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EN BANC

G.R. No. 189698 : February 22, 2010

ELEAZAR P. QUINTO and GERINO A. TOLENTINO, JR., Petitioners, v. COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS, Respondent.

CONCURRING OPINION

CARPIO, J.:

I concur with the ponencia of Chief Justice Reynato S. Puno.

The filing of a Certificate of Candidacy for an elective position is, by the very nature of the act, an electioneering or partisan political activity.

Two provisions of the Constitution, taken together, mandate that civil service employees cannot engage in any electioneering or partisan political activity except to vote. Thus, the Constitution provides:

Section 2(4), Article IX-B of the Constitution

No officer or employee in the civil service shall engage, directly or indirectly, in any electioneering or partisan political activity.

Section 5(3), Article XVI of the Constitution

No member of the military shall engage, directly or indirectly, in any partisan political activity, except to vote.

During the deliberations of the Constitutional Commission on these provisions of the Constitution, it was clear that the exercise of the right to vote is the only non-partisan political activity a citizen can do. All other political activities are deemed partisan. Thus, Commissioner Christian Monsod declared that, "As a matter of fact, the only non partisan political activity one can engage in as a citizen is voting."¹cralaw

Indisputably, any political activity except to vote is a partisan political activity. Section 79(b) of the Omnibus Election Code implements this by declaring that any act designed to elect or promote the election of a candidate is an electioneering or partisan political activity, thus:

The term "election campaign" or "partisan political activity"refers to an act designed to promote the election or defeat of a particular candidate or candidates to a public office xxx."

Filing a certificate of candidacy is obviously a partisan political activity.

First, the mere filing of a Certificate of Candidacy is a definitive announcement to the world that a person will actively solicit the votes of the electorate to win an elective public office. Such an announcement is already a promotion of the candidate’s election to public office. Indeed, once a person becomes an official candidate, he abandons the role of a mere passive voter in an election, and assumes the role of a political partisan, a candidate promoting his own candidacy to public office.

Second, only a candidate for a political office files a Certificate of Candidacy. A person merely exercising his or her right to vote does not. A candidate for a political office is necessarily a partisan political candidate because he or she is contesting an elective office against other political candidates. The candidate and the electorate know that there are, more often than not, other candidates vying for the same elective office, making the contest politically partisan.

Third, a candidate filing his or her Certificate of Candidacy almost always states in the Certificate of Candidacy the name of the political party to which he or she belongs. The candidate will even attach to his or her Certificate of Candidacy the certification of his or her political party that he or she is the official candidate of the political party. Such certification by a political party is obviously designed to promote the election of the candidate.

Fourth, the constitutional ban prohibiting civil servants from engaging in partisan political activities is intended, among others, to keep the civil service non-partisan. This constitutional ban is violated when a civil servant files his or her Certificate of Candidacy as a candidate of a political party. From the moment the civil servant files his or her Certificate of Candidacy, he or she is immediately identified as a political partisan because everyone knows he or she will prepare, and work, for the victory of his or her political party in the elections.

Fifth, the constitutional ban prohibiting civil servants from engaging in partisan political activities is also intended to prevent civil servants from using their office, and the resources of their office, to promote their candidacies or the candidacies of other persons. We have seen the spectacle of civil servants who, after filing their certificates of candidacies, still cling to their public office while campaigning during office hours.

Sixth, the constitutional ban prohibiting civil servants from engaging in partisan political activities is further intended to prevent conflict of interest. We have seen Comelec officials who, after filing their certificates of candidacies, still hold on to their public office.

Finally, filing of a Certificate of Candidacy is a partisan political act that ipso facto operates to consider the candidate deemed resigned from public office pursuant to paragraph 3, Section 11 of R.A. No. 8436, as amended by R.A. No. 9369, as well as Section 66 of the Omnibus Election Code, as amended.

Accordingly, I vote to grant respondent Comelec’s Motion for Reconsideration.

ANTONIO T. CARPIO
Associate Justice

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