Case Digest (G.R. No. 95770)
Facts:
Ebralinag v. The Division Superintendent of Schools of Cebu, G.R. Nos. 95770 and 95887, December 29, 1995, Supreme Court En Banc, Kapunan, J., writing for the Court.
Petitioners in the consolidated matters were numerous minor public school pupils who were members of the Jehovah’s Witnesses and who, represented by their parents, had been expelled from Cebu public schools for refusing to salute the flag, sing the national anthem and recite the patriotic pledge as required by Republic Act No. 1265 (July 11, 1955) and Department Order No. 8 (July 21, 1955). Respondents were the Division Superintendent of Schools of Cebu and district supervisors Manuel F. Biongcog and Antonio A. Sangutan.
Chronology: pursuant to RA 1265 and implementing DECS regulations, school officials expelled members of the sect for noncompliance with flag-ceremony requirements. In 1959 this Court in Gerona v. Secretary of Education upheld such expulsions, holding the flag salute secular in character. The children (through their parents) obtained relief when this Court, in an earlier judgment reported at 219 SCRA 256 (March 1, 1993) (the first Ebralinag decision), re-examined Gerona and annulled the expulsions as violative of the Free Exercise Clause and the right to education under the 1987 Constitution. The public respondents (the State, through the Solicitor General) moved for reconsideration of that March 1, 1993 judgment, arguing that the Court’s accommodation granted improper preferential treatment to a religious minority in violation of the Establishment Clause and the Equal Protection Clause, that the Court should adopt a neutral stance as in Gerona, and that the State’s interest in inculcating patriotism could justify the regulation under the O’Brien test.
The present En Banc resolution denied the State’s Motion for Reconsideration, thereby leaving intact the Court’s earlier annulment of the expulsion orders. The Court’s opinion considered precedents including West Virginia v. Barnette, Sherbert v. Verner, U.S. v. Eichman, and Texas v. Johnson...(Pro-only)
Issues:
- Should the Court grant the State’s Motion for Reconsideration and recall or modify the Court’s March 1, 1993 decision annulling the expulsion orders?
- Does granting accommodation to the Jehovah’s Witnesses by exempting them from compulsory flag-salute requirements violate the Establishment Clause or the Equal Protection Clause of the 1987 Constitution?
- Do compulsory flag-salute requirements (and the expulsions enforced for refusal), as applied to minor students who object on religious grounds, violate the Free Exercise Clause and the constitutional right to education, and can the Sta...(Pro-only)
Ruling:
- (Pro-only)
Ratio:
- (Pro-only)
Doctrine:
- (Pro-only)