This case has been cited 2 times or more.
|
2006-08-10 |
SANDOVAL-GUTIERREZ, J. |
||||
| Obviously, there is no merit in petitioners' argument that they can no longer be charged before the court martial for violation of Article 96 of the Articles of War because the same has been declared by the RTC in its Order of February 11, 2004 as "not service-connected, but rather absorbed and in furtherance of the alleged crime of coup d'etat," hence, triable by said court (RTC). The RTC, in making such declaration, practically amended the law which expressly vests in the court martial the jurisdiction over "service-connected crimes or offenses." What the law has conferred the court should not take away. It is only the Constitution or the law that bestows jurisdiction on the court, tribunal, body or officer over the subject matter or nature of an action which can do so.[22] And it is only through a constitutional amendment or legislative enactment that such act can be done. The first and fundamental duty of the courts is merely to apply the law "as they find it, not as they like it to be."[23] Evidently, such declaration by the RTC constitutes grave abuse of discretion tantamount to lack or excess of jurisdiction and is, therefore, void. | |||||
|
2004-12-01 |
PANGANIBAN, J. |
||||
| In any event, what is quite evident is the fact that the additional government share, as formulated, has nothing to do with taxes -- direct or indirect -- or with duties, fees or charges. To repeat, it is over and above the basic government share composed of taxes and duties. Simply put, the additional share may be (a) an amount that will result in a 50-50 sharing of the cumulative present value of the cash flows[69] of the enterprise; (b) an amount equivalent to 25 percent of the additional or excess profits of the enterprise, reckoned against a benchmark return on investments; or (c) an amount that will result in a fifty-fifty sharing of the cumulative net mining revenue from the end of the recovery period up to the taxable year in question. The contractor is required to select one of the three options or formulae for computing the additional share, an option it will apply to all of its mining operations. | |||||