BANAT v.

COMELEC
G.R. No. 179271, 21 April 2009

FACTS: Petitioner BANAT filed a ​Petition to Proclaim the Full Number of Party-List Representatives
Provided by the Constitution​, before the National Board of Canvassers (NBC). BANAT filed its
petition because the Chairman and the Members of the COMELEC have recently been quoted in the
national papers that the COMELEC is duty bound to and shall implement the ​Veterans ruling, that is,
would apply the Panganiban formula in allocating party-list seats. On July 9, 2007, COMELEC, sitting
as the NBC promulgated NBC Reso No. 07-60 proclaiming 13 parties as winners in the party-list
elections (July 9 Reso proclaimed the 13 winners based on the presumptive 2% threshold of 334,462
votes from the projected max total number of party-list votes of 16,723,121 and were thus given 1
guaranteed seat each). Pursuant to NBC Resolution No. 07-60, the COMELEC, acting as NBC,
promulgated NBC Resolution No. 07-72, which declared the additional seats allocated to the
appropriate parties. In ​determining the additional seats for the ​first party​, the correct formula as
expressed in ​Veterans​, is:
(Number of votes of first party Proportion of votes of first / Total votes for party-list system = party
relative to total votes for party-list system)

***wherein the proportion of votes received by the first party (without rounding off) shall entitle it to
additional seats:

Proportion of votes received by the ​first party Additional seats

Equal to or at least 6% 2 additional seats

Equal to or greater than 4% but less than 6% 1 additional seat

Less than 4% No additional seat

Based on the report, ​Buhay obtained the highest number of votes among the thirteen (13) qualified
parties, organizations and coalitions, ​making it the ​first party ​in accordance with ​Veterans Federation
Party versus COMELEC with 1,178,747 votes. Applying the above formula, Buhay obtained the
following percentage:

1,178,747 (votes garnered by Buhay)

- - - - - - - - = 0.07248 or ​7.2%
16,261,369 (total votes) which entitles it to two (2) additional seats.
WHEREAS, in determining the ​additional seats for the ​other qualified parties, ​organizations and
coalitions, the correct formula as expressed in ​Veterans​ and reiterated in ​CIBAC​ is, as follows:

Additional seats= (No. of votes of concerned party/No. of votes of first party) x seats allocated to
first party

Ex: ​BAYAN MUNAs total # of votes- 977,476; ​Buhay (first party-highest no. of votes) total
votes-1,178,747 (Note: Buhay is entitled to 2 additional seats. See above computation)
Computation​= (977,476/ 1,178,747) x 2 =.82925x 2 = ​1.65 ​(1 additional seat)

Reminder: ​There are different computations for additional seat/s with respect to the party with the
highest votes (FIRST PARTY) and OTHER parties.

COMELEC proclaimed the following parties, organizations or coalitions as entitled to additional seats,
to wit: BUHAY (2 additional seats), BAYAN MUNA (1), CIBAC (1), GABRIELA (1), APEC (1).
Acting on BANATs petition, the NBC promulgated NBC Resolution No. 07-88 on 3 August 2007, that
the petition of Banat is not moot and academic. BANAT filed a petition for certiorari and mandamus
assailing the ruling in NBC Resolution No. 07-88. On 9 July 2007, Bayan Muna, Abono, and A
Teacher asked the COMELEC, acting as NBC, to reconsider its decision to use the ​Veterans formula as
stated in its NBC Resolution No. 07-60 because the ​Veterans ​formula is violative of the Constitution
and of R.A. No. 7941 (denied by comelec).

ISSUES:
BANAT brought the following issues before this Court:
1. Is the ​twenty percent allocation for party-list representatives provided in Section 5(2), Article VI of
the Constitution mandatory or is it merely a ceiling?
2. Is the ​three-seat limit ​provided in Section 11(b) of RA 7941 constitutional?
3. Is the ​two percent threshold ​and qualifier votes prescribed by the same Section 11(b) of RA 7941
constitutional?
4. How shall the ​party-list representatives be allocated​?
5. Does the Constitution prohibit the major political parties from participating in the party-list
elections? If not, can the major political parties be barred from participating in the party-list elections?

RULING:
The petitions have partial merit. ​Philippine-style party-list election has at least four inviolable
parameters as clearly stated in ​Veterans.​ ​ For easy reference, these are:
First,​ the twenty percent allocation, the ​combined number of ​all ​party-list congressmen shall not
exceed twenty percent of the total membership of the House of Representatives, including those elected
under the party list;
Second, ​the two percent threshold​, only those ​parties garnering a minimum of two percent of the total
valid votes cast for the party-list system are qualified to have a seat​ in the House of Representatives;
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 h​ as flaws in its mathematical interpretation of the
term proportional representation, the Court is compelled to revisit the formula for the allocation
of additional seats to party-list organizations.

NUMBER OF PARTY-LIST REPRESENTATIVES

The first paragraph of Section 11 of R.A. No. 7941 reads:
Section 11. ​Number of Party-List Representatives. The party-list representatives shall constitute twenty
per centum (20%) of the total number of the members of the House of Representatives including those
under the party-list. x x x

Section 5(1), Article VI of the Constitution states that the House of Representatives shall be
composed of not more than two hundred and fifty members, unless otherwise fixed by law. The
House of Representatives shall be composed of district representatives and party-list
representatives. The Constitution allows the legislature to modify the number of the members of
the House of Representatives.
Section 5(2), Article VI of the Constitution, on the other hand, ​states that the party-list
representatives shall constitute ​twenty per centum ​of the total number of representatives including
those under the party-list. We compute the number of seats available to party-list representatives
from the number of legislative districts. On this point, we do not deviate from the first formula
in ​Veterans​, thus:
Number of seats available Number of seats available to
to legislative districts x .20 = party-list representatives

.80

This formula allows for the corresponding increase in the number of seats available for
party-list representatives whenever a legislative district is created by law.
Ex: Since the 14​th Congress of the Philippines has 220 district representatives, there are 55 seats
available to party-list representatives. (220/.80) x .20= 55
There are numerous interpretations of the provisions of R.A. No. 7941 on the allocation of
additional seats under the Party-List System. ​Veterans produced the First Party Rule​. The
Constitution left to Congress the determination of the manner of allocating the seats for
party-list representatives.

The ​first clause of Section 11(b) of R.A. No. 7941 states that 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. This clause guarantees a seat to the two-percenters. Only 17
party-list candidates received at least 2% from the total number of votes cast for party-list
candidates. The 17 qualified party-list candidates, or the two-percenters, are the party-list
candidates that are entitled to one seat each, or the guaranteed seat. In this first round of seat
allocation, there are 17 guaranteed seats.

The ​second clause of Section 11(b) of R.A. No. 7941 provides 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​. This is where petitioners and intervenors problem with the formula in
Veterans lies. ​Veterans interprets the clause in proportion to their total number of votes to be ​in
proportion to the votes of the first party​. This interpretation is contrary to the express
language of R.A. No. 7941.

The Court ruled 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​. 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.

HOW TO COMPUTE ADDITIONAL SEAT/S:

Votes garnered by Party-list candidate / total no. of votes cast (15,950,900)
There are ​two steps in the second round of seat allocation. First, the percentage is multiplied by
the remaining available seats, 38

55-17=38
(55-# of max seats reserved under the party-list system. See computation above.
17- guaranteed seats of the 2 percenters)

The whole integer of the product of the percentage and of the remaining available seats
corresponds to a partys share in the remaining available seats. ​Second​, ​we assign one party-list
seat to each of the parties next in rank until all available seats are completely distributed​. We
distributed all of the remaining 38 seats in the second round of seat allocation. Finally, we apply
the three-seat cap to determine the number of seats each qualified party-list candidate is entitled.
EXAMPLE: BUHAYs garnered 1,169,234 = 1,169,234/15,950,900= .0733 (or 7.33%- 1
guaranteed seat)
0.0733 x 38= 2.79 (BUHAY has 3 seats in whole integers)
***see last page for table regarding the DISTRIBUTION OF AVAILABLE PARTY-LIST
SEATS

The Constitutional Commission adopted a multi-party system that ​allowed all political parties
to participate in the party-list elections. ​Congress, in enacting R.A. No. 7941, put the
three-seat cap to prevent any party from dominating the party-list elections. Neither the
Constitution nor R.A. No. 7941 prohibits major political parties from participating in the
party-list system. On the contrary, the framers of the Constitution clearly intended the major
political parties to participate in party-list elections through their sectoral wings (EX:If Liberal
Party participates in the party-list election through the Kabataang Liberal ng Pilipinas
(KALIPI), its sectoral youth wing). Under Section 9 of R.A. No. 7941, it is not necessary that
the party-list organizations nominee wallow in poverty, destitution and infirmity as there is no
financial status required in the law. It is enough that the nominee of the sectoral
party/organization/coalition belongs to the marginalized and underrepresented sectors, that is, if
the nominee represents the fisherfolk, he or she must be a fisherfolk, or if the nominee
represents the senior citizens, he or she must be a senior citizen. However, by a vote of 8-7, the
Court decided to continue the ruling in ​Veterans disallowing major political parties from
participating in the party-list elections, directly or indirectly.

Neither the Constitution nor R.A. No. 7941 mandates the filling-up of the entire 20% allocation
of party-list representatives found in the Constitution. The 20% allocation of party-list
representatives is merely a ceiling; party-list representatives cannot be more than 20% of the
members of the House of Representatives.

Table 3. Distribution of Available Party-List Seats

Rank Party Votes Votes Guaranteed Additional (B) plus Applying
Garnered Garnered Seat Seats (C), in the three
over (First Round) (Second whole seat cap
Total Votes Round) integers ​(E)
for Party (B) (D)
List, in % (C)
​(A)

1 BUHAY 1,169,234 7.33% 1 2.79 3 N.A.

2 BAYAN 979,039 6.14% 1 2.33 3 N.A.

MUNA

3 CIBAC 755,686 4.74% 1 1.80 2 N.A.

4 GABRIELA 621,171 3.89% 1 1.48 2 N.A.

5 APEC 619,657 3.88% 1 1.48 2 N.A.

6 A Teacher 490,379 3.07% 1 1.17 2 N.A.

7 AKBAYAN 466,112 2.92% 1 1.11 2 N.A.

8 ALAGAD 423,149 2.65% 1 1.01 2 N.A.

[31] COOP-NATCC 409,883 2.57% 1 1 2 N.A.

9​
O

10 BUTIL 409,160 2.57% 1 1 2 N.A.

11 BATAS 385,810 2.42% 1 1 2 N.A.

12 ARC 374,288 2.35% 1 1 2 N.A.

13 ANAKPAWIS 370,261 2.32% 1 1 2 N.A.

14 ABONO 339,990 2.13% 1 1 2 N.A.

15 AMIN 338,185 2.12% 1 1 2 N.A.

16 AGAP 328,724 2.06% 1 1 2 N.A.

17 AN WARAY 321,503 2.02% 1 1 2 N.A.

 18 YACAP 310,889 1.95% 0 1 1 N.A.

19 FPJPM 300,923 1.89% 0 1 1 N.A.

20 UNI-MAD 245,382 1.54% 0 1 1 N.A.

21 ABS 235,086 1.47% 0 1 1 N.A.

22 KAKUSA 228,999 1.44% 0 1 1 N.A.

23 KABATAAN 228,637 1.43% 0 1 1 N.A.

24 ABA-AKO 218,818 1.37% 0 1 1 N.A.

25 ALIF 217,822 1.37% 0 1 1 N.A.

26 SENIOR 213,058 1.34% 0 1 1 N.A.

CITIZENS

27 AT 197,872 1.24% 0 1 1 N.A.

28 VFP 196,266 1.23% 0 1 1 N.A.

29 ANAD 188,521 1.18% 0 1 1 N.A.

30 BANAT 177,028 1.11% 0 1 1 N.A.

31 ANG 170,531 1.07% 0 1 1 N.A.

KASANGGA

32 BANTAY 169,801 1.06% 0 1 1 N.A.

33 ABAKADA 166,747 1.05% 0 1 1 N.A.

34 1-UTAK 164,980 1.03% 0 1 1 N.A.

35 TUCP 162,647 1.02% 0 1 1 N.A.

36 COCOFED 155,920 0.98% 0 1 1 N.A.

Total 17 55