Legal Citation in the Philippines: Formats, Examples, and How to Cite Cases (2026 Guide) - Blog

Legal research comes hand-in-hand with legal citation because a legal paper or argument does not have any leg to stand on without any basis. In the Philippines, legal citations are used in academic journal articles, pleadings, and most importantly, exams when needed.

The writing part of these articles or documents is arguably the least tedious of the process since collating legal citations is the most tricky portion. This is because it involves a lot of resources and scouring through the websites and articles you’ve used as sources and to organize them.

Don’t fret — This article will provide a basic guide to simplifying the process of legal citation and how to easily do so with the least amount of time possible.

What Is a Legal Citation?

A legal citation is a standard way of referring to legal resources including, but not limited to, cases, laws, issuances, or academic research papers to support arguments in legal writing. It ensures readers can verify the information and trace the legal basis for each claim.

Legal citation, aside from allowing your readers to check the sources themselves, can also improve your writing’s credibility and authority as well as organization. Additionally, when engaging in legal writing, having properly formatted legal citations lends clarity and accuracy to your work.

Primary legal resources such as case law and legal provisions are cited differently than secondary sources such as commentaries or academic legal journals. You can learn more about this process in Digest PH’s guide on legal research in the Philippines, explaining how to interpret primary legal authorities.

Philippine Manual of Legal Citations: The Standard Reference

The Philippine Manual of Legal Citations (PMLC) serves as the primary guide for properly referencing legal sources in the Philippines. It ensures uniformity and accuracy in citing laws, jurisprudence, and legal materials used in pleadings, memoranda, and academic papers.

For law students and legal researchers, the PMLC plays crucial role in maintaining credibility and consistency. It helps them understand how to correctly acknowledge legal authorities and trace the sources that support their analysis.

While the PMLC is tailored to Philippine legal practice, it shares similarities with the Bluebook Legal Citation, the internationally-renowned “guide to a system of legal citation frequently used by law schools and law journals”. It is used alongside different legal citation formats all around the world. Both aim to promote clarity and precision in legal references, though the Bluebook’s structure is more comprehensive and suited to the U.S. legal system.

Element	Philippine Manual	Harvard Bluebook
Jurisdiction	Local (PH laws, cases)	International, mostly US
Common Use	Law schools, bar prep	Academic journals
Style Example	Opposa v. Factoran, G.R. No. 101083 (1993)	Brown v. Board, 347 U.S. 483 (1954)

Although some of the guidelines in the Harvard Bluebook are used in the Philippine Manual of Legal Citations, these are mostly used for international and most especially, American sources. Strengthening your understanding of how to locate and assess credible sources before citing them is crucial, refer to our detailed resource on how to conduct effective legal research in the Philippines.

Common Legal Citation Terms Explained

Before we get started on the legal citation format in the Philippines, listed below are some common legal citation terms:

Term	Meaning	Example
Supra	Latin term for above/below and this is typically used to refer to a source already mentioned	See Supra Note 3
Ibid./Id.	Latin term for “in the same place” and is used when there are citations from the same source referenced to consecutively	Id at 40
§	“Section”, Instead of writing sec. or section, you can instead put this	§ 35.
et. al.	Latin abbreviation for “et alia” meaning “and others”; used when there are multiple parties or authors in a single work	Tolentino, et. al.
Cf.	Used when referring to a comparison of legal sources	Oposa v. Factoran cf. MMDA v. Concerned Residents of Manila Bay

These shortcuts are used to decongest the footnotes and citation list in your pleadings or research papers since it efficiently does away with having to repeat the sources again and again.

Legal Citation Format in the Philippines

In the Philippines, we use the Philippine Manual of Legal Citations. The current tenth edition of the Manual incorporates the changes in the Philippine government system as well as international sources such as the Harvard Bluebook, the Uniform System of Citation, and the United Nations Documentation Research Guide.

Below are some of the basic legal citation formats we can follow in writing our articles or pleadings:

How to Cite a Legal Provision in the Philippines

When citing the Constitution, start with the abbreviation CONST. followed by the year of the Constitution used if it is no longer in force, the article, section, then the paragraph if needed. For example,

CONST. (1935), art. III, sec. 1, par. (3)

Note: If you are citing a foreign constitution, indicate their country in abbreviated form before the CONST.

U.S. CONST., art. VIII, sec. 1.

When citing Republic Acts, format as follows:

Rep. Act No. 7104 (1991), sec. 4.

When citing codes such as the Revised Penal Code or the Civil Code, cite the number of the particular code, article or section number, without any date. However, similar to the Constitution, if you are using a repealed code, put the year of effectivity.

CIVIL CODE, art. 1732.

Philippine codes have specific abbreviations in the Philippine Manual of Legal Citations.

How to Cite a Court Decision in the Philippines

Citing Court Decisions start with the surname of the parties, the GR No, the pages if provided, and the year of promulgation. For example,

Oposa v. Factoran, G.R. No. 101083, (1993).

Specific rules that govern Court Decision citations are as follows:

Cite compound names in full
Cite corporation, associations, business firms, and partnership names in full
Cite a public officer named in his official capacity by his/her name only

Common Mistakes to Avoid include using or citing the wrong case, inconsistent formatting, and formatting errors such as wrong use of quotation marks and capitalization.

How to Cite Academic Legal Papers in the Philippines

Format these secondary sources as follows: Author(s), article title, volume, Journal title, pages, paragraph pinpoint in url form. Accessed exact date. For example,

Carlos Hernandez, Jr, Rethinking the Absolute Immunity from Suit of a Sitting Philippine President, 97 PLJ 1, available at: https://philippinelawjournal.org/volume/post/volume-97-issue-1/. Accessed November 01, 2025.

Frequently-Asked-Questions (FAQs)

What is the definition of citation?

The definition of citation is the standard way of referring to legal resources including, but not limited to, cases, laws, issuances, or academic research papers so that your readers can easily locate and countercheck the exact sources you used.

How to do a legal citation?

Guides such as the Philippine Manual of Legal Citations or the Harvard Bluebook are just some compilations of guide formats for legal citation.

What are the three types of citations?

The three main types of citations include Philippine legal codes, case law, and academic articles.

Key Takeaways

Legal citation gives a legal paper or argument its credibility and foundation allowing readers to locate and verify sources on their own.
The Philippine Manual of Legal Citations (10th Edition) is the primary reference for citation rules in the country.
Terms like supra, ibid./id., § (section), et al., and cf. are used to make citations concise and avoid repetition in footnotes or endnotes.
Each specific type of source follows a format to ensure uniformity and accuracy in Philippine legal writing.

Conclusion

Legal citation is as much an important skill as legal research writing because it lends authority and credibility to your writing. And looking for legal resources may be a challenge which is why you need legal research tools such as Digest AI to summarize and help you look for credible articles to help your writing.