04/02/2020 E-Library - Information At Your Fingertips: Printer Friendly to coddle the few, however disadvantaged they may have been. Neither can a just society be approximated by maiming the healthy to place them at par with the injured. Nor can the nation survive by enclaving its wealth for the exclusive benefit of favored minorities. Rather, the law must help the powerless by enabling them to take advantage of opportunities and privileges that are open to all and by preventing the powerful from exploiting and oppressing them. This is the essence of social justice - empowering and enabling the poor to be able to compete with the rich and, thus, equally enjoy the blessings of prosperity, freedom and dignity. WHEREFORE, I vote to partially GRANT the Petition and to DECLARE as UNCONSTITUTIONAL Sections 3(a) and (b), 5, 6, 7(a) and (b), 8 and related provisions of RA 8371. [1] Kilosbayan v. Morato, 250 SCRA 130, 140, November 16, 1995; Association of Small Landowners v. Secretary of Agrarian Reform, 175 SCRA 343, 365, July 14, 1989; Antonio v. Dinglasan, 84 Phil 368 (1949). [2] Tañada v. Angara, 272 SCRA 18, 46, May 2, 1997; Santiago v. Comelec, 270 SCRA 106, 123-24, March 19, 1997; Basco v. PAGCOR, 197 SCRA 52, 60, May 14, 1991. [3] Tanada v. Angara, ibid. [4] §5, Art. XII, 1987 Constitution. [5] 16 CJS §3. [6] 16 Am Jur 2d §2. [7] Ibid. [8] §22, Art. II of the Constitution. [9] Abaoag v. Director of Lands, 45 Phil 518 (1923), cited in petitioners' Memorandum. [10] Soledad M. Cagampang-de Castro, "The Economic Policies on Natural Resources Under the 1987 Constitution Revisited," Journal of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines, Vol. XXV, Nos. 3 & 4 (1999), p. 51. [11] In a republican system of government, the concept of jura regalia is stripped of royal overtones; ownership is vested in the State, instead. (Joaquin G. Bernas, SJ, The Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines: A Commentary, 1996 ed., p. 1009-1010.) [12] II Aruego, The Framing of the Philippine Constitution 603, quoted in Bernas, elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/thebookshelf/showdocsfriendly/1/36882 145/148