EN BANC
G.R.
No. 189698 – ELEAZAR P. QUINTO and GERINO A. TOLENTINO, JR., Petitioners,
v. COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS, Respondent.
Promulgated:
February 22, 2010
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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.”[1]
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