ON RELIGIOUS FREEDOM (Part 1)| By: Arlou June D. Gomez

 ON RELIGIOUS FREEDOM (Part 1)|

By: Arlou June D. Gomez

In  Ebralinag  v.  Division  Superintendent  of  Schools of Cebu,  the petitioners,  who  were members  of a religious group,  refused  to  salute the flag, sing  the  national anthem, and  recite  the  patriotic pledge  for  it is  their  belief  that those  were  acts  of worship  or  religious  devotion,  which  they  could  not conscientiously  give  to  anyone  or  anything  except God.  The Court  accommodated  them  and  granted them  an exemption from  observing  the  flag ceremony  out  of  respect  for their religious  beliefs

This is a significant Supreme Court ruling because it reversed the earlier ruling in Gerona  v.  Secretary  of  Education,  106  Phil  2,  and  upheld the  right  of  the  petitioners  to  refuse  to  salute  the  Philippine  flag  on  account  of  their religious  scruples.  

This case uses the CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER TEST; while in Estrada v. Escritor, it uses the COMPELLING STATE INTEREST TEST.

Whenever a person or group of persons invoke their religious freedom against a certain government measure, the State uses and our jurisprudence dictates BENEVOLENT-NEUTRALITY APPROACH to accommodate the same within the constitutional flexibility limits.