Phil. Guardians v.

COMELEC
GR 190529
FACTS:
• The COMELEC delisted Philippine Guardians Brotherhood, Inc. (PGBI) from the
roster of registered national, regional, or sectoral parties, organizations, or
coalitions under the party-list system on the ground that it failed to get 2% of the
votes cast in 2004 and it did not participate in the 2007 elections. Section 6(8) of
Republic Act No. 7941 (RA 7941), otherwise known as the Party-List System Act,
provides: “Section 6. Removal and/or Cancellation of Registration. The COMELEC
may motu proprio or upon verified complaint of any interested party, remove
or cancel, after due notice and hearing, the registration of any national, regional or
sectoral party, organization or coalition on any of the following grounds: It fails to
participate in the last two (2) preceding elections or fails to obtain at least two per
centum (2%) of the votes cast under the party-list system in the two (2) preceding
elections for the constituency in which it has registered.
ISSUE:
• Whether or not PGBI, a party list organization that did not participate in the 2007
election, necessarily gets, by default, less than 2% of the party-list votes and is
delisted from th list of registered national, regional, or sectoral parties,
organizations, or coalitions, in reference to the Minero ruling, pursuant to Section
6(8) of RA7941.
RULING:
• NO. What Minero effectively holds is that a party list organization that does not
participate in an election necessarily gets, by default, less than 2% of the party-list
votes. A delisting based on a mixture or fusion of these two different and separate
grounds for delisting is therefore a strained application of the law in jurisdictional
terms, it is an interpretation not within the contemplation of the framers of the law
and hence is a gravely abusive interpretation of the law. The Minero ruling is an
erroneous application of Section 6(8) of RA 7941; hence, it cannot sustain PGBIs
delisting from the roster of registered national, regional, or sectoral parties,
organizations, or coalitions under the party-list system.

BANAT v. COMELEC
586 SCRA 210
DOCTRINE:
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.
FACTS:
• Barangay Association for National Advancement and Transparency (BANAT) filed
before the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) a petition to proclaim the full
number of party list representatives provided by the Constitution. However, the
recommendation of the head of the legal group of COMELEC’s national board of
canvassers to declare the petition moot and academic was approved by the
COMELEC en banc and declared further in a resolution that the winning party list
will be resolved using the Veterans ruling. BANAT then filed a petition before the
SC assailing said resolution of the COMELEC.
ISSUE:
• Whether or not the two percent (2%) threshold of Section 11(b) of RA 7941 is
constitutional.
RULING:
• NO. 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. 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 exceed 50. The continued
operation of the two percent threshold in the distribution of the additional seats
frustrates the attainment of the permissive ceiling that 20% of the members of the
House of Representatives shall consist of party-list representatives.