LORENZO M. TAÑADA v. MARIANO JESUS CUENCO, GR No.

L-10520,
1957-02-28

Facts:

Petitioner Lorenzo M. Tañada is a member of the Senate of the Philippines,

and President of the Citizens Party, whereas petitioner Diosdado
Macapagal, a member of the House of Representatives of the Philippines,
was one of the official candidates of the

Liberal Party for the Senate, at the general elections held in November,
1955, in which Pacita Madrigal Warns, Lorenzo Sumulong, Quintín
Paredes, Francisco Rodrigo, Pedro Sabido, Claro M. Recto, Domocao
Alonto and Decoroso Rosales, were proclaimed elected. Subsequently,
the... election of these Senators-elec

The Senate, in its session of February 22, 1956, upon nomination of Senator
Cipriano Primicias, on behalf of the Nacionalista Party, chose Senators Jose
P. Laurel, Fernando Lopez and Cipriano Primicias, as members of the
Senate Electoral Tribunal.

Issues:

the remedy of petitioners is not in the judicial forum, but, to use petitioner
Tañada's own words, 'to bring the matter to the bar of public opinion'...
jurisdiction hinges on the question whether the issue before us is political
or not. In this connection, Willoughby lucidly states:... considered that it is
not within the province of the courts to pass judgment upon the policy of
legislative or executive action.

Petitioners maintain that said nomination and election of Senators Cuenco

and Delgado who belong to the Nacionalista Party as members of the
Senate Electoral Tribunal, are null and void and have been made without
power or color of authority, for, after the nomination by said... party, and
the election by the Senate, of Senators Laurel, Lopez and Primicias, as
members of said Tribunal, the other Senators, who shall be members
thereof, must necessarily be nominated by the party having the second
largest number of votes in the Senate, and such... party is, admittedly, the
Citizens Party, to which Senator Tañada belongs and which he represents.

Ruling:

Again, under the Constitution, "the legislative power" is vested exclusively

in the Congress of the Philippines. Yet, this does not detract from the
power of the courts to pass upon the constitutionality of acts of
Congress[1] And, since judicial power... includes the authority to inquire
into the legality of statutes enacted by the two Houses of Congress, and
approved by the Executive, there can be no reason why the validity of an
act of one of said Houses, like that of any other branch of the Government,
may... not be determined in the proper actions. Thus, i

It is well-settled doctrine that political questions are not within the

province of the judiciary, except to the extent that power to deal with such
questions has been conferred upon the courts by express constitutional or
statutory provisions.

called upon to decide whether the election of Senators Cuenco and

Delgado, by the Senate, as members of the Senate Electoral Tribunal, upon
nomination by Senator Primicias a member and... spokesman of the party
having the largest number of votes in the Senate on behalf of its Committee
on Rules, contravenes the constitutional mandate that said members of the
Senate Electoral Tribunal shall be chosen "upon nomination *