Case Digest (G.R. No. L-29646)
Facts:
Mayor Antonio J. Villegas v. Hiu Chiong Tsai Pao Ho and Judge Francisco Arca, G.R. No. L-29646, November 10, 1978, the Supreme Court En Banc, Fernandez, J., writing for the Court.The City of Manila Municipal Board passed City Ordinance No. 6537 on February 22, 1968; it was signed by Mayor Antonio J. Villegas on March 27, 1968. The ordinance made it unlawful for any person not a Philippine citizen to be employed in specified occupations or to engage in business in the City of Manila without first securing an employment permit from the Mayor and paying a fee of P50. The ordinance exempted diplomats, participants in certain technical assistance programs, household workers, and unpaid members of religious orders. Violations were made punishable by imprisonment or fine (Section 4).
On May 4, 1968, private respondent Hiu Chiong Tsai Pao Ho, an alien employed in Manila, filed Civil Case No. 72797 in the Court of First Instance (Branch I) of Manila seeking a preliminary injunction to restrain enforcement of Ordinance No. 6537 and a declaration that the ordinance was null and void. He challenged the ordinance on three grounds: (1) as a revenue measure it violated the rule of uniformity in taxation; (2) as a police-power measure it unlawfully delegated legislative power by imposing a flat P50 permit fee without standards; and (3) it was arbitrary and violative of due process and equal protection by depriving aliens of means of livelihood.
On May 24, 1968 the trial court issued a writ of preliminary injunction; on September 17, 1968 respondent Judge Francisco Arca rendered judgment declaring Ordinance No. 6537 null and void and made the preliminary injunction permanent.
Challenging that judgment, Mayor Villegas filed the present petition for certiorari on March 27, 1969, assigning errors that the trial court erred in ruling...(Pro-only)
Issues:
- Did Ordinance No. 6537 violate the rule of uniformity in taxation?
- Did Ordinance No. 6537 constitute an unlawful delegation of legislative power by failing to prescribe standards to guide the Mayor's discretion?
- Did Ordinance No. 6537 violate the due process and equal protection clauses of the Constitution by arbitrarily depriving aliens...(Pro-only)
Ruling:
- (Pro-only)
Ratio:
- (Pro-only)
Doctrine:
- (Pro-only)