Caltex (Phil.), Inc. v.

Palomar
Case No. 45
G.R. No. 19650 (September 29, 1966)
Chapter V, Page 137, Footnote No. 211
FACTS:
Petitioner conceived the Caltex Hooded Pump Contest where participants
have to estimate the actual number of liters a hooded gas pump can dispense
during a specific period of time. There was no fee or consideration required to be
paid, nor any purchase of any Caltex products to be made in order to join the
contest. Foreseeing the extensive use of mail for advertising and communications,
Caltex requested clearance for Respondent Postmaster General but was denied
citing said contest is a gift enterprise deemed as a non-mailable matter under the
anti-lottery provisions of the Postal Law. Hence, Petitioner filed a petition for
declaratory relief.
ISSUE:
W/N the Caltex Hooded Pump Contest falls under the term gift enterprise
which is banned by the Postal Law.
HELD:
No, said contest is not a gift enterprise. The word lottery is defined as a
game of chance where the elements of which are (1) consideration, (2) chance,
and (3) prize. The term gift enterprise and scheme in the provision of the Postal
Law making unmailable any lottery, gift, enterprise, or scheme for the distribution of
money or any real or personal property by lot, chance, or drawing of any kind
means such enterprise as will require consideration as an element. The intent of the
prohibition is to suppress the tendency to inflame the gambling spirit and to corrupt
public morals. There being no element of consideration in said contest, the spirit of
the law is preserved.
LATIN MAXIM:
9a, 28

Endencia and Jugo v. David

Case No. 98
G.R. No. L-6355-56 (August 31, 1953)
Chapter II, Page 56, Footnote No.33
FACTS:
RA 590 declares that no salary received by a public officer shall be
considered exempt from income tax, payment of which is hereby declared not to be
a diminution of his compensation fixed by law. While Art. 8, Sec. 9 of the Constitution
states that judges shall receive compensation as fixed by law, which shall not be
diminished during their continuance in office. Petitioners question the legality of RA
590.
ISSUE:
W/N RA 590 unconstitutional.
HELD:
No. Saying that the taxing of the salary of a judicial officer is not a decrease in
compensation is a clear interpretation of Which shall not be diminished during their

continuance in office, by the Legislature. Through the separation of powers, such a

task must be done by the Judiciary. Judicial officers are exempt from taxes on his
salary not for his own benefit but for the public, to secure and preserve his
independence of judicial thought and action.
LATIN MAXIM:
1, 6c, 7a, 24a
Mutuc vs. Comelec
Mutuc was a candidate for delegate to the Constitutional Convention (1970). His candidacy was given
due course by the COMELEC but he was prohibited from playing his campaign jingle on his mobile units
because this is an apparent violation of COMELECs band to purchase, produce, request or distribute
sample ballots, or electoral propaganda gadgets such as pens, lighters, fans (of whatever nature),
flashlights, athletic goods or materials, wallets, bandanas, shirts, hats, matches, cigarettes, and the like,
whether of domestic or foreign origin. It was COMELECs contention that the jingle proposed to be
used by petitioner is the recorded or taped voice of a singer and therefore a tangible propaganda
material (falling under and the likes category), under the above COMELEC statute subject to
confiscation.
HELD: 1. By virtue of Ejusdem Generis, general words following any enumeration must be of the same
class as those specifically referred to. It did contend, however, that one of its provisions referred to
above makes unlawful the distribution of electoral propaganda gadgets, mention being made of pens,
lighters, fans, flashlights, athletic goods or materials, wallets, bandanas, shirts, hats, matches, and
cigarettes, and concluding with the words and the like. For respondent Commission, the last three
words sufficed to justify such an order. We view the matter differently. What was done cannot merit our
approval under the well-known principle of ejusdem generis, the general words following any
enumeration being applicable only to things of the same kind or class as those specifically referred to. It
is quite apparent that what was contemplated in the Act was the distribution of gadgets of the kind
referred to as a means of inducement to obtain a favorable vote for the candidate responsible for its
distribution.
2. This is a curtailment of Freedom of Expression. The Constitution prohibits the abridgment of the
freedom of speech.