Family Home

What is a family home?

Is family home exempt from execution?

Is a judicial or extra-judicial constitution mandatory in order for a home to be considered as family home?

Sometimes, a judgment debtor is complacent that his family home would not be executed in favor of his creditors, relying upon the provisions of the Family Code that a family home is exempted from execution. However, not all people know that while a family home is generally exempt from execution, this rule admits of exceptions.

The leading case of Kelly Jr. vs Planters Products Inc. has laid down the rule on the execution of a family home:

No doubt, a family home is generally exempt from execution provided it was duly constituted as such.  There must be proof that the alleged family home was constituted jointly by the husband and wife or by an unmarried head of a family. It must be the house where they and their family actually reside and the lot on which it is situated. The family home must be part of the properties of the absolute community or the conjugal partnership, or of the exclusive properties of either spouse with the latter’s consent, or on the property of the unmarried head of the family. The actual value of the family home shall not exceed, at the time of its constitution, the amount of P300,000 in urban areas and P200,000 in rural areas. Under the Family Code, there is no need to constitute the family home judicially or extrajudicially. All family homes constructed after the effectivity of the Family Code (August 3, 1988) are constituted as such by operation of law. All existing family residences as of August 3, 1988 are considered family homes and are prospectively entitled to the benefits accorded to a family home under the Family Code. The exemption is effective from the time of the constitution of the family home as such and lasts as long as any of its beneficiaries actually resides therein. Moreover, the debts for which the family home is made answerable must have been incurred after August 3, 1988. Otherwise (that is, if it was incurred prior to August 3, 1988), the alleged family home must be shown to have been constituted either judicially or extrajudicially pursuant to the Civil Code.

A family home, if constructed before the effectivity of the Family Code, may only be constituted as a family home by filing a Petition in court. The person claiming exemption must not only allege but must also set-up and prove that the subject property is actually a family home.

For further reference, read the case of Juanita Trinidad Ramos vs Danilo Pangilinan (GR No. 185920).

Grave Misconduct

What constitutes grave misconduct?

Grave Misconduct has not been defined by our law. Luckily, our jurisprudence is pregnant of cases which could guide us into determining what constitutes grave misconduct.

The leading case goes as far back as March 20, 1922, In Re: Impeachment of Honorable Antonio Horrilleno, quoted as follows:

The grounds for removal of a judge of first instance under Philippine law are two: (1) Serious misconduct and (2) inefficiency. The latter grounds is not involved in these proceedings. As to the first, the law provides that "sufficient cause" must exist in the judgment of the Supreme Court involving "serious misconduct." The adjective is "serious;" that is, important, weighty, momentous, and not trifling. The noun is "misconduct;" that is, a transgression of some established and definite rule of action, more particularly, unlawful behavior or gross negligence by the public officer. The word "misconduct" implies a wrongful intention and not a mere error or judgment. For serious misconduct to exist, there must be reliable evidence showing that the judicial acts complained of were corrupt or inspired by an intention to violate the law, or were in persistent disregard of well-known legal rules. (Lawlor vs. People [1874], 74 Ill., 228; Citizens' Insurance Co. vs. Marsh [1861], 41 Pa., 386; Miller vs. Roby [1880], 9 Neb., 471; Smith vs. Cutler [1833], 10 Wend. [N.Y.], 590; U.S. vs. Warner [1848], 28 Fed. Cas. No. 16643; In re Tighe [1904], 89 N.Y. Suprr., 719.)

The above-mentioned case has been cited in numerous subsequent administrative cases.

Another read-worthy blog

I've been in the law practice for a few months now and one of the things that I dread is cross examination. Yes, I am hesitant to do my cross examination and this is mainly because I'm afraid that I would be asking objectionable questions. So far, I have been to cross-examinations a couple of times and I was lucky enough to have survived without having a heart attack!

Anyway, I have had some few help both from my lawyer friends and also from my mentors. What I can share to you today is another resource available to us online for free. The blog of Uy Clerico & De Guzman (here) have a lot of interesting reads that could help young practitioners such as myself. I have recently discovered their website but they were already online as early as 2007.

Their blog also includes clips from a lawyer's everyday life. Go and check their blog!

PNP Disciplinary Rules of Procedure

The Full text of Memorandum Circular No. 200-01 may be downloaded from the Napolcom website here.

Unfortunately, the above-cited link seems to have some problems. I once saved the pdf file on my computer but I would always received some Acrobat reading problems when I access the file.

Here's a document format for the PNP Disciplinary Rules of Procedure. Download it here.

You can also read the full text online at ArnanaLawOffice site.

For a more thorough discussion about these rules, including Summary Hearing Guides, please read the PNP Manual.

100 Best Blogs for Law Students

I am happy to announce that this blog has been included in the Top 100 Best Blogs for Law Students ranked by onlineschools.org. This has been ranked in 2009 when I was still in third year.

From their website:

22. Law School Funk: The chronicles of this law student are hilarious and fun to read. His musings on tests, class competition and summer internships have a lot of information in addition to being entertaining.

I am so happy that this blog has been included as one of the top law student blogs from around the world. Click the image above to go to the list of the Top Best Blogs for Law Students.

Thank you www.onlineschools.org.

Workplace Compensation

Have you been involved in work-related injuries, sickness, or accidents? Or, has your relative or family member been a victim of work-related death?

In our jurisdiction, every worker or employee is covered by the Employees Compensation. In filing for a claim, you don't need to hire a lawyer. You simply need to go to your nearest Social Security System (SSS) or Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) Offices, depending on whether you are a private or government employee, to file your claim. These claims are to be filed with the SSS and GSIS and not with the Employees Compensation Commission (ECC) because ECC's jurisdiction only covers appeals in cases where the SSS and GSIS would deny or reject your claim.

In filing an appeal, still, you do not need to hire a lawyer. The claim may be filed by the victim (employee) himself or any of his dependents. In some cases, it is the employer (or company) who does the filing in behalf of the employee.

I have been stressing about the fact that you do not need to hire a lawyer in claiming and processing your workplace compensation. Why? Because hiring one would mean that you will have to pay extra costs which shall most probably be taken from your workplace compensation claims.

In United Kingdom (UK), there are services offered that will assist victims of accidents at work and they will give you 100% of your claims without hidden charges. And, if the victim does not recover any workplace compensation, he does not need to pay any fees, with conditions.

If you think that you may be entitled to workplace compensation, do not delay. A claimant must file his claims within the prescribed period allowed by law and if you sleep on your rights, your claims may be forfeited.

PAO lang?

DON'T ever say PAO lang.

Copied from the PAO website:

PAO Mission

The Public Attorney’s Office exists to provide the indigent litigants, the oppressed, marginalized and underprivileged members of the society  free access to courts, judicial and quasi-judicial agencies, by rendering legal services, counselling and assistance in consonance with the Constitutional mandate that “free access to courts shall not be denied to any person by reason of poverty” in order to ensure the rule of law, truth and social justice as components of the country’s sustainable development.

PAO Vision

A government agency that is God-centered and dynamic bureaucracy that is responsive to the ever-growing legal needs of the indigents and oppressed led by highly competent, world- class, development-oriented, honest, dedicated and nationalistic leaders and lawyers.

Our Public Attorney's Office is composed of very capable and hardworking lawyers who are overworked and underpaid and they should be accorded with much respect. I was observing one courtroom last Monday and I heard the accused say, "PAO lang," after being asked if he has a lawyer. Maybe it was not his intention to undermine the abilities of his PAO lawyer but to me, it sounded like he did not feel confident being represented by a lawyer provided to him by the government. No one should ever insult his lawyer like that.

2011 Reviewers

From reyrod10 of PinoyLawyer.Org (in Doc format)

1. Labor Law
2. Civil Law
3. Criminal Law
4. Political Law

From a certain "Bert" 

1. Bert's Remedial Law Reviewer (in pdf)

From Elmer P. Brabante's Blog

1. 2011 Remedial Law Reviewer (in pdf)

Online Bar Review Materials

I have not received a reply yet from the authors of the Bar Review Materials that I'm going to upload. So, to keep you busy for a while, here are some helpful links from fellow lawyer and law student bloggers:

NEW!!! Sample MCQs (In Google Docs)

Pace Lex et Sapienta - a blog by Elmer Brabante. To view his archive of bar review materials, please click here.

Civil Procedure Reviewer Part 1 by Elmer Brabante

Civil Procedure Reviewer Part 2 by Elmer Brabante

ADMU Compilation

Gana Notes

UP Notes

I will upload files later after I get permissions from their respective authors. I will try my best to upload readable and well-formatted materials and I promise to make your download hassle-free.


Please check often as I will be updating this list from time to time.


7/15/2011 Update: I have not received any replies from the authors. I will upload and post the files on Monday and pray that I won't be charged with copyright infringement.

Lexoterica: A Philippine Blawg

This is a review of Lexoterica: A Philippine Blawg

This blog started as a blog by Hector de Leon Jr. If you think that the name is familiar, you are right! Who hasn't read the book written by his father, Hector S. de Leon? If you haven't noticed, most of the law books recommended by undergraduate law subjects are authored by Hector S. de Leon and that is because his books are written in a student-friendly fashion.

Now, going back to Lexoterica, this blog became public in 2009 and some bloggers joined Hector de Leon Jr. in January 2010. If you will notice in their About the Bloggers page, you will notice that the contributor-bloggers are all partners of the Sycip Salazar Hernandez & Gatmaitan. Wow! I'm just amazed that these busy lawyers devote some of their precious time to digest the recent Supreme Court decisions.

If you want to check the digested versions of our recent jurisprudence, feel free to visit Lexoterica blog.