PLJ volume 37 number 1 -01- Deogracias Eufemio

were entitled to preference as bona fide tenants or occupants,46was
valid and had the same effect as if done by the President himself by
virtue of the legal truism that the acts of a department secretary
are presumed to be the acts of the Chief Executive.
B. The Executive Department may not modify existing laws
and regulations governing admission to the practice of law in the
Philippines.
The Constitution emphatically provides:
"The Supreme Court shall have the power to promulgate rules con
cerning pleading, practice, and procedure in all courts, ,and the admission
to the pr.actice of law . . . Congress shall have the power to repeal,
alter, 0'1' supplement the rules concerning pleading, practice, and procedure,
and the admission to the practice of ~aw in the Philippines." 46
As a necessary corollary to the above-quotedconstitutional provision,
"the Executive Department may not encroach upon the constitutional
prerogative of the Supreme Court to promulgate rules
for admission to the practice of law in the Philippines, the power
to repeal, alter, or supplement such rules being reserved only to
the Congress of the Philippines." 47 Thus, in In re: Petition of
Arturo Efren Garcia for admission to the Philip'[Yine Bar without
taking the bar exanninations,48the Supreme Court denied the petition
of the applicant (a Filipino citizen who had finished law and was
allowedto practice law in Spain) on the ground, among others, that
the Treaty on Academic Degrees and the Exercise of Professions
between the Republic of the Philippines and Spain, entered into by
the Executive Deparhnent on behalf of the Philippines, "could not
have intended to modify the laws and regulations governing admission
to the practice of law in the Philippines." 4'9 The Court intimated
that the Executive Department is devoid of any authority
to enter into a treaty or executive agreement which would have the
effect of altering or amending the existing laws and regulations on
admission to the practice of law in the Philippines.
C. Independence of the Judiciary.
The independence which the Constitution secures to the judiciary
includes not only freedom from interference in the discharge
•• The Court found that plaintiffs were not even bona fide tenants since they were not up-toda.te
in the payment of rentals.
,. PHIL. CONST.Art. VIII. sec. 13. See I'lt re Cunanan, et al.. 60 O.G. 1602 (1964) .
•• I'lt re Arturo Efren Garcia. Aug. 16. 1961.
•• Ibid .
•• Under Rule 127 of the Rules of Court. applicants for admission to the bar are required
to take and successfully pass the bal' examinations. unless they fan under the epccial group.
mentioned in Sees. 3 & 4 thereof.