2025 Supreme Court Rulings: Key Cases in Civil, Criminal, Commercial & Political Law

Although it is not obvious, the latest Supreme Court rulings impact our lives in ways we cannot immediately understand. It can strike down unconstitutional policies, determine one’s rights and obligations, and interpret vague or confusing laws. This is why it is important to get the latest on recent 2025 supreme court rulings and the links below as well as Digest.ph’s page containing all available full text cases will help you stay updated.

Why Staying Updated on Recent Supreme Court Decisions Matters

Supreme Court decisions dictate the legal conditions in the Philippines in such a way that it interprets laws, sets guidelines for lower court decisions, and harmonizes conflicting views. More importantly, they can also strike down existing laws or jurisprudential doctrines set by past cases which is why keeping up with recent supreme court decisions is important. As law students and lawyers, we are obligated to know these recent decisions because it dictates how we answer and argue for (or against) future legal issues.

Latest 2025 Supreme Court Decisions by Category

This section organizes recent Supreme Court rulings into categories (e.g., criminal law, civil law, constitutional law) for easier reference. It helps readers quickly find relevant cases and understand key legal trends shaping 2025.

Civil & Family Law Cases

Civil Law in 2025 saw significant rulings on family rights and property law. Here are the highlights:

Case	Legal Field/s	Key Holding	Why it matters
Sps. Calilim v. Goño (2025)	Property Law / Civil Law	Unauthorized construction on public foreshore lands constitutes a public nuisance per se and as such	Strengthens government authority to remove illegal constructions on public property.
Empuerto v. Cabrillos (2025)	Family Law / Custody	Provisional custody over a child may be granted, but compromise agreements require a full trial before implementation & service of such to the parent involved.	Stresses importance of due process rights (specifically, right to notice) of parents in custody proceedings
Cabutaje v. Republic (2025)	Family Law / Nullity of Marriage	Psychological incapacity can be proven by totality of evidence, even without both parties undergoing expert examination.	Reiterates the evidence needed to prove psychological incapacity which may be testimonies from different people in the party’s life.

Criminal & Remedial Law Cases

2025 legal developments in Criminal & Remedial Law highlighted nuances in the understanding of the fields as provided for below:

Case	Legal Field/s	Key Holding	Why it matters
People v. Estregan (2025)	Criminal Law	RA 3019 (Anti-Graft & Corrupt Practices Act) is further nuanced such that criminal cases for violation of Section 3 (e) specifically, in relation to violations of procurement laws, rules, and regulations, do not automatically entail the conviction of the Public Officer under said special penal law.	Emphasizes that criminal cases for violations of procurement laws must prove not only the act but culpability as well.
Pp v. Lastimosa (2025)	Remedial Law/Evidence	The Court ruled that a photocopy, being a duplicate, is admissible to the same extent as the original absent any genuine question as to the authenticity of the original or a showing that it is unjust or inequitable to admit the duplicate in lieu of the original.	Sets guidelines as to when a duplicate of an original document is acceptable or not.

Political Law Cases

Political Law in 2025 shifted due to significant rulings on local government law & administrative law. Here are the latest highlights:

Case	Legal Field/s	Key Holding	Why it matters
Province of Occidental Mindoro v. Agusan Petroleum and Mineral (2025)	Political Law / Local Government Units	Municipal ordinances bow down to State policies and thus, the Province of Occidental Mindoro cannot impose a blanket ban on mining pursuant to RA 7942 (The Philippine Mining Act).	Reaffirms the primacy of state/legislative policies over municipal ordinances in attempts of striking down the latter.
Aguilar vs. Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (2025)	Political Law/Administrative Law	The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas has the authority to forbid a bank from doing business in the Philippines upon finding, supported with substantial evidence, that it has insufficient realizable assets to meet its liabilities, and/or it cannot continue in business without involving probable losses to its depositors or creditors, among others.	Highlights the powers of the BSP to rule on the ability of banks to do business in the country.

Commercial Law Cases

2025 Supreme Court decisions on Commercial Law focused on Corporations. Significant rulings are as follows:

Case	Legal Field/s	Key Holding	Why it matters
Teng v. Teng (2025)	Commercial Law/Corporations	Contracts entered into by the Board of Directors of a corporation are binding upon it. As such, courts do not have the power to interfere unless such are “so unconscionable and oppressive as to amount to wanton destruction to the rights of the minority”.	Proclaims that the corporation has independent power to enter into contracts & the courts have no power to interfere generally.
Rodriguez vs. Pastorfide (2025)	Commercial Law/Corporations	A corporation that owns a condominium unit and is a member in good standing may elect a natural person who is not a unit owner, as its representative to serve on the condominium corporation’s Board.	Gives freedom to corporate unit-owners to designate a representative in the condominium building they own unit/s in.

Legal Ethics Cases

Legal Ethics in 2025 highlighted the importance of following the Code of Professional Responsibility and Accountability (CPRA).

Case	Legal Field/s	Key Holding	Why it matters
Zamora v. Mahinay (2025)	Legal Ethics	Forum shopping is a prohibited practice of filing multiple actions in different courts for the same relief	Highlights that parties who engage in forum shopping shall suffer the dismissal of the cases.
Lacida vs. Subejano (2025)	Legal Ethics	The exception for the prohibition on borrowing of money or property from clients includes transactions which the lawyer avails of the products and services generally offered by the client to the public.	Excludes transactions between the lawyer & the client in the latter’s services generally offered to the public from the prohibition on borrowing money.

If you’re a law student, these rulings might eventually land on your digest assignments. You can make that task easier by following our practical tips for writing handwritten case digests.

How to Stay Updated on the Latest Supreme Court Decisions?

While this article does not contain a complete list of all 2025 Supreme Court decisions, you can always refer to news companies such as Rappler, Inquirer, or ABS-CBN News. You can also refer to the Supreme Court website for the latest released full text cases.

Last but definitely not the least, Digest.ph has included certain features that can help you stay updated with the latest legal trends. All you have to do is use the “advanced search” feature available on our website and type in the year you would like to explore.

With Digest.ai, you can summarize cases instantly, cross-reference laws, and generate study notes—making legal research faster than ever.

For instance, if you would want to look for the latest 2025 Philippine Supreme Court Decisions and its respective summary, all you have to do is put 2025 in the appropriate filter and you will now see all the cases you need.

Staying updated is just one part of the process—knowing how to search, analyze, and cross-reference cases is just as important. Our step-by-step guide to legal research explains how to do exactly that.

Key takeaways

Digest.ph contains full text cases and their summaries to help law students and lawyers stay updated with the latest legal trends.
The full text cases published and summarized on Digest.ph covers a wide range of legal fields such as civil law, criminal law, remedial law, and legal ethics.
Using the advanced search feature on Digest.ph’s website yields better search results when you are looking for cases released during a particular year.

Frequently Asked Questions

What decisions are made by the Supreme Court?

The Supreme Court usually decides on issues pertaining to judicial review, constitutional interpretation and application, and statutory construction.

What is the highest trial court in the Philippines?

The highest trial courts in the Philippines are the Regional Trial Courts since the Supreme Court, despite being the overall highest court in the Philippines, only acts as a final arbiter in legal issues.

What is the most famous Supreme Court case?

In 2025, the most famous Supreme Court case is arguably Duterte v. HREP (2025) for re-shaping our understanding of the impeachment process in the Philippines.

Conclusion

While we can rely solely on the syllabi and books prescribed to us by our professors in law school, it is nice to stay updated on the latest legal trends, not only to prepare for the bar examinations but also to stay true to our obligation to continuously learn about the law and its developments through the latest Philippine Supreme Court decisions.