5/19/2021 E-Library - Information At Your Fingertips: Printer Friendly function is therefore limited, and accordingly, must confine itself to the judicial task of saying what the law is, as enacted by the lawmaking body. [58] (emphasis supplied) Indeed, only congressional power or competence, not the wisdom of the action taken, may be the basis for declaring a statute invalid. This is as it ought to be. The principle of separation of powers has in the main wisely allocated the respective authority of each department and confined its jurisdiction to such a sphere. There would then be intrusion not allowable under the Constitution if on a matter left to the discretion of a coordinate branch, the judiciary would substitute its own. If there be adherence to the rule of law, as there ought to be, the last offender should be the courts of justice, to which rightly litigants submit their controversy precisely to maintain unimpaired the supremacy of legal norms and prescriptions. The attack on the validity of the challenged provision likewise, insofar as there may be objections, even if valid and cogent, on its wisdom cannot be sustained.[59] As petitioners failed to prove that Sec. 9-B of R.A. No. 11199, to the extent that seabased OFWs are concerned, violates the Constitution, then this statutory provision must be upheld in favor of the obligatory SSS coverage of the seafarers. WHEREFORE, the petition is DENIED. Section 9-B of Republic Act No. 11199, or the Social Security Act of 2018, insofar as sea-based Overseas Filipino Workers are concerned, is CONSTITUTIONAL. SO ORDERED. Peralta, C.J., Perlas-Bernabe, Leonen, Caguioa, J. Reyes, Jr., Hernando, Carandang, Lazaro-Javier, Inting, Zalameda, Lopez, Delos Santos, and Gaerlan, JJ., concur. NOTICE OF JUDGMENT Sirs/Mesdames: Please take notice that on July 7, 2020 a Decision, copy attached herewith, was rendered by the Supreme Court in the above-entitled case, the original of which was received by this Office on September 23, 2020 at 3:53 p.m. Very truly yours, (SGD.) EDGAR O. ARICHETA Clerk of Court https://elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/thebookshelf/showdocsfriendly/1/66432 24/28