ADMINISTATIVE LAW
What is Administrative Law?
- Embraces all the law that controls, or is intended to
control, the administrative operations of the
government
- Branch of public law which fixes the organization,
determines the competence of administrative
authorities, and indicate the individual remedies for
the violation of the rights
Kinds of Administrative Law
1. Statutes setting up administrative authorities
2. Body of doctrines and decisions dealing with the
creation, operation, and effect of determinations
and regulations of such administrative authorities
3. Rules, regulations, or orders of such administrative
authorities in pursuance of the purposes, for which
administrative authorities were created or endowed
4. Determinations, decisions, and orders of such
administrative authorities in the settlement of
controversies arising in their particular field.
What is an administrative agency?
- It is an organ of the government, other than the
court and the legislature, which affects the rights of
private parties either through adjudication or rule-
making
How are agencies created?
- By Constitutional provision
- By statute (legislation)
- By officers or tribunals authorized by Congress to do
so expressly or impliedly
How are agencies abolished?
GR: An administrative agency may only be abolished by
the same mode it was created.
XPN: Authorizing reorganization to the President or to
another executive officer or body
What is reorganization?
- It is the process of restructuring the bureaucracy’s
organizational and functional set-up, to make it
more viable in terms of the economy, efficiency,
effectiveness and make it more responsive to the
needs of its public clientele as authorized by law.
NOTE: The legislative power to reorganize – and
therefore to abolish offices – applies to all offices,
including lower courts, except only those created by the
Constitution itself.
Eugenio v. CSC, 243 SCRA 196
Facts: Petitioner was recommended to the President by
the CES Board. CSC passed a resolution that became an
impediment to the appointment of the petitioner.
Issue: WON CSC had the power to abolish CES Board
Ruling: NO. An office created by the legislature is wholly
within the power of that body, and it may prescribe the
mode of filling the office and the powers and duties of
the incumbent, and, if it sees fit, abolish the office.
Doctrine of Separation of Powers
- The basic powers of the government must be kept
separate from each other to prevent concentration
of powers
Doctrine of Non-delegation of Legislative Power
- The Congress cannot further delegate the power
delegated to it by the people.
- What has been delegated cannot be further
delegated
(potestas delegate non delegari potest)
Further delegation is PERMITTED in the following
cases:
1. Delegation to the people at large
2. Delegation of emergency powers to the President
3. Delegation of tariff powers to the President
4. Delegation to administrative bodies “power of
subordinate legislation”
Principle of Blending of Powers
- though each department has their own duties and
functions, they nevertheless exercise the same in
concert that they can work with other departments
and conduct checks and balances regarding the
actions of each
Doctrine of Subordinate Legislation
- It is the power of administrative agency to
promulgate rules and regulations on matters of
their own specialization.
- The power of the administrative officials to
promulgate rules and regulations in the
implementation of a statute is necessarily limited
only to carrying into effect what is provided in the
legislative enactment. A regulation that goes
beyond the scope of the statue may be declared as
void.
Tests to determine validity of delegation
1. Completeness test - the law must be complete in
all its terms and conditions when it leaves the
legislature such that when it reaches the delegate
the only thing he will have to do is enforce it.
2. Sufficient standard test - there must be adequate
guidelines or stations in the law to map out the
boundaries of the delegate's authority and prevent
the delegation from running riot.
KMU v. Garcia, Jr., 239 SCRA 386
Facts: Petitioner questioned the constitutionality of a
memoranda issued by the DOTC and LTFRB to authorize
provincial bus and jeepney operators to increase or
decrease prescribed transportation fees without
application with the LTFRB.
Issue: WON the memoranda is constitutional
Ruling: No. It is tantamount to undue delegation of
legislative authority. Potestas delegate non delegari
potest. What has been delegated cannot be delegated.
American Tobacco v. Director of Patents, 67 SCRA 287
Held: It has been held that the power conferred upon
an administrative agency to which the administration of
a statute is entrusted to issue such regulations and
orders as may be deemed necessary or proper in order
to carry out its purpose and provisions may be an
adequate source of authority to delegate a particular
function, unless by express provisions of the Act or by
implication it has been withheld.
Eastern Shipping Lines, Inc. vs. POEA, G.R. No. 76633
Held: It is true that legislative discretion as to the
substantive contents of the law cannot be delegated.
What can be delegated is the discretion to determine
how the law may be enforced, not what the law shall
be. The ascertainment of the latter subject is a
prerogative of the legislature. This prerogative cannot
be abdicated or surrendered by the legislature to the
delegate.
Ministerial v. Discretionary Powers
- A ministerial duty is one which is so clear and
specific as to leave no room for the exercise of
discretion in its performance.
- A discretionary duty is that which by its nature
requires the exercise of judgment.
NOTE: if the duty is ministerial, mandamus may lie to
compel performance; if the duty is discretionary, a
petition for certiorari may lie where there is grave
abuse in discretion amounting to lack of jurisdiction on
the part of the office or administrative agency.
NOTE: A discretion entrusted to a public officer may
not, as a rule, be delegated.
Errors in exercise of powers
- Government not bound by errors of public officers
- Government cannot be estopped by mistakes of
officers
- An officer sued in his private or personal capacity
for acts done beyond the scope of his authority or
for unlawful or tortious acts while discharging
official function, cannot invoke the doctrine of state
immunity from suit. For the doctrine of state
immunity cannot be used as an instrument for
perpetrating an injustice.
NOTE: Government officials are presumed to perform
their function with regularity and strong evidence is
necessary to rebut this presumption.
POWER OF CONTROL, SUPERVISION, and
INVESTIGATION
President’s power of CONTROL
- Power to alter or modify or nullify or set aside
what a subordinate officer had done in the
performance of his duties and to substitute his
judgment with that of the latter
Araneta v. Gaimatan 101 Phil 238
Held: The President’s power of control means that if a
cabinet secretary or a head of bureau or agency can
issue rules and regulations, as authorized by law, the
President has the power not only to modify or amend
the same but can also supplant the rules by another set
entirely different from those issued by his subordinate.
NOTE: The acts of the secretaries of such departments,
performed and promulgated in the regular course of
business, are, unless disapproved or reprobated by the
Chief Executive, preemptively the acts of the Chief
Executive.
Doctrine of Qualified Political Agency
- All executive and administrative organizations are
adjuncts of the Executive Department, the heads of
the various executive departments are assistants
and agents of the Chief Executive
Limitations to the President’s control power
1. The abolition or creation of an executive office
2. The suspension or removal of career executive
officials or employees without due process of law
3. The setting aside, modification, or supplanting of
decisions of quasi-judicial agencies, including that of
the Office of the President, on contested cases that
have become final pursuant to law or to rules and
regulations promulgated to implement the law
NOTE: GR: The President’s power of control applies to
acts of a subordinate official and not to the official who
performs the acts. He may not, by his control power,
suspend or remove the official without due process of
law, except those who serve at his pleasure such as
cabinet secretaries.
President’s power of SUPERVISION
- Overseeing or the power to see that the officials
concerned perform the duties, and if they later fail
or neglect to fulfill them, to take such action or
steps as prescribed by law to make them perform
their duties
NOTE: Presidential power over local governments is
limited by the Constitution to the exercise of general
supervision ‘to ensure that local affairs are
administered according to law.’ (through the Secretary
of Local Government)
President’s power of INVESTIGATION
- Power of investigation consists in gathering,
organizing, and analyzing evidence, which is a useful
aid or tool in an administrative agency’s
performance of its rule-making or quasi-judicial
functions.
Carino v. CHR, 204 SCRA 483
Held: The Court declares the CHR to have no power to
adjudicate or exercise quasi-judicial power; and it was
not meant by the fundamental law to be another court
or quasi-judicial agency of this country, or duplicate
much less take over the functions of the latter. To
investigate is not to adjudicate or adjudge.
QUASI-LEGISLATIVE POWER
Rule-making power of administrative agencies
- The power to make rules and regulations which
results in delegated legislation that is within the
confines of the granting statute and the doctrine
non-delegability and separability of powers. (Smart
Communications Inc. v. National
Telecommunications, GR No. 151908)
The Central Bank of the Philippines v. Cloribel, 44 SCRA
307
Held: Where the function of the administrative body is
legislative, notice or hearing is not required.
Delegation of Legislative Power
- The grant of authority by the legislature to
administrative agencies to issue rules and
regulations concerning how the law entrusted to
them for implementation may be enforced
Tanada v. Tuvera, 146 SCRA
Held: All statutes, including those of local application
and private laws, shall be published as a condition for
their effectivity, which shall begin 15 days after
publication unless a different effectivity is fixed by
legislature.
NOTE: Rules which are merely interpretations of the law
or of the regulations issued to implement the law need
not be published to be effective.
QUASI-JUDICIAL POWER
Quasi-judicial
- The actions or discretions of public administrative
officers or bodies required to investigate facts, or
ascertain the existence of facts, hold hearings, and
draw conclusions from them, as a basis for their
official action, and to exercise discretion of a judicial
nature.
Quasi-judicial body
- Is an organ of government other than a court and
other than a legislature, which exercises
adjudicative power affecting the rights of private
persons
- Basic function: Adjudicate claims and/or determine
rights, and unless its decision is reasonably
appealed to the proper reviewing authority, the
same attains finality and becomes executory.
NOTE: Quasi-judicial adjudication may not be issued
without notice and hearing or the observance of
requirements of due process.
Substantial Evidence
- Such relevant evidence as a reasonable mind might
accept as adequate to support a conclusion
- More than a scintilla but may be somewhat less thereby as to whether the questioned act, rule or
than preponderance decision has been validly or invalidly issued or
whether the same should be nullified, affirmed, or
Ang Tibay vs CIR
modified.
7 cardinal rules of administrative proceedings:
1. Right to a hearing
2. Consider evidence presented
3. Decision based on evidence presented
4. Evidence is substantial
5. Board must act on its judgment
6. Decision must be rendered in a manner that parties
knew the controversy

NOTE: Res judicata applies to decisions or orders of

administrative agencies that have become final.

Ismael vs Exec Sec, 190 SCRA 673

Held: Decisions of Administrative Agencies have the
power of a judicial decision under the doctrine of res
judicata. Agency must have competent authority or
jurisdiction.

Does doctrine of res judicata apply to administrative

proceedings?
It applies to judicial and quasi-judicial proceedings but it
does not apply to purely administrative agency.

Doctrine of Primary Jurisdiction

- Requires that a plaintiff should seek first relief in
the administrative proceeding before he seeks a
remedy in court

Doctrine of Exhaustion of Administrative Remedies

- Recourse through court action cannot prosper until
all the remedies have been exhausted at the
administrative level.

Effect of failure to exhaust remedies

- It will deprive the complainant of a cause of action,
which is a ground for a motion to dismiss.

Ass’n of Phil. Coconut Desicator v. Phil. Coconut

Authority, 91 SCAD 521
Held: The rule requiring exhaustion of administrative
remedies applies only where the agency concerned
exercises judicial or quasi-judicial functions. It does not
apply in the exercise of its rule-making or legislative
power.

Judicial Review of Admin Decision

- Reexamination or determination by the courts in
the exercise of their judicial power in an
appropriate case instituted by a party aggrieved