Law School Noob: [CASE DIGEST] Kilosbayan v. Ermita, (G.R.No.177721)

Tuesday, October 18, 2022

[CASE DIGEST] Kilosbayan v. Ermita, (G.R.No.177721)

July 3, 2007

FACTS:

This was a case filed by Kilosbayan, a civic organization, challenging the appointment of then-Mayor Jose de Venecia III of Ermita, Manila as Associate Justice of the Sandiganbayan.

Kilosbayan argued that de Venecia's appointment was unconstitutional because he was not a natural-born Filipino citizen. De Venecia was born in the United States to Filipino parents. He renounced his American citizenship in 1991, but Kilosbayan argued that this was not enough to make him a natural-born Filipino citizen.

The Supreme Court held that:

A natural-born Filipino citizen is a person who is born in the Philippines to Filipino parents.
A person who is born outside of the Philippines to Filipino parents is not a natural-born Filipino citizen, even if they renounce their foreign citizenship.
The appointment of a person who is not a natural-born Filipino citizen to a high government office is unconstitutional.

The Supreme Court agreed with Kilosbayan and struck down de Venecia's appointment as Associate Justice of the Sandiganbayan. The Court held that de Venecia was not a natural-born Filipino citizen because he was born outside of the Philippines to Filipino parents. The Court also held that de Venecia's renunciation of his American citizenship did not make him a natural-born Filipino citizen.

The decision in Kilosbayan v. Ermita is a significant decision that has implications for the definition of "natural-born Filipino citizen." The decision clarifies that a natural-born Filipino citizen is a person who is born in the Philippines to Filipino parents. This decision will likely be used to challenge the appointments of other persons who were born outside of the Philippines to Filipino parents.

LAW SCHOOL LIFE

The real score on law school and alcohol

Law school is so demanding an endeavor, no decent law student would want to deliberately skip clat asses for a tall glass of beer, no matter how deliciously ice cold such beverage is. It just isn't done. At all [. . .]

Should law students take a leave of absence until the COVID-19 pandemic ends?

For many, the abrupt shift to digital learning due to the pandemic is a novel concept that is particularly difficult to adjust to. This is more pronounced among law students, where daily physical interactions with classmates and professors are necessary in fostering a robust academic experience [. . .]

So you took the Bar Exams and failed. Now what?

Failing the Bar constitutes an abysmal point in any law graduate's life. It can trigger a lot of negative things, which is why it is very important that Bar examinees should have a support system to cling on to in the event of failure [. . .]

Bar review season pitfalls and tips to make reviewing for the Bar Exams less stressful

The Bar Exam review season is when reviewees try to conjur everything they have learned in law school and condense everything into neat mental folders easily retrievable when needed. Doing so requires focus, concentration, determination, and wise use of resources, particularly time and money [. . .]

The lowdown on law school entrance exams: Top 3 law schools in the Philippines

The top three law schools in the Philippines by reputation, quality of their alumni, and passing rate in the Bar exams are the College of Law of the University of the Philippines in Quezon City, the Ateneo School of Law in Makati, and the College of Law of the San Beda University in Manila. Each year these schools manage to attract graduates from all over the Philippines. As such, competition for slots in any of these schools is intense [. . .]

The Filipino law student's guide to scoring law textbooks on the cheap

Law books are often thick and heavy tomes of specialized legal information, mostly annotations of laws or statutes with a discussion of existing jurisprudence. They can be very intimidating. Even worse, they are bound to punch a gaping hole in your wallet [. . .]

To digest or not to digest -- that's the question

Relying on digests spares one the trouble of having to go through the case itself, identifying relevant facts, determining key issues, and analyzing the court's rationale in coming up with its decision [. . .]