Manila Prince Hotel vs GSIS

GR 122156
February 3, 1997

Facts: The respondent decided to sell through a public bidding 30% to 51% of outstanding shares of the Manila Hotel Corporation which owns Manila Hotel. In a close bidding, Renong Berhad (a Malaysian company), won by a margin of P33, 000,000 versus the petitioner, Manila Prince Hotel. Before the declaration of the winning bidder, the petitioner sought to match the offer of Renong Berhad by sending a manager’s check for P33,000,000, which GSIS refused to accept. The petitioner invokes Section 10, Paragraph 2, Article XII which states that ‘in the grant of rights, privileges, and concessions covering the national economy and patrimony, the State shall give preference to qualified Filipinos.”

Issue: Is Section 10, Paragraph 2, Article XII is self-executing?

Held: Yes. Some provisions of the Constitution are merely declarations of policies and principles. But a provision which is complete in itself and becomes operative without the aid of supplementary or enabling legislation or that which supplies sufficient rule by means of which the right it grants may be enjoyed or protected, is self-executing. It is so if the nature and extent of the right conferred and the liability imposed are fixed by the constitution itself, so that they can be determined by an examination and construction of its terms and there is no language indicating that the subject is referred to the legislature for action. All provisions of the constitution are presumed as self-executing if it is not expressly provided that a legislative act is necessary to enforce its mandate.