G.R. No. 13678 - People vs Salaveria

On February 28, 1917, the municipal council of Orion, Bataan, enacted Ordinance No. 3, prohibiting the playing of the games “Panguingue, Manilla, Jung-kiang, Paris-paris, Poker, Tute, Burro, and Treinta-y-uno” on days other than Sundays and official holidays.
Penalties under the ordinance were fines of ₱10–₱200 for the houseowner (casero) and ₱5–₱200 for each gambler (jugador), or subsidiary imprisonment at ₱1 per day in case of insolvency.

Prudencio Salaveria, then Justice of the Peace of Orion, was found on the evening of March 8, 1917, playing panguingue at his own house with six guests—an activity not on a Sunday or legal holiday. The police seized playing cards, counters, a tray, and ₱2.07.
Salaveria was convicted in the Justice of the Peace court and again in the Court of First Instance of Bataan. He appealed to the Supreme Court, asserting five assignments of error, primarily challenging the validity of the municipal ordinance.

Whether the ordinance is authorized under the Administrative Code’s mandate to “prohibit and penalize … gambling” (Sec. 2188[j]) and Act No. 1757’s definition of gambling as games of chance for money.
Whether panguingue, not definitively a game of chance under existing law, falls within the municipal power to prohibit gambling.

Whether, aside from express gambling powers, the municipal council could enact the ordinance under the general welfare clause (Administrative Code Sec. 2184) empowering regulations “necessary and proper … to improve the morals, peace, good order … of the municipality.”
Whether the ordinance is reasonable, non-repugnant to national law, and consistent with due-process guarantees.