WILLIAMS (1940) The Chairman of the National Traffic Commission on
July 18, 1940 recommended to the Director of Public [J. Laurel] Works with the approval of the Secretary of Public Works the adoption of thethemeasure proposed in the SUMMARY AND DOCTRINE resolution aforementioned in pursuance of the provisions of theCommonwealth Act No. 548 which The National Traffic Commission recommended authorizes said Director with the approval from the to the Director of Public Works and to the Secretary of the Public Works and Communication to Secretary of Public Works and Communication promulgate rules and regulations to regulate and that animal-drawn vehicles be prohibited from control the use of and traffic on national roads. passing along Rosario and Rizal Sreets for a period of one year from the date of the opening of On August 2, 1940, the Director recommended to the Colgante Bridge. It was subsequently passed and Secretary the approval of the recommendations made thereafter enforced by the Manila mayor and the by the Chairman of the National Traffic Commission with modifications. The Secretary of Public Works acting chief of police. approved the recommendations on August 10,1940. Maximo Calalang, as a citizen and a taxpayer The Mayor of Manila and the Acting Chief of Police of filed a petition for prohibiton before the SC Manila have enforced and caused to be enforced the rules and regulation. As a consequence, all animal- averring that the rules being implemented drawn vehicles are not allowed to pass and pick up infringe upon the constitutional precept on the passengers in the places above mentioned to the promotion of social justice to insure the well- detriment not only of their owners but of the riding being and economic security of all people and public as well. that it constitutes unlawful interference with legitimate business or trade and abridge the right Maximo Calalang, in his capacity as a private citizen to personal liberty and freedom of locomotion. and as a taxpayer of Manila, brought before the Court a petition for a writ of prohibition, averring that the The Supreme Court denied the petition for rules and regulations infringe upon constitutional prohibition saying that it was a valid exercise of precept on the promotion of social justice to insure the the state’s police power and that the promotion of well-being and economic security of all people and social justice is to be achieved not through a that it constitutes unlawful interference with legitimate mistaken sympathy towards any given group. business or trade and abridge the right to personal The Court said that social justice is the promotion liberty and freedom of locomotion. of the welfare of all people. It is neither communism, despotism, nor atomism, nor II. ISSUES: anarchy but the humanization of laws and the 1) Whether the rules and regulations promulgated equalization of social and economic forces by the by the respondents constitute an unlawful state so that justice in its rational and objectively inference with legitimate business or trade and secular conception may at least be abridged the right to personal liberty and freedom approximated. of locomotion?
2) Whether the rules and regulations complained
of infringe upon the constitutional precept I. FACTS: regarding the promotion of social justice to insure the well-being and economic security of all the The National Traffic Commission, in its resolution of people? July 17, 1940, resolved to recommend to the Director of the Public Works and to the Secretary of Public III. RATIO: Works and Communications that animal-drawn vehicles be prohibited from passing along the 1) No. The promulgation of the Act aims to following for a period of one year from the date of the promote safe transit upon and avoid obstructions opening of the Colgante Bridge to traffic: on national roads in the interest and convenience of the public. In enacting said law, the National 1) Rosario Street extending from Plaza Calderon de la Assembly was prompted by considerations of Barca to Dasmariñas Street from 7:30Am to 12:30 pm public convenience and welfare. It was inspired and from 1:30 pm to 530 pm; and by the desire to relieve congestion of traffic, which is a menace to the public safety. Public 2) along Rizal Avenue extending from the railroad welfare lies at the bottom of the promulgation of crossing at Antipolo Street to Echague Street from 7 the said law and the state in order to promote the am to 11pm general welfare may interfere with personal liberty, with property, and with business and occupations. Persons and property may be subject to all kinds of restraints and burdens in order to secure the general comfort, health, and prosperity of the State. To this fundamental aims of the government, the rights of the individual are subordinated. Liberty is a blessing which should not be made to prevail over authority because society will fall into anarchy. Neither should authority be made to prevail over liberty because then the individual will fall into slavery. The paradox lies in the fact that the apparent curtailment of liberty is precisely the very means of insuring its preserving.
2) No. Social justice is “neither communism, nor
despotism, nor atomism, nor anarchy,” but the humanization of laws and the equalization of social and economic forces by the State so that justice in its rational and objectively secular conception may at least be approximated. Social justice means the promotion of the welfare of all the people, the adoption by the Government of measures calculated to insure economic stability of all the competent elements of society, through the maintenance of a proper economic and social equilibrium in the interrelations of the members of the community, constitutionally, through the adoption of measures legally justifiable, or extra- constitutionally, through the exercise of powers underlying the existence of all governments on the time-honored principles of salus populi est suprema lex.
Social justice must be founded on the recognition
of the necessity of interdependence among divers and diverse units of a society and of the protection that should be equally and evenly extended to all groups as a combined force in our social and economic life, consistent with the fundamental and paramount objective of the state of promoting health, comfort and quiet of all persons, and of bringing about “the greatest good to the greatest number.”
IV. DISPOSITIVE:
The writ of prohibition prayed for is hereby DENIED,