BANAT vs COMELEC (sitting as NBC or National Board of Canvassers)

Intervenors: Arts Business and Science Professionals (ABS), Aangat Tayo (AT), Coalition of Associations of Senior
Citizens in the Philippines, Inc (Senior Citizens)

Keywords

DISTRIBUTION OF GUARANTEED &

Doctrine
ADDITIONAL SEATS (PARTY-LIST REPRESENTATIVES)

1. May 14, 2007 included the elections for the party-list representatives. COMELEC
counted 15, 950, 900 votes cast for 93 parties under party-list system.

2. On June 27, 2002, BANAT filed NBC No. 07-041 or Petition to Proclaim the Full
Number of Party-List Representatives by the Constitution

3. On July 9, 2007, COMELEC (sitting as NBC) proclaimed under NBC Resolution No. 07-
60, 13 parties as winners in party-list elections namely: Buhay Hayaan Yumabong
(BUHAY), Bayan Muna, Citizens' Battle Against Corruption (CIBAC), Gabriela's Women
Party (Gabriela), Association of Philippine Electric Cooperatives (APEC), A Teacher,
Akbayan! Citizen's Action Party (AKBAYAN), Alagad, Luzon Farmers Party (BUTIL),
Cooperative-Natco Network Party (COOP-NATCCO), Anak Pawis, Alliance of Rural
Concerns (ARC), and Abono

4. The total number of seats of each winning party, organization or coalition shall be
Facts/Brief determined pursuant to Veterans Federation Party vs COMELEC formula upon completion
Synopsis of the canvass of the party-list results.

5. Aside from the thirteen party-list organizations proclaimed on July 9, 2007, the
COMELEC proclaimed three other party-list organizations as qualified parties entitled to
one guaranteed seat under the Party-List System: Agricultural Sector Alliance of the
Philippines, Inc. (AGAP), Anak Mindanao (AMIN), and An Waray

6. BANAT presented 2 interpretations through 3 formulas to allocate party-list

representative seats:

The 1st interpretation allegedly harmonizes the provisions of Section 11 (b) on the 2%
requirement with Section 12 of R.A. No. 7941 – 44 seats shall be awarded under this
interpretation ;

The 2nd interpretation presented by BANAT assumes that the 2% vote requirement is
declared unconstitutional, and apportions the seats for party-list representatives by
following Section 12 of R.A. No. 7941 – 34 seats will be awarded under this interpretation

Issue 1. Is the twenty percent allocation for party-list representatives in Section 5(2), Article VI of
the Constitution mandatory or merely a ceiling? (merely a ceiling, not mandatory to be fully
filled out)
2. Is the three-seat limit in Section 11(b) of RA 7941 constitutional? Yes.
3. Is the two percent threshold prescribed in Section 11(b) of RA 7941 to qualify for one
seat constitutional? No.
4. How shall the party-list representative seats 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? Yes
Ruling SC held that petitions have partial merit.

4 inviolable parameters clearly stated in Veterans vs COMELEC:

First, the twenty percent allocation — the combined number of all party-list congressmen
shall notexceed 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".

Number of Party-List Representatives

After prescribing the ratio of the number of party-list representatives to the total number of
representatives, the Constitution left the manner of allocating the seats available to party-
list representatives to the wisdom of the legislature

Allocation of Seats for Party-List Representatives: Statutory Limits Presented by the

2% Threshold & the 3-Seat Cap

1. 2% threshold is unconstitutional.

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. This Court finds that the two percent
threshold makes it mathematically impossible to achieve the maximum number of
available party list seats when the number of available party list seats exceeds 50. SC
struck down the two percent threshold only in relation to the distribution of the
additional seats as found in the second clause of Section 11 (b) of R.A. No. 7941

2. Congress, in enacting R.A. No. 7941, put the three-seat cap to prevent any
party from dominating the party-list elections. Hence it is constitutional.

3. Distribution of guaranteed & additional seats

In determining the allocation of seats for party-list representatives under Section 11 of R.A.
No. 7941, the following procedure shall be observed:
1. The parties, organizations, and coalitions shall be ranked from the highest to
the lowest based on the number of votes they garnered during the elections.
2. The 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 guaranteed
seat each.
3. Those garnering sufficient number of votes, according to the ranking in
paragraph 1, shall be entitled to additional seats in proportion to their total number
of votes until all the additional seats are allocated.
4. Each party, organization, or coalition shall be entitled to not more than three (3)
 seats

In computing the additional seats, the guaranteed seats shall no longer be included
because they have already been allocated, at one seat each, to every two-percenter. The
remaining available seats for allocation as "additional seats" are the maximum seats
reserved under the Party List System less the guaranteed seats. Fractional seats are
disregarded in the absence of a provision in R.A. No. 7941 allowing for a rounding off of
fractional seats.

Participation of Major Political Parties in Party-List Elections

The Constitutional Commission adopted a multi-party system that allowed all political
parties to participate in 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. R.A. No. 7941 and the deliberations of the
Constitutional Commission state that major political parties are allowed to establish, or
form coalitions with, sectoral organizations for electoral or political purposes.

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.

RA 7941 (Party-List System Act)

Section 11. Number of Party-List Representatives. — .

In determining the allocation of seats for the second vote, the following procedure shall be
observed:
(a) The parties, organizations, and coalitions shall be ranked from the highest to the lowest
based on the number of votes they garnered during the elections.
(b) The 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: Provided, That
Provisions those garnering more than two percent (2%) of the votes shall be entitled to additional
seats in proportion to their total number of votes: Provided, finally, That each party,
organization, or coalition shall be entitled to not
more than three (3) seats.

Section 12. Procedure in Allocating Seats for Party-List Representatives. — The

COMELEC shall tally all the votes for the parties, organizations, or coalitions on a
nationwide basis, rank them according to the number of votes received and allocate party-
list representatives proportionately according to the percentage of votes obtained by each
party, organization, or coalition as against the total nationwide votes cast for the party-list
system.