CONSTITUTION I

A.Y. 1819– DEAN CANDELARIA

TOPIC Art. VI Sec. 5 Par. 2 of the Constitution • Pursuant to NBC Resolution No. 07-60, the COMELEC, acting as
Composition of the House of Representatives: NBC, promulgated NBC Resolution No. 07-72, which declared the
Appointment and Representation – Party-list additional seats allocated to the appropriate parties. We quote from
Representation the COMELEC's interpretation of the Veterans formula as found in
CASE NO. G.R. No. 179271 / 586 SCRA 210 NBC Resolution No. 07-72.
CASE NAME BANAT v. COMELEC • BANAT brought the following issues before this Court:
PONENTE Carpio, J. 1. Is the twenty percent allocation for party-list representatives
PETITIONER Barangay Association for National Advancement provided in Section 5(2), Article VI of the Constitution
and Transparency Party-list (BANAT) mandatory or is it merely a ceiling?
RESPONDEN Commission on Elections (COMELEC) 2. Is the three-seat limit provided in Section 11(b) of RA 7941
T constitutional?
TYPE OF Petition for certiorari and mandamus, assailing 3. Is the two percent threshold and "qualifier" votes prescribed by
CASE COMELEC resolutions in NBC No. 07-041 and the same Section 11(b) of RA 7941 constitutional?
NBC No. 07-60 4. How shall the party-list representatives be allocated?
MEMBER Larry Nepomuceno
RATIO DECIDENDI
W/N COMELEC Resolutions in NBC No. 07-041 and NBC No. 07-60
ISSUE (proclaiming the full number of party-list representatives) may be SET
1. W/N COMELEC Resolutions in NBC No. 07-041 and NBC No. ASIDE. YES.
07-60 (proclaiming the full number of party-list representatives)
• The said Resolutions are based on the provisions Section 5(2),
may be SET ASIDE. YES.
Article VI of the Constitution and Section 11(b) of RA 7941.
RELEVANT FACTS • It was held that the said Resolutions are SET ASIDE because
Section 11(b) of RA 7941 is partially unconstitutional.
• The COMELEC, sitting as the NBC, promulgated NBC Resolution
No. 07-60. NBC Resolution No. 07-60 proclaimed thirteen (13) • We maintain that a Philippine-style party-list election has at least
parties as winners in the party-list elections. four inviolable parameters as clearly stated in Veterans. For easy
reference, these are:
• WHEREAS, Section 11 of Republic Act No. 7941 (Party-List
System Act) provides in part: • First, the twenty percent allocation — the combined number of all
party-list congressmen shall not exceed twenty percent of the total
◦ The parties, organizations, and coalitions receiving at least two
membership of the House of Representatives, including those
percent (2%) of the total votes cast for the party-list system shall
elected under the party list;
be entitled to one seat each: provided, that those garnering more
than two percent (2%) of the votes shall be entitled to additional • Second, the two percent threshold — only those parties garnering a
seats in proportion to their total number of votes: provided, minimum of two percent of the total valid votes cast for the party-
finally, that each party, organization, or coalition shall be list system are "qualified" to have a seat in the House of
entitled to not more than three (3) seats. Representatives;

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• Third, the three-seat limit — each qualified party, regardless of the
number of votes it actually obtained, is entitled to a maximum of
three seats; that is, one "qualifying" and two additional seats;
• Fourth, proportional representation — the additional seats which a
qualified party is entitled to shall be computed "in proportion to their
total number of votes.”
• However, because the formula in Veterans has flaws in its
mathematical interpretation of the term "proportional
representation", this Court is compelled to revisit the formula for the
allocation of additional seats to party-list organizations.
• After prescribing the ratio of the number of party-list representatives
to the total number of representatives, the Constitution left the
manner of allocating the seats available to party-list representatives
to the wisdom of the legislature.
• The Constitution left to Congress the determination of the manner of
allocating the seats for party-list representatives. Congress enacted
R.A. No. 7941, paragraphs (a) and (b) of Section 11 and Section 12
of which provide:
• Section 11. Number of Party-List Representatives. — . . .
◦ In determining the allocation of seats for the second vote, the
following procedure shall be observed:
◦ (a) The parties, organizations, and coalitions shall be ranked
from the highest to the lowest based on the number of votes they
garnered during the elections.
◦ (b) The parties, organizations, and coalitions receiving at least
two percent (2%) of the total votes cast for the party-list system
shall be entitled to one seat each: Provided, That those garnering
more than two percent (2%) of the votes shall be entitled to
additional seats in proportion to their total number of votes:
Provided, finally, That each party, organization, or coalition
shall be entitled to not more than three (3) seats.
• Section 12.Procedure in Allocating Seats for Party-List
Representatives. — The COMELEC shall tally all the votes for the
parties, organizations, or coalitions on a nationwide basis, rank them
according to the number of votes received and allocate party-list
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representatives proportionately according to the percentage of votes
obtained by each party, organization, or coalition as against the total
nationwide votes cast for the party-list system.
• We rule that, in computing the allocation of additional seats, the
continued operation of the two percent threshold for the distribution
of the additional seats as found in the second clause of Section 11
(b) of R.A. No. 7941 is unconstitutional. This Court finds that the
two percent threshold makes it mathematically impossible to achieve
the maximum number of available party list seats when the number
of available party list seats exceeds 50.
• We therefore strike down the two percent threshold only in relation
to the distribution of the additional seats as found in the second
clause of Section 11 (b) of R.A. No. 7941. The two percent
threshold presents an unwarranted obstacle to the full
implementation of Section 5 (2), Article VI of the Constitution and
prevents the attainment of "the broadest possible representation of
party, sectoral or group interests in the House of Representatives".
DISPOSITIVE POSITION
WHEREFORE, we PARTIALLY GRANT the petition. We SET ASIDE the
Resolution of the COMELEC dated 3 August 2007 in NBC No. 07-041 (PL)
as well as the Resolution dated 9 July 2007 in NBC No. 07-60. We declare
unconstitutional the two percent threshold in the distribution of additional
party-list seats. The allocation of additional seats under the Party-List
System shall be in accordance with the procedure used in Table 3 (very
technical computation—see original case for reference) of this Decision.
Major political parties are disallowed from participating in party-list
elections. This Decision is immediately executory. No pronouncement as to
costs.
RELEVANT LAW/S
Section 5, Article VI of the Constitution provides:
• Section 5. (1)The House of Representatives shall be composed of
not more than two hundred and fifty members, unless otherwise
fixed by law, who shall be elected from legislative districts
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apportioned among the provinces, cities, and the Metropolitan them today. It is through the party-list system that the Constitution
Manila area in accordance with the number of their respective sought to address this systemic dilemma. In ratifying the
inhabitants, and on the basis of a uniform and progressive ratio, and Constitution, our people recognized how the interests of our poor
those who, as provided by law, shall be elected through a party-list and powerless sectoral groups can be frustrated by the traditional
system of registered national, regional, and sectoral parties or political parties who have the machinery and chicanery to dominate
organizations. our political institutions. If we allow major political parties to
• (2)The party-list representatives shall constitute twenty per centum participate in the party-list system electoral process, we will surely
of the total number of representatives including those under the suffocate the voice of the marginalized, frustrate their sovereignty
party-list. For three consecutive terms after the ratification of this and betray the democratic spirit of the Constitution. That opinion
Constitution,one-half of the seats allocated to party-list will serve as the graveyard of the party-list system.
representatives shall be filled, as provided by law, by selection or CONCURRING
election from the labor, peasant, urban poor, indigenous cultural Main Point:
communities, women, youth, and such other sectors as may be Thus, with respect to the fixed threshold vote of 2% in Section 11 of R.A.
provided by law, except the religious sector. No. 7941, I join the Court in declaring it unconstitutional, since all
enactments inconsistent with the Constitution should be invalidated.
Discussion:
SEPARATE OPINION Time changes and laws change with it. 10 And the Constitution —
DISSENTING must grow with the society it seeks to re-structure and march apace with the
Main Point: progress of the race, drawing from the vicissitudes of history the dynamism
IN VIEW WHEREOF, I dissent on the ruling allowing the entry of major and vitality that will keep it, far from being a petrified rule, a pulsing, living
political parties into the party-list system. law attuned to the heartbeat of the nation.
Discussion:
• It will be remembered that the petitioners in Ang Bagong Bayani
sought the disqualification of the major political parties on the
ground that the party-list system was intended to benefit the
marginalized and underrepresented, and not the mainstream political
parties, the non-marginalized or overrepresented. Rising to the
occasion, the Court ruled through then Associate, later Chief Justice
Panganiban, that while any duly registered political party,
organization or group may participate, the role of the Comelec is to
ensure that only those who are marginalized and underrepresented
become members of Congress through the "Filipino-style" party-list
elections.
• In sum, the evils that faced our marginalized and underrepresented
people at the time of the framing of the 1987 Constitution still haunt