Beltran - v - Secretary of Health
Facts:
3.
Years prior to RA
7719, petitioners have already been operating commercial blood banks under RA
1517 (An Act Regulating the Collection, Processing and Sale of Human Blood, and
the Establishment and Operation of Blood Banks and Blood Processing
Laboratories) which allowed the establishment and operation by licensed
physicians of blood banks and blood processing laboratories.
Note: I made this case digest when I was still a law student. The ones posted on my blog were not due for submission as part of any academic requirement. I want to remind you that there is no substitute to reading the full text of the case! Use at your own risk.
1.
RA 7719 (National
Blood Services Act of 1994) was enacted into law. It seeks to provide an
adequate supply of safe blood by promoting voluntary blood donation and by
regulating blood banks in the country.
2.
Administrative
Order 9, Series of 1995, constituting the Implementing Rules and Regulations
(IRR) of said law was promulgated by respondent Secretary of the DOH.
Section 7 of R.A. 7719 provides: Phase-out of Commercial Blood Banks - All
commercial blood banks shall be phased-out over a period of (2) years after the
effectivity of this Act, extendable to a maximum period of (2) years by the
Secretary.
Section 23 of Administrative Order No. 9 provides: Process of Phasing Out. - The Department
shall effect the phasing-out of all commercial blood banks over a period of two
(2) years, extendible for a maximum period of (2) years after the effectivity
of R.A. 7719. The decision to extend shall be based on the result of a careful
study and review of the blood supply and demand and public safety.
4.
In 1994, the New
Tropical Medicine Foundation, with the assistance of the U.S. Agency for
International Development (USAID) released its final report of a study on the
Philippine blood banking system entitled Project
to Evaluate the Safety of the Philippine Blood Banking System.
a.
During the study,
there were only (24) registered or licensed free-standing or commercial blood
banks in the country.
b.
study deduced
that each commercial blood bank produces 5 times more blood than the Red Cross
and 15 times more than the government-run blood banks.
c.
donors of
commercial blood banks and private-hospital based blood banks are paid donors
d.
blood sold by
persons to blood commercial banks are 3 times more likely to have any of the
(4) tested infections or blood transfusion transmissible diseases - malaria,
syphilis, Hepatitis B and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS)
e.
Many of these
donors are poor, are not usually honest about their medical or social history.
5.
The phase-out
period pursuant to RA 7719 was extended for 2 years. Prior to the expiration of
the licenses granted to petitioners, they filed a petition for certiorari with
application for the issuance of a writ of preliminary injunction TRO under Rule
65 of the ROC assailing the constitutionality and validity of the Act and its IRR
6.
Doctors Blood
Center filed a similar petition and a Petition-in-Intervention interjected,
same grounds. Thus consolidated in this case.
Issue: WON
sec 7 of RA 7719 constitutes undue delegation of legislative power (Based on
topic outline). No.
Held:
Petitioners:
1.
Act was
incomplete when it was passed by the Legislature, and the latter failed to fix
a standard to which the Secretary of Health must conform in the performance of
his functions.
2.
That the 2-year
extension period that may be granted by the Secretary of Health for the phasing
out of commercial blood banks pursuant to Section 7 of the Act constrained the
Secretary to legislate, thus constituting undue delegation of legislative
power.
-
In testing whether a statute constitutes an undue
delegation of legislative power or not, it is usual to inquire whether the
statute was complete in all its terms and provisions when it left the hands of
the Legislature so that nothing was left to the judgment of the administrative
body or any other appointee or delegate of the Legislature.
-
Except as to matters of detail that may be left to be
filled in by rules and regulations to be adopted or promulgated by executive
officers and administrative boards, an act of the Legislature, as a general
rule, is incomplete and hence invalid if it does not lay down any rule or
definite standard by which the administrative board may be guided in the
exercise of the discretionary powers delegated to it.
-
RA 7719 or the
National Blood Services Act of 1994 is complete in itself. It is clear from the
provisions of the Act that the Legislature intended primarily to safeguard the
health of the people and has mandated several measures to attain this
objective. One of these is the phase out of commercial blood banks in the
country. The law has sufficiently provided a definite standard for the guidance
of the Secretary of Health in carrying out its provisions, that is, the
promotion of public health by providing a safe and adequate supply of blood
through voluntary blood donation. By its provisions, it has conferred the power
and authority to the Secretary of Health as to its execution, to be exercised
under and in pursuance of the law.
-
Congress may
validly delegate to administrative agencies the authority to promulgate rules
and regulations to implement a given legislation and effectuate its policies. The
Secretary of Health has been given, under RA 7719, broad powers to execute the
provisions of said Act. Section 11 of the Act states:
SEC. 11. Rules and Regulations. The
implementation of the provisions of the Act shall be in accordance with the
rules and regulations to be promulgated by the Secretary, within sixty (60)
days from the approval hereof
-
This is what
respondent Secretary exactly did when DOH, by virtue of the administrative
bodys authority and expertise in the matter, came out with AO 9, series of 1995
or the Rules and Regulations Implementing RA 7719. Administrative Order. No. 9 effectively
filled in the details of the law for its proper implementation.
-
Section 23 of
Administrative Order No. 9 provides that the phase-out period for commercial
blood banks shall be extended for another two years until May 28, 1998 based on
the result of a careful study and review of the blood supply and demand and
public safety. This power to ascertain the existence of facts and conditions
upon which the Secretary may effect a period of extension for said phase-out
can be delegated by Congress.
-
The true distinction between the power to make laws
and discretion as to its execution is illustrated by the fact that the
delegation of power to make the law, which necessarily involves a discretion as
to what it shall be, and conferring an authority or discretion as to its
execution, to be exercised under and in pursuance of the law. The first cannot
be done; to the latter no valid objection can be made.
-
In this regard,
the Secretary did not go beyond the powers granted to him by the Act when said
phase-out period was extended in accordance with the Act as laid out in Section
2 (Policy to Promote Health).
