Decisions in Jan 2026

Takeaway

The Supreme Court ruled that agricultural reform cases involving land redistribution decisions can be challenged at any time if they were made by the wrong government agency, even if they were supposedly final.

Takeaway

When the government takes private land for public projects like power lines without first filing proper expropriation cases, landowners deserve full compensation based on the land's value when it was taken, adjusted for inflation and lost opportunity to earn money during the delay.

Takeaway

A man who sent threatening and humiliating text messages to his ex-girlfriend is guilty of violence against women under Philippine law, even without medical proof of psychological harm.

Takeaway

Court employees who test positive for illegal drugs for the first time must be given a chance to undergo treatment and rehabilitation instead of being immediately punished, because drug addiction is a health problem, not just a crime.

Takeaway

Taxi drivers who work on a boundary system are employees, not independent contractors, and M. Lhuillier Taxi illegally dismissed 13 drivers without valid cause or proper notice.

Takeaway

A candidate cannot be disqualified for missing a comma in their address on a candidacy form when they clearly showed the correct address elsewhere in the same document and have been consistently using that address for over a decade.

Takeaway

Court officials given the same rank as judges can retire with judge-level benefits, but they don't automatically get all the extra perks that actual judges receive.

Takeaway

Elizabeth Espiritu Mendoza was convicted of illegal recruitment for posing as a legitimate job recruiter and collecting fees from Filipinos for overseas employment in Japan that never happened.