EN BANC
G.R. No. 190529 --- Philippine
Guardians Brotherhood, Inc. (PGBI), represented by its Secretary-General George
“FGBF George” Duldulao, Petitioner, versus Commission on Elections, Respondent.
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DISSENTING OPINION
ABAD, J.:
This case stems from the Commission on Elections (COMELEC)
En Banc resolution removing
petitioner Philippine Guardians Brotherhood, Inc. (PGBI) from the roster of
registered party-list organizations because of its failure to obtain at least 2%
party-list votes in the May 2004 election and to participate in the May 2007
election.
I agree with the view of Justice
Arturo D. Brion that Republic Act (R.A.) 7941 provides for two separate grounds
for delisting a party-list organization, namely: a) failure to participate in the
last two preceding elections; or b)
failure to garner at least 2% of the votes cast under the party-list system in
the two preceding elections for the constituency in which it has registered.
I also agree that because of the
Court’s decision in
I must disagree with the ponencia’s view that the Court should reverse
the Minero ruling[2]
that invoked Section 6(8) of R.A. 7941, which provides:
Section 6. Refusal and/or Cancellation of
Registration. -- The COMELEC may, motu proprio or upon verified complaint
of any interested party, refuse or cancel, after due notice and hearing, the
registration of any national, regional, or sectoral party, organization or
coalition on any of the following grounds:
x x x x
(8) It
fails to participate in the last two (2) preceding elections fails to obtain at
least two per centum (2%) of the votes cast under the party-list system in the
two (2) preceding elections for the constituency in which it has
registered.
Since by its own admission, Minero failed to get at
least 2% of the votes in the 2001 elections and did not participate at all in
the 2004 elections, the Court held that it necessarily failed to get at least 2%
of the votes cast in the two preceding elections. The COMELEC was thus justified in canceling
its registration.
The ponencia
would allow PGBI to remain in the register of party-list organizations and
avert disqualifications because, according to it, PGBI cannot be said to have
failed to get at least 2% of the votes cast in the two preceding elections
because it only ran in one of those two elections. It cannot also be said to have failed to take
part in the two preceding elections because it ran in one of them. What is needed, the ponencia claims, are two strikes for the same ground in the two
preceding elections.
But it is evident from Section 6(8)
above that the legislature intended the two separate tests—failure to take part
in the last two preceding elections or failure to garner at least 2% of the
votes cast in such elections—to be complimentary. Their purpose is to put every party-list
organization, which won the right to be registered, to a two-election wringer,
a voters’ preference test, for lack
of a better term to describe it.
This means that, to remain in the party-list register
and enjoy the right to take part in the party-list election, a party must prove
by the results of the preceding two elections that it retains the required level
of voters’ preference. Failing in this, such
party shall be dropped by the COMELEC, without prejudice to its applying for
new registration after a mandatory one-term rest.
If the ponencia’s views were to
be followed, petitioner PGBI would be able to circumvent the voters’ preference
test that it needs to pass to remain in the register of party-list
organizations. It would succeed in
putting one over the parties that exerted efforts to get the required level of voters’
preference. The following example should
illustrate the unfair result:
|
Election Year |
Party-List X |
Party-List Y |
PGBI Party |
|
May 2004 |
Deficient votes |
Did not run |
Deficient votes |
|
May 2007 |
Deficient votes |
Did not run |
Did not run |
|
May 2010 |
Cancelled |
Cancelled |
Not cancelled |
The register of party-list
organizations cannot be allowed to grow infinitely. The system cannot tolerate sectoral parties with
low-levels of voters’ preference to remain on the ballot. For this reason, the legislature established
a mechanism for attrition, the enforcement of which is an important
responsibility of the COMELEC.
The Court must not abandon Minero. I vote to deny
PGBI’s motion for reconsideration.
ROBERTO A. ABAD
Associate
Justice