In Re Cunanan

IN RE CUNANAN
Facts:
This is the Bar Flunkers Act of 1953 case.
As per the Rules of Court. A bar candidate must have a general average of 75% in all subjects without
failing below 50% in any subject.
In spite of this, the court passed and admitted to the bar those candidates who had obtained an average
of only:
72% in 1946
69% in 1947
70% in 1948
74% in 1949
In 1950 to 53, the 74% was raised to 75%
A few candidates who missed the above marks set by the courts approached Congress. Congress made
a bill, which was allowed by the president to become a law without his signature. This is RA 972.
Pursuant to the law in question, those who, without a grade below 50 per cent in any subject, have
obtained a general average of 69.5 per cent in the bar examinations in 1946 to 1951, 70.5 per cent in
1952, 71.5 per cent in 1953, and those will obtain 72.5 per cent in 1954, and 73.5 per cent in 1955, will
be permitted to take and subscribe the corresponding oath of office as members of the Bar,
notwithstanding that the rules require a minimum general average of 75 per cent, which has been
invariably followed since 1950.
A breakdown of the numbers is on page 538.
The additional candidates who want to be admitted claim that they suffered from insufficiency of
reading materials and of inadequacy of preparation.
Issue:
W/N RA 972 is valid.
Held:
RA 972 is contrary to public interest because it qualifies 1,094 law graduates who confessedly had
inadequate preparation for the practice of the profession. The public interest demands of the legal
profession, adequate preparation and efficiency, precisely more so as legal problems evolved by the
times become more difficult.
In decreeing that bar candidates who obtained in the bar examinations of 1946 to 1952, a general
average of 70 per cent without falling below 50 per cent in any subject, be admitted in mass to the
practice of law, the disputed law is not a legislation; it is a judgment a judgment revoking those
promulgated by this Court during the years affecting the bar candidates concerned
Although the SC certainly can revoke these judgments even now, for justifiable reasons, it is no less
certain that only the SC, and not the legislative nor executive department, that may be so. Any attempt
on the part of any of these departments would be a clear usurpation of its functions, as in this case.
Congress may repeal, alter and supplement the rules promulgated by this court, but the authority and
responsibility over the admission, suspension, disbarment and reinstatement of attorneys-at-law and
their supervision remain vested in the Supreme Court.
Section 13, article VIII of the Constitution provides:

"Section 13.
The Supreme Court shall have the power to promulgate rules concerning
pleading, practice, and procedure in all courts, and the admission to the practice of law. Said
rules shall be uniform for all courts of the same grade and shall not diminish increase or modify
substantive rights. The existing laws on pleading, practice, and procedure are hereby repealed as
statutes, and are declared Rules of Courts, subject to the power of the Supreme Court to alter
and modify the same. The Congress shall have the power to repeal, alter, or supplement the rules
concerning pleading, practice, and procedure, and the admission to the practice of law in the
Philippines."
The Constitution has not conferred on Congress and the SC equal responsibilities concerning the
admission to the practice of law. The primary power and responsibility which the Constitution
recognizes continue to reside in the SC.
Had Congress found that this Court has not promulgated any rule on the matter, it would have nothing
over which to exercise the power granted to it.
The Constitution does not say nor mean that Congress may admit, suspend, disbar or reinstate directly
attorneys at law, or a determinate group of individuals to the practice of law. Its power is limited to
repeal, modify or supplement the existing rules on the matter, if according to its judgment the need for
a better service of the legal profession requires it. But this power does not relieve this Court of its
responsibility to admit, suspend, disbar and reinstate attorneys at law and supervise the practice of the
legal profession.
There is no motive stated by the authorities for the qualification in RA 972 because of this, the
classification is fatally defective.
1.
That (a) the portion of article 1 of Republic Act No. 972 referring to the examinations of 1946 to
1952, and (b) all of article 2 of said law are unconstitutional and, therefore, void and without force and
effect.
2.
That, for lack of unanimity in the eight Justices, that part of article 1 which refers to the
examinations subsequent to the approval of the law, that is from 1953 to 1955 inclusive, is valid and
shall continue to be in force, in conformity with section 10, article VII of the Constitution.
Consequently, (1) all the above-mentioned petitions of the candidates who failed in the examinations of
1946 to 1952 inclusive are denied, and (2) all candidates who in the examinations of 1953 obtained a
general average of 71.5 per cent or more, without having a grade below 50 per cent in any subject, are
considered as having passed, whether they have filed petitions for admission or not. After this decision
has become final, they shall be permitted to take and subscribe the corresponding oath of office as
members of the Bar on the date or dates that the Chief Justice may set.

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IN RE CUNANAN

Section 13, article VIII of the Constitution provides:

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