1. What is Legal Research?
It is the process of finding the law, rules and regulations that govern activities of human society
and can also be defined as the investigation for information necessary to support legal decision
making.1
2. What are the primary sources of law?
These are the recorded laws and rules which will be enforced by the State2. There are two primary
sources of law, namely:
a. Statutes or statutory laws3
b. Jurisprudence or case law4
3. What are the classifications of Legal Sources? Give examples for each classification.
Legal Sources may be classified into the following5:
a. By authority
It is the only authority that is binding with the courts as it covers the three branches of
government, and includes as its examples the Constitution, statutes passed by the
Congress, decisions promulgated by the Supreme Court, lower courts and other quasi-
judicial agencies, Executive issuances, treaties, local ordinances and rules and
regulations of government agencies.
b. By Source
Legal researchers need to know the sources whether the materials were taken from
primary (official) sources or from secondary (unofficial or commercial sources).
- Primary sources are those published by the issuing agency itself or the official
repository, the Official Gazette, published by the National Printing Office and its
online version (www.gov.ph). Publication in newspapers may be considered a
primary source, pursuant to Executive Order No. 200 s. 1987, which provides that
the laws become effective fifteen days after publication in the Official Gazette or
in two newspapers of general circulation. In case of conflict between the two, the
version of the former prevails. Laws and Resolutions are published by Congress.
The Supreme Court decisions however, are published in the Philippine Reports.
Supreme Court maintains an online repository of its decisions – the Supreme Court
E-library, complete and updated as soon as the decisions have been certified by the
Chief Justice. For Muslim law, the primary sources of Shariah are Quran, Sunnaqh,
Ijma and Qiyas.
1
Rodriguez, R. (Legal Research, 2002 ed.)
2
Supra.
3
Milagros Santos-Ong (Legal Research and Legal Citations for the Philippines, 2013)
4
Supra.
5
Supra.
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-Secondary sources are the unofficial sources and generally referred to as those
commercially published or those that are not published by government agencies or
instrumentalities.
Some of the secondary sources are the Vital Legal Documents, published by the
Central Book Supply, containing a compilation of Presidential Decrees (1973). Its
second edition contains Republic Acts. Prof. Sulpicio Guevarra published three
books which contain the full text of legislative enactments or laws, namely: a.)
Public Laws Annotated (7 vols.) - compilation of all laws from 1901 to 1935; b.)
Commonwealth Acts Annotated (3 vols.) – compilation of laws from 1935-1945;
c.) The Laws of the First Philippine Republic (The Laws of Malolos) 1898-1899.
For Supreme Court decisions, Supreme Court Reports Annotated (SCRA) published
by the Central Book Supply is more updated and popular in the legal community
than the Philippine Legal Reports. SCRA is also available online
(central.com.ph/centralbooks/) by subscription. Supreme Court Advance Decisions
(SCAD) like the SCRA, is a compilation of Supreme Court decisions published by
Rex Printing Co., Inc. Compilation of laws is also available using mobile
application Law Juan at a minimal subscription fee. Online access for law has
become popular for the government and public sector. The Chan Robles Law Firm
Library (www.chanrobles.com) and Arellano Law Foundation Lawphil
(www.lawphil.net) use open access in their electronic libraries which contains full-
text of all sources of Philippine legal information, case law and statute law. CD
Asia online (www.cdasiaonline.com) Jurisprudence contains full-text of Supreme
Court decisions, and Laws contains full-texts of statutes, are available on a
subscriptions basis. Web search engines abound and some legal information are
easily retrieved.
c. By Character
The nature of the subject treated in books determine the source by this classification.
- It categorizes books as: a.) Statute Law Books; b.) Case Law Books or Law
Reports; c.) a combination of both; and d.) “Law Finders.” Law Finders refer to
indices, citators, encyclopedias, legal dictionaries, thesauri or digests. Fine
examples are the Philippine Law Dictionary, the Philippine Legal Thesaurus,
Black’s Law Dictionary, Words and Phrases. Virtual libraries online are also used
to search legal information.6
4. How does a bill become a law?
The Congress of the Philippines is the branch of government tasked with creating laws in the
Philippines. It is made up of two Houses: a) the Lower House, or the House of Representatives;
and, b) the Upper House, or the Senate. Its members are the congressmen and senators we voted
for. As part of the law-making process, individual members of Congress propose bills for approval
by the majority of Congress. If the bill gets approved, it will constitute part of the law of the
Philippines.
6
Supra.
Page 2 of 6
The following is a summary of how a bill becomes a law:7
1. PREPARATION OF THE BILL
The Member or the Bill Drafting Division of the Reference and Research Bureau prepares and
drafts the bill upon the Member's request.
2. FIRST READING
1. The bill is filed with the Bills and Index Service and the same is numbered and reproduced.
2. Three days after its filing, the same is included in the Order of Business for First Reading.
3. On First Reading, the Secretary General reads the title and number of the bill. The Speaker
refers the bill to the appropriate Committee/s.
3. COMMITTEE CONSIDERATION/ACTION
1. The Committee where the bill was referred to evaluates it to determine the necessity of
conducting public hearings. If the Committee finds it necessary to conduct public hearings,
it schedules the time thereof, issues public notices and invites resource persons from the
public and private sectors, the academe and experts on the proposed legislation.
If the Committee finds that no public hearing is not needed, it schedules the bill for
Committee discussion/s.
2. Based on the result of the public hearings or Committee discussions, the Committee may
introduce amendments, consolidate bills on the same subject matter, or propose a substitute
bill. It then prepares the corresponding committee report.
3. The Committee approves the Committee Report and formally transmits the same to the
Plenary Affairs Bureau.
4. SECOND READING
1. The Committee Report is registered and numbered by the Bills and Index Service. It is
included in the Order of Business and referred to the Committee on Rules.
2. The Committee on Rules schedules the bill for consideration on Second Reading.
3. On Second Reading, the Secretary General reads the number, title and text of the bill and
the following takes place:
a. Period of Sponsorship and Debate
b. Period of Amendments
c. Voting which may be by:
i. viva voce
ii. count by tellers
iii. division of the House; or
iv. nominal voting
5. THIRD READING
7
Congress (congress.gov.ph/legisinfo/)
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1. The amendments, if any, are engrossed and printed copies of the bill are reproduced for
Third Reading.
2. The engrossed bill is included in the Calendar of Bills for Third Reading and copies of the
same are distributed to all the Members three days before its Third Reading.
3. On Third Reading, the Secretary General reads only the number and title of the bill.
4. A roll call or nominal voting is called and a Member, if he desires, is given three minutes
to explain his vote. No amendment on the bill is allowed at this stage.
a. The bill is approved by an affirmative vote of a majority of the Members present.
b. If the bill is disapproved, the same is transmitted to the Archives.
6. TRANSMITTAL OF THE APPROVED BILL TO THE SENATE
The approved bill is transmitted to the Senate for its concurrence.
7. SENATE ACTION ON APPROVED BILL OF THE HOUSE
The bill undergoes the same legislative process in the Senate.
8. CONFERENCE COMMITTEE
1. A Conference Committee is constituted and is composed of Members from each House of
Congress to settle, reconcile or thresh out differences or disagreements on any provision of
the bill.
2. The conferees are not limited to reconciling the differences in the bill but may introduce
new provisions germane to the subject matter or may report out an entirely new bill on the
subject.
3. The Conference Committee prepares a report to be signed by all the conferees and the
Chairman.
4. The Conference Committee Report is submitted for consideration/approval of both Houses.
No amendment is allowed.
9. TRANSMITTAL OF THE BILL TO THE PRESIDENT
Copies of the bill, signed by the Senate President and the Speaker of the House of Representatives
and certified by both the Secretary of the Senate and the Secretary General of the House, are
transmitted to the President.
10. PRESIDENTIAL ACTION ON THE BILL
1. If the bill is approved the President, the same is assigned an RA number and transmitted to
the House where it originated.
2. If the bill is vetoed, the same, together with a message citing the reason for the veto, is
transmitted to the House where the bill originated.
11. ACTION ON APPROVED BILL
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The bill is reproduced and copies are sent to the Official Gazette Office for publication and
distribution to the implementing agencies. It is then included in the annual compilation of Acts
and Resolutions.
12. ACTION ON VETOED BILL
The message is included in the Order of Business. If the Congress decides to override the veto, the
House and the Senate shall proceed separately to reconsider the bill or the vetoed items of the bill.
If the bill or its vetoed items is passed by a vote of two-thirds of the Members of each House, such
bill or items shall become a law.
Section 27 Article VI of the 1987 Constitution stipulates that to become laws, enrolled bills or
those passed by both the House of Representatives and the Senate are submitted first to the
President for his approval and signature. The President’s veto should be expressed within 30 days
after the receipt of the Congress’ final version; otherwise, the bill automatically becomes a law.
6. What is the hierarchy of courts in the Philippines?
Supreme Court
Top tier
Court of
Appeals Sandiganbayan Court of
Tax
Appeals
Comelec/COA
Third level
Regional Trial Courts
Quasi-Judicial
(including Shari’a
Agencies
District Courts)
NLRC CSC DAR BOI ERB
CAB NTC IC LRA GSIS ECC First and Second levels
(CTA) SSC OP CIAC NEA
Voluntary Arbitrators
Metropolitan Trial Courts
Municipal Trial Courts
Municipal Trial Court in Cities
Municipal Circuit Trial Courts
(including Shari’a Circuit Courts)
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Appeal (Rule 42, 44)
Petition for review (Rule 43)
Appeal for certiorari (Rule 45)
Petition for certiorari (Rule 65)
The Philippine Judiciary is a hierarchical organization consisting of four levels, with the Supreme
Court at the top tier exercising administrative supervision over all courts and court personnel and
wielding jurisdiction to “review, revise, reverse, modify, or affirm on appeal or certiorari, as the
law or the Rules of Court may provide final judgments or orders of lower courts” in cases specified
in Art. VIII, Sec. 5(2) of the 1987 Constitution. Within each level, the courts are coordinate and
equal and do not enjoy review jurisdiction over each other’s decisions, resolutions, writs, and
processes. The third level courts are collegiate courts, working in divisions of at least three
Justices; the second and first level courts are single-judge courts and are the trial courts and finders
of fact at the first instance.8
Submitted by:
Dennis T. Velasquez
JD 102
Submitted to:
Atty. Rickee Gerald Brieva
Legal Research and Thesis Writing Professor
8
sc.judiciary.gov.ph/pio/annualreports/SC_Annual_2014
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