2001] ELECTION LAW IN PERSPECTIVE 437
Code, enacted on June 2I, 1947. This law, however, was continuously
The Philippine Law on Elections in Perspective
Regalado E. Maambong*
,.·,.
INTRODUCTION: THE MASS OF ELECTION LAW .................... i 436
I. HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE .......... , ...................... ' 438
II. THE PURPOSE OF ELECTIONS - GOOD GOVERNMENT ............ . 440
A. A Government of Men and Women
· B. The Electoral Process as an lnstrumetlt of Change
III. 'QBSERVATIONS ON THE PHILIPPINE ELECTOP.AL PROCESS .......... . 443
A:. Mistrust
B. \Manipulation of Laws
I when Congress passed Republic Act No, 7056. The law, however, was
C. ,Lack of Continued Vigilance
IV.EFFknvE ExERcisE oF SoVEREIGN WILL ...................... 445
CONCLUSION ...... 446
0 •• 0 ••••••••• ' •••••••••••••••••••••••••
INTRODUCTION: THE MASS OF ELECTION LAW
No law is ever complete. This is especially true of the law on elections, as
plainly evident from its history. The listing alone of election laws from 1900 up
to the present is as long as one's arm.
Philippine election laws find their genesis in Act No. 502, 1 enacted on
November IO, I902 by the Philippine Commission under the authority of the
United States. Wh.at followed thereafter were numerous Commonwealth Acts,
Republic Acts, Presidential Decrees, Batas Pambansa and Executive Orders.
·t
Many attempts were made to codify all the existing election laws in the
country. One such attempt was Republic Act No. I So, the Revised Election
LL.B. '61, Ateneo de Manila University School of Law; Staff Member, Volume 10, Ateneo
lAw Journal. The author has served in various capacities in the private sector and government.
In the academe, he organized and served as Dean of a College of Criminology, and has taught
law at the Ateneo Law School and other !2w schools. In government, he was lecturer of the
NBI National Academy; Provincial Board Member of Cebu; Assembiyman, First Regular
Batasang Pambansa; Member, 1986 Constitutional Commission; Presiding Judge, Branch 22,
Regional Trial Court (Cebu), Region VII; Conunission.::r, Commission on Elections where he
was Presiding Commissioner of the First Divisioc & Supervising Commissioner of Comelec
Modernization Projects; and was bar examiner of Criminal Law in 1991. Upon his retirement,
he was given a Pubiic Service Award by resolution of the Philippine Senate. He is currently
the Vice-President for Visayas of the Philippine Association of Law Professors (PALP) and a
Member of the Supreme Court Mandatory Continuing Le£1 Education (MCLE) Committee.
"* . Republic Act No. 6734
Cite as 46 ATENEO L.J. 43 6 (2001). ·.
I. An Act Amending t:li.e Municipal Code by Authorizing the Civil Government to
Postpone General Municipal Elections under Certain Circumstances, Act No. 5.02 (1902).
amended until finally, it was superseded altogether. At present, the basic
election law is the Omnibus Election Code of I985. 2
However, soon after the 1986 EDSA People Power kevolution, the
Omnibus Election Code suffered the same fate as its predecessors and was
§;. subjected to numerous amendments. Some of the more significant of these
dealt with the reorganization of the Commission on Elections (COMELEC),3
Congressional Elections, 4 local elections, s barangay elections, 6 and electoral
reforms.? The Omnibus Election Code was also amended by Congress when it
provided for the Organic Acts and Electiom for Muslim Mindanao 8 and for the
Cordillera Autonomous Region.9
In June of 1991, the Omnibus Election Code was again further amended
declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in the case of Osmena v.
Comriiission on Elections 10 because it provided tor separate national and local
elections. Thereafter, Congress passed Republic Act No. 7I66 on November
26, 199I, otherwise known as an "Act Providing for Synchronized National
and Locai Elections" for the May I I, I 992 elections. This law was based on
recommendations made by the COMELEC in compliance with its
2. Batas Pambansa Big. 881 (1985). This law was approved on Dec. 3, 1985 and ·was
published in the Official Gazette on Dec. 9, 1985. The author took part iri the
deliberations and passage of this law as a then member of the First Regular Batasang
Pam bans a.
3. Reorganizing the Commission on Elections and Enhancing its Independence, Executive
Order No. 57 (1986).
4· Enabling Act for the Elections of Members of Congress. on May II, 1987 and for Other
Purposes, Executive Order No. 134 (1987); Supplemental Law on the .May II, 1987
Elections For Members of Congress, Executive Order No. 144 (1987).
5· Amending Proclamation No. 94 Providing for the Holding of Local Elections to
the Second Paragraph of Section One, Article XVIII of the 1987 Constitution, and
Appropriating Funds Therefor, Executive Order No. 270 (1987); An Act Resetting the
Local Elections from November 9, 1987 to ]1nuary 18, 1988, Amending for this Purpose
Fxecutive Order Number Two Hundred and Seventy, Republic Act No. 6636 (1987);
Republic Act No. 6637 (1987).
6. Republic Act No. 6653 (1988); Republic Act No. 6679 (1988).
7· An Act Introducing Additional Election Reforms in the Electoral System and for Other
Republic Act No. 6646 (1988).
8. An Act Providing for an Organic Act for the Autonomous Region in Musli:n Mindanao,
9. An Act Providing for an Organic Act for the Cordillera Autonomous Region, Republic
Act No. 6766 (1989).
10. 199 SCRA 750 (199.1).
 ATENEO LAW JOURNAL
adopt modern technological tools to moderrtize the electoral especially
the counting/recording of votes and the consolidation of rmstakes and
the opportunity to commit fraud, inherent in a manual countmg, cannot be
avoided. "
CoNcLUsioN
' Unduly Restrict Labor's Exercise of the Right to
The free choice of our country's leaders should stir one's political and national
consciousness. The study and implementation ofour electOral process, as well
as .the implementing laws and systems, should be given more than cursory
thd\).ght if we are to succeed as a nation. A government can only
be sustained over time, if the people themselves are enlightened, educated, and
properly mobilized in the selection of those who shall govern. In the final
analysh, neither th,e Constitution nor machines can safeguard the
of the peopie, but the people thernselves. Learned _Hand said:
"Liberty lies in the hearts of men and women. While It lies there, It needs no
Constitution, no law, no court to save it. When it dies there, no Constitution,
no law, no court can save it."l7
-
37· Learned Hand, The Spirit of Liberty, Speech in York (May 21,
OF LrnEl!TY 189-90 (Irving Dilard ed. 1953).
Restraining Free Trade Unionism:
A Critique of Supreme Court Decisions that
Self-Organization
Marlon]. Manuef
INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . • . . • . . . . . • • . • • • • • . . . . . . 447
I. COMPOSITION OF UNIONS: THE TOYOTA MOTOR CASE . . • . . . . . . . . . 450
II. REGISTRATION REQUIREMENTS: THE REGRESSIVE DECISION
IN THE I992 Progressive Development CASE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . • . . . . . -453
A. The Progressive Development Case
B. Reinforcing the Progressive Development Doctrine:
The Technology Case
C. A Long Overdue Correction: The Pagpalain Haulers Case
Ill. CERTIFICATION ELECTION PROCEEDINGS:
THE MORE DANGEROUS I 997 PROGRESSIVE DEVELOPMENT CASE . . . . 460
CONCLUSION ' . . . ' ' . ' ' . . . . . . . ' ' ' . . . . ' : . . . .• ' . . . . . . . . . . • . . -464
INTRODUCTION
On paper, the policy environment in the Philippines appears to be conducive
for the organization of labor unions. Unfortunately, however, the written
policy does not reflect the reality of trade unionism in the country. To be
more accurate,. the written policy does not translate into concrete
implementing mechanisms that ensure the free exercise of the right to self-
* B.S. '90, J.D. '94, with Ateneo de Manila University. Evelio Javier Leadership
Awardee, and President, Ateneo Law Student Council (I993-94). Professor of Labor Law,
Ateneo Law School (1996-present). Jose B. L. Reyes Chair in Law and Humanities (1998-99,
I999-2ooo); Rayrpundo Dizon Professorial Chair in Political Law (2000-2001, 2001-02);
Incumbent Executive Director, Sentro ng Altematibong Lingap Panligal, (SALIGAN).
SALIGAN is a legal resource non-governmental organization doing developmental legal work
with fanners, workers, the urban poor, women, and local communities. This essay was
prepared with the assistance of the Raymundo Dizon Professorial Chair in Political Law.
Previous works of the author published by the Journal includes Requiem to Speedy Labor
justice: An Analysis of the Efficts and Underpinnings <f the Supreme Court's Ruling in St. Martin
Funeral Home v. NLRC, 44 ATENEO LJ. 455 {2ooo).
Cite as 46 ATENEO LJ. 447 (2001).