TOPICS: Government of the Philippine Islands; Government; Institutions which the government functions are exercised; Two-fold functions of the government; GOCCs
FACTS:
National Coconut Corp. requested for a transcript of the stenographic notes during the hearing in its civil case. NACOCO paid for the transcript at the rate of P1.00 per page. However, Auditor General disallowed the payment of fees and sought for its recovery as NACOCO was a government entity and thus, exempt from the payment of the fees.
The trial court ruled that NACOCO is not a government entity and NACOCO’s payment for the transcript was valid.
ISSUE:
WON NACOCO is a government entity and thus exempted from the payment of the transcript of stenographic notes.
RULING:
I.
No, NACOCO is not a government entity and it is not exempted from the payment of the transcript of stenographic notes.
Government of the Philippine Island refers to the corporate governmental entity through which the functions of government are exercised throughout the Philippine Islands [as an attribute of sovereignty], including, save as the contrary appears from the context, the various arms through which political authority is made effective in said Islands, whether pertaining to the central Government or to the provincial or municipal branches or other form of local government
In this case, NACOCO was organized to realize the function of the government in promoting the coconut industry. The mere fact that the Government happens to be a majority stockholder does not make it a public corporation or under the classification of municipal or public corporation. It was given a corporate power separate and distinct from our government. It may sue and be sued like any other private corporation. Thus, it is not a government entity.
Thus, NACOCO is not exempted from payment of the transcript of stenographic notes.
-------------------------
DISCUSSION:
Government of the Philippine Island refers to the corporate governmental entity through which the functions of government are exercised throughout the Philippine Islands, including, save as the contrary appears from the context, the various arms through which political authority is made effective in said Islands, whether pertaining to the central Government or to the provincial or municipal branches or other form of local government.
Government - that institution or aggregate of institutions by which an independent society makes and carries out those rules of action which are necessary to enable men to live in a social state, or which are imposed upon the people forming that society by those who possess the power or authority of prescribing them.
The institutions, when referring to the national government, are what the Constitution has established - the legislative, executive, and judicial departments, through which the functions of the government are exercised.
The functions of the government are two fold:
Constituent - refers to those which constitute the very bonds of society and are compulsory in nature.Ministrant - refers to those that are undertaken only by advancing the general interests of society, and are merely optional.
Test to determine whether or not a government shall exercise certain of these optional functions:
• that a government should do for the public welfare those things which private capital would not naturally undertake
• that a government should do these things which by its very nature it is better equipped to administer for the public welfare than is any private individual or group of individuals
Constituent functions of the government according to President Wilson (these are functions which our government is required to exercise to promote its objectives as expressed in our Constitution and which are exercised by it as an attribute of sovereignty):
1. The keeping of order and providing for the protection of persons and property from violence and robbery
2. The fixing of the legal relations between man and wife and between parents and children.
3. The regulation of the holding, transmission, and interchange of property, and the determination of its liabilities for debt or for crime.
4. The determination of contract rights between individuals.
5. The definition and punishment of crime.
6. The administration of justice in civil cases.
7. The determination of the political duties, privileges, and relations of citizens.
8. Dealings of the state with foreign powers: the preservation of the state from external danger or encroachment and the advancement of its international interests
The most important ministrant functions are (these are exercised to promote merely the welfare, progress and prosperity of the people):
1. Public works
2. Public education
3. Public charity
4. Health and safety regulations
5. Regulations of trade and industry
Pursuant to the ministrant functions, government-owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs) are formed to promote certain aspects of the economic life of our people. They take on the form of a private enterprise or one organized with powers and formal characteristics of a private corporations under the Corporation Law.
No comments:
Post a Comment