Republic
of the
PhilippinesSUPREME
COURTManilaEN
BANC
FLORENCIO
BERNABE,
Petitioner,
G.
R. Nos. L-34164-79
October
25, 1971
-versus-
HON. BENJAMIN
H. AQUINO,
IN HIS CAPACITY AS JUDGE,
COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE OF RIZAL
[BRANCH VIII] and ROMERO A. R. AMBROCIO,
Respondents.
R E S O
L U T I O N
TEEHANKEE,
J.:
Original
Action
for
Certiorari. In this first
case involving the Election Code of 1971, Republic Act No. 6388 which
took
effect on September 2, 1971, petitioner questions the authority
thereunder
of the Commission on Elections to extend to October 14, 1971 the period
for the filing of exclusion cases against disqualified or illegally
registered
voters.
Respondent
Romeo
A. R. Ambrocio, as election registrar
of Parañaque, Rizal filed on September 24, 1971 the petitions
for
exclusion from the permanent list of voters of Parañaque, Rizal,
of the registered voters impleaded as respondents in said petitions
docketed
as Election Cases Nos. 63 to 78 of respondent court.cralaw:red
Petitioner
having
been allowed to intervene as
a mayoralty candidate who may be affected by the proceedings[1]
filed motions to dismiss the cases on the ground that they were filed
beyond
the deadline of September 9, 1971 fixed under section 137 of the
Election
Code of 1971, which provides that such exclusion cases may not be filed
within the period of sixty days before a regular election.[2]
Respondent court denied petitioner's dismissal motions for lack of
merit
in its Order of October 5, 1971, and likewise denied in open court on
the
same day petitioner's motion for reconsideration.cralaw:red
Hence, the
present petition challenging respondent
court's jurisdiction to hear and resolve the exclusion cases. At
petitioner's
instance, the Court issued on October 7, 1971 a temporary restraining
order
enjoining respondent court from further proceeding in the premises
pending
the Court's resolution of the issue.cralaw:red
Respondent
election registrar maintains in his
answer that the exclusion cases were timely filed with respondent court
by virtue of Comelec Resolution No. RR-938 duly promulgated on
September
3, 1971, extending, inter alia the period of for the filing of such
exclusion
cases up to October 14, 1971, inclusive, under the authority of the
transitory
provisions of Section 240 of the new Code as follows:
WHEREAS, the Election Code of 1971 fixes
definite
periods and dates for certain pre-election acts;
WHEREAS, it would no longer reasonably
be
possible
to observe some of the periods and dates prescribed in said code and as
a matter of fact some of these periods and dates have already elapsed,
while other periods and dates cannot be observed without impairing the
rights and causes of action of those who may desire to avail themselves
thereof or without depriving voters of their right of suffrage;
xxx xxx xxx
A. Filing of petition not later
than
October
14, 1971 - Municipal Court or Court of First Instance.
xxx xxx xxx
1. The
Court
holds that the Comelec validly extended
the deadline for the filing of exclusion cases under the express
authority
thus granted it in Section 240 of the new Code:
Sec. 240. Designation of certain
pre-election
acts immediately after the approval of this Act. - If upon the
approval
of this Act, it should no longer reasonably be possible to observe the
periods and dates herein prescribed for certain pre-election acts in
the
1971 elections, the Commission shall fix other periods or order that
voters
shall not be deprived of their right of suffrage.[3]
The
legislative
injunction in Section 247 of the
new Code that the Comelec "shall have such powers pertaining to
election
matters, only as are expressly granted in this Code, existing laws or
jurisprudence
to the contrary notwithstanding. Nothing herein contained shall be
construed
as a grant of implied powers," as invoked by petitioner, is not herein
applicable.
2. It
should be
recalled that under the previous
law, the deadline for the filing of such exclusion cases would have
been
later by fifteen days and would have expired only on September 24,
1971,
since it provided for a longer period for the filing of such cases
excepting
only forty-five days before a regular election,[4]
as against the earlier deadline of September 9, 1971 under the new Code
proscribing the filing of exclusion cases within the period of sixty
days
before a regular election.[5]
Since the previous law provided for the registration of qualified
voters
on any date but not later than sixty days before a regular election,[6]
it could readily be seen that the application of the new Election Code,
as sought by petitioner, would in effect practically foreclose the
right
to file exclusion cases: voters under the previous law had up to
September 9, 1971 to register [60 days before the election] yet no
exclusion
case could be filed against them, since under the new Code, no such
case
may be filed after September 9, 1971 [no exclusion case may be filed
within
60 days before the election].cralaw:red
Such
extension to
October 14, 1971 of the deadline
for filing of exclusion cases was made doubly necessary since the
Comelec
in Article I of its cited resolution of September 3, 1971 extended the
period for registration of voters "before election registrars to
every working day up to September 10, 1971," with a view of giving the
voters every opportunity to register and not be deprived of their right
of suffrage. Without such extension, the period to file exclusion
proceedings
would have expired on September 9, 1971, even before the expiration on
September 10, 1971 of the extended period for registration.cralaw:red
Hence, to
avoid
giving such unintended sanctuary
to disqualified and illegally registered voters, the Comelec properly
exercised
the authority under the transitory provision of section 240 of the new
Code to extend the period for the filing of exclusion cases up to
October
14, 1971, only for the 1971 elections.cralaw:red
3. The text
and
substance of the transitory authority
granted to the Comelec in the cited section of the new Code do not
warrant
petitioner's restrictive view that the purpose of the extension should
be that "voters shall not be deprived of their right of suffrage,"
whereas
exclusion proceedings precisely seek to deprived certain registered
voters
of their right to vote.cralaw:red
To begin
with,
voters who have been registered
in the permanent list notwithstanding their being disqualified, or
illegally
registered, or fictitious which is the burden of the petitions
before
may not validly claim to be deprived of their right of suffrage, if
they
are ordered excluded as the Election Code ordains. Then again, as it
was
no longer reasonably possible to observe the deadline for exclusion
cases
as prescribed in section 137 of the new Code since the deadline,
September
9, 1971, was close at hand when the new Code was approved, the very
condition
therein laid down for the Comelec's exercise of the transitory
authority
to extend the deadline for the filing of such exclusion cases was
clearly
satisfied. As already stated above, since the Comelec extended to
September
10, 1971 the period for registration of new voters, it necessarily had
to extend to a reasonable period to October 14, 1971 the period for
filing
petitions for the exclusion of disqualified or fictitious voters who
may
have succeeded in being illegally registered. Furthermore, it should
not
escape attention that the questioned resolution likewise extends the
same
deadline for inclusion proceedings which otherwise it would not have
been
reasonably possible to observe, because of the belated enactment and
approval
of the new Code.cralaw:red
ACCORDINGLY,
the
petition is hereby dismissed
and the temporary restraining order of October 7, 1971 is recalled and
set aside. In view of the shortness of the time left before the
November
8, 1971 elections, this decision is declared immediately executory and
respondent court is directed to forthwith hear and resolve the pending
exclusion cases before it.cralaw:red
SO ORDERED.
Concepcion, C.J.,
Reyes, J.B.L., Makalintal,
Zaldivar,
Castro, Fernando, Barredo, Villamor, and
Makasiar,
JJ., concur.
____________________________________
Endnotes
[1]
Pursuant to Sec. 139(e), R. A. 6388.
[2]
The pertinent provision of Sec. 137, R. A. 6388 reads:chanroblesvirtuallawlibrary
"SEC. 137.
Application
for exclusion of voters from the list. Any registered voter,
representative
of a political party or election registrar of the city, municipality or
municipal district, may at any time except sixty days before a regular
election and twenty-five days before a special election apply with the
proper court for the exclusion of a voter from the permanent list on
the
ground that he is disqualified, or illegally registered, giving the
name
and residence of the latter, and the election precinct in which he is
registered."
(Emphasis supplied)
[3]
Emphasis furnished. This is the official text as printed by the Bureau
of Printing and per Certification dated October 25, 1971 issued by
Secretary
I. B. Pareja of the House of Representatives and attached by the Clerk
to the Rollo.
[4]
Sec. 15, R. A. No. 3588, which was renumbered as Sec. 18, R. A. No.
4730.
[5]Sec. 137. R. A. No. 6388, supra, fn. 2.
[6]Sec. 5, R. A. No. 3588, renumbered as Sec. 8, R.A. No. 4730. The new
Election
Code of 1971 now provides in Section 109 for earlier deadline for
registration
of qualified voters, i.e., "not later than the first Saturday of August
of an election year." |