Locus Standi

The OSG attacks the legal personality of the petitioners-legislators to file their petition
for failure to demonstrate their personal stake in the outcome of the case. It argues that
the petitioners have not shown that they have sustained or are in danger of sustaining
any personal injury attributable to the creation of the PTC. Not claiming to be the
subject of the commissions investigations, petitioners will not sustain injury in its
creation or as a result of its proceedings.[20]
The Court disagrees with the OSG in questioning the legal standing of the petitionerslegislators to assail Executive Order No. 1. Evidently, their petition primarily invokes
usurpation of the power of the Congress as a body to which they belong as members.
This certainly justifies their resolve to take the cudgels for Congress as an institution
and present the complaints on the usurpation of their power and rights as members of
the legislature before the Court. As held in Philippine Constitution Association v.
Enriquez,[21]
To the extent the powers of Congress are impaired, so is the power of each member
thereof, since his office confers a right to participate in the exercise of the powers of that
institution.
An act of the Executive which injures the institution of Congress causes a derivative but
nonetheless substantial injury, which can be questioned by a member of Congress. In
such a case, any member of Congress can have a resort to the courts.
Indeed, legislators have a legal standing to see to it that the prerogative, powers and
privileges vested by the Constitution in their office remain inviolate. Thus, they are
allowed to question the validity of any official action which, to their mind, infringes on
their prerogatives as legislators.[22]
With regard to Biraogo, the OSG argues that, as a taxpayer, he has no standing to
question the creation of the PTC and the budget for its operations.[23] It emphasizes
that the funds to be used for the creation and operation of the commission are to be
taken from those funds already appropriated by Congress. Thus, the allocation and
disbursement of funds for the commission will not entail congressional action but will
simply be an exercise of the Presidents power over contingent funds.

As correctly pointed out by the OSG, Biraogo has not shown that he sustained, or is in
danger of sustaining, any personal and direct injury attributable to the implementation
of Executive Order No. 1. Nowhere in his petition is an assertion of a clear right that may
justify his clamor for the Court to exercise judicial power and to wield the axe over
presidential issuances in defense of the Constitution. The case of David v. Arroyo[24]
explained the deep-seated rules on locus standi. Thus:
Locus standi is defined as a right of appearance in a court of justice on a given
question. In private suits, standing is governed by the real-parties-in interest rule as
contained in Section 2, Rule 3 of the 1997 Rules of Civil Procedure, as amended. It
provides that every action must be prosecuted or defended in the name of
the real party in interest. Accordingly, the 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. Succinctly put, the plaintiffs standing is based on his own right to the
relief sought.
The difficulty of determining locus standi arises in public suits. Here, the plaintiff who
asserts a public right in assailing an allegedly illegal official action, does so as a
representative of the general public. He may be a person who is affected no differently
from any other person. He could be suing as a stranger, or in the category of a
citizen, or taxpayer. In either case, he has to adequately show that he is entitled to
seek judicial protection. In other words, he has to make out a sufficient interest in the
vindication of the public order and the securing of relief as a citizen or taxpayer.
Case law in most jurisdictions now allows both citizen and taxpayer standing in
public actions. The distinction was first laid down in Beauchamp v. Silk, where it was
held that the plaintiff in a taxpayers suit is in a different category from the plaintiff in a
citizens suit. In the former, the plaintiff is affected by the expenditure of public funds,
while in the latter, he is but the mere instrument of the public concern. As held by the
New York Supreme Court in People ex rel Case v. Collins: In matter of mere public
right, howeverthe people are the real partiesIt is at least the right, if not the duty, of
every citizen to interfere and see that a public offence be properly pursued and
punished, and that a public grievance be remedied. With respect to taxpayers suits,
Terr v. Jordan held that the right of a citizen and a taxpayer to maintain an action in
courts to restrain the unlawful use of public funds to his injury cannot be denied.

However, to prevent just about any person from seeking judicial interference in any
official policy or act with which he disagreed with, and thus hinders the activities of
governmental agencies engaged in public service, the United State Supreme Court laid
down the more stringent direct injury test in Ex Parte Levitt, later reaffirmed in
Tileston v. Ullman. The same Court ruled that for a private individual to invoke the
judicial power to determine the validity of an executive or legislative action, he must
show that he has sustained a direct injury as a result of that action, and it is
not sufficient that he has a general interest common to all members of the
public.
This Court adopted the direct injury test in our jurisdiction. In People v. Vera, it
held that the person who impugns the validity of a statute must have a personal and
substantial interest in the case such that he has sustained, or will sustain
direct injury as a result. The Vera doctrine was upheld in a litany of cases, such as,
Custodio v. President of the Senate, Manila Race Horse Trainers Association v. De la
Fuente, Pascual v. Secretary of Public Works and Anti-Chinese League of the
Philippines v. Felix. [Emphases included. Citations omitted]
Notwithstanding, the Court leans on the doctrine that the rule on standing is a matter
of procedure, hence, can be relaxed for nontraditional plaintiffs like ordinary citizens,
taxpayers, and legislators when the public interest so requires, such as when the matter
is of transcendental importance, of overreaching significance to society, or of
paramount public interest.[25]
Thus, in Coconut Oil Refiners Association, Inc. v. Torres,[26] the Court held that in
cases of paramount importance where serious constitutional questions are involved, the
standing requirements may be relaxed and a suit may be allowed to prosper even where
there is no direct injury to the party claiming the right of judicial review. In the first
Emergency Powers Cases,[27] ordinary citizens and taxpayers were allowed to question
the constitutionality of several executive orders although they had only an indirect and
general interest shared in common with the public.
The OSG claims that the determinants of transcendental importance[28] laid down in
CREBA v. ERC and Meralco[29] are non-existent in this case. The Court, however,
finds reason in Biraogos assertion that the petition covers matters of transcendental
importance to justify the exercise of jurisdiction by the Court. There are constitutional

issues in the petition which deserve the attention of this Court in view of their
seriousness, novelty and weight as precedents. Where the issues are of transcendental
and paramount importance not only to the public but also to the Bench and the Bar,
they should be resolved for the guidance of all.[30] Undoubtedly, the Filipino people are
more than interested to know the status of the Presidents first effort to bring about a
promised change to the country. The Court takes cognizance of the petition not due to
overwhelming political undertones that clothe the issue in the eyes of the public, but
because the Court stands firm in its oath to perform its constitutional duty to settle legal
controversies with overreaching significance to society.
http://sc.judiciary.gov.ph/jurisprudence/2010/december2010/192935.htm
Petitioner, through its three party-list representatives, contends that the issue of the
validity or invalidity of the Agreement carries with it constitutional significance and is of
paramount importance that justifies its standing. Cited in this regard is what is usually
referred to as the emergency powers cases,[12] in which ordinary citizens and taxpayers
were accorded the personality to question the constitutionality of executive issuances.
Locus standi is a right of appearance in a court of justice on a given question.[13]
Specifically, it is a partys personal and substantial interest in a case where he has
sustained or will sustain direct injury as a result[14] of the act being challenged, and
calls for more than just a generalized grievance.[15] The term interest refers to
material interest, as distinguished from one that is merely incidental.[16] The rationale
for requiring a party who challenges the validity of a law or international agreement to
allege such a personal stake in the outcome of the controversy is to assure the concrete
adverseness which sharpens the presentation of issues upon which the court so largely
depends for illumination of difficult constitutional questions.[17]
Locus standi, however, is merely a matter of procedure and it has been recognized that,
in some cases, suits are not brought by parties who have been personally injured by the
operation of a law or any other government act, but by concerned citizens, taxpayers, or
voters who actually sue in the public interest.[18] Consequently, in a catena of cases,
[19] this Court has invariably adopted a liberal stance on locus standi.

Going by the petition, petitioners representatives pursue the instant suit primarily as
concerned citizens raising issues of transcendental importance, both for the Republic
and the citizenry as a whole.
When suing as a citizen to question the validity of a law or other government action, a
petitioner needs to meet certain specific requirements before he can be clothed with
standing. Francisco, Jr. v. Nagmamalasakit na mga Manananggol ng mga
Manggagawang Pilipino, Inc.[20] expounded on this requirement, thus:
In a long line of cases, however, concerned citizens, taxpayers and legislators when
specific requirements have been met have been given standing by this Court.
When suing as a citizen, the interest of the petitioner assailing the constitutionality of a
statute must be direct and personal. He must be able to show, not only that the law or
any government act is invalid, but also that he sustained or is in imminent danger of
sustaining some direct injury as a result of its enforcement, and not merely that he
suffers thereby in some indefinite way. It must appear that the person complaining has
been or is about to be denied some right or privilege to which he is lawfully entitled or
that he is about to be subjected to some burdens or penalties by reason of the statute or
act complained of. In fine, when the proceeding involves the assertion of a public right,
the mere fact that he is a citizen satisfies the requirement of personal interest.[21]
In the case at bar, petitioners representatives have complied with the qualifying
conditions or specific requirements exacted under the locus standi rule. As citizens,
their interest in the subject matter of the petition is direct and personal. At the very
least, their assertions questioning the Agreement are made of a public right, i.e., to
ascertain that the Agreement did not go against established national policies, practices,
and obligations bearing on the States obligation to the community of nations.
At any event, the primordial importance to Filipino citizens in general of the issue at
hand impels the Court to brush aside the procedural barrier posed by the traditional
requirement of locus standi, as we have done in a long line of earlier cases, notably in
the old but oft-cited emergency powers cases[22] and Kilosbayan v. Guingona, Jr.[23]
In cases of transcendental importance, we wrote again in Bayan v. Zamora,[24] The
Court may relax the standing requirements and allow a suit to prosper even where there
is no direct injury to the party claiming the right of judicial review.