LEGISLATORS AND THEIR LEGAL RESEARCH

LLB 109

BLAWS I - WIGMORE

Submitted by:

Group 9

Group Members:
(5,17,25,26,34)

Submitted to:

Atty. Alberto Rafael L. Aportadera

September 11, 2017

I. INTRODUCTION

Legal research is the process of finding an answer to a legal question or checking for a
legal precedent that can be cited in a brief or at a trial. It is the inquiry and investigation
necessary to be made by legislators, judges, lawyers, and legal writers in the performance of
their duties.

Speaking of which, this paper examines how Philippine legislators employ legal
research. Legislators are persons who write and pass laws, particularly members of a
legislature. They are usually politicians and are often elected by the people of the State e.g. in
the Philippines.

II. POLITICAL STRUCTURE

Historical Background

The Philippines has the Constitution as the fundamental law of the land. The present
political structure of the Philippines was defined by the 1987 Constitution, which was duly
ratified in a plebiscite held on February 2, 1987 and proclaimed on February 11, 1987.

The Philippine government had three distinct and separate branches: 1) executive, 2)
legislative, and 3) judiciary. On this paper, the focus would be mainly on the legislative
department of the government, which is vested in the Congress of the Philippines, consisting of
the Senate and the House of Representatives. (Sec. 1, Art. VI, 1987 Constitution)

Legislative Department

The Philippine legislative system has undergone a series of evolution that reflected the
sociopolitical conditions of the times and the level of political maturity of society.

The current Congress has the biggest membership among its predecessor legislatures.
The Constitutional Commission (ConCom) clothed it with vast powers to perform a wider and
more dynamic role. This fact is partly reflected in the Charter itself, which devotes 32 sections to
the legislative department compared with only 23 for the executive and 16 for the judicial
departments.

The new bicameral Congress consists of the Senate and the House of Representatives.
The upper chamber or the Senate is composed of 24 members elected at large by the qualified
voters of the Philippines. On the other hand, the lower chamber or the House of
Representatives is composed of 250 members elected from legislative districts apportioned
among the provinces, cities and the Metropolitan Manila area. This is in accordance with the
number of inhabitants, and based on a uniform and progressive ratio and those, as provided by
law, elected through a party-list system of registered national, regional and sectoral parties or
organizations. [Sec. 5(1), Art. VI, 1987 Constitution]

A. Composition

The Senate of the Philippines is composed of twenty-four (24) Senators who are elected
at large by qualified voters who serve for a term of not more than six (6) years. No Senator may
be elected for more than two (2) consecutive terms. (Sec 4., Art. VI, 1987 Constitution)
 The Senate is headed by the Senate President, Pro Tempore, Majority Leader and the
Minority Leader. The Senate President is elected by majority vote of its members. There are
thirty-six (36) permanent committees and five (5) oversight committees. The sole judge of
contests relating to election, returns and qualifications of members of the Senate rests with the
Senate Electoral Tribunal (SET), which is composed of nine members, three of whom are
Justices of the Supreme Court and six members of the Senate. (Sec. 17, Art. VI, 1987
Constitution)

The House of Representatives is composed of not more than two hundred fifty (250)
members, elected by legislative districts for a term of three (3) years. No representative shall
serve for more than three (3) consecutive terms. The party-list representatives, who come from
registered national, regional and sectional parties and organizations, shall constitute twenty
percent (20%) of the total number of representatives. The election of party-list representatives
was by virtue of the Republic Act No. 7941, which was approved on March 3, 1995.

The officials of the House of Representatives are the Speaker of the House, Deputy
Speaker for Luzon, Deputy Speaker for Visayas, Deputy Speaker for Mindanao, Majority
Leader, and Minority Leader. They are elected by a majority vote of members. There are fifty-
seven (57) standing committees and sixteen (16) special committees of the House of
Representatives. The sole judge of contests relating to election, returns and qualifications of
members of the House of Representatives rests with the House of Representatives Electoral
Tribunal (HRET) which is composed of nine members, three of whom are Justices of the
Supreme Court and six members of the Senate. (Sec. 17, Art. VI, 1987 Constitution)

B. Types of Legislation

The types of measures that Congress may consider and act upon include bills and three
kinds of resolutions. These are the following:

1. BILLS general measures, which if passed upon, may become laws; it includes budgetary
appropriation of the government and many others.

2. JOINT RESOLUTION no real difference between a bill and a joint resolution. The latter is
generally used when dealing with a single item or issue, such as a continuing or emergency
appropriations bill; it is also used for proposing amendments to the Constitution.

3. CONCURRENT RESOLUTION used for matters affecting the operations of both houses
and must be passed in the same form by both of them.

4. SIMPLE RESOLUTION deals with matters entirely within the prerogative of one house of
Congress, such as adopting or receiving its own rules; it is not considered by the other chamber
and is not sent to the President for his signature.
C. Process of Enacting Laws

1. Filing/Calendaring for First Reading

2. First Reading
3. Committee Hearings/Report
4. Calendaring for Second Reading
5. Second Reading
6. Voting on Second Reading
7. Voting on Third Reading
8. At the House of Representatives (follows the same procedures as mentioned above)
9. Submission to Malacaang

If the House-approved version is compatible with that of the Senates, the final version of
the enrolled form is printed. If there are certain differences, a Bicameral Conference Committee
is called to reconcile conflicting provisions of both versions of the Senate and of the House of
Representatives. Conference committee submits report on the reconciled version of the bill, duly
approved by both chambers. The Senate prints the reconciled version in its enrolled form.

D. Legal Research

Employment of Legal Research in Legislation

Legal research is the process of identifying and retrieving information necessary to

support legal decision-making. It starts before the process of legislation starts. It begins at the
determination and identification of the legal issue to which a legislation is to be made. Legal
decision-making cannot be conducted without a thorough legal research beforehand. This legal
research continues throughout the process of legislation.

As a preparation, the researcher collates relevant and verified sources to base his
research upon. These sources are from books authored by well-known legislators and legal
specialists to online works that cover a general aspect of the law being researched upon. This is
a very important step in any research as it becomes the basis of any researchers work. Not
every source will be used as it is. Only the most relevant and important facts and information will
be used after sifting through the countless sources available.

The 3Ss of Legal Research according to Lexis are:

Start with secondary sources

Support with Primary Sources
Shepardize

Primary sources are documents that establishe the law on a particular issue, such as a
case or decision or legislative act. They are authoritative, precendial, and controlling. Examples
of these are cases, statutes, and regulations. They are used to support ones arguments.

Shepardizing is the process of consulting Shephards to see if a case has been

overturned, reaffirmed, questioned, or cited by later cases. The rationale of which is for the legal
research to be a Good Law. One cant use reversed or overruled authority in order to see its
precendential value, to show if authority is overruled, and to ensure that research is a Good
Law.
 Before legislators submit a bill in the Congress, based on their consultations from their
stakeholders and assessment of current situation, they examine the possible law concerned,
jurisprudence, and international decisions of the same nature of the bill they will submit. Aside
from these, there are certain factors that the legislators must consider before the passage of a
bill.

Generally, the group of people being affected by such bill is one of the factors that needs
to be paid attention of. They must think of the possibilities on how the bill will affect the people
and their lives, culture, beliefs by religious faith or secular ethics, benefits, perceived
consequences for the future, laws already enacted, etc. The following are other factors that
legislators should consider:

Constituency Interests they spend a great deal of time seeking for an idea on how
constituents feel about legislative proposal
Expert Opinion it helps legislators to become informed about the views of outside
experts and authorities in a certain area; legislators also rely on the recommendations,
specialization, and judgments of experts.
Personal Judgment legislators have their ideological viewpoint and political
perspective on the issues our country is facing today; their own personal histories and
beliefs influence the decisions made by the legislative department.

As legislation is being conducted, new information is added from several sources such
as previous bills of several nature that are relevant and must be sift through with efficient and
effective legal research. Those that are irrelevant would only waste precious time and effort not
only of the researchers but also of the legislators who rely on vital information collected by the
researchers. The process of legislation is strict and scientific in nature. It is supported by facts
that must be in accordance with the law yet coherent with the wisdom of the legislators.
Amendments may be introduced by other legislators and possible debate on the provisions of
the bill. It must be ensured that all provisions be compliant to the Constitutional provisions, laws,
and even in the existing laws in Congress.

Another means to conduct a legal research during deliberations of the bill is through
question hour and legislative investigation. Question hour, as provided in Section 22 Article VI of
the 1987 Constitution, provides that legislators can question executive heads regarding matters
pertaining to their respective departments with the purpose of obtaining information as one for
their legislators oversight function.

Under the Section 21, Article VI of the 1987 Constitution, legislative investigation is
explained to be one of the means to aid legislators in gathering information pursuant to
developing and improving their bills. Anyone can be subpoena by this investigation, as long as
the Congress has jurisdiction over it. The only limitation is that the rights of any person
appearing or may be affected by such inquiry be respected. Also, the rules of the inquiry must
have been published.

In the event that there are conflicting versions of coming from both houses, the
Congress can create a bicameral conference committee where both members from the two
houses who are interested in the passage of the bill and reconcile such disagreeing provisions.
Even if there are no real conflict but there is a need to refine the language of phraseology of the
intended legislation, the committee may have to convene to come up with the third and final
version of the bill. The final draft as approved by bicameral conference committee does not
violate the no-amendment rule because there is technically no nominal voting during the
passage of the final draft coming from the conference committee.

In the deliberation of the bill, legislators are also tasked to examine if it is compliant with
Constitutional requirement of the one-subject one-rule under Section 26, Article VI of the 1987
Constitution. It required that every bill passed by the Congress shall embrace only one subject
which shall be expressed in the title thereof. The reason is to prevent log rolling legislation,
avoid misrepresentation on the part of the legislators that will deliberate the bill, and to apprise
the public what the object of the legislation. It is through legal research that legislators are able
to dissect if there are rider provisions in the bill. Rider provisions are those foreign to general
subject matter of ht

When the bill is enacted, it can still be declared unconstitutional. Same goes with the
laws that other legislators passed, you can have it repealed when you observed that some
provisions are unconstitutional through Congressional Oversight Committee.

Even after the process of legislation has finished, legal research is still conducted not
only to further strengthen the foundations of the newly legislated laws but also to foresee the
possible issues that may arise to challenge the constitutionality of those laws. That is why laws
are enacted to be repealable because our laws are changing throughout time. What may be
legal a few years before could become unconstitutional in the future. That is why legal research
is vital before, during, and after the process of legislation has been conducted.

Importance of Legal Research in Legislation

Legal research is very important in enacting legislation. Without legal research, there is
no legal sources to support the laws to be enacted. Laws cannot be made without the proper
legal issue to be addressed and proof of facts to support it. Legislation stands ground upon the
information gathered during legal research. Arguments and solutions are being harmonized
during legislation and legal research provide for the real world facts and information to support
either sides. All information from the past are taken into account. On how they were applied to
similar or even opposing laws that was enacted prior to the current legislation, legal research
guides the researchers and legislators to the right path in decision-making. The trends on how
past laws and current lives of the people interact are determined in legal research. In a sense,
legal research can enable legislators to formulate laws that not only sees the past and present
but also how it will affect future generations if such laws are to be enacted.

In legal research, it is also important that the deliberation in the passage of a bill is
ascertained. This, we call legislative history, it includes such things as sponsorship speeches,
legislative hearings, debates and reports and earlier drafts of the final bills.

III. CONCLUSION
Legal research is a very important process not only in legislation but also in the legal
system as a whole. It is a scientific process of gathering legal facts and jurisprudence that are
required to support and solve a legal issue. Without legal research, the legal system would
crumble as it no longer follows a guide of facts to support its implementation and execution.
Laws are made for the people to follow and thus a legal research must be made in accordance
to the rights and duties of the people.
 A law not based on a thorough legal research is not a law at all. It simply becomes a rule
that has not reflected the facts for the rights and duties of the people. It stands no ground on its
implications and lacks factual and legal support for its issues and decision-making. Legal
research must be conduction as it paves the right way to conduct laws and develop the legal
system as a stiff system of the government yet in accordance to the will and wisdom of the
people under it.

Laws do not come from thin air. Legislators come up with certain bills mostly as a
response to certain issues/ current issues. But other Congressmen/Senators really have an
advocacy (i.e. political platform agenda). Legislators have their own Legislative staff composed
of officers, head/supervisor and researchers. Research is done the same way our textbook
defines it. The legislative staff do the research and drafting, it is then submitted to the head staff
for scrutiny and polishing. After the head staff is assured of the bills quality, it is then present to
the Legislator and explained. The Legislator then presents it to congress.
REFERENCES:
Nevers, S. (2017, January 24). The importance of legal research. Retrieved September
04, 2017, from http://abaforlawstudents.com/2013/04/01/importance-legal-research/
How a member decides to vote. (n.d.). Retrieved September 2, 2017, from
http://corg.indiana.edu/how-member-decides-vote
Importance of legal research. (n.d.). Retrieved September 2, 2017, from
http://legalresearch.org/essentials/importance-of-legal-research/
What is legal research? (n.d.). Retrieved September 2, 2017, from
http://hirealawyer.findlaw.com/choosing-the-right-lawyer/legal-research.html
The philippine legislative branch. (2010). Retrieved September 2, 2017, from
http://politicsandgovernance.blogspot.com/2010/07/philippine-legislative-branch.html
Enactment of a law. (1997). Retrieved September 3, 2017, from
https://www.congress.gov/resources/display/content/Enactment+of+a+Law+-
+Learn+About+the+Legislative+Process
Legislative information. (n.d.). Retrieved September 3, 2017, from
http://www.congress.gov.ph/legisinfo/\
How our laws are made. (2007). Retrieved September 3, 2017, from
https://www.congress.gov/resources/display/content/How+Our+Laws+Are+Made+-
+Learn+About+the+Legislative+Process#HowOurLawsAreMade-
LearnAbouttheLegislativeProcess-SourcesofLegislation

Santos, A. (2003). Doing legal research in asian countries.

Cabangon, G. (2017). [Online interview]

Abakada vs. Purisima (August 14, 2008), Philippines Lawphil.net G.R. No. 166715

Constitutional Law I (2015). Davao: Lakas Atenista.