D.

Political Questions

a. Political questions are defined as those questions, which the
Constitution, are to be decided by the people in their sovereign capacity,
or in regard to which full discretionary authority has been delegated to
the legislative or executive branch of government. They have two
aspects:
i. those matters that are to be exercised by the people in their
primary political capacity and
ii. matters which have been specifically delegated to some other
department or particular office of the government, with
discretionary power to act.

b. Political questions include such areas as the conduct of foreign policy, the
ratification of constitutional amendments, and the organization of each
state's government as defined in its own constitution. The rule preventing
courts from deciding such cases is called the political question doctrine.
Its purpose is to distinguish the role of the judiciary from those of the
legislature and the executive, preventing the former from encroaching on
either of the latter. Under the rule, courts may choose to dismiss cases
even if they have jurisdiction over them.

c. In the 1960 case of Osmena v. Pendatun, Congressman Osmena was
suspended by the HoR and Osmena invoked the Court but the Court
decided not to interfere with the power of Congress to discipline their
members.

d. Most of the cases presented in this chapter generally point to the
separation of the powers of the State, where the Court is being called to
decide on matters which they have no jurisdiction. Though in the drafting
of the 1987 Constitution, the members deemed the need for the court to
be given express power to review the powers of the President and for the
Court to be pro-active in its stance against abuse of power.

e. In this chapter the Case of David v. Macapagal Arroyo has been given a
judicial review and found that PP 1017 is constitutional as far as it
constitutes a call by the President for the AFP to prevent or suppress
lawless violence. Though there are three provisions that the Court find
unconstitutional 1) to issue decrees, 2) to direct the AFP to enforce
obedience to all laws even those not related to lawless violence as well as
decrees promulgated by the President and 3) to impose standards on
media or any form of prior restraint on the press, are unconstitutional.

f. There are two vital lessons to take note that, it is possible to grant
government the authority to cope with crises without surrendering the
two vital principles of constitutionalism:

i. the maintenance of legal limits to arbitrary power and
ii. political responsibility of the government to the governed.