Republic of the Philippines

SUPREME COURT
Manila
SECOND DIVISION
G.R. No. 100113 September 3, 1991
RENATO CAYETANO, petitioner,
vs.
CHRISTIAN MONSOD, HON. JOVITO R.
SALONGA, COMMISSION ON APPOINTMENT,
and HON. GUILLERMO CARAGUE, in his capacity
as Secretary of Budget and
Management, respondents.
Renato L. Cayetano for and in his own behalf.
Sabina E. Acut, Jr. and Mylene Garcia-Albano cocounsel for petitioner.

PARAS, J.:p
We are faced here with a controversy of far-reaching
proportions. While ostensibly only legal issues are
involved, the Court's decision in this case would
indubitably have a profound effect on the political
aspect of our national existence.
The 1987 Constitution provides in Section 1 (1),
Article IX-C:
There shall be a Commission on
Elections composed of a Chairman
and six Commissioners who shall
be natural-born citizens of the
Philippines and, at the time of their
appointment, at least thirty-five
years of age, holders of a college
degree, and must not have been
candidates for any elective position
in the immediately preceding
-elections. However, a majority
thereof, including the Chairman,
shall be members of the Philippine
Bar who have been engaged in the
practice of law for at least ten
years. (Emphasis supplied)
The aforequoted provision is patterned after Section
l(l), Article XII-C of the 1973 Constitution which
similarly provides:

There shall be an independent Commission on

Elections composed of a Chairman and eight
Commissioners who shall be natural-born citizens of
the Philippines and, at the time of their appointment,
at least thirty-five years of age and holders of a
college degree. However, a majority thereof,
including the Chairman, shall be members of the
Philippine Bar who have been engaged in the
practice of law for at least ten years.' (Emphasis
supplied)
Regrettably, however, there seems to be no
jurisprudence as to what constitutes practice of law
as a legal qualification to an appointive office.
Black defines "practice of law" as:
The rendition of services requiring
the knowledge and the application
of legal principles and technique to
serve the interest of another with
his consent. It is not limited to
appearing in court, or advising and
assisting in the conduct of
litigation, but embraces the
preparation of pleadings, and other
papers incident to actions and
special proceedings, conveyancing,
the preparation of legal
instruments of all kinds, and the
giving of all legal advice to clients.
It embraces all advice to clients
and all actions taken for them in
matters connected with the law. An
attorney engages in the practice of
law by maintaining an office where
he is held out to be-an attorney,
using a letterhead describing
himself as an attorney, counseling
clients in legal matters, negotiating
with opposing counsel about
pending litigation, and fixing and
collecting fees for services
rendered by his associate. (Black's
Law Dictionary, 3rd ed.)
The practice of law is not limited to the conduct of
cases in court. (Land Title Abstract and Trust Co. v.
Dworken, 129 Ohio St. 23, 193 N.E. 650) A person is
also considered to be in the practice of law when he:
... for valuable consideration
engages in the business of advising
person, firms, associations or
corporations as to their rights
under the law, or appears in a

representative capacity as an
advocate in proceedings pending or
prospective, before any court,
commissioner, referee, board,
body, committee, or commission
constituted by law or authorized to
settle controversies and there, in
such representative capacity
performs any act or acts for the
purpose of obtaining or defending
the rights of their clients under the
law. Otherwise stated, one who, in
a representative capacity, engages
in the business of advising clients
as to their rights under the law, or
while so engaged performs any act
or acts either in court or outside of
court for that purpose, is engaged
in the practice of law. (State ex.
rel. Mckittrick v..C.S. Dudley and
Co., 102 S.W. 2d 895, 340 Mo.
852)
This Court in the case of Philippine Lawyers
Association v.Agrava, (105 Phil. 173,176-177)
stated:
The practice of law is not limited to
the conduct of cases or litigation in
court; it embraces the preparation
of pleadings and other papers
incident to actions and special
proceedings, the management of
such actions and proceedings on
behalf of clients before judges and
courts, and in addition, conveying.
In general, all advice to clients,
and all action taken for them in
matters connected with the
law incorporation services,
assessment and condemnation
services contemplating an
appearance before a judicial body,
the foreclosure of a mortgage,
enforcement of a creditor's claim in
bankruptcy and insolvency
proceedings, and conducting
proceedings in attachment, and in
matters of estate and guardianship
have been held to constitute law
practice, as do the preparation and
drafting of legal
instruments, where the work done
involves the determination by the
trained legal mind of the legal
effect of facts and conditions. (5

Am. Jr. p. 262, 263). (Emphasis

supplied)
Practice of law under modem
conditions consists in no small part
of work performed outside of any
court and having no immediate
relation to proceedings in court. It
embraces conveyancing, the giving
of legal advice on a large variety of
subjects, and the preparation and
execution of legal instruments
covering an extensive field of
business and trust relations and
other affairs. Although these
transactions may have no direct
connection with court proceedings,
they are always subject to become
involved in litigation. They require
in many aspects a high degree of
legal skill, a wide experience with
men and affairs, and great capacity
for adaptation to difficult and
complex situations. These
customary functions of an attorney
or counselor at law bear an
intimate relation to the
administration of justice by the
courts. No valid distinction, so far
as concerns the question set forth
in the order, can be drawn between
that part of the work of the lawyer
which involves appearance in court
and that part which involves advice
and drafting of instruments in his
office. It is of importance to the
welfare of the public that these
manifold customary functions be
performed by persons possessed of
adequate learning and skill, of
sound moral character, and acting
at all times under the heavy trust
obligations to clients which rests
upon all attorneys.
(Moran, Comments on the Rules of
Court, Vol. 3 [1953 ed.] , p. 665666, citing In re Opinion of the
Justices [Mass.], 194 N.E. 313,
quoted in Rhode Is. Bar Assoc. v.
Automobile Service Assoc. [R.I.]
179 A. 139,144). (Emphasis ours)
The University of the Philippines Law Center in
conducting orientation briefing for new lawyers
(1974-1975) listed the dimensions of the practice of
law in even broader terms as advocacy, counselling
and public service.

One may be a practicing attorney

in following any line of employment
in the profession. If what he does
exacts knowledge of the law and is
of a kind usual for attorneys
engaging in the active practice of
their profession, and he follows
some one or more lines of
employment such as this he is a
practicing attorney at law within
the meaning of the statute. (Barr
v. Cardell, 155 NW 312)
Practice of law means any activity, in or out of court,
which requires the application of law, legal
procedure, knowledge, training and experience. "To
engage in the practice of law is to perform those acts
which are characteristics of the profession. Generally,
to practice law is to give notice or render any kind of
service, which device or service requires the use in
any degree of legal knowledge or skill." (111 ALR 23)
The following records of the 1986 Constitutional
Commission show that it has adopted a liberal
interpretation of the term "practice of law."
MR. FOZ. Before
we suspend the
session, may I
make a
manifestation
which I forgot to
do during our
review of the
provisions on the
Commission on
Audit. May I be
allowed to make
a very brief
statement?
THE PRESIDING
OFFICER (Mr.
Jamir).
The
Commissioner
will please
proceed.
MR. FOZ. This
has to do with
the qualifications
of the members
of the
Commission on

Audit. Among
others, the
qualifications
provided for by
Section I is that
"They must be
Members of the
Philippine Bar"
I am quoting
from the
provision "who
have been
engaged in the
practice of law
for at least ten
years".
To avoid any misunderstanding
which would result in excluding
members of the Bar who are now
employed in the COA or
Commission on Audit, we would
like to make the clarification that
this provision on qualifications
regarding members of the Bar
does not necessarily refer or
involve actual practice of law
outside the COA We have to
interpret this to mean that as long
as the lawyers who are employed
in the COA are using their legal
knowledge or legal talent in their
respective work within COA, then
they are qualified to be considered
for appointment as members or
commissioners, even chairman, of
the Commission on Audit.
This has been discussed by the
Committee on Constitutional
Commissions and Agencies and we
deem it important to take it up on
the floor so that this interpretation
may be made available whenever
this provision on the qualifications
as regards members of the
Philippine Bar engaging in the
practice of law for at least ten
years is taken up.
MR. OPLE. Will
Commissioner
Foz yield to just
one question.

MR. FOZ. Yes, Mr.

Presiding Officer.

MR. OPLE. Thank

you.

MR. OPLE. Is he,

in effect, saying
that service in
the COA by a
lawyer is
equivalent to the
requirement of a
law practice that
is set forth in the
Article on the
Commission on
Audit?

... ( Emphasis
supplied)

MR. FOZ. We
must consider
the fact that the
work of COA,
although it is
auditing, will
necessarily
involve legal
work; it will
involve legal
work. And,
therefore,
lawyers who are
employed in COA
now would have
the necessary
qualifications in
accordance with
the Provision on
qualifications
under our
provisions on the
Commission on
Audit. And,
therefore, the
answer is yes.
MR. OPLE. Yes.
So that the
construction
given to this is
that this is
equivalent to the
practice of law.
MR. FOZ. Yes,
Mr. Presiding
Officer.

Section 1(1), Article IX-D of the 1987 Constitution,

provides, among others, that the Chairman and two
Commissioners of the Commission on Audit (COA)
should either be certified public accountants with not
less than ten years of auditing practice, or members
of the Philippine Bar who have been engaged in
the practice of law for at least ten years. (emphasis
supplied)
Corollary to this is the term "private practitioner" and
which is in many ways synonymous with the word
"lawyer." Today, although many lawyers do not
engage in private practice, it is still a fact that the
majority of lawyers are private practitioners. (Gary
Munneke, Opportunities in Law Careers [VGM Career
Horizons: Illinois], [1986], p. 15).
At this point, it might be helpful to define private
practice. The term, as commonly understood, means
"an individual or organization engaged in the
business of delivering legal services." (Ibid.).
Lawyers who practice alone are often called "sole
practitioners." Groups of lawyers are called "firms."
The firm is usually a partnership and members of the
firm are the partners. Some firms may be organized
as professional corporations and the members called
shareholders. In either case, the members of the
firm are the experienced attorneys. In most firms,
there are younger or more inexperienced salaried
attorneyscalled "associates." (Ibid.).
The test that defines law practice by looking to
traditional areas of law practice is essentially
tautologous, unhelpful defining the practice of law as
that which lawyers do. (Charles W. Wolfram, Modern
Legal Ethics [West Publishing Co.: Minnesota, 1986],
p. 593). The practice of law is defined as the
performance of any acts . . . in or out of court,
commonly understood to be the practice of law.
(State Bar Ass'n v. Connecticut Bank & Trust Co.,
145 Conn. 222, 140 A.2d 863, 870 [1958]
[quoting Grievance Comm. v. Payne, 128 Conn. 325,
22 A.2d 623, 626 [1941]). Because lawyers perform
almost every function known in the commercial and
governmental realm, such a definition would
obviously be too global to be workable.(Wolfram, op.
cit.).
The appearance of a lawyer in litigation in behalf of a
client is at once the most publicly familiar role for

lawyers as well as an uncommon role for the average

lawyer. Most lawyers spend little time in courtrooms,
and a large percentage spend their entire practice
without litigating a case. (Ibid., p. 593).
Nonetheless, many lawyers do continue to litigate
and the litigating lawyer's role colors much of both
the public image and the self perception of the legal
profession. (Ibid.).
In this regard thus, the dominance of litigation in the
public mind reflects history, not reality. (Ibid.). Why
is this so? Recall that the late Alexander SyCip, a
corporate lawyer, once articulated on the importance
of a lawyer as a business counselor in this wise:
"Even today, there are still uninformed laymen
whose concept of an attorney is one who principally
tries cases before the courts. The members of the
bench and bar and the informed laymen such as
businessmen, know that in most developed societies
today, substantially more legal work is transacted in
law offices than in the courtrooms. General
practitioners of law who do both litigation and nonlitigation work also know that in most cases they find
themselves spending more time doing what [is]
loosely desccribe[d] as business counseling than in
trying cases. The business lawyer has been described
as the planner, the diagnostician and the trial lawyer,
the surgeon. I[t] need not [be] stress[ed] that in
law, as in medicine, surgery should be avoided
where internal medicine can be effective." (Business
Star, "Corporate Finance Law," Jan. 11, 1989, p. 4).
In the course of a working day the average general
practitioner wig engage in a number of legal tasks,
each involving different legal doctrines, legal skills,
legal processes, legal institutions, clients, and other
interested parties. Even the increasing numbers of
lawyers in specialized practice wig usually perform at
least some legal services outside their specialty. And
even within a narrow specialty such as tax practice,
a lawyer will shift from one legal task or role such as
advice-giving to an importantly different one such as
representing a client before an administrative
agency. (Wolfram, supra, p. 687).
By no means will most of this work involve litigation,
unless the lawyer is one of the relatively rare types
a litigator who specializes in this work to the
exclusion of much else. Instead, the work will require
the lawyer to have mastered the full range of
traditional lawyer skills of client counselling, advicegiving, document drafting, and negotiation. And
increasingly lawyers find that the new skills of
evaluation and mediation are both effective for many
clients and a source of employment. (Ibid.).

Most lawyers will engage in non-litigation legal work

or in litigation work that is constrained in very
important ways, at least theoretically, so as to
remove from it some of the salient features of
adversarial litigation. Of these special roles, the most
prominent is that of prosecutor. In some lawyers'
work the constraints are imposed both by the nature
of the client and by the way in which the lawyer is
organized into a social unit to perform that work. The
most common of these roles are those of corporate
practice and government legal service. (Ibid.).
In several issues of the Business Star, a business
daily, herein below quoted are emerging trends in
corporate law practice, a departure from the
traditional concept of practice of law.
We are experiencing today what
truly may be called a revolutionary
transformation in corporate law
practice. Lawyers and other
professional groups, in particular
those members participating in
various legal-policy decisional
contexts, are finding that
understanding the major emerging
trends in corporation law is
indispensable to intelligent
decision-making.
Constructive adjustment to major
corporate problems of today
requires an accurate understanding
of the nature and implications of
the corporate law research function
accompanied by an accelerating
rate of information accumulation.
The recognition of the need for
such improved corporate legal
policy formulation, particularly
"model-making" and "contingency
planning," has impressed upon us
the inadequacy of traditional
procedures in many decisional
contexts.
In a complex legal problem the
mass of information to be
processed, the sorting and
weighing of significant conditional
factors, the appraisal of major
trends, the necessity of estimating
the consequences of given courses
of action, and the need for fast
decision and response in situations
of acute danger have prompted the

use of sophisticated concepts of

information flow theory,
operational analysis, automatic
data processing, and electronic
computing equipment.
Understandably, an improved
decisional structure must stress the
predictive component of the policymaking process, wherein a
"model", of the decisional context
or a segment thereof is developed
to test projected alternative
courses of action in terms of
futuristic effects flowing therefrom.
Although members of the legal
profession are regularly engaged in
predicting and projecting the
trends of the law, the subject of
corporate finance law has received
relatively little organized and
formalized attention in the
philosophy of advancing corporate
legal education. Nonetheless, a
cross-disciplinary approach to legal
research has become a vital
necessity.
Certainly, the general orientation
for productive contributions by
those trained primarily in the law
can be improved through an early
introduction to multi-variable
decisional context and the various
approaches for handling such
problems. Lawyers, particularly
with either a master's or doctorate
degree in business administration
or management, functioning at the
legal policy level of decisionmaking now have some
appreciation for the concepts and
analytical techniques of other
professions which are currently
engaged in similar types of
complex decision-making.
Truth to tell, many situations
involving corporate finance
problems would require the
services of an astute attorney
because of the complex legal
implications that arise from each
and every necessary step in
securing and maintaining the
business issue raised. (Business

Star, "Corporate Finance Law," Jan.

11, 1989, p. 4).
In our litigation-prone country, a
corporate lawyer is assiduously
referred to as the "abogado de
campanilla." He is the "big-time"
lawyer, earning big money and with
a clientele composed of the
tycoons and magnates of business
and industry.
Despite the growing number of
corporate lawyers, many people
could not explain what it is that a
corporate lawyer does. For one, the
number of attorneys employed by
a single corporation will vary with
the size and type of the
corporation. Many smaller and
some large corporations farm out
all their legal problems to private
law firms. Many others have inhouse counsel only for certain
matters. Other corporation have a
staff large enough to handle most
legal problems in-house.
A corporate lawyer, for all intents
and purposes, is a lawyer who
handles the legal affairs of a
corporation. His areas of concern
or jurisdiction may include, inter
alia: corporate legal research, tax
laws research, acting out as
corporate secretary (in board
meetings), appearances in both
courts and other adjudicatory
agencies (including the Securities
and Exchange Commission), and in
other capacities which require an
ability to deal with the law.
At any rate, a corporate lawyer
may assume responsibilities other
than the legal affairs of the
business of the corporation he is
representing. These include such
matters as determining policy and
becoming involved in management.
( Emphasis supplied.)
In a big company, for example, one
may have a feeling of being
isolated from the action, or not
understanding how one's work

actually fits into the work of the

orgarnization. This can be
frustrating to someone who needs
to see the results of his work first
hand. In short, a corporate lawyer
is sometimes offered this fortune
to be more closely involved in the
running of the business.
Moreover, a corporate lawyer's
services may sometimes be
engaged by a multinational
corporation (MNC). Some large
MNCs provide one of the few
opportunities available to corporate
lawyers to enter the international
law field. After all, international law
is practiced in a relatively small
number of companies and law
firms. Because working in a foreign
country is perceived by many as
glamorous, tills is an area coveted
by corporate lawyers. In most
cases, however, the overseas jobs
go to experienced attorneys while
the younger attorneys do their
"international practice" in law
libraries. (Business Star,
"Corporate Law Practice," May
25,1990, p. 4).
This brings us to the inevitable,
i.e., the role of the lawyer in the
realm of finance. To borrow the
lines of Harvard-educated lawyer
Bruce Wassertein, to wit: "A bad
lawyer is one who fails to spot
problems, a good lawyer is one
who perceives the difficulties, and
the excellent lawyer is one who
surmounts them." (Business Star,
"Corporate Finance Law," Jan. 11,
1989, p. 4).
Today, the study of corporate law
practice direly needs a "shot in the
arm," so to speak. No longer are
we talking of the traditional law
teaching method of confining the
subject study to the Corporation
Code and the Securities Code but
an incursion as well into the
intertwining modern management
issues.

Such corporate legal management

issues deal primarily with three (3)
types of learning: (1) acquisition of
insights into current advances
which are of particular significance
to the corporate counsel; (2) an
introduction to usable disciplinary
skins applicable to a corporate
counsel's management
responsibilities; and (3) a devotion
to the organization and
management of the legal function
itself.
These three subject areas may be
thought of as intersecting circles,
with a shared area linking them.
Otherwise known as "intersecting
managerial jurisprudence," it forms
a unifying theme for the corporate
counsel's total learning.
Some current advances in behavior
and policy sciences affect the
counsel's role. For that matter, the
corporate lawyer reviews the
globalization process, including the
resulting strategic repositioning
that the firms he provides counsel
for are required to make, and the
need to think about a
corporation's; strategy at multiple
levels. The salience of the nationstate is being reduced as firms deal
both with global multinational
entities and simultaneously with
sub-national governmental units.
Firms increasingly collaborate not
only with public entities but with
each other often with those who
are competitors in other arenas.
Also, the nature of the lawyer's
participation in decision-making
within the corporation is rapidly
changing. The modem corporate
lawyer has gained a new role as a
stakeholder in some cases
participating in the organization
and operations of governance
through participation on boards
and other decision-making roles.
Often these new patterns develop
alongside existing legal institutions
and laws are perceived as barriers.
These trends are complicated as

corporations organize for global

operations. ( Emphasis supplied)
The practising lawyer of today is
familiar as well with governmental
policies toward the promotion and
management of technology. New
collaborative arrangements for
promoting specific technologies or
competitiveness more generally
require approaches from industry
that differ from older, more
adversarial relationships and
traditional forms of seeking to
influence governmental policies.
And there are lessons to be learned
from other countries. In
Europe, Esprit, Eureka and Race ar
e examples of collaborative efforts
between governmental and
business Japan's MITI is world
famous. (Emphasis supplied)
Following the concept of boundary
spanning, the office of the
Corporate Counsel comprises a
distinct group within the
managerial structure of all kinds of
organizations. Effectiveness of both
long-term and temporary groups
within organizations has been
found to be related to indentifiable
factors in the group-context
interaction such as the groups
actively revising their knowledge of
the environment coordinating work
with outsiders, promoting team
achievements within the
organization. In general, such
external activities are better
predictors of team performance
than internal group processes.
In a crisis situation, the legal
managerial capabilities of the
corporate lawyer vis-a-vis the
managerial mettle of corporations
are challenged. Current research is
seeking ways both to anticipate
effective managerial procedures
and to understand relationships of
financial liability and insurance
considerations. (Emphasis
supplied)

Regarding the skills to apply by the

corporate counsel, three factors
are apropos:
First System Dynamics. The field of
systems dynamics has been found
an effective tool for new
managerial thinking regarding both
planning and pressing immediate
problems. An understanding of the
role of feedback loops, inventory
levels, and rates of flow, enable
users to simulate all sorts of
systematic problems physical,
economic, managerial, social, and
psychological. New programming
techniques now make the system
dynamics principles more
accessible to managers
including corporate counsels.
(Emphasis supplied)
Second Decision Analysis. This
enables users to make better
decisions involving complexity and
uncertainty. In the context of a law
department, it can be used to
appraise the settlement value of
litigation, aid in negotiation
settlement, and minimize the cost
and risk involved in managing a
portfolio of cases. (Emphasis
supplied)
Third Modeling for Negotiation
Management. Computer-based
models can be used directly by
parties and mediators in all lands
of negotiations. All integrated set
of such tools provide coherent and
effective negotiation support,
including hands-on on instruction
in these techniques. A simulation
case of an international joint
venture may be used to illustrate
the point.
[Be this as it may,] the
organization and management of
the legal function, concern three
pointed areas of consideration,
thus:
Preventive Lawyering. Planning by
lawyers requires special skills that
comprise a major part of the

general counsel's responsibilities.

They differ from those of remedial
law. Preventive lawyering is
concerned with minimizing the
risks of legal trouble and
maximizing legal rights for such
legal entities at that time when
transactional or similar facts are
being considered and made.
Managerial Jurisprudence. This is
the framework within which are
undertaken those activities of the
firm to which legal consequences
attach. It needs to be directly
supportive of this nation's evolving
economic and organizational fabric
as firms change to stay competitive
in a global, interdependent
environment. The practice and
theory of "law" is not adequate
today to facilitate the relationships
needed in trying to make a global
economy work.
Organization and Functioning of
the Corporate Counsel's Office. The
general counsel has emerged in the
last decade as one of the most
vibrant subsets of the legal
profession. The corporate counsel
hear responsibility for key aspects
of the firm's strategic issues,
including structuring its global
operations, managing improved
relationships with an increasingly
diversified body of employees,
managing expanded liability
exposure, creating new and varied
interactions with public decisionmakers, coping internally with
more complex make or by
decisions.
This whole exercise drives home
the thesis that knowing corporate
law is not enough to make one a
good general corporate counsel nor
to give him a full sense of how the
legal system shapes corporate
activities. And even if the corporate
lawyer's aim is not the understand
all of the law's effects on corporate
activities, he must, at the very
least, also gain a working
knowledge of the management
issues if only to be able to grasp

not only the basic legal

"constitution' or makeup of the
modem corporation. "Business
Star", "The Corporate Counsel,"
April 10, 1991, p. 4).
The challenge for lawyers (both of
the bar and the bench) is to have
more than a passing knowledge of
financial law affecting each aspect
of their work. Yet, many would
admit to ignorance of vast tracts of
the financial law territory. What
transpires next is a dilemma of
professional security: Will the
lawyer admit ignorance and risk
opprobrium?; or will he feign
understanding and risk exposure?
(Business Star, "Corporate Finance
law," Jan. 11, 1989, p. 4).
Respondent Christian Monsod was nominated by
President Corazon C. Aquino to the position of
Chairman of the COMELEC in a letter received by the
Secretariat of the Commission on Appointments on
April 25, 1991. Petitioner opposed the nomination
because allegedly Monsod does not possess the
required qualification of having been engaged in the
practice of law for at least ten years.
On June 5, 1991, the Commission on Appointments
confirmed the nomination of Monsod as Chairman of
the COMELEC. On June 18, 1991, he took his oath of
office. On the same day, he assumed office as
Chairman of the COMELEC.
Challenging the validity of the confirmation by the
Commission on Appointments of Monsod's
nomination, petitioner as a citizen and taxpayer, filed
the instant petition for certiorari and Prohibition
praying that said confirmation and the consequent
appointment of Monsod as Chairman of the
Commission on Elections be declared null and void.
Atty. Christian Monsod is a member of the Philippine
Bar, having passed the bar examinations of 1960
with a grade of 86-55%. He has been a dues paying
member of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines
since its inception in 1972-73. He has also been
paying his professional license fees as lawyer for
more than ten years. (p. 124, Rollo)
After graduating from the College of Law (U.P.) and
having hurdled the bar, Atty. Monsod worked in the
law office of his father. During his stint in the World
Bank Group (1963-1970), Monsod worked as an

operations officer for about two years in Costa Rica

and Panama, which involved getting acquainted with
the laws of member-countries negotiating loans and
coordinating legal, economic, and project work of the
Bank. Upon returning to the Philippines in 1970, he
worked with the Meralco Group, served as chief
executive officer of an investment bank and
subsequently of a business conglomerate, and since
1986, has rendered services to various companies as
a legal and economic consultant or chief executive
officer. As former Secretary-General (1986) and
National Chairman (1987) of NAMFREL. Monsod's
work involved being knowledgeable in election law.
He appeared for NAMFREL in its accreditation
hearings before the Comelec. In the field of
advocacy, Monsod, in his personal capacity and as
former Co-Chairman of the Bishops Businessmen's
Conference for Human Development, has worked
with the under privileged sectors, such as the farmer
and urban poor groups, in initiating, lobbying for and
engaging in affirmative action for the agrarian
reform law and lately the urban land reform bill.
Monsod also made use of his legal knowledge as a
member of the Davide Commission, a quast judicial
body, which conducted numerous hearings (1990)
and as a member of the Constitutional Commission
(1986-1987), and Chairman of its Committee on
Accountability of Public Officers, for which he was
cited by the President of the Commission, Justice
Cecilia Muoz-Palma for "innumerable amendments
to reconcile government functions with individual
freedoms and public accountability and the party-list
system for the House of Representative. (pp. 128129 Rollo) ( Emphasis supplied)
Just a word about the work of a negotiating team of
which Atty. Monsod used to be a member.
In a loan agreement, for instance,
a negotiating panel acts as a team,
and which is adequately
constituted to meet the various
contingencies that arise during a
negotiation. Besides top officials of
the Borrower concerned, there are
the legal officer (such as the legal
counsel), the finance manager, and
an operations officer (such as an
official involved in negotiating the
contracts) who comprise the
members of the team. (Guillermo
V. Soliven, "Loan Negotiating
Strategies for Developing Country
Borrowers," Staff Paper No. 2,
Central Bank of the Philippines,
Manila, 1982, p. 11). (Emphasis
supplied)

After a fashion, the loan agreement

is like a country's Constitution; it
lays down the law as far as the
loan transaction is concerned.
Thus, the meat of any Loan
Agreement can be
compartmentalized into five (5)
fundamental parts: (1) business
terms; (2) borrower's
representation; (3) conditions of
closing; (4) covenants; and (5)
events of default. (Ibid., p. 13).
In the same vein, lawyers play an
important role in any debt
restructuring program. For aside
from performing the tasks of
legislative drafting and legal
advising, they score national
development policies as key factors
in maintaining their countries'
sovereignty. (Condensed from the
work paper, entitled "Wanted:
Development Lawyers for
Developing Nations," submitted by
L. Michael Hager, regional legal
adviser of the United States
Agency for International
Development, during the Session
on Law for the Development of
Nations at the Abidjan World
Conference in Ivory Coast,
sponsored by the World Peace
Through Law Center on August 2631, 1973). ( Emphasis supplied)
Loan concessions and
compromises, perhaps even more
so than purely renegotiation
policies, demand expertise in the
law of contracts, in legislation and
agreement drafting and in
renegotiation. Necessarily, a
sovereign lawyer may work with an
international business specialist or
an economist in the formulation of
a model loan agreement. Debt
restructuring contract agreements
contain such a mixture of technical
language that they should be
carefully drafted and signed only
with the advise of competent
counsel in conjunction with the
guidance of adequate technical
support personnel. (See
International Law Aspects of the
Philippine External Debts, an

unpublished dissertation, U.S.T.

Graduate School of Law, 1987, p.
321). ( Emphasis supplied)
A critical aspect of sovereign debt
restructuring/contract construction
is the set of terms and conditions
which determines the contractual
remedies for a failure to perform
one or more elements of the
contract. A good agreement must
not only define the responsibilities
of both parties, but must also state
the recourse open to either party
when the other fails to discharge
an obligation. For a compleat debt
restructuring represents a devotion
to that principle which in the
ultimate analysis is sine qua
non for foreign loan agreements-an
adherence to the rule of law in
domestic and international affairs
of whose kind U.S. Supreme Court
Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
once said: "They carry no banners,
they beat no drums; but where
they are, men learn that bustle and
bush are not the equal of quiet
genius and serene mastery." (See
Ricardo J. Romulo, "The Role of
Lawyers in Foreign Investments,"
Integrated Bar of the Philippine
Journal, Vol. 15, Nos. 3 and 4,
Third and Fourth Quarters, 1977,
p. 265).
Interpreted in the light of the various definitions of
the term Practice of law". particularly the modern
concept of law practice, and taking into
consideration the liberal construction intended by the
framers of the Constitution, Atty. Monsod's past
work experiences as a lawyer-economist, a lawyermanager, a lawyer-entrepreneur of industry, a
lawyer-negotiator of contracts, and a lawyerlegislator of both the rich and the poor verily
more than satisfy the constitutional requirement
that he has been engaged in the practice of law for
at least ten years.
Besides in the leading case of Luego v. Civil Service
Commission, 143 SCRA 327, the Court said:
Appointment is an essentially
discretionary power and must be
performed by the officer in which it
is vested according to his best

lights, the only condition being that

the appointee should possess the
qualifications required by law. If he
does, then the appointment cannot
be faulted on the ground that there
are others better qualified who
should have been preferred. This is
a political question involving
considerations of wisdom which
only the appointing authority can
decide. (emphasis supplied)
No less emphatic was the Court in the case of
(Central Bank v. Civil Service Commission, 171 SCRA
744) where it stated:
It is well-settled that when the
appointee is qualified, as in this
case, and all the other legal
requirements are satisfied, the
Commission has no alternative but
to attest to the appointment in
accordance with the Civil Service
Law. The Commission has no
authority to revoke an appointment
on the ground that another person
is more qualified for a particular
position. It also has no authority to
direct the appointment of a
substitute of its choice. To do so
would be an encroachment on the
discretion vested upon the
appointing authority. An
appointment is essentially within
the discretionary power of
whomsoever it is vested, subject
to the only condition that the
appointee should possess the
qualifications required by law.
( Emphasis supplied)
The appointing process in a regular appointment as
in the case at bar, consists of four (4) stages: (1)
nomination; (2) confirmation by the Commission on
Appointments; (3) issuance of a commission (in the
Philippines, upon submission by the Commission on
Appointments of its certificate of confirmation, the
President issues the permanent appointment; and
(4) acceptance e.g., oath-taking, posting of bond,
etc. . . . (Lacson v. Romero, No. L-3081, October 14,
1949; Gonzales, Law on Public Officers, p. 200)
The power of the Commission on Appointments to
give its consent to the nomination of Monsod as
Chairman of the Commission on Elections is

mandated by Section 1(2) Sub-Article C, Article IX of

the Constitution which provides:
The Chairman and the
Commisioners shall be appointed
by the President with the consent
of the Commission on
Appointments for a term of seven
years without reappointment. Of
those first appointed, three
Members shall hold office for seven
years, two Members for five years,
and the last Members for three
years, without reappointment.
Appointment to any vacancy shall
be only for the unexpired term of
the predecessor. In no case shall
any Member be appointed or
designated in a temporary or
acting capacity.
Anent Justice Teodoro Padilla's
separate opinion, suffice it to say
that his definition of the practice of
law is the traditional or stereotyped
notion of law practice, as
distinguished from the modern
concept of the practice of law,
which modern connotation
is exactly what was intended by
the eminent framers of the 1987
Constitution. Moreover, Justice
Padilla's definition would require
generally a habitual law practice,
perhaps practised two or three
times a week and would
outlaw say, law practice once or
twice a year for ten consecutive
years. Clearly, this is far from the
constitutional intent.
Upon the other hand, the separate opinion of Justice
Isagani Cruz states that in my written opinion, I
made use of a definition of law practice which really
means nothing because the definition says that law
practice " . . . is what people ordinarily mean by the
practice of law." True I cited the definition but only
by way of sarcasm as evident from my statement
that the definition of law practice by "traditional
areas of law practice is essentially tautologous" or
defining a phrase by means of the phrase itself that
is being defined.
Justice Cruz goes on to say in substance that since
the law covers almost all situations, most individuals,
in making use of the law, or in advising others on

what the law means, are actually practicing law. In

that sense, perhaps, but we should not lose sight of
the fact that Mr. Monsod is a lawyer, a member of
the Philippine Bar, who has been practising law for
over ten years. This is different from the acts of
persons practising law, without first becoming
lawyers.
Justice Cruz also says that the Supreme Court can
even disqualify an elected President of the
Philippines, say, on the ground that he lacks one or
more qualifications. This matter, I greatly doubt. For
one thing, how can an action or petition be brought
against the President? And even assuming that he is
indeed disqualified, how can the action be
entertained since he is the incumbent President?
We now proceed:
The Commission on the basis of evidence submitted
doling the public hearings on Monsod's confirmation,
implicitly determined that he possessed the
necessary qualifications as required by law. The
judgment rendered by the Commission in the
exercise of such an acknowledged power is beyond
judicial interference except only upon a clear
showing of a grave abuse of discretion amounting to
lack or excess of jurisdiction. (Art. VIII, Sec. 1
Constitution). Thus, only where such grave abuse of
discretion is clearly shown shall the Court interfere
with the Commission's judgment. In the instant case,
there is no occasion for the exercise of the Court's
corrective power, since no abuse, much less a grave
abuse of discretion, that would amount to lack or
excess of jurisdiction and would warrant the issuance
of the writs prayed, for has been clearly shown.
Additionally, consider the following:
(1) If the Commission on
Appointments rejects a nominee by
the President, may the Supreme
Court reverse the Commission, and
thus in effect confirm the
appointment? Clearly, the answer
is in the negative.
(2) In the same vein, may the
Court reject the nominee, whom
the Commission has confirmed?
The answer is likewise clear.
(3) If the United States Senate
(which is the confirming body in
the U.S. Congress) decides
to confirm a Presidential nominee,

it would be incredible that the U.S.

Supreme Court would
still reverse the U.S. Senate.
Finally, one significant legal maxim is:
We must interpret not by the letter
that killeth, but by the spirit that
giveth life.
Take this hypothetical case of Samson and Delilah.
Once, the procurator of Judea asked Delilah (who
was Samson's beloved) for help in capturing
Samson. Delilah agreed on condition that
No blade shall touch his skin;

beside herself with anger, and fuming with righteous

fury, accused the procurator of reneging on his word.
The procurator calmly replied: "Did any blade touch
his skin? Did any blood flow from his veins?" The
procurator was clearly relying on the letter, not the
spirit of the agreement.
In view of the foregoing, this petition is hereby
DISMISSED.
SO ORDERED.
Fernan, C.J., Grio-Aquino and Medialdea, JJ.,
concur.
Feliciano, J., I certify that he voted to dismiss the
petition. (Fernan, C.J.)

No blood shall flow from his veins.

Sarmiento, J., is on leave.
When Samson (his long hair cut by Delilah) was
captured, the procurator placed an iron rod burning
white-hot two or three inches away from in front of
Samson's eyes. This blinded the man. Upon hearing
of what had happened to her beloved, Delilah was

Regalado, and Davide, Jr., J., took no part.