Justice Singh Shares How Religious Freedom Serves as a Tool for Peacemaking through Philippine Law and Jurisprudence

Supreme Court Associate Justice Maria Filomena D. Singh at the 31^st International Law and Religion Symposium at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, on October 7, 2024. (Courtesy of the Office of Associate Justice Maria Filomena D. Singh)

Supreme Court Associate Justice Maria Filomena D. Singh shared the legal foundation for the Philippine Supreme Court’s firm stand on religious freedom, as enshrined in its Constitution, during the 31st International Law and Religion Symposium, hosted by the International Law Center for Law and Religion Studies of the J. Reuben Clark Law School, Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, U.S.A.

In the session which focused on Judicial Leaders’ perspectives on religious freedom, Justice Singh first shared that while the Philippines is predominantly a Roman Catholic nation, there is a rich diversity of religious beliefs, including Islam and Christian denominations.  Despite this, she added that the Philippine Constitution and the law recognize a religious group’s right to practice their faith without interference and an equal right to practice no religion at all.  Thus, she highlighted that “[t]he very essence of religious freedom in the Philippines lies in creating an inclusive society where religious differences are celebrated rather than feared and where the State plays a neutral role in ensuring that no group is marginalized based on their beliefs.”

Supreme Court Associate Justice Maria Filomena D. Singh speaks during the Judicial Leaders Session of the 31st International Law and Religion Symposium held at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, on October 7, 2024. (Courtesy of the Office of Associate Justice Maria Filomena D. Singh)

Justice Singh emphasized that the Philippine Constitution envisions benevolent neutrality through the Non-Establishment Clause and the Freedom of Exercise Clause.

Among others, Justice Singh highlighted the leading cases of Aglipay v. Ruiz in 1937, where the Court ruled that the Non-Establishment Clause was not violated when the government’s Director of Posts sold postage stamps commemorating the 33rd International Eucharistic Congress; Victoriano v. Elizalde Rope Worker’s Union in 1947, where the Court upheld a law exempting certain employees from closed shop agreements in collective bargaining because this was prohibited by their religion; and Ebranilag v. Superintendent of Schools of Cebu in 1993, where the Court exempted members of the Jehovah’s Witnesses from saluting the Philippine flag or singing the national anthem because of their religious convictions.

Finally, as the Chairperson of the 2024 Shari’ah Bar Examinations, Justice Singh proudly shared the successful conduct of the first digitalized and regionalized Shari’ah Bar Examinations last April 28 and May 2, 2024. She said that the annual examinations, which the Supreme Court recently institutionalized, demonstrated the Supreme Court’s commitment to religious inclusivity under the outcome of Access in its Strategic Plan for Judicial Innovations 2022-2027 (SPJI).  At the same time, Justice Singh proudly reported that a significant number of female Muslim Filipinos took and passed the 2024 Shari-ah Bar Examinations – 64.6% of those who completed the examinations and 62.3% of those who passed the examinations – while 9 out of 11 of the top examinees are women, another indicum of the Supreme Court’s drive for inclusivity, not only in religion but also in gender.

Justice Singh concluded her talk by saying that religious freedom in the Philippines is more than just a constitutional right and must be recognized as a cornerstone for peace-building in a diverse society. “By respecting the beliefs of all religious communities, whether they belong to the majority or minority, the law creates an environment of tolerance, mutual respect, and dialogue. The various religions in the Philippines—whether Catholic, Muslim, Protestant, Indigenous, or otherwise—are all given space to thrive without fear of discrimination or coercion.”

Justice Singh was one of the three Judicial Leaders in the breakout session.  The other two were Judge David Edward Ashton-Lewis of the Supreme Court of Fiji and Senior Judge David Campbell of the United States First District Court, District of Arizona, and Chair of the U.S. Federal Judiciary Committee on International Judicial Relations. (Courtesy of the Office of Associate Justice Maria Filomena D. Singh)

Supreme Court Associate Justice Maria Filomena D. Singh is joined by Senior Judge David Campbell (left) of the United States First District Court, District of Arizona, and Judge David Edward Ashton-Lewis (center) of the Supreme Court of Fiji during the breakout session of the 31st International Law and Religion Symposium held in Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, on October 7, 2024. (Courtesy of the Office of Associate Justice Maria Filomena D. Singh)

Source: The Supreme Court of the Philippines