PLJ Volume 46 Number 2 -02- Merlin M. Magallona - Political Law Part Two

8/12/2019 PLJ Volume 46 Number 2 -02- Merlin M. Magallona - Political Law Part Two

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POLITICAL LAW PART TWPU LIC OFFICERS ELECTION LAW ALOCAL GOVERNlVIENTS

Merlin M. Magallona

1. POWERS OF THE COMMISSION ON ELECTIONSThere is no ground for questioning the discretion

on Elections in deciding the petition for annulment of the basis merely of affidavits and counter-affidavits and w


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234 PH ILIP PINE LAW JOURNALIn defining the jm;sdiction of the Supreme Court

cisions or orders of the Commission, the Consti tution unot appea/.4 This should mean that the Supreme Coufind ings of fact of the Commiss ion, as issues on revilimited to questions of law. Indeed the Supreme Court that it cannot review the findings of fact of the Commof section 9 of Commonwealth Act No. 657 whichdecision or order of the Commission may be reviewCourt by writ of certiorari .5 Accordingly, since thepetitioner in Lucman v. Dimaporo 6 in hi s appeal byther or not eleotions had been held in certain precincts


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1971] POLITICAL LAWfically enumerated. In utuc v Commission on Electthat the Commission's interpretation must be voided onserious consideration, namely, that such construction raabout the statute's val'idity in that it infringes on the free speech. A statute should be interpreted to assurethan repugnance, to constitutional prescriptions.II VOTER'S QUALIFICATION

In a proceeding for the exclusion of a name fromof voters provided under Republic Act No. 3588, it isof First Instance to dismiss the petition for exclusion


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1971) PHILIPPINE LAW JOURNAL

and for senator in 1957. 1959 and 1965, had practisedfor more than two decades, the said candidate (also namborn in Manila, had resided in San Juan, Riza1 sincekeeps vast business interests in the Greater Manilain the general elections of November I I, 1969, he votedThe earliest time he could have transFerred his residenceNovember 12 , 1969. The period from November 12, 10, 1970. the date of the election in which the said coffice of delegate to the Constitutional Convention, covor two days short of the oncyear residence qualificatifor delegate. On account of his high educational attain


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1971] I'OLITICAL LAWsaid the Supreme Court in a previous case,12 the officeand nothing save a new election can restore the oustedfeiture results automatically and is permanently effectof the certificate. Even if the certificate is withdrawnof the Commission on Elections, the forfeiture stays. Lclarifies the point that the loss of office refers to the oncial concerned has been elected, and it is of no momenfiling of the certificate he is under suspension from suc

IV. ELECTION CONTRIBUTIONS : SCOPE OF SECTION 56


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23 PHILIPPINE LAW JOURNALis a contributor or donor, is greater than that of any nthermare, any juridical person or organized group haprotect than any of its component members or stockhinterest of the individual stockholders Of mcmbt':r


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1 J j ] POLITICAL LAWproviding that the prohibition in section 46 of the Revdoes not cover the campaign for funds by the AdvertisPhilippines during the 120 days immediately preceding election and that donations and contributions for thmay be received from foreigners, companies or corporatcontrolled wholly or partially by foreigners .V. CANVASSING OF VOTES

To be valid, the canvass of votes must be completcanvass is illegal and cannot be made the basis of a prRevised Election Code reguires the board of inspectors t


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240 PH1LIPP1NE LAW JOURNALThe correction proceeding under section 154 is

before the proclamation of the result of the election.22require that the correction must of necessity be orderematter is addressed to the court's discretion. 23

Tiglao interprets section ] 54 as now requiring thathe requirement of due process, all candidates affectedthe hearing Lack of such notice to a party adverselyin nullity of the judicial action in the correction proceTiglao expressly overrules the doctrine set forth in Ghst Instance of Isabela 24 according to which section 1

notice to the candidates effected as a prerequisite to c


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1971] POLITICAL LAWtlU ns. Said photograph8 are not the authentic copies ofor by section 163. In his failure to produce the copiesse lves, he did not give the board the opportunity to rof discrepancy.

To ward off the possibility of concurrence of the sian on Elections and the Court of First Instance with rity defined in section 163, Lingad v. Aguilar 7 oncewhenever any conflicting, inconsistent, contradictory oof election returns for the same precincts are ex tant aavailable to the board of canvassers, it is the board o


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242 PHILIPPINE LAW JOURNALcopies given to the two major political parties under Commission on Elections. 33

VI. STATISTICAL IMPROBABILITYThe doctrine of statistical improbabili ty as enuncia

ruling 34 empowers the Commission on Elections to awhich appear contrary to statistical probabilities . Thihas applied to a peculiar situation : all the registered voappeared to have voted for each and every senatoripolitical party, so that all the candidates of the opposi


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1971] POLITICAL LAWdecided on the basis of the data found on the face evidence aliunde may not be resorted to. 9 Wherenothing on its face from which the canvassers might not speak the truth and that it is only when the returnthe certificate of the election Tegistrar that a discrepancynumber of registered voters, the claim of statistical imthe return is obviously manufactured, is inadmissible. 40case41 the Supreme Court resorted to evidence outside form of minutes of voting), Villalon v. Commission on it clear that this could not be invoked in future cases tof statistical improbability by means of evidence aliuncase this was done for the pmpose of showing that th


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244 PHILIPPINE LAW JOURNALand the decision may not reflect the true expression oelectorate .VIII BARRIO ELECTION

The 2-week prescriptive period, counted from procof elec,tion protest in section 174 of the Revised Elto election of barrio officials. As section 2 of the Cothe Code governs all elections of public offices in theciated in the Fa cotelo case 45 this ruling is reiterated by

LAW OF PUBLIC OFFICERS


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1971] POLITICAL LAWthe said appointment as probational and its approval byof Civil Service as such does not in any way give it the sor probational appointment, beca use such appointmentis a violation of the Civil Service Act . In seeking toof permanence to the appointment in question, it wouldargue that under the ciTcumstances th e said appointmsidered as a provisional one. For a provisional appointthe appointee possesses civil service eligibility but other tpriate for the position to which he was appointed. As pointee is without any civil service eligibility, his appomore than temporary. That being his situation his sepais properly characterized as termination, not removal.


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246 PHILIPPINE LAW JOURNAL~bureaus and offices certainly covers the authority to o

government officer or employee from one office to anothpublic service.

B. TransferOne who holds the appointment of Dean, College

versity of the Philippines for a fixed term of five yof tenure in relation to that specific station and cannot out his consent to any other position before the endtransfer to the office of the university president as spthe rank of dean amounts to removal, without benefit of


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1971] POLITlCAL LAWpetitioner's invocation of the constitutional guarantee agout cause, the opinion goes on to say that t certainly fwhen the duration of one's term depends on the willpower. That is so where the position held is highly conter. Such is the case of the Chief Legal Counsel of resp

An obiter in e s Santos v. Mallari ruling 53 isoccupants of policy-determining, primarily confidential apositions may be dismissed at pleasure. But this receilater cases which hold that these positions are withinprotection that no officer or employee shall be removed ofor cause as provided by law. 54 Tn Ingles v. Mutuc 55 w


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248 PHILIPPINE LAW JOURNALprimarily confidential position; the administration willcause for the expiration of the term of office of a profficer or employee. Thus, we can say that his protectimerely seman tical.Ill BENEFITS AND PRIVILEGES

A. PromotionA civil service officer or employee cannot seek prothe next-in-rank rule where it is clear, as in Del Rosarioposition, as it appears in the organizational chart and as


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1971] POLITICAL LAW

strikes .58 As is obvious from the phraseology of the lis not absolute; even if the employees are performing gtions the prohibition is with respect only to the obligationare however allowed self-organization or to be affiliatedganization subject to that prohibition. 59

Section 28 further limits the scope of the prohibitionprovides that it shall apply only to employees employfunctions and not to those employed in proprietary funernment including, but not limited to, government cor

Under Republic Act No. 2266, the Auditor General a


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250 PHILIPPINE LAW JOURNALvoked by the mayor of Dagupan City when he susppolice upon the filing of certain criminal charges againsother hand, it is clear that the petitioner chief of polic1966 by the President and his appointment was confimission on Appointments pursuant to section 19 of theof Dagupan. May a chief of police appointed by the Preby a city mayor?

Under the Police Act itself, there is an intent to emade by the President before the approval of that laprovides that the power to appoint the chief of policeexisting city charter shall continue to be vested in the


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1971] POLITICAL LAWLAW ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT

I TAXATIONThe Local Autonomy Act (Rep. Act No. 2264) ex

power of municipalities to impose municipal license tpersons engaged in any occupation or business , and tobacco is one such business or occupation circumscribecipal taxing power. A municipal ordinance providingplants established, maintained and/or operated within Agoo, La Union, shall pay Municipal License Taxunder the theory that it was merely imposing license fof redrying tobacco . For it is clear by the terms o


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1971] POLITICAL LAWthe di sapproval of the contract by the latter, there being nosaid official to embody his unfavorable action in a parThe Board's disapproval cannot be n'Jllified on the claimfor reason of section 2233 of the Revised Administratithat under section 2233 it is only fOor lack of authoritymunicipal council that the Board can declare municipalBut this section speaks in general terms, referring to the podeclare invalid any resoluti{ u, ordinance, or order . . .the powers conferTed upon the councilor mayor makithe other hand, section 2196 deals with a particularthe ex ecution of deeds of conveyance of real property


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254 PHILIPPINE LAW JOURNALfice of, the vice-mayor shall be filled by the council methe highest number of votes. While it is true that the penot the councilor who obtained the highest number of tically fills the vacancy in the office of the first counction 8 which provides that vacancy occuring in the counciof the preceding Section [which] provides for succession oto a vacancy in the office of the vice-mayor] shall be filthe Board or Council member who obtained the secondvotes . Succeeding vacancy or vacancies as a resultshall be filled automatically by other members as rankednumber of votes (italics supplied . On the basis stric


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1971] POLITICAL LAW

th city mayor's veto power over the city budget is founvision of law they invoke, namely, Section III) of tAct. Under this provision, it is to be noted that the effvincial, city and municipal budgets is subject to the consame were approved n compliance with the provision of Rbered Twenty-two hundred and sixty-four , which 'is thAct. Section one o the Local Autonomy Act expresslyquirement with the approval of the city mayor in relat

PLJ Volume 46 Number 2 -02- Merlin M. Magallona - Political Law Part Two

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Transcript of PLJ Volume 46 Number 2 -02- Merlin M. Magallona - Political Law Part Two