SC Upholds Comelec's Jurisdiction Over Cases Pertaining to Party Leadership and the Nominations of Party-List Representatives
by Supreme Court
The Court En Banc has unanimously affirmed the ruling of the Commission of Elections (COMELEC) to recognize the nominees listed in the Certificate of Nomination filed by Citizen’ Battle Against Corruption (CIBAC) Party List’s President Emmanuel Villanueva as the legitimate nominees of the party list and to expunge from its records the Certificate of Nomination filed by Pia Derla.
In a 15-page decision penned by Justice Maria Lourdes P.A. Sereno, the Court held that RA 7941 (Party-List System Act) vested the COMELEC with “jurisdiction over the nomination of party-list representatives and prescribing the qualifications of each nominee” and that no grave abuse of discretion can be attributed to the COMELEC’s First Division and COMELEC En Banc which had declared President Villanueva the proper party to submit CIBAC’s Certificate of Nomination instead of Perla, who allegedly served as acting secretary-general. As provided in Atienza v. Commission of Elections, COMELEC also possesses the authority to resolve intra-party disputes as a necessary tributary of its constitutionally mandated power to enforce election laws and register political parties. “The power to rule upon questions of party identity and leadership is exercised by the COMELEC as an incident to its enforcement powers,” the Court declared.
It likewise denied the petition for certiorari filed by Petitioners Luis K. Lokin, Jr. and Teresita E. Planas, the nominees of Derla, under Rule 64 of the Rules of Court for being filed outside the required 30 day period. It stressed that “while Rule 64 refers to the same remedy of certiorari as the general rule in Rule 65, they cannot be equated as they provide for different reglementary periods. Rule 65 provides for a period of 60 days while Section 3, Rule 64 expressly provides for only 30 days.”
CIBAC Party-List is a multi-sectoral registered to fight graft and corruption and to promote ethical conduct in the country’s public service. The COMELEC ruled that Derla was unable to prove her authority to the Certificate of Nomination, whereas President Villanueva presented overwhelming evidence of his authority from CIBAC to do so.
(GR No. 193808, Lokin, Jr. v. Commission on Elections, June 26, 2012)
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