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Diocese of Bacolod V COMELEC PDF
Diocese of Bacolod V COMELEC PDF
ISSUES/GROUNDS:
1. Respondents orders directives to remove or cause the removal of the
subjectTeam Patay Tarpaulin are unconstitutional and void for
infringing on petitioners right to freedom of expression on their own
private property.
2. Respondents orders/directives to remove or cause the removal of the
subjectTeam Patay Tarpaulin are unconstitutional and void for
violating the principle of separation of Church and State enshrined in
Section 6 of Article II of the 1987 Constitution.
ARGUMENTS/DISCUSSIONS:
1. The assailed Orders/Directives to remove or cause the removal of the
subjectTeam Patay Tarpaulin are not electoral campaign materials
and that the mention of the candidates in the infringes on the
petitioners right to freedom of expression on their own private
property:
o the subject Team Patay Tarpaulins are not electoral campaign
materials, stressing that the mentioning of candidates name in
the second tarpaulin was merely incidental to the petitioners
campaign against the RH Law, which they have firmly
campaigned against even when it was just a bill being
deliberated in Congress;
o subject Team Patay Tarpaulins are covered by the broader
constitutional guaranty of freedom of expression and of
conscience and not by the more narrow and limited election
laws, rules, and regulations;
o petitioners have the constitutional right to communicate their
views and beliefs by posting the subject Team Patay
Tarpaulins on the Bacolod Cathedral, a private property owned
by the Diocese of Bacolod;
o the RH Law and the candidates and party-lists running in the
2013 National Elections who supported and who opposed its
passage into a law are matters of public concern and a
legitimate subject of general interest and of discussion;
o citing the Supreme Courts jurisprudence in Chavez v. PCGG (G.
R. No. 130716, December 9, 1998), the petitioners argued that
that public concern embraces a broad spectrum of subjects
which the public may want to know
o
o
o
PRAYER: