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Presentation by Philippines.ppt and busi
- 2. Philippine Legal Framework The Constitution International Agreements and Conventions Legislations or Statutes Administrative Regulations (Resolutions) Case Precedents Other Issuances Guia, 2013
- 3. The Omnibus Election Code of 1985 Guia, 2013
- 4. Laws amending the OEC Omnibus Election Code (1985) RA 6636 RA 6645 RA 6646 RA 6653 RA 6679 RA 6734 RA 6735 RA 7056 RA 7160 RA 7166 RA 7647 RA 7887 RA 7890 RA 7904 RA 7941 RA 8045 RA 8046 RA 8173 RA 8189 RA 8295 RA 8436 RA 8746 RA 9006 RA 9054 RA 9140 RA 9164 RA 9189 RA 9333 RA 9340 RA 9369 RA 9525 Guia, 2013
- 5. Need for Recodification ELECTORAL PROCESS in the Philippines Former Assoc. Dean Ryan Rey B. Q uilala - San Sebastian College of law Art. IX-C ? Sec. 52 OEC ELECTION LAWS COMELEC VOTERS REGISTRATION Sec. 113-148 OEC, REPEALED CANDIDATES CAMPAIGN CASTING Sec. 190-210 COUNTING CANVASSING PROCLAMATION ?Qualifications Sec ? Sec. 241, OEC 17, OEC; Sec. 9 ? Disqualifications Sec. 118, OEC; Sec 11 REPEALED BY: RA8189 ? Voter’s Registration Act of 1996 (R.A. 8189) - Sec. 8 - Continuing Registration - Sec. 34- Inclusion - Sec. 35 – Exclusion - Sec. 39 – Annulment of Book Of voters ? Overseas Absentee Voting Act of 2003* ? Qualified ? Disqualified - OEC (Sec. 12, 68) - LGC (Sec. 39, 40) ? Effects of filing COC - Appointive (Sec. 66) - Elective (Sec. 14, R.A. 9006) ? Death, Disqualification and Withdrawal (Sec. 77) ? Nuisance Candidate (Sec. 69) ? Petition to Deny Due Course (Sec. 78) ? Fair Election Act (R.A. 9006) repeated Sec. 85 of OEC and Sec. 10 & 11 of RA 6645 ? Campaign Contributions and Expenditures Sec. 95-99, OEC Sec. 13, RA 7166 Sec. 102-106, OEC Sec. 107-108, OEC REPEALED by Sec. 39 & 14, RA 7166 ? R.A. 8436-Automated ? Sec. 5, OEC - Postponement of Election ? Sec. 6, OEC - Failure of Election **RA 9369 amending some provisions in RA 8436 ? Sec. 211, OEC - Idem s - Neighborhood Rule - Etc. ** RA 8389 ? Composition of BOC (Sec. 221, OEC) amended by Sec. 28, RA 6646 ? Sec. 236-*Recount* **RA 8389 ? In the absence of an appeal the BOC shall proclaim the winner PRE-PROCLAMATION CONTROVERSY ? COMELEC exclusive justification ? Sec. 241, OEC ? Sec. 243, OEC (issues Which may be raised ELECTION OFFENSES ? Sec. 261, 262, OEC ? Sec. 32, 33 & 34 ? Sec. 45, RA 8189 ? Sec. 27, RA 6646 ? Sec. 13, RA 9006 Sec. 34, RA 9369 (Electoral Sabotage) ? Jurisdiction 265 a) Investigation and Prosecution– COMELEC 268 b) Trial and Decision– RTC ? Prescription 267 - 5 years from date of commission - if in election contest, 5 years from judgment becomes fi nal and executory ELECTORAL CONTEST Jurisdiction a) Pres/VP-SC as PET b) Senator– SET c) Representative– HRET d) Provincial – COMELEC e) City – COMELEC f) Municipal – RTC g) Barangay– MTC Appellate ? From MTC/RTC exclusively to COMELEC final, executory and unappealable ELECTION PROTEST (election and return) ?Must be filed by a candidate only ? On the grounds of fraud, terrorism, irregularities of illegal acts committed before during after casting and counting ? Within 10 days from proclamation QUO WARRANTO (Qualification) ? Filed by registered voter ? On the grounds of ineligibility or Disloyalty ? Within 10 days from proclamation
- 8. Gotinga, 2021 the Philippines during the Pandemic
- 11. “Trust is… an essential element in an election. You vote for a candidate that you trust will serve the country well. You vote for a candidate that you trust will not steal the people’s money. You vote for a candidate that you trust will help stop abuse and violations of the law. You vote for a candidate that you trust will fulfill the promises they made during the elections. Trust is what you have when you go to the polling place and cast your vote. You trust that your vote will be counted. You trust that the Commission on Elections will be competent to safeguard all the votes cast and the winners are really the ones that the people voted for.” (Tordesillas, 2019)
Editor's Notes
- Good Afternoon. I am Rene Cruz and with me is Atty. Wil Arceno, who by the way is celebrating his birthday today. We come from the Philippine Commission on Elections, or “COMELEC.” The COMELEC is the constitutional body primarily “tasked to enforce and administer all laws and regulations concerning the conduct of regular and special elections.” To safeguard the conduct of clean, impartial and trustworthy elections, it is insulated from the executive, legislative and judicial branches of government. It enjoys fiscal autonomy, enabling it to function shielded from political influence and disruption.(Commission on Elections, n.d.) The Commission likewise performs judicial, regulatory and administrative functions. It has “exclusive original jurisdiction over all contests relating to the elections, returns, and qualifications of all elective regional, provincial and city officials and has appellate jurisdiction over all contests involving elective municipal officials decided by trial courts of general jurisdiction or involving elective barangay officials decided by trial courts of limited jurisdiction.” Vested with regulatory and administrative authority, it also decides on all issues in connection with elections, including the preparation of the project of precincts, selection of election officials and conduct of voter registration.(Commission on Elections, n.d.) The Commission has the following functions: “1. Enforce and administer all laws and regulations relative to the conduct of elections, plebiscite, initiative, referendum, and recall; 2. Exercise exclusive original jurisdiction over all contests relating to the elections, returns, and qualifications of all elective regional, provincial, and city officials, and appellate jurisdiction over all contests involving elective municipal officials decided by trial courts of general jurisdiction, or involving elective barangay official decided by trial courts of limited jurisdiction; 3. Decide, except those involving the right to vote, all questions affecting elections, including determination of the number and location of polling places, appointment of election officials and inspectors, and registration of voters; 4. Deputize, with the concurrence of the President, law enforcement agencies and instrumentalities of the Government, including the Armed Forces of the Philippines, for the exclusive purposes of ensuring free, orderly, honest, peaceful credible elections; 5. Register, after sufficient publication, political parties, organizations, of coalitions; which, in addition to other requirements, must present their platform or program of government, and accredit citizens arms of the COMELEC; 6. File, upon a verified complaint, or on its own initiative, petitions in court for inclusion or exclusion of voters; investigate and, where appropriate, prosecute cases of violations of elections laws, including acts or omissions constituting election frauds, offenses, and malpractices; 7. Recommend to the Congress effective measures to minimize election spending, including limitation of places where propaganda materials shall be posted, and to prevent and penalize all forms of election frauds, offenses, malpractices, and nuisance candidates; 8. Recommend to the President the removal of any officer or employee it has deputized, or the imposition of any other disciplinary action, for violation or disregard of, or disobedience to its directive, order, or decision; and 9. Submit to the President and the Congress a comprehensive report on the conduct of each election, plebiscite, initiative, referendum, or recall” (Department of Budget and Management, n.d.).
- The Philippine Legal Framework is composed of the following: 1. the 1987 Philippine Constitution; 2. International Agreements and Conventions, particularly the UNDHR and ICCPR; 3. a Litany of Laws; 4. Jurisprudence; 5. a Series of Commission Resolutions; and 6. Other Issuancess like Supreme Court Administrative Circulars.
- The Omnibus Election Code is the basic law on Philippine Elections. The Omnibus Election Code of the Philippines is Batas Pambansa bilang 881, which was enacted into law on 03 December 1985; it is the result of codifying all previous election laws. Since then, the Omnibus Election Code has been amended repeatedly;
- The sheer number of laws amending the OEC is indicative of the urgency to recodify, update and harmonize the existing base law. In case, you are counting; there are 31; the last is my favorite, the Amended AES Law of 2007 which, by the way, is around fifteen years old. Last September, a senator took interest in recodifying our Election Laws; he isn’t the first to try and I sincerely hope he succeeds.
- Again, there is no one law, which covers the entire Philippine Electoral Process. The present situation causes not only confusion but is in itself a hindrance to compliance; simply put, one cannot comply to what one cannot understand. Worse, there are operational gaps in the framework. First, since the Automated Elections require a careful planning and a good amount of preparation, those who wish to run for public office must file their Certificates of Candidacy at least six (6) months before the actual elections. but existing law also provides that such people are only deemed candidates at the start of the campaign period which is forty-five (45) days (ninety (90) for Presidential and Vice Presidential candidates) before the elections. In between, aspirants can do whatever they want. Another pertains to the substitution of candidates; a political party can replace its nominee, if the person is disqualified, withdraws or dies, without restriction roughly month after the period to file Certificates of Candidacy. Political Parties had “maximized” this so much so that there was clamor that they are making a mockery of the elections. I mentioned earlier the grounds for substitution; glaringly absent is the situation where the nominee is permanently physically unable to hold office (i.e. coma). I have seen two instances where the relatives of such nominee may actually have prayed for the latter’s demise.
- The Commission has had its ups and downs as far as public confidence is concerned. In the 1990s, the Commission enjoyed its highest credibility under the leadership of Madame Haydee Yorac and Mr. Christian Monsod. Then, the Commission was always in the top three most trusted government institutions and was only behind the Supreme Court. In contrast, the Commission’s contemporary history is riddled with controversy. A study on the Commission from 1986 to 2009 suggests that it suffers from three recurring maladies: 1) external and internal clientelistic relationships; 2) organizational inefficiency and 3) lack of capacity. The study states that the worst of the three is clientelistic relationships and that “(o)nly in one period, under the presidency of Corazon Aquino (1986-1992), was there a conscious effort to insulate the COMELEC from clientelistic tendencies.” The study narrates how a succession of politicized appointments has undermined the development, integrity and independence of the Commission and how these appointees were abusing the Commission’s bureaucracy to fit their ends, ravaging the institution’s reputation and stunting the institution’s capabilities.(Calimbahin, 2009; Pabico, 2005b)
- The shadow of the Commission’s incapability loomed larger in its pursuit of automated elections. Republic Act No. 8436, “An Act Authorizing the Commission on Elections to use an Automated Election System in the 11 May 1998 National or Local Elections and in subsequent national and local electoral exercises, providing funds therefor and for other purposes” (Election Modernization Act), paved the way for automated Philippine National and Local Elections. While this legislation permitted the Commission to procure an automated election system, it was unable to do so properly. The Supreme Court struck down three such contracts in the cases of Commission on Elections v. Quijano-Padilla, Information Technology Foundation v. Commission on Elections and Brillantes v. Commission on Elections “(d)ue… to constitutional and legal flaws and to suspicious bidding procedures.(Malaluan, 2004; Pabico, 2005a; Panganiban, 2019) In 2010, the Commission held automated elections, or thirteen years after the Election Modernization Act was published and an amendment thereto was made. In the advent of automated elections, the Commission’s efficiency largely remained in question. Doubts against the Commission’s competence to manage a colossal change came from all corners.(Bower, 2010; Meisburger, 2010) Five automated elections notwithstanding, the Commission endures criticism, some of which are well-founded.(Bacungan & Santos, 2019; Bueza, 2019; Ilagan & Mangahas, 2019; Ocampo, 2019; Teehankee & Torneo, 2013; Tomacruz, 2019) While the Commission has never been the most transparent with its election operations and processes, its problems with the Transparency Server ironically seems to never cease.(Bacungan & Santos, 2019; Madarang, 2019) The use Optical Mark Reader Vote Counting Machines aggravates our situation; critics claim that these machines are not transparent on how votes are tallied. Especially during the preparations for the 2016 and 2019 National and Local Elections, certain groups advocated for a hybrid Election System with vote counting done manually; they would stress that no one knows what the machines do with our votes. This push persists today and gains traction with common folk, among other reasons, because most Filipinos were not accustomed to the technology… and/or aware how machines work. It was a question of “GIGO” (garbage in, garbage out), the machine’s output depends on what it is fed. Our country folk were mystified with the vote counting machine and could not stop second guessing it. (Of course, it didn’t help that some took advantage of the generally naivete of populace and swindled politician and common citizens alike.) I remember Amb. Tita De Villa, chairperson of an election watch dog in our country, would harp on that the vote counting machine is no different from an Automatic Teller Machine; she would ask how can trust the ATM with our money and not the VCM with our ballots. We, as a nation, were set on our ways… resistant to the change technology brings.
- Then came the pandemic. The pandemic wrought havoc on the preparations for the 2022 National and Local Elections, and it defined, in a transcendental manner, how we conducted the elections. At the time, the Commission already had its hands full with preparing with the accustomed brand of automated elections; however, the Senate pushed to change the counting process from automated to a hybrid manual system where votes will be individually counted akin to the years of yore.(Domingo, 2020) The Commission, of course, could not disregard the fact that the pandemic persisted in 2022; this necessitated adjustments and alterations to how the Commission has conducted elections and the electoral cycle as a whole.
- Preventing Elections and concomitant preparations from becoming the triggers for mass infection proved to be a herculean task resulting in more than 50 countries postpone their scheduled elections.(Splendore, 2020). While countries like Singapore and South Korea have craved their own successes,(Spinelli, 2020; Zhang, 2020) there is no study on whether these elections have caused infections, or conversely how their efforts prevented infection at the time.(Yang, 2020) We did our best on this front but we were not unscathed; we received criticism on how the Official Ballots were printed and on how Comelec Campaign Committee enforced health and safety protocols for in-person campaign activities. Initially, observers were not permitted during the printing of the Official Ballots at the National Printing Office Compound due to pandemic restrictions. To put things into context, the space allocated for Comelec within NPO premises is not enough to comply with social distancing requirements considering the number of people employed for the printing, verification, testing, sorting and packaging of the Official Ballots. By the time observers were permitted inside, about two thirds of required ballots have already been printed.(De Leon, 2022) The Comelec Campaign Committee was set-up to ensure that campaign activities will not be super spreader events. However. A prominent Election practitioner asserted that the Commission, with the Campaign Committee, encroached on the prerogative of local government units to issue permits for such activities.(Nazario, 2022)
- The effects of the pandemic on Philippine Elections did not end there. Like the rest of the world, Filipinos were confined to their homes; all social activities went to a grinding halt. Everyone was forced to accept the “New Normal” and all the restrictions that came with it. At that point, Filipinos began to see a new horizon with the internet and how it enabled people go on with their lives remotely. All of a sudden, people became adept with ordering anything and everything online: from food, groceries to clothes, furniture and even construction supplies. People began to rely on social media, youtube and google as main sources of news and information. People became comfortable making micro financial transactions both digitally and online. People have come to expect a higher degree of convenience in their dealings. At this point, you might have guessed how this social shift affected our recent elections. Since most primarily resort to social media and youtube, every voter, at a point in time was vulnerable to, if not a victim of, disinformation.(Broughton, 2022; Eusebio, 2022; Grounds and Koff, 2022; Elemia, 2022; & Walker, 2022) To date, there are persistent rumors that candidates bought votes through e-wallets.(Martinez, 2022; de Vera, 2022; Patinio, 2022; Domingo, 2022; & Mercurio, 2022) Photos clockwise from top left: (Tuquero, 2021); (Business Mirror, 2021); (Calderon, 2022); & (De Leon, 2021)
- In fine, the Commission must contend with: 1) an antiquated and fragmented legal framework; 2) a subsisting pandemic and its mutations and possible successors; and an evolving Philippine society that has come to terms with technology and that have grown accustomed to higher degree of convenience. We have a lot on our plate: in the short-term, we need prepare for and ensure that the 2025 National and Local Elections is not the cause of any super spreader event on top of it being credible, accurate, fast, transparent, secure, orderly, peaceful and convenient; in the mid-term, we must recodify, update and harmonize our legal framework; and, ultimately, we want to earn back our place as one of the most trusted government agencies in our country.