SUPREME COURT DECISIONS

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SEPARATE OPINION

VITUG, J.:

The instant petition, now technically moot, presents issues so significant that a slight change of circumstances can have a decisive effect on, and possibly spell a difference in, the final outcome of the case. I am not inclined to take the case in an academic fashion and pass upon the views expressed by either party in preemptive judgment.

While I understand what the ponencia is saying quite laudably, I also appreciate, upon the other hand, the concern of the Commission on Elections, i.e., that the conduct of exit polls can have some adverse effects on the need to preserve the sanctity of the ballot. The Commission performs an indispensable task of ensuring free, honest, and orderly elections and of guarding against any frustration of the true will of the people. Expectedly, it utilizes all means available within its power and authority to prevent the electoral process from being manipulated and rendered an absurdity. Like my colleagues, I greatly prize the freedom of expression but, so also, I cherish no less the right of the people to express their will by means of the ballot. In any case, I must accept the reality that the right to information and free speech is not illimitable and immune from the valid exercise of an ever demanding and pervasive police power. Whether any kind of restraint should be upheld or declared invalid in the proper balancing of interest is one that must be resolved at any given moment, not on perceived circumstances, but on prevailing facts.

Neither of the advocations proffered by the parties in this instance, I believe, should be foreclosed by the Court at this time.

I vote, therefore, to dismiss the petition on the foregoing thesis.