Case Brief: Balbuna vs. Secretary of Education

G.R. No. L-14283 November 29, 1960
GIL BALBUNA, ET AL., petitioners-appellants,
vs.
THE HON. SECRETARY OF EDUCATION, ET AL., respondents-appellees.

FACTS:

Sec. 1 of R.A. No. 1265 requires all educational constitution to observe daily flag ceremony, which shall be simple and dignified and shall include the playing or singin of the national anthem. sec 2 authorizes the sec of education to issie rules and regulations on the proper comduct of flag ceremony.

Petitioner, members of Jehovah’s witness challenged the constitutionality of the Act, by virtue of which, the Secretary of Education issued Department Order No. 8, prescribing compulsory flag ceremony, as an undue delegation of legislative power.

ISSUE:

WON the requirements of simplicity and dignity of the flag ceremony and the singing of the national anthem constitute an adequate standard.

HELD:

Yes.

The requirements set in Sec. 1 and Sec. 2 of the Act constitute an adequate standard, to wit, simplicity and dignity of the flag ceremony and the singing of the national anthem. That the Legislature did not specify the details of the flag ceremony is no objection to the validity of the statute, for all that is required of it is the laying down of the standards and policy that will limit the discretion of the regulatory agency.