ACTUAL CASE OR CONTROVERSY

ACTUAL CASE OR CONTROVERSY [¹]

An Actual Case or Controversy means: 

         1.   An existing case or controversy;

         2.   that is appropriate or ripe for determination;

         3.   not conjectural or anticipatory;

         4.   lest the decision of the court would amount to an advisory opinion.

The power does not extend to hypothetical questions since any attempt at abstraction could only lead to dialectics and barren legal questions and to sterile conclusions unrelated to actualities. [2]

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[¹] Villafuerte, Jr. vs Robredo; G.R. No. 195390, December 10, 2014

[²] Smart Communications, Inc. v. National Telecommunications Commission, 456 Phil. 145, 155-156 (2003).