Republic of the Philippines

SUPREME COURT
Manila

EN BANC

G.R. No. 122846               January 20, 2009

WHITE LIGHT CORPORATION, TITANIUM CORPORATION and STA. MESA

TOURIST & DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION, Petitioners,
vs.
CITY OF MANILA, represented by DE CASTRO, MAYOR ALFREDO S.
LIM, Respondent.

DECISION

Tinga, J.:

With another city ordinance of Manila also principally involving the tourist district as
subject, the Court is confronted anew with the incessant clash between government
power and individual liberty in tandem with the archetypal tension between law and
morality.

In City of Manila v. Laguio, Jr., 1 the Court affirmed the nullification of a city ordinance
barring the operation of motels and inns, among other establishments, within the Ermita-
Malate area. The petition at bar assails a similarly-motivated city ordinance that prohibits
those same establishments from offering short-time admission, as well as pro-rated or
"wash up" rates for such abbreviated stays. Our earlier decision tested the city ordinance
against our sacred constitutional rights to liberty, due process and equal protection of
law. The same parameters apply to the present petition.

This Petition2 under Rule 45 of the Revised Rules on Civil Procedure, which seeks the
reversal of the Decision3 in C.A.-G.R. S.P. No. 33316 of the Court of Appeals, challenges
the validity of Manila City Ordinance No. 7774 entitled, "An Ordinance Prohibiting Short-
Time Admission, Short-Time Admission Rates, and Wash-Up Rate Schemes in Hotels,
Motels, Inns, Lodging Houses, Pension Houses, and Similar Establishments in the City of
Manila" (the Ordinance).

I.

The facts are as follows:

On December 3, 1992, City Mayor Alfredo S. Lim (Mayor Lim) signed into law the
Ordinance.4 The Ordinance is reproduced in full, hereunder:

SECTION 1. Declaration of Policy. It is hereby the declared policy of the City

Government to protect the best interest, health and welfare, and the morality of its
constituents in general and the youth in particular.

SEC. 2. Title. This ordinance shall be known as "An Ordinance" prohibiting short time
admission in hotels, motels, lodging houses, pension houses and similar establishments
in the City of Manila.
SEC. 3. Pursuant to the above policy, short-time admission and rate [sic], wash-up rate
or other similarly concocted terms, are hereby prohibited in hotels, motels, inns, lodging
houses, pension houses and similar establishments in the City of Manila.

SEC. 4. Definition of Term[s]. Short-time admission shall mean admittance and charging
of room rate for less than twelve (12) hours at any given time or the renting out of rooms
more than twice a day or any other term that may be concocted by owners or managers
of said establishments but would mean the same or would bear the same meaning.

SEC. 5. Penalty Clause. Any person or corporation who shall violate any provision of this
ordinance shall upon conviction thereof be punished by a fine of Five Thousand
(₱5,000.00) Pesos or imprisonment for a period of not exceeding one (1) year or both
such fine and imprisonment at the discretion of the court; Provided, That in case of [a]
juridical person, the president, the manager, or the persons in charge of the operation
thereof shall be liable: Provided, further, That in case of subsequent conviction for the
same offense, the business license of the guilty party shall automatically be cancelled.

SEC. 6. Repealing Clause. Any or all provisions of City ordinances not consistent with or
contrary to this measure or any portion hereof are hereby deemed repealed.

SEC. 7. Effectivity. This ordinance shall take effect immediately upon approval.

Enacted by the city Council of Manila at its regular session today, November 10, 1992.

Approved by His Honor, the Mayor on December 3, 1992.

On December 15, 1992, the Malate Tourist and Development Corporation (MTDC) filed a
complaint for declaratory relief (Declaratory relief refers to a judgment of a court
which determines the rights of parties without ordering anything be done or
awarding damages. By seeking a declaratory judgment, the party making
the request is seeking for an official declaration of the status of a matter in
controversy.) with prayer for a writ of preliminary injunction (A preliminary injunction
is merely a provisional remedy, an adjunct(a thing added to something else
as a supplementary rather than an essential part) to the main case subject to
the latter’s outcome, the sole objective of which is to preserve the status quo
until the trial court hears fully the merits of the case; status quo, defined; )
and/or temporary restraining order ( TRO)( is a court order of limited duration. A
TRO commands the parties in the case to maintain a certain status until the
court can hear further evidence and decide whether to issue a
preliminary injunction.)5 with the Regional Trial Court (RTC) of Manila, Branch 9
impleading as defendant, herein respondent City of Manila (the City) represented by
Mayor Lim.6 MTDC prayed that the Ordinance, insofar as it includes motels and inns as
among its prohibited establishments, be declared invalid and unconstitutional. MTDC
claimed that as owner and operator of the Victoria Court in Malate, Manila it was
authorized by Presidential Decree (P.D.) No. 259 to admit customers on a short time
basis as well as to charge customers wash up rates for stays of only three hours.

On December 21, 1992, petitioners White Light Corporation (WLC), Titanium Corporation
(TC) and Sta. Mesa Tourist and Development Corporation (STDC) filed a motion to
intervene and to admit attached complaint-in-intervention 7 on the ground that the
Ordinance directly affects their business interests as operators of drive-in-hotels and
motels in Manila.8 The three companies are components of the Anito Group of
Companies which owns and operates several hotels and motels in Metro Manila. 9
On December 23, 1992, the RTC granted the motion to intervene. 10 The RTC also
notified the Solicitor General of the proceedings pursuant to then Rule 64, Section 4 of
the Rules of Court. On the same date, MTDC moved to withdraw as plaintiff. 11

On December 28, 1992, the RTC granted MTDC's motion to withdraw. 12 The RTC issued
a TRO on January 14, 1993, directing the City to cease and desist from enforcing the
Ordinance.13 The City filed an Answer dated January 22, 1993 alleging that the
Ordinance is a legitimate exercise of police power. 14

On February 8, 1993, the RTC issued a writ of preliminary injunction ordering the city to
desist from the enforcement of the Ordinance. 15 A month later, on March 8, 1993, the
Solicitor General filed his Comment arguing that the Ordinance is constitutional.

During the pre-trial conference, the WLC, TC and STDC agreed to submit the case for
decision without trial as the case involved a purely legal question. 16 On October 20, 1993,
the RTC rendered a decision declaring the Ordinance null and void. The dispositive
portion of the decision reads:

WHEREFORE, in view of all the foregoing, [O]rdinance No. 7774 of the City of Manila is
hereby declared null and void.

Accordingly, the preliminary injunction heretofor issued is hereby made permanent.

SO ORDERED.17

The RTC noted that the ordinance "strikes at the personal liberty of the individual
guaranteed and jealously guarded by the Constitution." 18 Reference was made to the
provisions of the Constitution encouraging private enterprises and the incentive to
needed investment, as well as the right to operate economic enterprises. Finally, from the
observation that the illicit relationships the Ordinance sought to dissuade could
nonetheless be consummated by simply paying for a 12-hour stay, the RTC likened the
law to the ordinance annulled in Ynot v. Intermediate Appellate Court,19 where the
legitimate purpose of preventing indiscriminate slaughter of carabaos was sought to be
effected through an inter-province ban on the transport of carabaos and carabeef.

The City later filed a petition for review on certiorari with the Supreme Court.20 The
petition was docketed as G.R. No. 112471. However in a resolution dated January 26,
1994, the Court treated the petition as a petition for certiorari and referred the petition to
the Court of Appeals.21

Before the Court of Appeals, the City asserted that the Ordinance is a valid exercise of
police power pursuant to Section 458 (4)(iv) of the Local Government Code which
confers on cities, among other local government units, the power:

[To] regulate the establishment, operation and maintenance of cafes, restaurants,

beerhouses, hotels, motels, inns, pension houses, lodging houses and other similar
establishments, including tourist guides and transports. 22

The Ordinance, it is argued, is also a valid exercise of the power of the City under Article
III, Section 18(kk) of the Revised Manila Charter, thus:

"to enact all ordinances it may deem necessary and proper for the sanitation and safety,
the furtherance of the prosperity and the promotion of the morality, peace, good order,
comfort, convenience and general welfare of the city and its inhabitants, and such others
as be necessary to carry into effect and discharge the powers and duties conferred by
this Chapter; and to fix penalties for the violation of ordinances which shall not exceed
two hundred pesos fine or six months imprisonment, or both such fine and imprisonment
for a single offense.23

Petitioners argued that the Ordinance is unconstitutional and void since it violates the
right to privacy and the freedom of movement; it is an invalid exercise of police power;
and it is an unreasonable and oppressive interference in their business.

The Court of Appeals reversed the decision of the RTC and affirmed the constitutionality
of the Ordinance.24 First, it held that the Ordinance did not violate the right to privacy or
the freedom of movement, as it only penalizes the owners or operators of establishments
that admit individuals for short time stays. Second, the virtually limitless reach of police
power is only constrained by having a lawful object obtained through a lawful method.
The lawful objective of the Ordinance is satisfied since it aims to curb immoral activities.
There is a lawful method since the establishments are still allowed to operate. Third, the
adverse effect on the establishments is justified by the well-being of its constituents in
general. Finally, as held in Ermita-Malate Motel Operators Association v. City Mayor of
Manila, liberty is regulated by law.

TC, WLC and STDC come to this Court via petition for review on certiorari. 25 In their
petition and Memorandum, petitioners in essence repeat the assertions they made before
the Court of Appeals. They contend that the assailed Ordinance is an invalid exercise of
police power.

II.

We must address the threshold issue of petitioners’ standing. Petitioners allege that as
owners of establishments offering "wash-up" rates, their business is being unlawfully
interfered with by the Ordinance. However, petitioners also allege that the equal
protection rights of their clients are also being interfered with. Thus, the crux (the
decisive or most important point at issue.) of the matter is whether or not these
establishments have the requisite standing to plead for protection of their patrons' equal
protection rights.

Standing or locus standi is the ability of a party to demonstrate to the court sufficient
connection to and harm from the law or action challenged to support that party's
participation in the case. More importantly, the doctrine of standing is built on the
principle of separation of powers,26 sparing as it does unnecessary interference or
invalidation by the judicial branch of the actions rendered by its co-equal branches of
government.

The requirement of standing is a core component of the judicial system derived directly
from the Constitution.27 The constitutional component of standing doctrine incorporates
concepts which concededly are not susceptible of precise definition. 28 In this jurisdiction,
the extancy(The state of standing out or being manifest or conspicuous) of "a direct and
personal interest" presents the most obvious cause, as well as the standard test for a
petitioner's standing.29 In a similar vein, the United States Supreme Court reviewed and
elaborated on the meaning of the three constitutional standing requirements of injury,
causation, and redressability in Allen v. Wright.30

Nonetheless, the general rules on standing admit of several exceptions such as the
overbreadth doctrine, taxpayer suits, third party standing and, especially in the
Philippines, the doctrine of transcendental importance. 31
For this particular set of facts, the concept of third party standing as an exception and the
overbreadth doctrine are appropriate. In Powers v. Ohio,32 the United States Supreme
Court wrote that: "We have recognized the right of litigants to bring actions on behalf of
third parties, provided three important criteria are satisfied: the litigant must have suffered
an ‘injury-in-fact,’ thus giving him or her a "sufficiently concrete interest" in the outcome of
the issue in dispute; the litigant must have a close relation to the third party; and there
must exist some hindrance to the third party's ability to protect his or her own
interests."33 Herein, it is clear that the business interests of the petitioners are likewise
injured by the Ordinance. They rely on the patronage of their customers for their
continued viability which appears to be threatened by the enforcement of the Ordinance.
The relative silence in constitutional litigation of such special interest groups in our nation
such as the American Civil Liberties Union in the United States may also be construed as
a hindrance for customers to bring suit.34

American jurisprudence is replete with examples where parties-in-interest were allowed

standing to advocate or invoke the fundamental due process or equal protection claims of
other persons or classes of persons injured by state action. In Griswold v.
Connecticut,35 the United States Supreme Court held that physicians had standing to
challenge a reproductive health statute that would penalize them as accessories as well
as to plead the constitutional protections available to their patients. The Court held that:

"The rights of husband and wife, pressed here, are likely to be diluted or adversely
affected unless those rights are considered in a suit involving those who have this kind of
confidential relation to them."36

An even more analogous example may be found in Craig v. Boren,37 wherein the United
States Supreme Court held that a licensed beverage vendor has standing to raise the
equal protection claim of a male customer challenging a statutory scheme prohibiting the
sale of beer to males under the age of 21 and to females under the age of 18. The United
States High Court explained that the vendors had standing "by acting as advocates of the
rights of third parties who seek access to their market or function." 38

Assuming arguendo that petitioners do not have a relationship with their patrons for the
former to assert the rights of the latter, the overbreadth doctrine comes into play. In
overbreadth analysis, challengers to government action are in effect permitted to raise
the rights of third parties. Generally applied to statutes infringing on the freedom of
speech, the overbreadth doctrine applies when a statute needlessly restrains even
constitutionally guaranteed rights.39 In this case, the petitioners claim that the Ordinance
makes a sweeping intrusion into the right to liberty of their clients. We can see that based
on the allegations in the petition, the Ordinance suffers from overbreadth.

We thus recognize that the petitioners have a right to assert the constitutional rights of
their clients to patronize their establishments for a "wash-rate" time frame.

III.

To students of jurisprudence, the facts of this case will recall to mind not only the
recent City of Manila ruling, but our 1967 decision in Ermita-Malate Hotel and Motel
Operations Association, Inc., v. Hon. City Mayor of Manila.40 Ermita-Malate concerned the
City ordinance requiring patrons to fill up a prescribed form stating personal information
such as name, gender, nationality, age, address and occupation before they could be
admitted to a motel, hotel or lodging house. This earlier ordinance was precisely enacted
to minimize certain practices deemed harmful to public morals. A purpose similar to the
annulled ordinance in City of Manila which sought a blanket ban on motels, inns and
similar establishments in the Ermita-Malate area. However, the constitutionality of the
ordinance in Ermita-Malate was sustained by the Court.
The common thread that runs through those decisions and the case at bar goes beyond
the singularity of the localities covered under the respective ordinances. All three
ordinances were enacted with a view of regulating public morals including particular illicit
activity in transient lodging establishments. This could be described as the middle case,
wherein there is no wholesale ban on motels and hotels but the services offered by these
establishments have been severely restricted. At its core, this is another case about the
extent to which the State can intrude into and regulate the lives of its citizens.

The test of a valid ordinance is well established. A long line of decisions including City of
Manila has held that for an ordinance to be valid, it must not only be within the corporate
powers of the local government unit to enact and pass according to the procedure
prescribed by law, it must also conform to the following substantive requirements: (1)
must not contravene the Constitution or any statute; (2) must not be unfair or oppressive;
(3) must not be partial or discriminatory; (4) must not prohibit but may regulate trade; (5)
must be general and consistent with public policy; and (6) must not be unreasonable. 41

The Ordinance prohibits two specific and distinct business practices, namely wash rate
admissions and renting out a room more than twice a day. The ban is evidently sought to
be rooted in the police power as conferred on local government units by the Local
Government Code through such implements as the general welfare clause.

A.

Police power, while incapable of an exact definition, has been purposely veiled in general
terms to underscore its comprehensiveness to meet all exigencies and provide enough
room for an efficient and flexible response as the conditions warrant. 42 Police power is
based upon the concept of necessity of the State and its corresponding right to protect
itself and its people.43 Police power has been used as justification for numerous and
varied actions by the State. These range from the regulation of dance halls, 44 movie
theaters,45 gas stations46 and cockpits.47 The awesome scope of police power is best
demonstrated by the fact that in its hundred or so years of presence in our nation’s legal
system, its use has rarely been denied.

The apparent goal of the Ordinance is to minimize if not eliminate the use of the covered
establishments for illicit sex, prostitution, drug use and alike. These goals, by themselves,
are unimpeachable and certainly fall within the ambit of the police power of the State. Yet
the desirability of these ends do not sanctify any and all means for their achievement.
Those means must align with the Constitution, and our emerging sophisticated analysis
of its guarantees to the people. The Bill of Rights stands as a rebuke to the seductive
theory of Macchiavelli, and, sometimes even, the political majorities animated by his
cynicism.

Even as we design the precedents that establish the framework for analysis of due
process or equal protection questions, the courts are naturally inhibited by a due
deference to the co-equal branches of government as they exercise their political
functions. But when we are compelled to nullify executive or legislative actions, yet
another form of caution emerges. If the Court were animated by the same passing
fancies or turbulent emotions that motivate many political decisions, judicial integrity is
compromised by any perception that the judiciary is merely the third political branch of
government. We derive our respect and good standing in the annals of history by acting
as judicious and neutral arbiters of the rule of law, and there is no surer way to that end
than through the development of rigorous and sophisticated legal standards through
which the courts analyze the most fundamental and far-reaching constitutional questions
of the day.

B.
The primary constitutional question that confronts us is one of due process, as
guaranteed under Section 1, Article III of the Constitution. Due process evades a precise
definition.48 The purpose of the guaranty is to prevent arbitrary governmental
encroachment against the life, liberty and property of individuals. The due process
guaranty serves as a protection against arbitrary regulation or seizure. Even corporations
and partnerships are protected by the guaranty insofar as their property is concerned.

The due process guaranty has traditionally been interpreted as imposing two related but
distinct restrictions on government, "procedural due process" and "substantive due
process." Procedural due process refers to the procedures that the government must
follow before it deprives a person of life, liberty, or property.49 Procedural due process
concerns itself with government action adhering to the established process when it
makes an intrusion into the private sphere. Examples range from the form of notice given
to the level of formality of a hearing.

If due process were confined solely to its procedural aspects, there would arise absurd
situation of arbitrary government action, provided the proper formalities are followed.
Substantive due process completes the protection envisioned by the due process clause.
It inquires whether the government has sufficient justification for depriving a person of
life, liberty, or property.50

The question of substantive due process, more so than most other fields of law, has
reflected dynamism in progressive legal thought tied with the expanded acceptance of
fundamental freedoms. Police power, traditionally awesome as it may be, is now
confronted with a more rigorous level of analysis before it can be upheld. The vitality
though of constitutional due process has not been predicated on the frequency with
which it has been utilized to achieve a liberal result for, after all, the libertarian ends
should sometimes yield to the prerogatives of the State. Instead, the due process clause
has acquired potency because of the sophisticated methodology that has emerged to
determine the proper metes and bounds for its application.

C.

The general test of the validity of an ordinance on substantive due process grounds is
best tested when assessed with the evolved footnote 4 test laid down by the U.S.
Supreme Court in U.S. v. Carolene Products. 51 Footnote 4 of the Carolene Products case
acknowledged that the judiciary would defer to the legislature unless there is a
discrimination against a "discrete and insular" minority or infringement of a "fundamental
right."52 Consequently, two standards of judicial review were established: strict scrutiny for
laws dealing with freedom of the mind or restricting the political process, and the rational
basis standard of review for economic legislation.

A third standard, denominated as heightened or immediate scrutiny, was later adopted by

the U.S. Supreme Court for evaluating classifications based on gender 53 and
legitimacy.54 Immediate scrutiny was adopted by the U.S. Supreme Court in Craig, 55 after
the Court declined to do so in Reed v. Reed. 56 While the test may have first been
articulated in equal protection analysis, it has in the United States since been applied in
all substantive due process cases as well.

We ourselves have often applied the rational basis test mainly in analysis of equal
protection challenges.57 Using the rational basis examination, laws or ordinances are
upheld if they rationally further a legitimate governmental interest. 58 Under intermediate
review, governmental interest is extensively examined and the availability of less
restrictive measures is considered.59 Applying strict scrutiny, the focus is on the presence
of compelling, rather than substantial, governmental interest and on the absence of less
restrictive means for achieving that interest.
In terms of judicial review of statutes or ordinances, strict scrutiny refers to the standard
for determining the quality and the amount of governmental interest brought to justify the
regulation of fundamental freedoms. 60 Strict scrutiny is used today to test the validity of
laws dealing with the regulation of speech, gender, or race as well as other fundamental
rights as expansion from its earlier applications to equal protection.61 The United States
Supreme Court has expanded the scope of strict scrutiny to protect fundamental rights
such as suffrage,62 judicial access63 and interstate travel.64

If we were to take the myopic (lacking imagination, foresight, or intellectual

insight) view that an Ordinance should be analyzed strictly as to its effect only on the
petitioners at bar, then it would seem that the only restraint imposed by the law which we
are capacitated to act upon is the injury to property sustained by the petitioners, an injury
that would warrant the application of the most deferential standard – the rational basis
test. Yet as earlier stated, we recognize the capacity of the petitioners to invoke as well
the constitutional rights of their patrons – those persons who would be deprived of
availing short time access or wash-up rates to the lodging establishments in question.

Viewed cynically, one might say that the infringed rights of these customers were are
trivial since they seem shorn of political consequence. Concededly, these are not the sort
of cherished rights that, when proscribed, would impel the people to tear up their cedulas.
Still, the Bill of Rights does not shelter gravitas(dignity, seriousness, or solemnity of
manner) alone. Indeed, it is those "trivial" yet fundamental freedoms – which the people
reflexively exercise any day without the impairing awareness of their constitutional
consequence – that accurately reflect the degree of liberty enjoyed by the people.
Liberty, as integrally incorporated as a fundamental right in the Constitution, is not a Ten
Commandments-style enumeration of what may or what may not be done; but rather an
atmosphere of freedom where the people do not feel labored under a Big Brother
presence as they interact with each other, their society and nature, in a manner innately
understood by them as inherent, without doing harm or injury to others.

D.

The rights at stake herein fall within the same fundamental rights to liberty which we
upheld in City of Manila v. Hon. Laguio, Jr. We expounded on that most primordial of
rights, thus:

Liberty as guaranteed by the Constitution was defined by Justice Malcolm to include "the
right to exist and the right to be free from arbitrary restraint or servitude. The term cannot
be dwarfed into mere freedom from physical restraint of the person of the citizen, but is
deemed to embrace the right of man to enjoy the facilities with which he has been
endowed by his Creator, subject only to such restraint as are necessary for the common
welfare."[65] In accordance with this case, the rights of the citizen to be free to use his
faculties in all lawful ways; to live and work where he will; to earn his livelihood by any
lawful calling; and to pursue any avocation are all deemed embraced in the concept of
liberty.[66]

The U.S. Supreme Court in the case of Roth v. Board of Regents, sought to clarify the
meaning of "liberty." It said:

While the Court has not attempted to define with exactness the liberty . . . guaranteed [by
the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments], the term denotes not merely freedom from bodily
restraint but also the right of the individual to contract, to engage in any of the common
occupations of life, to acquire useful knowledge, to marry, establish a home and bring up
children, to worship God according to the dictates of his own conscience, and generally
to enjoy those privileges long recognized . . . as essential to the orderly pursuit of
happiness by free men. In a Constitution for a free people, there can be no doubt that the
meaning of "liberty" must be broad indeed.67 [Citations omitted]

It cannot be denied that the primary animus behind the ordinance is the curtailment of
sexual behavior. The City asserts before this Court that the subject establishments "have
gained notoriety as venue of ‘prostitution, adultery and fornications(sexual intercourse
between people not married to each other.) in Manila since they ‘provide the
necessary atmosphere for clandestine (kept secret or done secretively, especially
because illicit) entry, presence and exit and thus became the ‘ideal haven for
prostitutes and thrill-seekers.’"68 Whether or not this depiction of a mise-en-scene(the
arrangement of scenery and stage properties in a play.) of vice is accurate, it
cannot be denied that legitimate sexual behavior among willing married or consenting
single adults which is constitutionally protected 69 will be curtailed as well, as it was in the
City of Manila case. Our holding therein retains significance for our purposes:

The concept of liberty compels respect for the individual whose claim to privacy and
interference demands respect. As the case of Morfe v. Mutuc, borrowing the words of
Laski, so very aptly stated:

Man is one among many, obstinately refusing reduction to unity. His separateness, his
isolation, are indefeasible; indeed, they are so fundamental that they are the basis on
which his civic obligations are built. He cannot abandon the consequences of his
isolation, which are, broadly speaking, that his experience is private, and the will built out
of that experience personal to himself. If he surrenders his will to others, he surrenders
himself. If his will is set by the will of others, he ceases to be a master of himself. I cannot
believe that a man no longer a master of himself is in any real sense free.

Indeed, the right to privacy as a constitutional right was recognized in Morfe, the invasion
of which should be justified by a compelling state interest. Morfe accorded recognition to
the right to privacy independently of its identification with liberty; in itself it is fully
deserving of constitutional protection. Governmental powers should stop short of certain
intrusions into the personal life of the citizen.70

We cannot discount other legitimate activities which the Ordinance would proscribe or
impair. There are very legitimate uses for a wash rate or renting the room out for more
than twice a day. Entire families are known to choose pass the time in a motel or hotel
whilst the power is momentarily out in their homes. In transit passengers who wish to
wash up and rest between trips have a legitimate purpose for abbreviated stays in motels
or hotels. Indeed any person or groups of persons in need of comfortable private spaces
for a span of a few hours with purposes other than having sex or using illegal drugs can
legitimately look to staying in a motel or hotel as a convenient alternative.

E.

That the Ordinance prevents the lawful uses of a wash rate depriving patrons of a
product and the petitioners of lucrative business ties in with another constitutional
requisite for the legitimacy of the Ordinance as a police power measure. It must appear
that the interests of the public generally, as distinguished from those of a particular class,
require an interference with private rights and the means must be reasonably necessary
for the accomplishment of the purpose and not unduly oppressive of private rights. 71 It
must also be evident that no other alternative for the accomplishment of the purpose less
intrusive of private rights can work. More importantly, a reasonable relation must exist
between the purposes of the measure and the means employed for its accomplishment,
for even under the guise of protecting the public interest, personal rights and those
pertaining to private property will not be permitted to be arbitrarily invaded. 72
Lacking a concurrence of these requisites, the police measure shall be struck down as an
arbitrary intrusion into private rights. As held in Morfe v. Mutuc, the exercise of police
power is subject to judicial review when life, liberty or property is affected. 73 However, this
is not in any way meant to take it away from the vastness of State police power whose
exercise enjoys the presumption of validity. 74

Similar to the Comelec resolution requiring newspapers to donate advertising space to

candidates, this Ordinance is a blunt and heavy instrument. 75 The Ordinance makes no
distinction between places frequented by patrons engaged in illicit activities and patrons
engaged in legitimate actions. Thus it prevents legitimate use of places where illicit
activities are rare or even unheard of. A plain reading of section 3 of the Ordinance
shows it makes no classification of places of lodging, thus deems them all susceptible to
illicit patronage and subject them without exception to the unjustified prohibition.

The Court has professed its deep sentiment and tenderness of the Ermita-Malate area,
its longtime home,76 and it is skeptical of those who wish to depict our capital city – the
Pearl of the Orient – as a modern-day Sodom or Gomorrah for the Third World set.
Those still steeped in Nick Joaquin-dreams of the grandeur of Old Manila will have to
accept that Manila like all evolving big cities, will have its problems. Urban decay is a fact
of mega cities such as Manila, and vice is a common problem confronted by the modern
metropolis wherever in the world. The solution to such perceived decay is not to prevent
legitimate businesses from offering a legitimate product. Rather, cities revive themselves
by offering incentives for new businesses to sprout up thus attracting the dynamism of
individuals that would bring a new grandeur to Manila.

The behavior which the Ordinance seeks to curtail is in fact already prohibited and could
in fact be diminished simply by applying existing laws. Less intrusive measures such as
curbing the proliferation of prostitutes and drug dealers through active police work would
be more effective in easing the situation. So would the strict enforcement of existing laws
and regulations penalizing prostitution and drug use. These measures would have
minimal intrusion on the businesses of the petitioners and other legitimate merchants.
Further, it is apparent that the Ordinance can easily be circumvented by merely paying
the whole day rate without any hindrance to those engaged in illicit activities. Moreover,
drug dealers and prostitutes can in fact collect "wash rates" from their clientele by
charging their customers a portion of the rent for motel rooms and even apartments.

IV.

We reiterate that individual rights may be adversely affected only to the extent that may
fairly be required by the legitimate demands of public interest or public welfare. The State
is a leviathan that must be restrained from needlessly intruding into the lives of its
citizens. However well-intentioned the Ordinance may be, it is in effect an arbitrary and
whimsical intrusion into the rights of the establishments as well as their patrons. The
Ordinance needlessly restrains the operation of the businesses of the petitioners as well
as restricting the rights of their patrons without sufficient justification. The Ordinance
rashly equates wash rates and renting out a room more than twice a day with immorality
without accommodating innocuous intentions.

The promotion of public welfare and a sense of morality among citizens deserves the full
endorsement of the judiciary provided that such measures do not trample rights this
Court is sworn to protect.77 The notion that the promotion of public morality is a function of
the State is as old as Aristotle. 78 The advancement of moral relativism as a school of
philosophy does not de-legitimize the role of morality in law, even if it may foster wider
debate on which particular behavior to penalize. It is conceivable that a society with
relatively little shared morality among its citizens could be functional so long as the
pursuit of sharply variant moral perspectives yields an adequate accommodation of
different interests.79

To be candid about it, the oft-quoted American maxim that "you cannot legislate morality"
is ultimately illegitimate as a matter of law, since as explained by Calabresi, that phrase
is more accurately interpreted as meaning that efforts to legislate morality will fail if they
are widely at variance with public attitudes about right and wrong. 80 Our penal laws, for
one, are founded on age-old moral traditions, and as long as there are widely accepted
distinctions between right and wrong, they will remain so oriented.

Yet the continuing progression of the human story has seen not only the acceptance of
the right-wrong distinction, but also the advent of fundamental liberties as the key to the
enjoyment of life to the fullest. Our democracy is distinguished from non-free societies
not with any more extensive elaboration on our part of what is moral and immoral, but
from our recognition that the individual liberty to make the choices in our lives is innate,
and protected by the State. Independent and fair-minded judges themselves are under a
moral duty to uphold the Constitution as the embodiment of the rule of law, by reason of
their expression of consent to do so when they take the oath of office, and because they
are entrusted by the people to uphold the law.81

Even as the implementation of moral norms remains an indispensable complement to

governance, that prerogative is hardly absolute, especially in the face of the norms of due
process of liberty. And while the tension may often be left to the courts to relieve, it is
possible for the government to avoid the constitutional conflict by employing more
judicious, less drastic means to promote morality.

WHEREFORE, the Petition is GRANTED. The Decision of the Court of Appeals

is REVERSED, and the Decision of the Regional Trial Court of Manila, Branch 9,
is REINSTATED. Ordinance No. 7774 is hereby declared UNCONSTITUTIONAL. No
pronouncement as to costs.

SO ORDERED.

DANTE O. TINGA
Associate Justice

WE CONCUR:

REYNATO S. PUNO
Chief Justice

LEONARDO A. QUISUMBING CONSUELO YNARES-SANTIAGO

Associate Justice Associate Justice

(On Official Leave)

MA. ALICIA AUSTRIA-MARTINEZ
ANTONIO T. CARPIO
Associate Justice
Associate Justice

RENATO C. CORONA CONCHITA CARPIO MORALES

Associate Justice Associate Justice

ADOLFO S. AZCUNA PRESBITERO J. VELASCO, JR.

Associate Justice Associate Justice
MINITA V. CHICO-NAZARIO ANTONIO EDUARDO B. NACHUR
Associate Justice Associate Justice

(On Sick Leave)

TERESITA LEONARDO DE CASTRO
ARTURO D. BRION
Associate Justice
Associate Justice

(On Official Leave)

DIOSDADO M. PERALTA
Associate Justice