Consti II case digest: BATAAN SHIPYARD & ENGINEERING CO., INC. (BASECO), petitioner, vs. PRESIDENTIAL COMMISSION ON GOOD GOVERNMENT.

Facts:

Challenged in this special civil action of certiorari and prohibition by a private corporation known as the Bataan Shipyard and Engineering Co., Inc. are: (1) Executive Orders Numbered 1 and 2, promulgated by President Corazon C. Aquino on February 28, 1986 and March 12, 1986, respectively, and (2) the sequestration, takeover, and other orders issued, and acts done, in accordance with said executive orders by the Presidential Commission on Good Government and/or its Commissioners and agents, affecting said corporation.

The PCGG was tasked to sequester the BASECO thru Executive Orders 1 and 2 of President Cory Aquino.

The PCGG was able to take over the BASECO and terminate its executive employees and requested to have the following documents of the said company. Such as (Stock transfer book, Legal documents, Minutes of the meetings, Financial statements, and the likes)

Petitioner contends that he cannot produce the said documents due to it is an infringement of its right against self incrimination.

ISSUE:

WON documents ask in by PCGG would vitiate their right against self incrimination.

RULING:

BASECO also contends that its right against self incrimination and unreasonable searches and seizures had been transgressed by the Order of April 18, 1986 which required it "to produce corporate records from 1973 to 1986 under pain of contempt of the Commission if it fails to do so." The order was issued upon the authority of Section 3 (e) of Executive Order No. 1, treating of the PCGG's power to "issue subpoenas requiring * * the production of such books, papers, contracts, records, statements of accounts and other documents as may be material to the investigation conducted by the Commission, " and paragraph (3), Executive Order No. 2 dealing with its power to "require all persons in the Philippines holding * * (alleged "ill-gotten") assets or properties, whether located in the Philippines or abroad, in their names as nominees, agents or trustees, to make full disclosure of the same * *." The contention lacks merit.

it is elementary that the right against self-incrimination has no application to juridical persons.

While an individual may lawfully refuse to answer incriminating questions unless protected by an immunity statute, it does not follow that a corporation, vested with special privileges and franchises, may refuse to show its hand when charged with an abuse ofsuchprivileges

At any rate, Executive Order No. 14-A, amending Section 4 of Executive Order No. 14 assures protection to individuals required to produce evidence before the PCGG against any possible violation of his right against self-incrimination. It gives them immunity from prosecution on the basis of testimony or information he is compelled to present. As amended, said Section 4 now provides that —

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The witness may not refuse to comply with the order on the basis of his privilege against self-incrimination; but no testimony or other information compelled under the order (or any information directly or indirectly derived from such testimony, or other information) may be used against the witness in any criminal case, except a prosecution for perjury, giving a false statement, or otherwise failing to comply with the order.

Relevant jurisprudence is also cited by the Solicitor General. 114

* * corporations are not entitled to all of the constitutional protections which private individuals have. * * They are not at all within the privilege against self-incrimination, although this court more than once has said that the privilege runs very closely with the 4th Amendment's Search and Seizure provisions.It is also settled that an officer of the company cannot refuse to produce its records in its possession upon the plea that they will either incriminate him or may incriminate it." (Oklahoma Press Publishing Co. v. Walling, 327 U.S. 186; emphasis, the Solicitor General's).

* * The corporation is a creature of the state. It is presumed to be incorporated for the benefit of the public. It received certain special privileges and franchises, and holds them subject to the laws of the state and the limitations of its charter. Its powers are limited by law. It can make no contract not authorized by its charter. Its rights to act as a corporation are only preserved to it so long as it obeys the laws of its creation. There is a reserve right in the legislature to investigate its contracts and find out whether it has exceeded its powers. It would be a strange anomaly to hold that a state, having chartered a corporation to make use of certain franchises, could not, in the exercise of sovereignty, inquire how these franchises had been employed, and whether they had been abused, and demand the production of the corporate books and papers for that purpose. The defense amounts to this, that an officer of the corporation which is charged with a criminal violation of the statute may plead the criminality of such corporation as a refusal to produce its books. To state this proposition is to answer it. While an individual may lawfully refuse to answer incriminating questions unless protected by an immunity statute, it does not follow that a corporation, vested with special privileges and franchises may refuse to show its hand when charged with an abuse of such privileges.

The constitutional safeguard against unreasonable searches and seizures finds no application to the case at bar either. There has been no search undertaken by any agent or representative of the PCGG, and of course no seizure on the occasion thereof.