04/02/2020 E-Library - Information At Your Fingertips: Printer Friendly The Office of the Solicitor General (OSG), on behalf of respondents, concedes that AMIN[5] has the requisite legal standing to file this suit as member[6] of Congress. Petitioners find it impermissible for the Executive to intrude into the domain of the Legislature. They posit that an act of the Executive which injures the institution of Congress causes a derivative but nonetheless substantial injury, which can be questioned by a member of Congress.[7] They add that to the extent that the powers of Congress are impaired, so is the power of each member thereof, since his office confers a right to participate in the exercise of the powers of that institution.[8] Indeed, a member of the House of Representatives has standing to maintain inviolate the prerogatives, powers and privileges vested by the Constitution in his office.[9] The OSG questions, however, the standing of MDOI, a registered people's organization of Teduray and Lambangian tribesfolk of (North) Upi and South Upi in the province of Maguindanao. As co-petitioner, MDOI alleges that it is concerned with the negative impact of NCIP's becoming an attached agency of the DAR on the processing of ancestral domain claims. It fears that transferring the NCIP to the DAR would affect the processing of ancestral domain claims filed by its members. Locus standi or legal standing has been defined as a personal and substantial interest in a case such that the party has sustained or will sustain direct injury as a result of the governmental act that is being challenged. The gist of the question of standing is whether a party alleges such personal stake in the outcome of the controversy as to assure that concrete adverseness which sharpens the presentation of issues upon which the court depends for illumination of difficult constitutional questions.[10] It has been held that a party who assails the constitutionality of a statute must have a direct and personal interest. It must show not only that the law or any governmental act is invalid, but also that it sustained or is in immediate danger of sustaining some direct injury as a result of its enforcement, and not merely that it suffers thereby in some indefinite way. It must show that it has been or is about to be denied some right or privilege to which it is lawfully entitled or that it is about to be subjected to some burdens or penalties by reason of the statute or act complained of.[11] For a concerned party to be allowed to raise a constitutional question, it must show that (1) it has personally suffered some actual or threatened injury as a result of the allegedly illegal conduct of the government, (2) the injury is fairly traceable to the challenged action, and (3) the injury is likely to be redressed by a favorable action. [12] An examination of MDOI's nebulous claims of "negative impact" and "probable setbacks"[13] shows that they are too abstract to be considered judicially cognizable. And the line of causation it proffers between the challenged action and alleged injury is too attenuated. elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/thebookshelf/showdocsfriendly/1/44257 4/15