G.R. No. 157013 – ATTY. ROMULO B. MACALINTAL, petitioner, vs. COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS, HON. ALBERTO ROMULO, in his official capacity as Executive Secretary, and HON. EMILIA T. BONCODIN, Secretary of the Department of Budget and Management, respondents.
AUSTRIA-MARTINEZ, J.
Facts
Petitioner sought to declare certain provisions of RA No. 9189 as unconstitutional, contending that Section 5(d) is unconstitutional being in violation of Sec. 1, Art. V of the 1987 Constitution requiring that the voter must be a resident in the Philippines for at least one year and in the place where he proposes to vote for at least six months immediately preceding an election. Petitioner cited the ruling of the Court in Caasi vs. Court of Appeals to support his claim. In that case, the Court held that a “green card” holder immigrant to the United States is deemed to have abandoned his domicile and residence in the Philippines.
Issues
- Does Section 5(d) of Rep. Act No. 91891 allowing the registration of voters who are immigrants or permanent residents in other countries by their mere act of executing an affidavit expressing their intention to return to the Philippines, violate the residency requirement in Section 1 of Article V of the Constitution?
- Does Section 18.52 of the same law empowering the COMELEC to proclaim the winning candidates for national offices and party list representatives including the President and the Vice-President violate the constitutional mandate under Section 4, Article VII of the Constitution that the winning candidates for President and the Vice-President shall be proclaimed as winners by Congress?
- May Congress, through the Joint Congressional Oversight Committee created in Section 25 of Rep. Act No. 9189, exercise the power to review, revise, amend, and approve the Implementing Rules and Regulations that the Commission on Elections shall promulgate without violating the independence of the COMELEC under Section 1, Article IX-A of the Constitution?
Ruling and Discussion
- NO. Section 2 of Article V of the Constitution is an exception to the residency requirement found in Section 1 of the same Article.
Ordinarily, an absentee is not a resident and vice versa; a person cannot be at the same time, both a resident and an absentee. However, under existing election laws and the countless pronouncements of the Court pertaining to elections, an absentee remains attached to his residence in the Philippines as residence is considered synonymous with domicile.
Aware of the domiciliary legal tie that links an overseas Filipino to his residence in this country, the framers of the Constitution considered the circumstances that impelled them to require Congress to establish a system for overseas absentee voting. Thus, Section 2, Article V of the Constitution came into being to remove any doubt as to the inapplicability of the residency requirement in Section 1. It is precisely to avoid any problems that could impede the implementation of its pursuit to enfranchise the largest number of qualified Filipinos who are not in the Philippines that the Constitutional Commission explicitly mandated Congress to provide a system for overseas absentee voting. - No, with respect only to the authority given to the COMELEC to proclaim the winning candidates for Senators and party-list representatives but not as to the power to canvass the votes and proclaim the winning candidates for President and Vice-President which is lodged with Congress under Section 4, Article VII of the Constitution.
Since it is Congress which has been granted by the Constitution the authority and duty to canvass the votes and proclaim the winning candidates for president and vice-president, the power given to COMELEC by Section 18.5 of R.A. 9189 should be understood to be limited only to the proclamation of winning candidates for the positions of senators and party-list representatives. The election returns for the positions of president and vice-president should then be certified by the Board of Canvassers to Congress and not to COMELEC as provided for in Section 18.4 of the Act. - No. Congress, through the Joint Congressional Oversight Committee, may not exercise the power to review, revise, amend, and approve the Implementing Rules and Regulations that the Commission on Elections shall promulgate.
The phrase, “subject to the approval of the Congressional Oversight Committee” in the first sentence of Section 17.1 which empowers the Commission to authorize voting by mail in not more than three countries for the May, 2004 elections; and the phrase, “only upon review and approval of the Joint Congressional Oversight Committee” found in the second paragraph of the same section are unconstitutional as they require review and approval of voting by mail in any country after the 2004 elections. Congress may not confer upon itself the authority to approve or disapprove the countries wherein voting by mail shall be allowed, as determined by the COMELEC pursuant to the conditions provided for in Section 17.1 of R.A. No. 9189.
The Congress’ power to review, revise, amend, and approve the Implementing Rules and Regulations issued by the independent Constitutional Commission (COMELEC) is overstepping of the bounds of its constitutional mandate and intrusion into the independence of said Commission.
Dispositive
WHEREFORE, the petition is partly GRANTED. The following portions of R.A. No. 9189 are declared VOID for being UNCONSTITUTIONAL:
a) The phrase in the first sentence of the first paragraph of Section 17.1, to wit: “subject to the approval of the Joint Congressional Oversight Committee;”
b) The portion of the last paragraph of Section 17.1, to wit: “only upon review and approval of the Joint Congressional Oversight Committee;”
c) The second sentence of the first paragraph of Section 19, to wit: “The Implementing Rules and Regulations shall be submitted to the Joint Congressional Oversight Committee created by virtue of this Act for prior approval;” and
d) The second sentence in the second paragraph of Section 25, to wit: “It shall review, revise, amend and approve the Implementing Rules and Regulations promulgated by the Commission” of the same law;
for being repugnant to Section 1, Article IX-A of the Constitution mandating the independence of constitutional commission, such as COMELEC.
The constitutionality of Section 18.5 of R.A. No. 9189 is UPHELD with respect only to the authority given to the COMELEC to proclaim the winning candidates for the Senators and party-list representatives but not as to the power to canvass the votes and proclaim the winning candidates for President and Vice-President which is lodged with Congress under Section 4, Article VII of the Constitution.
The constitutionality of Section 5(d) is UPHELD.
Pursuant to Section 30 of R.A. No. 9189, the rest of the provisions of said law continues to be in full force and effect.
SO ORDERED.
Puno, J., Concurring opinion
- Is the legislative veto power or congressional oversight power over the authority of the COMELEC to issue rules and regulations in order to enforce election laws unconstitutional?
Yes. Such power is an undue interference in the exclusive powers vested by the Constitution to COMELEC.
Our Constitution created other offices aside from the executive, the legislative and the judiciary and defined their powers and prerogatives. Among these bodies especially created by the Constitution itself is the COMELEC. The COMELEC occupies a distinct place in our scheme of government. As the constitutional body charged with the administration of our election laws, it is endowed with independence in the exercise of some of its powers and the discharge of its responsibilities. The power to promulgate rules and regulations in order to administer our election laws belongs to this category of powers as this has been vested exclusively by the 1987 Constitution to the COMELEC. It cannot be trenched upon by Congress in the exercise of its oversight powers. - Was Section 17.1 of RA No. 91893 unconstitutional?
Yes. For it allows congress to negate the exclusive power of the commission on elections to administer and enforce election laws and regulations granted by the constitution itself.
This is not to maintain that the Implementing Rules and Regulations promulgated by the COMELEC, or the system it devised to implement voting by mail cannot be challenged. If they are illegal or constitute grave abuse of discretion, the courts can strike them down in an appropriate case.
The exclusive power vested to COMELEC is not meant to be shared by any other branch or agency of the government
Footnotes
- Sec. 5. Disqualifications. — The following shall be disqualified from voting under this Act: x x x d) An immigrant or a permanent resident who is recognized as such in the host country, unless he/she executes, upon registration, an affidavit prepared for the purpose by the Commission declaring that he/she shall resume actual physical permanent residence in the Philippines not later than three (3) years from approval of his/her registration under this Act. Such affidavit shall also state that he/she has not applied for citizenship in another country. Failure to return shall be cause for the removal of the name of the immigrant or permanent resident from the National Registry of Absentee Voters and his/her permanent disqualification to vote in absentia. ↩︎
- SEC. 18. On-Site Counting and Canvassing. —
18.5 The canvass of votes shall not cause the delay of the proclamation of a winning candidate if the outcome of the election will not be affected by the results thereof. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the Commission is empowered to order the proclamation of winning candidates despite the fact that the scheduled election has not taken place in a particular country or countries, if the holding of elections therein has been rendered impossible by events, factors and circumstances peculiar to such country or countries, in which events, factors and circumstances are beyond the control or influence of the Commission. ↩︎ - SEC. 17. Voting by Mail. — 17.1. For the May, 2004 elections, the Commission shall authorize voting by mail in not more than three (3) countries, subject to the approval of the Congressional Oversight Committee. Voting by mail may be allowed in countries that satisfy the following conditions: x x x Thereafter, voting by mail in any country shall be allowed only upon review and approval of the Joint Congressional Oversight Committee. x x x ↩︎