Veterans Federation Party vs.

COMELEC
Facts: -COMELEC proclaimed 13 party-list representative for 12 party-list organizations
that was able to get at least 2 percent of the total votes for the party-list representatives,
two of the proclaimed party-list representatives slots belong to petitioner, APEC, which
garnered 5.5 percent of the total votes.
-After having special elections, the COCOFED (Philippine Coconut Planters
Federation, Inc.) was entitled to one of the party-list seat for garnering 2.04 percent of the
total votes.
-PAG-ASA (Peoples Progressive Alliance for Peace and Good Government
Towards Alleviation of Poverty and Social Advancement) filed with the COMELEC a
petition to proclaim the full number of party list-representatives as provided by the
Constitution. It alleged that the 20 percent membership of the party list-representatives in
the House of Representatives under the Constitution was mandatory. It further claimed
that the literal application of the two percent vote requirement and the three-seat limit
under RA 7941 would defeat the constitutional provision for the declared winners will be
short of the required 20 percent or 52 seats. Thereafter, nine other party-list organizations
filed their respective motions for intervention, seeking the same relief as that sought by
PAG-ASA.
-The COMELEC granted PAG-ASAs petition. It held that at all times, the total
number of congressional seats must be filled up by eighty percent district representatives
and twenty percent party-list representatives. In allocating the 52 seats, it disregarded the
two percent-vote requirement prescribed under Section 11(b) of RA 7941.
Issues: 1. Does the constitution require all such allocated seats be filled up all the time
and under all circumstances?
2. Are the two percent threshold requirement and the three-seat limit provided in
Section 11(b) of RA 7941 constitutional?
3. If the answer to issue 2 is in the affirmative, how should the additional seats of
a qualified party be determined?
Held: 1. NO.
-the court ruled that with a simple reading of Section 5, Article VI of the
Constitution, easily conveys the equally simple message that Congress was vested with
the broad power to define and prescribe the mechanics of the party-list system of
representation. The Constitution explicitly sets down only the percentage of the total
membership in the House of Representatives reserved for party-list representatives.
Considering the foregoing statutory requirements, it will be shown presently that Section
5(2), Article VI of the Constitution is not mandatory. It merely provides a ceiling for
party-list seats in Congress.
2. YES
-In imposing a two percent threshold, Congress wanted to ensure that only those
parties, organizations, and coalitions having a sufficient number of constituents deserving

of representations are actually represented in Congress. This intent can be gleaned from
the deliberations on the proposed billMoreover, even the framers of our Constitution
had in mind a minimum-vote requirement, the specification of which they left to
Congress to properly determine.(As explained by Constitutional Commisioner Christian
S. Monsod in the book). The two percent threshold is consistent not only with the intent
of the framers of the Constitution and the law, but with the very essence of
representation. Without the threshold, the result might be the proliferation of small
groups which are incapable of contributing significant legislation, and which might even
pose a threat to the stability of Congress. All in all, the court holds that the statutory
provision on this two percent requirement is precise and crystalline. When the law is
clear, the function of the courts is simple application, not interpretation or circumvention.
3. The answer is in the affirmative.
-only those who got at least 2 percent of the total votes are qualified.
-the qualified party-list organizations are ranked and the party receiving the
highest number of votes shall be referred as the First party.
-the First party will be entitled to an additional seat if it gets four percent but less
than 6 percent of the total votes; it will get the maximum of two additional seats if
it gets at least 6 percent of the total votes.
The other qualified parties can qualify for an additional seat using this formula:
Additional seats for concerned party = No. of votes of concerned party/No. of votes of
First party * No. of additional seats allocated to the First party.