899. For the Supreme Court decisions, Supreme Court Reports Annotated (SCRA), a sec- ondary source, published by the Central Book Supply is more updated and popular in the legal community than the Philippine Reports, the primary and official source. The SCRA was pub- lished because of the delay in the printing of the Philippines and the need of the Philippine legal profession for Supreme Court decision. Citations in commentaries or books, treatise, writings, journal articles, pleading and even court decisions show SCRA’s popular acceptance. The general rule is that in the absence of a primary source, the secondary source may be cited. This was the primary rationale for the SCRA’s popularity. SCRA is now avail- able online (including tablet and iPad) (http://central.com.ph. centralbooks/) by subscription. Supreme Court Advance Decisions (SCAD) like the SCRA is a compilation of Supreme Court deci- sions published by REX Printing Co., Inc. Compilation of laws is available also using tablets with the application Law Juan at a very minimal subscription fee. Law Juan Constitution and Law Juan Rules of Court is for free. The advent of the new information technology, electronic or digitized sources is an important development for effective legal research as Philippine legal information could not be easily accessed for the following reasons: a) no complete and updated Printed legal information available; and b) no complete and update manually published search tools for statute and case law. These electronic sources started with CD-ROMS and now with online or electronic libraries. The use of the online/electronic libraries is gaining rapid popularity due to more affordable technology such as the iPads, iPods, tablets, netbooks, and the internet. Online access is either through open access or subscription basis, Open access for law is used both for the government and the private sector. The Chan Robles Law Firm Library Cow, 5. and Arellano Law Foundation Lawphil50 LEGAL RESEARCH AND LEGAL CITATIONS FOR THE PHILIPPINES (wwwilawphilinet) use open access in their electronic library which contains the full-text of all sources of Philippine Jers information, case law and statute law. The website chanroby com has also in its database the full text of United States decision, . and materials on important legal events such as Impeachment proceedings, bar examinations. Chan Robles conducts online bar review program. Official or government online source for full-text for all legal sources and related materials in the Oficial Gazette online (www.gov.ph) was launched on July 2010, It contains the issuances of all the executive departments which are found also in the websites of the different executive departments, They aim (as reflected in their website) to include the issuances, of the legislative and the judiciary. The Supreme Court E-Library (http://elibraryjudiciary.gov.ph) is an electronic library (online and CD rom for decisions updated quarterly) for all Philippine legal information, case law and statute law. Access however is limited to the Justices, judges and court attorneys of the Supreme Court and law schools (by request) through their law librarians. Decisions and issuances of the Supreme Court and its offices and the Appelate Courts are found in the Judiciary portal (www. \dicary.gov.ph). CD Asia online (www.cdasiaonline.com) Jurisprudence contains full-text of Supreme Court decisions, and Laws contains full-text of statutes, are available on a subscription basis Subscription may be made solely for court decisions, or statutes, or for both. CD Asia offers also a CD version for Court decisions and statutes and are updated regularly. It offers the CD version compilation of other legal information which are not available in print, such as Compilation of Bangko Sentral Circulars, Securities and Exchange Commission, etc. (See Chapter VII-B. Electron” Sources). Central Book Supply’s eSCRA (http://central.com-PY- centralbooks/) is another electronic source full-text decision® of the Philippine Supreme Court from 1901 to present 0” ei subscription basis. Central Book Supply publishes the print’ version of the full-text of Supreme Court decisions from 1901 to present as 1) Philippine Reports Annotated (1901-1960) and Supt" Court Reports Annotated (SCRA) (1961-Present)(CHAPTER IIL 51 LEGAL SYSTEM By using Google search engine, some of these legal information may be retrieved. The established policy is that in case of conflict between the printed and electronic sources, the printed version coming from the issuing government agency prevails. Legal research for statute law in the Philippines benefited remarkably from the use of the latest technology due to two major problems: a) no complete and updated published or printed search tools or law finders for statute law; and b) no complete compilation of statute law from 1901-present were available. Problems of the publication of compilations of statute law or the existence of the full-text of Presidential Decrees was brought about to the Supreme Court in the Tafiada v. Tuvera, G.R. No. 63915, April 24, 1985 (220 Phil 422), December 29, 1986 (146 SCRA 446) case was resolved by the use of the latest technology. The Tafiada v. Tuvera, case which was first decided before the bloodless revolution popularly known as People Power or the EDSA Revolution and modified in the December 29, 1986 or after the People Power or the EDSA Revolution resolved the publication requirement for the effectivity of laws as provided for in Sec. 2 of the Civil Code of the Philippines. CD Asia Laws, Law Juan and the SC E-Library have a complete compilation of statutes. CD Asia Laws, and Law Juan are on a subscription basis. The Chanrobles and Lawphil's collection are selective, more specially those before World War II. Still, with regards to Statute Law in the Philippines, the other problem is how to classify sources published in the newspapers. Since 1987, based on the definition of primary and secondary source, they may be considered as primary sources pursuant to Executive Order No. 200, s. 1987 which provides that laws become effective fifteen (15) days after publicatioy the Official Gazette or in two newspapers of general circulation. In case of conflict between the two versions, the version of the Official Gazette prevails. ‘The existence, availability and access to local ordinances issued by the local governments in the Philippines remains a problem. Some are printed in the Official Gazette while52 LEG: | RESEARCH AND. FOR THE PHIL others specially those from Metro Manila are published newspapers of general circulation. Manila has a compila the of its ordinances, “Compilation of the Ordinances of the ee of Manila” by Eugenio Angeles and other by George M, alco Another compilation was done by Councilor Cita Astal in Cp and in print form but are only available in limited copies. The Ci of Makati has in its web portal (www.makati.gov.ph) ordinance, and other issuances. In finding the law, our ultimate goal is to locate mandat primary authorities which have bearing on the legal problem at hand. If these authorities are scarce or nonexistent, our next alternative is to find any relevant persuasive mandatory authority. If our search is still negative, the next alternative might be secondary authorities. There are however instances where the secondary authorities, more particularly the commentaries made by experts of the field, take precedence over the persuasive mandatory authorities. With the availability of both, using both sources is highly recommended. 3.3.3 Classification by Character This refers to the nature of the subject treated in books. This classification categorizes books as: a) Statute Law Books; b) Case Law Books or Law Reports; c) a combination of both; and d) “Law Finders.” Law Finders refer to indices, citators, encyclopedias, legal dictionaries, thesauri or digests. A major problem in the Philippines is that there are no up-to-date Law Finders. Federico Moreno’s Philippine Law Dictionary, the only available Philippine law dictionary, was last published in 1988, and, Jose Agatot Sibal’s Philippine Legal Thesaurus which is likewise considered @ dictionary, was published in 1986. Foreign law dictionaries like Blacks’ Law Dictionary, Words and Phrases are used as an alternative, To search for legal information, legal researchers go online virtual libraries such as the Supreme Court E-Library (httpi/elibsan judiciary.gov.ph), Chan Robles Virtual Library (ww i com), Arellano’s Lawphil (www.lawphiLnet), CD Asia online (www.cdasiaonline.com) and the different databases in CD”CHAPTER II 53 LEGAL SYSTEM ROM format from CD Asia Technologies Asia Inc. The databases developed by CD Asia include not only the compilation of Laws (statutes) and Jurisprudence, but also include a compilation of legal information that are not available in printed form such as Opinions of the Department of Justice, Securities and Exchange Commission and Bangko Sentral (Central Bank) rules and regulations. Search engines used in these databases answer for the lack of complete and updated indexes of legal information. In this regard, effective legal research can be conducted with one cardinal rule in mind: “ALWAYS START FROM THE LATEST.” The exception to this is when the research has defined or has provided a SPECIFIC period.RIV 6 "HAPTE LEGAL RESEARCH a PHILIPPINE at the available published Statute Finders will show that they latest were in the 1980s. To be able to conduct legal research for statutory law, the sole option is to use the latest technology either with the use of CD roms of CD Asia Technologies Asia Incor to go online to virtual libraries such as the Supreme Court E-Library, Chan Robles Virtual Law ibrary, Arellano Law Foundation’s The Lawphil Project, and CD Asia Technologies. 4.2 Research of Case Law EXPANDED OR TOTAL COURT SYSTEM IN THE PHILIPPINES | = [=] = io or in excess of jurisi- diction ~ no appeal or plain, speedy 8 adequate remedy NLRC CSC DAR BO! ERB CAB NTC IC LRA GSIS ECC. [CTA] SSC OP CIAC NEA Voluntary Arbitrators LEGEND: inna {Including Shana District Courts —————— Arp ue 2.44) * Including Shan’a Circuit Courts [————} Femon ox Rev a), Sour 2002 Revie Manus ofClrtof rt Mani Supreme Cost 202. Ogaizationa aon en tet te pose of Republic Act No. 9282 (CTA)