State immunity, Constitutional Law

1. Concept

The State may not be sued without its consent. (Section 3, Article XVI, 1987 Constitution)

No suit shall lie against the State except with its consent as provided by law. (Section 10, Chapter 3, Book I, E.O. 292, Administrative Code of 1987)

Doctrine of sovereign immunity:The immunity of the State from suit, known also as the doctrine of sovereign immunity or non-suability of the State, is expressly provided in Article XVI of the 1987 Constitution which states: Section 3. The State may not be sued without its consent. (Arigo v. Swift, G.R. No. 206510, 16 September 2014)

Doctrine of the royal prerogative of dishonesty:  The immunity of the State is also referred to as the doctrine of the royal prerogative of dishonesty” because it grants the state the prerogative to defeat any legitimate claim against it by simply invoking its non-suability. (Department of Agriculture v. NLRC, Salcedo, G.R. No. 104269, 11 November 1993)

The rule that a state may not be sued without its consent, now embodied in Section 3, Article XVI of the 1987 Constitution, is one of the generally accepted principles of international law, which we have now adopted as part of the law of the land. (DOH v. Phil. Pharmawealth, Inc., G.R. No. 169304, 13 March 2007)

The State may not be sued without its consent. This fundamental doctrine stems from the principle that there can be no legal right against the authority which makes the law on which the right depends. This generally ac...